KCOP-TV
Encyclopedia
KCOP-TV, channel 13, is a television station in Los Angeles, California
. Owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation
, KCOP is a sister station to Fox network
outlet KTTV
(channel 11), and is affiliated with the MyNetworkTV
programming service. The two stations share studio facilities in West Los Angeles
, and KCOP's transmitter is located on Mount Wilson
.
, which was later co-owned with channel 13's current sister station KTTV. Although it was an independent station, it did run some programming from the DuMont Television Network
.
One of KLAC-TV's earlier stars was veteran actress Betty White
, who starred in her own sitcom, Life with Elizabeth
. Television personality Regis Philbin
and actor-director Leonard Nimoy
once worked behind the scenes at channel 13, and Oscar Levant
had his own show on the station from 1958 to 1960.
In 1954, the Copley Press
(publishers of the San Diego Union-Tribune) purchased KLAC-TV, and changed its call letters to KCOP. A Bing Crosby
led group purchased the station shortly thereafter. In 1960, the NAFI Corporation, which would later merge with Chris-Craft Boats to become Chris-Craft Industries
, bought channel 13. NAFI/Chris-Craft would be channel 13's longest-tenured owner, lasting over 40 years.
For most of its first 46 years on the air, channel 13 was a typical general-entertainment independent station. It was usually the third- or fourth-rated independent in Southern California, trading the #3 spot with KHJ-TV (channel 9, now KCAL-TV
). During the 1980s and early 1990s, it was the Southern California home of Star Trek: The Next Generation
(as well as the Original Series
), The Arsenio Hall Show
and Baywatch
. The station tried airing movies for six nights a week in 1992, but this fared poorly. In 1993, KCOP moved to add more first run syndication productions. Along with Chris-Craft's other stations, KCOP carried the Prime Time Entertainment Network
from 1993 to 1995. KCOP was the original Los Angeles home of the syndicated versions of Wheel of Fortune
(its longtime announcer until his death in 2010, Charlie O'Donnell
, was a former news anchor at KCOP) and Jeopardy!
, both of which have since moved to KABC-TV
.
to form the United Paramount Network
. KCOP became the network's Los Angeles station on January 16, 1995, the day the network was launched.
Viacom
, the parent company of Paramount since 1994, bought Chris-Craft's half of UPN in 2000, becoming the network's full owner. In a separate transaction in 2002, Viacom purchased KCOP's arch-rival, KCAL. Rumors persisted that UPN would move to the higher-rated KCAL, making KCOP an independent station once again. However, Viacom said that it would continue to operate KCAL as an independent station (at least for the time being) and UPN would stay on KCOP.
Chris-Craft/United Television sold its stations to the News Corporation
on July 31, 2001. Upon being sold to Fox in 2001, the weekday Fox Kids
block moved to KCOP in the mid-afternoons, only for it to be dropped nationwide in January 2002. Soon after, the station ran a one-hour morning cartoon block (from the DIC Entertainment
company), but dropped cartoons permanently in September 2006. Channel 13 was the last local television station to air cartoons on weekdays. Like the other local stations, the cartoons were replaced with informercials.
With News Corporation's acquisition of KCOP, it elected to move the station's news and technical operations in with its Los Angeles Fox O&O KTTV in 2003. KCOP abandoned its longtime studios at 915 North La Brea Avenue in Hollywood (once home to the classic game shows The Joker's Wild
and Tic Tac Dough) to move into the new Fox Television Center
in West Los Angeles. The La Brea Avenue studio was put up for sale, and although no longer used by KCOP, Fox elected to keep the facility, and remodeled it to house the first two seasons of reality TV show Hell's Kitchen
. Since then it has been abandoned, shuttered, and become a haven for squatters who were evicted by police in May 2009.
(channel 5), which had been Los Angeles' WB affiliate for the network's entire run, was announced as the CW's Los Angeles station as part of a 10-year affiliation deal between the new network and KTLA's owner, Tribune Broadcasting
.
The CW's affiliation list didn't include any of Fox's UPN stations. However, even without the affiliation deal with Tribune, it is not likely KCOP would have been picked over KTLA. CW officials were on record as preferring the "strongest" WB and UPN affiliates, and KTLA had led KCOP in the ratings dating back to the days when they were both still independent. On January 25, 2006, the day following the announcement of the creation of the CW Network, Fox dropped all UPN references from its UPN stations' logos and branding, and stopped promoting UPN programming altogether. Accordingly, KCOP changed its branding from UPN 13 to Channel 13, and introduced a new logo featuring just the boxed 13 from the old logo. It also changed its slogan Get it On 13. On February 22, 2006, less than a month after the formation of The CW, Fox announced the formation of a new primetime network called MyNetworkTV
, with KCOP and the other Fox-owned UPN stations as the nuclei.
UPN continued to broadcast on stations across the country until September 15, 2006. While some UPN affiliates who switched to MyNetworkTV (which commenced operations on September 5, 2006) aired the final two weeks of UPN programming outside its regular primetime period, the Fox-owned stations, including KCOP, dropped UPN entirely on August 31, 2006.
In October 2006, the station began identifying itself as MyNetworkTV, Channel 13. The logo changed to a two-column design, with the network logo on the left side and the number 13 on the right. In May 2007, the branding changed again, with My13 Los Angeles appearing on-screen in the bottom right-hand corner.
Additionally, KCOP may air Fox network programming should it be preempted by KTTV for a breaking news story or any other emergency.
channel 13, on June 12, 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States
. The station had been broadcasting its pre-transition digital signal over UHF
channel 66, but returned to channel 13 for its post-transition operations. KCOP broadcasts in 720p
high definition on virtual channel 13.1, since MyNetworkTV
uses that particular HD format.
KCOP's signal also carries the standard-definition feed of sister station KTTV, which maps back to KTTV on virtual channel 11.2, although it is really physical channel 13.3.
On November 4, 2011, Fox Television Stations announced an agreement in which it will add the Bounce TV
digital subchannel (which targets the African-American audience, specifically the 25-54 age demographic) to KCOP and New York City-area sister station WWOR-TV. There are also plans to add Bounce to the subchannels of Fox's other MyNetworkTV stations in five markets: Baltimore
, Phoenix
, Orlando-Daytona Beach
, Dallas-Fort Worth
, and Minneapolis-Saint Paul
. In Chicago
, Houston
, and Washington, D.C.
, where Fox also owns MyNetworkTV stations, Bounce TV is available elsewhere in those markets on competing stations. No tentative date has been announced as to when Bounce TV will air on KCOP or WWOR.
baseball team, carrying games since the 2006 season. Before that, channel 13 was the broadcasting home of the Los Angeles Dodgers
from 2002 to 2005, the NBA
's Los Angeles Clippers
from 1991 to 1996, and the Los Angeles Marathon
1986 to 2001.
From 2005 to 2007, KCOP carried St. Louis Rams
preseason games produced by corporate sibling Fox Sports Midwest and now-former sister station KTVI
. It was considered a throwback of sorts, because back in the 1950s during the team's early years in Los Angeles, the station broadcast many Rams regular season games before NFL games became more exclusive to the major broadcasting networks (such as CBS
, NBC
, and DuMont). However, according to a July 2008 article in Street & Smith
's Sports Business Journal, the NFL's broadcast committee decided to no longer allow teams to broadcast preseason games beyond even their secondary markets. This was done moreso to protect the league's broadcast partners, including those of KCBS-TV and KTLA, the respective local broadcasters of the San Diego Chargers
and Oakland Raiders
preseason games.
Like many local stations in the earlier years of television, KCOP hosted its own Studio Wrestling show every week for many years during the 1970s. Stars such as Freddie Blassie, John Tolos
, Rocky Johnson
, André the Giant
, and The Sheik
headlined the shows, with longtime local announcer Dick Lane
behind the microphone calling the action. In later years, pro wrestling returned to KCOP by way of World Wrestling Entertainment's Smackdown show, which aired on the station from 1999 to 2006 (when it was a UPN affiliate) and again from 2008 to 2010 (as a MyNetworkTV affiliate). In the past, Channel 13 also aired other wrestling programs, including World Class Championship Wrestling
and from the NWA
.
Channel 13 also televised live boxing matches, originating from the Grand Olympic Auditorium
in downtown Los Angeles, on and off from the late 1960s until as recently as the mid-1990s, with legendary Los Angeles sportscaster Jim Healy
calling the blow-by-blow action in the early years.
Due to its relationship with corporate siblings Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket, KCOP has served as an overflow channel for the two regional sports networks, as it added coverage of five Los Angeles Kings
hockey games during the 2010–11 season, as well as televising its first Clippers game since 1996 (a road game versus the Dallas Mavericks
on April 8, 2011), as a last-minute scheduling addition to the team's television schedule.
(produced by WPIX
in New York City
), and coupled it with its local 10:00 program. The INN newscast later moved to KTLA, when Tribune Broadcasting
(the parent company of WPIX and INN) purchased the station in 1985. The station's newscast has generally been the lowest rated evening newscast of the seven VHF television stations in the Los Angeles market. The newscast length has varied from 30 minutes to an hour depending on the station budget. For a brief period of time during the late 1990s, KCOP tried airing a half-hour newscast at 3:30PM weekdays, later airing it at 7:30PM weeknights. However, when the station was purchased by Fox and its operations were merged with KTTV, channel 13's newscast was moved to 11:00 p.m. to avoid direct competition with channel 11 (which runs an hour-long 10 p.m. newscast), and trimmed it from an hour in length down to 30 minutes. The station's news production and resources are now also handled by KTTV.
Since Fox purchased the station, KCOP's late-evening news took a more unconventional approach than its network-owned competition, KCBS-TV, KNBC
, and KABC-TV
. To appeal to a younger audience, it mainly featured its female news anchors in slightly more revealing, trendy clothing. Its news stories also tend to be much shorter in detail, in a faster-paced format. In addition, it has become the first station to emphasize entertainment and trend-setting news as a major part of its format, one idea which has attracted a large young demographic. Nevertheless, channel 13's newscast continually places fourth in the ratings, as it did when the station was competing at 10 p.m. against KTTV, KTLA, and KCAL-TV. However, KCOP's news drew substantially higher ratings among young people, especially young Latinos.
On April 10, 2006, KCOP's newscast was expanded from 30 minutes to a full hour, which made it the only Los Angeles station with a full-hour newscast at 11 p.m. On August 14, 2006, the newscast was rebranded as my 13 news.
With the purchase by Fox, many of KCOP's former staff have since either left the station or been released, reporter Hal Eisner is one of the remaining staffers who has been with KCOP since the Chris-Craft era, beginning there in the early 1990s. Before that, however, he had worked at KTTV for a time during 1987 and 1988. Today, Eisner also files reports for KTTV.
On December 1, 2008, KCOP replaced its 60-minute 11 p.m. newscast with a 30-minute newscast titled FOX News at 11, anchored by KTTV anchors Christine Devine and Carlos Amezcua, marking the end of a KCOP-named and produced newscast.
Weeknights
Weekends
KCOP uses additional news personnel from KTTV. See that article
for a complete listing.
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Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. Owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
, KCOP is a sister station to Fox network
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
outlet KTTV
KTTV
KTTV, channel 11, is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in Los Angeles, California. Serving the vast Los Angeles metropolitan area, KTTV is a sister station to KCOP , Los Angeles' MyNetworkTV station...
(channel 11), and is affiliated with the MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
programming service. The two stations share studio facilities in West Los Angeles
West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
West Los Angeles is a district in Los Angeles, California, within a larger region known as the "Westside."-Geography and transportation:...
, and KCOP's transmitter is located on Mount Wilson
Mount Wilson (California)
Mount Wilson is one of the better known peaks in the San Gabriel Mountains, part of the Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles County, California. It is the location of the Mount Wilson Observatory and has become the astronomical center of Southern California with and telescopes, and and tall...
.
Early history
Channel 13 went on the air on September 17, 1948, as KMTR-TV. The station briefly changed its call letters to KLAC-TV (Los Angeles, California), and adopted the moniker "Lucky 13". It was co-owned with KLAC-AM-FMKTWV
KTWV is a commercial radio station located in Los Angeles, California, broadcasting to the Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside–San Bernardino and Ventura County areas on 94.7 FM. KTWV airs a hybrid Smooth AC radio format branded as "94.7 The Wave"...
, which was later co-owned with channel 13's current sister station KTTV. Although it was an independent station, it did run some programming from the DuMont Television Network
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
.
One of KLAC-TV's earlier stars was veteran actress Betty White
Betty White
Betty White Ludden , better known as Betty White, is an American actress, comedienne, singer, author, and former game show personality. With a career spanning seven decades since 1939, she is best known to modern audiences for her television roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and...
, who starred in her own sitcom, Life with Elizabeth
Life with Elizabeth
Life with Elizabeth is an American sitcom which aired in syndication from October 7, 1953, to September 1, 1955. The show stars Betty White and Del Moore; Jack Narz was the on-camera announcer and narrator....
. Television personality Regis Philbin
Regis Philbin
Regis Francis Xavier Philbin is an American media personality, actor and singer, known for hosting talk and game shows since the 1960s. Philbin is often called "the hardest working man in show business" and holds the Guinness World Record for the most time spent in front of a television camera...
and actor-director Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....
once worked behind the scenes at channel 13, and Oscar Levant
Oscar Levant
Oscar Levant was an American pianist, composer, author, comedian, and actor. He was more famous for his mordant character and witticisms, on the radio and in movies and television, than for his music.-Life and career:...
had his own show on the station from 1958 to 1960.
In 1954, the Copley Press
Copley Press
Copley Press was a privately held newspaper business, founded in Illinois, but later based in La Jolla, California. Its flagship paper was The San Diego Union-Tribune.-Pulitzer Prizes:...
(publishers of the San Diego Union-Tribune) purchased KLAC-TV, and changed its call letters to KCOP. A Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
led group purchased the station shortly thereafter. In 1960, the NAFI Corporation, which would later merge with Chris-Craft Boats to become Chris-Craft Industries
Chris-Craft Industries
Chris-Craft Industries, Inc., formerly National Automotive Fibers, Inc., was a publicly-held American corporation traded on the New York and Pacific Stock Exchanges. It later took on the name of one of its acquisitions, Chris-Craft Boats...
, bought channel 13. NAFI/Chris-Craft would be channel 13's longest-tenured owner, lasting over 40 years.
For most of its first 46 years on the air, channel 13 was a typical general-entertainment independent station. It was usually the third- or fourth-rated independent in Southern California, trading the #3 spot with KHJ-TV (channel 9, now KCAL-TV
KCAL-TV
KCAL-TV, channel 9, is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, USA, owned by the CBS Corporation. KCAL-TV shares its studio facilities with KCBS-TV inside CBS Studio Center in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.-Digital...
). During the 1980s and early 1990s, it was the Southern California home of Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
(as well as the Original Series
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
), The Arsenio Hall Show
The Arsenio Hall Show
The Arsenio Hall Show is an American variety/talk show that aired late weeknights in syndication from January 3, 1989 to May 27, 1994. The show was created and hosted by comedian/actor Arsenio Hall.- Background :...
and Baywatch
Baywatch
Baywatch is an American action drama series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, starring David Hasselhoff. The show ran in its original title and format from 1989 to 1999, sans the 1990-1991 season, of which it was not in production...
. The station tried airing movies for six nights a week in 1992, but this fared poorly. In 1993, KCOP moved to add more first run syndication productions. Along with Chris-Craft's other stations, KCOP carried the Prime Time Entertainment Network
Prime Time Entertainment Network
The Prime Time Entertainment Network was a United States television network launched in 1993 by the Prime Time Consortium, a joint venture between Warner Bros. Domestic Television and the Chris-Craft group of independent stations...
from 1993 to 1995. KCOP was the original Los Angeles home of the syndicated versions of Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show)
Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, which premiered in 1975. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a large wheel. The title refers to the show's giant carnival wheel that...
(its longtime announcer until his death in 2010, Charlie O'Donnell
Charlie O'Donnell
Charles John "Charlie" O'Donnell was an American radio and television announcer, primarily known for his work on game shows...
, was a former news anchor at KCOP) and Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
, both of which have since moved to KABC-TV
KABC-TV
KABC-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, licensed to Los Angeles, California. KABC-TV's studios are located in Glendale, California...
.
UPN affiliation
In 1995, Chris-Craft and its subsidiary, United Television, partnered with Paramount PicturesParamount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
to form the United Paramount Network
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
. KCOP became the network's Los Angeles station on January 16, 1995, the day the network was launched.
Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
, the parent company of Paramount since 1994, bought Chris-Craft's half of UPN in 2000, becoming the network's full owner. In a separate transaction in 2002, Viacom purchased KCOP's arch-rival, KCAL. Rumors persisted that UPN would move to the higher-rated KCAL, making KCOP an independent station once again. However, Viacom said that it would continue to operate KCAL as an independent station (at least for the time being) and UPN would stay on KCOP.
Chris-Craft/United Television sold its stations to the News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
on July 31, 2001. Upon being sold to Fox in 2001, the weekday Fox Kids
Fox Kids
Fox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...
block moved to KCOP in the mid-afternoons, only for it to be dropped nationwide in January 2002. Soon after, the station ran a one-hour morning cartoon block (from the DIC Entertainment
DiC Entertainment
DIC Entertainment was an international film and television production company. In addition to animated television shows such as Ulysses 31 , Inspector Gadget , The Littles , The Real Ghostbusters , Captain Planet and the Planeteers , and the first two seasons of the English adaptation of...
company), but dropped cartoons permanently in September 2006. Channel 13 was the last local television station to air cartoons on weekdays. Like the other local stations, the cartoons were replaced with informercials.
With News Corporation's acquisition of KCOP, it elected to move the station's news and technical operations in with its Los Angeles Fox O&O KTTV in 2003. KCOP abandoned its longtime studios at 915 North La Brea Avenue in Hollywood (once home to the classic game shows The Joker's Wild
The Joker's Wild
The Joker's Wild is an American television game show that aired at different times during the 1970s through the 1990s. Contestants answered questions based on categories that were determined randomly by a mechanism resembling a slot machine....
and Tic Tac Dough) to move into the new Fox Television Center
Fox Television Center
Fox Television Center is a television studio facility located at 1999 South Bundy Drive in West Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California, in the United States....
in West Los Angeles. The La Brea Avenue studio was put up for sale, and although no longer used by KCOP, Fox elected to keep the facility, and remodeled it to house the first two seasons of reality TV show Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen (U.S.)
Hell's Kitchen is an American reality-television cooking competition broadcast on Fox...
. Since then it has been abandoned, shuttered, and become a haven for squatters who were evicted by police in May 2009.
MyNetworkTV affiliation
On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN networks announced that they would merge into a new network called the CW Television Network. KTLAKTLA
KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
(channel 5), which had been Los Angeles' WB affiliate for the network's entire run, was announced as the CW's Los Angeles station as part of a 10-year affiliation deal between the new network and KTLA's owner, Tribune Broadcasting
Tribune Broadcasting
The Tribune Broadcasting Company is a group of radio and television stations located throughout the United States which are owned and operated by the Tribune Company, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois and named for the flagship Chicago Tribune newspaper.- History :Tribune Broadcasting...
.
The CW's affiliation list didn't include any of Fox's UPN stations. However, even without the affiliation deal with Tribune, it is not likely KCOP would have been picked over KTLA. CW officials were on record as preferring the "strongest" WB and UPN affiliates, and KTLA had led KCOP in the ratings dating back to the days when they were both still independent. On January 25, 2006, the day following the announcement of the creation of the CW Network, Fox dropped all UPN references from its UPN stations' logos and branding, and stopped promoting UPN programming altogether. Accordingly, KCOP changed its branding from UPN 13 to Channel 13, and introduced a new logo featuring just the boxed 13 from the old logo. It also changed its slogan Get it On 13. On February 22, 2006, less than a month after the formation of The CW, Fox announced the formation of a new primetime network called MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
, with KCOP and the other Fox-owned UPN stations as the nuclei.
UPN continued to broadcast on stations across the country until September 15, 2006. While some UPN affiliates who switched to MyNetworkTV (which commenced operations on September 5, 2006) aired the final two weeks of UPN programming outside its regular primetime period, the Fox-owned stations, including KCOP, dropped UPN entirely on August 31, 2006.
In October 2006, the station began identifying itself as MyNetworkTV, Channel 13. The logo changed to a two-column design, with the network logo on the left side and the number 13 on the right. In May 2007, the branding changed again, with My13 Los Angeles appearing on-screen in the bottom right-hand corner.
Additionally, KCOP may air Fox network programming should it be preempted by KTTV for a breaking news story or any other emergency.
Digital television
KCOP-TV shut down on its analog signal, over VHFVery high frequency
Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
channel 13, on June 12, 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States
DTV transition in the United States
The DTV transition in the United States was the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming...
. The station had been broadcasting its pre-transition digital signal over UHF
Ultra high frequency
Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...
channel 66, but returned to channel 13 for its post-transition operations. KCOP broadcasts in 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...
high definition on virtual channel 13.1, since MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
uses that particular HD format.
KCOP's signal also carries the standard-definition feed of sister station KTTV, which maps back to KTTV on virtual channel 11.2, although it is really physical channel 13.3.
On November 4, 2011, Fox Television Stations announced an agreement in which it will add the Bounce TV
Bounce TV
Bounce TV is a United States television network airing on digital terrestrial television stations. Promoted as "the first 24/7 digital multicast broadcast network created exclusively for African Americans," Bounce TV launched on September 26, 2011 and features programming geared toward blacks in...
digital subchannel (which targets the African-American audience, specifically the 25-54 age demographic) to KCOP and New York City-area sister station WWOR-TV. There are also plans to add Bounce to the subchannels of Fox's other MyNetworkTV stations in five markets: Baltimore
WUTB
WUTB, digital channel 41, is the MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated television station for Baltimore, Maryland. Its transmitter is located near Gilson Park in Catonsville. The station has studios on Seton Drive in Baltimore near the city and county line...
, Phoenix
KUTP
KUTP, channel 45, is a MyNetworkTV-affiliated station in Phoenix, Arizona. It is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox outlet KSAZ-TV . The two stations share studio facilities in Phoenix, and KUTP's transmitter is located on South...
, Orlando-Daytona Beach
WRBW
WRBW is the MyNetworkTV owned and operated station serving the Orlando/Daytona Beach/Melbourne, Florida television market. It is owned by the Fox Television Stations Group, along with Fox station WOFL Channel 35. Known on-air as "My65", the station offers sitcoms, cartoons, court shows, and...
, Dallas-Fort Worth
KDFI
KDFI-TV, virtual channel 27, is a MyNetworkTV-affiliated station serving the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The station is licensed to Dallas and owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network outlet KDFW . Its transmitter is located in Cedar...
, and Minneapolis-Saint Paul
WFTC
WFTC, channel 29, is a MyNetworkTV owned and operated television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and serving the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area...
. In Chicago
WPWR-TV
WPWR-TV, channel 50, is a MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station licensed to Gary, Indiana, and serving the Chicago, Illinois area. WPWR-TV is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network outlet WFLD-TV...
, Houston
KTXH
KTXH, digital channel 19 , is a MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station in Houston, Texas. It is owned by the Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is one-half of a duopoly with Fox network station KRIV .Along with programming from MyNetworkTV, the station also airs...
, and Washington, D.C.
WDCA
WDCA, virtual channel 20, is a television station in Washington, D.C.. Owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, WDCA is a sister station to Fox network outlet WTTG , and is affiliated with the co-owned MyNetworkTV programming service...
, where Fox also owns MyNetworkTV stations, Bounce TV is available elsewhere in those markets on competing stations. No tentative date has been announced as to when Bounce TV will air on KCOP or WWOR.
Sports coverage
KCOP holds the television broadcasting rights to the Los Angeles Angels of AnaheimLos Angeles Angels of Anaheim
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are a professional baseball team based in Anaheim, California, United States. The Angels are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The "Angels" name originates from the city in which the team started, Los Angeles...
baseball team, carrying games since the 2006 season. Before that, channel 13 was the broadcasting home of the Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
from 2002 to 2005, the NBA
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
's Los Angeles Clippers
Los Angeles Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers are a professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California, United States. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...
from 1991 to 1996, and the Los Angeles Marathon
Los Angeles Marathon
The Honda LA Marathon is an annual running event held each spring in Los Angeles, California. The 26.219 mile footrace, inspired by the success of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, has been contested every year since 1986...
1986 to 2001.
From 2005 to 2007, KCOP carried St. Louis Rams
St. Louis Rams
The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...
preseason games produced by corporate sibling Fox Sports Midwest and now-former sister station KTVI
KTVI
KTVI, virtual channel 2, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the St. Louis, Missouri, designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, under a local marketing agreement with Tribune-owned CW affiliate KPLR...
. It was considered a throwback of sorts, because back in the 1950s during the team's early years in Los Angeles, the station broadcast many Rams regular season games before NFL games became more exclusive to the major broadcasting networks (such as CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, 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...
, and DuMont). However, according to a July 2008 article in Street & Smith
Street & Smith
Street & Smith or Street & Smith Publications, Inc. was a New York City publisher specializing in inexpensive paperbacks and magazines referred to as pulp fiction and dime novels. They also published comic books and sporting yearbooks...
's Sports Business Journal, the NFL's broadcast committee decided to no longer allow teams to broadcast preseason games beyond even their secondary markets. This was done moreso to protect the league's broadcast partners, including those of KCBS-TV and KTLA, the respective local broadcasters of the San Diego Chargers
San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
and Oakland Raiders
Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
preseason games.
Like many local stations in the earlier years of television, KCOP hosted its own Studio Wrestling show every week for many years during the 1970s. Stars such as Freddie Blassie, John Tolos
John Tolos
John Tolos, nicknamed "The Golden Greek", was a Canadian professional wrestler, and professional wrestling manager.-Canadian Wrecking Crew:...
, Rocky Johnson
Rocky Johnson
Rocky Johnson is a retired Canadian professional wrestler. Quite popular in his own right in the 1970s and 1980s, he is also known for being the father of actor and professional wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson...
, André the Giant
André the Giant
André René Roussimoff , best known as André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor. His best remembered acting role was that of Fezzik, the giant in the film The Princess Bride...
, and The Sheik
Ed Farhat
Edward George Farhat was an American professional wrestler best known as by his ring name The Sheik...
headlined the shows, with longtime local announcer Dick Lane
Dick Lane (TV announcer)
Richard Lane , more commonly known as Dick Lane, was an American television announcer and actor who made his mark broadcasting wrestling and roller derby shows on KTLA-TV, mainly from the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California.-Early years:Lane was born in 1899 in Rice Lake, Wisconsin...
behind the microphone calling the action. In later years, pro wrestling returned to KCOP by way of World Wrestling Entertainment's Smackdown show, which aired on the station from 1999 to 2006 (when it was a UPN affiliate) and again from 2008 to 2010 (as a MyNetworkTV affiliate). In the past, Channel 13 also aired other wrestling programs, including World Class Championship Wrestling
World Class Championship Wrestling
World Class Championship Wrestling ' was a regional professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. Originally owned by promoter Ed McLemore, by 1966 it was run by Southwest Sports, Inc., whose president, Jack Adkisson, was better known as wrestler Fritz Von Erich...
and from the NWA
National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
.
Channel 13 also televised live boxing matches, originating from the Grand Olympic Auditorium
Grand Olympic Auditorium
The Grand Olympic Auditorium is the former name of a sports venue in Los Angeles, California, United States. Located at 1801 S. Grand Avenue, the venue was built in 1924 specifically for the 1932 Summer Olympics, which saw the boxing, weightlifting, and wrestling events held there. At the time it...
in downtown Los Angeles, on and off from the late 1960s until as recently as the mid-1990s, with legendary Los Angeles sportscaster Jim Healy
Jim Healy
Jim Healy was a longtime Los Angeles, California, sports commentator , whose daily solo radio show featured a number of sound effects and audio clips of famous sports personalities, which he played repeatedly to affect an acerbically humorous tone.Excerpting from his entry on the...
calling the blow-by-blow action in the early years.
Due to its relationship with corporate siblings Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket, KCOP has served as an overflow channel for the two regional sports networks, as it added coverage of five Los Angeles Kings
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
hockey games during the 2010–11 season, as well as televising its first Clippers game since 1996 (a road game versus the Dallas Mavericks
Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks are a professional basketball team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association , and the reigning NBA champions, having defeated the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals.According to a 2011...
on April 8, 2011), as a last-minute scheduling addition to the team's television schedule.
News operation
For many years, KCOP aired traditional newscast at 10:00 p.m., as well as a weekday afternoon newscast at 2:00 p.m. during the late 70s and early 80s. During the 1980s, the station carried the syndicated Independent Network NewsIndependent Network News (US)
The Independent Network News was a nationally-syndicated nightly news program, seen from June 1980 until June 1990. The newscast was designed to serve the same purpose as the nightly network news programs, and was produced by Tribune Company-owned station WPIX in New York...
(produced by WPIX
WPIX
WPIX, channel 11, is a television station in New York City built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WPIX also serves as the flagship station of The CW Television Network...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
), and coupled it with its local 10:00 program. The INN newscast later moved to KTLA, when Tribune Broadcasting
Tribune Broadcasting
The Tribune Broadcasting Company is a group of radio and television stations located throughout the United States which are owned and operated by the Tribune Company, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois and named for the flagship Chicago Tribune newspaper.- History :Tribune Broadcasting...
(the parent company of WPIX and INN) purchased the station in 1985. The station's newscast has generally been the lowest rated evening newscast of the seven VHF television stations in the Los Angeles market. The newscast length has varied from 30 minutes to an hour depending on the station budget. For a brief period of time during the late 1990s, KCOP tried airing a half-hour newscast at 3:30PM weekdays, later airing it at 7:30PM weeknights. However, when the station was purchased by Fox and its operations were merged with KTTV, channel 13's newscast was moved to 11:00 p.m. to avoid direct competition with channel 11 (which runs an hour-long 10 p.m. newscast), and trimmed it from an hour in length down to 30 minutes. The station's news production and resources are now also handled by KTTV.
Since Fox purchased the station, KCOP's late-evening news took a more unconventional approach than its network-owned competition, KCBS-TV, KNBC
KNBC
KNBC, channel 4, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, licensed to Los Angeles, California, USA. KNBC's studios and offices are located within the NBC Studios complex in Burbank, California, and its transmitter is located on Mount Wilson...
, and KABC-TV
KABC-TV
KABC-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, licensed to Los Angeles, California. KABC-TV's studios are located in Glendale, California...
. To appeal to a younger audience, it mainly featured its female news anchors in slightly more revealing, trendy clothing. Its news stories also tend to be much shorter in detail, in a faster-paced format. In addition, it has become the first station to emphasize entertainment and trend-setting news as a major part of its format, one idea which has attracted a large young demographic. Nevertheless, channel 13's newscast continually places fourth in the ratings, as it did when the station was competing at 10 p.m. against KTTV, KTLA, and KCAL-TV. However, KCOP's news drew substantially higher ratings among young people, especially young Latinos.
On April 10, 2006, KCOP's newscast was expanded from 30 minutes to a full hour, which made it the only Los Angeles station with a full-hour newscast at 11 p.m. On August 14, 2006, the newscast was rebranded as my 13 news.
With the purchase by Fox, many of KCOP's former staff have since either left the station or been released, reporter Hal Eisner is one of the remaining staffers who has been with KCOP since the Chris-Craft era, beginning there in the early 1990s. Before that, however, he had worked at KTTV for a time during 1987 and 1988. Today, Eisner also files reports for KTTV.
On December 1, 2008, KCOP replaced its 60-minute 11 p.m. newscast with a 30-minute newscast titled FOX News at 11, anchored by KTTV anchors Christine Devine and Carlos Amezcua, marking the end of a KCOP-named and produced newscast.
News team
FOX News at 11 (11 to 11:30 P.M.)Weeknights
- Anchors:
- Carlos AmezcuaCarlos AmezcuaCarlos Amezcua is the co-anchor of the KTTV FOX 11. newscast. Amezcua joined KTTV in September 2007.Amezcua, a Southern California native,studied at BYU and San Diego State College....
- Christine DevineChristine DevineChristine Devine is a well known television news anchor based in Los Angeles. She can be seen weeknights on KTTV's Fox 11 News. She’s won 14 Emmy's, six for best newscast. She also co-anchors FOX News at 11 p.m. on Channel 13.- Biography :...
- Carlos Amezcua
Weekends
- Anchors:
- Susan Hirasuna
- Jeff Michael
- Sports:
- Liz Habib
KCOP uses additional news personnel from KTTV. See that article
KTTV
KTTV, channel 11, is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in Los Angeles, California. Serving the vast Los Angeles metropolitan area, KTTV is a sister station to KCOP , Los Angeles' MyNetworkTV station...
for a complete listing.
Notable alumni
|
Newscast titles
- Clete Roberts and The News (1950-)
- Newsroom (1960s)
- News 13 (1975–1981, 1984–1992 and for a short time in 1999)
- World Network News Los Angeles (1981–1983)
- NewsCenter 13 (1983–1984)
- Real News (1993–1995)
- UPN News 13 (1995–2002)
- UPN 13 News (2002–2006)
- Channel 13 News (January–August 2006)
- My 13 News (August 2006-December 1, 2008)
- Fox News at 11 (December 1, 2008–present)
Station slogans
- Dial TV 13 for the Fun of It (c. 1972)
- L.A.'s Very Independent Channel 13 (1989–1995)
- Get It On, UPN 13 (2002–2006)
- Get It On, Channel 13 (2006; used during transitional period from UPN to MyNetworkTV)
- TV for All of Us (2007–present)
Station brandings
- Channel 13, KCOP Los Angeles (Prior to 1988)
- Lucky 13 (1950s)
- KCOP 13 LA (1975)
- L.A.'s Very Independent Channel 13 (1989–1995)
- UPN 13 (1995–2006)
- Channel 13 (re-implemented in 2006 during the transitional period from UPN to My Network TV)
- My 13 LA (2006)
- My Network TV Channel 13 (2006–2007)
- My 13 (2007–present)
- Mission News (1995–1999)
External links
}
}
}
}
}