KTUL
Encyclopedia
KTUL, virtual channel
8, is the ABC
-affiliated television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma
, owned by Allbritton Communications Company
. KTUL broadcasts from its studios on Lookout Mountain in west Tulsa. KTUL transmits from a 582 m (1,909.4 ft) high guy-wire
d aerial mast (antenna tower) in Coweta
, which was completed in 1988.
The station broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 10, using its former analog channel assignment of 8 as its virtual digital channel via PSIP. On cable, KTUL-TV is seen on channel 8 in standard definition and on channel 708 in high definition on Cox Cable
Tulsa.
KTUL-TV also serves as one of four default ABC affiliates for the Sherman
–Ada
market (along with KSWO-TV
in Lawton, Oklahoma
, KOCO-TV
in Oklahoma City
and WFAA-TV
in Dallas
). The market's former ABC affiliate KTEN
became an NBC affiliate in 1998 and launched an ABC affiliated digital subchannel
on May 9, 2010.
In 2005, KTUL introduced First Alert Weather 24/7, a digital/cable channel devoted to 24-hour-a-day weather information. It is available over the air on KTUL's digital subchannel 8.2 and on Cox Cable on channel 247.
, digital television receivers display KTUL's virtual channel
as 8.
. It was owned by Oklahoma grocery magnate and broadcast pioneer John Toole Griffin, who also owned KTUL radio (1430 AM, now KTBZ
). The station had been licensed in Muskogee because the third VHF frequency originally allocated to Tulsa itself, channel 11, had been reserved for educational use (and is now KOED
). The Griffins thus decided to seek the channel 8 allocation in Muskogee, the nearest city in the Tulsa market with a VHF license. UHF was not considered viable at the time.
It broadcast from a converted grocery store in Muskogee. It took the ABC affiliation from Tulsa's second television station, KCEB-TV
(channel 23). The station's first broadcast was a college football
game between Oklahoma
and California
, which Oklahoma won. The first two personalities at the station were news anchor Jack Morris and meteorologist Don Woods, with sports director Hal O'Halloran joining later.
The current studios on Lookout Mountain had been built for KCEB in 1954. The second TV station in Tulsa (after KOTV), KCEB briefly carried NBC
programming, moving to ABC after KVOO (now KJRH
) signed on as an NBC affiliate. KTVX had become the new ABC affiliate, leaving KCEB with DuMont Television Network
, a non-viable fourth-network that itself would soon fold.
In 1955, KCEB sold its studios on Lookout Mountain to Griffin; former owner James C. Leake moved the KTVX operation to Tulsa from Muskogee soon after KCEB had folded. KTVX moved there in November; KTUL-AM had been there since April. The Lookout Mountain facility was used as an auxiliary studio until 1957, when the station won Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) permission to move all operations, as well as the station's license, to Tulsa (though FCC regulations had been changed a few years earlier so that the station could have kept its license in Muskogee while operating solely in Tulsa). The call sign KTVX is currently used in Salt Lake City, Utah
. On September 12, 1957, the day the move took effect, the station changed its calls to KTUL-TV to match its radio sister.
In 1965, KTUL built a new 1,909-foot (582-meter) tower, the second-tallest transmitting tower in the country at the time. ABC had long been a third-place network (it wasn't until the late 1970s that it would rise in the ratings). KTUL's local programming in Tulsa made it one of the network's strongest stations and the Tulsa market leader for the next 35 years.
Griffin sold KTUL-AM in 1961. Seven years later, he sold KTUL-TV and sister station KATV
in Little Rock, Arkansas
to his brother-in-law, James C. "Jimmy" Leake; Griffin retained control of KWTV
in Oklahoma City. The two had shared ownership of the stations for many years. Leake kept KTUL and KATV until selling them to current owner Allbritton in 1982.
Betty Boyd, lured away from KOTV to KTUL in 1965, made KTUL #1 among female viewers with her community affairs program, "The Betty Boyd Show", which was a mix of community affairs, women's topics, and interviews with newsmakers around Tulsa. John Chick, who was at KTUL from 1955 until 1979, made KTUL #1 with children in the 1960s with two afternoon children's shows, Cartoon Zoo and Mr. Zing and Tuffy, at a time when children were just coming home from school. In the 1970s, Chick made KTUL #1 in the 7AM hour with The John Chick Show, a live, local country music show that featured local country music talent and squaredancing. Airing during a time when ABC had no morning news program, Chick's show did better than the Today Show on KVOO (channel 2) and the CBS Morning News
on KOTV (channel 6); when ABC premiered Good Morning America
in 1975, KTUL pre-empted it in favor of Chick's show. When Elton Rule
of ABC demanded to know why KTUL did not air GMA, Leake showed Rule the ratings book, and the ABC executives backed off. KTUL would begin airing GMA in 1979, after Chick left KTUL.
KTUL remained #1 with kids in the 1970s with Uncle Zeb's Cartoon Camp, which replaced Mr. Zing and Tuffy in 1970 and was hosted by Carl Bartholemew as the gruff Uncle Zeb. Following Uncle Zeb were sitcoms that appealed to children, such as The Flintstones, The Lucy Show, Gilligan's Island, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Gomer Pyle USMC. And in news, Jack Morris brought great ratings to KTUL, making the station #1 in the local news hours. When Morris left KTUL for KVOO in 1970, Bob Hower from KOTV took over as anchor and brought even greater ratings to the ABC affiliate, and James C. Leake's heavy promotions of KTUL made the station command the Tulsa airwaves with his "8's the Place" logos and promotion of "The News Guys", KTUL's news team. After the Leake era ended in 1982, KTUL remained #1 in the Tulsa market through the 1980s and 1990s with its selection of syndicated programming, as well as with its popular newscasts. It would not be until 1999-2000 when KOTV overtook KTUL as #1 in the Tulsa market.
In 1987, KTUL's broadcast tower was knocked over by an ice storm, and a new one was constructed in 1988. In 1999, KTUL built new broadcast facilities on Lookout Mountain to accommodate station growth. In 1996, meteorologist Frank Mitchell made a surprise wedding proposal to his co-host, Teri Bowers, during a live broadcast of Good Morning Oklahoma. The proposal made national news and was featured on programs such as American Journal
, Geraldo, and Maury
.
In 2004, Channel 8 premiered Good Day Tulsa, a live, locally produced hour long program mainly focusing on local businesses, events and entertainment. The original hosts of the program were D.C. Roberts and Frank Mitchell, and Kristen Dickerson doing live, on-location reports. Frank Mitchell became the evening chief meteorologist in late 2004, and was replaced on this show by Mike Collier. D.C. Roberts left Good Day Tulsa and KTUL on August 18, 2008. Kristen Dickerson has taken over as co-host. Good Day Tulsa is the only locally produced program at 9 a.m. in the Tulsa market.
In spring 2010, Allbritton entered into a web content management services contract with WorldNow in which the latter company would take over the website operations of most of Allbritton's stations except for its Washington, D.C.
flagship station WJLA-TV
. KTUL and WBMA, WCFT, and WJSU
in the Birmingham, Alabama
market were the first such stations to launch new WorldNow-powered websites in mid-July, with WSET-TV
in Lynchburg, Virginia
following suit shortly thereafter. WCIV
in Charleston, South Carolina
would be the last, changing over formats in August 2010.
airs a half-hour later than most stations. From its 2003 debut until 2005, KTUL preempted the talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which ended up airing on KQCW
(then WB affiliate KWBT). Jimmy Kimmel Live! has since moved to KTUL and airs immediately after Nightline.
Current syndicated programming includes Access Hollywood
, The Nate Berkus Show
, Rachael Ray
(formerly seen on KOKI), Two and a Half Men, According to Jim, Frasier
, The Andy Griffith Show, with Regenesis and Monk on weekends. KTUL airs a few more sitcoms than most ABC, CBS or NBC stations usually do. KTUL produces a local sports show called Ford Sports Xtra, airing Sundays after the 10 p.m. newscast, featuring sports-related questions, competing with The Oklahoma Sports Blitz airing on rival KOTV.
simulcasts KTEN's midday newscast).
On August 22, 2011, KTUL became the third television station in the Tulsa market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition
. This leaves KOTV as the only station in the market not currently producing its local newscasts in true HD, KOTV upgraded its news programming to 16:9
enhanced definition
widescreen
in October 2010.
was chosen, and his cartoon character became Gusty. From 1954 until his retirement in 1989, Woods drew Gusty live on TV, and every day, people sent in requests for a Gusty. Gusty always told what the weather was going to be like. He could be drawn waving flags and smiling for fair weather, or he could be drawn holding an umbrella for rainy days, or jumping in his fraidy hole for thunderstorms. After Woods' retirement from KTUL in 1989, Woods continued to draw Gusty from time to time, and he even authored a book entitled The Gospel According to Gusty. In 2005, Gusty was made Oklahoma's State Cartoon Character by the Oklahoma Legislature
, and there's even a drawing of Gusty at the Smithsonian Institution
in Washington, D.C.
The song "(I'm a) Waiting Child", which plays during the Waiting Child news segment, was composed by former anchor Bob Hower and is sung by Oleta Adams
.
, and ahead of KOKI. http://www.fox23.com/content/pressreleases/default.aspx The station ranks third in primetime viewership as of May 2010. http://www.tulsaworld.com/entertainment/spot/article.aspx?articleID=20080209_8_D3_Arati54662
First Alert Storm Team
Sports team
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....
8, 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 Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
, owned by Allbritton Communications Company
Allbritton Communications Company
The Allbritton Communications Company is an owner of television stations and other media, based in Arlington, Virginia. All of its stations are affiliated with ABC after signing an affiliation agreement in 1997.-Currently owned:...
. KTUL broadcasts from its studios on Lookout Mountain in west Tulsa. KTUL transmits from a 582 m (1,909.4 ft) high guy-wire
Guy-wire
A guy-wire or guy-rope, also known as simply a guy, is a tensioned cable designed to add stability to structures . One end of the cable is attached to the structure, and the other is anchored to the ground at a distance from the structure's base...
d aerial mast (antenna tower) in Coweta
Coweta, Oklahoma
Coweta is a city in Wagoner County, Oklahoma, United States and is a suburb of Tulsa. As of 2010, the population was 9,943.-History:Before statehood, when the Five Tribes or Five Civilized Tribes were moved to Oklahoma from the Eastern United States, the area that is now Coweta became part of the...
, which was completed in 1988.
The station broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 10, using its former analog channel assignment of 8 as its virtual digital channel via PSIP. On cable, KTUL-TV is seen on channel 8 in standard definition and on channel 708 in high definition on Cox Cable
Cox Communications
Cox Communications is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises providing digital cable television, telecommunications and wireless services in the United States...
Tulsa.
KTUL-TV also serves as one of four default ABC affiliates for the Sherman
Sherman, Texas
Sherman is a city in and the county seat of Grayson County, Texas, United States. The city's estimated population as of 2009 was 38,407. It is also one of two principal cities in the Sherman-Denison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
–Ada
Ada, Oklahoma
Ada is a city in and the county seat of Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 16,008 at the 2000 census. As of 2009, the city population was estimated at 17,019....
market (along with KSWO-TV
KSWO-TV
KSWO-TV, virtual channel 7, is the ABC affiliated television station located in Lawton, Oklahoma. It also serves Wichita Falls, Texas. Its transmitter is located near Grandfield, Oklahoma. KSWO broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 11...
in Lawton, Oklahoma
Lawton, Oklahoma
The city of Lawton is the county seat of Comanche County, in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Located in the southwestern region of Oklahoma approximately southwest of Oklahoma City, it is the principal city of the Lawton Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, KOCO-TV
KOCO-TV
KOCO-TV, virtual channel 5 , is the ABC affiliate in the Oklahoma City television market. The station is owned by Hearst Television, Inc., but uses "Ohio/Oklahoma Hearst Television, Inc." as their end tag during their newscasts, the same licensing purpose corporation as sister Cincinnati, Ohio...
in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
and WFAA-TV
WFAA-TV
WFAA, channel 8, is an ABC-affiliated television station serving the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, one of the top ten media markets in North America. The station is the flagship of Belo Corporation and the largest ABC affiliate not owned and operated by the network...
in Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
). The market's former ABC affiliate KTEN
KTEN
KTEN is the NBC-affiliated television station for Southeastern Oklahoma and North Texas that is licensed to Ada, Oklahoma. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 26 from a transmitter north of Milburn, Oklahoma along OK 7. Owned by the Lockwood Broadcasting Group, the station...
became an NBC affiliate in 1998 and launched an ABC affiliated digital subchannel
KTEN-DT3
KTEN-DT3 is the ABC-affiliated television station serving North Texas, Southcentral and Southeastern Oklahoma. It is a third digital subchannel of NBC affiliate KTEN , which is owned by the Lockwood Broadcasting Group....
on May 9, 2010.
KTUL-DT
KTUL-DT broadcasts on digital channel 10.| 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,... |
Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8.1 | 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 ... |
Main KTUL programming / 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... |
| 8.2 | 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 | First Alert 24/7 |
| 8.3 | RTV Retro Television Network The Retro Television Network is a system of television stations that airs classic television shows as well as more recently produced programs... |
In 2005, KTUL introduced First Alert Weather 24/7, a digital/cable channel devoted to 24-hour-a-day weather information. It is available over the air on KTUL's digital subchannel 8.2 and on Cox Cable on channel 247.
Analog-to-digital conversion
In 2009, KTUL remained on its current pre-transition channel number, 10 after turning off the analog signal on channel 8. However, through the use of PSIPProgram and System Information Protocol
The Program and System Information Protocol is the protocol used in the ATSC digital television system for carrying metadata about each channel in the broadcast MPEG transport stream of a TV station and for publishing information about television programs so that viewers can select what to watch...
, digital television receivers display KTUL's virtual channel
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....
as 8.
History
Channel 8 signed on September 18, 1954 as KTVX, licensed to MuskogeeMuskogee, Oklahoma
Muskogee is a city in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, United States. It is the county seat of Muskogee County, and home to Bacone College. The population was 38,310 at the 2000 census, making it the eleventh-largest city in Oklahoma....
. It was owned by Oklahoma grocery magnate and broadcast pioneer John Toole Griffin, who also owned KTUL radio (1430 AM, now KTBZ
KTBZ
KTBZ may refer to:* KTBZ , a radio station licensed to Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States* KTBZ-FM, a radio station licensed to Houston, Texas, United States...
). The station had been licensed in Muskogee because the third VHF frequency originally allocated to Tulsa itself, channel 11, had been reserved for educational use (and is now KOED
Oklahoma Educational Television Authority
OETA , is a state network of Public Broadcasting Service member Non-commercial educational Public television stations covering the entire state of Oklahoma....
). The Griffins thus decided to seek the channel 8 allocation in Muskogee, the nearest city in the Tulsa market with a VHF license. UHF was not considered viable at the time.
It broadcast from a converted grocery store in Muskogee. It took the ABC affiliation from Tulsa's second television station, KCEB-TV
KCEB (Tulsa)
KCEB, channel 23, was the second television station to sign on in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It first broadcast in 1954.Tulsa's existing station retained the CBS and ABC affiliations initially, with the new station signing on March of 1954 as an affiliate of NBC and DuMont.Founded by Tulsan oilman Elfred...
(channel 23). The station's first broadcast was a college football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
game between Oklahoma
Oklahoma Sooners
The University of Oklahoma features 19 varsity sports teams. Both men's and women's teams are called the Sooners, a nickname given to the early participants in the land rushes which initially opened the Oklahoma Indian Territory to non-native settlement. They participate in the NCAA's Division I-A,...
and California
California Golden Bears
The California Golden Bears is the nickname used for 29 varsity athletic programs and various club teams of the University of California, Berkeley...
, which Oklahoma won. The first two personalities at the station were news anchor Jack Morris and meteorologist Don Woods, with sports director Hal O'Halloran joining later.
The current studios on Lookout Mountain had been built for KCEB in 1954. The second TV station in Tulsa (after KOTV), KCEB briefly carried 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...
programming, moving to ABC after KVOO (now KJRH
KJRH
KJRH-TV, virtual channel 2, is the NBC-affiliated television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is owned by The E.W. Scripps Company. KJRH broadcasts from its studios in the Brookside district in midtown Tulsa on South Peoria Avenue and its transmitter is located in Oneta, Oklahoma.The station...
) signed on as an NBC affiliate. KTVX had become the new ABC affiliate, leaving KCEB with 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...
, a non-viable fourth-network that itself would soon fold.
In 1955, KCEB sold its studios on Lookout Mountain to Griffin; former owner James C. Leake moved the KTVX operation to Tulsa from Muskogee soon after KCEB had folded. KTVX moved there in November; KTUL-AM had been there since April. The Lookout Mountain facility was used as an auxiliary studio until 1957, when the station won Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) permission to move all operations, as well as the station's license, to Tulsa (though FCC regulations had been changed a few years earlier so that the station could have kept its license in Muskogee while operating solely in Tulsa). The call sign KTVX is currently used in Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
. On September 12, 1957, the day the move took effect, the station changed its calls to KTUL-TV to match its radio sister.
In 1965, KTUL built a new 1,909-foot (582-meter) tower, the second-tallest transmitting tower in the country at the time. ABC had long been a third-place network (it wasn't until the late 1970s that it would rise in the ratings). KTUL's local programming in Tulsa made it one of the network's strongest stations and the Tulsa market leader for the next 35 years.
Griffin sold KTUL-AM in 1961. Seven years later, he sold KTUL-TV and sister station KATV
KATV
KATV, channel 7, is an ABC affiliated television station serving the Little Rock television market and central Arkansas. The station is owned by Allbritton Communications Company....
in Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
to his brother-in-law, James C. "Jimmy" Leake; Griffin retained control of KWTV
KWTV
KWTV-DT, virtual channel 9 , is the CBS-affiliated television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; it is owned by Griffin Communications of Oklahoma City...
in Oklahoma City. The two had shared ownership of the stations for many years. Leake kept KTUL and KATV until selling them to current owner Allbritton in 1982.
Betty Boyd, lured away from KOTV to KTUL in 1965, made KTUL #1 among female viewers with her community affairs program, "The Betty Boyd Show", which was a mix of community affairs, women's topics, and interviews with newsmakers around Tulsa. John Chick, who was at KTUL from 1955 until 1979, made KTUL #1 with children in the 1960s with two afternoon children's shows, Cartoon Zoo and Mr. Zing and Tuffy, at a time when children were just coming home from school. In the 1970s, Chick made KTUL #1 in the 7AM hour with The John Chick Show, a live, local country music show that featured local country music talent and squaredancing. Airing during a time when ABC had no morning news program, Chick's show did better than the Today Show on KVOO (channel 2) and the CBS Morning News
CBS Morning News
For CBS's main morning news program, formerly known as CBS Morning News, see The Early Show.CBS Morning News is the half-hour daily television broadcast from CBS News that airs following Up to the Minute and features late-breaking news stories, weather forecasts, and sports scores...
on KOTV (channel 6); when ABC premiered Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
in 1975, KTUL pre-empted it in favor of Chick's show. When Elton Rule
Elton Rule
Elton H. Rule was an American television executive and former president of the American Broadcasting Company. Assuming the presidency at a time when ABC was a distant third in the Nielsen ratings, Rule is credited with greatly expanding network revenue, ratings, affiliates and profits...
of ABC demanded to know why KTUL did not air GMA, Leake showed Rule the ratings book, and the ABC executives backed off. KTUL would begin airing GMA in 1979, after Chick left KTUL.
KTUL remained #1 with kids in the 1970s with Uncle Zeb's Cartoon Camp, which replaced Mr. Zing and Tuffy in 1970 and was hosted by Carl Bartholemew as the gruff Uncle Zeb. Following Uncle Zeb were sitcoms that appealed to children, such as The Flintstones, The Lucy Show, Gilligan's Island, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Gomer Pyle USMC. And in news, Jack Morris brought great ratings to KTUL, making the station #1 in the local news hours. When Morris left KTUL for KVOO in 1970, Bob Hower from KOTV took over as anchor and brought even greater ratings to the ABC affiliate, and James C. Leake's heavy promotions of KTUL made the station command the Tulsa airwaves with his "8's the Place" logos and promotion of "The News Guys", KTUL's news team. After the Leake era ended in 1982, KTUL remained #1 in the Tulsa market through the 1980s and 1990s with its selection of syndicated programming, as well as with its popular newscasts. It would not be until 1999-2000 when KOTV overtook KTUL as #1 in the Tulsa market.
In 1987, KTUL's broadcast tower was knocked over by an ice storm, and a new one was constructed in 1988. In 1999, KTUL built new broadcast facilities on Lookout Mountain to accommodate station growth. In 1996, meteorologist Frank Mitchell made a surprise wedding proposal to his co-host, Teri Bowers, during a live broadcast of Good Morning Oklahoma. The proposal made national news and was featured on programs such as American Journal
American Journal
American Journal was a syndicated television newsmagazine program that ran from 1993 to 1998. The series was distributed by King World Productions...
, Geraldo, and Maury
Maury (TV series)
Maury is a syndicated American tabloid talk show hosted by Maury Povich.When the series first aired in 1991, the show was called The Maury Povich Show and was produced by MoPo Productions in association with Paramount Domestic Television...
.
In 2004, Channel 8 premiered Good Day Tulsa, a live, locally produced hour long program mainly focusing on local businesses, events and entertainment. The original hosts of the program were D.C. Roberts and Frank Mitchell, and Kristen Dickerson doing live, on-location reports. Frank Mitchell became the evening chief meteorologist in late 2004, and was replaced on this show by Mike Collier. D.C. Roberts left Good Day Tulsa and KTUL on August 18, 2008. Kristen Dickerson has taken over as co-host. Good Day Tulsa is the only locally produced program at 9 a.m. in the Tulsa market.
In spring 2010, Allbritton entered into a web content management services contract with WorldNow in which the latter company would take over the website operations of most of Allbritton's stations except for its Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
flagship station WJLA-TV
WJLA-TV
WJLA-TV, channel 7, is the ABC affiliated television station in Washington, D.C.. It is the flagship station of the Allbritton Communications Company, which also operates local cable station NewsChannel 8. The two stations share broadcast facilities in the Rosslyn section of Arlington, Virginia...
. KTUL and WBMA, WCFT, and WJSU
WBMA-LP
WBMA-LD, channel 58, is the ABC television affiliate for Birmingham and central Alabama. Its transmitter is located in Birmingham, while its studio is in Hoover, a suburb of Birmingham....
in the Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
market were the first such stations to launch new WorldNow-powered websites in mid-July, with WSET-TV
WSET-TV
WSET-TV is the ABC television network affiliate for the Roanoke/Lynchburg, Virginia market. The station is licensed to Lynchburg, and transmits its digital signal on VHF channel 13. WSET is owned by the Allbritton Communications Company. Its transmitter is located near Thaxton, Virginia...
in Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 75,568 as of 2010. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or "The Hill City." Lynchburg was the only major city in...
following suit shortly thereafter. WCIV
WCIV
WCIV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Lowcountry area of South Carolina licensed to Charleston. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 34 from a transmitter in Awendaw. The station can also be seen on Time Warner channel 4 as well as Comcast and Knology...
in Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
would be the last, changing over formats in August 2010.
Programming
KTUL clears the entire ABC network schedule and airs almost all ABC programs in their network-recommended timeslots, however Nightline airs an hour later than on most ABC stations because of an hour-long block of sitcoms airing after the 10PM newscast, and the Sunday edition of ABC's World NewsWorld News with Charles Gibson
ABC World News is the flagship daily evening program of ABC News, the news division of the American Broadcasting Company television network in the United States. Currently, the weekday editions are anchored by Diane Sawyer and the weekend editions are anchored by David Muir. The program has been...
airs a half-hour later than most stations. From its 2003 debut until 2005, KTUL preempted the talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which ended up airing on KQCW
KQCW
KQCW-DT, virtual channel 19 , is The CW-affiliated television station in the Tulsa, Oklahoma DMA, licensed to Muskogee. The station is owned by Oklahoma City-based Griffin Communications, in a duopoly with CBS affiliate KOTV-DT...
(then WB affiliate KWBT). Jimmy Kimmel Live! has since moved to KTUL and airs immediately after Nightline.
Current syndicated programming includes Access Hollywood
Access Hollywood
Access Hollywood is a weekday television entertainment news program covering events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was created by former Entertainment Tonight executive producer Jim Van Messel, and is currently directed by Robert Silverstein. In previous years, Doug Dougherty and...
, The Nate Berkus Show
The Nate Berkus Show
The Nate Berkus Show, commonly referred to as The Nate Show, is a syndicated talk show hosted by interior designer Nate Berkus, which premiered on September 13, 2010....
, Rachael Ray
Rachael Ray
Rachael Domenica Ray is an American television personality, businesswoman, celebrity chef and author. She hosts the syndicated talk and lifestyle program Rachael Ray and three Food Network series, 30 Minute Meals, Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels and $40 a Day...
(formerly seen on KOKI), Two and a Half Men, According to Jim, Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
, The Andy Griffith Show, with Regenesis and Monk on weekends. KTUL airs a few more sitcoms than most ABC, CBS or NBC stations usually do. KTUL produces a local sports show called Ford Sports Xtra, airing Sundays after the 10 p.m. newscast, featuring sports-related questions, competing with The Oklahoma Sports Blitz airing on rival KOTV.
News operation
KTUL broadcasts a total of 27 hours of local news per week (with five hours on weekdays and two hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); unlike most ABC affiliates, KTUL does not carry a local newscast in a weekday midday timeslot (although none of Oklahoma's standalone ABC affiliates carry a midday newscast, though the ABC-affiliated digital subchannel of Ada NBC affiliate KTENKTEN
KTEN is the NBC-affiliated television station for Southeastern Oklahoma and North Texas that is licensed to Ada, Oklahoma. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 26 from a transmitter north of Milburn, Oklahoma along OK 7. Owned by the Lockwood Broadcasting Group, the station...
simulcasts KTEN's midday newscast).
On August 22, 2011, KTUL became the third television station in the Tulsa market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
. This leaves KOTV as the only station in the market not currently producing its local newscasts in true HD, KOTV upgraded its news programming to 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 ...
enhanced definition
Enhanced-definition television
Enhanced-definition television, or extended-definition television, is a United States Consumer Electronics Association marketing shorthand term for certain digital television formats and devices...
widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
in October 2010.
Don Woods and Gusty
When KTUL signed on as KTVX in Muskogee, the station was looking for a weatherman who could draw a cartoon character. Don WoodsDon Woods (meteorologist)
Don Woods was an American meteorologist, and became Oklahoma's first television weatherman with a degree in meteorology. He started his Oklahoma career in 1954 on Tulsa's ABC affiliate television station, KTUL...
was chosen, and his cartoon character became Gusty. From 1954 until his retirement in 1989, Woods drew Gusty live on TV, and every day, people sent in requests for a Gusty. Gusty always told what the weather was going to be like. He could be drawn waving flags and smiling for fair weather, or he could be drawn holding an umbrella for rainy days, or jumping in his fraidy hole for thunderstorms. After Woods' retirement from KTUL in 1989, Woods continued to draw Gusty from time to time, and he even authored a book entitled The Gospel According to Gusty. In 2005, Gusty was made Oklahoma's State Cartoon Character by the Oklahoma Legislature
Oklahoma Legislature
The Legislature of the State of Oklahoma is the biennial meeting of the legislative branch of the government of Oklahoma. It is bicameral, comprising the Oklahoma House of Representatives and the Oklahoma Senate, with all members elected directly by the people. The House of Representatives has 101...
, and there's even a drawing of Gusty at the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
in Washington, D.C.
Waiting Child
Since 1980, KTUL has featured its Waiting Child segment, which highlights children who are in state custody and looking for an adoptive family. Then-anchor Bob Hower began Waiting Child in October 1980, and did the segment until his retirement in 1986. Former anchor Rea Blakey and then sports director John Walls followed in Hower's footsteps. Anchor Carole Lambert has hosted the segment since 1990, and it has resulted in more than 4000 children being adopted. The segment airs Wednesdays at 4:00 and Saturdays at 10:00.The song "(I'm a) Waiting Child", which plays during the Waiting Child news segment, was composed by former anchor Bob Hower and is sung by Oleta Adams
Oleta Adams
Oleta Adams is an American soul, jazz, and gospel singer and pianist.-Biography:Adams was born the daughter of a preacher and was raised with gospel music. In her youth her family moved to Yakima, Washington, which is sometimes shown as her place of birth.Before gaining her opportunity to perform,...
.
Ratings
KTUL, for many years the perennial leader in the Tulsa television market, currently ranks third in news viewership, with its late newscast (10:00pm) placing third behind KOTV and KJRHKJRH
KJRH-TV, virtual channel 2, is the NBC-affiliated television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is owned by The E.W. Scripps Company. KJRH broadcasts from its studios in the Brookside district in midtown Tulsa on South Peoria Avenue and its transmitter is located in Oneta, Oklahoma.The station...
, and ahead of KOKI. http://www.fox23.com/content/pressreleases/default.aspx The station ranks third in primetime viewership as of May 2010. http://www.tulsaworld.com/entertainment/spot/article.aspx?articleID=20080209_8_D3_Arati54662
Newscast titles
- News 8 (1971–1975 and 1982–1992)
- Total 8 Tulsa (1975–1982)
- Oklahoma's News 8 (1992–1999)
- Good Morning Oklahoma (morning newscast; 1992–2006 and 2008–present)
- Oklahoma's NewsChannel 8 (1999–2006)
- NewsChannel 8 (2006–2011)
- Tulsa's Channel 8 (2011-Present)
Station slogans
- Move Closer to Your WorldMove Closer to Your WorldMove Closer to Your World is a television news music package composed by jingle writer Al Ham under his Mayoham Music label. In the 1970s it was considered an anthem for local television news, and is considered the anthem of WPVI-TV in Philadelphia for its Action News programs to the current day...
(1971–1975) - The Most Complete Up to the Minute News in the Southwest (1975-1982)
- 8's The Place (1977–1983 and 1989–1992)
- 8's Your Place (1984–1988)
- Celebrate Oklahoma with 8 (1988–1989)
- Coverage You Can Count On (1992–2006 and 2007–present)
- On Your Side (2006–2007)
- Count On Us (2008–present; alternate slogan)
News team (as of August 9, 2011)
Current anchors- Mark Bradshaw - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.; also consumer reporter
- Kristin Dickerson - weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
- Charles Ely - weeknights at 4 p.m.
- Yvonne Lewis - Saturdays at 6, and weekends at 5 and 10 p.m.; also weeknight reporter
- Latoya Silmon - weeknights at 5 p.m.; also 6 and 10 p.m. reporter
- Keith Taylor - weekday mornings Good Morning Oklahoma (5-7 a.m.) and Good Day Tulsa (9-10 a.m.)
- Larua Moss - weekday mornings Good Morning Oklahoma (5-7 a.m.) and Good Day Tulsa (9-10 a.m.)
First Alert Storm Team
- Frank Mitchell (AMSAmerican Meteorological SocietyThe American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...
and NWANational Weather AssociationThe National Weather Association is an American professional association with a mission to support and promote excellence in operational meteorology and related activities...
Seals of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weekdays at 4, and weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m. - Mike Collier (member, AMS; member, NWA) - meteorologist; weekday mornings Good Morning Oklahoma (5-7 a.m.) and Good Day Tulsa (9-10 a.m.)
- Taft Price (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5 and weekends at 10 p.m.
- Phil Price - meteorologist; fill-in
Sports team
- Chris Lincoln - sports director and feature reporter (previously sports director from 1974–1981)
- John Moss - sports anchor; Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5 and weekends at 10 p.m., also sports reporter
- Rick Pendergraft - sports anchor; weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
Reporters
- Kimberly Hulsey - general assignment reporter
- Kim Jackson - general assignment and education reporter
- Elizabeth Matthews - general assignment reporter/video journalist
- Bill Mitchell - senior reporter and morning reporter
- Burt Mummolo - general assignment reporter
Notable former on-air staff
- John AndersonJohn Anderson (broadcaster)John Anderson is a sports journalist from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and a host of the ESPN TV program SportsCenter since June 1999. He lives in Southington, Connecticut.-Biography:...
- sports anchor (now with ESPN and co-host of ABC's "Wipeout") - Don WoodsDon Woods (meteorologist)Don Woods was an American meteorologist, and became Oklahoma's first television weatherman with a degree in meteorology. He started his Oklahoma career in 1954 on Tulsa's ABC affiliate television station, KTUL...
- chief meteorologist (1954–1989; retired)