KATN
Encyclopedia
KATN, virtual channel
2 (digital channel 18), is the ABC
-affiliated television station in Fairbanks, Alaska
. The station is owned by Vision Alaska LLC.
. It became KTTU-TV (no relation to the Tucson, Arizona station) in 1981 and KATN in 1984. It is now a part of the ABC Alaska Superstation.
KFAR/KTTU was primarily an NBC
station with ABC as the secondary network until 1984, when the owners of KIMO (now KYUR) bought the station, changed the call letters (the ATN in KATN stood for Alaska Television Network, a consortium of KATN, KIMO, and KJUD
), and made them the primary ABC affiliate. KATN would continue to carry NBC programs as a secondary affiliate until 1996 when KTVF flipped from CBS to NBC in response to KATN's new ownership. Until the launch of KFXF in 1992, they were Fairbanks' only two commercial network stations.
In September 2006, KATN began to show programming from The CW Television Network
on its digital subchannel. The subchannel is called Fairbanks CW and uses the fictional call letters KWFA-DT (the actual call letters of the subchannel are still KATN).
Smith Media sold KATN and the remainder of the "ABC Alaska's Superstation" system to Vision Alaska LLC in 2010.
Reporters
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
2 (digital channel 18), is the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
-affiliated television station in Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks is a home rule city in and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska.Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska, and second largest in the state behind Anchorage...
. The station is owned by Vision Alaska LLC.
Digital television
| Channel | Video | Aspect Aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,... |
Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | 720p 720p 720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan... |
16:9 16:9 16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ... |
KATN-DT | Main KATN programming / ABC |
| 2.2 | 480i 480i 480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC... |
4:3 | KWFA-DT | The CW Fairbanks |
History
KATN debuted on March 1, 1955 as KFAR-TV, and was Fairbanks' second television station after KTVFKTVF
-History:The station signed on the air in February 1955 as the first television station serving what at the time was the smallest television market in the United States...
. It became KTTU-TV (no relation to the Tucson, Arizona station) in 1981 and KATN in 1984. It is now a part of the ABC Alaska Superstation.
KFAR/KTTU was primarily an NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
station with ABC as the secondary network until 1984, when the owners of KIMO (now KYUR) bought the station, changed the call letters (the ATN in KATN stood for Alaska Television Network, a consortium of KATN, KIMO, and KJUD
KJUD
KJUD, virtual channel 8 , is the ABC-affiliated television station in Juneau, Alaska. The station is owned by Vision Alaska LLC.-Digital television:KJUD-DT broadcasts on digital channel 11.- History :...
), and made them the primary ABC affiliate. KATN would continue to carry NBC programs as a secondary affiliate until 1996 when KTVF flipped from CBS to NBC in response to KATN's new ownership. Until the launch of KFXF in 1992, they were Fairbanks' only two commercial network stations.
In September 2006, KATN began to show programming from The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
on its digital subchannel. The subchannel is called Fairbanks CW and uses the fictional call letters KWFA-DT (the actual call letters of the subchannel are still KATN).
Smith Media sold KATN and the remainder of the "ABC Alaska's Superstation" system to Vision Alaska LLC in 2010.
News/station presentation
Newscast titles
- Tanana Valley News/Nitecap News (1955-early 1960s)
- The Big 30 (1960s-early 1970s)
- The Eleventh Hour News (late evening newscast, early 1970s)
- Fairbanks Today (1970s-early 1980s)
- Newscene 2 (early 1980s-1985)
- News on Two (1985–1986)
- Interior News Tonight (1986–1991)
- Fairbanks News 2 (1991–1996)
- ABC Alaska News (2002–2010)
- Your Alaska Link (2010–present)
Station slogans
- Spirit of the Interior (1990s-1996)
- Alaska's Superstation (1996–present; general slogan)
- A Difference You Can Trust (1996–2007; news slogan)
- To the Point (2007–2010; news slogan)
- Your Alaska Link (2010–present)
News team
Anchors- Megan Mazurek - weeknights at 9 p.m. (on KJUD-DT2); also reporter
- Mark Colavecchio - weeknights at 5 p.m.; also News & Views co-host
- Natasha Sweatte - weeknights at 10 p.m.; also reporter
- John Thompson - host of Alaska Sports NOW!
- Janessa Webb - weather anchor; weeknights at 5 and 10 p.m.
Reporters
- Corinna Delgado - general assignment reporter
- Mike Ford - general assignment reporter
- Jared Mazurek - photographer
- Brandon Reid - photographer; also news producer
- Russ Slaten - general assignment reporter; also photographer
- Fred Stokes - photographer
Former on-air staff
- Steve Agbaba (1927-1992), sports anchor (1970s-1980s)
- Monte Bowen, news reporter (2001–2004), currently assignment editor at KTVFKTVF-History:The station signed on the air in February 1955 as the first television station serving what at the time was the smallest television market in the United States...
- Jerry Fears, news commentator (1970s). A collection of his commentaries, entitled Boom, Cash and Balderdash, was published in 1978.
- Buck Mahler, sports anchor, news director (early 1990s-1996)
- Katie Markin, anchor (1992–1995)
- Tara O'Grady, news reporter (1980s)
- Bob Parsons, news anchor (1960s-1970s)
- Mike Shultz, weatherman (1990–1991), currently at KTVF
- V. Maurice "Maury" Smith, news anchor and news director at both KFAR-AM and KFAR-TV (1950s-1970s). Son of a DePauw UniversityDePauw UniversityDePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, USA, is a private, national liberal arts college with an enrollment of approximately 2,400 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the Great Lakes Colleges Association...
physics professor, Smith came to Alaska in the 1930s and worked a variety of jobs before joining KFAR, where he became a genuine "Fairbanks character" (similar to the local notoriety of Irene Sherman and Joe VoglerJoe VoglerJoseph E. "Joe" Vogler was the founder of the Alaskan Independence Party, and either its chair or gubernatorial nominee for most of its first two decades of existence...
) in his years on the air. Smith also served in the Alaska LegislatureAlaska LegislatureThe Alaska Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a bicameral institution, consisting of the lower Alaska House of Representatives, with 40 members, and the upper house Alaska Senate, with 20 members...
for four years in the 1960s. - Sue Thompson, news reporter, anchor (early 1990s). Was student body president at the University of Alaska FairbanksUniversity of Alaska FairbanksThe University of Alaska Fairbanks, located in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska System, and is abbreviated as Alaska or UAF....
prior to joining the station. - Bill Walley (1936-1991), news anchor, public affairs host (1960s-1980s). Also served three terms as mayor of Fairbanks in the 1980s.