KDAF

KDAF

Dallas / Fort Worth, Texas
Branding	CW33 (general) CW33 News (newscasts)
Slogan	TV To Talk About (general) Watch Something New(s) (news) Putting Our Community First (public service)
Channels	Digital: 32 (UHF) Virtual: 33 (PSIP)
Affiliations	The CW
Owner	Tribune Company (Tribune Television Company)
First air date	Original incarnation: October 1967 Current incarnation: May 1980
Call letters' meaning	Dallas And Fort Worth
Former callsigns	KMEC-TV (1967–1968) KBFI-TV (1972–1973) KXTX-TV (1973) KDTV (1973) KNBN-TV (1980–1984) KRLD-TV (1984–1986)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 33 (UHF, 1967–2009)
Former affiliations	Independent (1967–1973, 1984–1986) Silent (1973–1980) SIN/Univision (1980-1984) Fox (1986–1995) The WB (1995–2006)
Transmitter power	780 kW
Height	537 m
Facility ID	22201
Transmitter coordinates	32°32′35.4″N 96°57′32.9″W / 32.543167°N 96.959139°W / 32.543167; -96.959139
Website	the33tv.com

KDAF, virtual channel 33 (digital channel 32), is a CW-affiliated television station serving the Dallas-Fort Worth television market area. The station is licensed to Dallas and owned by the Tribune Company with its studios located off the John W. Carpenter Freeway in northwest Dallas. The station's transmitter is located in Cedar Hill. KDAF is broadcast on channel 9 on many cable systems in the Metroplex.

Digital programming

Channel	Video	Aspect	Programming
33.1	1080i	16:9	Main KDAF programming / The CW
33.2	480i	4:3	Antenna TV
33.3			This TV

KDAF had aired a 24-hour music network called The Tube on digital channel 33.2, but it ceased operations on October 1, 2007. Digital subchannel 33.2 came back on the air around November 1, 2007 with bilingual Latino programming from LATV. The contract with LATV expired in June 2010, however. On December 7, 2010 KDAF began carrying programming from This TV, a digital multicast channel owned by Weigel Broadcasting and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer featuring feature films (mostly from the MGM film library) with some classic television series, on digital subchannel 33.3.^[1]

The station also became a charter affiliate of parent company Tribune Broadcasting's new digital multicast channel Antenna TV upon its launch on January 1, 2011, it is carried on digital subchannel 33.2.^[2] The network, whose programming consists of classic sitcoms from the 1950s to the 1990s during the afternoon and evening, and movies during the morning and late night hours, also debuted on Tribune-owned stations in other markets as well as stations owned by Local TV, LLC on or after January 1.

Analog-to-digital conversion

KDAF's analog transmitter on Channel 33 was shut off at 8 a.m. on Friday, June 12, 2009. KDAF-DT remains on channel 32 following the digital transition.^[3] PSIP is used to display KDAF's virtual channel as 33 on digital television receivers.

History

Early history

Channel 33 in Dallas has been used by several companies over four decades of operation. It first signed on-the-air as KMEC in October 1967, the second UHF station in the market after KFWT-TV (see KTXA). The station aired a mix of syndicated programming and locally produced shows. KMEC signed off less than a year later. That short-lived attempt was followed by another in 1972, with another company using channel 33 using the call letters KBFI and a religious programming format. But, like its predecessor, KBFI signed off after only ten months on the air.

The Christian Broadcasting Network purchased channel 33's license and, on January 11, 1973, channel 33 returned to the air as KXTX-TV (for "Christ (X) for TeXas"), a station with a religious format and some general entertainment. But CBN's stay on channel 33 wouldn't be a long one: Doubleday Broadcasting wanted to get rid of its independent station, KDTV on channel 39. After an attempt to donate KDTV to non-profit interests, Doubleday instead donated the channel 39 license and assets to CBN. Then, in April 1973, CBN moved the KXTX call letters and its programming to channel 39, while Doubleday took over broadcasting channel 33 under the KDTV calls for another several months before turning the station off in December. Channel 33 would remain unused in Dallas for the next six and-a-half years.

In May^[when?] 1980, channel 33 returned to the Dallas airwaves for a fourth time. The new station was called KNBN-TV, owned by a local company, Hill Broadcasting (Nolanda Hill 40%, Sheldon Turner 40% and others). The station's call letters were derived from its on-air branding, "National Business Network". The daytime broadcast was all business while evening hours were filled by subscription television from VEU, a program service owned by Gene Autry's Golden West Broadcasters. Again, this format turned out to be short-lived, and channel 33 revamped itself again. Within a year and-a-half, the business programming was gone, the subscription television service moved to rival UHF station KTWS (channel 27, now KDFI-TV), and KNBN-TV picked up programming from the Spanish International Network, the forerunner to today's Univision.

Stabillity, then transition

In late 1983, Hill Broadcasting sold KNBN to Metromedia. Initially, KNBN remained a Spanish station (with plans to eventually switch to an English speaking format) but added a couple syndicated English shows that Metromedia distributed but had no other station to run. Then on July 31, 1984, the station was renamed KRLD-TV after new sister station KRLD radio, which Metromedia later sold and finally switched from Spanish to a general entertainment format. The new KRLD-TV was entering a very crowded marketplace—its competition included KTXA, KXTX-TV, and the market's leading independent, KTVT (channel 11). Metromedia's initial programming featured the first 7:00 p.m. newscast ever attempted in the Dallas-Fort Worth market. The station initially programmed a schedule with primarily adult fare such as first-run syndicated shows, plenty of off-network dramas, and some low budget movies. The station had very few cartoons at first because they were found on other stations. Also for four seasons starting in 1984, channel 33 was the broadcast home for Dallas Sidekicks indoor soccer club. In the fall of 1985, with a huge abundance of barter cartoons now available, KRLD-TV added a couple hours of them in the 7 to 9 a.m. time slot and on the 3 to 5 p.m. timeslots. The station also began phasing in more off network sitcoms at that point and began looking more like a traditional independent station for that time.

In 1986 Metromedia sold its group of independent stations, including KRLD-TV, to the News Corporation and the 20th Century Fox film studio. On March 6 of that year, channel 33's call letters were changed to the current KDAF, and it would become one of the cornerstones of the Fox Broadcasting Company, making it the Metroplex's first network-owned station. However, Fox closed down the station's news department shortly after assuming control. The station continued running mostly cartoons, off network sitcoms, and older movies. KDAF remained unprofitable well into the 1990s as, for all intents and purposes, it was still an independent station. However, with Fox' growth in the early 1990s, by 1994 the station was turning modest profits. With an increase in revenues, Fox decided to reactivate channel 33's news department by launching a primetime newscast that would go head-to-head with KTVT. KDAF was well into its news plans when Fox made an announcement which put the station's immediate future in limbo.

KDAF's logo during most of The WB era; briefly disposed of in 2004 for a generic "Dallas/Fort Worth's WB" logo.

In November 1993, Fox acquired the broadcast rights to the National Football Conference of the National Football League from CBS. This made Fox desire more VHF stations, especially those in NFC markets. Fox was already beginning to phase in news departments on most of its stations with plans to become news intensive. Then in April 1994, Fox made a group deal with New World Communications to move its network affiliation in several markets, including Dallas-Fort Worth, to stations New World either owned outright or were currently purchasing.^[4] In Dallas, then-CBS affiliate KDFW-TV (channel 4, which ironically had been the original KRLD-TV, and had carried Dallas Cowboys games, which often draw high ratings, since 1962) was only recently bought from Times Mirror and now being sold by Argyle Television to New World, and was included in the New World-Fox deal. Fox jumped at the chance of getting on a VHF station in the nation's seventh-largest market. It placed KDAF up for sale and scrapped the newscast plans. New World took over operations of KDFW in June 1995. Fox network prime time and sports programming moved from KDAF to KDFW on July 1, 1995. Fox Kids programming remained on KDAF for another two years. Two days later (on July 3, 1995), Fox finalized the sale of channel 33 to Renaissance Broadcasting (in exchange for KDVR, channel 31, in Denver), and KDAF took over the market's The WB affiliation from KXTX-TV, which only had an agreement to hold it temporarily until Fox could move to KDFW.^[5]

Renaissance merged with Tribune in 1997.^[6] In August 1996, Fox announced that it was buying New World outright, now making KDFW an Fox O&O. In the Fall of 1997, Fox Kids moved off KDAF and onto KDFW's partner station, KDFI (channel 27), which was more of a traditional independent station. KDAF's focus gradually changed as well. Initially, KDAF ran a blend cartoons from both Fox Kids and Kids WB, some syndicated cartoons, older off network sitcoms, recent off network sitcoms, The WB programming, and some first run syndicated shows. Gradually, from the mid 1990s to about 2002, KDAF began focusing more on first run talk shows, reality shows, court shows, moving away from older shows. By 2002, the only cartoons on KDAF came from Kids WB which also ended weekday operations early in 2006; KDAF was the last station in the market left running afternoon weekday cartoons until that point.

KDAF's CW logo from September 2006-August 2008.

On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN networks announced they would shut down. Their respective owners joined forces merge into a new service, The CW Television Network, co-owned by CBS and the Warner Bros. Television unit of Time Warner. As part of the deal, the new network signed a 10-year affiliation deal with 16 of Tribune's WB stations, including KDAF. The station rebranded as "CW 33" in the summer of 2006, two months before the network officially launched in September.

The 33 logo used from August 2008 to September 2011. Logo and branding is still used sparingly.

On June 23, 2008, KDAF changed its branding to KDAF 33 in a corporate effort by Tribune to strengthen the local branding of its stations and reduce the dependence on the use of the "The CW" in its stations' brandings due to sagging ratings of its current affiliation, however it has kept its CW 33 logo until August 2008 when the station changed its branding from CW 33 to The 33. After three years, KDAF returned to the "CW33" branding in September 2011, using the partial circle used under "The 33" branding and the same color scheme. Today, KDAF runs a format consisting of first-run series from The CW, talk shows, court shows, reality shows, recent off-network sitcoms, first-run and off-network recent drama series, and cartoons on weekend mornings.

News operation

KDAF's current newscast logo.

KDAF broadcasts a total of 10½ hours of local news each week. On weeknights, the station airs a half-hour newscast at 5 p.m. and an hour-long newscast at 9 p.m. On Saturdays, the station airs a half-hour newscast at 5:30 p.m. and an hour-long newscast at 9 p.m. On Sundays, the station airs half-hour newscasts at 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., followed by the half-hour sports wrap-up show Inside Sports at 9:30 p.m.

After having its plans for a newscast during the Fox era in the mid-1990s shelved, new owners Tribune decided to return newscasts to KDAF by launching a weekday 30-minute newscast in 1999, airing at 9 p.m. to compete with KDFW's news broadcast in the same time slot. Within a year, it was expanded to seven days a week and then expanded to an hour (on weeknights only) in January 2001.^[7]

In late February 2009, longtime anchors Terri Chappell and Tom Crespo were replaced by new anchors Amanda Salinas and Walt Maciborski (from WFTS in Tampa). Both Salinas and Maciborski anchor the weekday 5 and 9 p.m. newscasts, while Dawn Tongish anchors the weekend at 5:30 and 9 p.m. newscasts.

KDAF expanded its newscast output by producing a new nightly 5:30 p.m. newscast on September 21, 2009 that would compete with KDFW's local newscast at 5:30 and the network newscasts on WFAA, KXAS and KTVT. It features former interns turned full-time reporters and some new segments that would end up being irrelevant at the 9 p.m. hour. In March 2010, KDAF expanded its early evening newscast to a full hour from 5-6 p.m. on weekdays while the weekend edition retained the 5:30 start time; then in May, the weekday newscast was reduced to a half-hour newscast retaining the 5 p.m. start time. On weekdays, the newscast now competes against local newscasts on KDFW, WFAA, KXAS and KTVT, while the weekend 5:30 p.m. newscast competes on Saturdays against national newscasts on WFAA, KXAS and KTVT as they (along with KDFW) do not air their early evening newscasts until 6 p.m., and on Sundays, the newscast competes against local newscasts on KTVT, WFAA and KDFW and a national network newscast on KXAS.

On May 22, 2010 KDAF became the last remaining television station in the Dallas-Fort Worth market to broadcast its newscasts in high definition; the station quietly debuted its newscasts in high definition on that date. Unlike the other stations in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, video shot during field reports is recorded and broadcast in true high-definition. The other stations broadcast studio segments in HD, but their video footage during field reports are shot in 16:9 standard definition widescreen.

On October 31, 2011 KDAF began producing and broadcasting EyeOpener, a morning news program by Tribune Broadcasting that was test marketed on sister station KIAH in Houston beginning in May 2011; airing for three hours starting at 5 a.m., it features a mix of news, lifestyle, entertainment and opinion segments. Local news and traffic updates are presented live by current KDAF reporters Tommy Noel and Toni Duclottni, while weather segments are presented by meteorologist Laura Thomas. Other segments are also produced at the KDAF studios (which replaced Tribune Company's Chicago headquarters as the show's production hub), the program is also syndicated to Tribune stations in three additional markets (WPHL-TV in Philadelphia, WSFL-TV in Miami and KRCW in Portland, Oregon), where local news and weather segments will also be provided by those stations.^[8]

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• Channel 33 Night Report (1977–1981)
• KNBN-TV 33 News (1981–1984)
• KRLD-TV 33 News (1984–1986)
• WB33 News (1999–2006)
• CW33 News (2006–2008, 2011–present)^[9]
• KDAF 33 News (2008)
• The 33 News (2008–2011)^[10]

Station slogans

• "Channel 33, First in Texas" (1981–1984)
• "Channel 33 Is Your Place" (1984–1986)
• "Fox 33, This is the Year!" (1988–1990; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
• "It's on Fox 33!" (1990–1992; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
• "The Future Home of WB 33" (early–late 1995; used to promote the switch from Fox to The WB)
• "Watch Your Frog" (2002–2005; reference to Michigan J. Frog, The WB's then-mascot)
• "Putting Our Community First" (2003–present; used for its promotion)
• "We Play Favorites" (2005–2006; also briefly used as slogan for Nick at Nite during 2006 and early 2007)
• "The Future Home of the New CW33" (2006; used to promote the switch from The WB to The CW)
• "Free To Be" (2006–2007; also initial CW network slogan)
• "TV That Gets U" (2008–2009)
• "TV To Talk About" (2009–present; also current CW network slogan)
• "Watch Something New(s)" (2009–present; news slogan)

News team

Current on-air staff (as of October 31, 2011)^[11]

Anchors

• Walt Maciborski - weeknights at 5 and 9 p.m.
• Tommy Noel - news cut-in anchor during EyeOpener; also general assignment reporter^[8]
• Amanda Salinas - weeknights at 5 and 9 p.m.
• Dawn Tongish - weekends at 5:30 and 9 p.m.

Weather team

• Rebecca Miller (AMS Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5 and 9 p.m.
• Bob Goosmann (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekends at 5:30 and 9 p.m.
• Laura Thomas - meteorologist; weather cut-ins during EyeOpener^[8]

Sports team

• Andy Scholes - sports reporter
• Chase Williams - sports multimedia journalist

Reporters

• Charles Bassett - general assignment reporter
• Barry Carpenter - general assignment and health reporter
• Toni Duclottni - lifestyle and entertainment reporter, and traffic reporter for news cut-ins during EyeOpener ^[8]
• Amber Fisher - general assignment reporter ("Backpack Journalist")
• Erin Harris - social media reporter ("PluggedIN")
• Shama Kabani - technology reporter ("Tech Zen with Shama")
• Doug Magditch - feature reporter ("Backpack Journalist")
• Daniel Novick - general assignment reporter ("Backpack Journalist")
• Giselle Phelps - general assignment and Collin County reporter
• Roni Proter - lifestyle and entertainment reporter^[12]

DFW Close Up

• Ashley Roberts - host

References

1. ^ http://dallas.thistv.com/
2. ^ http://antennatv.tv/shows/antenna/affiliates/
3. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
4. ^ Fox Network Takes 12 Stations from Big Three, The Buffalo News (via HighBeam Research), May 24, 1994.
5. ^ Fox, Renaissance trade markets, Broadcasting & Cable (via HighBeam Research), November 21, 1994.
6. ^ Tribune's renaissance: $1.13-billion purchase of six more TVs brings broadcaster into one-third of U.S. homes, Broadcasting & Cable (via HighBeam Research), July 8, 1996.
7. ^ Dallas/Fort Worth Market Profile (in 2002)
8. ^ ^{a b c d} CW33 hires new meteorologist, ramps up for early morning show on two levels
9. ^ KDAF CW 33 News at 9 Close
10. ^ KDAF The 33 News Open
11. ^ The 33 News Team, The33tv.com. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
12. ^ http://www.roniproter.com

• Shannon, Mike (January, 2004). Dallas–Fort Worth TV Station History. The History of Dallas-Fort Worth Radio and Television.

External links

Dallas-Fort Worth portal

• KDAF home page
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KDAF
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KDAF-TV