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KOB (TV)

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This article is about the television station. For other uses, see KOB (disambiguation).
KOB
CityAlbuquerque, New Mexico
Channels
BrandingKOB 4
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
November 29, 1948 (75 years ago) (1948-11-29)
Former call signs
KOB-TV (1948–2009)
Former channel number(s)
Analog: 4 (VHF, 1948–2009)
  • All secondary:
  • ABC (1948–September 1953)
  • CBS (1948–October 1953)
  • DuMont (1948–1955)
Call sign meaning
From former sister stations KOB-AM–FM
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID35313
ERP270 kW
HAAT1,277 m (4,190 ft)
Transmitter coordinates35°12′42.1″N 106°27′0.5″W / 35.211694°N 106.450139°W / 35.211694; -106.450139
Translator(s)see § Translators
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.kob.com

KOB (channel 4) is a television station in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, whose sister cable channel Reelz is also based in Albuquerque (KOB and Reelz, however, maintain separate operations and facilities). KOB's studios are located on Broadcast Plaza just west of downtown, and its transmitter is located on Sandia Crest, east of Albuquerque.

History

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KOB logo, used from 1996 to 2010.

KOB-TV started operations on November 29, 1948, after Albuquerque Journal owner and publisher Tom Pepperday won a television license on his second try. Pepperday, who also owned KOB radio (770 AM), had previously applied for one in 1943. It was the first television station in New Mexico, as well as the third television station between the Mississippi River and the West Coast (behind WBAP-TV (now KXAS-TV) in Fort Worth, and KDYL-TV (now KTVX) in Salt Lake City). Initially, channel 4 ran programming from all four networks—NBC, ABC, CBS and DuMont. However, it has always been a primary NBC affiliate owing to its radio sister's long affiliation with NBC radio.

Later, in May 1952, the KOB stations were purchased by magazine publisher Time-Life (later Time Inc.) and former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Wayne Coy. It was Time-Life's first television asset.[2] In 1953, two new TV stations signed on within a week—KGGM-TV (channel 13, now KRQE), which affiliated with CBS, followed by KOAT, which took ABC; DuMont shut down in 1956.

Stanley E. Hubbard, founder of Hubbard Broadcasting, bought KOB-AM-TV from Time-Life in 1957, and his heirs have owned the station since.[3] KOB's radio cousins were sold off in 1986 and are now known as KKOB and KOBQ. Despite the change, many people still confuse the television and radio stations today. In 2005, KOB-TV entered into a news partnership with KKOB.

Although the KOB radio stations had long amended their callsigns, KOB-TV did not drop the "-TV" suffix until June 13, 2009, when the FCC allowed a limited opportunity for stations to change their suffixes (adding "-TV" or "-DT") or drop them in the wake of the digital transition that was completed the previous day.

News operation

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KOB broadcasts 32+1⁄2 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 5+1⁄2 hours each weekday, three hours on Saturdays, and two hours on Sundays). During the school year, KOB broadcasts a weekly 15-minute sportscast, New Mexico Gameday, dedicated to high school sports.

When KOAT's top anchorman, Dick Knipfing, was fired on June 4, 1979, KOB hired him to anchor their newscasts. Although KOAT sued to keep Knipfing off the air until the following year,[4] an opinion from the United States District Court allowed the anchorman to proceed with his plans to begin anchoring channel 4 on August 1,[5] creating the first big-dollar anchor in Albuquerque, and allowing him to stand out in the industry as the "anchorman wars" moved to smaller markets. Knipfing's salary at that time was approximately $90,000. However, channel 4 was never able to overtake KOAT in the news ratings.

KOB produced an hour-long nightly newscast for Albuquerque's then-Fox affiliate, KASA-TV, from November 2000 through September 14, 2006, called Fox 2 News at Nine. The next day, KRQE took over production of that newscast as that station's parent company, LIN TV, began taking over KASA's operations as it purchased the station.

On September 26, 2010, KOB began producing and broadcasting its newscasts in 16:9 widescreen standard definition, and debuted new on-air graphics and a new station logo (the logo used for its newscasts is very similar to that used by Swedish television channel TV4 for its programming) on that date as well.

On February 13, 2020, the 10 p.m. newscast was renamed KOB 4 NightBeat, switching the newscast from its former Eyewitness News format to a looser talk-based news format. It is believed that it will be only for the late newscast, but could expand depending on viewer input.

On October 18, 2021, KOB resumed producing newscasts for KASA-TV, which had switched affiliations from Fox to Telemundo in January 2017 and was later acquired by NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group on October 5, 2021. [6] This marked the end of a transitional services agreement KASA-TV had with Gray Television, which had purchased its former Ramar Communications-owned sister stations in Lubbock (including KJTV-TV), to continue news production in the short term.[7]

Notable former on-air staff

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Technical information

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Subchannels

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The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of KOB[9][10]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
4.1 1080i 16:9 KOBDT1 NBC
4.2 480i 4:3 KOB-DT2 Heroes & Icons
4.3 KOBDT3 MeTV
4.4 16:9 KOBDT4 Catchy Comedy
4.5 4:3 KOBDT5 Ion Plus[11]
4.6 KOBDT6 Ion Television
4.7 Start TV

In September 2006, KOB-TV began broadcasting NBC WeatherPlus on digital subchannel 4.2, at first inserting its Doppler weather radar during time reserved for local segments. In December 2008, WeatherPlus was replaced with KOB's own locally programmed weather station. Weekly E/I programming required of broadcast television stations by the FCC came from NASA TV on weekend mornings.

On February 7, 2011, the subchannel began to carry programming from This TV. On June 30, 2016, Comet TV was added as a third digital channel, airing science fiction programs. On April 30, 2021, Decades was added as a fourth digital channel, airing decades on shows. In summer 2021, Defy TV and TrueReal were added as KOB's fifth and sixth digital channels. On October 15, 2021, KOBDT4's Decades was replaced with Heroes & Icons, shortly after it was dropped from KASA channel 29.1, but would later return to an added seventh digital channel on November 23. On December 30, 2021, KOB changed the line-up moving H&I to channel 4.2 while Decades (which became Catchy Comedy in March 2023) returned to 4.4 with This TV moving to 4.7.[12] On July 8, 2022, KOB added Newsy (later Scripps News) to digital channel 4.6, while TrueReal moved to channel 4.3 replacing Comet. TrueReal subsequently ceased operations as a network on March 27, 2023, thus leaving channel 4.3 blank.[13]

On July 1, 2023, KOB-TV added MeTV to channel 4.3, taking it from Telemundo station KASA-TV/KTEL-CD/KRTN-LD. Concurrently, KOB-TV added Start TV (also from KASA-TV/KTEL-CD) to channel 4.7, dropping This TV from its programming.[14]

On November 16, 2024, Scripps News ceased over-the-air operations and converted to a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service; as a result, KOB replaced the network on its sixth subchannel with Ion Television.

Analog-to-digital conversion

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KOB-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 4, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 26,[15] using virtual channel 4.

As part of the SAFER Act,[16] KOB-TV kept its analog signal on the air until June 30 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters.

Satellite stations

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Main articles: KOBF and KOBR

Two stations rebroadcast KOB's signal and insert local content for other parts of the media market:

Station City of license Channels First air date Former callsigns ERP HAAT Facility ID Transmitter coordinates Public license information
KOBF Farmington 12
12 (VHF) 		October 20, 1972 (52 years ago) (1972-10-20) KIVA-TV (1972–1983) 30 kW 125 m (410 ft) 35321 36°41′43″N 108°13′16″W / 36.69528°N 108.22111°W / 36.69528; -108.22111 (KOBF) Public file
LMS
KOBR Roswell 8
8 (VHF) 		June 24, 1953 (71 years ago) (1953-06-24) KSWS-TV (1953–1985) 40 kW 533 m (1,749 ft) 62272 33°22′31.3″N 103°46′14.3″W / 33.375361°N 103.770639°W / 33.375361; -103.770639 (KOBR) Public file
LMS

KOB formerly operated a third satellite station, KOBG-TV (channel 6) in Silver City, which signed on in 2000. Its transmitter was located at 32°51′49″N 108°14′29.6″W / 32.86361°N 108.241556°W / 32.86361; -108.241556 (KOBG-TV). KOBG had a permit to construct a digital station on channel 8, but these facilities were never built. After the digital transition on June 12, 2009, KOBG began operating with facilities on channel 12 identical to that of low-power translator stations under special temporary authority,[17] and was formally replaced with a translator (K12QW-D) on April 26, 2011,[18] though its license was not canceled until August 3.[19]

The last letter of the satellite station callsigns stands for the city or county where the station is located. KOBG was in Grant County.

Translators

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In February 2019, Las Cruces–based K42DJ, which was owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company and rebroadcast the Azteca América subchannel of El Paso, Texas–based KVIA-TV, was transferred to Hubbard and began to rebroadcast KOB instead as K22NM-D. This provided Las Cruces over-the-air access to an in-state NBC affiliate in addition to the main NBC affiliate serving Las Cruces, Nexstar's KTSM-TV.

References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KOB". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "KOB-AM-TV sale; official announcement made." Broadcasting - Telecasting, March 10, 1952, pg. 30. [1]
  3. ^ "Time sells KOB-AM-TV stations." Broadcasting - Telecasting, January 14, 1957, pp. 96-97. [2] [3]
  4. ^ Gallagher, Hugh. "KOAT Fires Knipfing, Hires 2 Replacements". The Albuquerque Journal. June 5, 1979. A-1.
  5. ^ Tessier, Denise. "Knipfing Allowed To Be KOB Anchorman." The Albuquerque Journal. July 7, 1979. C-5.
  6. ^ "NBCUniversal Local Acquires Television Stations from Ramar Communications". NBCUniversal Media Village. NBCUniversal Media, LLC. October 5, 2021. Archived from the original on October 2, 2020. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
  7. ^ Malone, Michael (October 18, 2021). "KASA Albuquerque Premieres Local News". Broadcasting & Cable. Archived from the original on October 18, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
  8. ^ "'Dr. George' Fischbeck, LA TV weatherman, dies at 92". The San Diego Union-Tribune. March 25, 2015. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
  9. ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for KOB". www.rabbitears.info.
  10. ^ "KOB TV Schedules". Kob.com. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  11. ^ Keys, Matthew (June 28, 2024). "Scripps replacing Defy TV with Ion Plus on broadcast TV". TheDesk.net. Retrieved June 28, 2024.
  12. ^ "Heroes & Icons moves to channel 4.2, This TV to channel 4.7". KOB.com. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  13. ^ Lafayette, Jon (March 10, 2023). "E.W. Scripps Folding TrueReal Digital Network Into Defy TV". Broadcasting Cable. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  14. ^ "KOB 4 launches MeTV and Start TV in New Mexico". KOB.com. June 30, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  15. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
  16. ^ "UPDATED List of Participants in the Analog Nightlight Program" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. June 12, 2009. Retrieved June 4, 2012.
  17. ^ "STA purpose statement" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. June 17, 2009. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
  18. ^ "KOBG-TV Children's Television Programming Report". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
  19. ^ Harding, Kevin R. (August 3, 2011). "Re: KOBG-TV, Silver City, New Mexico" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
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