WDAF-TV
WDAF-TV | |
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Image:WDAF2007.png | |
Kansas City, Missouri | |
Branding | FOX4 |
Slogan | Working For You |
Channels | Analog: 4 (VHF) Digital: 34 (UHF) |
Affiliations | Fox |
Owner | Fox Television Stations (WDAF License, Inc.) |
Founded | October 19, 1949 |
Call letters meaning | None. It was sequentially assigned by the federal government to the AM sister station (now KCSP). [1] |
Former affiliations | NBC (1949-1994) CBS / DuMont (1949-52) ABC (1949-53) |
Website | www.myfoxkc.com/ |
WDAF-TV ("FOX4") is the Fox owned and operated television station in the Kansas City television market. Its transmitter is located in Kansas City, Missouri.
It runs 49 hours a week of locally produced newscasts, as well as first-run prime time and sports programming from Fox. It also runs off-network sitcoms, talk shows, reality shows, sports and court shows.
Contents |
History
WDAF began operation on October 19, 1949 as the second television station in Missouri and the first in Kansas City. The station was originally owned by the Kansas City Star along with WDAF radio (610 AM, now KCSP), which began operations in 1922. It was affiliated with all four major networks of the time: NBC, CBS, ABC, and DuMont. It was a primary NBC affiliate owing to WDAF-AM's long affiliation with NBC Radio.
Randall Jessee was the statin's first anchorman. Several other notables, including Shelby Storck (WDAF-TV's first weathercaster) and future Hollywood character actor Owen Bush, did announcing for the station during the early 1950s. When KMBC-TV signed on in 1953, CBS and Dumont programming moved there. WDAF shared ABC with KMBC until later in 1953, when KCMO-TV (now KCTV) signed on as the CBS affiliate. KMBC and WDAF then affiliated exclusively with ABC and NBC respectively. The station pre-empted moderate amounts of NBC programming, usually some daytime shows and occasionally a prime time show.
In 1953, the federal government began antitrust action against the Star over its broadcasting properties (WDAF-TV, WDAF-AM and WDAF-FM). The investigation was reportedly opened at the behest of Harry Truman, who had a long-running feud with the Star. The court ruled against the Star in 1955. After appeals failed, it signed a consent decree in 1957 requiring it to sell its broadcasting properties.
In 1958, WDAF-AM-FM-TV was sold to Transcontinent Broadcasting. Transcontinent merged with Taft Broadcasting on April 1, 1964. Taft was renamed Great American Broadcasting on October 12, 1987. By that year WDAF had overtaken KMBC as the dominant station in Kansas City, as was the trend at many NBC affiliates. Great American became Citicasters in 1993.
On July 13, 1984, WDAF-TV became one of the first 20 NBC stations in the country to receive network programming via satellite. In 1986 WDAF-TV also became the first TV station in Kansas City to broadcast in stereo.
As a Fox station
In the winter & spring of 1994, WDAF was sold to New World Communications (along with Phoenix's KSAZ). Shortly after the sale was announced, New World also announced that its stations were to affiliate with the Fox network. This came after Fox picked up the contract to carry the NFC game package from CBS.
As such, WDAF became a Fox affiliate on September 12th of 1994 and the NBC affiliation moved to KSHB Channel 41, the old Fox station. As a Fox affiliate, WDAF was the only New World-owned station to be a former NBC affiliate; sister stations WVTM-TV in Birmingham and KNSD in San Diego were sold to NBC Universal. In most cases, the previous affiliation of any New World owned station was mostly CBS or ABC.
After the affiliation swap, WDAF increased its local news programming from 30 hours a week to 50 hours - including expansions in morning and evening news. While it carries the entire Fox lineup, WDAF has pre-empted Fox Kids programming from the beginning, of which instead aired over the years on KSMO and later KMCI (now 4Kids TV); the pre-emption has been common among its newer Fox sister stations as well in the same timeframe since the mid-1990s. WDAF was the first station in Kansas City to use a helicopter for traffic and news reporting.
WDAF officially became a Fox owned and operated station in 1997, following Fox's purchase of the New World station group. WDAF is the only O&O of any major network in the Kansas City market.
The station was the over-the-air flagship station of the Kansas City Royals for many years, long after many Big Three affiliates dropped regular coverage of local sports. It lost the broadcast rights for the games in 1992, marking the end of a 13-year business relationship. The station also produced and aired Kansas City Chiefs pre-season games from 1997 to 1999, upgrading the local production presentation to network quality standards. The contract ran through the 1999 season.
On September 23, 2005, WDAF-TV began broadcasting in full power high definition, going from an HD signal rated at 1.2 Kilowatts to a signal strength of 1000 Kilowatts.
On October 23, 2007, WDAF-TV changed their graphics and music package to match fellow FOX O&O stations as part of a change that is gradually being phased in on other FOX O&O's.
Ratings
According to Nielsen Media Research, WDAF-TV has Kansas City's #1 newscast in several time slots, including at 9:00pm and in the morning.
News Operation
WDAF-TV broadcasts a total of 49 hours of local news per week, giving the station more hours of local news than any other station in Kansas City. After becoming a Fox affiliate station, WDAF-TV maintained a newscast schedule that is very similar to a CBS, ABC, or NBC affiliated station. Upon the network switch, the station added an additional late evening news broadcast at 9PM along with its 10PM newscast. The station is known in the area for its "Problem Solver" investigative unit that was started in 1998.
WDAF-TV, along with WITI in Milwaukee, WFLD in Chicago, KDFW in Dallas/Fort Worth, WBRC in Birmingham, KMSP-TV in Minneapolis/St. Paul, KSAZ-TV in Phoenix and KTVI in St. Louis are the only Fox-owned stations to have a 10PM newscast in the Central and Mountain Time Zones. Sister stations WTVT in Tampa-St. Petersburg & WTTG in Washington, D.C. have a late newscast at the Eastern Time Zone equivalent of 11PM.
In 2006, WDAF-TV officially debuted its new website based on the MyFox platform (which has also been adopted by all the other Fox O&O's).
In 2007, the station also added a Hummer, Storm Fox, to the 4WARN weather team. It is equipped to track and chase storms along with their helicopter Sky Fox.
Notable Personalities
Current On-Air Talent
FOX4 ANCHORS
- Mark Alford, 5-7:30AM and Noon Anchor
- Heather Claybrook, Weekend Morning Anchor/"Problem Solver" Investigative Reporter
- Loren Halifax, 5-7:30AM and Noon Anchor
- Paul Herdtner, 7:30-9AM Anchor
- Susan Hiland, 5PM and 9PM Anchor
- John Holt, 5PM and 9PM Anchor/"Problem Solver" Investigative Reporter
- Sharita Hutton, Weekend Evening Anchor
- Tom Lawrence, Weekend Morning/Evening Anchor
- Shelli Lockhart, 6 and 10PM Anchor
- Laura Thornquist, 7:30-9AM Anchor
- Phil Witt, 6 and 10PM Anchor
FOX4 REPORTERS
- Eric Burke, General Assignment Reporter
- Kim Byrnes, General Assignment Reporter
- Leslie Carto, General Assignment Reporter
- Megan Cloherty, General Assignment Reporter
- Carrie Coogan, "Try it before you buy it" Feature Reporter
- Monica Evans, General Assignment Reporter
- Dave Froehlich, General Assignment Reporter
- Nancy Lewis, General Assignment Reporter
- Rob Low, General Assignment Reporter
- Meryl Lin McKean, Medical Reporter
- Doug Luzader, Washington D.C. Correspondent
- Lori Patterson, General Assignment Reporter
- John Pepitone, General Assignment Reporter
- Ken Price, General Assignment Reporter
- Kathy Quinn, General Assignment Reporter
- Bob Stepanich, General Assignment Reporter
- Nick Vasos, Traffic Reporter
- Linda Wagar, General Assignment Reporter
4WARN WEATHER TEAM
- Mike Thompson (AMS Seal of Approval), Chief/Weekday Evening Meteorlogist
- Don Harman (AMS Seal of Approval), Morning Meteorologist
- Joe Lauria (AMS/NWA Seals of Approval), Weekend Meteorologist
- Karli Ritter (AMS Seal of Approval), Noon Meteorologist
SPORTS ANCHORS/REPORTERS
- Frank Boal, Sports Director/Monday-Thursday Sports Anchor
- Jason Lamb, Weekend Sports Anchor/Reporter
- Al Wallace, Friday Sports Anchor/Reporter
Former On-Air Talent
- Carmen Ainsworth, 6 & 10 PM Anchor
- Toby Cook, Weekday mornings 7:30-9:00 AM, now with the Kansas City Royals
- Casey Curry, Noon news and Weekend morning meteorologist, (moved to KTRK in Houston)
- Harris Faulkner, 6 & 10 PM Anchor (now with Fox News)
- Dan Henry, Meteorologist (retired)
- Gary Lezak, Morning Meteorologist (now Chief Meteorologist at KSHB)
- Sue Mason, Weekday 6 AM-7:30 AM Anchor (now with Nebraska Furniture Mart)
- Heather McMichael, Morning Anchor (now works a law firm in Kansas City)
- Johnny Rowlands, traffic reporter (now at KMBC-TV)
- Steve Shaw, reporter
- Tina Simpkin, Noon news and weekend morning meteorologist (now meteorologist at WTHR in Indianapolis)
- Shelly Slater, 6 & 10 PM weekend Anchor (now at WFAA-TV; Dallas)
- Stacy Smith - anchor (1977-1983), evenings (now anchor at KDKA-TV 2 in Pittsburgh)
News/Station Presentation
Newscast Titles
- Action (4) News (1974-1990)
- WDAF 4 News (1990-1992)
- NewsChannel 4 (1992-1997; WDAF-TV kept this news title after switch to FOX in 1994)
- FOX4 News (1997-present)
Station Slogans
- Four Has More! (1980's)
- Four Does More (1987-1990's)
- Kansas City's 24 Hour Newschannel (1992-1999)
- Working For You (1999-present)
Logo Gallery
Trivia
- WDAF-TV (along with a few other television and radio stations in the US) is an exception to the FCC rule that call signs must start with K west of the Mississippi River and W east of it. This is because Kansas City was east of the original K/W line.
External links
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WDAF 4 (Fox) - KCTV 5 (CBS) - KMBC 9 (ABC) - KUJH-LP 14 / K27FR 27 (Ind) - KCPT 19 (PBS) - KCWE 29 (The CW) - KCDN-LP 35 (DS) - KMCI 38 (Ind) - KSHB 41 (NBC, WX Plus on DT2) - K45IO 45 (HSN) - KUKC-LP 48 (UNI) - KPXE 50 (ION) - KSMO 62 (MNTV) Local cable television channels |
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KQTV 2 (ABC) - KTAJ 16 (TBN) - K46FG 46 (PBS/NET) Local cable television channels |
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KTVI 2 (St. Louis) - WDAF 4 (Kansas City) - KBSI 23 (Cape Girardeau) - KSFX 27 (Springfield) - K38II 38 (Jefferson City) |
See also: ABC, CBS, CW, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS and Other stations in Missouri |