KFOR-TV (channel 4) is a
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...
in
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...
, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
. It is owned by
Nexstar Media Group
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarters in Irving, Texas, Midtown Manhattan, and Chicago. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 television station ...
alongside
KAUT-TV (channel 43), an
owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an network af ...
of
The CW
The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...
. The two stations share studios in Oklahoma City's McCourry Heights section, where KFOR-TV's transmitter is also located.
As Oklahoma's first television station, KFOR-TV signed on in June 1949 as WKY-TV, the television extension to
WKY (930 AM). In its early years, WKY-TV boasted several regional and national technical firsts: it was the first independently-owned network affiliate to directly originate
color
Color (or colour in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though co ...
programs, the first station to operate a
mobile broadcasting unit for live event coverage, the first station to broadcast
legislative session
A legislative session is the period of time in which a legislature, in both parliamentary and presidential systems, is convened for purpose of lawmaking, usually being one of two or more smaller divisions of the entire time between two electi ...
s and cover
court proceedings, and the first television station to broadcast a
tornado warning. Originally owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company, a direct predecessor to
Gaylord Broadcasting, the station became KTVY in 1976 and KFOR-TV in 1990.
History
WKY-TV
Edward K. Gaylord's vision
Fascinated with the medium since the late 1930s,
Edward K. Gaylord's April 13, 1936, dedication to new studios at the
Skirvin Tower Hotel for his radio station,
WKY
WKY (930 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, owned by Cumulus Media. It is the oldest radio station in Oklahoma and among the oldest in the nation. WKY airs a sports ...
, ended with a public pledge to bring television to Oklahoma when it and other related inventions had been perfected. With his Oklahoma Publishing Company (OPUBCO), Gaylord published both the morning ''
Daily Oklahoman'' and evening ''
Oklahoma Times'' newspapers, and had purchased WKY—established in 1922 as Oklahoma's first radio station—in 1928, successfully turning a profit for the station within two years. His pledge soon manifest itself on an exhibitory basis in mid-November 1939 when OPUBCO sponsored a six-day demonstration of telecasts and broadcast equipment at the Oklahoma City Municipal Auditorium in
downtown Oklahoma City, now the
Civic Center Music Hall. With equipment set up and operated by
RCA
RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...
engineers, the event featured appearances by performers from
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
and WKY
with attendees given an opportunity to be "televised" to other attendees watching
television set
A television set or television receiver (more commonly called TV, TV set, television, telly, or tele) is an electronic device for viewing and hearing television broadcasts, or as a computer monitor. It combines a tuner, display, and loudspeake ...
s throughout the auditorium. OPUBCO executive Edgar T. Bell downplayed the immediate outlook for local television as "distant" despite well-received attendance for the exhibition; estimates had as many as 25,000 attendees on Thursday, taxing the auditorium's capacity.
During November and early December 1944, OPUBCO conducted a similar, 19-city television exhibition tour across
central and
western Oklahoma On a simple east/west basis, Western Oklahoma is popularly considered that part of the state west of I-35. I-35 creates a north/south line through the approximate center of the main body of the state (i.e., without regard for the Oklahoma Panhand ...
—open to residents who had purchased
war bond
War bonds (sometimes referred to as victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are Security (finance)#Debt, debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an un ...
s, as well as for attendees that wished to purchase them—that included performances from WKY personalities and demonstrations by television technicians. The tour was attended by a total of 50,000 bond buyers with crowd size regarded as large throughout, several cities even saw encore performances due to overwhelming demand.
Gaylord submitted a
permit application to the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC) on April 14, 1948
for a television station on
VHF channel 4. Upon filing, Gaylord estimated any financial loss for the TV station would be offset within two years, echoing how WKY turned a profit two years after being purchased by OPUBCO. The FCC granted the
license
A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...
to Gaylord on June 2, 1948, with the station assigned the WKY-TV call sign, joining WKY and
WKY-FM (98.9), which signed on in July 1947. Studio facilities for WKY-TV were based at the Municipal Auditorium—WKY's studios remained at the nearby Skirvin Tower Hotel—with production facilities on the second floor in the Little Theatre. Prior to launch, a fire to the theatre on November 17, 1948, resulted in $150,000 in damage with most of the technical and production equipment replaced during renovations to the theatre that followed;
soundproofing material was also added to limit disruptions between television productions and stage productions.
While assembling the TV transmitter antenna onto WKY's broadcast tower in April 1949, an accident occurred when the antenna fell while being hoisted upward; the antenna suffered minimal damage but added to delays earlier in the month due to inclement weather. Daily test broadcasts over WKY-TV began on April 21 consisting of music played over a
test pattern slide,
enabling television set owners in Oklahoma and neighboring states to contact the station to report signal reception. The test signal operated at low power for three days following a lightning strike to a
junction box
An electrical junction box (also known as a "jbox") is an enclosure housing electrical connections. Junction boxes protect the electrical connections from the weather, as well as protecting people from accidental electric shocks.
Functions of ...
on the tower on April 27.
Closed-circuit transmissions began on May 27 with a
wrestling
Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...
match at the
Stockyards Coliseum along with two weeks worth of
dress rehearsals between the local performers and show producers.
A 'pioneer station'

WKY-TV's inaugural broadcast on June 6, 1949, included speeches from Gaylord, executive vice president/general manager Proctor A. "Buddy" Sugg and
Governor
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
Roy J. Turner, a short feature on the new medium by Gaylord and Sugg and a film outlining programs WKY-TV would air.
Gaylord boasted during his on-air address that WKY-TV had both the finest television studio in the country and the tallest transmission tower outside of NBC's transmitter for
WNBT atop the
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story, Art Deco-style supertall skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its n ...
. The station was the first to sign on in the state of Oklahoma and the 65th station in the United States to sign on.
"Television parties" occurred throughout the city and state as people suspended or heavily curtailed their regular activities to watch the new station in homes, laundromats, bars, appliance stores and other businesses; in
Tulsa
Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...
, approximately 1,000 people sat outside of a store to watch the transmissions.
Broadcasting over WKY-TV was originally limited to two and a half hours every night, Saturday excluded. Saturday transmissions began on February 11, 1950, and a morning schedule was added by 1951, giving the station 90 cumulative hours of weekly programming.
As WKY had been an
NBC Radio Network
The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (also known as the NBC Red Network from 1927 to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in continuous operation from 1926 through 1999. Along with the NBC Blue Network, it wa ...
affiliate since December 1928, WKY-TV debuted with the market's NBC-TV affiliation along with supplemental
CBS-TV and
ABC-TV clearances.
Due to Oklahoma City not being connected yet to transcontinental
coaxial cable
Coaxial cable, or coax (pronounced ), is a type of electrical cable consisting of an inner Electrical conductor, conductor surrounded by a concentric conducting Electromagnetic shielding, shield, with the two separated by a dielectric (Insulat ...
s, a process
AT&T
AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...
estimated could take another two years to complete, all network programming had to be via film and
kinescope
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940s ...
. A short feature NBC prepared welcoming WKY-TV to the network aired on the station's debut night, while the first NBC program, ''
Who Said That?'', was broadcast via kinescope on June 17.
The station additionally carried select programming from
DuMont and the
Paramount Television Network
The Paramount Television Network, Inc. was a venture by American film corporation Paramount Pictures to organize a television network in the late 1940s. The company-built television stations KTLA in Los Angeles and WBKB in Chicago; it also in ...
, the latter from 1950 until ceasing operations in 1953.
Channel 4's initial local programming included some WKY shows that were adapted for television, including variety series ''Wiley and Gene'' hosted by Wiley Walker and Gene Sullivan, and
children's program ''The Adventures of Gismo Goodkin'' hosted by
puppeteer
A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object called a puppet to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the ...
—and high school senior—Robert Jerkins. ''Oklahoma Times'' scribe R. G. Miller hosted the weekly ''Smoking Room'' that was an extension of his newspaper column. Danny Williams joined WKY-TV in 1950 to host a daily talk show, announce professional wrestling telecasts, and appear as Spavinaw Spoofkin on ''Gismo Goodkin''. Williams later fronted children's program ''The Adventures of 3-D Danny'' as "Supreme Galaxy Chief Dan D. Dynamo", incorporating science fiction and
time travel
Time travel is the hypothetical activity of traveling into the past or future. Time travel is a concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. In fiction, time travel is typically achieved through the use of a device known a ...
elements derived from ''
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' ...
'' with
cartoon
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...
short subjects. Airing on WKY-TV from 1953 to 1959, the
ratings for ''3-D Danny'' often beat those of ABC's ''
The Mickey Mouse Club
''The Mickey Mouse Club'' is an American variety television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996 and briefly returned to social media in 2017. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first te ...
'',
making it the first local television program in the country to achieve that feat.

Sports quickly became a fixture at the station, with high school basketball, football, golf and softball matches all broadcast within the first year. WKY-TV reached a deal to broadcast all ten
Oklahoma Sooners football
The Oklahoma Sooners football team represents the University of Oklahoma (OU) in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The program began in 1895 and is one of the most succ ...
games for the 1949 season, with all home games airing live starting with the October 1
Texas A&M Aggies matchup at
Owen Field.
Oklahoma A&M Aggies football was subsequently added, but with all of their games recorded on film. WKY-TV also originated ''
Bud Wilkinson's Football'' starting in September 1953. The first college football analysis program, it featured the Sooners' three-time national championship
head coach
A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...
discussing the previous week's game,
a necessity after the
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
(NCAA) enacted guidelines limiting live television coverage of college football. Wilkinson also hosted ''Sports for the Family'' starting in 1954 that focused on a variety of sports, filmed and packaged for syndication to television stations around the U.S. Among the play-by-play announcers for these shows was
Ross Porter, starting with the 1960 season at age 21; already a WKY news reporter, Porter would soon emerge as WKY-TV's sports director until leaving for Los Angeles in 1966.
Under varying titles to 1963, Wilkinson's shows on WKY-TV helped boost awareness of the Sooners' football program and encourage
physical fitness
Physical fitness is a state of health and well-being and, more specifically, the ability to perform aspects of Outline of sports, sports, occupations, and daily activities. Physical fitness is generally achieved through proper nutrition, modera ...
, with Wilkinson rejecting most advertising in favor of
National Guard
National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards.
...
PSAs. Football was not the only college sport WKY-TV covered, a 1966
wrestling
Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...
match between the Sooners and the
Oklahoma State University Cowboys became the first of its kind to be televised live.
After OPUBCO declined to renew the lease for WKY's studios in the Skirvin, plans were made to combine it and WKY-TV's operations into a combined studio facility on Britton Road east of the transmission towers for both stations, as well as WKY-FM. Ground was broken for the studios on July 10, 1950, with WKY moving into the facility on March 26, 1951; WKY-TV followed suit by July 17. The new facility included television soundstages engineered to also allow origination of radio programs over WKY.
The AT&T coaxial cable network was completed in 1952, WKY-TV was able to link to the network via
microwave relays from Dallas. The milestone was inaugurated the morning of July 1, 1952, with Gaylord giving a short message and pressing a button to activate the network connections, joining NBC's ''
Today'' live in progress. With this, WKY-TV was able to sign on at 7 a.m. daily, increasing its programming to 111 hours per week.
Gaylord's predictions of financial shortfalls for the station being offset after two years came to pass, as WKY-TV lost $270,000 between 1949 and 1950, then turned a profit in 1951.
OPUBCO successfully challenged the FCC over their ''Sixth Report and Order'' that proposed the channel 4 allocation be reassigned to Tulsa and WKY-TV move to channel 7, citing engineering costs, possible effects on the AM station's transmissions, and a need for viewers to replace existing outdoor antennas. The FCC rescinded the frequency change request in April 1952, noting WKY-TV would have enough feasible co-channel assignment separation from
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
's
KRLD-TV; the channel 7 allocation was reassigned to
Lawton for use by
KSWO-TV. Due to the FCC's 1948 licensing freeze, WKY-TV was the only television station in Oklahoma City until 1953, when UHF-based competitors—
KTVQ
KTVQ (channel 2) is a television station in Billings, Montana, United States, affiliated with CBS. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, it is part of the Montana Television Network, a statewide network of CBS-affiliated stations. KTVQ's studi ...
and
KMPT "KLPR-TV"—debuted on October 28 and November 8. Though KTVQ and KMPT respectively signed on as basic ABC and DuMont affiliates, channel 4 continued to carry selected programs from both networks; in contrast, WKY disaffiliated from CBS on November 14, one month prior to
KWTV (channel 9) signing on. At the same time, OPUBCO donated $150,000 worth of existing WKY-TV equipment to the
Oklahoma Educational Television Authority
The Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA) is a network of PBS member television stations serving the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The authority operates as a statutory corporation that holds the broadcast license, licenses for all of ...
(OETA) for its proposed Oklahoma City station, KETA-TV (channel 13), which signed on in April 1956.
WKY-TV carried select DuMont fare until that network discontinued operations in August 1956, while ABC programming left in March 1958 when
Enid-licensed ABC affiliate KGEO-TV (channel 5) changed call letters to
KOCO-TV and refocused its coverage area to include Oklahoma City.
Broadcasting in living color
WKY-TV was the first television station not owned by a network to produce and transmit local programs in
color
Color (or colour in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though co ...
. Before the FCC had even approved a color transmission standard, Gaylord ordered color equipment from RCA—including two
TK-40 color cameras—in September 1949.
By March 1954, the equipment was delivered and installed, and WKY-TV was successfully receiving color programming from NBC via a separate microwave relay system, as the coaxial cable network was incompatible with color.
[
* ] OPUBCO had a special exhibition at the Municipal Auditorium's Home Show on April 4, 1954, where 30 patrons watched a color set displaying ''
The Paul Winchell Show'', one of three color programs NBC was regularly transmitting for testing purposes and the station's first color telecast. The station's first local colorcast occurred on April 8 with a live five-minute message from E. K. Gaylord, followed by a half-hour sponsored variety show on April 21. With the hour-long ''Cook's Book'' becoming the first regularly scheduled weekday colorcast on April 26, WKY-TV carried more programming in color than all of the networks combined. NBC's color coordinator
Barry Wood even remarked that WKY-TV's color output was of better quality than the network itself.
The station became the first network affiliate to provide live color programming to a network on August 17, 1954, when a feed of the
American Indian Exposition in
Anadarko was sent to NBC; the ten-minute segments on ''Today'' and ''
Home
A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...
'' featured participants dressed in
tribal
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...
"war dance"
regalia
Regalia ( ) is the set of emblems, symbols, or paraphernalia indicative of royal status, as well as rights, prerogatives and privileges enjoyed by a sovereign, regardless of title. The word originally referred to the elaborate formal dress and ...
. On April 23, 1955, WKY-TV produced ''
Square Dance
A square dance is a dance for four couples, or eight dancers in total, arranged in a square, with one couple on each side, facing the middle of the square. Square dances are part of a broad spectrum of dances known by various names: country dan ...
Festival'' for NBC, showcasing the National Square Dance convention at Municipal Auditorium, the first full-length color program fed to a network by an affiliate. Also in 1955, the station transmitted to the network a
surgical procedure
Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and instrumental techniques to diagnose or treat pathological conditions (e.g., trauma, disease, injury, malignancy), to alter bodily functions (e.g., malabsorption created by bariatric surgery s ...
in color via closed-circuit four years after becoming the first station in Oklahoma to broadcast a surgery on-air. In 1958, WKY-TV became one of the first local television stations in the U.S. to acquire a
videotape recorder
A video tape recorder (VTR) is a tape recorder designed to record and playback video and audio material from magnetic tape. The early VTRs were open-reel devices that record on individual reels of 2-inch-wide (5.08 cm) tape. They were u ...
, intended for the news department but also used for some show production. One videotaped show, the ''Stars and Stripes Show'', premiered on NBC that year as the first network television program to be produced by a local station.
WKY-TV and the
Lions Club
Lions Clubs International, is an international service organization, currently headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. , it had over 46,000 local clubs and more than 1.4 million members (including the youth wing Leo clubs, Leo) in more than 200 ge ...
of Oklahoma collaborated on ''Gift of God'', a December 2, 1957, program profiling medical and legal aspects of
corneal transplants through the perspective of an
organ donor's eyes transported to an operating room, concluding with a film of a successful transplant. An appeal then aired for viewers wishing to become organ donors to join a statewide
eye bank Eye banks recover, prepare and deliver donated human eye, eyes for cornea transplants and research. The first successful cornea transplant was performed in 1905 and the first eye bank was founded in 1944. Currently, in the United States, eye banks ...
established by the Lions Sight Conservation Foundation initiative; 700 donor card requests were received by the bank 90 minutes after the program aired, including one signed by then-Oklahoma governor
Raymond Gary, the number increased to 2,000 cards after 48 hours.
The WKY-TV/Lions partnership lasted for four years with more than 16,400 volunteer donor cards signed, with 346 Oklahomans—including two who underwent surgery within 48 hours of the broadcast—having successful corneal transplants.
Long-running local shows
Another children's show with a similar local impact to ''3-D Danny'' was ''Foreman Scotty's Circle 4 Ranch'', hosted by Steve Powell as the titular cowboy. Airing from 1957 to 1971, Scotty's supporting characters included Danny Williams as sidekick Xavier T. Willard; Powell, with Williams, had additionally teamed up to host WKY-TV's ''The Giant Kids Matinee''. The show also featured prize giveaways including the Golden Horseshoe, whose winner was selected through the "Magic Lasso", a cut-out slide that was superimposed on-screen over the audience, and honorary rides on a wooden horse named Woody for children in the studio audience who were celebrating their birthday. At its peak, the show had a 1½-year backlog of kids who wanted to be part of the show's audience.

During this era, the station featured an assortment of other noted locally-oriented fare. In 1965, WKY host Don Wallace began hosting ''The Wallace Wildlife Show'', a weekly fishing show that was the highest-rated program of its kind in the country from 1974 to 1975 and ended after 920 episodes with Wallace's 1988 retirement. ''The Scene'', a Saturday afternoon music and dance show hosted by WKY personality Ronny Kaye, aired from 1966 to 1974. ''The Jude 'n' Jody Show'', a
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
-variety program hosted by singers/furniture salespeople Jude Northcutt and Jody Taylor, aired on channel 4 and other Oklahoma City stations between 1954 and 1982. Danny Williams returned to channel 4 in 1967 to host the local midday talk-variety show ''Dannysday'', which enjoyed a 17-year run. Among Williams' co-hosts included
Mary Hart, who became a fan favorite on ''Dannysday'' from 1976 until leaving for Los Angeles at the end of 1979, later becoming the co-host of ''
Entertainment Tonight
''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Par ...
''.
John Ferguson hosted three distinct horror movie showcases at the station under the
horror host
A horror host is a person who acts as the host or presenter of a program where horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal w ...
persona "Count Gregore": a local version of ''
Shock Theater'' from 1958 to 1962,
''Thriller Theater'' from 1962 to 1964 and ''Sleepwalker's Matinee'' from 1973 to 1979. WKY-TV originated ''The
Buck Owens
Alvis Edgar "Buck" Owens Jr. (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was the frontman for The Buckaroos, which had 21 No. 1 hits on the ''Billboard'' country music chart. He pioneered what came ...
Ranch Show'' from 1966 to 1973; seen in over 100 U.S. markets, the half-hour country-variety show was the most successful of its kind not produced in
Nashville
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
.
In addition to hosting the ''Ranch Show'', Owens was paired with
Roy Clark in 1969 to host the similar-themed ''
Hee Haw'' on CBS, which was relaunched as a syndicated show in 1971. As the result of a renegotiated contract, Yongestreet Productions forced Owens to discontinue the ''Ranch Show'' due to heavy music and content duplication with ''Hee Haw''.
Through its WKY Radiophone Company subsidiary, the Oklahoma Publishing Company eventually acquired or launched other television and radio stations during and after its stewardship of WKY-TV, including
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...
's
WSFA-TV and
WSFA (1440 AM) in 1955,
Tampa
Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...
's
WTVT in 1956,
Milwaukee
Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...
's
WUHF-TV in 1966,
KTVT in
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...
, in 1962,
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
's
KHTV in 1967, and
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...
's
KTNT-TV in 1973. WKY-TV served as the company's flagship station, and in October 1956, OPUBCO renamed its broadcast group the WKY Television System.
After Edward K. Gaylord's death at the age of 101 on May 30, 1974, control of OPUBCO was transferred to son
Edward L. Gaylord.
KTVY

OPUBCO sold WKY-TV to the
Evening News Association on July 16, 1975, for $22.697 million; this included $197,000 for upgrades to the studio building. WKY-TV was sold after the FCC adopted
cross-ownership rules preventing the same company from owning newspapers and broadcast outlets in the same
market
Market is a term used to describe concepts such as:
*Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand
*Market economy
*Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market
*Marketing, the act of sat ...
.
While Oklahoma City was not one of 16 markets the FCC had planned to strictly enforce this rule, the sale happened under the possibility, with OPUBCO preferring Evening News as the buyer since it also was a newspaper publisher-turned-broadcaster. Additionally, Oklahoma City was the smallest market in which the company owned a TV station. WKY, the ''Oklahoman'', and the ''Times'' were all retained by OPUBCO, which planned to purchase additional TV and radio stations with the sale proceeds under the newly renamed
Gaylord Broadcasting division. As OPUBCO/Gaylord retained the rights to the WKY call sign, WKY-TV was rechristened as KTVY on January 5, 1976.
Starting with the
1978 Oklahoma Sooners season, KTVY debuted ''The Oklahoma Playback'', a next-day hour-long condensed recap of the most recent Sooners football game with wraparound segments co-hosted by then-head coach
Barry Switzer. Also regarded as a continuation of the Bud Wilkinson coaches shows by sponsor
Kerr Magee, Tulsa's
KTUL handled production for the 1980 season but became a KTVY production again in 1981 with sportscaster
Ron Thulin as host. This program—which was also syndicated throughout the
Southwest
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...
and on cable—ended in 1984 after a successful
legal challenge to the
U.S. Supreme Court by the University of Oklahoma and then-Oklahoma City mayor
Andy Coats against the NCAA restrictions over the number of games that could be televised live in a single season.
KTVY was occasionally granted exceptions to this rule, most notably with the 1983 Oklahoma–
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
rivalry game, which aired live on the station. KTVY added
Sooners college basketball coverage to the lineup in 1982. Originally produced by KTVY and the university under a revenue-sharing deal, production subsequently was taken over by
Raycom Sports
Raycom Sports is a Charlotte, North Carolina–based producer of sports television programs owned by Gray Media.
It was founded in 1979 by husband and wife, Rick and Dee Ray. In the 1980s, Raycom Sports established a prominent joint venture wi ...
under a larger deal with the
Big Eight Conference
The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored American football, football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate ...
in 1985; the station continued to air
ESPN Plus, though with
KOCB airing more games to allow KFOR to fulfill NBC obligations, until KOCB became the exclusive carrier in 2001.
KTVY became the first television station in Oklahoma to broadcast in stereo on June 6, 1985; initially, the station broadcast NBC network programs, local programs and certain syndicated shows that were transmitted in the audio format. Taking advantage of the new format, channel 4's daily sign-ons and sign-offs began to feature music videos, some of which were tailored to the station's public service campaigns. That September, the station debuted another local talk show in the vein of ''Dannysday'', which had ended its run the previous year: ''AM Oklahoma'', hosted by brothers
Ben
Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett, Benson or Ebenezer, and is also a given name in its own right.
Ben meaning "son of" is also found in Arabic as ''Ben'' (dialectal Arabic) or ''bin ...
and
Butch McCain, who were also KTVY's morning news and weather anchors, respectively. The program was canceled in May 1986 after nine months, and the McCains ultimately left KTVY in June 1987 for KOCO-TV. A local version of ''
PM Magazine'' had much better success, airing on KTVY from 1980 to 1988 with hosts Stan Miller, Karen Carney, Dan Slocumb,
Dave Hood,
Kelly Robinson and Becky Corbin.
The
Gannett Company
Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation.
It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as severa ...
purchased the Evening News Association on September 5, 1985, for $717 million, thwarting a $566 million
hostile takeover
In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (law), company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast t ...
bid by L.P. Media Inc., owned by television producer
Norman Lear
Norman Milton Lear (July 27, 1922December 5, 2023) was an American screenwriter and producer who produced, wrote, created, or developed over 100 shows. Lear created and produced numerous popular 1970s sitcoms, including ''All in the Family'' (1 ...
and media executive
A. Jerrold Perenchio. Due to Gannett already owning KOCO-TV since their 1979 acquisition of
Combined Communications,
KTVY, along with
WALA-TV in
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...
, and
KOLD-TV in
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
, were sold to
Knight Ridder Broadcasting for $160 million; KTVY sold for a reported $80 million. Knight Ridder subsequently announced in October 1988 their intent to sell their station group to help reduce a $929 million debt load and finance a $353 million acquisition of online information provider
Dialog Information Services. Four months later, KTVY was sold to
Palmer Communications, owner of
WHO-TV in
Des Moines
Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...
and
KWQC-TV
KWQC-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Davenport, Iowa, United States, serving the Quad Cities area as an affiliate of NBC. Owned by Gray Media, the station maintains studios on Brady Street in downtown Davenport, and its transm ...
in
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport ( ) is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. It is situated along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state. Davenport had a population of 101,724 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cen ...
, for $50 million on February 27, 1989.
KFOR-TV

After several weeks of on-air promotions that "TV reception in Oklahoma would get stronger," KTVY's call sign changed to KFOR-TV on April 22, 1990, at the start of their 10 p.m. newscast, coupled with an overhaul to the station's on-air presentation. Station program director Bob Brooks explained in an interview that KTVY had lost "a sense of community, lost its heart" in recent years, and that was a driving force behind the call sign change;
management opted for calls that alluded to their dial position and new "4-Strong" branding.
As part of the change, the station altered their newscasts to have a statewide focus, with reporter Kelly Ogle filing a series of statewide reports during the
May sweeps that management described as "a
barnstorming approach to news".
KFOR-TV began maintaining a 24-hour programming schedule seven days a week beginning on May 11, the additional programming included hourly local news updates, which was attributed to viewer demand;
the move was to have taken place on May 13 and was pushed up after management found out KOCO-TV was also planning to broadcast around the clock.
It was KFOR-TV's usage of the "24-Hour News Source" phrase that led KOCO-TV owner Gannett, which filed a 10-year
service mark
A service mark or servicemark is a trademark used in the United States and several other countries to identify a Service (economics), service rather than a product (business), product.
When a service mark is federally registered, the standard ...
for the phrase on May 11—the same day KFOR-TV begin using it over the air—to sue Palmer Communications alleging
trademark infringement
Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attached to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees (provided that such authorization was within the scope of the licence). Infringement may occ ...
. Gannett claimed in court testimony that KFOR-TV's infringement of the phrase cost KOCO-TV $208,000 annually in lost revenue, while KFOR-TV argued that the phrase only described a programming service and was not an advertising slogan. The lawsuit was eventually settled with KFOR-TV adopting a different promotional slogan.
Palmer signed a
letter of intent on November 7, 1991, to sell KFOR-TV and their Des Moines properties to Hughes Broadcasting Partners for $70.2 million; Hughes was formed earlier that year with their purchase of
WOKR-TV in
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...
. Palmer terminated the sale agreement was on April 2, 1992, after rejecting the bid submitted by Hughes Broadcasting. In a lawsuit against Palmer, majority owner VS&A Communications Partners LP asked the
Delaware Chancery Court
The Delaware Court of Chancery is a court of equity in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is one of Delaware's three constitutional courts, along with the Delaware Supreme Court, Supreme Court and Delaware Superior Court, Superior Court. Since 2018, ...
to force Palmer, which claimed it had no binding obligation to negotiate or reach a formal agreement, into resuming negotiations to reach a definitive sale contract. Hughes formally gave up its pursuit of the transaction months after the judge presiding the case ruled that the agreement between VS&A and Palmer was not binding. KFOR-TV and WHO-TV would ultimately be sold to
The New York Times Company
The New York Times Company is an American mass media corporation that publishes ''The New York Times'' and its associated publications such as ''The New York Times International Edition'' and other media properties. The New York Times Company's ...
for $226 million on May 14, 1996; KFOR in particular sold for $155 million. The sale received FCC approval less than two months later on July 3 and was finalized on July 16.
On June 13, 1998, the former transmitter tower for WKY and WKY-TV collapsed due to
straight-line wind gusts near produced by a
supercell thunderstorm that also spawned
four tornadoes, a KWTV tower camera captured the collapse on-air. Still in use as an auxiliary tower for KFOR-TV and WKY up to that point, the tower had been designed to withstand winds in excess of . Channel 4 had already moved off the tower in April 1965 when a mast was constructed off of Britton Road.
The New York Times Company operated
Pax TV
Ion Television (referred to on-air as simply Ion) is an American terrestrial television, broadcast television network and Free ad-supported streaming television, FAST television channel owned by the Scripps Networks subsidiary of the E. W. Scri ...
station
KOPX-TV (channel 62) from October 11, 2000, to July 1, 2005, via a
joint sales agreement with
Paxson Communications. As part of the arrangement, KFOR handled advertising sales for KOPX, and KOPX rebroadcast KFOR's evening newscasts on a tape-delayed basis. Several weeks after Paxson dissolved the KOPX joint sales agreement, the Times Company purchased
UPN station
KAUT-TV (channel 43) from
Viacom Television Stations Group on November 4, 2005, for an undisclosed price. The Times Company left television broadcasting altogether with the $530 million sale of their nine station group to
Local TV LLC the deal was finalized on May 7, 2007. The
Tribune Company
Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...
—which formed a management company in December 2007 for their stations and those owned by Local TV—acquired Local TV LLC on July 1, 2013, for $2.75 billion,
this sale was completed on December 27.
A new combined facility for KFOR-TV and KAUT was constructed adjacent to KFOR-TV's existing studios; groundbreaking occurred in January 2015. Completed in August 2017, the new building both boasted a floorplan improving workflow and employee collaboration, and was built with reinforced steel, concrete and protective glass that could withstand a direct hit from severe weather and enable unlimited broadcasting.
Several conference rooms in the new facility were named after former on-air staff—including the "Barry Huddle Room" in honor of
Bob Barry Sr. and
Bob Barry Jr.—and the main studio was later named in honor of
Linda Cavanaugh upon her December 15, 2017, retirement. Along with the studio move, the station rebranded to ''Oklahoma's News 4'' concurrent with a revised on-air presentation.
Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb o ...
agreed to
acquire Tribune Media on May 8, 2017, for $3.9 billion, plus the assumption of $2.7 billion in debt held by Tribune. As Sinclair already owned KOKH-TV and KOCB, the company agreed on April 24, 2018, to divest KOKH-TV to
Standard Media
Standard Media Group is an American broadcast and digital media company based in Nashville, Tennessee. Standard Media was founded in 2018 by Deborah A. McDermott, who serves as the company's CEO. Previously, McDermott was the chief operating offi ...
as part of a $441.1 million group deal.
Howard Stirk Holdings also agreed to purchase KAUT for $750,000 in a deal that included
shared services
Shared services is the provision of a service by one part of an organization or group where that service had previously been found in more than one part of the organization or group. Thus the funding and resourcing of the service is shared and the ...
and joint sales agreements with Sinclair, which planned to retain KFOR-TV and KOCB.
All three transactions were nullified on August 9, 2018, after Tribune Media terminated the merger and filed a
breach of contract
Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...
lawsuit; this came several weeks after the FCC voted to bring the deal up for a formal review and lead commissioner
Ajit Pai publicly rejected it.
Following the collapse of the Sinclair merger,
Nexstar Media Group
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarters in Irving, Texas, Midtown Manhattan, and Chicago. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 television station ...
announced it would acquire Tribune Media in a $6.4 billion all-cash deal on December 3, 2018, which also included all outstanding Tribune debt. Approved by the FCC on September 16, 2019, the merger was completed three days later.
Local programming
Newscasts
Channel 4's news department began with the station on June 6, 1949, originally consisting of 10-minute-long newscasts at sign-on and sign-off, using wire copies of local news headlines read by anchors over still newspaper photographs. WKY-TV's first
news director Bruce Palmer saw the new medium as a way to provide immediacy to news coverage. In a ''Daily Oklahoman'' op-ed Palmer penned the day before WKY-TV's launch, he not only foresaw television news using films and photographs to provide a
newsreel
A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news, news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a Movie theater, cinema, newsreels were a source of cu ...
-like method to storytelling, but that coaxial cable-driven networks would soon be able to relay major news events to stations nationwide. Within a few years, WKY-TV employed a staff of 44 Oklahoma-based reporters and additional correspondents in three surrounding states
and was recognized in 1958 by the
Radio-Television News Directors Association
The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA, pronounced the same as "rotunda (disambiguation), rotunda"), formerly the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), is a United States-based membership organization of radio, televi ...
as the nation's "outstanding television news operation". Ernie Schultz, who joined channel 4 in 1955 as a reporter and photographer, became news director and noon news anchor in 1964, and remained at the station until 1980.

The television station's news department used WKY's news staff, including
Frank McGee, who had joined WKY in 1947 and added duties on the TV side in 1950 under the
air name "Mack Rogers";
during this time, WKY and WKY-TV used stage names for their airstaff that could be retained as intellectual property in the event an on-air personality were to leave the station. In 1950, WKY-TV became one of the first television stations in the country to employ a
mobile broadcasting unit to conduct live broadcasts that would be relayed to the Oklahoma City studio or to film on-scene footage for later broadcast.
The unit employed up to three cameras, one of which was stationed on a special platform on the bus's roof, and included a 12-inch television receiver built onto its side to display the direct-to-studio feed.
This unit was used to cover both the 1952 Oklahoma Republican and Democratic State Conventions,
relayed live from the Municipal Auditorium
and reported on by both McGee and John Fields.
WKY-TV started broadcasting twice-weekly
Oklahoma Legislature
The Legislature of the State of Oklahoma is the state legislative branch of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The Oklahoma House of Representatives and Oklahoma Senate are the two houses that make up the bicameral state legislature. There are 101 ...
sessions from the
State Capitol in January 1951, becoming the first station in the U.S. to provide coverage of state legislature sessions.
Channel 4 claimed to have made the fastest showing of any sound on film ever to have been processed and aired on television at the time, when on February 8, 1952, WKY-TV aired introductory remarks by anchor John Fields filmed 15 minutes prior to that evening's newscast. The Houston film processor used by the station allowed WKY-TV to broadcast news coverage only a few hours after it was shot on-scene. The station is also purported to be the first in the U.S. to have been allowed access to film a
court proceeding on December 13, 1953, while covering Billy Eugene Manley's murder trial at the
Oklahoma County Courthouse. Led by Frank McGee, a WKY-TV news crew was placed in a custom-built enclosed booth near the courtroom's rear, with a discreet microphone and a small button that Judge A. P. Van Meter could use to stop recording at any point. The swearing in of the jury, some testimony and Manley's sentencing was filmed for later news broadcasts. After OPUBCO purchased WSFA and WSFA-TV in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, McGee—under his real name—became WSFA-TV's news director; McGee's reporting regarding both the
Montgomery bus boycott
The Montgomery bus boycott was a political and social boycott, protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. It was a foundational event in the civil rights movement in the United ...
and riots on the
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...
campus over
Autherine Lucy's admission motivated
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...
to hire him at the end of 1956 for their Washington operations.

Virgil Dominic initially joined WKY-TV in 1956, then after two months was called into
active duty
Active duty, in contrast to reserve duty, is a full-time occupation as part of a military force.
Indian
The Indian Armed Forces are considered to be one of the largest active service forces in the world, with almost 1.42 million Active Standin ...
with the
U.S. Air Force;
Dominic returned to the station in 1959 as both a reporter and news anchor.
As NBC News did not have dedicated
news bureau
A news bureau is an office for gathering or distributing news. Similar terms are used for specialized bureaus, often to indicate a geographic location or scope of coverage: a 'Tokyo bureau' refers to a given news operation's office in Tokyo; 'fo ...
s in the early 1960s, Dominic was often requested to file reports to the network—particularly on ''
The Huntley–Brinkley Report''—whenever a story was needed from Oklahoma or portions of adjacent states. In 1964 alone, Dominic and WKY-TV provided 36 news stories, a record amount for any NBC affiliate. When NBC hired away Virgil in 1965, he was assigned to network-owned
WKYC-TV in
Cleveland
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
as that station's lead anchor in addition to newscasting duties for NBC Radio.
In 1972, Pam Henry—who after contracting
polio
Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...
at 14 months old, was the
March of Dimes
March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. The organization was founded by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to co ...
' 1959 national
poster child
A poster child (sometimes poster boy or poster girl) is, according to the original meaning of the term, a child afflicted by some disease or deformity whose picture is used on posters or other media as part of a campaign to raise money or enlis ...
—was hired by channel 4 as an assignment reporter, the first female television news reporter in Oklahoma. After a brief stint working in Washington, D.C., Henry worked at other television stations in Oklahoma City and Lawton, and was OETA's news and public affairs manager for 16 years. From 1973 to 1978, WKY-TV aired ''Spectrum'', a weekly prime time
public affairs newsmagazine focused on issues affecting Oklahoma's minority community. ''Through The Looking Glass Darkly'', a ''Spectrum'' installment about the history of
blacks in Oklahoma produced and reported by eventual NBC News correspondent
Bob Dotson became the first program from an Oklahoma television station to win a national
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
in 1974.
Members of the Ogle family have been part of channel 4 in some manner since 1962, when Jack Ogle joined WKY-TV as its main news anchor. Best known for a friendly, "
good-ol'-boy" on-air delivery, Ogle became the station's news director in 1970 and served in that capacity until leaving in 1977 to join Oklahoma State's athletic department.
Ogle continued to make occasional appearances on channel 4, KOCO-TV and KWTV delivering commentaries. All three of Jack's sons followed him into broadcasting, two of them at channel 4. Eldest son
Kevin first worked at KTVY from 1986 to 1989 as a reporter, then returned in 1993 and was promoted to weeknight co-anchor in 1996. Middle son Kent was hired by KFOR-TV as a reporter in 1994, anchored weekend newscasts and became weekday morning/noon anchor in 1997. Youngest son Kelly has been KWTV's evening anchor since 1990,
and granddaughters Abigail and Katelyn Ogle work at KOCO-TV and KFOR-TV, respectively.

Bob Barry Sr. started his television career at WKY-TV in 1966 as lead sports anchor, but was already a fixture in the market as the radio play-by-play voice of the Oklahoma Sooners, a position Sooners coach Bud Wilkinson selected Barry for in 1961. Barry called radio broadcasts of OU and Oklahoma State football and basketball games with Jack Ogle until 1974. Barry became sports director in 1970, holding that position for 26 of his 42 years at channel 4, and remained a part-time evening sports anchor until his May 2008 retirement.
His son Bob Barry Jr. became KTVY's weekend sports anchor/reporter in 1982, working along Bob Sr. for 25 years and assuming his father's role as sports director in 1997. The younger Barry—who was known for a jovial, off-the-cuff style—was KFOR-TV's sports director and weeknight sports anchor until his June 20, 2015, death in an auto/motorcycle accident.
Including a posthumous win by Bob Barry Jr. in 2016, both Barrys earned 22 "Sportscaster of the Year" awards from the
National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association
The National Sports Media Association (NSMA), formerly the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, is an organization of sports media members in the United States, and constitutes the American chapter of the International Sports P ...
; Barry Sr. holds the record for most wins with 15. Station veteran Brian Brinkley succeeded Barry Jr. as sports director in February 2016.
Brad Edwards, who joined channel 4 as a reporter/photographer in 1973 and became late evening anchor in 1977, launched the ''In Your Corner'' series of
consumer advocacy reports in 1981. Edwards also started several community initiatives for the station to assist low-income residents, including the winter-focused "Warmth 4 Winter" and summer-focused "Fans 4 Oklahomans". Following Edwards's death in May 2006,
''In Your Corner'' duties were handled by a rotation of staffers until Scott Hines took over the role in 2007, remaining at the station until September 2019. Adam Snider was subsequently named as Hines' replacement in December 2019.
The station began to slowly expand its local news programming following the 1990 call letter change to KFOR-TV. Under the direction of then-general manager Bill Katsafanas and news director Melissa Klinzing, a greater emphasis was placed on Oklahoma-related stories and features along with the aforementioned hourly news updates. Klinzing enacted the strategy to gear KFOR-TV as "the
CNN
Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
of the (Oklahoma City) market". With Palmer Communications committing resources to the news department, KFOR-TV's news output increased from 25 hours to over 40 hours per week by 1996; the station accordingly became the top-rated local newscast with the May 1995 sweeps.
During coverage of the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing
A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...
on April 19, 1995, KFOR-TV erroneously reported a member of the
Nation of Islam
The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A centralized and hierarchical organization, the NOI is committed to black nationalism and focuses its attention on the Afr ...
contacted the station to take credit, but cautioned the phone call might have been a
crank call. Lead anchor Linda Cavanaugh was in
Vietnam
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
producing a series about
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
experiences, and only found out about the bombing by seeing KFOR-TV's coverage, helmed by co-anchor
Devin Scillian, simulcast on CNN in her hotel room;
NBC additionally relayed KFOR-TV's feed across their entire network.
In the bombing's aftermath, then-KFOR reporter Jayna Davis filed a report claiming that
Timothy McVeigh was seen drinking beer with a former Iraqi soldier in an Oklahoma City tavern; the individual Davis implicated on-air sued the station, while KFOR-TV sued Davis and her husband after they stole videotapes of her past work when she left the station.
Cavanaugh would produce and host ''Tapestry'', a 1996 documentary on the lives of survivors of the bombing honored with four regional Emmys, a
Gabriel Award, and accolades by the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, the
National Press Club and the
Society of Professional Journalists
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, lette ...
.
Linda Cavanaugh spent her entire 40-year broadcasting career at the station, from October 17, 1977, to December 15, 2017.
Originally an assignment reporter and news photographer, Cavanaugh was promoted to weekend anchor in June 1978, and then became the station's first weeknight co-anchor the following year. Until her retirement in 2017, Cavanaugh's co-anchors included George Tomek, Brad Edwards, Gary Essex, Jerry Adams,
Jane Jayroe,
Dan Slocum, Bob Bruce, Devin Scillian and Kevin Ogle. In addition to ''Tapestry'', Cavanaugh's 1989 documentary ''From Red Soil to Red Square''—assisted by chief photographer Tony Stizza—about life in the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
under
glasnost
''Glasnost'' ( ; , ) is a concept relating to openness and transparency. It has several general and specific meanings, including a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information and the inadmissi ...
was awarded the Edward Weintal Prize for Diplomatic Reporting.
KFOR-TV has competed with KWTV for first place among the market's local television newscasts for decades. It had placed second behind KWTV in the morning and late evening news timeslots.
Nielsen later found an error in KFOR's ratings reports in September 2008, in which share points were mistakenly assigned to KFOR's 4.1 digital multicast signal from 2005 to 2008; the corrected ratings showed that it had placed second in all timeslots at that time. On June 5, 2006, KFOR-TV began producing a half-hour weeknight 9 p.m. newscast for KAUT-TV; by 2023, the total weekly output of news across both stations was hours, including the KAUT 9 p.m. news and the two-hour morning show ''Rise and Shine''.
A collection of
16 mm
16 mm film is a historically popular and economical Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 mm and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It ...
news footage shot by WKY-TV between 1953 and 1979 was donated to the
Oklahoma Historical Society
The Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) is an agency of the government of Oklahoma dedicated to promotion and preservation of Oklahoma's history and its people by collecting, interpreting, and disseminating knowledge and artifacts of Oklahoma. ...
, which made the films available on its website and a dedicated YouTube channel, in 2013.
In 2025, KFOR and reporter Ali Meyer won an
Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award for coverage of the wrongful conviction of
Glynn Simmons, which was overturned after nearly 50 years.
Severe weather coverage

Channel 4 has laid claim as the first television station to house a professional
meteorological
Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agriculture ...
department, beginning with
Wally Kinnan's February 1951 hiring as a nightly
weather presenter
A weather presenter (also known as a weather girl, weatherman or weather broadcaster) is a person who presents the Weather forecasting, weather forecast daily on radio, television or internet news broadcasts.
Using tools such as projected weathe ...
, dubbed "Wally the Weatherman". A graduate of MIT, Kinnan was one of the first meteorologists to be awarded a "seal of approval" by the American Meteorological Society with seal number No. 3 and was on active duty with the U.S. Air Force, stationed at Tinker Air Force Base as an Air Weather Service (AWS) officer and tornado researcher. Kinnan had developed methodology to predict and detect tornadoes using radar by identifying wind patterns to predict precipitation movement, despite the AWS's belief no method could exist to accurately predict them. Kinnan was soon teamed with fellow meteorologist Harry Volkman, who joined WKY-TV in March 1952 after a two-year stint at Tulsa's KOTV.
WKY-TV holds the distinction of being the first television station to broadcast a
tornado warning. Station general manager P.A. Sugg and Oklahoma Senator Mike Monroney had actively lobbied the federal government to overturn a ban on disseminating tornado alerts to the public, believing the high fatality risk and urgency for residents to take safety precautions outweighed concerns that they could incite panic.
Several weeks after Harry Volkman joined the station on March 21, 1952, Sugg intercepted an AWS Tornado warning#Early history, tornado forecast—intended to be released exclusively to Tinker Base staff—and instructed Volkman to deliver an on-air bulletin of the "tornado risk" for central Oklahoma.
Though he had apprehension of facing arrest for violating government rules, Volkman agreed to deliver the warning after Sugg volunteered to take responsibility. WKY-TV and WKY remained on-air until 1 am, with residents of Woodward, Oklahoma, Woodward, Alva, Oklahoma, Alva and adjacent farm communities having retreated to storm cellars, prompted by the alert. It was on May 1, 1954, that Frank McGee intercepted another AWS weather bulletin meant for Tinker Base regarding a tornadic thunderstorm approaching Meeker, Oklahoma, Meeker, relaying it over the phone to Volkman. No one in Meeker lost their lives despite the tornado's destruction, with one resident telling an Associated Press reporter, "God bless Harry Volkman." The federal ban on broadcasting tornado watches/warnings was eventually repealed in part due to the efforts of Volkman and Kinnan, and WKY-TV became the first station to hold a contract with the National Weather Service.
Volkman left the station in October 1955 to join KWTV and KOKC (AM), KOMA (1520 AM), prompting Kinnan to take over his nightly forecasting duties. On January 23, 1958, WKY-TV became the first Oklahoma television station to use the weather radar from Will Rogers Field during severe weather conditions, with an effective range of radius. The station additionally installed a converted surplus military radar for use as a radar of their own, using that unit until 1970. Kinnan departed WKY-TV in September 1958 to join Philadelphia's WRCV-TV, then Owned-and-operated station, owned by NBC; Bob Thomas, who had joined the station at the end of 1957, became Kinnan's replacement. 1958 also saw the hiring of Jim Williams, who would succeed Bob Thomas as chief meteorologist in 1967. Williams worked at channel 4 for 32 years, earning industry praise for a calm and steady on-air demeanor in addition to pioneering further technical advancements.In recent years, KFOR-TV, KWTV and KOCO-TV have displayed a public rivalry over severe weather coverage. KWTV became the first station in the country to use a Doppler weather radar system in 1981, then upgraded the system in 1984. Channel 4 followed suit with colorized Doppler radar in 1986, then "Super Doppler" in 1990. Mike Morgan joined KFOR-TV as chief meteorologist in 1993,
having taken over for one of Jim Williams' short-lived successors, Wayne Shattuck, who ''himself'' preceded Morgan at KOCO-TV in the same position.
In 1994, KFOR-TV became the first television station to transmit images over cell phones with the development of "First Video", technology that allowed the station's news crews to send photos and video of severe weather over mobile relays for broadcast. While the video was transmitted at lower frame rates, this enabled quicker transmission and increased flexibility compared to conventional microwave or satellite facilities. For decades, KFOR-TV's helicopters have been used extensively in newsgathering and severe weather coverage, with the station currently operating a Bell 206#Civilian, Bell 206L-4 LongRanger IV. Along with KWTV's chopper, it captured live, continuous footage of an 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado, F5 tornado that killed 36 people from Amber, Oklahoma, Amber to Midwest City on May 3, 1999, with Moore, Oklahoma, Moore among the hardest hit, which earned industrial acclaim for station chopper pilot Jim Gardner. Government officials praised the local broadcast media as a whole after the storm for properly alerting the public and preventing additional fatalities.
KWTV management criticized KFOR-TV after what it deemed "sensationalistic" coverage on March 7, 2000, when the station preempted programming for possible tornadic activity, the only station in the market to do so. KWTV meteorologist Gary England then stated on-air that other stations—not specifically citing KFOR-TV or Mike Morgan—should not take a "chicken little" approach by excessively covering tornadoes that don't immediately threaten life and property, and compared it to "Shouting fire in a crowded theater, yelling 'fire' in a crowded auditorium".
Morgan and KFOR-TV defended their coverage after hearing of initial damage to telephone poles and eyewitness reports that suggested dangerous conditions. During an October 2000 storm, Morgan noted on-air that KFOR-TV's "The Edge" radar was "20 to 25 minutes" ahead of NEXRAD data due to unexpected Latency (engineering), data lag, noting that KWTV forecaster Brady Bus erroneously listed a specific area as in "the danger zone" minutes after the fact; Bus later remarked he didn't put stock in anything said by someone without a meteorological degree. After Tornado outbreak sequence of May 2003#Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, another tornado struck Moore in 2003, KFOR-TV invested in the first million-watt radar system in the area, which came into service in 2005. David Payne (meteorologist), David Payne, a KFOR-TV meteorologist from 1993 to 2013, also performed storm chasing for the station during severe weather coverage, most notably capturing footage of a rare anticyclonic tornado that damaged the El Reno Regional Airport on April 24, 2006.
Payne left the station in 2013 to become KWTV's chief meteorologist, working with, and ultimately succeeding, Gary England.
It was KFOR-TV's coverage of the May 20, 2013, 2013 Moore tornado, EF5 tornado which struck Moore that garnered national and international attention, as it was significantly aided by chopper footage that captured both the tornado's path in real-time and the immediate destruction to the city.
Visuals from the scene, and particularly from KFOR-TV's helicopter, were aired live on CNN leading to increased coverage by other national news outlets and pleas to donate to the American Red Cross on social media. The station was awarded the 2015 News & Documentary Emmy Awards, News & Documentary Emmy Award for "Regional – Spot News" for their coverage of the tornado with the staff dedicating the Emmy to the citizens of Moore.
It was the third national Emmy in channel 4's history, having also won in the same category in 2007 for their 2006 El Reno tornado coverage.
Non-news
In addition to newscasts, KFOR-TV also airs some ancillary non-news local programming. Since 1993, KFOR-TV has aired the Sunday morning talk show ''Flash Point'', hosted by weeknight anchor Kevin Ogle with Mike Turpen and Todd Lamb (politician), Todd Lamb as Liberalism in the United States, liberal and Conservatism in the United States, conservative panelists, respectively.
[
* ] The station has exclusively broadcast the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon benefiting the Oklahoma City National Memorial, Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum since its April 2001 inaugural run.
KFOR-TV originates ''Discover Oklahoma'', a half-hour regionally syndicated program highlighting tourist attractions, events and restaurants produced by the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation. The program initially ran on KFOR-TV from 1992 to 1995, and returned to the station in 2014 after a 21-year run at KWTV.
Notable on-air staff
Current staff
* Todd Lamb (politician), Todd Lamb, political commentator and ''Flash Point'' panelist
* Kevin Ogle, weeknight anchor, reporter and statewide newsreader
* Mike Turpen, political analyst and ''Flash Point'' panelist
Former staff
*
Bob Barry Jr.
*
Bob Barry Sr.
* Tiffany Blackmon
*
Linda Cavanaugh
*
Bob Dotson, later of
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...
*
Brad Edwards
*
Mary Hart, later of ''
Entertainment Tonight
''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Par ...
''
* Burns Hargis
*
Dave Hood
* Kirk Humphreys
*
Jane Jayroe
*
Wally Kinnan
* Herschell Gordon Lewis
* Ben McCain
*
Butch McCain
*
Frank McGee, later of NBC News
* David Payne (meteorologist), David Payne
* Russell Pierson, agriculture reporter from 1959 to 1983
*
Ross Porter
* Marianne Rafferty
*
Devin Scillian
* Bella Shaw, later of
CNN
Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
* Hank Thompson (musician), Hank Thompson
*
Ron Thulin
* Reed Timmer
* Harry Volkman
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is Multiplex (TV), multiplexed:
On October 8, 2020, ATSC 3.0 Next Gen TV launched in Oklahoma City, with KAUT-TV as the host station and KFOR-TV as one of the feeds offered. KAUT's main subchannel in ATSC 1.0 format was moved onto KFOR-TV's multiplex on that date.
Analog-to-digital conversion
KFOR-TV began transmitting a Digital terrestrial television, digital television signal on UHF channel 27 on June 1, 1999, becoming the first television station in Oklahoma City and the state of Oklahoma as a whole to begin operating a digital signal; until KFOR-DT began broadcasting on a full-time basis on May 1, 2002, the digital feed only transmitted NBC prime time and NBC Sports, sports programming as well as a limited schedule of local programs carried by the main analog signal. The station discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, VHF channel 4, on June 12, 2009, as part of the Digital television transition in the United States, federally mandated transition from analog to digital television; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 27.
Translators
KFOR-TV is additionally rebroadcast over a network of nine Low-power broadcasting#Television, low-power digital Broadcast relay station#Broadcast translators, translator stations:
* Cherokee, Oklahoma, Cherokee–Alva, Oklahoma, Alva: K20JD-D
* Elk City, Oklahoma, Elk City: K32OF-D
* Gage, Oklahoma, Gage, etc.: K20BR-D
* Hollis, Oklahoma, Hollis: K34JJ-D
* Mooreland, Oklahoma, Mooreland, etc.: K33JM-D
* Sayre, Oklahoma, Sayre: K23ND-D
* Seiling, Oklahoma, Selling: K18LY-D
* Strong City, Oklahoma, Strong City: K18LS-D
* Weatherford, Oklahoma, Weatherford: K28OX-D
See also
* ''Ain't Nobody Got Time for That''
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
*
WKY KTVY KFOR Archives(YouTube channel maintained by the
Oklahoma Historical Society
The Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) is an agency of the government of Oklahoma dedicated to promotion and preservation of Oklahoma's history and its people by collecting, interpreting, and disseminating knowledge and artifacts of Oklahoma. ...
)
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