KDAF
KDAF, virtual channel 33, is a The CW-affiliated television station serving the Dallas-Fort Worth television market. The station is licensed to Dallas and owned by the Tribune Company with its studios located off the John W. Carpenter Freeway in northwest Dallas. The station's transmitter is located in Cedar Hill.
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History
Channel 33 in Dallas has been used by several companies over four decades of operation. It first signed on-the-air as KMEC in October 1967, the second UHF station in the market after KFWT-TV (see KTXA). The station aired a mix of syndicated programming and locally produced shows. KMEC signed off less than a year later. That short-lived attempt was followed by another in 1972, with another company using channel 33 using the call letters KBFI and a religious programming format. But, like its predecessor, KBFI signed off after only ten months on the air.
The Christian Broadcasting Network purchased channel 33's license and, on January 11, 1973, channel 33 returned to the air as KXTX-TV (for "Christ (X) for TeXas"), a station with a religious format and some general entertainment. But CBN's stay on channel 33 wouldn't be a long one: Doubleday Broadcasting wanted to get rid of its independent station, KDTV on channel 39. After an attempt to donate KDTV to non-profit interests, Doubleday instead donated the channel 39 license and assets to CBN. Then, in April 1973, CBN moved the KXTX call letters and its programming to channel 39, while Doubleday took over broadcasting channel 33 under the KDTV calls for another several months before turning the station off in December. Channel 33 would remain unused in Dallas for the next six and-a-half years.
In May 1980, channel 33 returned to the Dallas airwaves for a fourth time. The new station was called KNBN-TV, owned by a local company, Hill Broadcasting (Nolanda Hill 40%, Sheldon Turner 40% and others). The station's call letters were derived from its on-air branding, "National Business Network". The daytime broadcast was all business while evening hours were filled by subscription television from VEU, a program service owned by Gene Autry's Golden West Broadcasters. Again, this format turned out to be short-lived, and channel 33 revamped itself again. Within a year and-a-half, the business programming was gone, the subscription television service moved to rival UHF station KTWS (channel 27, now KDFI-TV), and KNBN-TV picked up programming from the Spanish International Network, the forerunner to today's Univision.
Stabillity, then transition
In late 1983, Hill Broadcasting sold KNBN to Metromedia. Initially, KNBN remained a Spanish station (with plans to eventually switch to an English speaking format) but added a couple syndicated English shows that Metromedia distributed but had no other station to run. Then on July 31, 1984, the station was renamed KRLD-TV after new sister station KRLD radio, which Metromedia later sold and finally switched from Spanish to a general entertainment format. The new KRLD-TV was entering a very crowded marketplace—its competition included KTXA, KXTX-TV, and the market's leading independent, KTVT (channel 11). Metromedia's initial programming featured the first 7:00 p.m. newscast ever attempted in the Dallas-Fort Worth market. The station initially programmed a schedule with primarily adult fare such as first-run syndicated shows, plenty of off-network dramas, and some low budget movies. The station had very few cartoons at first because they were found on other stations. Also for four seasons starting in 1984, channel 33 was the broadcast home for Dallas Sidekicks indoor soccer club. In the fall of 1985, with a huge abundance of barter cartoons now available, KRLD-TV added a couple hours of them in the 7 to 9 a.m. time slot and on the 3 to 5 p.m. timeslots. The station also began phasing in more off network sitcoms at that point and began looking more like a traditional independent station for that time.
In 1986 Metromedia sold its group of independent stations, including KRLD-TV, to the News Corporation and the 20th Century Fox film studio. On March 6 of that year, channel 33's call letters were changed to the current KDAF, and it would become one of the cornerstones that formed the Fox television network, making it the Metroplex's first network-owned station. However, Fox closed down the station's news department shortly after assuming control. The station continued running mostly cartoons, off network sitcoms, and older movies. Though KDAF remained unprofitable, due to the large amount of stations in the market, into the early 1990s, by 1994 the station was turning modest profits. With an increase in revenues, Fox decided to reactivate channel 33's news department by launching a primetime newscast that would go head-to-head with KTVT. KDAF was well into its news plans when Fox made an announcement which put the station's immediate future in limbo.
KDAF's logo during most of The WB era; briefly disposed of in 2004 for a generic "Dallas/Fort Worth's WB" logo.In November 1993, Fox acquired the rights to NFL Football coverage from CBS. This made Fox desire more VHF stations. Fox was already beginning to phase in news departments on most of its stations with plans to become news intensive. Then in April 1994, Fox made a group deal with New World Communications to move its network affiliation in several markets, including Dallas-Fort Worth, to stations New World either owned outright or were currently purchasing. In Dallas, then-CBS affiliate KDFW-TV (channel 4, which ironically had also once used the KRLD-TV calls) was only recently bought from Times Mirror and now being sold by Argyle Television to New World, and was included in the New World-Fox deal. Fox placed KDAF on the selling block, and plans for the newscast were scrapped. New World took over operations of KDFW in June 1995. Fox network prime time and sports programming moved from KDAF to KDFW on July 1, 1995. Fox Kids programming remained on KDAF for another two years. Two days later (on July 3, 1995), Fox finalized the sale of channel 33 to Renaissance Broadcasting, and KDAF took over the market's The WB affiliation from KXTX-TV, which only had an agreement to hold it temporarily until Fox could move to KDFW.
Renaissance sold all of its stations, including KDAF, to Tribune Broadcasting in 1997. In August 1996, Fox announced that it was buying New World outright, now making KDFW an Fox O&O. In the Fall of 1997, Fox Kids moved off KDAF and onto KDFW's partner station, KDFI, which was more of a traditional independent station. KDAF's focus gradually changed as well. Initially, KDAF ran a blend cartoons from both Fox Kids and Kids WB, some syndicated cartoons, older off network sitcoms, recent off network sitcoms, The WB programming, and some first run syndicated shows. Gradually, from the mid 1990s to about 2002, KDAF began focusing more on first run talk shows, reality shows, court shows, moving away from older shows. By 2002, the only cartoons on KDAF came from Kids WB which also ended weekday operations early in 2006. KDAF was the last station in the market left running afternoon weekday cartoons until that point.
KDAF's CW logo from September 2006-August 2008.On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN networks announced they would shut down. Their respective owners joined forces merge into a new service, The CW Television Network, co-owned by CBS and the Warner Bros. Television unit of Time Warner. Since Tribune had owned a portion of The WB, several Tribune stations including KDAF received ten-year affiliation agreements with the new network.
On June 23, 2008, KDAF has changed its branding to KDAF 33 in a corporate effort by Tribune to strengthen the local branding of its stations and reduce the dependence on the use of the "The CW" in its stations' brandings due to sagging ratings of its current affiliation, however it has kept its CW 33 logo until August 2008 when the station changed its branding from CW 33 to The 33. Today, KDAF runs a format consisting of first-run shows from The CW, talk shows, court shows, reality shows, recent off network sitcoms, first run and off network recent drama shows, and weekend cartoons.
Digital television
The station's digital channel is UHF 32, multiplexed:
| Subchannel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 33.1 | KDAF/The CW programming |
| 33.2 | LATV |
KDAF had aired a 24-hour music network called The Tube on digital channel 33.2, but it ceased operations on October 1, 2007.
33.2 came back on the air around November 1, 2007 with bilingual Latino programming from LATV.
Analog-to-digital conversion
KDAF's analog transmitter on Channel 33 was shut off at 8 a.m. on Friday, June 12, 2009. KDAF-DT remains on channel 32 following the digital transition.[1] PSIP is used to display KDAF's virtual channel as 33 on digital television receivers.
News operation
KDAF's current newscast logo.KDAF broadcasts a total of 10½ hours of local news each week. On weeknights, the station airs a half-hour newscast at 5 p.m. and an hour-long newscast at 9 p.m. On Saturdays, the station airs a half-hour newscast at 5:30 p.m. and an hour-long newscast at 9 p.m. On Sundays, the station airs half-hour newscasts at 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., followed by the half-hour sports wrap-up show Inside Sports at 9:30 p.m.
After having its plans for a newscast during the Fox era in the mid-1990s shelved, new owners Tribune decided to return newscasts to KDAF by launching a weekday 30-minute newscast in 1999, airing at 9 p.m. to compete with KDFW's news broadcast in the same time slot. Within a year, it was expanded to seven days a week and then expanded to an hour in January 2001[2].
In late February 2009, long-time anchors Terri Chappell and Tom Crespo were replaced by new anchors Amanda Salinas and Walt Maciborski (from WFTS-TV in Tampa). Both Salinas and Maciborski anchor the weekday 5 and 9 p.m. newscasts, while Dawn Tongish anchors the weekend at 5:30 and 9 p.m. newscasts.
KDAF expanded its newscast output by producing a new weekday 5:30 p.m. newscast on September 21, 2009 that would compete with KDFW's local newscast at 5:30 and the network newscasts on WFAA, KXAS and KTVT. It features former interns turned full-time reporters and some new segments that would end up being irrelevant at the 9 p.m. hour. In March 2010, KDAF expanded its early evening newscast to a full hour from 5-6 p.m., then in May, the newscast was reduced to a half-hour newscast retaining the 5 p.m. start time. The newscast now competes against the local newscasts on KDFW, WFAA, KXAS and KTVT, though on Saturday nights its 5:30 p.m. newscast competes against none of those stations as WFAA, KDFW, KXAS and KTVT do not air their early evening newscasts on Saturdays until 6 p.m.
On May 22, 2010 KDAF became the last remaining television station in the Dallas-Fort Worth market to broadcast its newscasts in high definition; the station quietly debuted its newscasts in high definition on that date. Unlike the other stations in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, video shot during field reports is recorded and broadcast in true high-definition. The other stations broadcast studio segments in HD, but their video footage during field reports are shot in 16:9 standard definition widescreen.
News/station presentation
Newscast titles
- Newsroom (1960s-1977)
- Channel 33 Night Report (1977•1981)
- KNBN-TV 33 News (1981•1984)
- KRLD-TV 33 News (1984•1986)
- WB33 News (1999•2006)
- CW33 News (2006•2008)
- KDAF 33 News (2008)
- The 33 News (2008•present)
Station slogans
- Channel 33, First in Texas (1981•1984)
- Channel 33 Is Your Place (1984•1986)
- It's on Fox 33! (1990•1992; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
- The Future Home of WB 33 (early•late 1995; used to promote the switch from Fox to The WB)
- Watch Your Frog (2002•2005; reference to Michigan J. Frog, The WB's then-mascot)
- Putting Our Community First (2003•present; used for its promotion)
- We Play Favorites (2005•2006; also briefly used as slogan for Nick at Nite during 2006 and early 2007)
- The Future Home of the New CW33 (2006; used to promote the switch from The WB to The CW)
- Free To Be (2006•2007; also The CW network slogan)
- TV That Gets U (2008•2009)
- TV To Talk About (2009•present; also The CW network slogan)
- Watch Something New(s) (2009•present; news slogan)
On-air staff
Current on-air staff
Anchors
- Walt Maciborski - weeknights at 5 and 9 p.m.[3]
- Amanda Salinas - weeknights at 5 and 9 p.m.[3]
- Dawn Tongish - weekends at 5:30 and 9 p.m.
Weather team
- Rebecca Miller (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist; weeknights at 5 and 9 p.m.
- Bob Goosmann (AMS Seal of Approval) - Meteorologist; weekends at 5:30 and 9 p.m.
Sports team
- Desmond Purnell - Sports Anchor; weeknights at 9 p.m.
- Dave Crome - Sports Anchor; weekends at 9 p.m.
Reporters
- Barry Carpenter - general assignment reporter/health reporter
- Candice Crawford - lifestyle/entertainment reporter, sports backpack journalist
- Shana Franklin - general assignment reporter
- Dan X. McGraw - general assignment reporter/backpack journalist/Tarrant County
- Giselle Phelps - general assignment reporter/backpack journalist/Collin County
- Roni Proter - lifestyle/entertainment reporter [4]
- Pelpina Trip - internet reporter
Former staff
- Sandra Hernandez - general assignment reporter
- Fred Barnhill - weekend meteorologist
- Heather Behrens - reporter
- Donovan Campbell - sports anchor
- Joanne Castaneda - reporter and host of DFW Close-Up
- Terri Chappell - weeknight anchor
- Tom Crespo - weeknight anchor
- Norris Deajon - reporter
- Jennifer Dodd - reporter (now at KSAT-TV in San Antonio)
- Paul Folger - reporter (now at KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City)
- Jim Grimes - weekend anchor/reporter (now at Clearwire)
- Patrick Greenlaw - weeknight anchor
- Marty Griffin - consumer reporter
- Theresa Hernandez - reporter
- Steve LaNore - chief meteorologist (now at KXII in Sherman, Texas)
- Glenn Moray - chief meteorologist
- J. Ritchey - meteorologist
- Cash Sirois - sports anchor
- Victoria Snee - entertainment reporter
- Crystal Thornton - weeknight anchor
References
- ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
- ^ Dallas/Fort Worth Market Profile (in 2002)
- ^ a b http://unclebarky.com/dfw_files/ee94a304716e8845c685e31c71c9368d-955.html
- ^ http://www.roniproter.com
- Shannon, Mike (January, 2004). Dallas•Fort Worth TV Station History. The History of Dallas-Fort Worth Radio and Television.
External links
| Dallas-Fort Worth portal |
- KDAF home page
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KDAF
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KDAF-TV
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Categories: CW network affiliates | Tribune Broadcasting | Fox network affiliates | Fox Television Stations Group | Metromedia | Channel 33 TV stations in the United States | Television channels and stations established in 1967 | Television stations in Texas | Television stations in the Dallas • Fort Worth Metroplex
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