''Hawaii News Now'' (also abbreviated as ''HNN'') is a news department shared by three
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the eart ...
s in
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
,
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
:
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
affiliate
KGMB (channel 5),
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
affiliate
KHNL
KHNL (channel 13) is a television station in Honolulu, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of NBC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside CBS affiliate KGMB (channel 5) and Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, Kailua ...
(channel 13), and
Telemundo
Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by Comcast. It provides content nationally with pr ...
affiliate
KFVE
KFVE (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of the Spanish-language Telemundo network. It is owned by Gray Television alongside CBS affiliate KGMB (chann ...
(channel 6). The newscasts are produced by
Gray Television, which owns KGMB, KHNL, and KFVE. It also has a partnership with
KBFD
KBFD-DT (channel 32) is an Asian independent television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. The station is owned by Allen Broadcasting (not to be confused with Allen Media Broadcasting, owner of ABC affiliate KITV (channel 4) and mul ...
, which uses KGMB's taped-on-the-field stories during KBFD's 11 p.m. Korean-language newscast with Korean language subtitles, and a radio partnership with
KHKA
KHKA (1500 AM) is a radio station located in Honolulu, Hawaii. The station is owned by Blow Up, LLC and broadcasts a sports talk format. KHKA also retransmits on Oceanic Spectrum digital channel 885 for the entire state of Hawaii.
According t ...
.
Background
KGMB's news department started shortly after it signed on the air in 1952, and had the highest-rated of the Honolulu market's newscasts for most of its first 25 years; after
sports director
The title of sports director can refer to the director of a live sports broadcast. It can also refer to an individual at a television or radio station who is in charge of the sports department.
Director
{{Job-stub ...
Joe Moore joined
KHON-TV
KHON-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of Fox and The CW. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KHII-TV (channel 9). Both stati ...
(channel 2) in 1978, KHON overtook KGMB for the lead, with KGMB's newscasts placing either second or third in the ratings for the next three decades. KHNL had run newscasts intermittently since signing on as
independent station KTRG in 1962, it formed its longest-running news department to date in April 1995 as a
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
affiliate with the launch of a 9 p.m. newscast (that was simulcast on
KFVE
KFVE (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of the Spanish-language Telemundo network. It is owned by Gray Television alongside CBS affiliate KGMB (chann ...
until January 1996, when it became exclusive to the latter station); KHNL added newscasts at 5, 6 and 10 p.m. during the summer and fall of 1995, with the addition of a weekday morning newscast after it joined NBC on January 1, 1996.
The origins of the three stations sharing their resources stemmed from the August 18, 2009 announcement that MCG Capital Corporation (then-owner of KGMB) and Raycom Media (owner of KHNL and, at the time, KFVE) had entered into a
shared services agreement
In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or time ...
with Raycom as the senior partner. The combined operation was based at the KHNL/KFVE studios on Waiakamilo Road in Honolulu; KGMB vacated its longtime home on Kapiolani Boulevard. Though non-news programming would remain in place, the three stations would have a single news department dominated by former KGMB personalities. The arrangement also saw a channel swap, with the KGMB intellectual unit (call letters,
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
affiliation and programming) moving from
PSIP
The Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) is the MPEG (a video and audio industry group) and privately defined program-specific information originally defined by General Instrument for the DigiCipher 2 system and later extended for the AT ...
channel 9 (
UHF digital channel 23) to channel 5 (UHF digital channel 22) and the KFVE intellectual unit (including its
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...
affiliation) moving from 5 to 9.
["Execs explain TV swap, but some see it as blurry"](_blank)
from ''Honolulu Star-Bulletin'', August 20, 2009.
The swap was structured so that the KFVE callsign was reassigned to the license held by MCG Capital for KGMB and the KGMB callsign was reassigned to the license held by Raycom for KFVE. In effect, Raycom swapped KFVE to MCG Capital in return for KGMB. In most cases, it would not be possible for one company to own two "big three" stations, since the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
's
duopoly rules do not allow common ownership of two of the four highest-rated stations in a market. However, the FCC only recognizes the ownership of
facility ID's and not intellectual units; the overall viewership of KFVE, while on channel 5, fell outside the criteria defined by the FCC that would have otherwise barred a duopoly between KHNL and KGMB if facility IDs were traded as well.
The new unified newscasts, titled ''Hawaii News Now'', launched on October 26, 2009. On that date, the two stations began to jointly produce and simulcast weeknight 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts, while KHNL moved its 6 p.m. newscast to 5:30. KGMB continues to air a separate weeknight 6 p.m. newscast. The only times when KGMB and KHNL do not simulcast news programming are on weekdays during the 7 a.m. hour when KHNL airs NBC's ''
Today
Today (archaically to-day) may refer to:
* Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now''
* Current era, present
* The current calendar date
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...
'', at 5:30 p.m. when KGMB airs the ''
CBS Evening News
The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature st ...
'' and at 6 p.m. when KHNL airs ''
NBC Nightly News
''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt'' for its weeknight broadcasts since June 22, 2015) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NB ...
''. Weekday morning and weekend shows are simulcast on the two stations, but are subject to preemption on one of the stations due to network obligations. The local news schedule on KFVE remains unchanged. On June 22, 2020 Hawaii News Now began to broadcast its successful digital newscast ‘This is Now’ on KHNL-TV weekdays at noon. ‘This is Now’ is hosted by HNN reporter/anchor Ashley Nagaoka and award-winning HNN producer/director Jonathan Jared Saupe.
In 2011, the ''
Honolulu Star-Advertiser
The ''Honolulu Star-Advertiser'' is the largest daily newspaper in Hawaii, formed in 2010 with the merger of ''The Honolulu Advertiser'' and the ''Honolulu Star-Bulletin'' after the acquisition of the former by Black Press, which already owned the ...
'' formed a partnership with Hawaii News Now to combine stories, investigative reporting, political news researching and polling of issues that affects Hawaiians.
In May 2020,
CBS Sports Radio affiliate
KHKA
KHKA (1500 AM) is a radio station located in Honolulu, Hawaii. The station is owned by Blow Up, LLC and broadcasts a sports talk format. KHKA also retransmits on Oceanic Spectrum digital channel 885 for the entire state of Hawaii.
According t ...
began simulcasting ''Hawaii News Now'' broadcasts, as it shifted to a part time News/Information/Sports hybrid format with addition of
CBS News Radio
CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by Paramount Global. ...
programming.
Controversy
The shared services agreement resulted in the termination of all but four members of KHNL's on-air staff and all of the technicians for KHNL's morning show when its newsroom merged with KGMB and the two began
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simulta ...
ing newscasts on October 26, 2009. Seniority was guaranteed to technicians in the
IBEW
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a labor union that represents approximately 775,000 workers and retirees in the electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Guam, Panama, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands; ...
Local 1260 contract, but management stated that "new equipment nullifies any previous seniority", even though the technicians had installed and been operating the new equipment for over six months. The new hires had no prior experience operating the new equipment and had to be trained. The IBEW reps and heads were paid to turn a blind eye to the situation. Those let go had been with the station between 20 and 30 years, while those employed as little as six months were allowed to retain their jobs.
The combined merger, especially the newscasts in general, drew complaints from local media watchdog groups, who cite Raycom for trying to monopolize the market by operating three stations at once and limiting the editorial independence and viewer choices for news programming. This prompted several groups opposed to the merger such as Media Council Hawaii to file petitions with the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
to end the arrangement.
Paul McTear, president of Raycom Media, has staunchly defended the SSA, stating it would "preserve three stations that provide important and valuable local, national and international programming to viewers in Hawaii." Further controversy over the SSA grew after a November 7, 2009 report in the ''
Honolulu Star-Bulletin'' revealed that Raycom would pay MCG Capital Corporation $22 million (according to a filing with the
Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
) – which, in effect, would constitute a sale of KGMB from MCG Capital to Raycom. Both companies did not mention any monetary exchanges during its August SSA announcement, only "assets." The FCC, in response to Media Council Hawaii's filing of an objection over the SSA, asked Raycom for detailed, unredacted agreements in relation to the SSA.
"FCC Wants More Info From Raycom On Honolulu Shared Service Agreement"
from broadcastingcable.com, November 10, 2009
Notable current on-air staff
* Augie T.
Augie T. (born Augusto E. Tulba in 1968) is an American politician and member of the Honolulu City Council. Tulba is a Radio personality on KPHI, branded as "Shaka 96.7", based in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was also a successful radio personality on K ...
– Host
See also
* KGMB
* KHNL
KHNL (channel 13) is a television station in Honolulu, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of NBC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside CBS affiliate KGMB (channel 5) and Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, Kailua ...
* KFVE
KFVE (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of the Spanish-language Telemundo network. It is owned by Gray Television alongside CBS affiliate KGMB (chann ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Hawaii TV
Mass media in Hawaii
Local news programming in the United States
2009 American television series debuts
Gray Television