KEYE-TV
KEYE-TV, digital channel 43 (virtual channel 42) is the CBS affiliate in Austin, Texas, USA. It is owned by the Four Points Media Group, LLC (which in turn is owned by Cerberus Capital Management) but is operated by Nexstar Broadcasting Group through a local service agreement (LSA). Its studios are located on Metric Boulevard in North Austin (as one of two stations in this part of town; KVUE is other), and its transmitter is located in the city.
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History
Channel 42 had been the original home of NBC affiliate KHFI-TV, when it signed on in 1965. That station moved to channel 36 in 1973 and is now KXAN-TV. For nine years, the channel was dark. That was until December 4, 1983 when KBVO-TV, Austin's first independent station, took to the airwaves. The calls came from the University of Texas at Austin's mascot, Bevo. It was originally owned by Steve Beard, an Austin advertising executive. In 1987, it became affiliated with the upstart Fox network and began calling itself "Fox 42" on-air in the late 1980s. In 1993, Beard sold the station to Granite Broadcasting for $54 million—a handsome return on his original investment.
In 1995, after Fox purchased KTBC, thus moving its affiliation there, KBVO took over the CBS affiliation and changed its calls to KEYE. The callsign refers to the famous CBS Eye Logo. It called itself "K-EYE 42, Your Eye on Austin" until 1999, branding was shortened to simply "K-EYE," on account of the fact that it was now available to all Austin area cable subscribers on cable channel 5. In 1999, KEYE became the second O&O of any major network in the market when CBS bought the station from Granite. In 2005 it was rebranded again, strangely enough, to "CBS42 K-EYE" (under the "CBS Mandate") to reflect CBS ownership and for cable subscribers to avoid confusion with San Antonio's CBS outlet KENS-TV, seen on VHF analog channel 5. As of 2006, the K-EYE branding was phased out in favor of simply CBS42 (except for a website address reference).
On February 7, 2007, CBS agreed to sell seven of its stations to Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., for $185 million. Cerberus formed a new holding company for the stations, Four Points Media Group, who took over the operation of the stations through local marketing agreements in late-June 2007.[1] On January 10, 2008, Four Points officially became the owner of the stations. Four Points operated the stations outright until March 20, 2009 when it entered into a three-year local service agreement (LSA) with the Irving, Texas-based Nexstar Broadcasting Group. The latter company then took over the management of all of the Four Points stations including KEYE. In August 2009, the "CBS42" branding was dropped in favor of "KEYE-TV", and the station website address was changed to weareaustin.com.
From 2002-2008, KEYE was the Austin home for pre-season games of the Houston Texans, in addition to airing CBS' coverage of the AFC package of NFL games. As of April 3, 2006, the station is the official home of the Dallas Cowboys in Austin and airs pre-season games as well as several Cowboys-related shows during the NFL season.[2] Some controversy exists over KEYE's selection of Tennessee Titans football games (capitalizing on former University of Texas quarterback Vince Young's popularity in Austin) over those of the Texans.
KEYE consistently trades second and third place in the Austin Neilsens with KXAN and occasionally first over long standing leader KVUE.
Digital television
Digital channels
| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 42.1 / 43.1 | Main KEYE programming |
| 42.2 / 43.2 | Telemundo |
KEYE started producing newscasts in high definition on November 1, 2007. The transition made KEYE the first station in the Austin market — and the first station in the Four Points Media Group — to produce and air newscasts in HD.[3] It was announced on March 29, 2008 that 42.2 was being turned on and would soon broadcast the Retro Television Network with a customized schedule for the Austin market.[1]
On February 17, 2009, KEYE ceased analog broadcasts. Its digital signal remains on channel 43 using PSIP to display "42" as its virtual channel number.
As of October 1, 2009, 42.2 carries Telemundo as well as locally produced Spanish-language newscasts weeknights at 5 and 10pm, displacing the RTN affiliation.[2]
KEYE is one of only four Nexstar-owned or managed stations to broadcast local newscasts in high definition or in 16:9 widescreen.
News operation
Before switching networks to CBS, KEYE (then KBVO) had no newscasts with the exception of nightly, three-minute updates aired during Fox prime time from a small closet studio. After the affiliation swap, on July 3, 1995, KEYE immediately launched a full slate of newscasts. Since that time, the first newscast to be dropped was the noon show, the station has also added and since dropped three new hours of weekend morning newscasts. KEYE started out with an Eyewitness News format (titled K-EYEwitness News), which was used until 2000 (the newscast title was shorted to KEYE News in late 1998, which was used until the "CBS Mandate" was put in place and the title became CBS 42 K-EYE News and then simply CBS 42 News).
The station canceled its 5 p.m. newscast in September 2009, replacing it with We Are Austin LIVE, an hour-long 4 p.m. lifestyle show anchored by Michelle Valles and Jason Wheeler. A few weeks later, the morning newscast was canceled and later replaced with a simulcast of the "J.B. and Sandy Morning Show" on KAMX Mix 94.7 FM. This left KEYE with only the 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts and a 5:30 p.m. newscast on Sunday evenings.
In contrast to former Fox stations on UHF that are now CBS, ABC or NBC stations — which often have had no success against their better-established news competitors, resulting in several cancellations — KEYE has been successful with their newscasts in a mostly-UHF market, competing with KTBC, KVUE, and KXAN-TV, thus making it one of the fastest growing stations in Central Texas.
On-air staff
Current on-air staff
Anchors
- Fred Cantu - weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m. (on DT2)
- Karla Leal - weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m. (on DT2)
- Judy Maggio - weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
- Ron Oliveira - weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
- Katherine Stolp - Weekend evening anchor
- Michelle Valles - weekdays at 4 p.m. "We Are Austin LIVE"
- Jason Wheeler - weekdays at 4 p.m. "We Are Austin LIVE"
Reporters
- Bettie Cross - general assignment reporter
- Ryan Loyd - general assignment reporter
- Gregg Watson - general assignment reporter
StormTracker Weather Team
- Troy Kimmel - Chief Meteorologist; weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
- Mark Chapin - Meteorologist; Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10 p.m.
- Kelly Slifka - Meteorologist; weekday mornings (weather updates during the "J.B. and Sandy Morning Show")
Sports team
- Bob Ballou - Sports Director; weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
- Courtney Timmons - Sports Anchor; Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10 p.m.
Former on-air staff
- Jim Bergamo - anchor (now at KVUE-TV)
- Cindie Brooks - weather anchor
- Terri Chappell - anchor
- Noah Finz - sports (now at WTNH in Hartford, CT)
- Christie Fletcher - anchor (now a radio talk show host at WTMY in Sarasota, FL)
- Bill Hecke - meteorologist
- Andy Liscano - reporter (KZTV-TV in Corpus Christi, TX)
- Cliff Morrison, chief meteorologist (1995-?)
- Daniel Plante - 5PM anchor (1995-?; now at KUSI-TV in San Diego)
- Shaun Robinson - 5PM anchor (1995-?); now at Access Hollywood)
- Cile Spelce - anchor (daughter of Neal Spelce)
- Neal Spelce - lead anchor (1995-2002) (retired)
- Will Thomas - weekend anchor (now at WTTG-TV in Washington, D.C.)
- Byron Webre - chief meteorologist
- Nanci Wilson - investigative reporter (now at KXAN)
News/station presentation
Newscast titles
- K-EYEwitness News (1995-1998)
- K-EYE News (1998-2005)
- CBS42 K-EYE News (2005-2006)
- CBS42 News (2006-2009)
- CBS42 News in HD (2007-2009)
- KEYE-TV News (2009-present)
Station slogans
- Channel 42, Austin's Superstation (1983-1986)
- Your Eye On Austin (1995-2003)
- Coverage You Can Count On (2003-2007, dropped as ownership transferred from CBS)
- CBS 42 is Always On (2005-present)
- We Are Austin (2005-present)
Former Austin CBS cluster
When KEYE was owned by CBS, the Austin CBS Radio (previously Infinity Radio) cluster (consisting of KAMX, KKMJ, KXBT and KJCE at the time) were housed in a separate facility in South Austin. CBS Radio sold the cluster to Entercom Communications in August 2006, with the group deal closing on November 30, 2007. The broadcasting antennas are on a 369.1 metres tall guyed TV tower at 30°19′19.3″N, 97°48′12.6″W.
References
| This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (September 2008) |
- ^ http://www.austin360.com/tv/content/tv/stories/2008/10/1021tvcolumn.html
- ^ http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/tvblog/entries/2009/08/31/keye_to_air_telemundo_programming_on_channel_422.html
- "Dallas Cowboys align with KEYE" Austin Business Journal, April 3, 2006
- "KVUE, KXAN hold on in latest ratings" Austin Business Journal, August 30, 1996
- "KVUE sweeps up competition in November" Austin Business Journal, December 20, 1996
External links
- KEYE-TV's Website
- KEYE TV listings & schedule
- Austin's RTN Website
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KEYE-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KEYE-TV
- AustinTVNews.com :: KEYE
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Categories: Nexstar Broadcasting Group | CBS network affiliates | Television stations in Austin, Texas | Television channels and stations established in 1965 | Channel 42 digital TV stations in the United States
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