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Reluctant Affiliates

P

Prescott Joe

Many major network affiliates tag themselves such as CBS 5, ABC 15 Arizona
or Fox 10 as they do here in the Phoenix television market. During a recent
visit to Albuquerque, I was surprised how the major network affiliates distance
themselves from the networks they carry. You would never know that KOB 4
is an NBC network affiliate from the on screen graphics or even their web page.
Similarly, KRQE and KOAT have little to none on screen or website information
as to their network affiliation. Could it be the networks are embarrassed to be
associated with some of their affiliates or vice versa perhaps??
 
I'm not sure the whether or not they use the network for marketing and ID purposes - lately the default being the network followed by the channel number - "ABC7" for example - indicates how much love the affiliate has for the network. For example, KPIX in San Francisco started identifying themselves as "CBS5" a few years ago. More recently, they've gone back to "KPIX 5." I have no idea why - they're an O&O, so I doubt they're trying to distance themselves from the network.
 
LKellerIII said:
I'm not sure the whether or not they use the network for marketing and ID purposes - lately the default being the network followed by the channel number - "ABC7" for example - indicates how much love the affiliate has for the network. For example, KPIX in San Francisco started identifying themselves as "CBS5" a few years ago. More recently, they've gone back to "KPIX 5." I have no idea why - they're an O&O, so I doubt they're trying to distance themselves from the network.
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Seattle is a market where the calls still mean a lot. Probably led by KING-TV, arguably the best calls ever, not to mention Seattle is in King County. I think they are responsible for KOMO (ABC) and KIRO (CBS) still maintaining their calls prominently. All three use their network logos, KIRO has for decades, (though recently dropped their longtime "Eyewitness News" moniker), and KOMO has been more subtle, but uses the ABC logo pretty prominently with their new set and graphics. Fox KCPQ goes by Q13, and recently nicely redesigned their logo and graphics.
 
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LKellerIII said:
I'm not sure the whether or not they use the network for marketing and ID purposes - lately the default being the network followed by the channel number - "ABC7" for example - indicates how much love the affiliate has for the network. For example, KPIX in San Francisco started identifying themselves as "CBS5" a few years ago. More recently, they've gone back to "KPIX 5." I have no idea why - they're an O&O, so I doubt they're trying to distance themselves from the network.
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Don't forget KTVU in Oakland during Cox ownership the station was Simply known as KTVU channel 2. Ever since Fox took over the station they became KTVU Fox 2. Fox realized that the call letters were valuable to the station along with the standard O&O branding. However KTVU is the Only known Fox O&O to not call their morning newscasts "Good Day" for some reason. Probably this was a carryover when Cox owned KTVU and there was Mornings on 2. As of 2016 that's been modified as Mornings on Fox 2 though.
 
RadioPatrol said:
Don't forget KTVU in Oakland during Cox ownership the station was Simply known as KTVU channel 2. Ever since Fox took over the station they became KTVU Fox 2. Fox realized that the call letters were valuable to the station along with the standard O&O branding. However KTVU is the Only known Fox O&O to not call their morning newscasts "Good Day" for some reason. Probably this was a carryover when Cox owned KTVU and there was Mornings on 2. As of 2016 that's been modified as Mornings on Fox 2 though.
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Until the sale to Fox, KTVU was a bit bi-polar :rolleyes: They were "KTVU Channel 2" during local hours, and for the news; but were "KTVU Fox 2" for network purposes. Mornings on 2 has been around for a long-time, and used to be at or near the top of the morning ratings here in the Bay Area - not sure about these days. I suspect the show predated the "Good Day" branding, so it probably didn't make any sense to change.

Fox has been slow to mess with KTVU, which has been a widely respected local station here for decades. For instance, Fox has kept KTVU's long-time 2-in-a-circle logo, instead of switching to those non-descript channel numbers that Fox seems to prefer for its other O&Os and affiliates. I suspect the old "if it ain't broke..." adage applies here.
 
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It really depends. Obviously the owned and operated stations are going to push the corporate brand. There was a time when the big national name was a selling point, and now we seem to be in a period when it's better to push the local brand. That's certainly been the theme in radio these last few years.
 
TheBigA said:
It really depends. Obviously the owned and operated stations are going to push the corporate brand. There was a time when the big national name was a selling point, and now we seem to be in a period when it's better to push the local brand. That's certainly been the theme in radio these last few years.
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Another theme here is how many cable and/or dish services have moved these local channels away from their original VHF numbers. Perhaps this is where the identity of call letters could actually help as opposed to ABC 7, NBC 4, etc. What goes around, comes around.
 
LKellerIII said:
Until the sale to Fox, KTVU was a bit bi-polar :rolleyes: They were "KTVU Channel 2" during local hours, and for the news; but were "KTVU Fox 2" for network purposes. Mornings on 2 has been around for a long-time, and used to be at or near the top of the morning ratings here in the Bay Area - not sure about these days. I suspect the show predated the "Good Day" branding, so it probably didn't make any sense to change.

Fox has been slow to mess with KTVU, which has been a widely respected local station here for decades. For instance, Fox has kept KTVU's long-time 2-in-a-circle logo, instead of switching to those non-descript channel numbers that Fox seems to prefer for its other O&Os and affiliates. I suspect the old "if it ain't broke..." adage applies here.
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http://cwsanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/category/good-day/
Oddly enough KBCW San Francisco the CW affiliate owned by CBS actually prevented Fox from using the Good Day Name for the San Francisco Market. In this Case Good Day is really a simulcast of a Sacramento Morning News show produced by CBS O&O KOVR 13 and CBS Owned CW affiliate KMAX Sacramento. They are the reasons why KTVU and KICU aka KTVU plus cannot use Good Day like their other Fox O&O's most Notably KTTV Fox 11 Los Angeles where the "Good Day LA" originated from.
 
Prescott Joe said:
Many major network affiliates tag themselves such as CBS 5, ABC 15 Arizona
or Fox 10 as they do here in the Phoenix television market. During a recent
visit to Albuquerque, I was surprised how the major network affiliates distance
themselves from the networks they carry. You would never know that KOB 4
is an NBC network affiliate from the on screen graphics or even their web page.
Similarly, KRQE and KOAT have little to none on screen or website information
as to their network affiliation. Could it be the networks are embarrassed to be
associated with some of their affiliates or vice versa perhaps??
Click to expand...

The example about KOB sure sounds a lot like Norfolk/Portsmouth/Virginia Beach's WAVY channel 10. Even though they had been with NBC since the 1950s I have never ever heard WAVY calling themselves "NBC 10". Unless they changed within the last few years as far as I know it's always been "WAVY 10" or "WAVY TV TEN" though back in the 70s it was "AREA TEN" for quite awhile. Actually on the WAVY website there is no NBC logo either..well other than a screen shot from a news report where one can see a very tiny NBC logo right next to WAVY's but that is so easy to overlook. Since both KOB and WAVY are considered to be "brand names" in their markets they probably don't see the value in calling themselves "NBC 4" or "NBC 10".
 
There have historically been some groups who prefer calls to network branding. Nexstar, Tribune, and LIN (R.I.P) come to mind.
 
Well In San Francisco and Sacramento the PBS affiliates are referred to by Local Call letters as in KQED9 and KQED+ San Francisco. Or in Sacramento its KVIE 6.

But in some markets like Los Angeles, San Diego and Hawaii. PBS affiliation are referred to by affiliate and city

Examples KOCE Los Angeles - PBS SoCal
KPBS San Diego- Not owned by PBS but owned by California State University and to show that its an affiliate of PBS
PBS Hawaii a stateWide PBS affiliate that covers the 50th state.
 
LKellerIII said:
KPIX in San Francisco started identifying themselves as "CBS5" a few years ago. More recently, they've gone back to "KPIX 5." I have no idea why - they're an O&O, so I doubt they're trying to distance themselves from the network.
Click to expand...

Would love to see KTVT do the same and call themselves as their own calls instead of CBS 11 in Dallas (which is another market that loves naming the network rather than their calls. Tegna-owned ABC affiliate WFAA is the only commercial station that has always named themselves as their calls, along with naming their newscast "News 8." The only mention of ABC is in their logo. Also for a short time, Tribune-owned CW KDAF used to call themselves "Channel 33" or just "33" sometime I think in 2008 but went back to adding "CW" in their name later. Everyone else uses their network name in their identity.

Speaking of "Good Day," it sometimes bothers me when Fox O&O KDFW calls their morning show "Good Day" instead of "Good Day DFW" or "Good Day Dallas-Fort Worth." Probably because it's shorter in the name? I just think it would be nice to mention the market name as well.
 
Prescott Joe said:
You would never know that KOB 4
is an NBC network affiliate from the on screen graphics or even their web page.
Click to expand...

Thats interesting as KOB is owned by Hubbard...the same folks who own all the ABC's licensed to MN. All 3 stations (KSTP Minneapolis, KAAL Austin and WDIO Duluth) prominently have the ABC logo in the corner of their station

Side note here in Minneapolis the commercial stations tout their affiliation in the bug in the corner
KSTP has the 5ABC in the corner (sister KSTC is Independent..it just says KSTC45)
KARE 11 has the peacock
WCCO 4 has the CBS eye (it is a O&O)
KMSP 9 has the "FOX9" logo...sister WFTC has "MY29"
WUCW 23 has "TheCW23"
 
Hearst Broadcasting in known for putting emphasis on their call letters as their brand. The Network logo is usually attached to the Channel Number

KCRA Sacramento
WCVB Boston
KSBW Monterey.

one exception is KQCA 58 in Sacramento. Its owned by hearst but is known as My58.
 
The only stations who prominently use their legacy channel in on-screen branding in Hartford/New Haven:

WFSB-TV (CBS) channel 3 of Hartford
WTNH-TV (ABC) channel 8 of New Haven

Recently, WTIC-TV (FOX) channel 61 of Hartford went back to their old "FOX 61" branding, due to a viewer poll of sorts. They had been using "FOX Connecticut" and/or "FOX CT".

The one station who seems to be call letter happy? WCCT-TV (CW) channel 20 of Waterbury/Hartford.
 
In Atlanta: WAGA (Fox 5) and WGCL (CBS 46) are the only stations with this branding. WXIA ("11 Alive," NBC) uses the peacock with their logo while WSB (channel 2, ABC) only uses the ABC logo with program promotions and on occasion they briefly superimpose their logo with ABC's bug on the bottom right of the screen.
 
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Minneapolis they mainly use both the call sign and the legacy number

CBS always says "WCCO channel 4"
ABC says "5 Eyewitness News" or "KSTP 5" (they alternate)...co-owned KSTC they say "45 TV" (even though on cable its on 12 and their PSIP is actually 5-2..they merged the PSIP with KSTP 5 years ago)
NBC is "KARE 11"
FOX doesnt say KMSP...they just say "Fox 9" or "MyFox9"
 
KRON 4 San Francisco During the years they were owned by Chronicle Broadcasting. I never seen KRON attached the NBC logo to the 4 during the time KRON held the contract with NBC. I heard stuff that it goes back to disputes between the former owners of KRON and NBC at the time though. But interestingly when Young Broadcasting now known as Media general took over KRON they did OK attaching the MyTV logo to KRON but the damage was done.
 
In the Fort Myers market WINK-TV has always gone by its call letters. They use the CBS eye during local newscasts; however, they recently dropped it from the bug which is in place during syndicated programming. Their "sister" station WXCW used to go by "CW 6" (and "WB 6" prior to that), which reflects their cable placement; they switched to using just the call letters over a year ago.

FYI: WINK-TV has been a CBS (primary) affiliate since its launch in 1954.
 
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