KDAF
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| KDAF | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Dallas / Fort Worth, Texas | |
| Branding | CW 33 |
| Slogan | Get Into It Putting Our Community First |
| Channels | Analog: 33 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | CW LATV (DT2) |
| Owner | Tribune Company (Tribune Television Company) |
| First air date | October 1967 (first incarnation) May 1980 (current incarnation) |
| Call letters’ meaning | Dallas And Fort Worth |
| Former callsigns | KMEC-TV (1967-1968) KBFI-TV (1972-1973) KXTX-TV, KDTV (1973) KNBN-TV (1980-1984) KRLD-TV (1984-1986) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1967-1986) Fox (1986-1995) WB (1995-2006) |
| Transmitter Power | 5000 kW (analog) 780 kW (digital) |
| Height | 520 m (analog) 537 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 22201 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | cw33.trb.com |
KDAF, channel 33, is a CW-affiliated television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, and serving the Dallas-Fort Worth television market. The station is licensed to Dallas and owned by the Tribune Company and is located off the John W. Carpenter Freeway in northwest Dallas. The station's transmitter is located in Cedar Hill.
From June 1995 to September 2006, KDAF was affiliated with the WB Television Network. Prior to that, KDAF spent nine years as an owned-and-operated station of the Fox Broadcasting Company.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Musical chairs
Channel 33 in Dallas has had several incarnations 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 (channel 21, now 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 channel 33 returning to the air 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 their 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 frequency off again in December. Channel 33 would remain dark 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 firm, Hill Broadcasting. The station's call letters were derived from its on-air branding, "National Business Network". The evening hours were filled by subscription television from VUE, 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.
[edit] Stabillity, then transition
In late 1983, Hill Broadcasting sold KNBN to Metromedia, and on July 31, 1984, the station was renamed KRLD-TV after new sister station KRLD radio, which Metromedia later sold to comply with Federal Communications Commission rules at the time. Metromedia attempted to do the impossible: make channel 33 competitive and profitable, both at the same time. Immediately after taking over control, the station 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 programming investments featured the first 7:00 p.m. newscast ever attempted in the Dallas-Fort Worth market. The station programmed other first-run syndicated shows, cartoons, off-network sitcoms and news magazines. Also for four seasons starting in 1984, channel 33 was the broadcast home for Dallas Sidekicks indoor soccer club.
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. However, Fox closed down the station's news department shortly after assuming control. Though KDAF remained unprofitable 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 their news plans when Fox made an announcement which put the station's immediate future in limbo.
In December 1993 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 being sold by Argyle Television to New World, and was included in the New World-Fox deal. At once, Fox placed KDAF on the selling block, and plans for the newscast were shelved indefinitely. Fox network programming moved from KDAF to KDFW on July 1, 1995. Two days later (on July 3, 1995), Fox finalized a sale of channel 33 to Renaissance Broadcasting, and KDAF took over the market's WB affiliation from KXTX-TV. Renaissance sold all of its stations, including KDAF, to Tribune Broadcasting in 1997.
On January 24, 2006, the WB and UPN networks announced that they merge into a new service, the CW Television Network, co-owned by CBS and the Warner Bros. Television unit of Time Warner. KDAF was one of several Tribune-owned WB affiliates named in the initial announcement of a ten-year affiliation agreement deal with the new network.
[edit] Digital Television
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:
Digital channels
| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 32.1/33.1 | Main KDAF programming |
| 32.2/33.2 | 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
[edit] Post-DTV transition
After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009[1], KDAF will remain on its current pre-transition channel number, 32. [2] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display KDAF's virtual channel as 33.
[edit] Newscast
Tribune restored news on KDAF in 1999 by launching a weekday 9 p.m. newscast, and within a year it was expanded to seven nights a week. However, the ratings for the newscast have rarely been competitive, ranking far behind KDFW's 9 p.m. newscast.
[edit] Personalities
[edit] Current On-Air Talent
- Anchors
- Terri Chappell - weeknights
- Tom Crespo - weeknights
- Jim Grimes - weekends
- Dawn Tongish - weekends
- Reporters
- Barry Carpenter
- Norris Deajon
- Sandra Hernandez
- Michael Rey
- Shana Franklin
- Weather
- Fred Barnhill (AMS Seal of Approval) - weekends
- Bob Goosmann (AMS Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist/weeknights
- Sports
- Dave Crome - weekend anchor
- Bob Irzyk - sports director/weeknight anchor
- Desmond Purnell - sports reporter
[edit] Station Presentation
[edit] Newscast Titles
- Newsroom (1960s-1977)
- Channel 33 Night Report (1977-1981)
- KNBN-TV 33 News (1981-1984)
- NewsWatch 33 (1984-1987)
- FOX 33 News (1987-1995)
- WB33 News (1995-2006)
- CW33 News (2006-present)
[edit] Station Slogans
- Channel 33, First in Texas (1981-1984)
- Channel 33 is Your Place (1984-1986)
- FOX 33, First in Texas (1986-Early 1995)
- The Future Home of WB 33 (Early-Late 1995; used to promote the switch from FOX to WB)
- Watch your Frog (2002-2005)
- 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)
- The Future Home of the New CW33 (2006)
- Free To Be Together (2006-2007)
- Get Into It (2007-present)
[edit] Former logo
 KDAF WB 33 logo. |
[edit] References
- Shannon, Mike (January, 2004). Dallas–Fort Worth TV Station History. The History of Dallas-Fort Worth Radio and Television.
[edit] External links
- 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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