KDVR (channel 31) 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 ea ...
in
Denver, Colorado
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
, United States, affiliated with the
Fox network. It is simulcast full-time over
satellite station KFCT (channel 22) in
Fort Collins
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
. The two stations are 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 ...
alongside
CW 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 ...
KWGN-TV
KWGN-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, airing programming from The CW. It is owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group alongside Fox affiliate KDVR, channel 31 (and its Fort Collins ...
(channel 2). Studios and offices are located on East Speer Boulevard in Denver's
Speer neighborhood. KDVR's transmitter is located atop
Lookout Mountain
Lookout Mountain is a mountain ridge located at the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Georgia, the northeast corner of Alabama, and along the southeastern Tennessee state line in Chattanooga. Lookout Mountain was the scene of the 18th-centu ...
, near
Golden, while KFCT's transmitter lies atop Horsetooth Mountain just outside Fort Collins.
KFCT covers areas of
northern Colorado, being that area's only full-power television station, that receive a marginal to non-existent signal from KDVR, though there is significant overlap between the coverage areas of both KDVR and KFCT's signals otherwise (including in Fort Collins proper and the nearby cities of
Greeley,
Windsor and
Longmont). On-air references to KFCT are limited to
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 jurisdicti ...
(FCC)–mandated hourly
station identification
Station identification (ident, network ID or channel ID or bumper) is the practice of radio and television stations and networks identifying themselves on-air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name (sometimes known, particularly in th ...
s during newscasts and other programming. Aside from the transmitter, KFCT does not maintain any physical presence locally in Fort Collins.
History
Early history
Denver had a fairly long wait to receive a second
independent station
An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, marke ...
to compete with the longer-established KWGN, especially for a market of its size. On paper, the market's population had been large enough to support two independents since the early 1960s. However, the Denver market is geographically one of the most expansive in the country, stretching across large and mountainous swaths of eastern Colorado, eastern
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to t ...
and western
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
. Denver's four major commercial stations, as well as
PBS member
KRMA-TV, operated extensive
translator
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...
networks to cover the vast area, and the expense of building so many translators to extend a new station's signal to these areas scared off potential owners. Additionally, the only available allocations were on the UHF band, and UHF stations do not cover mountainous territory very well.
By the late 1970s, however,
cable television
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...
—then as now, a must for acceptable television reception in some parts of the market, even in the digital era—had gained enough penetration to make a second independent viable. Also around this time,
satellite television
Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna com ...
providers also began to uplink Denver stations nationwide via
C-band, allowing those stations to cover the entire market with less infrastructure and translators more confined to population centers than a traditional translator network would have required in the past.
In 1977, the FCC received two applications for the channel, from
Trinity Broadcasting of Denver and La Unidad Broadcasting Corporation (later changed to LUB Television Associates). La Unidad proposed to build the first full-power Spanish-language television station in Colorado and won the construction permit for what was initially dubbed KTMX-TV on February 24, 1981. In the meantime, channel 31 in Denver made television history in February 1980 as the first ever satellite-fed translator with a direct program source, KA2XEG, was launched by the
Spanish International Network. While LUB seemed poised to upgrade this service to full-power status, it ultimately opted to sell the construction permit to Centennial Broadcasting Corporation, a group associated with
KTXL in
Sacramento, California
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...
. It was only in October 1990 that Univision finally gained a full-power affiliate of its own in Denver in
KCEC (channel 50).
Having changed plans to become an English language general-entertainment independent under new KDVR call letters, channel 31 first signed on the air on August 10, 1983. It was the first new commercial television station to sign on in the Denver
market since
KCNC-TV
KCNC-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios on Lincoln Street (between ...
(channel 4) debuted in December 1953 and the first full-service UHF television station in the state of Colorado. The station originally operated from studio facilities located near 7th Avenue and Auraria Parkway. Channel 31 originally operated as a typical general entertainment independent station, running a lineup of
cartoons
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
, classic
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...
s,
drama series
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-ge ...
,
movies
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...
and
religious programming
Religious broadcasting, sometimes referred to as faith-based broadcasts, is the dissemination of television and/or radio content that intentionally has religious ideas, religious experience, or religious practice as its core focus. In some coun ...
. After KWGN turned down an offer to affiliate with the new Fox network prior to its launch in 1986, KDVR stepped in and became a charter affiliate of Fox when it launched on October 9 of that year. KDVR eventually changed its on-air branding to "Fox 31" in the late 1980s. Centennial sold KDVR to Chase Broadcasting in 1990; Chase subsequently merged with Renaissance Broadcasting in 1992.
On September 1, 1994, Renaissance signed on KFCT (channel 22) in Fort Collins (located north of Denver) to serve as a full-time satellite to improve KDVR's over-the-air coverage in northern portions of the market (expanding its coverage area north to the Wyoming border) that could not receive its signal.
Fox Television Stations ownership
Renaissance sold KDVR and KFCT to
Fox Television Stations
Fox Television Stations, LLC (FTS; alternately Fox Television Stations Group, LLC), is a group of television stations located within the United States, which are owned-and-operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the Fox Co ...
for $70 million on November 15, 1994, in exchange for acquiring that network's
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 ...
in
Dallas–Fort Worth,
KDAF (which was set to lose Fox programming to that market's longtime
CBS affiliate,
KDFW, as a result of a
ten-station affiliation deal with
New World Communications
New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 197 ...
); As part of a series of attempts to prevent
News Corporation
News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New ...
(the parent company of Fox at the time) from acquiring additional stations, NBC filed a request to the FCC to reject the trade, on the grounds that the company was in violation of foreign ownership rules (which prohibit a foreign-owned company from maintaining more than a 25% interest in a U.S. television station).
However, the deal was approved by the FCC and subsequently finalized on July 3, 1995, effectively making channel 31 a Fox owned-and-operated station and the second O&O of a major English language network in the Denver market (KCNC had been owned by NBC from 1986, when the station's owner
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...
added it to NBC's owned-and-operated stations division, until September 9, 1995, when it was traded to CBS along with
KUTV
KUTV (channel 2) is a television station in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside independent station KJZZ-TV (channel 14) and St. George–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate K ...
in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...
(which was acquired by NBC the year before) as part of a multi-station trade deal that also involved
WCAU
WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jer ...
and
KYW-TV
KYW-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate WPSG (channel ...
in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
and the transmitter facilities of WCIX (now
WFOR-TV) and
WTVJ in
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
due to a multi-part affiliation deal between the network and KYW-TV's then-parent
Westinghouse Electric Corporation
The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...
, thru its broadcasting division
Group W, which was resulted in all three companies' owned stations (including
WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent station WSBK-TV (ch ...
and
WJZ-TV
WJZ-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is Owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and ma ...
) becoming CBS affiliates).
The deal with New World that spurred Fox's trade of KDAF with KDVR would play a factor in the Denver market on September 10, 1995, when CBS affiliate
KMGH-TV (channel 7) switched to ABC,
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 KCNC-TV took over the CBS affiliation, and ABC affiliate
KUSA-TV
KUSA (channel 9) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KTVD (channel 20). Both stations share studios on East Speer Boulevard in Denver's S ...
(channel 9) switched to NBC; with the sale to Fox being finalized on July 3, 1995, KDVR was not affected by the switches (it is currently the only television station in the Denver market to have never changed its network affiliation). Fox never intended to hold on to KDVR for long; it initially planned to divest the station to Qwest Broadcasting (a company backed by
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...
and
Tribune Broadcasting
Tribune Broadcasting Company, LLC was an American media company which operated as a subsidiary of Tribune Media, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. The group owned and operated television and radio stations throughout the United St ...
) and move its affiliation to KWGN. In turn, KDVR would have inherited KWGN's
WB affiliation.
However, this deal never came to fruition. After becoming a Fox-owned station, KDVR added first-run
talk and
reality shows
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
to its daytime schedule, while continuing to carry sitcoms during the evening and late night hours. In September 2006, KDVR, along with other Fox-owned stations, had their websites migrated to the MyFox platform, featuring expanded multimedia and social networking features.
Local TV and Tribune ownership
On December 22, 2007, Fox Television Stations entered into an agreement to sell KDVR and seven other Fox owned-and-operated stations to
Local TV (a
holding company
A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...
operated by
private equity firm
A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including lev ...
Oak Hill Capital Partners), adding to the nine stations that the group had acquired in May of that same year when it bought the broadcasting division of
The New York Times Company
The New York Times Company is an American mass media company that publishes ''The New York Times''. Its headquarters are in Manhattan, New York City.
History
The company was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones in New York City. ...
. The sale was finalized on July 14, 2008. On September 17, 2008, Tribune Broadcasting announced that Local TV would begin managing KWGN under a
local marketing 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 tim ...
and consolidate its operations with KDVR effective October 1,
as a result of the formation of a "broadcast management company" that was created to provide management services to stations owned by both Tribune and Local TV. KWGN vacated its longtime studios in
Greenwood Village
The City of Greenwood Village is a home rule municipality located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 15,691 at the 2020 United States Census. Greenwood Village is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Met ...
and consolidated its operations with KDVR at its Speer Boulevard facility. As part of the Local TV-Tribune partnership, on January 22, 2009, KDVR's website switched from the MyFox platform to a website platform managed by Tribune Interactive.
Tribune bought KDVR outright on July 1, 2013, as part of its $2.75 billion acquisition of Local TV;
the sale was finalized on December 27, forming a legal
duopoly
A duopoly (from Greek δύο, ''duo'' "two" and πωλεῖν, ''polein'' "to sell") is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market. It is the most commonly studied form of oligopoly due to its simplicit ...
between KDVR and KWGN.
Sinclair purchase attempt; sale to Nexstar
Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, ...
announced that it would acquire Tribune Media on May 8, 2017 for $3.9 billion, plus the assumption of $2.7 billion in debt held by Tribune. KDVR was then identified as one of 23 stations that Sinclair would divest to obtain regulatory approval for the merger
with Fox Television Stations agreeing to a repurchase as part of a $910 million deal.
Both transactions were nullified on August 9, 2018 following Tribune Media's termination of the merger and FCC lead commission
Ajit Pai
Ajit Varadaraj Pai (; born January 10, 1973) is an American lawyer who served as chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2017 to 2021. He has been a partner at the private-equity firm Searchlight Capital since April 20 ...
's public rejection of the deal.
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 ...
announced it would acquire the assets of Tribune Media on December 3, 2018 for $6.4 billion in cash and debt. The deal closed on September 19, 2019. As Nexstar already owned or managed the state's other two Fox affiliates (
KXRM-TV/
Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...
and
KFQX
KFQX, virtual channel 4 ( UHF digital channel 15), is a Fox- affiliated television station licensed to Grand Junction, Colorado, United States, and serving Colorado's Western Slope region. The station is owned by Wichita Falls, Texas–based Mis ...
/
Grand Junction), along with
KRQE-DT2 in
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding i ...
, which serves the southern reaches of Colorado with
Durango
Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...
satellite
KREZ-TV
KREZ-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Durango, Colorado, United States, affiliated with CBS and Fox. It is a satellite of Albuquerque, New Mexico–based KRQE (channel 13), which is owned by Nexstar Media Group. KREZ-TV's offic ...
, Nexstar consolidated its ownership of all Fox stations in Colorado with the deal.
Programming
KDVR clears the entire Fox network schedule (nightly prime time, Saturday late night, and
Fox Sports
Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world.
The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...
programming, along with the network's Saturday morning
infomercial
An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...
block ''
Weekend Marketplace
''Weekend Marketplace'' is a two-hour block of paid programming airing on Fox that debuted on January 3, 2009, replacing the 4Kids TV cartoon block due to the termination of the network's time lease agreement with 4Kids Entertainment. The block, ...
'', the
E/I block ''
Xploration Station'' on weekdays, and the Sunday political talk show ''
Fox News Sunday
''Fox News Sunday'' is a Sunday morning talk show that has aired on the broadcast Fox network since 1996, as a presentation of Fox News Channel. It is the only regularly scheduled Fox News program carried on the main Fox broadcast network. Ho ...
''). In addition, the station produces ''Everyday'', an hour-long lifestyle program which originated as an afternoon program on sister station KWGN in 2008 as ''Everyday with Libby and Natalie'' (then hosted by evening anchor Libby Weaver and reporter Natalie Tysdal); the program moved to KDVR on March 1, 2010, effectively moving to late mornings with the move.
Syndicated programming
Syndicated programs broadcast by KDVR include ''
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-J ...
'', ''
Jeopardy!
''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...
'', ''
Live with Kelly and Ryan
''Live with Kelly and Ryan'' (or simply ''Live'') is an American syndicated morning talk show hosted by Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest. Executive produced by Michael Gelman, the ''Live with...'' show formula has aired under various hosts since ...
'', ''
Judge Judy
''Judge Judy'' is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by former Manhattan Family Court Judge Judith Sheindlin. The show featured Sheindlin as she adjudicated real-life small-claims disputes within a simulated courtr ...
'' and ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, ...
'' (which also airs first run episodes).
In late August 2014, KDVR acquired the
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
game shows ''Jeopardy!'' and ''Wheel of Fortune'' to premiere on September 8 of that year after they moved from their longtime home of KMGH due to Scripps (KMGH's owner) continually removing the shows from their stations throughout the country for lower-cost internally produced programming and local newscasts. The two game shows displaced the longtime hour of ''The Simpsons'' leading into prime time to after KDVR's 10 p.m. news.
KDVR is one of ten Fox affiliates to air both ''Jeopardy!'' and ''Wheel''; the others are
WBFF
WBFF (channel 45) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with Fox and MyNetworkTV. It is one of two flagship stations of Sinclair Broadcast Group (based in nearby Hunt Valley), alongside ABC affiliate WJLA-T ...
in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...
;
WSYT
WSYT (channel 68) is a television station in Syracuse, New York, United States, affiliated with the Fox network and owned by Imagicomm Communications. The station's studios are located on James Street/ NY 290 in Syracuse's Near Northeast secti ...
in
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, Yonkers, and Rochester.
At the 2020 census, the city' ...
;
WXIX-TV
WXIX-TV (channel 19) is a television station licensed to Newport, Kentucky, United States, serving the Cincinnati metro as the market's Fox affiliate. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power Cozi TV affiliate WBQC-LD (channel 25 ...
in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...
;
WLUK-TV in
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 le ...
;
WVUE-DT
WVUE-DT (channel 8) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains primary studios on Norman C. Francis Parkway in the city's Gert Town sect ...
in
;
KVHP
KVHP (channel 29) is a television station in Lake Charles, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with Fox and ABC. It is owned by American Spirit Media, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with Gray Television, owner of dual NBC/ ...
in
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles (French: ''Lac Charles'') is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Founded in 1861 in Calcas ...
;
WALA-TV
WALA-TV (channel 10) is a television station licensed to Mobile, Alabama, United States, serving as the Fox affiliate for southwest Alabama and northwest Florida. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains studios on Satchel Paige Drive ...
in
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 census. It is the fourth-most-populous city in Alabama ...
;
WLUC-DT2
WLUC-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Marquette, Michigan, United States, serving the Central and Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan as an affiliate of NBC and Fox. Owned by Gray Television, the station has studios on US 41/ M- ...
in
Marquette, Michigan
Marquette ( ) is a city in Marquette County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 20,629 at the 2020 United States Census, which makes it the largest city in the Upper Peninsula. Marquette serves as the seat of government of Marque ...
; and
WDAF-TV
WDAF-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, and maintains studios and transmitter facilities on Summit Street in the Signal H ...
in
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more th ...
.
Sports programming
Since 1994, with the startup of Fox's own sports division, KDVR has been involved in the Denver pro sports teams through Fox Sports. KDVR is given at least two Denver Broncos games to be aired (when an
NFC team plays at
Empower Field at Mile High
Empower Field at Mile High (previously known as Broncos Stadium at Mile High, Invesco Field at Mile High and Sports Authority Field at Mile High, and commonly known as Mile High, New Mile High or Mile High Stadium) is an American football stadiu ...
); starting in 2014, with the institution of the NFL's "cross-flex" rules, games that involve the Broncos either playing another AFC opponent or games on the road can be arbitrarily moved from KCNC to KDVR, and since 2018, via Fox's exclusive contract, all ''Thursday Night Football'' games air on KDVR. The station aired the Broncos' second Super Bowl championship in
Super Bowl XXXIII
Super Bowl XXXIII was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos (who were also defending their Super Bowl XXXII championship) and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Atlan ...
, as well as the team's appearance in
Super Bowl XLVIII
Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for th ...
.
Since 1996, through
Fox's MLB broadcast contract, select Colorado Rockies games have aired on KDVR, including the team's appearance in the
2007 World Series
The 2007 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2007 season. The 103rd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion Colorado Rockies and the American L ...
. In addition, when Fox held the
NHL over-the-air broadcast contract from 1995 to 1999, games involving the
Colorado Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (N ...
were also televised on KDVR. During the Avalanche's
1996 Stanley Cup run, games 1 and 3 were aired on KDVR.
On August 7, 2014, KDVR entered into a partnership with the
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...
to broadcast head coach
John Fox's weekly analysis show (which had been airing on KMGH-TV as ''The John Fox Show'' since 2012); the program, which moved to KDVR under the new title ''Fox on Fox'' on September 5 (preempting the second half-hour of the 9:00 p.m. newscast on Fridays), is hosted by
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 ...
Nick Griffith.
News operation
KDVR presently broadcasts 66½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 11½ hours each weekday and 4½ hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). On KDVR only, it has the highest output of local newscasts on a single channel in Colorado (combined with sister
KWGN-TV
KWGN-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, airing programming from The CW. It is owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group alongside Fox affiliate KDVR, channel 31 (and its Fort Collins ...
however, Nexstar's media properties in Denver have a combined output of 100 hours of local newscasts).
In early 2000, KDVR began plans to produce a prime time newscast to compete with KWGN's longer-established 9:00 p.m. newscast. The station built a "news and technology center" at 100 East Speer Boulevard (near downtown Denver), to house the new news department; KDVR moved its operations into the building on April 15, 2000. The news department launched three months later on July 16, with the premiere of ''Fox 31 News at 9 O'Clock''; as a result, KDVR became the last Fox-owned station to begin producing local newscasts (until
WJZY in
Charlotte
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
,
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...
, which Fox had acquired in April 2013, launched its news operation in January 2014). The program was originally anchored by Ron Zappolo (who previously served as a sports anchor at KCNC and KUSA) and Libby Weaver (who joined the station from
WMAQ-TV
WMAQ-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Telemundo outlet WSNS-TV (c ...
in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
and had formerly hosted the syndicated entertainment news program ''
Extra''), who both served as lead anchors for the newscast from its inception until Weaver's departure in 2012.
KDVR expanded news programming to mornings on March 22, 2004, with the debut of ''Good Day Colorado'', which was created to compete with KWGN's weekday morning newscast, ''WB2 Morning News'' (now titled ''Daybreak''). Initially a 2½-hour newscast beginning at 5:30 a.m., ''Good Day'' expanded over time into a four-hour block beginning at 5:00 a.m. In January 2005, KDVR began producing a 5:00 p.m. newscast on Saturday evenings; this was later followed by the launch of a half-hour 5:30 p.m. newscast on weekdays in September 2008.
After entering into the local marketing agreement, major changes were made to KDVR and KWGN's news programming to benefit both stations as best as possible. While it does hinder both stations, KDVR and KWGN each produce weekday morning newscasts that run concurrently from 5:00 to 9:00 a.m. Besides competing with KWGN, the final two hours of the newscast also compete with the KUSA-produced weekday morning newscast on KTVD. KWGN discontinued its 5:30 p.m. newscast on January 12, 2009, while KDVR pushed back its early evening newscast to 5:00 p.m. and expanded it to an hour. Two months later on March 30, KWGN moved its prime time newscast two hours earlier to 7:00 p.m. (an unusual timeslot for a network-affiliated station in the
Mountain Time Zone
The Mountain Time Zone of North America keeps time by subtracting seven hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) when standard time ( UTC−07:00) is in effect, and by subtracting six hours during daylight saving time ( UTC−06:00). The clo ...
) to avoid competition with KDVR's 9:00 p.m. newscast and scaled back the program to weekdays only, leaving a KUSA-produced prime time newscast on KTVD as KDVR's only news competition in the latter slot. There is a considerable amount of sharing between KDVR and KWGN in regards to news coverage, video footage and the use of reporters; though both outlets maintain their own primary on-air personalities (such as news anchors and meteorologists) that only appear on one station; several KWGN on-air staffers that remained with the station after the LMA was formed joined KDVR's news staff with the consolidation of news departments, with most of KDVR's news staff appearing on KWGN's newscasts as well. On June 28, 2010, KDVR added a half-hour 10:00 p.m. newscast titled ''Fox 31 Nightside'', which focuses on more hard-hitting stories than the local news programs seen on the other major network affiliates during the same timeslot.
During
breaking news
Breaking news, interchangeably termed late-breaking news and also known as a special report or special coverage or news flash, is a current issue that broadcasters feel warrants the interruption of scheduled programming or current news in orde ...
coverage of the
fatal crash of a news helicopter rented by
KOMO-TV
KOMO-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Bellevue-licensed Univision affiliate KUNS-TV (channel 51). Both stations share studios wi ...
in Seattle on March 18, 2014, the station briefly aired a
Twitpic image of an adult
penis
A penis (plural ''penises'' or ''penes'' () is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation. Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males d ...
sticking out from unzipped pants (immediately following images of
Johnny Depp
John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Johnny Depp, multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Awa ...
as
Edward Scissorhands
''Edward Scissorhands'' is a 1990 American fantasy romance film directed by Tim Burton. It was produced by Burton and Denise Di Novi, written by Caroline Thompson from a story by her and Burton, and starring Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Antho ...
, and a baked food dish) as ''Good Day Colorado'' co-anchor Kurt Yuhnke searched for user-submitted pictures from the crash's aftermath on social media during the segment; some of the four anchors could be heard gasping, as
master control
Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room (PCR) in television studios where the activities such as swi ...
operators quickly tossed back to the studio while Yuhnke switched to a photo from the crash site.
In a statement apologizing for the incident, KDVR/KWGN
news director
A news director is an individual at a broadcast station or network or a newspaper who is in charge of the news department. In local news, the news director is typically in charge of the entire news staff, including journalists, news presenters, ...
Ed Kosowski clarified that the photo "did not come from the
tablet
Tablet may refer to:
Medicine
* Tablet (pharmacy), a mixture of pharmacological substances pressed into a small cake or bar, colloquially called a "pill"
Computing
* Tablet computer, a mobile computer that is primarily operated by touching the ...
" being used by Yuhnke and stated that the station would be "taking immediate steps to prevent such an accident from happening again."
[ On June 1, 2014, KDVR debuted ''#COpolitics – From the Source'', an unconventionally formatted Sunday morning political discussion program that is taped at The Source food market in Denver.
]
Notable former on-air staff
* Crystal Egger – ''Good Day Colorado'' meteorologist (2006–2010; later at The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel broadcasts weather foreca ...
, last at KNBC
KNBC (channel 4) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Corona- ...
in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
)
* Phil Keating – weekend anchor-reporter (2000–2004; 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 ...
)
* Tom Martino
Thomas Gerard Martino (born 1953) is a consumer advocate and American talk radio host. He is also known as "The Troubleshooter". His nationally syndicated show "The Troubleshooter Show" airs from KHOW, based in Denver, Colorado. His show form ...
– "Troubleshooter" consumer reporter and host of ''Martino TV'' (2000–2011, now radio host on KHOW
KHOW (630 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Denver, Colorado, and serving the Denver metropolitan area. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. KHOW is one of three iHeart-owned stations in Denver with a news/talk radio format. ...
(630 AM); Martino filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against KDVR in 2013, alleging that the station refused to renew his contract in September 2011 after he announced that he was filing for Chapter 7 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 debto ...
protection; the suit was settled in June 2014)
* David Treadwell – sports director (2000–2005)
Technical information
Subchannels
The stations' digital signals are multiplexed
In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...
:
KDVR became a charter affiliate of Antenna TV
Antenna TV is an American digital television network owned by Nexstar Media Group. The network's programming consists of classic television series, primarily sitcoms, from the 1950s to the 1990s. Antenna TV's programming and advertising operati ...
upon the network's launch on January 1, 2011; it is carried on 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 compres ...
31.2. Local TV-owned KDVR was given the Antenna TV affiliation in the Denver market despite the fact that the network's corporate parent, the Tribune Company, owned KDVR's sister station KWGN-TV.
On December 7, 2017, TBD
To be announced (TBA), to be confirmed (TBC), to be determined or decided or declared (TBD), and other variations, are placeholder terms used very broadly in event planning to indicate that although something is scheduled or expected to happen, a ...
was added as KDVR and KFCT launched a third subchannel.
Analog-to-digital conversion
KDVR shut down its analog signal, over UHF
Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...
channel 31, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 32. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel
In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
as its former UHF analog channel 31. On April 28, 2020 KDVR switched broadcast channels to UHF 36 from 32 as part of the FCC Repack, retaining the same PSIP information and virtual channel numbers.
Translators
In addition to KFCT, KDVR is relayed on the following translator stations:
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kdvr
Fox network affiliates
Antenna TV affiliates
TBD (TV network) affiliates
DVR
Nexstar Media Group
Television channels and stations established in 1983
1983 establishments in Colorado
Former News Corporation subsidiaries