KRIV
KRIV | |
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Houston, Texas | |
Branding | Fox 26 |
Slogan | Your Gulf Coast Weather Authority |
Channels | Analog: 26 (UHF) Digital: 27 (UHF) |
Affiliations | Fox |
Owner | Fox Television Stations |
Founded | August 15, 1971 |
Call letters meaning | Albert KRIVin (former top executive of Metromedia) |
Former callsigns | KVRL (1971-??) KDOG (??-1978) |
Former affiliations | Independent (1971-1986) |
Transmitter Power | 5000 kW/594 m (analog) 500 kW/534 m (digital) |
Website | MyFoxHouston.com |
KRIV, channel 26, is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, based in Houston, Texas. It is co-owned with MyNetworkTV affiliate KTXH (channel 20). Both stations share the same studio complex on 4261 Southwest Freeway in Houston. KRIV operates on 5000 kilowatts of power from a 594 m (1,949 ft) tower located in Missouri City, Texas.
Contents |
History
Channel 26 signed on for the first time on August 15, 1971 as KVRL. It was the second UHF station in Houston after KHTV (channel 39, now KHCW) to sign on the air. Several years after signing on, the call letters were changed to KDOG. The former GM of the station, Leroy Gloger, chose the letters. Another former general manager, Jerry Marcus commented (upon his retirement) that he saw them appropriate during the station's formative years as, in his words, they were a "dogged station" ratings-wise. The station's motto was "Where Every Dog Has His Day." During this period, the station aired a wide variety of programs. During the day they ran English general entertainment programming such as old cartoons, sitcoms, and old movies. At night they ran Spanish programming such as Spanish-language telenovelas, Spanish language movies, Spanish serials.
As a Metromedia station
In May 1978, Metromedia purchased the station and changed the station's call letters to KRIV-TV. The new call letters were in honor of Albert Krivin, then a top Metromedia executive. Jerry Marcus, general sales manager of Metromedia's WTTG in Washington, D.C., was brought to Houston to manage the station, where he remained until his retirement in December1999. This influx of dollars caused the station to begin taking more risks by picking up higher profile syndicated programming and forming a news department, featuring the first major primetime newscast in the market. The station was running a general entertainment format complete with cartoons, sitcoms, movies, first run syndicated shows, locally produced talk shows, and the one of the few Spanish language forums on television at the time. Overall, the station ranked near KHTV, a more well-established outlet, over the years.
As a Fox O&O
Six years later in 1986, Australian newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch purchased Metromedia television stations, including KRIV, which became one of six founding owned-and-operated stations of his new Fox television network. The acquisition caused the station, along with a number of other former Metromedia outlets, to suddenly adopt a more sophisticated look for a network that at the time, didn't actually exist. A unified music and graphics packaged was featured on this station, as well as the original Fox-owned stations, which is consistently noted for featuring graphics that were among the first of their kind for local television. Since 1986 KRIV has been known as "Fox 26".
In 1987, the station formed an investigative unit, and a program called "City Under Siege" which aired after the evening news. Originally hosted by anchors Jim Marsh and Fran Fawcett, the show was actually a predecessor to one of the Fox network's later standouts: COPS. As a Fox-owned station, KRIV added more first-run syndicated programming. In 1993, KRIV joined several other Fox-owned stations in launching a weekday morning newscast. The morning cartoons were dropped but they continued their afternoon kids block from Fox Kids until the end of 2001 when Fox ended the weekday kids' block nationwide.
A new era
In 1997, KRIV moved from its original studios on Westheimer Road in the Greenway Plaza area of Houston to a state-of-the-art digital facility and upgraded the look of its newscasts, debuting a brand new set, new graphics, and a new logo similar to other Fox O&O station logos implemented following the 1994 New World affiliation deal, in which Fox gained several VHF stations nationally, many of them former CBS affiliates in cities that are home to teams in the National Football Conference of the National Football League, after Fox gained broadcast rights to that conference from CBS.
With this upgraded presence in the Houston television market, Fox 26 went from outperforming former independents KTXH and KHWB (the former KHTV, now KHCW) to regularly challenging Houston's major-network stations, KPRC, KHOU, and KTRK-TV, in the ratings. During this time, KRIV's studios also became a studio site for various syndicated Fox programs, including the courtroom shows Texas Justice, Cristina's Court and Judge Alex.
On July 26, 2006, days after competitor KHOU-TV launched a new graphics package, KRIV also launched a new graphics and music package, which is being gradually rolled out to each of Fox's owned and operated stations as a part of a new, unified look that is similar to the graphics used on Fox News Channel. In mid-August 2006, the station launched their version of Fox's MyFox O&O website initiative with MyFoxHouston.com, which technically marks the station's first venture onto the Internet in a number of years, as the station's previous 2001-era website was somewhat of a placeholder and contained little information. On October 30, 2006, KRIV debuted a new set for newscasts. The old set was donated to the communications school at Texas Southern University.
Future plans
KRIV has touted its newscasts as the fastest growing in the Houston area, and has outperformed KPRC's newscasts as of the February 2007 sweeps period. During morning anchor Jan Jeffcoat's November 2004 to June 2007 tenture, Fox 26 saw a major jump in ratings, passing KPRC in the mornings, still far away from KTRK and KHOU. The station's 9PM newscast trails behind in ratings. The station also has future plans to have a 5PM newscast, in late 2007. The station still trails behind newscasts on CBS affiliate KHOU and ABC owned-and-operated KTRK, both of which battle for first place in Houston TV ratings books, with KTRK's dominance dating back to the 1970s.
KRIV runs over 30 hours a week of local news, 20 hours of which are dedicated to the station's weekday morning newscasts, and is soon to launch an early evening newscast that will air on co-owned KTXH. In addition to Fox primetime and sports programming (as well as Fox News Sunday), KRIV also broadcasts off network sitcoms, syndicated talk and courtroom shows, and reality shows, as well as religious programming on weekends. Take it to Akin segments (along with her volunteers) are to start airing Monday thru Wednesday beginning July 16 from 5 to 9 AM and at Noon. And FOX Energy Team is also coming to KRIV.
Logo history
The original logo of KVRL 26 was the letters "TV-26" in a stylized font.[1] After Metromedia purchased the station in 1978, the logo was changed to a more bold number which was diagonally oriented.[2]
The KDOG logo featured the station's call letters, with the "g" resembling the profile of a dog's head. This coordinated with the motto, "Where Every Dog Has His Day."
In 1986, after becoming a Fox affiliate, the logo was changed to a new serif font similar to the other O&O affiliates. One example of the logo just shows a bold "26" with the "KRIV" and "Houston" underneath[3], another shows the a horizontally oriented logo with a diagonal Fox logo on the left and the "KRIV 26" on the right[4]
In 1989, the logo was changed again, this time to a vertically oriented rectangle with the Fox searchlight above the number 26, with the call letters in a slightly diagonal line in the middle, and the word Houston in the border underneath. [5]
In 1994, the logo was changed to a bold "FOX 26" in a sans-serif font, with "KRIV" and "Houston" underneath in the old serif font.[6]
In 1997, after the station moved studios, the logo was changed again, along with most other Fox affiliates. This logo was a multi-paned rectangle with the word "FOX" in white letters on a blue background, a blue "26" on a white background, and the words "KRIV - HOUSTON" underneath on a black background with a red line underneath.[7] This logo was used until 2006, when the current logo was adopted.
Also in 2006, the KRIV website launched, and began using the "MyFox Houston" logo, a rounded rectangle consisting of a white lowercase "my" similar to the font used for MySpace (also owned by Fox), on a blue background, a white capital "FOX" on a red background, and the word "Houston" underneath.[8]
Personalities
Current On-Air Talent
FOX26 ANCHORS
- Ford Atkinson: Weekend Anchor
- Mike Barajas: Weekday Evening Anchor
- José Griñan: Weekday Morning Anchor
- Damali Keith: Weekend Anchor, also reports during weekends)
- Melinda Spaulding: Weekday Midday Anchor (C)
- Sibila Vargas: Weekday Morning Anchor (Beginning October 1st) [9]
- Melissa Wilson: Weekday Evening Anchor
- Tom Zizka: Weekday Morning Anchor
FOX26 REPORTERS
- Erin Anthony: Traffic Reporter
- Isiah Carey: General Assignment Reporter
- Ruben Dominguez Assignments Manager, mornings
- John Donnelly: General Assignment Reporter
- Doug Delony: "My Tech Guy" Reporter
- Kristine Galvan: General Assignment Reporter (C)
- Duarte Geraldino: General Assignment Reporter
- Lanny Griffith: Feature Reporter, seen weekday mornings
- Greg Groogan: Special Assignment Reporter
- Ned Hibberd: General Assignment Reporter
- Sally MacDonald: General Assignment Reporter
- Pattie Shieh: General Assignment Reporter (C)
- Andrea Watkins: General Assignment Reporter (C)
(C)- Possible Morning Anchor Canidate
FOX26 INVESTIGATES
- Carolyn Canville: Investigative Reporter
- Randy Wallace: Investigative Reporter
FOX26 METEOROLOGISTS
- Dr. Jim Siebert: Weekday Meteorologst
- Mike Iscovitz: Morning Meterologist
- John Dawson: Weekend Meteorologist
SPORTS ANCHORS/REPORTERS
- Mark Berman: Sports Director/Weeknight Sports Anchor
- Keith Calkins: Weekend Sports Anchor/Host of "FOX26 Sports Xtra"
- Matt Sampsell: Host of "FOX26 Sports Xtra"/Sports Reporter, also sideline reporter for Fox Sports)
Former On-Air Talent
- Taslin Alfonzo: Morning Anchor
- Ginger Casey: Anchor
- Anna Davlantes: Anchor
- Todd Duplantis: Reporter
- Olga Campos: Reporter
- Fran Fawcett: Anchor
- Tanja Greene: Reporter
- Linda Cheek-Heinrich: Morning Anchor
- Matt Lavine: Meteorologist
- Mike Lyons: Meteorologist
- Steve Mark: Sports Anchor/Reporter
- Monique Nation: Reporter (deceased)
- Shaun Rabb: Weatherman
- Cecilia Sinclair: Meteorologist
- Robert Smith: Meteorologist
- ReShonda Tate: Reporter
- Darian Ward: Anchor
- Craig Weber: Meteorologist
- Sherry Williams Anchor/Reporter, now weeknight anchor at KHCW
- Jan Jeffcoat: Morning Anchor, Now At Fox Chicago
Helicopter information
- SkyFox II (Eurocopter AS350BA A-star)
News/Station Presentation
Newscast Titles
- Channel 26 Metromedia News (1978-1986)
- FOX26 News (1986-present)
Station Slogans
- News That Works For You (2001-2006)
- Your Gulf Coast Weather Authority (2006-present)
External links
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Local television stations serving Greater Houston/Galveston/Sugar Land/Baytown Defunct television stations Significantly Viewed Out-of-Market Broadcast Stations |
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XHRIO 2 (Matamoros / Brownsville)* - KDFW 4 (Dallas) - KIDY 6 (San Angelo) - KTBC 7 (Austin) - KCIT 14 (Amarillo) - KFOX 14 (El Paso) - KXVA 15 (Abilene) - |
See also: ABC, CBS, CW, MyNetwork TV, NBC, PBS, Telefutura, Telemundo, Univision, Religious, Other English and Other Spanish stations in Texas |