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KOLD-TV
KOLD-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Tucson, Arizona, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Media, which provides certain services to Fox affiliate KMSB (channel 11) and CW outlet KTTU-TV (channel 18) under a shared services agreement (SSA) with the Tegna subsidiary of Nexstar Media Group. The three stations share studios on North Business Park Drive on the northwest side of Tucson (near Casas Adobes). KOLD-TV's primary transmitter is atop Mount Bigelow, with a secondary transmitter atop the Tucson Mountains west of the city to fill in gaps in coverage.
Established in February 1953, KOLD-TV is the second-oldest television station in the state and was the first on air in Tucson. It has been affiliated with CBS for its entire history. After initially being the market leader in local news, it was surpassed by KVOA in the 1970s and suffered particularly in the late 1980s and 1990s from corporate neglect and cost-cutting. The station produces local newscasts that, since the 2000s, have been competitive in the local ratings.
In the wake of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lifting its freeze on the award of new television stations, three Tucson radio stations applied for three channels. The Old Pueblo Broadcasting Company, held by Gene Autry and Tom Chauncey and owner of Tucson's KOPO (1450 AM) and owned by Gene Autry and Tom Chauncey, filed for channel 13 without opposition on June 21, 1952, and was granted a construction permit to build on November 12. Construction got under way in early December on an interim transmitter facility mounted on the AM radio tower, as 500-foot (150 m) towers were not yet available, and on a television addition to the KOPO radio facility on West Drachman Street.
On January 13, 1953, at 1:13:13 p.m. (13:13:13 in 24-hour time), the KOPO-TV transmitter was turned on. As construction in the television studio was still in progress, no programming was aired until February 1, when the station began to carry programs from CBS and the DuMont Television Network. The day before, a dedicatory program was broadcast from the studios. Network presentations had to be aired from kinescopes until a coaxial cable hookup was completed in September to be shared by KOPO-TV and new station KVOA-TV, allowing Tucsonans to see live network shows.
KOPO radio and television became KOLD radio and television on April 30, 1957. The KOLD call letters had been used by the Autry-owned station in Yuma until it was sold; that outlet became KOFA and closed in 1963. Autry and Chauncey owned KOOL radio and television in Phoenix; as was done there, the phones were answered "It's KOLD in Tucson". The main transmitter was moved to Mount Bigelow in 1961, simultaneously with KVOA-TV; KGUN-TV had been built on the mountain five years prior.
In December 1968, Autry and Chauncey announced the sale of KOLD-TV, separate from the radio station, for $3.8 million to the Universal Communications Corporation, the broadcasting arm of the Detroit-based Evening News Association. The FCC approved of the deal in 1969, though it required the E. W. Scripps Trust to divest itself of its holding in the Evening News Association, as Scripps-Howard Broadcasting owned four VHF stations (of a limit of five), and Evening News now would own two (KOLD-TV and WWJ-TV in Detroit). The commission tweaked the ruling to allow Scripps to retain an interest of one percent. The radio station, split from channel 13, reverted to its former KOPO designation.
The Gannett Company purchased the Evening News Association on September 5, 1985, for $717 million, thwarting a $566 million hostile takeover bid by L.P. Media Inc., owned by television producer Norman Lear and media executive A. Jerrold Perenchio. The merged company could not retain channel 13. Gannett already owned the Tucson Citizen newspaper, and channel 13's signal slightly overlapped with Gannett-owned KPNX in Phoenix. Gannett subsequently divested KOLD-TV—along with KTVY in Oklahoma City and WALA-TV in Mobile, Alabama—to Knight-Ridder Broadcasting for $160 million.
In October 1988, Knight-Ridder announced its intent to sell the company's station group to help reduce a $929 million debt load and finance a $353 million acquisition of online information provider Dialog Information Services. The News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) acquired KOLD on June 26, 1989, spending $18 million. It implemented budget cuts in the newsroom, which was wracked by employee turnover as a result. NPG also moved KOLD from Mount Bigelow to the Tucson Mountains west of the city; this improved reception in some parts of the city that had terrain blockages, but it created signal ingress issues for cable subscribers. More critically, it impaired the signal for many over-the-air viewers, notably in outlying areas such as Benson, Arizona. A 1985 study done for KVOA, KGUN, and KOLD estimated a Tucson Mountains move would affect 15 percent of the station's viewers.
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KOLD-TV
KOLD-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Tucson, Arizona, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Media, which provides certain services to Fox affiliate KMSB (channel 11) and CW outlet KTTU-TV (channel 18) under a shared services agreement (SSA) with the Tegna subsidiary of Nexstar Media Group. The three stations share studios on North Business Park Drive on the northwest side of Tucson (near Casas Adobes). KOLD-TV's primary transmitter is atop Mount Bigelow, with a secondary transmitter atop the Tucson Mountains west of the city to fill in gaps in coverage.
Established in February 1953, KOLD-TV is the second-oldest television station in the state and was the first on air in Tucson. It has been affiliated with CBS for its entire history. After initially being the market leader in local news, it was surpassed by KVOA in the 1970s and suffered particularly in the late 1980s and 1990s from corporate neglect and cost-cutting. The station produces local newscasts that, since the 2000s, have been competitive in the local ratings.
In the wake of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lifting its freeze on the award of new television stations, three Tucson radio stations applied for three channels. The Old Pueblo Broadcasting Company, held by Gene Autry and Tom Chauncey and owner of Tucson's KOPO (1450 AM) and owned by Gene Autry and Tom Chauncey, filed for channel 13 without opposition on June 21, 1952, and was granted a construction permit to build on November 12. Construction got under way in early December on an interim transmitter facility mounted on the AM radio tower, as 500-foot (150 m) towers were not yet available, and on a television addition to the KOPO radio facility on West Drachman Street.
On January 13, 1953, at 1:13:13 p.m. (13:13:13 in 24-hour time), the KOPO-TV transmitter was turned on. As construction in the television studio was still in progress, no programming was aired until February 1, when the station began to carry programs from CBS and the DuMont Television Network. The day before, a dedicatory program was broadcast from the studios. Network presentations had to be aired from kinescopes until a coaxial cable hookup was completed in September to be shared by KOPO-TV and new station KVOA-TV, allowing Tucsonans to see live network shows.
KOPO radio and television became KOLD radio and television on April 30, 1957. The KOLD call letters had been used by the Autry-owned station in Yuma until it was sold; that outlet became KOFA and closed in 1963. Autry and Chauncey owned KOOL radio and television in Phoenix; as was done there, the phones were answered "It's KOLD in Tucson". The main transmitter was moved to Mount Bigelow in 1961, simultaneously with KVOA-TV; KGUN-TV had been built on the mountain five years prior.
In December 1968, Autry and Chauncey announced the sale of KOLD-TV, separate from the radio station, for $3.8 million to the Universal Communications Corporation, the broadcasting arm of the Detroit-based Evening News Association. The FCC approved of the deal in 1969, though it required the E. W. Scripps Trust to divest itself of its holding in the Evening News Association, as Scripps-Howard Broadcasting owned four VHF stations (of a limit of five), and Evening News now would own two (KOLD-TV and WWJ-TV in Detroit). The commission tweaked the ruling to allow Scripps to retain an interest of one percent. The radio station, split from channel 13, reverted to its former KOPO designation.
The Gannett Company purchased the Evening News Association on September 5, 1985, for $717 million, thwarting a $566 million hostile takeover bid by L.P. Media Inc., owned by television producer Norman Lear and media executive A. Jerrold Perenchio. The merged company could not retain channel 13. Gannett already owned the Tucson Citizen newspaper, and channel 13's signal slightly overlapped with Gannett-owned KPNX in Phoenix. Gannett subsequently divested KOLD-TV—along with KTVY in Oklahoma City and WALA-TV in Mobile, Alabama—to Knight-Ridder Broadcasting for $160 million.
In October 1988, Knight-Ridder announced its intent to sell the company's station group to help reduce a $929 million debt load and finance a $353 million acquisition of online information provider Dialog Information Services. The News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) acquired KOLD on June 26, 1989, spending $18 million. It implemented budget cuts in the newsroom, which was wracked by employee turnover as a result. NPG also moved KOLD from Mount Bigelow to the Tucson Mountains west of the city; this improved reception in some parts of the city that had terrain blockages, but it created signal ingress issues for cable subscribers. More critically, it impaired the signal for many over-the-air viewers, notably in outlying areas such as Benson, Arizona. A 1985 study done for KVOA, KGUN, and KOLD estimated a Tucson Mountains move would affect 15 percent of the station's viewers.