KVIA-TV
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| KVIA-TV | |
|---|---|
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| El Paso, Texas | |
| Branding | ABC 7 |
| Slogan | Where News Comes First |
| Channels | Analog: 7 (VHF) |
| Affiliations | ABC The CW (DT2) StormTRACK 24/7 (DT3) LATV (DT4) |
| Owner | News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG of Texas, LP) |
| First air date | September 1, 1956 |
| Call letters’ meaning | V-I-A is derived from the Roman numeral for 7 which represented former sister station KVII’s channel number in Amarillo. The A could also stand for ABC. |
| Former callsigns | KILT (1956-1957) KELP-TV (1957-1979) |
| Former channel number(s) | 13 (1956-1981) |
| Transmitter Power | 316 kW (analog) 263 kW (digital) |
| Height | 592 m (analog) 577 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 49832 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | (analog) (digital) |
| Website | www.kvia.com |
KVIA-TV is an ABC affiliate in El Paso, Texas. It broadcasts its analog signal on VHF channel 7, and its digital signal on UHF channel 17. It is owned by and was the flagship television station of the News-Press & Gazette Company of St. Joseph, Missouri before the company acquired KRDO-TV. Its transmitter is located in El Paso.
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[edit] History
The station signed on the air on September 1, 1956 on channel 13, originally as KILT, and was owned by famous television and radio personality Gordon McLendon. It adopted the KELP-TV call sign in 1957. After short period of ownership, the McClendon Investment Corporation sold KILT to Joseph Harris and Norman Alexander in March of 1957. The TV station became KELP-TV before the John B. Walton Jr. purchase in January of 1966.
KELP-TV was the third station on in the growing El Paso area. Channel 4, KROD-TV (now KDBC-TV), signed on in late 1952 from a mountain top site at Comanche Peak). Channel 9, KTSM-TV, had a tall tower at a lower elevation in downtown El Paso. KELP-TV signed on from 4530 Delta Drive (also home of 920 KELP (AM) in central El Paso. KELP had studios and transmitters of each station at the site, which was leased from the City of El Paso. After KELP's 1956 debut, El Paso would have only three English-speaking channels for the next 22 years, until the debut of KCOS-TV in 1978 and KCIK-TV (now KFOX) in 1979.
The station's original site amounted to a landfill next to a sewer, so over the years the studio land subsided, and the floors became uneven (cameras had to be chocked in place, and could come loose and run to end of cables or slam into walls, or trip over cables) and outside walls developed gaps through which studio light shone out, and landfill/sewer insects would fly in). Anchors needed to lean with the sets and cameras so that they looked upright on camera. Power was 28,000 watts on a 350-foot tower (putting the antenna only up about 110 feet above average terrain). The transmitter of channel 13 was moved to the south end of Comanche Peak just above Scenic Drive in 1961. The studios moved to the west side of El Paso at the current Rio Bravo location in 1968.
Walton oversaw the move of KELP to its present location at 4140 Rio Bravo, off Executive Center on El Paso’s westside. During the 1960’s and 1970’s, KELP-TV may have been the only TV station in the country with an outdoor swimming pool. The old KELP-TV Channel 13 was home to the popular dance show Crosno's Hop, hosted by the late El Paso radio DJ Steve Crosno in the 1960s. After being bought by Stanley Marsh 3 in February 1976, it changed its call sign to the current KVIA-TV in 1979. Then KVIA swapped channels with PBS member station KCOS on July 10, 1981, moving from channel 13 to channel 7. It is said that the move was made to compete better with KDBC and KTSM. In 1995, KVIA-TV was bought by its current owner, News-Press & Gazette.
Before satellites were widely used in US broadcast television, many smaller market network affiliates had to arrange their own network connections. KELP-TV leased mountain tops between Phoenix, AZ and El Paso. They picked up KTVK Phoenix (an ABC affiliate until the mid-1990's) and KGUN-TV Tucson, off air, and fed them over several hops of microwave relay towers, and landed back at the mountain top transmitter of KELP-TV. For a time, this required the transmitter operator at the site to switch between the studio feed and that of the incoming network feed. Later, the station added a backhaul link to get the network feed back to the studios. This then allowed the studio operator to preview network shows before putting them on KELP's air.
From 1976 until 1993, KVIA had a satellite station based in Carlsbad, New Mexico; KAVE-TV, Channel 6, which carried a circle 6 logo and later renamed it KVIO to better identify it with the parent station. That station is now a satellite affiliate of Albuquerque's KOAT-TV, Channel 7 and known today as KOCT. KVIA was also the first station in El Paso to introduce a computerized weather radar, implemented in 1979.
Beginning in 1993, Gary Warner and Estela Casas anchored the evening newscasts together, making them the market's longest-running anchor team in local television history. Their run ended at 10:50 PM on Wednesday, May 21, 2008, when Warner signed off for the last time following a special broadcast tribute.
KVIA also uses a red version of the "circle 7 logo" as opposed to the more widely-used blue version. The "red 7" is very similar in color, but not in shape, to the logos from Boston, MA's NBC affiliate WHDH and Miami, FL's Fox affiliate WSVN. KVIA's current slogan is "Where News Comes First".
[edit] Digital Television
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:
Digital channels
| Virtual Channel |
Physical RF Channel |
Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17.1 | 7.1 | 720p | 16:9 | Main KVIA-TV programming / ABC HD |
| 17.2 | 7.2 | 480i | 4:3 | The CW |
| 17.3 | 7.3 | 480i | 4:3 | StormTrack 24/7 Weather |
| 17.4 | 7.4 | 480i | 4:3 | LATV |
[edit] Post-analog shutdown
After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009[1], KVIA-TV will move its digital broadcasts back to its present analog channel number, 7.[2]
[edit] News/Station Presentation
[edit] Newscast Titles
- KILT News (1956-1957)
- KELP-TV News (1957-1973)
- Eyewitness News (1973-1983)
- Pro News 7 (1983-1989)
- News 7 (1989-1993)
- 7 News (1993-1998)
- ABC 7 News (1998-present)
[edit] Station Slogans
- Where News Comes First (1998-present)
[edit] Personalities
[edit] Anchors
- Rachel Abell - ABC 7 at Noon
- Celina Avila - ABC 7 at 4
- Rick Cabrera - ABC 7 at 5, 6, & 10
- Estela Casas - ABC 7 at 5, 6, & 10
- Hillary Floren - Good Morning El Paso
- Ashlie Hardway - Good Morning El Paso Weekend
- Bob Harp - Good Morning El Paso
- Ken Molestina - ABC 7 Weekend at 5/6, & 10
- Stephanie Valle - ABC 7 Weekend at 5/6, & 10
[edit] Reporters
- Rachel Abell - General Assignment Reporting for Good Morning El Paso
- Celina Avila - General Assignment Reporting
- Troy Barrett - General Assignment Reporting
- Martin Bartlett - General Assignment Reporting
- Ashlie Hardway - General Assignment Reporting
- Bob Harp - General Assignment Reporting
- Darren Hunt - General Assignment Reporting
- Daniel Marin - General Assignment Reporting
- Veronique Masterson - General Assignment Reporting
- Ken Molestina - General Assignment Reporting
- Doug Wernet - General Assignment Reporting for Las Cruces Bureau (The New Mexico Mobile Newsroom)
[edit] ABC 7 Sports
- Raul Martinez - Weekdays ABC 7 at 6 & 10
- Autumn Sam - Weekends ABC 7 at 5/6 & 10
[edit] StormTRACK Weather
- "Doppler" Dave Speelman - Chief Meteorologist Weekdays ABC 7 at 4, 5, 6, & 10
- Amber Sullins - Meteorologist Weekdays Good Morning El Paso & ABC 7 at Noon
- Troy Barrett - StormTRACKER Weekends Good Morning El Paso Weekend, ABC 7 at 5/6 & 10
[edit] Former Staff Members
- Fred Albers (Now at KTSM-TV)
- Tamma Algood
- Margaret Althoff (news anchor and host of PM Magazine; ex-wife of former KVIA GM Art Olivas)
- Cindi Angelini
- Nichole Ayoub (now at KDBC-TV)
- Joel Bergeron
- Robert Bettes (Now at KDBC-TV)
- Mike Borschow
- Stu Bowersox
- Sterling Brooks (news anchor and host of PM Magazine)
- Stephanie Carpenter
- Jaime Chavez
- Chris Chesrown
- Dolly Cisneros
- Jerry Clark (Deceased)
- Tom Costello (Now at NBC network)
- K.C. Counts
- Zoltan Csanyi (Now News Director at KINT-TV)
- Alex Delgado (Now at KSEE-TV)
- Rick DeReyes
- Shelton Dodson (Now at KOB-TV)
- Scott Ehret
- Rob Elgas (Now at WMAQ-TV)
- Randy Escamilla
- Patricio Espinoza (Now at KXLN-TV)
- John Faucett (Now a Meteorologist for the National Weather Service office in El Paso, TX/Santa Teresa, NM)
- Marce Galaviz
- Jim Gamble
- John Garmon
- Robert Garcia
- David George (Now at WMTV-TV)
- Rick Glancey (Now attempts to speak for the El Paso County Sheriff's office)
- Monica Gomez
- Peggy Haley Ligner (Now a journalism teacher at El Paso's Coronado High School)
- Doug Hatt
- Brian Heap (Now at WPTY-TV)
- Julia Hilder (Now owns her own production company in Austin)
- Al Hinojos
- Robert Holguin (Now at KABC-TV)
- Nev Hough (Graphic artist who designed KVIA's "look" in 1980s/1990s)
- Carolyn Hughes
- Amy Jacobson (Formerly of WMAQ-TV)
- Noreen Jaramillo (Now at KFOX-TV)
- David Johnston ("Ono") (Now at KABC-TV)
- Richard Jordan (Now at WSVN-TV)
- Jason Kadah (Now at [KREM-TV])
- Dan Krieger
- Kim Lamb
- Anita Lopez (now in real-estate in Denver)
- Kevin Lovell (Now KVIA General Manager)
- Lizette Luna
- Roger Maier (Now spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
- Lillian Maric
- Dan Marks
- Betsy McArthur
- Micah McCauley (was at KVUE-TV, Austin now in Real Estate)
- Debra McDaniel
- Myrna Membrila (Now at KGUN-TV)
- Raymond Mesa (Now at KWHY-TV)
- Suzanne Michaels (Now heads Suzanne Michaels Communications)
- David Morgan
- Gary Munday
- Lise Nielsen
- Kathy Nemesh (deceased)
- Bob Nitzburg
- Elizabeth O'Hara (Now at KFOX-TV)
- Roy Ortega (Now at El Paso Times)
- Laura Palka (Formerly of WSOC-TV)
- Richard Pearson
- Indra Peterson (Now at KABC-TV)
- Alexander Perez
- Rick Provencio
- John Purvis (Now at KFOX-TV)
- Whitney "Boscoe" Reese
- Shea Rial
- Abel Rodriguez
- Sheyenne Rodriguez (Now at WTVD-TV)
- Lou Romano (Now at KDBC-TV)
- Rene Romo (Now at WSOC-TV)
- Jayme Rubenstein
- Kris Sanchez (Now at KNTV)
- Jim Scott (Now at KFOX-TV)
- Anne Semmer
- Ty Shesky (Now at KOB-TV)
- Stephanie Townsend Allala (Now an attorney in El Paso)
- Victor Vazquez
- Udell Vigil (Former news anchor, reporter, producer) Now Dir. of Communications, City of Las Cruces, NM
- Gary Warner (Retired in May, 2008, following 34 years at KVIA)
- Larry Wolpe
- Joan Zec (formerly of "European Journal"/PBS")
- Bill Zortman
- Frank Murillo
- Karen Theus
- Lori Allen
- Martha Saldana
[edit] Programming Notes
KVIA clears ABC's entire schedule. However, KVIA airs the ABC daytime soap opera lineup out of pattern: KVIA airs General Hospital before One Life to Live. Traditionally, OLTL airs before GH. This represents the station's cutting-edge philosophy.
On April 20, 2007, KVIA-TV, began broadcasting the CW on Time Warner cable channel 13. The signal is also available on digital television 7.2.[3]
[edit] External links
- KVIA Website
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KVIA-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KVIA-TV
[edit] References
- "A History of ABC 7", KVIA.com, January 20, 2006.
[edit] Footnotes
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