KUSA-TV

'KUSA-TV' is the NBC affiliated television station in Denver, Colorado; broadcasting on VHF channel 9 (187.25 MHz video / 191.75 MHz audio). The station is owned by Gannett. KUSA, which is known on the air as '''"9 NEWS"''', is sister station to KTVD channel 20, Denver's MyNetworkTV affiliate. KTVD is housed and operated out of KUSA's high definition studios. KUSA's transmitter is located atop Lookout Mountain in Golden, Colorado.
KUSA produces nearly 49 hours of local news a week. It is currently the only Denver station that broadcasts local news in HDTV. KUSA also owns the market's first high definition helicopter, "SKY 9", which it shares with KOA-AM. KUSA produces two weekday and five weekend newscasts for its sister station, KTVD.

Contents

History

News Operations

Translators

News Team

Former Personalities

News/Station Presentation

Newscast Titles

Station Slogans

Trivia

External links

History

The station first went on the air on October 12, 1952 as 'KBTV', the second television station in the state of Colorado (KFEL-TV, now KWGN-TV, also in Denver, was first by about three months). It was owned by Mullins Broadcasting. The station carried programming from CBS, ABC and NBC, but was a primary CBS affiliate. Channel 9 lost CBS to KLZ-TV (now KMGH-TV) in November 1953 and lost NBC to KOA-TV (now KCNC-TV) on Christmas Eve of that year, leaving it as an ABC affiliate. The station struggled in the ratings for some years, in part because ABC was not on par with the other major networks until the 1970s.
In 1979, the station was sold to Combined Communications, and it became a Gannett-owned station later that year, following the merger of Gannett and Combined. The station changed its call letters to the current 'KUSA-TV' on March 19, 1984.
In 1995, Denver's longtime NBC affiliate, KCNC, became a CBS affiliate as a result of a complex ownership/affiliation deal between Westinghouse, NBC and CBS. At the same time, McGraw-Hill, owner of longtime CBS affiliate KMGH, entered into a network affiliation agreement with ABC, thereby causing KMGH to become an ABC station. Gannett then entered into an affiliation agreement with NBC that included, among others, KUSA, which became an NBC affiliate in the wee hours of September 10, 1995.
In April of 2004, KUSA became the first television station in the Denver market and the first ever Gannett-owned station to produce newscasts in high definition, and the third such station nationally. Since then, a handful of other Gannett stations are now producing newscasts in High Definition (HD or HDTV), including: KARE in Minneapolis - St. Paul, MN (debuted in April of 2006), KSDK in St. Louis, MO, KPNX in Phoenix, AZ, WKYC in Cleveland, OH, WUSA in Washington D.C., WXIA in Atlanta, GA, and KXTV in Sacramento, CA (KXTV currently produces Sacramento Kings NBA games, Friday Night Football highlights, and "California Postcard" reports in HD. There has been no official word yet on when KXTV's newscasts will convert to full HD.) All are NBC affiliates, except WUSA, which is a CBS affiliate, and KXTV, which is with ABC. Other Gannett owned and operated television stations with news departments are expected to follow suit.
In April of 2005, KUSA started broadcasting NBC Weather Plus on its DT2 digital subchannel and Comcast digital cable channel 249. Weather Plus can also be viewed on KUSA's website.

News Operations

KUSA's newscasts, which are known as "9NEWS", has been the ratings leader in Denver since February of 1976, when Ed Sardella and John Rayburn anchored the weekday edition of ''9News at 10 PM'' to the top of the ratings. Rayburn was succeeded by Mike Landess in 1977. He would remain paired with Sardella as one of Denver's top anchor teams for 16 years until leaving for KUSA's sister station WXIA-TV in Atlanta in late 1993. Sardella retired from the anchor desk in 2000, but returned briefly to replace Jim Benemann, who had returned to KCNC-TV. Landess, after anchoring at WTTG in Washington D.C., returned to Denver on rival KMGH-TV.
On September 5, 2006, KUSA launched a daily half-hour 9 PM newscast on sister station KTVD, to coincide with that station's affiliation switch from UPN to MyNetworkTV. On December 5, 2006, KUSA launched a 2 hour extension of its weekday morning newscast on KTVD. KUSA now produces weekend morning newscasts at 6 AM on KTVD. Since June of 2005, in addition to its main studios on Downtown Denver, KUSA has been operating a "Northern Newsrooom" out of the offices of Fort Collins based Fort Collins Coloradoan newspaper. The newsroom is staffed by photojournalist Gary Wolfe and reporter Adam Chodak. The station also operates a "Mountain Newsroom" in Frisco.
The station's radar is called "HD Doppler 9".

Translators

The Denver market includes large portions of Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming. NBC & KUSA serve this vast area with one of the largest translator networks in the country. (All translators on this list are in Colorado unless otherwise listed)

★ 'K41EV' - Akron

★ 'K49EX' - Anton

★ 'K02FW' - Ashcroft

★ 'K19FH' - Ashcroft

★ 'K06HU' - Aspen

★ 'K06BX' - Axial Basin

★ 'K07KR' - Basalt

★ 'K59BZ' - Broadmoor

★ 'K59AP' - Bethune/Burlington

★ 'K10LW' - Carbondale

★ 'K48IC' - Carbondale

★ 'K24CH' - Cortez

★ 'K55KN-D' - Cortez

★ 'K03CK' - Craig

★ 'K04GS' - Crested Butte,ETC

★ 'K58AA' - Crystal,ETC

★ 'K02GJ' - Delta,ETC

★ 'K02JD' - East Elk Creek

★ 'K08OF-D' - Estes Park

★ 'K61AA' - Estes Park

★ 'K69AX' - Flagler-Seibert

★ 'K39BT' - Fraser,ETC

★ 'K02IK' - Gateview,ETC

★ 'K12KP' - Glen Haven

★ 'K09DC' - Glenwood Springs

★ 'K07JM' - Grand Vally,ETC

★ 'K04DH' - Gunnison

★ 'K64AQ' - Hartsel,ETC

★ 'K41IT' - Haxton

★ 'K28FX' - Idalia & S. Yuma Cty

★ 'K55JC' - Julesburg

★ 'K13GI' - Leadville

★ 'K11LM' - Lower Frying Pan River

★ 'K50AS' - Marvine Creek Campground

★ 'K48CL' - Meeker

★ 'K06JJ' - Meeker,ETC

★ 'KXHD-LP' - Montrose

★ 'K11JZ' - New Castle,ETC

★ 'K09QA' - Paonia, ETC.

★ 'K63CX' - Parlin, ETC.

★ 'K64AV' - Piceance Creek

★ 'K08JZ' - Pitkin-Ohio,CO

★ 'K18GM' - Pleasant Valley

★ 'K12LX' - Powder Horn Valley

★ 'K04HP' - Red Stone

★ 'K09XN' - Red Stone (NBC/Universal-Owned Translator)

★ 'K06HF' - Salida, ETC.

★ 'K46DB' - Sapinero

★ 'K57CS' - Sargents

★ 'K04HH' - Snowmass-At-Aspen

★ 'K10KK' - Somerset

★ 'K56GL' - Sterling ETC.

★ 'K39HE' - Woody Creek

★ 'K44GQ' - Woody Creek (NBC/Universal-Owned Translator)

★ 'K11LW' - Woody Creek

★ 'K52FZ' - Wray

★ 'K07GK' - Yampa

★ 'K38AD' - Yuma

News Team

'Anchors'

★ Gary Shapiro - weekday mornings and Noon

★ Kyle Dyer - weekday mornings and Noon

★ Mark Koebrich - 4 PM weekdays, 9 PM on KTVD weekdays, reporter

★ Kim Christiansen - 4 PM weekdays, reporter

★ Bob Kendrick - 5 PM, 6 PM, and 10 PM weekdays

★ Adele Arakawa - 5 PM, 6 PM, and 10 PM weekdays

★ Shawn Patrick - weekend mornings, reporter

★ Cheryl Preheim - weekend mornings, reporter

★ Ward Lucas - weekend evenings, investigative reporter

★ Carrie McClure - weekend evenings, reporter

★ Bazi Kanani - 9 PM on KTVD weekdays, reporter

★ Kirk Montgomery - 4 PM weekdays, 9pm weekdays on KTVD, Entertainment Anchor
'Meteorologists'

★ Kathy Sabine - Chief Meterologist. Seen weekday evenings. Also provides daily weather forcasts for KOA-AM 850, KHOW AM 630, the Denver Post, and the Fort Collins Coloradoan

★ Nick Carter - weekday mornings/noon

★ Becky Ditchfield - weekday mornings/noon

★ Marty Coniglio - weekend evenings

★ Ashton Altieri - weekend mornings and NBC Weather Plus meteorologist
'Sports'

★ Drew Soicher - weekday evenings

★ Susie Wargin - weekday mornings

★ Rod Mackey - weekend evenings

★ Brian Joyce - sports reporter
'Reporters'

★ Anastaysia Bolton - General Assignment Reporter

★ Adam Chodak - Northern Newsroom Reporter

★ Kim Christiansen - Anchor/General Assignment Reporter

★ Amelia Earhart - SKY 9 Traffic Reporter

★ Nelson Garcia - Education/Technology Reporter

★ Brian Joyce - Sports Reporter

★ Bazi Kanani - Anchor/General Assignment Reporter

★ Mark Koebrich - Consumer Reporter

★ Ward Lucas - Anchor/General Assignment Reporter

★ Rod Mackey - Sports Reporter

★ Carrie McClure - Anchor/General Assignment Reporter

★ Heidi McGuire - Backpack Journalist/General Assignment Reporter

★ Kirk Montgomery - Entertainment Reporter

★ Graeme Nistler - Traffic.com Reporter

★ Quynh Nguyen - General Assignment Reporter

★ Shawn Patrick - Anchor/General Assignment Reporter

★ Cheryl Preheim - Anchor/General Assignment Reporter

★ Matt Renoux - Mountain Newsroom Reporter

★ Adam Schrager - Political Reporter

★ Deborah Sherman - Investigative Reporter

★ Thanh Truong - General Assignment Reporter

★ Chris Vanderveen - General Assignment Reporter

★ Paula Woodward - 9 Wants To Know/Investigative Reporter
'Photo Journalists'

★ Brett Alles

★ Don Brookins

★ Tom Cole

★ Dave Delozier

★ John Fosholt

★ Anne Herbst

★ Anna Hewson

★ Ken Mostek

★ Byron Reed

★ Corky Scholl

★ Manny Sotelo

★ Dan Weaver

★ Brian Willie

★ Gary Wolfe

★ Dan Wood

★ Scott Yun
' Contributors '

★ Dr. James Rouse - Medical Expert/Nutrition Reporter

★ Steve Spangler - Featured On The Mornings and Afternoon Show (Science Experiments)

Former Personalities

★ Jim Benemann- Anchor (2000-2003) Now with KCNC

★ Tom Costello - reporter, (early 1990s, now with NBC News as a correspondent for NBC Nightly News and MSNBC)

★ Kevin Corke - sports anchor (now with NBC Nightly News)

★ Gary Cruz - sports anchor (now with KPHO CBS News 5 in Phoenix)

★ Frank Currier - anchor/reporter (1972-1979) Longtime CBS News correspondent and now a Journalism Professor at Syracuse Univ.

★ Dan Dennison-Western slope newsroom reporter (1982-1995, now news director at KHNL-TV, Honolulu, HI)

★ Tom Green - sports anchor (now with KWGN)

★ Ed Greene - meteorologist 1995-2001 Now with KCNC

★ Leanne Gregg - reporter (1996-2000, now with NBC's NEWS CHANNEL,Based out of KUSA's newsroom)

★ Taunia Hottman- SKY9 reporter (2004-2007, Moved to Chicago with her Husband)

★ Jinah Kim - reporter (now with NBC's NEWS CHANNEL)

★ Bill Kuster - weather anchor (1979-96, deceased)

★ Mike Landess - anchor (1977-93, now with KMGH)

★ Anita Lopez - anchor/reporter, now working as a real estate broker in Boulder, CO, as well as anchoring the Comcast Local Edition on CNN Headline News.

★ Bertha Lynn - reporter (1976-81, now with KMGH)

★ Cristina Mendonsa - anchor/reporter (1991-1995, now at KXTV)

★ Mike Nelson - chief meteorologist (1991-2004, now with KMGH)

★ Nick O'Kelly - meteorologist (2004-2007, left to go into private business.)

★ Blake Olson - sports reporter

★ Ed Sardella - anchor (1974-2004, now retired) Now hosts "Let's Talk" on Denver metro government access channel 8's

★ Roger Wolfe - Northern newsroom reporter (1985-June 2006, now retired)

★ Andrew Resnik - weekend morning anchor (2001-2003, fired for drug arrest)

★ Chip Yost - Investivative Reporter (2004-2005, now with KNBC and NBC's NEWS CHANNEL)

★ Ron Zappolo - sports anchor (1990-2000, now a news anchor with KDVR)

★ Tony Zarella - sports anchor (now with WOIO 19 Action News in Cleveland)

★ Paul Johnson - former reporter now married with children, out of the business. Last known to be Mr.Mom while wife works - location- New York

News/Station Presentation

Newscast Titles

★ ''KUSA-9NEWS'' (1984-1995)

★ ''9NEWS'' (1995-present)

Station Slogans

★ ''Where News Comes First'' (April 2004-present)

★ ''Colorado's News Leader'' (February 1995-present)

Trivia

★ When NBC partnered with Pax TV in the late 1990s, 9News rebroadcasted its 6:00 and 10:00PM newscasts Monday through Friday on KPXC-TV. This ended in 2005, when NBC ended its agreement with Pax.

★ The weather forecasts are typically performed outside, in the "9 Back Yard". The back yard is simply a courtyard, with 2 chroma key (bluescreen) walls and a robo cam. Weather forecasts for ''The Today Show'' and updates on NBC Weather Plus are done in the studio.

★ According to their newscast closings from March 11, 2007 to present, the "9NEWS Networks" are 9NEWS.COM (their website), 9NEWS Now (their ticker), 9NEWS Weather Plus (their version of NBC Weather Plus) and My20.

★ KUSA broadcasts the Gannett ID & Sounder (The "Death Star") after 9NEWS at 6pm Monday-Friday only, while some Gannett stations play the ID & Sounder hourly, and occasionally at the introduction of newscasts.

★ KUSA served as de facto NBC affiliate for Rapid City, South Dakota, from 1995, when KEVN flipped to Fox, until 2000, when KNBN went on the air.

External links

★ KUSA-TV Web site

★ KTVD-TV Web site

★ Gannett Broadcasting Web site

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