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KJRH-TV (channel 2) 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
Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...
, United States, affiliated with
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. It is owned by the
E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglom ...
alongside Okmulgee-licensed
Ion Television Ion Television (referred to on-air as simply Ion) is an American broadcast television network and FAST television channel owned by the Scripps Networks subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August ...
outlet
KTPX-TV KTPX-TV (channel 44) is a television station licensed to Okmulgee, Oklahoma, United States, serving as the Ion Television outlet for the Tulsa area. It is owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company, E.W. Scripps ...
(channel 44). KJRH-TV's studios are located on South Peoria Avenue and East 37th Street in midtown Tulsa, and its transmitter is located near South 273rd East Avenue near Broken Arrow.


History


Early history under Central Plains Enterprises

The VHF channel 2 allocation was contested between two groups, both led by prominent Oklahoma oilmen, that competed for approval by the
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(FCC) to be the holder of the
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to build and
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to operate a new television station on the third commercial VHF allocation to be assigned to Tulsa. The Southwestern Sales Corporation – owned by
William G. Skelly William Grove Skelly (June 10, 1878 – April 11, 1957) was an entrepreneur who made a fortune in the oil business. Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, he moved to Kansas in 1916, then to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1919, where he founded Skelly Oil Company. B ...
, founder of
Skelly Oil Skelly Oil Company was a medium-sized oil company founded in 1919 by William Grove (Bill) Skelly, Chesley Coleman Herndon and Frederick A. Pielsticker in Tulsa, Oklahoma. J. Paul Getty acquired control of the company during the 1930s. It b ...
and the Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, and owner of local radio station KVOO (1170 AM, now
KOTV KOTV-DT (channel 6) is a television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Griffin Media alongside Muskogee, Oklahoma, Muskogee-licensed The CW, CW affiliate KQCW-DT (channel 19) and radio stations KOTV ...
) – filed the initial permit application on June 27, 1952, one week before the FCC released a Report and Order reallocation memorandum that lifted a four-year moratorium on new television broadcast license applications. KVOO had first proposed television broadcasts in 1939, when Skelly and then-
general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
W. B. Way purchased $35,000 worth of television equipment for experimental purposes. The other early applicant was All-Oklahoma Broadcasting – a consortium that owned radio station KRMG (740 AM) and included, among other investors,
Kerr-McGee The Kerr-McGee Corporation, founded in 1929, was an American energy company involved in oil exploration, production of crude oil, natural gas, perchlorate and uranium mining and milling in various countries. On June 23, 2006, Anadarko Petroleu ...
co-founders Robert S. Kerr (whose wife, Grayce Kerr, owned the same 25.3% level of interest in All-Oklahoma as that held by her State Senator husband) and Dean A. McGee (who owned 12.6% of the company) – filed a separate license application four weeks later on July 25. The two groups ultimately decided to merge their respective applications; the consolidated entity, Central Plains Enterprises – which was formed as a 50/50 venture between Southwestern Sales Corporation and All-Oklahoma Broadcasting – filed their new permit application for channel 2 into the FCC on February 20, 1953; in order to comply with FCC rules that barred common ownership of two or more radio stations operating on the same
broadcast band A broadcast band is a segment of the radio spectrum used for broadcasting. See also * North American broadcast television frequencies * AM broadcasting * FM broadcasting * Dead air * Internet radio * Radio network * Music radio * Old-time radio ...
and to allow the Kerrs and McGee to join Skelly in the venture, All-Oklahoma Broadcasting sold KRMG to the Western Broadcasting Company (then-owner of KWHW in
Altus Altus or ALTUS may refer to: Music *Alto, a musical term meaning second highest musical or vocal type * Altus (voice type), a vocal type also known as countertenor Places * Altus, Arkansas, US ** Altus AVA, a wine-growing region near Altus, Ark ...
) for $305,000. Central Plains concurrently faced new competition for the channel 2 permit, when two new applicants filed for the frequency. The Fryer Television Company – majority owned by Standard-Fryer Drilling Company founder R. J. Fryer – which, as the UHF Television Company, had originally filed to operate a station on
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...
channel 23 (allocation now occupied by
Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...
affiliate
KOKI-TV KOKI-TV (channel 23) is a television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. It is owned by Imagicomm Communications alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KMYT-TV (channel 41). The two sta ...
), chose to modify its construction permit/license application to seek the VHF channel 2 allocation. (This effectively resulted in the channel 23 allocation being granted to Albec Oil Company founder/owner J. Elfred Beck, who launched
KCEB KCEB (channel 54) is a television station in Longview, Texas, United States, affiliated with the Fubo Sports Network. The station is owned by Innovate Corp. alongside Tyler-licensed low-power station KPKN-LD, both of which share RF channel ...
on that frequency on March 13, 1954.)
The Oil Capital Television Corporation – a group led by several Tulsa businessmen including Fred Jones, owner of local car dealership Fred Jones
Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...
and half-owner of KFMJ (1050 AM, now
KGTO KGTO (1050 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Tulsa, Oklahoma. The station is owned by Perry Publishing and Broadcasting and licensed to KJMM, Inc. It airs an urban adult contemporary music format. Its studios are located in the Copper ...
); Tom P. McDermott, director of the Independent Tire Dealers Association; Charles L. McMahon Jr., founder of C. L. McMahon Inc. Oil Producers; insurance executive Dan P. Holmes; and L. Francis Rooney, president of the Manhattan Construction Company – concurrently became the third applicant for the license. On June 16, TulsaVision Inc. – a group co-owned by John E. Mabee, founder of oil drilling contracting firm Mabee Consolidated Corporation, and broadcasting executive John C. Mullins, then-president and general manager of
KPHO-TV KPHO-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Media alongside independent stations KTVK (channel 3) and KPHE-LD (channel 44), a group known together as "Arizona's Family ...
and KPHO radio (now
KFYI KFYI (550 AM broadcasting, AM) – branded ''News/Talk 550 KFYI'' – is a Commercial broadcasting, commercial talk radio, news/talk Radio broadcasting, radio station licensed to serve Phoenix, Arizona. Owned by iHeartMedia, KFYI serves the P ...
) in Phoenix – submitted the fourth application for the frequency. All three competitors dropped out of the bidding over a five-month period beginning in the winter of late 1953. On December 11 of that year, TulsaVision Inc. became the first to withdraw its application, after having earlier applied to have its bid dismissed by the FCC due to ongoing health issues that Mabee was going through at the time. Fryer Television withdrew its application via the grant of an FCC petition on February 12, 1954. The McDermott-Jones group would later follow suit, after Oil Capital Television's principals reached an agreement with the principal owners of Central Plains on June 4. Under said agreement, McDermott, Jones and other shareholders of their company would be given the option of obtaining a 15% interest in Central Plains as compensation for the retraction (these shares were sold back to Central Plains Enterprises in 1963). The FCC granted the permit to Central Plains on July 8, after the agency formally dismissed Oil Capital Television's application. Three months before it signed on, Skelly chose instead to assign his group's television station the KVOO call letters (which stood for "Voice of Oklahoma") that had been used by the companion radio station since it signed on in June 1926. (The station's initial slogan, "The Eyes of Oklahoma," was an extension of the "Voice of Oklahoma" slogan originated by KVOO radio.) The station began test broadcasts on November 15, 1954, originally transmitting over a
closed-circuit television Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...
system. KVOO-TV officially commenced regular programming three weeks later on December 5, 1954 with a 39-minute special presentation at 3 p.m. that afternoon, respectively featuring speeches from Skelly, Kerr and McGee and a film from NBC dedicating the station's launch; following that dedication program was the first NBC network program aired by channel 2, ''
Meet the Press ''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television Sunday morning talk show broadcast on NBC. It is the List of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running program on American television, though its format has changed since th ...
''. The station – which originally broadcast for 17 hours each day from 7 a.m. to midnight – originally operated from studio facilities located in the Akdar Building on South Denver Avenue (between West Third and West Fourth Streets) in downtown Tulsa. KVOO was also the third television station (behind
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
affiliate
KOTV KOTV-DT (channel 6) is a television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Griffin Media alongside Muskogee, Oklahoma, Muskogee-licensed The CW, CW affiliate KQCW-DT (channel 19) and radio stations KOTV ...
hannel 6 which debuted on October 22, 1949, and KCEB) and the second VHF television station to sign on in the Tulsa market. (
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
affiliate KTVX hannel 8, now KTUL">KTUL.html" ;"title="hannel 8, now KTUL">hannel 8, now KTULdid not have its city of license reassigned from Muskogee, Oklahoma, Muskogee to Tulsa until August 1957, although that station had been operating auxiliary studio facilities located at Lookout Mountain (Oklahoma), Lookout Mountain in southwest Tulsa from the time it began operations.) Channel 2 has carried programming from NBC since its sign-on, having inherited the affiliation through KVOO radio's longtime relationship with the television network's direct radio predecessor, the
NBC Red 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 ...
, with which it had been affiliated since 1927. It assumed the NBC affiliation from KCEB, which had been serving as the Tulsa market's primary affiliate of the network since its sign-on that March. (KOTV – which had been carrying select NBC programs since that station's sign-on – continued to maintain a secondary NBC affiliation after KCEB debuted, under an agreement that allowed KOTV to continue "cherry-picking" some of the network's stronger programs for broadcast to the entire market, as reception of KCEB's signal was nearly impossible in much of northeastern Oklahoma without an external UHF tuner due to the fact that electronics manufacturers were not required to incorporate UHF tuners into television sets at the time.) In 1955, channel 2 became the first television station in the Tulsa market to begin broadcasting its programming 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 ...
, initially transmitting NBC network programming in the format. Broadcasting equipment was installed in the Akdar Building studios that allowed the station to televise local films as well as advertising and promotional slides in color. During the 1950s and 1960s, KVOO-TV produced several locally produced shows. Among these early local programs was ''The
University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a Private university, private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Presbyterian Church, although it is now nondenominational, and the campus ...
Presents'', a weekly half-hour program developed and co-produced as a laboratory project by the university's television production department, which premiered in September 1955; the program initially ran weekly until January 1957, and was revived during the first semester of the university's 1963–64 academic year. children's program ''Big Bill & Oom-A-Gog'', a series that aired from 1959 to 1964, which cartoons and live wraparound segments conducted in front of an audience of local children; host William "Big Bill" Blair was often accompanied by a robot named Oom-A-Gog, who lumbered into the studio through a rolling steel door. Another of its most popular shows during this period was ''Fantastic Theater'', a locally produced weekly late-night showcase of classic
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and
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s that aired on Friday and Saturday late nights from 1965 to 1968. Host Josef Peter Hardt – who, as the character Mr. Oktoberfest, gave his hosting delivery in an ominous, authentic
German accent The phonology of Standard German is the standard pronunciation or accent of the German language. It deals with current phonology and phonetics as well as with historical developments thereof as well as the geographical variants and the influence ...
(Hardt was born in the
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river city of
Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Rout ...
) – typically began each show greeting viewers with "Good evening, meine freunde, and welcome to ''Fantastic Theater''," following a brief philosophical monologue tied to the theme of that week's movie. Ownership of W. G. Skelly's interests in KVOO-TV and KVOO radio would transfer to one of his daughters, Joan Skelly Stuart, and her husband, Harold Stuart, after the elder Skelly died of
kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as renal failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney fa ...
on April 11, 1957. On December 1, 1957, KVOO-TV and KVOO radio moved their respective operations into a purpose-built
Streamline Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by Aerodynamics, aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In indu ...
art deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
facility on 37th Street and Peoria Avenue in midtown Tulsa's Brookside district. The Brookside Broadcast Center facility, designed by Tulsa-based architectural firm Koberling & Brandborg (a partnership between Joseph Koberling and Lennart Brandborg), was constructed under a floorplan that allowed the television and radio stations to share news department resources. In November 1964, KVOO began originating its locally produced programs in color from its Broadcast Center studios, and features a large spire tower atop the building that houses the station's auxiliary tower (which was originally also used for KVOO radio's transmissions). In November 1964, KVOO-TV purchased a color camera for programming production and began producing its local programs in color.


Scripps ownership

On June 15, 1970, Central Plains Enterprises sold KVOO-TV to the Scripps-Howard Broadcasting subsidiary of the
Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
-based
E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglom ...
, for $6.6 million in cash plus $1.2 million worth of stock shares; the sale received FCC approval on November 25, 1970, and was finalized the following month on December 31. On January 1, 1971, the day after the Scripps purchase was completed, the station changed its call letters to KTEW-TV (standing for "Tulsa E. W. Scripps", and
phonetically Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...
similar to their channel number of
two 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and the only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many ...
). This change was made due to an FCC rule in effect at the time that banned TV and radio stations in the same market, but with different owners from sharing the same call letters. That year, KTEW began operating three low-powered translator stations – K04DY (now a campus
independent station An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast television network, network. As such, it only broadcasts broadcast syndication, syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered pr ...
operated by
Northeastern State University Northeastern State University (NSU) is a public university with its main campus in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The university also has two other campuses in Muskogee and Broken Arrow as well as online. Northeastern is the oldest institution of hig ...
) in
Tahlequah Tahlequah ( ; , ) is a city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It is part of the Green Country region of Oklahoma and was established as a capital of the 19th-century Cherokee Nation in 1839, as par ...
, K04DW in
Independence, Kansas Independence is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Kansas, Montgomery County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,548. It was named in commemoration of the ...
, and K04EJ in
Coffeyville, Kansas Coffeyville is a city in southeastern Montgomery County, Kansas, United States, located along the Verdigris River in the state's southeastern region. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,826. Coffeyville is the most pop ...
– to relay the station's programming in areas of east-central Oklahoma and southeastern
Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
that could not adequately receive the signal; all three translators transmitted on VHF channel 4, but had its transmitters spaced sufficiently far apart to avoid signal interference with fellow NBC affiliate WKY-TV (now
KFOR-TV KFOR-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside KAUT-TV (channel 43), an owned-and-operated station of The CW. The two stations share stu ...
) 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 ...
. On the evening of June 8, 1974, the Brookside district was struck by a destructive F3 tornado that killed one person and caused $44 million in damage. Station management sent most of KTEW's staff to seek shelter as the twister, which reached the district after tearing across the
Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically ...
, tracked close to the station's Peoria Avenue studios; the tornado narrowly missed the building and its spire tower to the north, but destroyed a Braum's Ice Cream and Dairy Stores location to the adjacent northwest of the facility. The KTEW studio facility went without electricity most of the night as
Public Service Company of Oklahoma American Electric Power Company, Inc. (AEP), (railcar reporting mark: AEPX) is an American domestic electric utility company in the United States. It is one of the largest electric utility companies in the country, with more than five mi ...
(PSO) crews attempted to restore power to the Brookside district. On July 14, 1980, the station's call letters were changed to KJRH, which were assigned in honor of Jack R. Howard, who served as president of the E. W. Scripps Company and chairman of the Scripps-Howard Broadcasting subsidiary from January 1953 until his retirement from the company in December 1976 (the "-TV" suffix was added to the callsign on February 10, 2010; the KTEW call letters are now used by a
Retro Television Network Retro TV (stylized as retrotv), formerly known as Retro Television Network, is an American broadcast television network owned by Get After It Media. The network mainly airs classic television sitcoms and drama series from the 1950s through t ...
–affiliated low-power station based in
Ponca City Ponca City () is a city in Kay County, Oklahoma, Kay County in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The city was named after the Ponca tribe. Ponca City had a population of 24,424 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 25,387 at the tim ...
). In July 1985, KJRH became the first television station in the Tulsa market to broadcast in
stereo Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...
, initially broadcasting NBC network programs, local programs and certain syndicated shows that were transmitted in the audio format. In April 1992, KJRH became the first Tulsa-area television station to relay its signal directly to a cable television system by
fiber optics An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...
, after it activated a fiber cable link between the Peoria Avenue studios and the local headend facility of
United Artists Cable UA-Columbia Cablevision was a cable television provider in the United States. Originally partially owned by United Artists Entertainment (UA), UA would later gain full control. It was one of the largest providers in the early years of cable TV s ...
(now operated by
Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable), is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services comp ...
, which acquired successor Tele-Communications Inc.'s Tulsa cable operations in March 2000) near 44th Street and South Sheridan Avenue – the construction of which was completed weeks prior on March 19. KJRH was not affected by a 1994 affiliation deal between Scripps and its ABC affiliates, as
Allbritton Communications Allbritton Communications Company was an American media company based in Arlington, Virginia. It was the leading subsidiary of Perpetual Corporation, a private holding company owned by the family of company founder and former Riggs Bank presiden ...
(who then owned KTUL) was in the process of signing a group-wide affiliation deal with ABC at the time. In November 1997, KJRH changed its on-air branding to "2 NBC" for general purposes and ''2 News NBC'' for its local newscasts. The station changed its branding to " hannel2 Works for You" in January 2001, following the implementation of a new graphics package that placed the current red and white "square 2" logo (which had first been introduced in May 2001 as a time-temperature bug shown during local newscasts, syndicated programming and intermittently during some NBC network shows) into full-time usage. In January 2001, per an agreement reached by the group involving
Paxson Communications Ion Media, LLC (formerly known as Paxson Communications Corporation and Ion Media Networks) is a subsidiary of the E.W. Scripps Company that operates the linear broadcast networks Ion Television, Ion Mystery, and Ion Plus. Prior to its acquisitio ...
-owned stations in three markets, the E. W. Scripps Company entered into local marketing and joint sales agreements with Pax TV (now
Ion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...
)
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 ...
KTPX-TV KTPX-TV (channel 44) is a television station licensed to Okmulgee, Oklahoma, United States, serving as the Ion Television outlet for the Tulsa area. It is owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company, E.W. Scripps ...
(channel 44). Under the agreement, KJRH handled advertising sales for channel 44, and maintained a news share agreement to allowed that station to air rebroadcasts of channel 2's 10 p.m. newscast after its initial airing; KTPX also occasionally served as a default carrier of NBC programs that could not air on KJRH because of conflicts with special event programming. The LMA ended on July 1, 2005, upon Pax's rebranding as i: Independent Television. On December 31, 2009, the Peoria Avenue studios served as the centerpiece of "The Party!
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on Brookside" event in Tulsa's Brookside entertainment district, which also helped benefit the Oklahoma Food Bank. During the close of the festivities, a large, lighted "crystal" ball was dropped from the large spire atop the microwave tower at the building during the countdown to the start of 2010. Streets in the Brookside district near the studio were closed off to allow pedestrian traffic for attendees to the event inspired by the New Year's celebrations at
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
's
Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...
. On July 30, 2014, Scripps announced it had reached an agreement with
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 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 ...
–based
Journal Communications Journal Media Group (formerly Journal Communications) was a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based newspaper publishing company. The company's roots were first established in 1882 as the owner of its namesake, the ''Milwaukee Journal'', and expanded into br ...
to merge their respective broadcasting assets (consisting of KJRH and its 21 fellow existing Scripps television stations, and Journal's thirteen television and 46 radio stations) under its corporate umbrella, and, in turn, spin off its newspaper publishing division into Journal's remaining print unit, which would be rechristened as the Journal Media Group (which was acquired by 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 ...
in August 2015, three months after the refocused publishing company spun off its own broadcasting and digital assets into
Tegna Inc. Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publ ...
). The stock-only merger/spin-off transaction – in which Scripps shareholders acquired minority stakes in Journal, while Journal shareholders received minority shares in Scripps – was approved by the FCC on December 12, 2014, and finalized on April 1, 2015. The acquisition of Journal's broadcasting unit displaced KJRH as Scripps's smallest television station by market size (as Journal had owned ten stations in seven markets with a Nielsen ranking lower than Tulsa, the smallest being ABC affiliate and
KIVI-TV KIVI-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Nampa, Idaho, United States, serving the Boise area as an affiliate of ABC. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, the station maintains studios on East Chisholm Drive in Nampa (along I-84/ ...
repeater
KSAW-LD KSAW-LD (channel 6) is a low-power television station in Twin Falls, Idaho, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, the station maintains an advertising sales office in the Blue Lakes Office Park on Falls Aven ...
in
Twin Falls, Idaho Twin Falls is the county seat of and the largest city in Twin Falls County, Idaho, United States. The city had a population of 51,807 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census.
), reunited it with KFAQ after 44 years under separate ownership, and placed it under common ownership with Journal's other four Tulsa radio properties,
KVOO-FM KVOO-FM (98.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The station is owned by Griffin Communications and it airs a country music radio format. In 1988, the FM station picked up the heritage call sign and country format from its ...
(98.5), KBEZ (92.9 FM), Muskogee-licensed
KHTT KHTT (106.9 FM broadcasting, FM, "106.9 K-HITS") is a Contemporary hit radio, top 40 mainstream (CHR) radio station city of license, licensed to Muskogee, Oklahoma, Muskogee, Oklahoma, and serving the Tulsa metropolitan area. It is owned by Gr ...
(106.9 FM) and Henryetta-licensed
KXBL-FM KXBL (99.5 FM) is a classic country radio station known as "Big Country 99.5" ("Big Country" was a slogan 1170 KVOO now KOTV used during its country music heyday). Located in Henryetta, Oklahoma, it broadcasts to the Tulsa, Oklahoma area. The s ...
(99.5). On June 25, 2018, Scripps announced it would sell its Tulsa radio properties to Oklahoma City-based
Griffin Communications Griffin Media is an American media company based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The company began as a subsidiary of Muskogee-based Griffin Foods, which produces a line of pancake and waffle syrups and other foods. It owns Oklahoma's two large CBS ...
– owner of rival KOTV-DT and CW-affiliated sister
KQCW-DT KQCW-DT (channel 19) is a television station licensed to Muskogee, Oklahoma, United States, serving the Tulsa area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Griffin Media alongside CBS affiliate KOTV-DT (channel 6) and radio stations KOTV (1 ...
(channel 19) – for $12.5 million. Griffin began operating the radio stations under a local marketing agreement on July 30, and completed the purchase on October 2, 2018, separating KJRH and KFAQ for a second time.


Duopoly with KTPX-TV

On September 25, 2020, a consortium made up of Scripps and
Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Originally a textile manufacturer, the company transitioned into a conglomerate starting in 1965 under the management of c ...
announced the proposed purchase of Ion Media. The sale was completed on January 7, 2021, making Ion Television station KTPX-TV a sister station to KJRH-TV. The station took advantage of having a sister UHF-band station to address shortfalls in its VHF coverage by adding a simulcast mapped to 2.11 using KTPX's spectrum at the start of March 2021.


Programming

KJRH-TV currently broadcasts the entire NBC network schedule, albeit with variances for certain programs that place them outside of their network-recommended scheduling (as detailed in the section below). However, it may preempt some NBC programs in order to air long-form
breaking news Breaking news, also called late-breaking news, a special report, special coverage, or a news flash, is a current issue that warrants the interruption of a scheduled broadcast in order to report its details. News broadcasters also use the term ...
or
severe weather Severe weather is any dangerous meteorological phenomenon with the potential to cause damage, serious social disruption, or loss of human life. These vary depending on the latitude, altitude, topography, and atmospheric conditions. High ...
coverage, which may be rebroadcast on tape delay over KJRH's main channel in place of regular overnight programs. Station personnel also gives viewers the option of watching the affected shows on NBC's website and
mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...
or its cable/satellite
video-on-demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typical static broadcasting ...
service the day after their initial airing. The station currently airs ''
Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...
'' in three blocks – the main program from 7 to 9 a.m., the third hour from 10 to 11 a.m. and ''
Today with Hoda & Jenna ''Today with Jenna & Friends'' (also known as the fourth hour of ''Today'' or simply ''Jenna & Friends'') is an American daytime television talk show on NBC, hosted by Jenna Bush Hager and a rotating cast of guest hosts. The program airs as the ...
'' from 11 a.m. to noon – with the final two hours airing on tape delay in order to air ''
Live with Kelly and Mark ''Live with Kelly and Mark'' (or simply ''Live'') is an American syndicated morning talk show hosted by Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos. Executive produced by Michael Gelman, the ''Live with...'' show formula has aired under various hosts si ...
'' during the 9 a.m. hour. It also airs the network's educational program block ''
The More You Know ''The More You Know'' is a series of public service announcements (PSAs) broadcast on the NBCUniversal family of networks in the United States and other locations, featuring educational messages. These PSAs are broadcast occasionally during NB ...
'' on a one-hour delay in order to accommodate its two-hour-long Saturday morning newscast, and airs ''Meet the Press'' on a one-hour delay from the political talk show's live feed (at 9 a.m.).


Past program preemptions and deferrals

Historically, although NBC was far less tolerant of preemptions than its fellow major network rivals, KVOO/KTEW/KJRH has either preempted or aired out of pattern certain NBC network programs to make room for other local or syndicated programs, including some
sporting events Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in a ...
and an occasional prime time show. From the 1970s to the mid-1990s, it preempted a selected number of NBC late morning
daytime Daytime or day as observed on Earth is the period of the day during which a given location experiences Daylight, natural illumination from direct sunlight. Daytime occurs when the Sun appears above the local horizon, that is, anywhere on the ...
shows in order to run syndicated and locally produced programs; this was particularly the case during the early and mid-1990s, when KJRH preempted the vast majority of NBC's late-morning
talk show A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ...
s and
soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...
s, opting to clear only the afternoon soap operas ''Days of Our Lives'' (which aired on the station until the series moved to streaming service
Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...
in September 2022) and '' Another World''. Among the notable daytime preemptions included ''
Leeza ''Leeza'' is an NBC and syndicated daytime television talk show. It premiered on June 14, 1993 as ''John & Leeza from Hollywood'', hosted by John Tesh and Leeza Gibbons. Tesh left the show after seven months, and on January 17, 1994, the pro ...
'', which was preempted throughout its NBC run from June 1993 (under its original format as ''John and Leeza from Hollywood'') until it was moved to syndication in September 1999; from September 1997 until it was discontinued in December 1999, KJRH preempted '' Sunset Beach'' in favor of syndicated programming. Channel 2, the only NBC affiliate to have preempted ''Sunset Beach'', removed the soap from its schedule eight months into its run, after which
UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that operated from 1995 to 2006. It was originally a joint venture between Chris-Craft Industries (later sold to News Corporation)'s subsidiary, United Television, ...
affiliate KTFO (channel 41, formerly KGCT and now
MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...
affiliate
KMYT-TV KMYT-TV (channel 41) is a television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Imagicomm Communications alongside Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox affiliate KOKI-TV (channel 23). The two stations share ...
) carried the program on tape delay in the mid-afternoon. The station also preempted the final two hours of NBC's
Saturday morning cartoon "Saturday-morning cartoon" is a colloquial term for the original animated series and live-action programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks. The genre was a ...
lineup from the late 1970s until 1992. In August 1996, KJRH chose to preempt nearly the entire
TNBC TNBC (or Teen NBC) was an American teen-oriented television programming block that aired on NBC from September 12, 1992 to September 28, 2002, due to its replacement with the children's-oriented '' Discovery Kids on NBC'' educational lineup. T ...
lineup (with the exception of '' Saved by the Bell: The New Class''), in favor of a mix of syndicated educational children's shows; channel 2 began clearing most of the TNBC lineup (outside of seasonal companion program ''
NBA Inside Stuff ''NBA Inside Stuff'' is a television program featuring behind the scenes activities of NBA players. The program also includes features on fitness and fundamentals of basketball. The show has had three runs on three different networks: on NBC fro ...
'') in September 1999. The station also delayed '' Late Night'' (during its
David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer, and auto racing team owner. He hosted late-night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of ''Late N ...
and
Conan O'Brien Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, actor, and producer. He is best known for having hosted Late-night talk show, late-night talk shows, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'B ...
runs) to 12:05 a.m. from September 1987 until September 2002 in order to run either syndicated sitcoms, newsmagazines or game shows in the program's recommended 11:35 p.m. timeslot. It also preempted NBC's initial prime time airing of ''
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy ''Queer Eye'' is an American reality television series that premiered on the Bravo (American TV network), Bravo network in July 2003, initially broadcast as ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy''. The series was created by executive producers David ...
'' in July 2003, citing what station management considered to be poor production values for the show and concerns that promoting a program airing on a competing cable channel—
Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels * Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 * Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing compa ...
, which NBC acquired from
Rainbow Media AMC Networks Inc. is an American mass media and entertainment corporation headquartered in Pennsylvania Plaza, 11 Penn Plaza, New York City. The company owns and operates the AMC (TV channel), AMC cable channel, BBC America, IFC (American TV ch ...
the year prior—would cannibalize viewership; the station agreed to clear a second condensed half-hour episode that NBC aired that August. In a rare instance of a station preempting a syndicated program, KJRH declined carriage of a March 1990 episode of ''
Donahue Donahue is the Americanized version of Irish surname Donohoe, which, in turn, is an Anglicized version of the ancient Irish name "Donnchadh" (sometimes "Donncha"). Donncha was a common “first name” in 9th century Ireland, and when the use o ...
'' discussing the topic of
music censorship Music censorship refers to the practice of editing musical works for various reasons, stemming from a wide variety of motivations, including moral, political, or religious reasons. Censorship can range from the complete government-enforced legal ...
with a syndicated rerun of the defunct NBC medical drama ''
Quincy M.E. ''Quincy, M.E.'' (also called ''Quincy'') is an American mystery medical drama television series from Universal Studios that was broadcast on NBC from October 3, 1976, to May 11, 1983. Jack Klugman starred in the title role as a Los Angeles Coun ...
'', which then-general manager Bill Donahue (no relation to
Phil Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * Phil (film), ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as ...
) cited was because the episode contained "numerous vulgarities and crude associations" including strong profanity in the song lyrics featured in a
music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
from one of the episode's guests,
rap Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...
group
2 Live Crew 2 Live Crew is an American hip hop group from Miami, Florida, formed in 1984. The group was originally composed of DJ Mr. Mixx (David Hobbs), Fresh Kid Ice (Christopher Wong Won), and Amazing Vee (Yuri Vielot), though its most well-known lineup ...
(portions of which were already electronically censored for broadcast), that were inappropriate to air in the station's regular 4 p.m. timeslot for ''Donahue''. KJRH management opted to rebroadcast the episode following its late newscast on April 1, preempting that night's episode of ''
The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...
''.


Sports programming

In 1986, channel 2 obtained the partial local syndication rights to broadcast regular season and postseason
college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...
games involving teams from 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 ...
– which evolved into the
Big XII The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...
in 1996 – that were distributed 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 ...
(those rights transferred to
ESPN Plus ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communication ...
in 1993, with KJRH obtaining that package once the Big Eight changed over-the-air syndication distributors). This agreement allowed the station to carry select regular season games featuring the
Oklahoma State Cowboys The Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University, located in Stillwater. The program's mascot is a cowboy named Pistol Pete. Oklahoma State participates at the National ...
and the
Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the college athletics in the United States , athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to ...
men's and women's teams, as well as any of their playoff appearances during the first three rounds of the
Big 12 men's basketball tournament The Big 12 men's basketball tournament (known since its inception in 1997 under sponsorship agreements as the Phillips 66 Big 12 men's basketball tournament) is the championship men's basketball tournament in the Big 12 Conference. It is a single ...
. Until the conference rights moved locally to WB affiliate KWBT (channel 19, now CW affiliate KQCW-DT) in 2000, most college basketball telecasts on KJRH were shown on Saturday afternoons, although it also occasionally carried prime time games on weeknights, specifically during the Big 12 men's tournament. In addition, in 1998, KJRH-TV entered into a broadcast partnership with the
University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...
's sports broadcasting unit, the Sooner Sports Network, which gave it the local over-the-air broadcast rights to televise college basketball games involving the Sooners men's and women's teams; in addition until 2011, Sooner Sports' agreement with channel 2 included the exclusive local rights to the weekly coaches programs for the Sooners' basketball and football teams. During the
1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...
and 1991 seasons, KJRH held the local syndication rights to broadcast
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
(MLB) games involving the
Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...
(which were produced by the team's flagship broadcaster at the time, Kansas City-based independent station
KSMO-TV KSMO-TV (channel 62) is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Gray Media alongside CBS affiliate KCTV (channel 5). The two stations share studios on Shawnee Mission Parkwa ...
ow a MyNetworkTV affiliate and distributed by the Royals Television Network syndication unit); Royals telecasts returned to independent station KGCT for the 1992 season. Since KJRH lost the local syndication rights to the ESPN-produced Big XII basketball telecasts to KMYT-TV after that station gained the exclusive local rights to the package in 2009 and the rights to the Sooner Sports package in 2014, all sports event broadcasts aired on the station come mainly through NBC Sports.


News operation

, KJRH-TV presently broadcasts 33 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with five hours each weekday, hours on Saturdays and hours on Sundays). The station is one of ten television in the United States (the majority of which are also owned by Scripps) that carry the "Don't Waste Your Money" consumer reports (filed by John Matarese, the consumer/investigative reporter at ABC-affiliated
sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
WCPO WCPO-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based E. W. Scripps Company, which has owned the station since its inception. WCPO-TV's ...
in Cincinnati) on a syndicated basis. The station's Doppler radar system – branded as "2 Works for You Live Radar" – provides live dual-Doppler radar data from sites northwest of Coweta in rural northern
Wagoner County Wagoner County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 80,981. Its county seat is Wagoner. Wagoner County is included in the Tulsa metropolitan area. History According to archaeological st ...
and near
Gregory Gregory may refer to: People and fictional characters * Gregory (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gregory (surname), a surname *Gregory (The Walking Dead), fictional character from the walkin ...
in southeastern
Rogers County Rogers County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 95,240, making it the sixth-most populous county in Oklahoma. The county seat is Claremore. Rogers County is ...
; both also utilize
NEXRAD NEXRAD or Nexrad (Next-Generation Radar) is a network of 159 high-resolution S-band pulse-Doppler radar, Doppler weather radars operated by the National Weather Service (NWS), an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ...
data from radar sites operated by the
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
(NWS) nationwide. KJRH has the unique characteristic of being only one of two Oklahoma television stations that maintain two Doppler radar sites operated by the station directly (the other being fellow NBC affiliate KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City, whose Doppler radar site near
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...
is the more powerful of the radar systems operated by the two stations, emitting a radiated power of 1 million watts).


News department history

Channel 2's news department began operations along with the station on December 5, 1954, originally consisting of half-hour newscasts at 6 and 10 p.m., using wire copies of local news headlines read by anchors over still newspaper photographs. The newscasts were anchored by Forrest Brokaw, who had been serving as
news director A news director is an individual at a broadcast station or network who is in charge of the news department. In local news, the news director is typically in charge of the entire news staff, including journalists, news presenters, photographers, ...
at KVOO radio since 1951 and took on the same role at KVOO-TV, remaining there until he was replaced by George Martin in 1960; Brokaw was joined alongside meteorologist Bill Hyden and sports anchor Len Morton. In 1970, the station lured Jack Morris – one of the original anchors and the founding news director at KTUL – to anchor KTEW's evening newscasts. In addition to his anchoring duties, Morris became known in the market for his nightly editorial segment, "Commentary," which provided his viewpoint on current events, often reflecting his staunchly
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
views in pertinence on national and world affairs. Channel 2 shot to the top of the local news ratings during this time, right as KTUL was fighting against it for first place, aided by colleagues, chief meteorologist Gary Galvin and sports director Jerry Webber (who joined the station, then KVOO-TV, as a news reporter in 1969). Morris left the station after a seven-year tenure in 1979, and subsequently shifted outside of the news industry to become public relations director for aerospace contractor Nordam Group. In 1976, channel 2 became the first television news operation in the Tulsa market to provide live remote footage for field reports. In February 1983, Ed Scripps Jr. – the great-grandson of KJRH's parent company namesake, Edward Willis "E.W." Scripps, and whom became an associate producer at the station one year prior after leaving a similar producing role at KCRL (now
KRNV-DT KRNV-DT (channel 4) is a television station in Reno, Nevada, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, which maintains joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner o ...
) in
Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...
– was appointed as news director. (Scripps Jr., who would later be elected to the E. W. Scripps Company's board of directors in 1998, resigned from the station in August 1993.) During this period, the station's newscasts – while usually in a strong third place behind long-dominant KTUL and perennial second placer KOTV – often competed for and even placed second at times. In September 1986, Webber – who had previously served as anchor of the 6 and 10 p.m. weekday newscasts for ten months from March 1970 until December 1971 – was moved back to the anchor desk full-time as co-anchor at 5, 6 and 10 p.m., after spending 15 years in the sports department. Replacing him was Al "Big Al" Jerkens, who had previously served as the station's weekend sports anchor from 1979 to 1982 and remained with KJRH until his retirement from full-time broadcasting on August 3, 2017. (Jerkens would stay on as an occasional sports contributor through February 2018, after ceding his sports director role to longtime weekend sports anchor Cayden McFarland.) With his combined 31-year run at KJRH, Jerkens holds the record for the longest single-station tenure for a sports anchor in the Tulsa market. In May 1990, KJRH dropped the long-standing "Newscenter 2" branding, and rebranded its newscasts under the "Channel 2 News" handle. The station positioned itself as "Tulsa's 24 Hour NewsSource" at that time, as it implemented the "24-Hour News Source" concept. The format – which was developed by
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 ...
sister station
WEWS WEWS-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It has been owned by the E. W. Scripps Company since its inception in 1946, making it one of three stations that have been built and signed on ...
earlier that year and allowed for stations to provide news headlines to viewers at times when regularly scheduled, long-form newscasts were not being carried – saw KJRH produce 30-second-long news updates near the top of each hour and brief weather updates every half-hour during local commercial break inserts within syndicated and NBC network programs. Shortly afterward, the station launched ''Channel 2 News Today'', a half-hour morning newscast at 6:30 a.m. that became the second such program to launch in the Tulsa market, competing against KTUL's ''Good Morning Oklahoma''. (The program, which was retitled ''NewsChannel 2 Today'' following a minor rebrand that took place earlier that year, would expand to a full hour at 6 a.m. on October 4, 1993, and would expand earlier over time, first to hours in September 1995, then to two hours in May 2001 and finally to hours on June 7, 2016.) In October 1990,
Tulsa County Tulsa County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 669,279, making it the second-most populous county in the state, behind only Oklahoma C ...
prosecutors presiding over the
DUI Driving under the influence (DUI) is the crime of driving, operating, or being in control of a vehicle while one is impaired from doing so safely by the effect of either alcohol (see drunk driving) or some other drug, whether recreational or ...
/
vehicular manslaughter Vehicular homicide is a crime that involves the death of a person other than the driver as a result of either criminally negligent or murderous operation of a motor vehicle. In cases of criminal negligence, the defendant is commonly charged w ...
trial of Billy Ray Hinshaw (who killed two Macomb men in a head-on collision in east Tulsa that July) attempted to subpoena KJRH news photographer Mark Whaley to testify about what he saw at the accident scene while filming the story; the
Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals is one of the two highest judicial bodies in the U.S. state of Oklahoma and is part of the Oklahoma Court System, the judicial branch of the Oklahoma state government.
intervened following an emergency order by Whaley and Scripps Jr. to stay the trial, citing state journalist shield statutes and the need to protect the station's journalistic independence. Chief Prosecutor Tom Gillert contended that issue pertained to whether journalists had "blanket immunity" from being forced to testify when no question of confidentiality, or confidential sources, was at issue. The Court of Criminal Appeals ruled in January 1992, that prosecutors could not force Whaley to testify unless prosecutors proved that any evidence cannot be obtained by other means. On October 3, 1993, the station debuted ''Insight'', a weekly public affairs program (originally hosted by weekday morning anchor Darlene Hill) with discussions focusing on prominent people and issues in the Tulsa area's ethnic community. On April 26, 1991, a KJRH storm chasing unit led by meteorologist Gary Shore observed the touchdown of what became a violent , F4 tornado near Red Rock. Shore and his photographer recorded the tornado – which traveled for and injured six people – from a position about south of the funnel, though the inflow winds into the parent supercell were strong enough to nearly blow his cap off his face before catching them as he stood in front of the tornado. Abrupt changes to KJRH's newscasts took place in the fall of 1994. Margaret "Peggy" Phillip, who had served as
managing editor A managing editor (ME) is a senior member of a publication's management team. Typically, the managing editor reports directly to the editor-in-chief and oversees all aspects of the publication. United States In the United States, a managing edi ...
at
WSVN WSVN (channel 7) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. Serving as the flagship station of locally based Sunbeam Television, it has studios on the 79th Street Causeway in North Bay Villag ...
in
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, was appointed as news director in January 1994 and brought a considerably watered-down version of WSVN's fast-paced news format to Tulsa. Prior to Phillips' appointment and the subsequent implementation of the retooled ''2 News'' identity that September, Philip and then-general manager Bill Donahue began changing the newscast anchor lineups; in March 1994, 6 p.m. anchor Karen Keith was moved from to the 5 p.m. newscast in a move to "help build the 5 p.m. news" by teaming her with Webber. Denise Brewer was promoted to female co-anchor at 6 p.m., co-anchoring with Jay Rickerts, while remaining partnered with Webber on the 10 p.m. late news. (Brewer and Rickerts would later be paired on the 5 p.m. newscast in January 1995.) With the introduction of the retooled newscast format in September, additional changes concerning the look of the newscasts went into effect. Compared to its previous look, which used varied colors and a background of the Tulsa skyline and a lighter theme package (" WWL News" by Stephen Arnold), KJRH's new look was far different, incorporating dark blue, red, black and silver elements and a "circular stripe" theme that morphed into the silver "circle 2" logo; the custom theme (composed by Chris Crane, who created several news themes used by WSVN and later by
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
sister station WHDH since 1991) was also quite different, made up primarily of dissonant, droning synth chords that were mixed with elements of and full cuts from
615 Music 615 Music is a broadcast production music company based in Nashville. 615 Music was founded by Randy Wachtler and composes television news music packages as well as custom image campaigns for television networks and stations around the world. ...
's "News One" package. Ed Hopkins was replaced as promotional announcer by Scott Chapin, who has acted as the announcer for WSVN from 1988 to 2011 and again since 2014. The set was also revamped and included a large video monitor, which was prominently featured during sports segments (with game clips and full-screen graphics being shown behind either Al Jerkens or weekend sports anchor Keith Isbell, who sat in a director's chair), in a concept borrowed by and developed with the help of news management at
WTSP WTSP (channel 10) is a television station licensed to St. Petersburg, Florida, United States, serving the Tampa Bay area as an affiliate of CBS. The station is owned by Tegna Inc., and maintains studios on Gandy Boulevard on St. Petersburg's ...
in
Tampa, Florida 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 ...
. Much of the news department staff's doubts about the new, impending tabloid style were realized once the format was implemented in September 1994. Some of the station's prominent newscasters disliked the WSVN-style format – which, in the original form developed by longtime WSVN news director
Joel Cheatwood Joel Cheatwood (born ) is an American television executive and founding chief operating officer for Merit Street Media, a joint venture between Phil McGraw and the Trinity Broadcasting Network. He is best known as the news director for WSVN in ...
, became well known for its emphasis on crime stories and sensationalistic reporting, earning the Miami station a reputation as a pioneer in
tabloid television Tabloid television, also known as teletabloid, is a form of tabloid journalism. Tabloid television news broadcasting usually incorporate flashy graphics and sensationalized stories. Often, there is a heavy emphasis on crime and celebrity news. G ...
– and resigned. Webber quickly became displeased with the new tabloid-style format, and, after negotiations between him and Phillip (which included attempts to offer Webber a role as managing editor) failed, announced his resignation as evening anchor on January 5, 1995. Webber reversed course one week later, deciding to continue as 6 p.m. co-anchor and taking on a role as managing editor, while Keith was promoted to community specialist in addition to co-anchoring that same broadcast. Shore was one of the first to actually leave KJRH in response to Phillip's changes. Only one month prior to the revamp, Shore decided to resign over his displeasure of the reduction in airtime allotted to weather segments within the newscasts from three minutes to minutes (this move, which was made up for by having weather segments air every six minutes during its newscasts, was fairly unusual as Oklahoma television stations traditionally place an emphasis on weather, in part because of the state's location within the climatological peak region of
Tornado Alley Tornado Alley, also known as Tornado Valley, is a loosely defined location of the central United States and, in the 21st century, Canada where tornadoes are most frequent. The term was first used in 1952 as the title of a research project to st ...
). He signed off from KJRH after spending 16 years at the station (minus a brief stint at
WJLA-TV WJLA-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with ABC. It is one of two flagship stations of Sinclair Broadcast Group (alongside dual Fox/MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFF hannel 45in Baltimore), and is also sister ...
in
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
from 1982 to 1983) on December 1, 1994; Jeff Lazalier – who had previously served as a weekend meteorologist at channel 2 from 1984 to 1989, before moving to KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City – was hired to replace Shore as chief meteorologist in December 1995. (Lazalier would, ironically, be replaced by his former KFOR colleague Dan Threlkeld following the former's firing by KJRH in October 2002.) KJRH's morning newscast went through periodic turnover during this time as well; John Hudson (whose first tenure at channel 2, from 1976 to 1978, saw him serve as Jack Morris's co-anchor on the evening newscasts) collapsed and died in June 1994 from a massive
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
he suffered 40 minutes before going on-air to anchor an edition of ''Channel 2 News Today''. His co-anchor, Gillian Kirk (who began co-anchoring the program with Hudson in 1994), was subsequently paired with John McIntire; both Kirk and McIntire were replaced by Karen Larsen (the original Saturday anchor of KTUL's ''Good Morning Oklahoma'') and Mike Browning in June 1996. In November 1995, KWHB entered into a news share agreement with KJRH-TV to produce twice-daily news and weather updates each weekday at 5:55 and 6:29 p.m. The five-minute-long updates utilized the same anchors as those seen on KJRH's 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts. These news updates continued to air until the agreement concluded in 1998. In November 1997, KJRH began providing
closed captioning Closed captioning (CC) is the process of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information, where the viewer is given the choice of whether the text is displayed. Closed cap ...
of its severe weather coverage for deaf and hard of hearing viewers under an agreement with Ability Resources, a locally based agency that provides resources for disabled persons. Shortly after the launch of the ''2 News NBC'' identity in October 1997, KJRH also began to emphasize other local programs alongside its newscasts, moving Webber and Keith from their anchoring roles as a result. Webber began hosting "From the Heartland," a series of five-minute-long, thrice-daily feature segments highlighting life in Oklahoma (which he continued to do until shortly before his death from
stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a malignant tumor of the stomach. It is a cancer that develops in the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a numb ...
in December 1998) that was similar in format to his bi-monthly half-hour series ''Oklahoma People''; Keith, meanwhile, began hosting ''Oklahoma Living'', a half-hour midday lifestyle talk show that premiered in January 1998 (for a time, the program also aired nationally on then-corporate cousin
HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. HGTV Dream Home is an ...
and statewide on 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 ...
ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...
. Evening co-anchor Denise Brewer was dismissed around his time, which she cited in a ''Tulsa World'' interview occurred after being told by management her contract would not be renewed because she was "too '90s" and "not deferential enough to men on the set". In February 1999, the station premiered ''The Weekend Show'', a Saturday evening local entertainment news program hosted by Jonathan Dylen that lasted only seven months due to low ratings and frequent NBC Sports event run-ins, while longtime documentary producer Jack Frank – who produced the ''Tulsa History Series'' documentaries for OETA and later for KOTV from 1989 to 1997 – began hosting the ''Oklahoma Memories'' series of thrice-weekly short films about the state's history told through modern images and historical film clips. Several changes to the newscasts took place in the summer of 2001. When the former ''Channel 2 News'' moniker was restored as KJRH's newscast branding that May, the morning newscast adopted a more
hard news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...
format and began featuring weather and traffic segments in ten-minute intervals at times ending in "2", with cooking and interview segments being relegated to either the new midday newscast or within Keith's community segments; sports coverage was also dropped from the weekday 5 p.m. newscast, in favor of additional news and health segments. On July 16, the station premiered a half-hour midday newscast at 11 a.m.; originally anchored by the husband-and-wife team of Russ McCaskey and Deborah Lauren McCaskey (who replaced Keith Isbell and Deirdre Davis as anchors of ''Channel 2 News Today'' at that time), the program was the first midday newscast to air on the station since it canceled a prior half-hour broadcast at noon in 1996. (The midday newscast would expand to a full hour on September 8, 2015; it would move to noon in August 2018.) ''Oklahoma Living'' was also relegated to Sunday mornings effective on July 22, where it remained until its cancellation that December. Larsen and John Walls were also appointed as anchors of the 5 p.m. newscast in place of McCaskey and Stephanie Dukes, the latter of whom was moved to a role as health reporter. In May 2003, the station launched hour-long weekend morning newscasts at 8 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. (The broadcast would expand to two hours on September 30, while an hour-long extension of the Sunday edition at 10 a.m. was added in September 2013, in a revamp that saw the existing Sunday broadcast be separated into two additional blocks at 6 and 8 a.m.) On February 25, 2008, KJRH became the first television station in the state of Oklahoma to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in
high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *Blu-ray Disc, the universal optical High Definition disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tap ...
; the upgrade came with the introduction of a new graphics package similar to that used by Kansas City sister station
KSHB-TV KSHB-TV (channel 41) is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Lawrence, Kansas–licensed independent station KMCI-TV (channel 38). The two stations ...
with the format change (the existing news set, introduced in 2000, continued to be used until 2011). In November 2009, KJRH introduced a new red and brown graphics package and new news theme ("Scripps TV Station Group Package" by Musikvergnuegen) for its newscasts, that was being utilized on all Scripps-owned stations. On August 2, 2012, the station introduced a new blue and gold standardized graphics package for the Scripps stations and began using "Inergy" by Stephen Arnold Music as its new news theme (KJRH became the second Scripps-owned station to adopt the new standardized graphics and music, following sister station
WPTV-TV WPTV-TV (channel 5) is a television station in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Stuart-licensed news-formatted independent station WHDT (channel 9); Scripps also p ...
in
West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...
). In recent years, KJRH's newscasts have placed at a distant third among the local television newscasts in the Tulsa market. However, in July 2009, KJRH's newscasts set a new benchmark for the station, firmly capturing second place in nearly all timeslots; KJRH's ratings in the 5–6 a.m. slot on weekday mornings increased to a 2 rating and a 10 share, while remaining second in early evening news (behind KOTV) with a 7 rating/12 share during the November 2009 ratings period. On July 30, 2018, KJRH expanded its 6 p.m. newscast on weeknights to an hour, only for the broadcast to revert to a half-hour two months later on September 24; it had marked the first time any television station in the Tulsa market aired its 6 p.m. newscast for a full hour.


Notable former on-air staff

* Jim Forbes – investigative reporter (1980–1981) *
Ron Franklin Ronald Franklin (February 2, 1942January 18, 2022) was an American sportscaster. He was employed by ESPN from 1987 to 2011. He was fired by ESPN on January 4, 2011, after allegedly making sexist comments to a colleague.
– sports director (1967–1971) * Anthony Mason – reporter (1980–1982) * Nicole Mitchell – meteorologist (2002–2004) * Mike Morgan – meteorologist (1985–1988) *
Steven Romo Steven Romo (born 1988) is a news anchor, correspondent and writer. He is currently a New York City-based correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC. He also works as a contributor for ''HuffPost''. Early life Romo was born in Dallas and raised in t ...
– anchor (2013-2016) * Ron Stone – anchor


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's signal is
multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource— ...
:


Analog-to-digital conversion

KJRH-TV launched a digital signal on UHF channel 56 on January 24, 2002, become the first television station in the Tulsa market to transmit a digital broadcast feed. That day, it became the first television station in the Tulsa market to broadcast local content in high definition, when it televised station promotions filmed in the format that aired during NBC's coverage of the
2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...
. The station ended regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on June 12, 2009, the original date on which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal operated on a high-band UHF channel (in the 52 to 69 channel range) that was removed from broadcast use after the official June 12, 2009, transition date; its analog channel assignment was in the low-band VHF range (channels 2 to 6) and therefore prone to signal interference from
impulse noise Impulse noise could mean: *Impulse noise (audio) * Electromagnetic interference *Burst noise *Salt-and-pepper noise Salt-and-pepper noise, also known as impulse noise, is a form of noise sometimes seen on digital images. For black-and-white or ...
; as a result, KJRH selected VHF channel 8 (the former channel allocation used by KTUL's analog signal) for its post-transition digital operations. Digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 2. As part of the
SAFER Act The Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act, or SAFER Act, (, ) is a U.S. law that required the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to allow the continuation of full-power analog TV transmissions in 2009 for an additional 30 da ...
, KJRH kept its analog signal on the air until June 26 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of
public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. Oftentimes these messages feature unsettling imagery, ideas or behaviors that are des ...
s from the
National Association of Broadcasters The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a Industry trade group, trade association and lobbying, lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasting, broadcasters in th ...
.


References


External links


KJRH.com
– KJRH-TV official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Kjrh-Tv 1954 establishments in Oklahoma Bounce TV affiliates E. W. Scripps Company television stations Grit (TV network) affiliates Ion Plus affiliates Laff (TV network) affiliates NBC affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1954 JRH-TV