KOVR

Categories: Television stations in Sacramento / Stockton / Modesto | CBS network affiliates | Viacom television stations

KOVR
Image:KOVR.jpg
Stockton / Sacramento, California
Branding	CBS13 KOVR
Slogan
Analog channel	13 (VHF)
Digital channel	25 (UHF)
Affiliations	CBS (since 1995)
Owner	CBS Corporation
Founded	September 6, 1954
Call letters meaning	KOVR = covering all of Northern California
Former affiliations	Independent (1954-58) ABC (1958-95)
Website	www.kovr13.com

KOVR, "CBS13", is the CBS owned-and-operated station in Sacramento, California. It is licensed to Stockton, with studios in West Sacramento. Its transmitter, the KXTV/KOVR Tower (shared with KXTV channel 10), is located in Walnut Grove. The tower is among the tallest in the world and is likely the tallest structure in California, allowing KOVR to cover much of the San Joaquin Valley.

[edit]

History

KOVR is Sacramento's oldest television station. It first hit the airwaves in September 6, 1954 from the California State Fair. It was originally an independent station with a transmitter located on Mount Diablo, and its signal reached the San Francisco Bay Area, hence the call letters "KOVR" representing "covering" all of Northern California. In 1958, the station moved its transmitter in order to obtain an affiliation with ABC, since the station would otherwise compete with ABC affiliate KGO-TV. In 1960, the station expanded its operations and added studios in Sacramento. For many years, it was owned by McClatchy Newspapers along with The Sacramento Bee and KFBK radio. McClatchy's mascot bee (originally designed by Walt Disney) was also the mascot for KOVR during the years McClatchy owned the station--short cartoons of the bee bookended KOVR's broadcast day, either ushering in or concluding the day's programming. After McClatchy sold the station in the 1980s, KOVR went into a gradual decline in terms of both ratings and the quality of its programming. The station went from one corporate parent after another, at times independently owned.

KOVR does have its high water marks in local broadcasting...it was the first station in Northern California to use videotape (rather than film) for its newscasts, and was the first station in the Sacramento/Stockton area to broadcast in stereo.

On March 6, 1995, CBS affiliate KXTV (then owned by Belo Corporation; now owned by Gannett) took the ABC affiliation, leaving KOVR with the CBS affiliation. Despite becoming a CBS affiliate, KOVR chose not to air Guiding Light, a practice continued from KXTV during its CBS days (due to the show's below-average ratings in the area).

A more notable oddity with KOVR's affiliation with CBS is that the station runs the network's primetime schedule an hour earlier than typical. CBS programming that is seen from 8pm to 11pm in other Pacific Time Zone markets is shown from 7pm to 10pm instead on KOVR.

[edit]

Viacom's Purchase

KOVR was owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group until May 2005, when it was purchased by CBS parent Viacom. Even though the station is now a CBS O&O (owned-and-operated entity), it still continues its practices of showing the prime time schedule an hour early and not airing Guiding Light. Viacom was forced to sell KFRC-AM 610 in San Francisco as a condition of the sale, as the station's city-grade signal reaches Sacramento.

After the purchase was announced, some had speculated that the station would eventually end those practices (along with dropping The Jerry Springer Show). However, on August 11, 2005, Viacom announced that the 7-10pm prime-time lineup, the 10pm local newscast and the 11pm airing of The Late Show with David Letterman will remain in place. The success that the station has had with the early prime-time schedule and its 10pm newscast (which is the highest-rated local newscast at that hour, ahead of KTXL and KQCA, and a major source of revenue for the station) is cited as the reason for maintaining the status quo. Guiding Light also is not yet being put on KOVR and no plans have been announced to do so yet.

Only one substantial programming change took place. The Late Late Show (which had been airing at 1am) will be moved up one hour, pushing back the midnight showing of The Jerry Springer Show to a later time (which will still be seen on the station weekdays at 3pm until fall 2006).

No other programming changes have been announced as of September 6, 2005. In the Fall of 2006, NBC Universal's Jerry Springer and Maury Povich will be dropped and KOVR will be the market's new home of CBS-owned King World's "Dr. Phil," which the station plans to air at 3 PM on weekdays.

Still, though programming changes were very few, recently the branding was changed from the long-standing "KOVR 13" to "CBS 13."

As a result of the purchase, KOVR is now co-owned with KMAX-TV, the UPN station in the area. This is CBS Corporation's third "duopoly" operation in California, after KPIX-TV/KBHK in San Francisco and KCBS-TV/KCAL in Los Angeles.

In recent years, KOVR worked with a small-to-moderate news staff, but with the 2005 purchase by Viacom the staff has expanded via its merger with the operations of sister station KMAX, so as a result personalities from KMAX will now also make appearances on KOVR, and vice versa.

[edit]

External links

Official KOVR CBS13 website (recently updated and merged with KMAX)
Viacom site

Broadcast television in the Sacramento / Stockton / Modesto market
KCRA 3 (NBC) - KVIE 6 (PBS) - KXTV 10 (ABC) - KOVR 13 (CBS) - KUVS 19 (UNV) - KBSV 23 (Ind) KSPX 29 (i) - KMAX 31 (UPN) - KTXL 40 (FOX) - KQCA 58 (The WB) - KTFK 64 (TFU)

Viacom Inc.

Annual Revenue: $22.5 billion USD (Image:Red down.png15% FY 2004) | Employees: 38,350 | Stock Symbol: NYSE: VIAB | Website: www.viacom.com