KITV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = KITV
city =
station_
station_slogan = The Team You Know. The Team You Trust.
station_branding = "KITV 4 Island Television" (general)
"Island Television News" (newscasts)
analog = 4 (VHF)
digital = 40 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = ABC
The AccuWeather Channel (DT2)
network =
founded =
airdate = April 16, 1954
location = Honolulu, Hawaii
callsign_meaning = Island TeleVision
former_callsigns = KULA-TV (1954-1960)
KHVH-TV (1960-1973?)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = nowrap|Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.
licensee = Hearst-Argyle Stations, Inc.
sister_stations =
former_affiliations =
effective_radiated_power = 100 kW (analog)
85 kW (digital)
HAAT = 14 m (analog)
1 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 64548
coordinates = coord|21|17|25.4|N|157|50|24|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.kitv.com/ www.kitv.com]

KITV is the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television affiliate licensed to Honolulu, Hawaii. Based in Honolulu and broadcasting on channel 4, the station is currently owned by Hearst-Argyle Television and operates several satellites and translators on all the major Hawaiian Islands to rebroadcast programs outside of metropolitan Honolulu. Its main transmitter is located in Honolulu. It brands itself as " KITV 4 Island Television". The station is also seen on Oceanic Cable channel 6 throughout most of the state, with the exception of the eastern half of Hawaii Island, where it is instead seen on channel 12.

History

The station signed on the air in 1954 as KULA-TV, and changed its calls to KHVH by 1959.

One of KITV's previous owners was Kaiser Broadcasting, which owned the station from 1958 to 1964; Kaiser sold the station in December 1964, to help fund its new chain of independent stations on the mainland.

KITV adopted its current calls in the 1970s to reflect its service of broadcasting to the Hawaiian Islands.

Shamrock Broadcasting acquired KITV in 1984, then sold it to Tak Communications in 1987. Tak would declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1991, and was later taken over by a group of creditors. During Tak's bankruptcy, Freedom Communications made an offer to purchase KITV, but later withdrew its bid. In 1995, rumors circulated that it would join NBC when KHON-TV -- which had been Hawaii's NBC affiliate for 43 years (1953-1996) -- decided to join Fox during the "Big Network Switch" of 1994-96. However, later in 1995, Argyle Television bought KITV and then-sister station WGRZ-TV in Buffalo, New York from Tak's creditors. In the end, KITV stayed with ABC, and NBC instead signed with KHNL as its new affiliate in 1996.

When Argyle merged with Hearst in 1997, KITV and its satellites became part of the newly-formed TV station group.

KITV also has an affiliation with CNN, which used KITV's live broadband stream to report on a 6.6 earthquake that struck off the northwestern coast of Hawaii County on October 15, 2006. Since KITV was the only station in Hawaii to air live coverage of the earthquake after the event (most other stations in Honolulu continued on with their normal morning programming), they also attracted a flood of phone calls and e-mails from people around the world trying to find out if their loved ones were all right. The live stream also attracted the attention of The Daily Show the following day (October 16), thanks in part to a building manager mentioning via public address system that the building's bathrooms were still operational while the news anchors were still on the air. That [http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/video/10100539/index.html clip] can be seen on KITV's website [http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/index.html TheHawaiiChannel.com] .

The station has been an ABC affiliate since its sign-on, making KITV one of the two major television stations in Honolulu that has never changed its network affiliation; local CBS outlet KGMB is the other.

Island Weather Now

The station also carries a weather information channel called "Island Weather Now" on its DT-2 digital subchannel, which carries programming from The AccuWeather Channel with local cut-ins by KITV weather anchors. The channel features local weather, a news ticker, and live traffic cameras in addition to national programming provided by AccuWeather. It is available statewide on Oceanic Time Warner Cable, on digital channel 126. KITV's competitor, KHNL, carries NBC Weather Plus on a digital subchannel, but they are not currently personalizing the feed for Hawaiʻi.

In order to comply with FCC rules that all television stations (including digital subchannels) must broadcast three hours of E/I programming per week, KITV-DT2 airs a three hour block of "Gina D's Kids Club" every Saturday from 12-3 pm.

Programming

KITV clears all ABC programming except for "Power Rangers", which would otherwise air as part of the ABC Kids block. Most (if not all) ABC affiliates owned by Hearst-Argyle Television refuse to clear the show due to its lack of educational and informational content.

Early on, prior to being owned by Hearst-Argyle, it did air the ABC Saturday morning cartoon lineup on Saturdays, usually starting at 5 or 6 am. But today, unlike most ABC affiliates, KITV does not air the ABC Kids block on Saturdays. The station airs live ABC Sports coverage or infomercials in its place, due to the five-hour time difference between Hawaii-Aleutian Time and Eastern. Instead, KITV airs three hours of the ABC Kids programming block over three weekdays (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday). On each of the three days, one hour (two shows) of the block is aired from 11 am-12 Noon local time, leading into ABC's daytime soap opera lineup.

When compared to other major network affiliates in Honolulu (KHON, KFVE, KGMB and KHNL), KITV airs a relatively small amount of syndicated programming outside of network hours. The only first-run syndicated shows currently aired on KITV are "The Morning Show With Mike and Juliet", "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and "Judge Judy". The station also airs syndicated reruns of "Seinfeld", "Will & Grace", "TMZ, and "". Various other syndicated shows are aired on weekends, usually during late nights.

On the weekends, KITV airs the locally-produced program "Ohana Road", which features info and reviews on the latest automobiles as well as coverage of local car enthusiast events.

KITV is well known among Hawaii residents as the year-after-year presenter of the Merrie Monarch Festival, which is broadcast on the station live every April from Hilo. During this time, KITV usually pre-empts ABC primetime programs until the weekend.

KITV 4 Island Television News Anchors & Reporters

Island Television News Anchors

* Mahealani Richardson - Island Television News This Morning (5-7 AM)
* Dan Meisenzahl - Island Television News This Morning (5-7 AM)
* Pamela Young - Island Television News @ 5 & 6 PM
* Gary Sprinkle - Island Television News @ 5 & 6 PM
* Paula Akana - Island Television News @ 10 PM
* Shawn Ching - Island Television News @ 10 PM
* Jill Kuramoto - Island Television News @ 5 & 10 PM (weekends)

Island Weather

* Justin Fujioka - Meteorologist (AMS and NWA Seal of Approval) - Island Television News @ 5, 6 & 10 PM
* Ben Gutierrez - Island Television News This Morning
* Amber-Lynn Hyden - Island Television News @ 5 & 10 PM (weekends)

Island Sports

* Robert Kekaula - Sports Director - Island Television News @ 5, 6 & 10 PM, "Blitz-4" Host, Color Commentator UH Football (1420 ESPN)
* Rob DeMello - Island Television News @ 5 & 10 PM (weekends), Sports Reporter, "Blitz-4" Host, Host of The Rob & Russ Show (AM 1500 - Sporting News Radio)

Island Television News Reporters

* Dick Allgire - Reporter / Island Health Reporter
* Catherine Cruz
* Shayne Enright
* Denby Fawcett
* Ben Gutierrez - Weathercaster/Reporter
* Daryl Huff
* Keoki Kerr
* Jill Kuramoto - Anchor/Reporter
* Jodi Leong
* Ann Lim
* Dan Meisenzahl - Anchor/Reporter
* Mahealani Richardson - Anchor/Reporter
* Gary Sprinkle - Anchor/Reporter, "Pacific Adventures"
* Pamela Young - Anchor/Reporter, "Mixed Plate"

KITV 4 Past Personalities

* Dan Cooke (Weeknight Anchor; Weather Anchor; Reporter)
* Howard Dashefsky (Weeknight Anchor) - Currently with KHNL-TV
* Joe Moore (Anchor) - Currently with KHON-TV
* Tina Shelton (Anchor; Reporter)
* Tim Tindall (Anchor; Reporter)
* Emme Tomingbang (Anchor; Reporter)
* Paul Udell (Anchor; Reporter; News Director)
* Kathy Muneno (Morning Anchor; Reporter; Weather Anchor) - Currently with KHON-TV
* Ann Botticelli (Weekend Anchor; General Assignment Reporter; Business/Financial Reporter)
* Tasha Kobashigawa (Weekend Anchor; Reporter)
* Dalton Tanonaka (Weekend Anchor; Reporter)
* Sharie Shima (Weather Anchor) - Currently with KHNL-TV
* Russell Shimooka (Sports Anchor)
* Scott Swan (Sports Anchor) - Currently with WTHR-TV, Indianapolis, IN
* Neil Everett (Weekend Sports Anchor; Sports Reporter) - Currently with ESPN's Sportscenter
* Rob Fukuzaki (Weekend Sports Anchor; Sports Reporter) - Currently with KABC-TV, Los Angeles, CA
* Kanoa Leahey (Weekend Sports Anchor; Sports Reporter) - Currently with KHON-TV
* Tiny Tadani (Weekend Sports Anchor; Morning Weather Anchor)
* Louise Kim McCoy (Morning Cut-Ins; Reporter)
* Caroline Sluyter (Reporter)
* Marisa Takahashi (Reporter)
* Cynthia Yip (Morning Cut-ins; Reporter)
* Mary Zanakis (Reporter)

atellite stations

These stations, as well as translator K51BB in Lihue, rebroadcast KITV's signal throughout Hawaii:Notes:
*1. KMAU used the callsign KMVI-TV from its 1955 sign-on until 1978.
*2. The "Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook" says KMAU (then KMVI-TV) signed on November 28, while the "Television and Cable Factbook" says it signed on December 4.

News/Station Presentation

Newscast Titles

*"Hawaii Newsreel" (1954-1961)
*"The Six O'Clock Report/The Eleven O'Clock Report" (1961-1965)
*"The Nightly News" (1965-1975, 6 P.M. newscast)
*"24 Hours" (1965-1975, 10 P.M. newscast)
*"NewsCenter Four" (1975-1983)
*"Live at Five" (1980-1986; 5 P.M. newscast)
*"KITV 4 News" (1983-1986)
*"News 4" (1986-1995)
*"KITV 4 News" (1995-2005)
*"KITV 4 Island Television News" (2005-present)

tation Logos

External links

* [http://www.kitv.com/ KITV 4]
*TVQ|KITV
**TVQ|K51BB
*TVQ|KHVO
*TVQ|KMAU
*BIA|KITV|TV|TV
*BIA|KHVO|TV|TV
*BIA|KMAU|TV|TV