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AZ-TV's 5th Anniversary

michael hagerty

michael hagerty

All:
Since members of this board have expressed interest in AZ-TV's progress, I thought I'd share a memo I wrote this morning.

Thanks!
Michael Hagerty

All:

Five years ago yesterday (though it was a Monday…April 22, 2002), KUSK, Prescott became KAZT, Phoenix/Prescott…better known as AZ-TV. There are exactly two things unchanged between that Monday’s schedule and today’s: The 700 Club at 8:00 AM and The Andy Griffith Show at 3:30 PM (The Pat McMahon Show didn’t debut until a week or two later, as we continued to unpack equipment needed to do live television).



The half-hour Tonya Mock Show at 12:30 PM is now the full-hour AM Arizona with Tonya Mock and Lew Rees at 10:00 AM. My Three Sons, Family Ties, Mork & Mindy, Hogan’s Heroes, The Honeymooners, Combat, The Wild, Wild West, Gunsmoke and The Lucy Show have been replaced by My Wife & Kids, Married…With Children, Cheers, According To Jim, Frasier and, this fall, George Lopez and Reno 911!. We’ve added carriage on DIRECTV and Dish Network. We’re the broadcast home of the NHL Phoenix Coyotes and of America’s best-selling personal finance author, Robert (Rich Dad, Poor Dad) Kiyosaki.



Our viewers today can get more and better news via streaming on our website at www.arizonasown.com than they got 5 years ago from 2 hours a day of CNN Headline News and a half-hour delayed replay of KPHO’s 6PM newscast. And now they can choose what news to watch and in what order.



With those changes, we’ve gone from unwatched to extremely competitive….blowing past KPPX (ion51) and KUTP (My45) in primetime in the November, 2006 and February, 2007 Nielsens and racking up huge increases in viewers and demographics when other indies and baby nets like KTVK (3TV) and KASW (CW6) are struggling to stay even. There are some especially great moments when we’ll do better than KPHO (CBS), KSAZ (FOX), KPNX (NBC) or KNXV (ABC).



The accomplishments are especially remarkable when you consider that we came cold into an already competitive market of eight English-language commercial TV stations. We made nine. KPHO’s been here 58 years. KPNX and KSAZ 54. KTVK is 52 years old. The babies (before us) were KNXV…now 28 years old, KUTP, now 21 and KPPX, which has been here 8 years.



All of those are substantial head starts. We overcame that and the crowded field by being aggressive. Five years ago, Frasier belonged to KTVK, Cheers was on KPNX. My Wife & Kids, According To Jim, George Lopez and Reno 911! would all belong to one or more of the 8 other stations if it weren’t for Jack and Lynn Londen and Ron Bergamo’s willingness to acquire top-notch programming and promote it aggressively.



If you are an employee, thank you for your hard work in making broadcasting history. If you’re a program producer or syndicator, thanks for your partnership. And anyone else who sees this….thanks for your good wishes and your viewership.



The only thing more exciting than the past five years for AZ-TV will be the next five.



Best Regards,
Michael Hagerty
Director of Programming and Promotion
KAZT Television (AZ-TV)
Phoenix, AZ
Direct Line: 602-224-2271
FAX: 602-224-2214
e-mail: [email protected]
www.arizonasown.com
 
Congratulations to Michael and AZ-TV on your 5th Anniversary!

It's always great to hear a success story about nice people in the biz. :D
 
I remember your predecessors, KUSK and KHSK, their content and their signals. You've been a slight improvement. ;D

I also remember that before the Londen Group stepped in, the station group was about to be bought by Azteca America. I'm not sure why they backed out, maybe it was the daunting task of upgrading the stations' equipment, etc., but I'm glad they did. You guys stepped in, weren't afraid to spend money upgrading the product, and have provided welcome programming to the Valley.

Congratulations to all of you at AZ-TV!
 
dhett:
A deal had actually been struck between the previous owner and Pappas Broadcasting, which intended to run the station as an Azteca affiliate. A print story on the deal falling through ( I don't know why either) is what caught Jack Londen's attention. We're glad it did!

---Michael Hagerty
 
Congrats to Arizona's Own AZ-TV!! :D

I finally had a day off last week during the week and watched AM Arizona (or Good Morning Prescott :D). It wasn't bad at all for an independent station!
 
A tip of the fez from the Buckeye Media Hut! It's a good Nurse Jeff knows how to use the '76 Gremlin as a UHF antenna, cause we've been having issues with Cox.
 
Dr. Akbar said:
A tip of the fez from the Buckeye Media Hut! It's a good Nurse Jeff knows how to use the '76 Gremlin as a UHF antenna, cause we've been having issues with Cox.
Click to expand...

Doc: The old DJ deep down inside has at least two great comeback lines....


---Michael Hagerty
 
I think "Starquest Challenge" is going to be huge. I was at the taping too and loved it.

It was like American Idol meets America's Got Talent meets Survivor meeting So You Think You Can Dance meets Arizona Highways. I really think the valley will be in for a treat! Never seen anything like it...

--- Lloyd Palmer
 
Speaking of AZ-TV, is it just me, or was this year's season of "Screen Wars" way too short? Although I didn't agree with some of the weekly voting results, I think you've done a good job promoting local filmmakers by giving them some airtime.
 
Dr. Akbar and I agree with Lloyd. I can't wait for the Starquest Challenge going out to 1.3 households! I bet I'll see myself on TV...I was holding up a sign.
 
Eric:
Screen Wars ran the same number of weeks as last year. Must mean you're having more fun!

Wheezy:
I hope you meant 1.3 million households....although the real number is now about 1.7 million.

---Michael Hagerty
 
Yeah...that's what I meant. Sorry! I can't wait for everyone to check out the show tonight. Look for me holding up the sign.
 
michael hagerty said:
Eric:
Screen Wars ran the same number of weeks as last year. Must mean you're having more fun!
Click to expand...

As I remember it, I thought Screen Wars Season One ran from April 2005 to January 2006 and broke their contests down by genre. I'm thinking the format changed as the Phoenix Film Project was absorbed by IFP. Then again, I might just have imagined it being that way!
 
I missed Star Search the other night! Anyone have a recording they'd like to share. Wheezy, can you help me. I thought one of the 1.3 now .7 households would have posted it online but I can only find last week's Grey's Anatomy and I already saw that... :'(

Micahael is there a way to get a recording of it? When will it re-air?
 
Now I know I said I liked Starquest Challenge since I was in the audience...but the televised part was bad. The sound quality needs to be fixed and there were even spelling errors. The graphics said, "How would you like to hava a $25,000 record contract?" I just hope this Friday's show is better.
 
StarQuest is produced by an outside company that purchases the airtime. We had lengthy discussions about the audio quality last week. They promise it will improve. Sorry we and they missed the typo.

---Michael Hagerty
 
Thanks for the update Michael! Can't wait to check it out again on Friday.
 
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