KONG (TV)

Last updated

KONG
ATSC 3.0 station
KONG (TV) logo 2016.svg
City Everett, Washington
Channels
BrandingKONG
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
KING-TV
History
First air date
July 8, 1997
(26 years ago) (1997-07-08)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 16 (UHF, 1997–2009)
Call sign meaning
Counterpart of KING-TV, as in King Kong
Technical information [1]
Licensing authority
 FCC
Facility ID 35396
ERP 715 kW
HAAT 232 m (761 ft)
Transmitter coordinates 47°37′54″N122°21′3″W / 47.63167°N 122.35083°W / 47.63167; -122.35083
Links
Public license information
Website www.king5.com

KONG (channel 16) is an independent television station licensed to Everett, Washington, United States, serving the Seattle area. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside NBC affiliate KING-TV (channel 5). The two stations share studios at the Home Plate Center in the SoDo district of Seattle; KONG's transmitter is located in the city's Queen Anne neighborhood.

Contents

History

Early permit history

In 1981, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) designated four applications for comparative hearing, all seeking the channel 16 allocation at Everett, from Oak Television of Everett; Unity Broadcasting Company of Washington State; Greater Everett Telecasters; and Channel 16, Inc. [2] The designation followed a year of applications. At one point, FNI Communications—a subsidiary of First Northwest Industries, owner of the Seattle SuperSonics basketball team—applied. [3] Channel 16, Inc., was part-owned by Jon Marple, owner of Everett radio station KRKO. [4] Unity, a San Francisco–based group with almost entirely minority stockholders, was selected by administrative law judge Joseph Chachkin in November 1982 on account of its lack of other broadcast ownership and strongest integration of ownership and management. [5]

Unity selected KONG as its proposed call sign. This triggered opposition from Seattle's KING-TV and its owner, King Broadcasting, which believed that the two stations could cause confusion; KONG hoped that the original 1933 film King Kong could be its first program [6] and planned to operate as an independent station with sports, movies, and reruns, from a main studio near Paine Field. Instead, KONG found itself bogged down for years in tower siting problems. It applied to the FCC to build a 300-foot (91 m) tower on Cougar Mountain, near Issaquah. The mast would be used by KRAB, which owned the land, and two other FM radio stations. Residents near the mountain protested, fearing that electromagnetic radiation could affect their health. [7] [8] King County initially required a more in-depth environmental review, [9] but it received approval in April 1985. [10] For years, KONG promised it would be on the air, but continued appeals of the tower siting decision and delays in securing financing held the station back. [11] During this time, the Home Shopping Network looked at buying the unbuilt KONG. [12]

The originally planned KONG never materialized. In 1989, a public auction was held for station equipment and supplies, which included a satellite dish and receiving equipment. [13] The permit was sold to Zeus Corporation of Washington, owned by Walter Ulloa and Paul Zevnik, for $300,000. [14]

Under KING-TV management

In August 1996, KING reached an agreement to program KONG under a local marketing agreement, with an option to buy if the FCC permitted duopoly ownership. [15] It began broadcasting July 7, 1997. [16] KONG's programming relied heavily on classic TV series of the 1950s through 1980s with a "campy", irreverent approach to presentation and imaging; a large KONG Gong served as a promotional device. Also present on the original schedule were programs from two cable services owned, like KING-TV, by the Belo Corporation: Northwest Cable News and Food Network. [17] Nancy Guppy, a cast member on KING-TV's comedy show Almost Live! , doubled as a host appearing between shows. [18] When the FCC permitted duopolies in November 1999, Belo bought KONG from Zeus. [19]

Belo, including KING-TV and KONG, was acquired by the Gannett Company in 2013. [20] Gannett split its print and broadcast operations into separate companies, the latter named Tegna, in 2015. [21]

Local programming

Initially, the station ran a general entertainment format with classic sitcoms, westerns, old movies, cartoons, and a 10 p.m. newscast. Along with the newscast and KING's Evening Magazine , the station now airs KING-TV's syndicated shows during prime time or other time slots, giving viewers a second chance to watch the shows that day. KONG also broadcasts certain NBC network programs in lieu of KING, including a repeat of Meet the Press in its traditional mid-morning time slot, as KING is one of the few West Coast NBC affiliates to carry it live from Washington, D.C., at 6 a.m. Pacific Time, instead of tape-delaying it to 9 a.m. Pacific Time as is custom.

Because of its relationship with KING, KONG can air NBC programming that may get displaced by other programming such as local events or extended breaking news coverage. An example of this is when in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, KONG aired NBC's coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals for games that occurred on the East Coast, with KING airing local programming and news in its place and ceding that more viewers usually watched CBC's NHL coverage on the network's Vancouver owned-and-operated station CBUT. Occasionally, KONG can air live breaking news events—whether from NBC News or KING—when KING-TV airs local programming and NBC's Olympic coverage and when situation warrants; although KING-TV and KONG simulcast NBC's breaking news coverage during morning news programs as well as in the middle of regular programming, especially whenever there is breaking news of a national or global matter. For the 2008 and 2012 NFL preseasons, Seattle Seahawks preseason football games that were not televised nationally aired on KONG as NBC held the rights to the Summer Olympic Games. KONG also aired Seattle Sounders FC games, and airs the weekly magazine program Sounders FC Weekly on Sunday nights during the Major League Soccer season.

Newscasts

KONG began airing local newscasts on February 1, 1999, with the debut of the half-hour KING 5 News at 10, anchored by Lori Matsukawa. The newscast, postponed from a late 1998 start when the news director resigned, brought Seattle back to having competing newscasts in the time period (opposite KCPQ) after KSTW folded its news department months prior. [22] Originally a weeknight-only newscast, it expanded to seven nights a week in January 2001; a 7 p.m. newscast was dropped because of sports preemptions. [23]

KING-TV produces 26 hours of news programming (with five hours each weekday and 30 minutes each on Saturdays and Sundays) for KONG. KONG broadcasts a 10 p.m. newscast which competes with an in-house hour-long newscast on Fox owned-and-operated station KCPQ; the program airs for one hour on Monday through Friday evenings and a half-hour on weekend evenings. KONG also broadcasts a two-hour extension of KING's weekday morning newscast starting at 7 a.m., which also competes with KCPQ's morning newscast. KONG also broadcasts an hour-delayed rebroadcast of KING's noon newscast at 1 p.m. weekdays. It's the only newscast shown on KONG that comes from the main sister channel, KING. On September 9, 2013, KONG added a weeknight 9 p.m. newscast from KING, becoming the second newscast to air at that timeslot in the Seattle market (after KCPQ added a weeknight 9 p.m. newscast in 2011 on KZJO while keeping the 10 p.m. newscast on KCPQ), resulting in Seattle's first two-hour continuous prime time news block.

Sports

Seattle Sonics basketball games began airing in 1999, [24] and KONG became the primary local television broadcaster for the team. In 2000, the expansion Seattle Storm of the WNBA began airing a package of local telecasts on KONG. The Sonics and Storm departed for FSN Northwest in 2004, when the NBA team opted to move all its games to cable and get out of the production business. [25] [26]

In 2017, after KIRO-TV discontinued its 31-year-old tradition of full-day coverage of the H1 Unlimited Seafair Cup, full-day coverage of the races moved to KONG the next year in association with SWX Right Now. [27]

KONG returned to major league sports broadcasts by way of two deals announced in April 2024. One deal made KONG the home of Seattle Reign FC women's soccer, with a local TV schedule of 11 matches. [28] The second made KONG the home of all non-nationally televised Seattle Kraken hockey games starting in the 2024–25 season, replacing Root Sports Northwest. The games would also stream on Amazon Prime Video. [29] [30]

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's ATSC 1.0 channels are carried on the multiplexed signals of other Seattle television stations:

Subchannels provided by KONG (ATSC 1.0) [31] [32] [33]
Channel Res. Aspect Short nameProgrammingATSC 1.0 host
16.1 720p 16:9 KONG-HD Independent KING-TV
16.2 480i TCN True Crime Network KZJO
16.3Quest Quest KCPQ

Analog-to-digital conversion

KONG shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 16, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. [34] [35] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 31, using virtual channel 16.

In 2009, KONG became one of the first four television stations in the country to begin broadcasting mobile DTV signals. The OMVC chose KONG and KOMO-TV in Seattle and WPXA-TV and WATL in Atlanta as the stations to beta test the ATSC-M/H standard, which has since been officially adopted for free-to-air broadcast television with clear reception on mobile devices, overcoming many of the defects of the original ATSC standard.

ATSC 3.0

Subchannels of KONG (ATSC 3.0) [36]
Channel Res. Aspect Short nameProgramming
5.1 1080p 16:9 KING-TV NBC (KING-TV) Action lock 2 - orange.svg
13.1 720p KCPQ Fox (KCPQ)
16.11080pKONGIndependent (KONG) Action lock 2 - orange.svg
22.1720pKZJO MyNetworkTV (KZJO)
  Subchannel broadcast with digital rights management

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for KONG". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ↑ "Legal Notice". The Daily Herald. Everett, Washington. August 6, 1981. p. 15D. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Permit asked for Everett TV station". Everett Herald. Everett, Washington. September 25, 1980. p. 1F. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ Weiner, Allen (August 30, 1980). "Everett's station: That is the growth of KRKO radio". Everett Herald. Everett, Washington. p. 23F. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "Unity picked to build Everett UHF station". The Herald. Everett, Washington. November 9, 1982. p. 10A. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ Hannula, Don (March 9, 1984). "Distinguishing KING from KONG". The Seattle Times. p. A8. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  7. ↑ Corsaletti, Louis T. (June 27, 1984). "Residents protest another TV transmitter". The Seattle Times. p. G1. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  8. ↑ Gilbert, Michael (August 1, 1984). "Tower war: Cougar Mountain group awaits ruling on antenna". The Seattle Times. p. F1. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  9. ↑ Balter, Joni (September 5, 1984). "Cougar Mountain residents block new antenna". The Seattle Times. p. G1. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  10. ↑ "Residents to fight KONG-tower decision". The Seattle Times. April 9, 1985. p. B2. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  11. ↑ Beck, Andee (February 13, 1987). "Upstart KONG won't be aping its TV competitors". The News Tribune. Tacoma, Washington. p. C-11. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ Beck, Andee (April 12, 1987). "Home shopping: TV's bill of goods". The News Tribune. Tacoma, Washington. p. Video Week 15. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Public Auction". The Morning News Tribune. Tacoma, Washington. July 11, 1989. p. C4. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "For the Record". Broadcasting. June 26, 1989. p. 61. ProQuest   1016925931.
  15. ↑ Levesque, John (August 19, 1996). "KIRO's 'Russian Connection' plugs into good journalism in a ratings-driven era". Seattle Post-Intelligencer . p. B6. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  16. ↑ Merryman, Kathleen (July 7, 1997). "KONG coming to local TV: New station will feature favorite reruns for those not connected to cable". The News Tribune. Tacoma, Washington. pp. B1, B2. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ Taylor, Chuck (July 2, 1997). "New station KONG hopes viewing old shows will prove hip, campy". The Seattle Times. pp. E1, E2. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  18. ↑ Reid, Cheryl (August 16, 1998). "Nancy Guppy is a KING, KONG television host, performer". The News Tribune. Tacoma, Washington. p. VW-4. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ "Who's doing duopolies" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. November 22, 1999. p. 7. ProQuest   225323867. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 31, 2023. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  20. ↑ "Gannett Completes Its Acquisition of Belo". TVNewsCheck. Archived from the original on July 26, 2014. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
  21. ↑ "Separation of Gannett into two public companies completed | TEGNA". Tegna. June 29, 2015. Archived from the original on July 2, 2015. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
  22. ↑ Simons, Stephanie (January 26, 1999). "KING-KONG connection brings 10 p.m. news program". The News Tribune. Tacoma, Washington. p. SL-11. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  23. ↑ "Newscast to expand to weekends". The Seattle Times. November 6, 2000. p. E8.
  24. ↑ "All Sonics games to be on TV". The News Tribune. Tacoma, Washington. January 31, 1999. p. D10. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  25. ↑ O'Neil, Danny (January 23, 2004). "Sonics moving to FSN - Cable network will show at least 70 games beginning next season". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. p. C4.
  26. ↑ Evans, Jayda (April 24, 2004). "FSN will broadcast four Storm games; camp opens tomorrow". The Seattle Times. p. D2.
  27. ↑ Joyce, Nathan (July 12, 2018). "Seafair hydroplane races return to familiar schedule and to TV". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on August 11, 2018. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
  28. ↑ Miller, Mark (April 15, 2024). "Seattle Reign FC And KING Media Set Broadcast Partnership". TVNewsCheck. Archived from the original on April 15, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  29. ↑ "Kraken leaving ROOT Sports for new TV and streaming deals". The Seattle Times. April 25, 2024. Archived from the original on April 25, 2024. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  30. ↑ "New, More Ways to Watch the Kraken". NHL.com. April 25, 2024. Archived from the original on April 25, 2024. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  31. ↑ "RabbitEars TV Query for KING". Archived from the original on January 16, 2022. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  32. ↑ "RabbitEars TV Query for KZJO". Archived from the original on January 16, 2022. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  33. ↑ "RabbitEars TV Query for KCPQ". Archived from the original on January 16, 2022. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  34. ↑ Congress postpones DTV transition, Seattle may not Archived February 6, 2009, at the Wayback Machine , KING/AP, February 5, 2009
  35. ↑ List of Digital Full-Power Stations Archived August 29, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  36. ↑ "RabbitEars TV Query for KONG (ATSC 3.0)". www.rabbitears.info. Archived from the original on April 21, 2021. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
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