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KTUU-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
Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the List of cities in Alaska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of ...
, 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 ...
and
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 ...
. It is owned by
Gray Media Gray Media, Inc., doing business as Gray Television, is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 statio ...
alongside
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
KAUU KAUU (channel 5) is a television station in Anchorage, Alaska, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Gray Media alongside dual NBC/CBS affiliate KTUU-TV (channel 2). The two stations share studios on East 40th Avenue in Anch ...
(channel 5). The two stations share studios on East 40th Avenue in midtown Anchorage; KTUU-TV's
transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...
is located in Knik, Alaska. Some of KTUU-TV's programming is broadcast to rural communities via low-power
translators Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...
through the
Alaska Rural Communications Service The Alaska Rural Communications Service (ARCS) is a statewide network of low-powered television stations, serving 235 communities throughout the Alaskan Bush areas. Developed in the late 1970s, the network is based in Anchorage, Alaska, and is ...
(ARCS).


History

The construction permit for channel 2 in Anchorage was issued on July 29, 1953, to Keith Kiggins and Richard R. Rollins. ( Guide to reading History Cards) The permit took the call sign KFIA ("First in Anchorage") and then began construction, with an antenna being placed atop the Westward Hotel at Third Avenue and F Street. The same day the FCC granted a construction permit for channel 2, it also greenlit Anchorage's channel 11,
KTVA KTVA (channel 11) is a television station in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. It is a satellite of PBS member station KAKM (channel 7) which is owned by Alaska Public Media. KTVA's transmitter is located in Spenard—covering the Anchorage ...
, sparking a race to be the first broadcast television station in the territory (statehood for Alaska would come in 1959). It appeared that KFIA was ahead when it announced it would broadcast its first test pattern on October 15, as KTVA was unpacking its equipment. However, it failed to put out a picture that night. Two days later, on the October 17, the first television test pattern in Alaska was broadcast, but the station missed its announced November 1 start date. Picture quality control equipment was late getting to Anchorage, pushing back the start date twice. It was only a month and a half later that KFIA made it on the air, on December 14, but in that time, it had lost its claim to be first in Anchorage with programming, as KTVA had signed on December 11. Both stations had also been beat by a cable system in Ketchikan to be the first source of television programming anywhere in the territory. When the station did get on the air, it did so "quietly and without fanfare", in the words of its general manager. Midnight Sun Broadcasting (The Lathrop Company), owned by Alvin Oscar "Al" Bramstedt Sr. bought the station in 1954; the station's call letters were changed to KENI-TV in 1955; that year, it moved into the Fourth Avenue Theatre, also known as the Lathrop Building, downtown. Lathrop sold KENI-AM-TV plus its other radio and TV stations—
KTKN KTKN (930 AM broadcasting, AM) is an American commercial radio station airing talk radio, talk and hot adult contemporary music programming in Ketchikan, Alaska. It is owned and operated by Alaska Broadcast Communications. The studios are at 52 ...
in Ketchikan, KFAR-AM- TV in Fairbanks, and KINY-AM- TV in
Juneau Juneau ( ; ), officially the City and Borough of Juneau, is the capital of the U.S. state of Alaska, located along the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle. Juneau was named the capital of Alaska in 1906, when the government of wha ...
—to All-Alaska Broadcasting Company, which later became Midnight Sun Broadcasters in 1960. On September 19, 1966, channel 2 became the first station in Alaska to transmit 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 ...
when it aired the premiere episode of the
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 ...
sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...
''
That Girl ''That Girl'' is an American television sitcom that ran on ABC from September 8, 1966, to March 19, 1971. It starred Marlo Thomas as the title character, Ann Marie, an aspiring (but only sporadically employed) actress who moves from her hometo ...
'' (entitled "Don't Just Do Something, Stand There!"). The station had joint primary affiliation with NBC and ABC (with KTVA picking up some of the slack) until October 1, 1967, when it switched to ABC primary and NBC secondary, primarily because ABC had more programs on film. Channel 2 became a full-time ABC affiliate in 1970 when KHAR (channel 13, now
KYUR KYUR (channel 13) is a television station in Anchorage, Alaska, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and The CW Plus. It is owned by Vision Alaska LLC, which maintains local marketing agreement, joint sales and share ...
) took the NBC affiliation. The two stations switched networks in October 1971, at which time KHAR became KIMO. Channel 2 also carried a few
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
programs (particularly ''
The Electric Company ''The Electric Company'' is an American educational children's television series produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW, now known as Sesame Workshop). It was co-created by Paul Dooley, Joan Ganz Cooney, and Lloyd Morrisett. ...
'') until
KAKM KAKM (channel 7) is a PBS member television station in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. Owned by Alaska Public Media, it is sister to NPR member KSKA (91.1 FM). The two stations share studios at the Elmo Sackett Broadcast Center on the campus ...
signed on in 1975. Until
KTVF KTVF (channel 11) is a television station in Fairbanks, Alaska, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Media alongside two low-power stations: primary MeTV and secondary MyNetworkTV affiliate KFXF-LD (channel 22) and Class A ...
in Fairbanks switched networks from CBS to NBC in April 1996, KTUU was the only full-time NBC affiliate in Alaska, clearing every network program. On June 3, 1981, Midnight Sun Broadcasters sold the station to Zaser and Longston of Bellevue, Washington, who changed the call letters to the current KTUU-TV the next week on June 10 in conjunction with the sale. In August 2010, KTUU became the third Schurz-owned television station (after
KWCH-DT KWCH-DT (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Hutchinson, Kansas, United States, serving the Wichita area as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Gray Media alongside CW affiliate KSCW-DT (channel 33) and maintains studios on 3 ...
and
KSCW-DT KSCW-DT (channel 33) is a television station in Wichita, Kansas, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by Gray Media alongside Hutchinson, Kansas, Hutchinson-licensed CBS affiliate KWCH-DT (channel 12). The two stations share stud ...
in
Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...
, and
WDBJ WDBJ (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Roanoke, Virginia, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the Roanoke–Lynchburg, Virginia, Lynchburg media market, market. It is owned by Gray Media alongside Danville, Virginia, Da ...
in
Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It lies in Southwest Virginia, along the Roanoke River, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Ridge range of the greater Appalachian Mountains. Roanok ...
) to relaunch its website through a new partnership with 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 ...
's Tribune Interactive division. Previously, the Web address was operated by the local media division of World Now. The other Schurz television station websites, which were operated by Broadcast Interactive Media, also followed after their CMS contract with BIM ran out. On November 9, 2013, KTUU-TV was dropped by GCI in 22 rural communities, after the two sides were unable to come to a new retransmission agreement, though GCI still carries some KTUU and NBC programming in some of these areas through the
Alaska Rural Communications Service The Alaska Rural Communications Service (ARCS) is a statewide network of low-powered television stations, serving 235 communities throughout the Alaskan Bush areas. Developed in the late 1970s, the network is based in Anchorage, Alaska, and is ...
. The dispute did not involve areas (including Anchorage) where GCI carries KTUU through
must-carry In cable television, many governments, including the ones of the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada, apply a must-carry regulation stating that forces a cable TV provider to carry the public interest programming, like locally licensed te ...
. The move followed the sale of rival KTVA to a subsidiary of GCI a week earlier, which KTUU had opposed over concerns that this move could be made. KTUU's channel slot on most of the affected systems was filled by
Starz Kids & Family Starz (stylized in all caps as STARZ; pronounced "stars") is an American pay television network owned by Starz Entertainment, and is the flagship property of Starz Inc. Launched in 1994 as a multiplex service of what is now Starz Encore, its ...
. Despite this dispute, KTUU extended its newscast carriage agreement with KATH-LD in Juneau and KSCT-LP in Sitka (which were also acquired by GCI at the same time it acquired KTVA) through November 22; that agreement was subsequently extended through December 6 as negotiations continued toward a long-term deal, but talks ultimately broke down, and by December 7 KATH/KSCT no longer aired KTUU programming. A deal between GCI and KTUU was finally reached on February 6, 2014; this allowed the station to return to GCI's rural systems (as well as separately-owned cable systems that receive KTUU through GCI) in time for NBC's broadcast of the
2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...
, as well as the eventual restoration of KTUU's newscasts to KATH/KSCT. Schurz announced on September 14, 2015, that it would exit broadcasting and sell its television and radio stations, including KTUU-TV, to
Gray Television Gray Media, Inc., doing business as Gray Television, is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 statio ...
for $442.5 million. Associated with the purchase, on October 1, 2015, it was announced that Gray would buy
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 ...
-affiliated KYES-TV for $500,000. The acquisition of KYES created the first legal duopoly in the market (
KTBY KTBY (channel 4) is a television station in Anchorage, Alaska, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. The station is owned by Coastal Television Broadcasting Company LLC, which provides certain services to dual ABC/ CW+ affiliate KYU ...
and KYUR operate as a virtual duopoly). The FCC approved the Schurz sale on February 12, 2016; and the sale was completed on February 16. The KYES acquisition was completed on June 27, 2016; it had been approved on June 17 under the condition that KYES not affiliate with a network that would make that station one of the top-four stations in the Anchorage market.


News operation

KTUU presently broadcasts 22 hours, 25 minutes of locally produced newscasts each week (with 4 hours, 5 minutes each weekday and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays). The two-hour weekday newscast ''Morning Edition,'' 6 p.m. hour, and 10 p.m. late newscast are simulcast with KAUU. A half-hour KTUU-exclusive newscast airs at 5 p.m., followed by the ''
NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas'' for its weeknight broadcasts ) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NBC television network ...
'' at 5:30 p.m. All newscasts are branded as ''Alaska's News Source'', KTUU's longtime news slogan. KTUU does not carry a midday or weekend morning newscast. Following Gray's purchase of the non-license assets of KTVA, that station's news operation was inherited by KYES-TV (now KAUU); with its existing ownership of KTUU-TV, this gave Gray control of two news operations in the Anchorage market. On August 30, 2020, KTVA's news operation aired its final newscast from its facility. The next day, Gray launched ''Alaska's News Source'', which hired 11 staffers from KTVA, and acts as a combined news operation for both KTUU and KYES. The combined newscasts began to air August 31, 2020. KTUU has been the top-rated station in the Anchorage market for decades; its ratings for their newscasts helped make them one of the strongest NBC affiliates in the country and its newscasts routinely receive several times more viewers than its competition. The KTUU news team routinely wins regional and national awards and in 1999, became the first television station in Alaska with their own satellite uplink truck (NewsStar 2). The National Press Photographers Association named KTUU the ''Small Market Television News Photography Station of the Year'' in 2006, 2008 and 2010. In 2013, KTUU was also the first in Alaska to broadcast their news in high definition.


Notable former staff

* Chuck Henry – anchor (1967–1968, later at
KNBC KNBC (channel 4) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network ...
in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
; now retired) *
Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, and author who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 Republican vice presidential nomi ...
– fill-in sports anchor; former Alaska governor and U.S. vice presidential candidate


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's digital 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

KTUU-TV ended regular programming over its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 10, using
virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered as digits on a receiver's ...
2. As part of the SAFER Act, KTUU-TV kept its analog signal on the air until July 12 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 ...
.


Translators

KTUU-TV extends its over-the-air coverage through a network of translator stations. * Girdwood: *
Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...
: * Kasilof: *
Kenai Kenai (, ; Dena'ina: ; , ''Kenay'') is a city in the Kenai Peninsula Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. By road, it is 158 miles southwest of Anchorage. The population was 7,424 as of the 2020 census, up from 7,100 in 2010, the fiftee ...
: * Ninilchik:


See also

*
Hawaii News Now ''Hawaii News Now'' (also abbreviated as ''HNN'') is a news department shared by three television stations in Honolulu, Hawaii: CBS affiliate KGMB (channel 5), NBC affiliate KHNL (channel 13), and Telemundo affiliate KFVE (channel 6). The ...
(a combined news operation for sister stations
KGMB KGMB (channel 5) is a television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Gray Media alongside dual NBC/Telemundo affiliate KHNL (channel 13) and Kailua-Kona–licensed KFVE ...
and
KHNL KHNL (channel 13) is a television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of NBC and Telemundo. It is owned by Gray Media alongside CBS affiliate KGMB (channel 5), a combination known as Hawaii ...
in
Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...
)


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ktuu Tv 1953 establishments in Alaska CBS affiliates Gray Media Heroes & Icons affiliates NBC affiliates Start TV affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1953 TUU-TV True Crime Network affiliates