KRON-TV (channel 4) is a

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 earth ...

licensed to

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, United States, serving the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

as an affiliate of

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 ...

. Owned by

Nexstar Media Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...

, KRON-TV maintains studios on Front Street in the city's historic Northeast Waterfront, in the same building as

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...

(O&O)

KGO-TV KGO-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's ABC network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, KGO-TV maint ...

, channel 7 (but with completely separate operations from that station). The transmitting antenna is located atop

Sutro Tower Sutro Tower is a unique three-legged tall TV and radio lattice tower located in San Francisco, California. Rising from a hill between Twin Peaks and Mount Sutro near Clarendon Heights, it is a prominent feature of the city skyline and a landma ...

in San Francisco. San Francisco is the second-largest

television market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

where the MyNetworkTV station is not owned and operated by the programming service's parent company,

Fox Corporation Fox Corporation (stylized in all-caps as FOX Corporation) is a publicly traded American mass media company operated and controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New York City. Incorporated ...

(the largest being sister station

WPHL-TV WPHL-TV (channel 17) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group and has studios in the Wynnefield section of West Philadelphia; it maintains a ...

in Philadelphia).

History

NBC affiliation (1949–2001)

In 1948, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorized a construction permit by the Chronicle Publishing Company, publishers of the '' San Francisco Chronicle'' daily newspaper, for a new television station in San Francisco, KRON-TV. Chronicle Publishing was founded by brothers

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

and Michael de Young. The company already owned radio station KRON-FM. Managed by Michael de Young's grandson Charles de Young Thieriot, KRON

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature, placing one's name on a document * Signature (disambiguation) * Manual communication, signing as a form of communication using the hands in place of the voice * Digital signature A dig ...

the air on November 15, 1949, as a full-time NBC affiliate. Its opening night program schedule included a special about San Francisco entertainment followed by the usual NBC prime time lineup of the '' Texaco Star Theater'' with

Milton Berle Milton Berle (born Mendel Berlinger; ; July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002) was an American actor and comedian. His career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and tel ...

, '' The Life of Riley'', '' Mohawk Showroom'', and '' The Chesterfield Supper Club''. KRON-TV was the third television outlet in the Bay Area behind

(channel 7) and KPIX-TV (channel 5), all going on the air within a year, and the last license before the FCC placed a moratorium on new television station licenses that would last the next four years. KRON-TV originally broadcast from studios located in the basement of the Chronicle Building at Fifth and Mission Streets. Newscasts benefited from the resources of the ''Chronicle'' and there was cooperation between KRON-TV and the newspaper. It originally maintained transmitter facilities, master control and a small insert studio on

San Bruno Mountain San Bruno Mountain is horst fault block mountain located in northern San Mateo County, California; with some northern slopes crossing over into southern San Francisco, it is also surrounded by San Francisco Bay and the cities of Brisbane, Colma ...

. In August 1959, the ''Chronicle'' reported that the tower was severely damaged by an unusually strong thunderstorm, requiring major repairs before KRON-TV could return to the air. In 1960, NBC attempted to purchase its own station in the Bay Area, when they attempted to buy KTVU. The sale was cancelled that October due to pre-existing concerns over the sale cited by the FCC that were related to NBC's ownership of radio and television stations in Philadelphia; as a result, NBC stayed with KRON-TV. In the early 1960s, KRON's profits were keeping the Chronicle Publishing Company financially solvent at a time when the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' was losing money, around $3 million from 1958 to 1965. In 1967, KRON-FM-TV moved to a new studio at 1001 Van Ness Avenue in the Western Addition neighborhood (a location that formerly served as the site of the Roman Catholic cathedral of San Francisco). The television transmitter was moved to Sutro Tower on July 4, 1973, while the FM transmitter remained on San Bruno Mountain. Since the 1970s, KRON's logo has incorporated a stylized number "4" design that is based on the

Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...

. The vertical component is a bridge tower, the horizontal component is a portion of the bridge deck, and the curve is a portion of a suspension cable. This logo was used as early as April 1974, during coverage of a Symbionese Liberation Army bank robbery. By about 1991, this evolved into the "circle 4" logo in use to this day, with the "4" using a simpler bridge design. In 1982, the deYoung family's Chronicle Publishing Company unit discussed a possible trade of KRON-TV to the

Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.Tegna) in exchange for acquiring Gannett's Oklahoma City station

KOCO-TV KOCO-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Hearst Television. Its studios and transmitter are located on East Britton Road (Historic Route 66)—between North Kelley a ...

, plus an additional $100 million. The proposal ultimately fell apart by September 1983.

Sale to Young Broadcasting

On June 16, 1999, the deYoung family announced the liquidation of Chronicle Publishing's assets. By this point, the deYoungs owned three television stations (including KRON) in large and mid-sized media markets around the country, two of which were sold off to

LIN TV LIN Media was an American holding company founded in 1994 that operated 43 television stations. All except one were affiliates of the six major U.S. television networks. One of the remaining stations was a low powered weather station in Ind ...

(which traded KAKE-TV in Wichita and WOWT in

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

to Benedek Broadcasting in turn). The ''San Francisco Chronicle'', meanwhile, was acquired by the

Hearst Corporation Hearst Communications, Inc., often referred to simply as Hearst, is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Hearst owns newspapers, magazines, televis ...

in a $295 million deal in October of that year. NBC had made many offers for channel 4 over the years, but the deYoungs turned them down each time. It finally saw the opportunity to get an owned-and-operated station in what was then the United States' fifth-largest television market and quickly jumped into the bidding war for KRON. NBC was seen as the frontrunner to buy the station, but it was outbid at the last minute on November 16, 1999. KRON was bought by New York City-based Young Broadcasting, then-owner of Los Angeles independent station

KCAL-TV KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). Both stations share studios at the C ...

and several other stations in medium to small markets. Young's purchase price for the station ($750 million at the outset, rising to $820 million by closing) was a record price for a single station that stands to this day. To help finance the down payment, Young was forced to sell

La Crosse, Wisconsin La Crosse is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of La Crosse County. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population as of the 2020 census w ...

, CBS affiliate

WKBT WKBT-DT (channel 8) is a television station licensed to La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States, serving the La Crosse– Eau Claire market as an affiliate of CBS and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Morgan Murphy Media, the station maintains studios on South ...

to Morgan Murphy Media. NBC president and chief executive officer

Bob Wright Robert Charles Wright (born April 23, 1943) is an American lawyer, businessman, right-wing lobbyist, and author. He is a former NBC executive, having served as president and CEO from 1986 to 2001, and chairman and CEO from 2001 until he retire ...

had warned that if NBC did not succeed in buying KRON, it would require any prospective buyer to uphold specific terms if it wanted to retain the NBC affiliation. Wright did not rule out moving NBC's Bay Area affiliation elsewhere. When Young closed on its purchase of channel 4, NBC made good on these threats by demanding that Young operate KRON under the same conventions as an NBC owned-and-operated outlet. Among other things, it demanded that KRON change its on-air name to "NBC 4" and run the network's entire schedule in pattern (reducing prime time preemptions due to local programming from 20 hours to five hours a year). Preemptions would ''only'' be permitted for extended breaking news or severe weather coverage. NBC also demanded yearly payments of $10 million from Young, a form of reverse compensation, flipping around the then-normal mode of networks paying their affiliates for their airtime. (In turn, NBC would stop making annual payments to KRON of $7.5 million to carry the network's programming.) Young would also have to give NBC the first option on the programming of additional subchannels on the station's digital signal. Rather than give in to NBC's demands, Young decided not to renew channel 4's affiliation contract, which was set to expire at the beginning of 2002. San Jose-based

KNTV KNTV (channel 11), branded as NBC Bay Area, is a television station licensed to San Jose, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's NBC network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Sta ...

channel 11 approached NBC with a proposal to pay $37 million annually for the rights to broadcast its programming. In 1999, KNTV joined The WB in conjunction with the network's existing Bay Area affiliate, then co-owned KBWB (channel 20, now KOFY-TV). KNTV agreed to drop its ABC affiliation at the behest of network-owned KGO-TV, the market's primary ABC station. NBC accepted KNTV's deal in February 2000. It did so primarily as a stopgap in case NBC failed in its bid to buy KRON from Young. However, Young's asking price for the station was $735 million, only slightly less than what it paid to buy the station from Chronicle. NBC felt that price was too high, and walked away from the deal when Young refused to lower it. In December 2001, NBC purchased KNTV from Granite Broadcasting for a fraction of KRON's sale price of $230 million. That made NBC the only major broadcast network to have switched from one Bay Area station to another. The last NBC program to be broadcast by channel 4 was a repeat episode of '' Crossing Jordan'', at 10:00 p.m. on December 31, 2001. KNTV officially joined NBC later that evening at 11:35 p.m. with the regular broadcast of '' The Tonight Show with Jay Leno''. That ended KRON-TV's 52-year affiliation with the NBC network.

Independent station (2001–2006)

January 1, 2002, was KRON's first full day as an independent station. That morning, KRON broadcast the

Rose Parade The Rose Parade, also known as the Tournament of Roses Parade (or simply the Tournament of Roses), is an annual parade held mostly along Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California, United States, on New Year's Day (or on Monday, January 2 if N ...

from the feed of Los Angeles television station

KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is the seco ...

(then affiliated with The WB), with Bob Eubanks and Stephanie Edwards as co-hosts. With ABC, CBS, UPN and now NBC carrying their programming locally on owned-and-operated stations (KGO-TV, KPIX, KBHK—channel 44, now KBCW—and KNTV, respectively), and Fox and The WB under contract with KTVU and KBWB, respectively, KRON-TV became an independent station by default. The station filled time slots formerly occupied by NBC shows with

syndicated Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

programming and expanded newscasts. The NBC Network was near the top of the ratings nationally at the time of the disaffiliation, due to strong shows such as ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...

'', '' Frasier'', ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...

'' and '' ER''. Without those NBC shows, KRON's ratings started to decline. The viewership of its newscasts began to fall substantially by the time the station regained a network affiliation. In 2005, KRON downsized its news production staff to send teams of two people, specifically a reporter and camera operator, to generate news stories on scene. '' SF Weekly'' reported in 2006 that KRON was the first major-market television station to make such a decision and commented, "the results at times are more akin to home movies than news programming broadcast to the nation's sixth-largest TV market."

MyNetworkTV affiliation (2006–present)

On February 22, 2006, News Corporation announced the launch of

. The network was created partly in response to CBS Corporation and Time Warner's January 24 announcement that UPN and The WB would be shut down and replaced with the jointly-owned

CW Television Network CW may stand for: Science and technology * centiwatt (cW), one hundredth of a watt * Cω, a programming language * CW complex, a type of topological space * Carrier wave, in radio communications * CodeWarrior, an integrated development environme ...

. (CBS-owned UPN affiliate KBHK, whose call sign became KBCW by the network's launch, was named The CW's Bay Area affiliate. WB affiliate KBWB became an independent station.) KRON-TV became a MyNetworkTV affiliate when it debuted on September 5, 2006. (It is currently one of the largest MyNetworkTV-affiliated stations not to previously have been an affiliate of either The WB or UPN, second only to the network's Dallas O&O KDFI.) KRON began branding itself as "MyKRON 4" for MyNetworkTV programming, although it continues to promote itself as "KRON 4" outside of the service's programming hours. After joining MyNetworkTV, the station moved its hour-long 9p.m. newscast to 8p.m. It chose to run the fledgling network's programming from 9 to 11p.m., one hour later than MyNetworkTV's standard 8 to 10p.m. scheduling in the

Pacific Time Zone The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00) ...

. As of December 2020, MyNetworkTV programming airs from midnight to 2 a.m.

Young Broadcasting bankruptcy

On January 10, 2008, Young Broadcasting announced it would sell KRON-TV. The company had been encountering difficulties in meeting interest payments on its outstanding debt. Young's stock, which had been trading for a few cents per share, was ultimately delisted from

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

in January 2009, after failing to meet the minimum standards for being on the exchange. One month later on February 13, Young made a filing to place the company under Chapter 11

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

protection. Debt incurred from its 1999 purchase of KRON was believed to be one key factor behind the company's cash problems. Young originally hoped to close a sale of the station by the end of the first quarter of 2008, but no buyer emerged. On February 13, 2009, the company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. At the last minute, Young cancelled a planned auction of all 10 of its stations five months later on July 14, a move believed to have been made due to a lack of suitable bids. Instead of auctioning off the stations, Young and its secured lenders reached a deal where the lenders (among them Wachovia and

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, it maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world and is one of the nine global " ...

) would take control of the company, and

Gray Television Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United St ...

would manage seven of Young's ten stations. KRON, WATE-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee, and WLNS-TV in

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, making ...

(the latter two, unlike KRON, compete with Gray-owned stations in their respective markets), were the only stations not included in the management deal. In February 2010, Young discussed the possibility of entering into a

shared services Shared services is the provision of a service by one part of an organization or group, where that service had previously been found, in more than one part of the organization or group. Thus the funding and resourcing of the service is shared and th ...

agreement (SSA) with KNTV's owner NBCUniversal. That year, KRON informally reunited with NBC as it began to carry network programs during sports programming and breaking news events that force their preemptions on KNTV. (This responsibility as a backup NBC affiliate was assumed by KNTV's

Cozi TV Cozi TV (stylized on-air as COZI TV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. The network airs classic television series from the 1960s to the 2000s. The network origina ...

-affiliated second digital subchannel in 2014.) Station management announced at a November 2011 meeting that no such agreement would take place, and that KRON would instead relocate to a smaller, state-of-the-art facility within the next year to year-and-a-half. A week later, it was also announced the station's master control operations would be operated remotely from Atlanta beginning in mid-January 2012. The move to new studios, and plans to operate master control from Atlanta, were scrapped by June 2012.

Acquisitions by Media General, then Nexstar

On June 6, 2013, Media General announced it would acquire Young Broadcasting in an all-stock deal. The merger was completed on November 12, 2013. The move made KRON-TV the largest station by market size owned by Media General as well as the company's only station west of the Rocky Mountains until Media General acquired LIN Media, including

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

station KOIN in 2014. (Most of Media General's television stations were in the Southeastern, Midwestern and

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...

.) On February 10, 2014, Media General announced that KRON-TV would move into leased space on the third floor of KGO-TV's building (ABC Broadcast Center) at 900 Front Street, in space formerly occupied by radio stations KGO and KSFO. KRON-TV's studios at 1001 Van Ness Avenue would then be put up for sale; it was later demolished in 2019 to make way for a new assisted living facility for elderly people. Despite the co-location, KRON-TV maintains separate broadcast facilities from KGO-TV and employs a completely separate staff. Each station's employees are restricted by keycards from entering the other's facilities. In June 2014, Fox Television Stations announced it would acquire KTVU and KICU-TV in a trade with Cox Media Group in exchange for that company's stations in Boston and Memphis. Prior to the announcement it was rumored that Fox had considered buying KRON-TV and moving Fox network programming to channel 4. (Had Fox actually acquired KRON-TV, this would have made it one of the two major networks in the Bay Area, along with NBC, to switch from one station to another.) Fox completed its acquisition of KTVU and KICU-TV on October 8, 2014; despite MyNetworkTV being operated by Fox Television Stations, , KRON-TV remains an affiliate of the service. On January 27, 2016,

Nexstar Broadcasting Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...

announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Media General. The transaction was consummated on January 17, 2017, and with it, KRON became part of the Nexstar Media Group.

Subchannel history

KRON 4.2

KRON 4.2 was originally a 24/7 news channel. On September 29, 2015, Sky Link TV, a 24/7 Chinese-language TV network, launched on channel 4.2, replacing the news channel.

KRON 4.3

On August 19, 2013, KRON became the San Francisco affiliate for Tribune Broadcasting's Antenna TV classic television network. Antenna TV was added to digital subchannel 4.3. Because former station owner Media General has signed an affiliation agreement with getTV, KRON 4.3 became an affiliate of that network on May 1, 2016.

Proposed subchannel affiliations

In October 2007, the Retro Television Network (RTV) was expected to launch as a

digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...

on KRON-DT2 as part of a test of the network by Young Broadcasting, along with sister stations WBAY-TV

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...

, and WTEN Albany, New York. However, KRON never carried the network. KRON carried traffic conditions on channel 4.3. (RTV would be picked up in the market by KAXT-CD.) Eventually, after the digital transition and widescreen upgrades, KRON's HD channel was moved to the main 4.1 channel. In late 2010, Young announced an affiliation deal with The Country Network for several of its stations, including KRON. However, as with RTV, TCN was never carried by the station, and the network was dropped from all of New Young Broadcasting's stations by November 2011.

Programming

Until the late 1970s, KRON-TV was known for being very San Francisco-centric in its news coverage and audience targeting, an approach that would become costly to the station as population growth in areas outside San Francisco soared. Realizing this and refocusing on the entire market enabled KRON-TV to become the dominant station in the Bay Area.

Syndicated programs

During the 1980s, KRON continued its dominance by airing top-rated syndicated programs, including the Merv Griffin-produced game shows '' Jeopardy!'' and ''

Wheel of Fortune The Wheel of Fortune or ''Rota Fortunae'' has been a concept and metaphor since ancient times referring to the capricious nature of Fate. Wheel of Fortune may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Art * ''The Wheel of Fortune'' (Burne-Jo ...

'' (the original NBC daytime versions of both series also aired on KRON), as well as ''

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Para ...

''. The game show pair would move to ABC-owned KGO-TV permanently in 1992 after KRON-TV experimented with its "early prime time" schedule that year, while ''ET'' also moved to KGO in 1988, before returning to KRON in 1992 (where the show has remained since). Other syndicated programming currently airing on KRON-TV includes ''

Dr. Phil Phillip Calvin McGraw (born September 1, 1950), better known as Dr. Phil, is an American television personality and author best known for hosting the talk show '' Dr. Phil''. He holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, though he ceased rene ...

'', '' Inside Edition'', '' Hot Bench'', and '' Dateline NBC''.

Past programming preemptions and deferrals

For most of its tenure with NBC, KRON was the network's second-largest affiliate (behind only KYW-TV in Philadelphia) and its largest on the West Coast. Despite this, KRON occasionally preempted NBC programming. One such notable omission was '' Another World'', which would eventually air on the station in the early 1990s; KRON's decision to drop the daytime soap opera in the summer of 1998 (leaving ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...

'' and the struggling '' Sunset Beach'' as the only network soaps on its schedule) is thought to have hastened NBC's decision to cancel it altogether a year later. Two NBC daytime game shows, ''

50 Grand Slam ''50 Grand Slam'' is a game show from Ralph Andrews Productions that aired on NBC from October 4 to December 31, 1976. Tom Kennedy hosted the show, with John Harlan as the announcer. It premiered and ended on the same day as the show that preced ...

'' and '' Just Men!'', were never seen in the Bay Area. KRON also did not air NBC's soap operas in pattern (for example, KRON-TV aired ''Days of Our Lives'' after ''Another World'', rather than the standard slot for NBC affiliates in the Pacific Time Zone—at 2:00 or 3:00 p.m. depending on the season and time slot). Channel 4 also preempted some of the network's prime time programs. Similar to fellow NBC station KCRA-TV in neighboring Sacramento, KRON-TV stopped airing the Saturday morning '' TNBC'' lineup in the early 1990s. Historically, NBC was far less tolerant of preemptions than the other networks, but has recently eased its standards. The network would resort to purchasing stations for the sole purpose of switching or upgrading them to O&O status because of this ( Miami's WTVJ and Salt Lake City's KUTV are two such examples) or would find independent stations to air NBC programs that the main affiliate did not air. In the case of KRON, many of the shows it preempted ended up on independent KICU-TV. NBC had a somewhat contentious relationship with KRON, especially since it often lost valuable advertising in one of the nation's largest markets. However, it had little reason to complain about its ratings performance in the Bay Area, as channel 4 was one of NBC's strongest affiliates for the better part of a half-century. A shuffle of network affiliations around the country (and NBC's acquisition of some stations in markets larger than San Francisco) in the mid-1990s made channel 4 NBC's largest affiliate.

Early prime time scheduling experiment

During the 1992–1993 season, KRON-TV, along with KCRA-TV, participated in the "Early Prime" experiment in which prime time programs aired one hour earlier (mirroring the scheduling of the network's prime time lineup in the

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and Mountain time zones), the half-hour late evening newscast also moved from 11:00 to 10:00 p.m. as a result. While KRON moved NBC's prime time programming back to the 8:00–11:00 p.m. timeslot in September 1993, CBS affiliate KPIX, who adopted the early prime time schedule at the same time as KRON, continued with the experiment until 1998—well after it had become owned by the network through CBS's 1994 acquisition by KPIX's then-owner Westinghouse. Though both KRON and KPIX ran hour-long newscasts at 10p.m., neither were able to beat Fox affiliate KTVU, due to that station's longtime dominance in the 10 o'clock hour that continues to this day.

Sports programming

In 1965, KRON-TV began broadcasting most Oakland Raiders games, which were at first part of the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

, which had a contract with NBC from 1965 to 1969, and then the National Football League's

American Football Conference The American Football Conference (AFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest professional level of American football in the United States. The AFC and its counterpart, the National Football Conference ...

, which inherited the AFL's deal with NBC from 1970 to 1997 (the Raiders relocated to Los Angeles in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

, stripping KRON of its status as the team's home station until they returned to Oakland in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

; the station then served as the unofficial home station until

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

). KRON aired coverage of the Raiders' victories in Super Bowl XI and

Super Bowl XV Super Bowl XV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...

. In

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, KRON-TV became the now Las Vegas Raiders' official Bay Area home station for pre-season games and special programming. In addition, during those same years (1970–1997), KRON-TV also aired select San Francisco 49ers games whenever they played host to an AFC opponent at Candlestick Park (the station aired the team's victory in Super Bowl XXIII in January 1989). In

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, Channel 4 became the

flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyalt ...

of the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

, after acquiring broadcast rights to the Major League Baseball team's games. This caused a problem in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, when the final day of the U.S. Olympic track and field trials conflicted with a scheduled Athletics broadcast. Since KRON-TV was contractually obligated to show the baseball game live, it rebroadcast the trials at midnight. KRON lost the Athletics' television rights following the team's 1998 season. Both select Oakland A's and San Francisco Giants games were aired as part of NBC's broadcast contract with Major League Baseball from 1957 to 1989, including the A's string of three consecutive World Series victories in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

, and

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

''New Year's Live''

From 1989 until January 2008, KRON-TV produced a countdown program called ''New Year's Live'', which aired on New Year's Eve (sometimes beginning at 11p.m.) and continued into

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

(sometimes ending at 1a.m.). Events in San Francisco were the focal point of KRON's coverage, especially the midnight fireworks show near the Ferry Building. Other West Coast television stations joined KRON in some years (including KCAL-TV in Los Angeles,

KING-TV KING-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Everett-licensed independent station KONG (channel 16). Both stations share studios at the Home Plate ...

in Seattle, KCRA in Sacramento, KNSD in San Diego and KLAS-TV in Las Vegas in December 1990), featuring midnight countdown events in other cities, such as Las Vegas casinos and at the Seattle Space Needle. Former KRON weather anchor Mark Thompson served as the host during the program's early years. ''New Year's Live'' returned to KRON in December 2010 as an hour-long broadcast, hosted by Catherine Heenan and George Rask in-studio, with live reports from Henry Tenenbaum at Pier 39 and Vicki Liviakis at Waterbar on the Embarcadero. Starting in 2011, Gary Radnich joined Heenan as host at various locations in San Francisco each year.

Other local programming

KRON-TV also produces two locally-produced programs outside of local newscasts: ''Bay Area Living – Home Improvement Edition'' and LIVE! in the Bay. Past local programs include ''Bay Area Backroads'', ''Bay Cafe'', ''Henry's Home & Garden'', ''Latin Eyes'', ''Pacific Fusion'', ''Bay Area Bargains'', ''The Silver Lining''; and several series and featured news segments that were developed by Jim Swanson, executive producer including ''Bay Area Bargains – Green Edition''; ''Bay Area Living – Seniors Edition''; ''KRON 4's Body Beautiful''; ''KRON 4's Casino Adventures''; ''Don't Invest and Forget''; ''Health and Beauty with Dr Sonia''; ''Living Green with Petersen Dean''; ''KRON 4's Medical Mondays''; ''KRON 4's Peninsula Beauty''; ''KRON 4's Sizzling Hot Auto Deals'' and ''KRON 4's Spa Spectacular''. In the 1950s and 1960s, local programs produced by KRON-TV included the award-winning documentary series ''Assignment Four'', ''Fireman Frank'' with George Lemont (died October 1985 at the age of 63) and his

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

s (including Scat the Cat, Rhode Island Red, and Karl the Karrot), and a live children's program hosted by

Art Finley Art Finley (born Arthur Finger; 1926 – August 7, 2015) was an American television and radio personality, mostly in San Francisco and Vancouver, until his retirement in 1995. His broadcasting career began at KXYZ Houston in 1943. He enlisted ...

as ''Mayor Art.'' Bay Area kids, known as the "City Council," joined Mayor Art in the studio each day. The show featured '' Popeye'' cartoons mixed with science demonstrations, a newsreel feature entitled "Mayor Art's Almanac", games, prizes, and a sock puppet named "Ring-A-Ding." ''Assignment Four'' was a documentary series that generally aired Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m. through much of the 1960s (beginning in February 1960). A promotional brochure declared, "each ''Assignment Four'' story is concerned with cultural and ethnic activities or perhaps some fascinating phase of life and living in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area." Subjects ranged from 'Skid Row' to 'The Single Girl,' the 'Green Intricate Country of Napa Valley' to 'No Deposit, No Return' (a study of garbage disposal that won a 1966

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

and Silver Medal Award in the 1966 New York International Film Festival). The documentary 'Not to Have Lived' (aired January 31, 1966) about mechanized society featured no dialogue or narration. In the late 1980s, KRON-TV was among the few local television stations in the United States that produced a game show: ''Claim to Fame'', a weekly half-hour program hosted by Patrick Van Horn that usually ran on Saturday evenings. During that timeframe, KRON also produced a Saturday morning children's program called ''Buster and Me''. From the 1970s into the late 1980s, the station used

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (; 12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers ...

's '' Pavane'', Opus 50 as the music played during its nightly sign-off, alongside scenic rustic shots from around the Bay Area. KRON also produced '' Bay Area Backroads'', a half-hour program (which ran from the mid-1980s to 2008) that profiled places and people in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, and occasionally beyond. The program, which generally aired on Sunday evenings, featured hosts such as Jerry Graham and

Doug McConnell Doug McConnell is a television journalist who has focused on environmental issues, with programs on the air continuously since 1982. He has created, produced and hosted many series, special programs, and news projects for local, national and int ...

News operation

As of 2022, KRON broadcasts 72 hours of local newscasts each week (with 13 hours each weekday, hours on Saturdays, and hours on Sundays); it has the highest newscast output of any television station in the San Francisco Bay Area. KRON is one of only three MyNetworkTV affiliates that air and produce their own newscasts, alongside WPHL-TV in Philadelphia (though only a morning newscast, while its 10:00p.m. newscast is produced by WPVI-TV) and WJMN-TV in Marquette, Michigan (which maintained a news department when it was a CBS affiliate), after the service's

Secaucus, New Jersey Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264,WWOR-TV (whose news department operated separately from Fox-owned sister station WNYW stemming from license requirements imposed by WWOR's 1983 license transfer from New York City to New Jersey) closed theirs in July 2013. KRON's news operations were handled by the ''Chronicle'' until it launched its own news department in September 1957. It operated from a studio inside the ''Chronicle'' building at Fifth & Mission streets (the station's news department was located 30 feet from the ''Chronicle'' city desk). Appropriately for a station once owned by the ''Chronicle'', KRON-TV has long been a very news-intensive station. it produced six daily newscasts at the time, including the Shell-sponsored 6p.m. newscast ''Shell News'', with Tom Franklin reporting from the studio at the ''Chronicle'' and in filmed field reports. Franklin began the broadcast standing next to a map of the San Francisco Bay Area, with lights illuminated on the map next to the various cities that the newscast was to feature stories from. Franklin anchored most of the program from behind a desk that had a large Shell logo next to a "Tom Franklin" nameplate, with a Shell "X-100" oil can that sat atop the desk. Live segments were used for late bulletins from the ''Chronicle'' city desk or for local and regional stories not suitable for film treatment. Some of the stories covered by ''Shell News'' in 1957 included the end of the "pedestrian scramble" system at downtown San Francisco street intersections, the end of the San Francisco-Oakland Southern Pacific railroad passenger ferry and the final game of the San Francisco Seals baseball team (to be replaced by the San Francisco Giants in 1958). In the 1960s, KRON-TV had anchors Art Brown and Jerry Jensen (who later moved to KGO-TV), and Linda Richards, who wrote predicted temperatures backwards on sliding glass panels with maps drawn on them, for viewers to see the weather forecast. Ed Hart, and later Frank Dill, reported sports with a focus on only the area's professional teams. KRON's early morning news digests in the 1960s utilized sign language by Peter Wechsberg and Jane Norman. KRON-TV eventually branded its newscasts as ''Newswatch 4'' in the early 1970s. By early 1972, the station ran newscasts at noon, 5:30, 6:30 and 11p.m. on weekdays and 6 and 11p.m. on weekends, it also ran a late newscast that aired (then) immediately after '' The Tonight Show'' called the ''Newswatch Sign-Off Edition''. Presenters then included Terry Lowry, Phil Wilson, Karna Small, Bob Marsden, Paul Ryan, Art Brown and Dave Valentine. The station's newscasts were branded as ''NewsCenter 4'' from 1977 until 2001, when it was changed to the current ''KRON 4 News''. A major change in KRON-TV's evening news broadcasts occurred on April 6, 1981, when the station launched the 90-minute newscast "Live on 4" (from 4 to 5:30 p.m.). '' NBC Nightly News'' also moved from 7 to 5:30 p.m. (KPIX and KGO would follow this move with their national newscasts during the following decade). From late 1981 to late 1988, the 5p.m. weekday newscast was ''Live at Five''; Bob Jimenez anchored in the studio with Evan White in the newsroom. ''Live on 4'' was replaced in 1983 with ''T.G.I.4'', an hour-long light local news and interview program co-hosted by Jan Rasmusson and Patrick Van Horn. In the mid-1980s, KRON-TV produced and aired an afternoon talk program called ''Bay City Limits''. In 1981, KRON launched its first morning newscast with a seven-minute program (at 6:53 a.m.), the program was cancelled by late 1982. All the evening newscasts featured a variety of anchors, until settling down with the successful duo of Roz Abrams and Jim Paymar. After Abrams left for New York City's WABC-TV in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

, Paymar co-anchored alongside Sylvia Chase (who had been a correspondent for

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

and later for the ABC newsmagazine '' 20/20''). The station debuted what was then the only local early morning newscast in the San Francisco television market on September 1, 1986, with the launch of ''Daybreak'' (which ran from 6:30 to 7a.m., leading into '' Today''). The first anchors were Lloyd Patterson and Lila Petersen. KRON's newscasts during the 1980s regularly featured commentaries by

Wayne Shannon Gerald Wayne "Gerry" Schetzle, best known by the broadcast pseudonym Wayne Shannon, (1948-2011) was an American television news reporter, political pundit, and humorist who worked in Detroit, Philadelphia, and San Francisco during the late 1970s an ...

in a segment called "Just 4 You", many of which had a humorous tone. Shannon received billing in newscast introductions along with the anchors, and weather and sports presenters. Another staple of KRON-TV newscasts in the 1980s was live traffic reports and news coverage from the station's helicopter "Telecopter 4." Bob McCarthy, Rita Cohen and

Janice Huff Janice Huff (born September 1, 1960) is the chief meteorologist for WNBC in New York City. Early years As she has sometimes noted on her newscast, though born in New York City, at an early age she moved to her grandparents house in Columbia, South ...

were among the personalities who reported from Telecopter 4. Their traffic reports appeared regularly on ''Daybreak'', during ''Today'' and ''Live at Five''. Evocative of his folksy, down-to-earth style, McCarthy had a catchphrase, "hunky snarky", that he often used to characterize roads on which traffic was flowing smoothly. Will Prater was the main pilot of Telecopter 4 in its early years and Lou Calderon was the main photographer. KRON also broadcast from remote locations during this era (e.g.,

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

venues) via a satellite uplink unit dubbed "Newstar 4". These segments often began with an animation depicting a signal originating from the uplink location, bouncing off a satellite and ending at a satellite dish next to the words "San Francisco." KRON-TV regarded the satellite truck as a major competitive advantage over rival television stations, featuring it in a mid-1980s promotional spot which declared, "We got a mobile satellite up-link. They don't." In the 1980s, KRON-TV produced lengthy analysis pieces for the "Cover Story" segment on its 6p.m. newscast, many with an investigative journalism focus and sometimes produced by the 10-person "Target 4" investigative unit. The station reran some of these segments in an occasional program called ''Cover Story Magazine''. The station also produced a half-hour public affairs program on Sunday mornings called ''Weekend Extra'', which was hosted by Belva Davis and Rollin Post. This program frequently presented features from KRON's news bureaus in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento, the only Bay Area station to maintain bureaus (which were later deemed to be too expensive and were shut down by the end of the decade). During this time, KRON news grew rapidly in viewership and collected a large number of awards, including two DuPont Columbia awards, a Peabody, and more than 100 local Emmys. The station also produced a series of one-minute documentaries during the mid-1980s, ''San Francisco Minutes'' and ''Bay Area Minutes'', which featured people, places and events in San Francisco and Bay Area history and usually featured narrations by KRON-TV personalities set to soaring music (e.g., Mark Thompson on San Francisco's cable cars, Lloyd Patterson on the San Mateo County coastline). In the 1990s, the station utilized a "24 Hour News" format, with 30- to 60-second news updates each hour outside of regular newscasts. During the May 2001 sweeps period – its last as an NBC affiliate – KRON's newscasts beat KGO-TV's in the 5 and 6p.m. timeslots by a very close margin, ending KGO's domination in those timeslots. When KRON lost NBC to KNTV and became an independent station in January 2002, the station expanded its news programming by adding two hours to its weekday morning newscast (from 7 to 9a.m.), and extending its 5p.m. newscast to one hour to fill timeslots vacated by the departures of ''Today'' and ''Nightly News''. Unlike most news-producing stations that have become independent after losing a network affiliation or that have switched to one of the post-1986 broadcast networks, KRON originally kept its late newscast in the 11p.m. timeslot instead of moving it to or adding one at 10p.m. (avoiding direct competition with KTVU's long-dominant prime time newscast, though KRON's late news remained in competition against KGO, KNTV and KPIX's late evening newscasts); the station also added a prime time newscast at 9p.m. To this day, KRON maintains a newscast schedule similar to the one it had as an NBC affiliate. It is the only MyNetworkTV affiliate that has ever maintained a news schedule mirroring that of a Big Three affiliate (as it carries morning, 5p.m., and 6p.m. newscasts, and previously an 11p.m. newscast). Several of KRON's veteran anchors and reporters left the station after the loss of the NBC affiliation; KRON also began incorporating video journalists (many of which were newer hires) to report, tape and edit news stories. Despite the overall decline of KRON as an independent, its newscasts initially pulled in respectable ratings though viewership was lower than it was before the station lost its NBC affiliation. During the February 2004 sweeps period, the station placed second in the ratings behind KTVU. However, KRON's news viewership has gradually fallen since that point; also in 2004, the station posted an 8.7% market share, down from the 21% share it had as an NBC affiliate. The 9p.m. newscast created after becoming independent eventually fell to fourth place by 2005. In March 2006, KRON's morning newscast posted an average viewership of approximately 28,000 viewers. By 2009, overall viewership for the station's newscasts had fallen to fifth place among the Bay Area's news-producing

English-language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

television stations. On September 17, 2007, KRON-TV became the third station in the Bay Area (behind KGO and KTVU) to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in 16:9 widescreen—albeit in standard definition. In September 2008, KRON dropped its 5p.m. newscast after the syndicated daytime talk show ''Dr. Phil'' was moved to the slot, the program's former 8p.m. timeslot (which ''Dr. Phil'' held locally since the show's 2002 premiere) was replaced by an hour-long prime time newscast; this would be undone in September 2009, with the cancellation of the 8p.m. newscast and ''Dr. Phil''s return to the 8p.m. slot, along with the reinstatement of a 5:30 p.m. newscast (which expanded back to 5p.m. by 2010). The 8p.m. newscast returned in September 2011, concurrent with the replacement of the 4p.m. news with ''Dr. Phil''. KRON quietly upgraded its newscasts to

high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape * HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...

in April 2012, with the debut of new graphics. As of September 2013, only studio segments and on-air graphics are presented in HD, footage from field cameras and other news sources continue to be broadcast in widescreen SD. KRON launched a new 10p.m. newscast on May 16, 2016, that competes with newscasts on KTVU and, at that time, KBCW. However, also at that time, KRON's 11p.m. news was shortened to 15 minutes until it was dropped when KRON launched a new 9p.m. newscast on August 21, 2017, which competed with KGO's 9p.m. newscast for KOFY-TV until KGO cancelled it. On September 14, 2020, KRON launched an afternoon newscast at 3p.m. On January 10, 2022, KRON launched a 12 p.m. newscast that competes with KTVU and KPIX.

Notable current on-air staff

Catherine Heenan Catherine Heenan (full name Mary Catherine Elizabeth Heenan) is a television news anchor and reporter at KRON-TV in San Francisco. She grew up in Indiana and Illinois, and spent several summers in Northern Ireland and England. She graduated fro ...

– anchor / reporter *

Ken Wayne Ken Wayne (1925–1993) was an Australian actor of radio, theatre, film and television. He made his film debut in '' Sons of Matthew'' (1949) and appeared in a number of movies including ''Dust in the Sun'' (1958). He was also well known for hi ...

– anchor; formerly with KTVU

Notable former on-air staff

* Roz Abrams – anchor (1982–1985; now retired from television journalism) * Cheryl Casone – reporter (2002–2004; now at

Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

) *

Steve Centanni Steven James "Steve" Centanni is an American former news reporter for Fox News Channel. Journalism career Centanni joined FNC in 1996. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, he served as an embedded journalist with the Navy SEALs and provided numer ...

– reporter (1989–1996; now at Fox News Channel) * Sylvia Chase – anchor (1986–1990; later returned to ABC News, deceased) * Claudia Cowan – reporter (1995–1998; now at Fox News Channel) *

Leila Feinstein Leila Feinstein (born February 4, 1972) is a Thai-American television news anchor based in Los Angeles, most recently working for Tribune-owned KTLA. Biography Feinstein joined KTLA full-time in March 2003 after working at the station on an ...

– sports anchor/reporter (2000–2003; later anchor at

Los Angeles) *

– children's show host (as "Mayor Art")/host of ''Pick A Show'' c. 1966/reporter (1959–1968; deceased) * Pat Finn – weatherman, later host of California Lottery's '' The Big Spin'' * Michelle Franzen – reporter and fill-in anchor (1998–2001; now at ABC News) *

Emil Guillermo Emil Guillermo is an American print and broadcast journalist, commentator and humorist. His column, "Emil Amok", appeared for more than 14 years in ''AsianWeek''—at one time, the most widely read and largest circulating Asian American newsweekly ...

– reporter (1982–1989) * John Hambrick – (1975–1980; deceased) *

– meteorologist (1990–1994; now chief meteorologist at WNBC New York City) * Marc Jampole – reporter (1980–1981); now public relations executive * Vic Lee – reporter (1972–2006; later at

; retired) *

Sam Chu Lin Samuel Chu-Lin (; c. 1939 – March 5, 2006) was an American journalist. Career and contributions Born in Greenville, Mississippi, Sam Chu-Lin began his career in broadcasting began when he hosted a 1956 radio show in his hometown. He used t ...

– reporter (1981–1984; deceased) * Dave Malkoff – reporter (2003–2004; now at The Weather Channel) *

Mark Mullen Mark Edward Mullen (born 1961) is a television journalist and the anchorman for NBC affiliate KNSD-TV in San Diego. He joined the station in June, 2010 from ABC News, where he served as a Los Angeles-based correspondent. Prior to ABC, he was Chief A ...

– morning anchor (1991–1995 and 2002–2003; now anchor at KNSD San Diego) * Soledad O'Brien – reporter (1993–1996; now with Hearst Television) * Jim Paymar – anchor (1982–1987; now runs a media consulting firm) *

Gary Radnich Gary Kelley Radunich (born February 2, 1950), known as Gary Radnich, is a retired radio and television host in the San Francisco bay area. He hosted ''The Gary Radnich Show'' which ran weekday mornings on KNBR radio, and was the lead sports anch ...

– sports director (1985–2018; formerly with WBNS-TV, now retired) *

– commentator (1982–1988; deceased) *

Ray Taliaferro Raphael Vincent "Ray" Taliaferro (February 7, 1939 – November or December 2018) was an American radio host and liberal political commentator. He joined KGO News Talk AM 810 (San Francisco) in 1977. In 1986, his talk show moved to the 1 to 5 a. ...

– anchor (1972–1977; then also at KGO (AM); deceased) *

Mark Thompson Mark Thompson may refer to: Sports * Mark Thompson (American football) (born 1994), American football player * Mark Thompson (baseball) (born 1971), baseball player * Mark Thompson (footballer) (born 1963), former Australian rules football premie ...

– chief weather anchor (1984–1990; later at KTTV Los Angeles); now at KFI *

Wendy Tokuda Wendy Tokuda is an American television journalist. Biography Tokuda was a reporter and anchor for KING-TV in Seattle, Washington from 1974 to 1977, then went on to KPIX in San Francisco as reporter and co-anchor for the station's evening newscas ...

- anchor/reporter (1997-2007; later returned to KPIX; now retired) * Patrick Van Horn – co-host of ''T.G.I.4.'' (1983–198?), host of KRON-TV's ''Claim to Fame'' (1985–1989) *

Marta Waller Marta Waller (born September 26, 1952) is an American marketing professional, educator, and a former broadcast news reporter, producer, and anchor, most notably with KTLA in Los Angeles, California, where she worked from 1984 to 2008. Early life ...

– freelance writer (1984; later at KTLA Los Angeles) * Pete Wilson – anchor/reporter (1990–2001; later at KGO-TV & KGO-AM, deceased) *

Emerald Yeh Emerald Yeh (born 1956) was the mid-day anchor for the local news broadcast on KRON in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1984 to 2003, when KRON discontinued its local news programming. Personal life and education Yeh was born in Princeton, New J ...

– anchor (1984–2003; now retired from television journalism)

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion

KRON-TV shut down its analog signal, over

VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...

channel 4, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's pre-transition digital signal had been on UHF channel 57, which was among the high band UHF channels (52–69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition. The digital signal was moved to UHF channel 38. Using PSIP, KRON-TV's virtual channel is displayed as channel 4 on digital television receivers.

Defunct news services

BayTV

BayTV debuted on July 4, 1994, as a

24-hour The modern 24-hour clock, popularly referred to in the United States as military time, is the convention of timekeeping in which the day runs from midnight to midnight and is divided into 24 hours. This is indicated by the hours (and minutes) pas ...

cable news channel that was operated by KRON-TV in association with

AT&T Broadband AT&T Broadband was AT&T's cable operations division. It was formed in 1999 when AT&T acquired the assets of TCI and renamed it to AT&T Broadband. The next year, AT&T Broadband acquired MediaOne as well and became the largest cable operations com ...

(now Comcast Xfinity). BayTV was carried on cable channel 35. The KRON news staff also provided local news updates on MSNBC and

CNN Headline News HLN is an American basic cable network. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the network primarily carries true crime programming. The channel was originally launched on January 1, 1982 by Turner Broadcasting as CNN2 (later renamed Headline News ...

on Bay Area cable systems during this period. KRON's now-defunct 9p.m. newscast originally debuted on BayTV in the late 1990s and lasted until the cable channel ceased operations on August 30, 2001. The 9p.m. newscast was revived on channel 4 following KRON-TV's transition to an independent station in January 2002, though it was moved to 8p.m. when it affiliated with MyNetworkTV on September 5, 2006. The channel's daily Silicon Valley news recap ''New Media News'' also aired nationally on

Jones Media Group Jones Radio Networks & Jones Media Group were branches of Jones International before being sold to Triton Media Group. JRN and JMN provide local radio stations with satellite-delivered formats. They also offer other services to local radio such ...

cable channel Mind Extension University/ Knowledge TV until that channel shut down in 2000.

KRON 4 24/7 Bay Area News Channel

On July 26, 2012, KRON launched another 24-hour local news and weather channel, called the KRON 4 24/7 Bay Area News Channel. The channel featured news, local weather and traffic updates using the common screen template and setup shared among all of Young's automated weather/news information subchannels. Unlike the cable-exclusive BayTV, it was carried locally on over-the-air digital subchannel 4.2, on cable through Comcast Xfinity channel 193, and was streamed on KRON's website. The over-the-air channel was replaced by Sky Link TV on September 29, 2015, and the online live stream was shut down on the same date.

References

External links

FCC History Cards for KRON-TV
*
Photos of KRON's news set
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kron-Tv MyNetworkTV affiliates Antenna TV affiliates Rewind TV affiliates Quest (American TV network) affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1949 1949 establishments in California RON-TV National Football League primary television stations Peabody Award winners Nexstar Media Group