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KTSB Tulsa call sign change

Mark Roberts said:
Which is something that I find sad, but not unexpected. KTTS had a strong news department. Dan Shelley, who was the longtime ND there, went straight from KTTS to WCBS in NYC.
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It wasn't quite the jump Dan Shelley had, but Brian Gann went from KTTS to KVOO and, last I'd heard, was at WOAI. That operation also served as a springboard to other Great Empire properties. I seem to remember hearing it let its longtime news director, Nancy Simpson, go a few months ago.

Mark Roberts said:
I suppose you know that the original KVOO was established as something of a replacement for KFRU, which was moved from Bristow, OK to Columbia in 1925 by Stephens College. This doesn’t show up on the FCC history cards because it happened so early. As things turned out, I think KVOO got the better end of the deal.
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The Stuarts, who owned KVOO since the 1920's before selling to Great Empire around 1990, were, I believe, cousins of the Kerrs, who were one of the most powerful families in Oklahoma for roughly 60 years. Even into the early 90's, members of the Kerr family held political office in the state. Those connections might've helped the Stuarts get such a strong signal for KVOO. They also almost certainly got KRMG for the Kerrs. The friendly family rivalry between the two could get quite heated, and I had always heard one of the Kerrs was unhappy his cousin got the license for KVOO instead of him. KRMG was the consolation prize, and, according to one of the engineers there in the 90's, it couldn't afford the necessary protections for KTRH at night with its licensed parameters. The implication was that Senator Kerr put pressure on the FCC to license the station. KRMG was, of course, short for Kerr/McGee.
 
BTW - I just fact checked myself, and the Stuarts were part of the Skelly family. I couldn’t find any information to connect them directly to the Kerrs, but the two families worked together to put KVOO on the air. KRMG was the Kerrs' consolation prize after they got out of the partnership with the Stuarts for KVOO.
 
Kent said:
It wasn't quite the jump Dan Shelley had, but Brian Gann went from KTTS to KVOO and, last I'd heard, was at WOAI. That operation also served as a springboard to other Great Empire properties. I seem to remember hearing it let its longtime news director, Nancy Simpson, go a few months ago.
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And it turns out I'm wrong about Dan's career progression. He had a long stop at WTMJ in Milwaukee as ND before he went to WCBS-TV. He's now the executive director of the RTNDA. Still, those are all some pretty big leaps, and no doubt well earned. It looks like he's a couple of years or so younger than me.
 


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