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KJRH-TV (channel 2) 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 eart ...
in
Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
, United States, affiliated with
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 ...
. It is owned by the
E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...
alongside Okmulgee-licensed
Ion Television Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented en ...
outlet KTPX-TV (channel 44). KJRH-TV's studios are located on South Peoria Avenue and East 37th Street in midtown Tulsa, and its transmitter is located near South 273rd Avenue East near Broken Arrow.


History


Early history under Central Plains Enterprises

The VHF channel 2 allocation was contested between two groups, both led by prominent Oklahoma oilmen, that competed for approval by the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
(FCC) to be the holder of the construction permit to build and license to operate a new television station on the third commercial VHF allocation to be assigned to Tulsa. The Southwestern Sales Corporation – owned by William G. Skelly, founder of
Skelly Oil Skelly Oil Company was a medium-sized oil company founded in 1919 by William Grove (Bill) Skelly, Chesley Coleman Herndon and Frederick A. Pielsticker in Tulsa, Oklahoma. J. Paul Getty acquired control of the company during the 1930s. It b ...
and the Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, and owner of local radio station KVOO (1170 AM, now KTSB) – filed the initial permit application on June 27, 1952, one week before the FCC released a Report and Order reallocation memorandum that lifted a four-year moratorium on new television broadcast license applications. KVOO had first proposed television broadcasts in 1939, when Skelly and then-
general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
W. B. Way purchased $35,000 worth of television equipment for experimental purposes. The other early applicant was All-Oklahoma Broadcasting – a consortium that owned radio station
KRMG KRMG may refer to: *KRMG (AM), a radio station (740 AM) licensed to Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States *KRMG-FM, a radio station (102.3 FM) licensed to Sand Springs, Oklahoma, United States *Richard B. Russell Airport, an airport in Rome, Georgia, Unit ...
(740 AM) and included, among other investors,
Kerr-McGee The Kerr-McGee Corporation, founded in 1929, was an American energy company involved in oil exploration, production of crude oil, natural gas, perchlorate and uranium mining and milling in various countries. On June 23, 2006, Anadarko Petroleum ...
co-founders
Robert S. Kerr Robert Samuel Kerr (September 11, 1896 – January 1, 1963) was an American businessman and politician from Oklahoma. Kerr formed a petroleum company before turning to politics. He served as the 12th governor of Oklahoma from 1943 to 1947 and ...
(whose wife, Grayce Kerr, owned the same 25.3% level of interest in All-Oklahoma as that held by her State Senator husband) and Dean A. McGee (who owned 12.6% of the company) – filed a separate license application four weeks later on July 25. The two groups ultimately decided to merge their respective applications; the consolidated entity, Central Plains Enterprises – which was formed as a 50/50 venture between Southwestern Sales Corporation and All-Oklahoma Broadcasting – filed their new permit application for channel 2 into the FCC on February 20, 1953; in order to comply with FCC rules that barred common ownership of two or more radio stations operating on the same
broadcast band A broadcast band is a segment of the radio spectrum used for broadcasting. See also

* North American broadcast television frequencies * AM broadcasting * FM broadcasting * Dead air * Internet radio * Radio network * Music radio * Old-time r ...
and to allow the Kerrs and McGee to join Skelly in the venture, All-Oklahoma Broadcasting sold KRMG to the Western Broadcasting Company (then-owner of KWHW in
Altus Altus or ALTUS may refer to: Music * Alto, a musical term meaning second highest musical or vocal type *Altus (voice type), a vocal type also known as countertenor Places * Altus, Arkansas, US **Altus AVA, a wine-growing region near Altus, Arka ...
) for $305,000. Central Plains concurrently faced new competition for the channel 2 permit, when two new applicants filed for the frequency. The Fryer Television Company – majority owned by Standard-Fryer Drilling Company founder R. J. Fryer – which, as the UHF Television Company, had originally filed to operate a station on UHF channel 23 (allocation now occupied by
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
affiliate
KOKI-TV KOKI-TV (channel 23) is a television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Imagicomm Communications alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KMYT-TV (channel 41). The two stations share studios on East ...
), chose to modify its construction permit/license application to seek the VHF channel 2 allocation. (This effectively resulted in the channel 23 allocation being granted to Albec Oil Company founder/owner J. Elfred Beck, who launched
KCEB KCEB (channel 54) is a television station in Longview, Texas, United States. It is broadcasting public domain movies, interspersed with Infomercials, and is owned by Innovate Corp. alongside Tyler, Texas, Tyler-licensed low-power broadcasting#T ...
on that frequency on March 13, 1954.)
The Oil Capital Television Corporation – a group led by several Tulsa businessmen including Fred Jones, owner of local car dealership Fred Jones
Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...
and half-owner of KFMJ (1050 AM, now
KGTO KGTO (1050 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Tulsa, Oklahoma. The station is owned by Perry Publishing and Broadcasting and licensed to KJMM, Inc. It airs an Urban Adult Contemporary music format. Its studios are located in the Copper O ...
); Tom P. McDermott, director of the Independent Tire Dealers Association; Charles L. McMahon Jr., founder of C. L. McMahon Inc. Oil Producers; insurance executive Dan P. Holmes; and L. Francis Rooney, president of the Manhattan Construction Company – concurrently became the third applicant for the license. On June 16, TulsaVision Inc. – a group co-owned by John E. Mabee, founder of oil drilling contracting firm Mabee Consolidated Corporation, and broadcasting executive John C. Mullins, then-president and general manager of KPHO-TV and KPHO radio (now
KFYI KFYI (550 AM) – branded ''News/Talk 550 KFYI'' – is a commercial news/talk radio station licensed to serve Phoenix, Arizona. Owned by iHeartMedia, KFYI serves the Phoenix metropolitan area as the market affiliate for Fox News Radio, ''The ...
) in
Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
– submitted the fourth application for the frequency. All three competitors dropped out of the bidding over a five-month period beginning in the winter of late 1953. On December 11 of that year, TulsaVision Inc. became the first to withdraw its application, after having earlier applied to have its bid dismissed by the FCC due to ongoing health issues that Mabee was going through at the time. Fryer Television withdrew its application via the grant of an FCC petition on February 12, 1954. The McDermott-Jones group would later follow suit, after Oil Capital Television's principals reached an agreement with the principal owners of Central Plains on June 4. Under said agreement, McDermott, Jones and other shareholders of their company would be given the option of obtaining a 15% interest in Central Plains as compensation for the retraction (these shares were sold back to Central Plains Enterprises in 1963). The FCC granted the permit to Central Plains on July 8, after the agency formally dismissed Oil Capital Television's application. Three months before it signed on, Skelly chose instead to assign his group's television station the KVOO call letters (which stood for "Voice of Oklahoma") that had been used by the companion radio station since it signed on in June 1926. (The station's initial slogan, "The Eyes of Oklahoma," was an extension of the "Voice of Oklahoma" slogan originated by KVOO radio.) The station began test broadcasts on November 15, 1954, originally transmitting over a closed-circuit television system. KVOO-TV officially commenced regular programming three weeks later on December 5, with a 39-minute special presentation at 3:00 p.m. that afternoon, respectively featuring speeches from Skelly, Kerr and McGee and a film from NBC dedicating the station's launch; following that dedication program was the first NBC network program aired by channel 2, ''
Meet the Press ''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television news/interview program broadcast on NBC. It is the longest-running program on American television, though the current format bears little resemblance to the debut episode on November 6, 1947. ' ...
''. The station – which originally broadcast for 17 hours each day from 7:00 a.m. to midnight – originally operated from studio facilities located in the Akdar Building on South Denver Avenue (between West Third and West Fourth Streets) in downtown Tulsa. KVOO was also the third television station (behind
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
affiliate KOTV hannel 6 which debuted on October 22, 1949, and KCEB) and the second VHF television station to sign on in the Tulsa market. ( ABC affiliate KTVX hannel_8,_now_KTUL.html" ;"title="KTUL.html" ;"title="hannel 8, now KTUL">hannel 8, now KTUL">KTUL.html" ;"title="hannel 8, now KTUL">hannel 8, now KTULdid not have its city of license reassigned from Muskogee, Oklahoma, Muskogee to Tulsa until August 1957, although that station had been operating auxiliary studio facilities located at Lookout Mountain (Oklahoma), Lookout Mountain in southwest Tulsa from the time it began operations.) Channel 2 has carried programming from NBC since its sign-on, having inherited the affiliation through KVOO radio's longtime relationship with the television network's direct radio predecessor, the
NBC Red Network The NBC, National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the Blue Network, NBC Blue Network it was ...
, with which it had been affiliated since 1927. It assumed the NBC affiliation from KCEB, which had been serving as the Tulsa market's primary affiliate of the network since its sign-on that March. (KOTV – which had been carrying select NBC programs since that station's sign-on – continued to maintain a secondary NBC affiliation after KCEB debuted, under an agreement that allowed KOTV to continue "cherry-picking" some of the network's stronger programs for broadcast to the entire market, as reception of KCEB's signal was nearly impossible in much of northeastern Oklahoma without an external UHF tuner due to the fact that electronics manufacturers were not required to incorporate UHF tuners into television sets at the time.) In 1955, channel 2 became the first television station in the Tulsa market to begin broadcasting its programming in
color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are assoc ...
, initially transmitting NBC network programming in the format. Broadcasting equipment was installed in the Akdar Building studios that allowed the station to televise local films as well as advertising and promotional slides in color. During the 1950s and 1960s, KVOO-TV produced several locally produced shows. Among these early local programs was ''The University of Tulsa Presents'', a weekly half-hour program developed and co-produced as a laboratory project by the university's television production department, which premiered in September 1955; the program initially ran weekly until January 1957, and was revived during the first semester of the university's 1963–64 academic year. children's program ''Big Bill & Oom-A-Gog'', a series that aired from 1959 to 1964, which cartoons and live wraparound segments conducted in front of an audience of local children; host William "Big Bill" Blair was often accompanied by a robot named Oom-A-Gog, who lumbered into the studio through a rolling steel door. Another of its most popular shows during this period was ''Fantastic Theater'', a locally produced weekly late-night showcase of classic
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
and horror films that aired on Friday and Saturday late nights from 1965 to 1968. Host Josef Peter Hardt – who, as the character Mr. Oktoberfest, gave his hosting delivery in an ominous, authentic German accent (Hardt was born in the
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
river city of Oberhausen) – typically began each show greeting viewers with "Good evening, meine freunde, and welcome to ''Fantastic Theater''," following a brief philosophical monologue tied to the theme of that week's movie. Ownership of W. G. Skelly's interests in KVOO-TV and KVOO radio would transfer to one of his daughters, Joan Skelly Stuart, and her husband, Harold Stuart, after the elder Skelly died of
kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as end-stage kidney disease, is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney failure is classified as eit ...
on April 11, 1957. On December 1, 1957, KVOO-TV and KVOO radio moved their respective operations into a purpose-built Streamline Moderne
art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
facility on 37th Street and Peoria Avenue in midtown Tulsa's Brookside district. The Brookside Broadcast Center facility, designed by Tulsa-based architectural firm Koberling & Brandborg (a partnership between Joseph Koberling and Lennart Brandborg), was constructed under a floorplan that allowed the television and radio stations to share news department resources. In November 1964, KVOO began originating its locally produced programs in color from its Broadcast Center studios, and features a large spire tower atop the building that houses the station's auxiliary tower (which was originally also used for KVOO radio's transmissions). In November 1964, KVOO-TV purchased a color camera for programming production and began producing its local programs in color.


Scripps ownership

On June 15, 1970, Central Plains Enterprises sold KVOO-TV to the Scripps-Howard Broadcasting subsidiary of the
Cincinnati, Ohio 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 wi ...
-based
E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...
, for $6.6 million in cash plus $1.2 million worth of stock shares; the sale received FCC approval on November 25, 1970, and was finalized the following month on December 31. On January 1, 1971, the day after the Scripps purchase was completed, the station changed its call letters to KTEW-TV (standing for "Tulsa E. W. Scripps", and
phonetically Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...
similar to their channel number of
two 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultur ...
). This change was made due to an FCC rule in effect at the time that banned TV and radio stations in the same market, but with different owners from sharing the same call letters. That year, KTEW began operating three low-powered translator stations – K04DY (now a campus independent station operated by
Northeastern State University Northeastern State University (NSU) is a public university with its main campus in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The university also has two other campuses in Muskogee and Broken Arrow as well as online. Northeastern is the oldest institution of high ...
) in Tahlequah, K04DW in Independence, Kansas, and K04EJ in
Coffeyville, Kansas Coffeyville is a city in southeastern Montgomery County, Kansas, United States, located along the Verdigris River in the state's southeastern region. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,826. Coffeyville is the most popul ...
– to relay the station's programming in areas of east-central Oklahoma and southeastern
Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...
that could not adequately receive the signal; all three translators transmitted on VHF channel 4, but had its transmitters located at sufficient enough spacing to avoid signal interference with fellow NBC affiliate WKY-TV (now
KFOR-TV KFOR-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Independent station (North America), independent station KAUT-TV (channel ...
) in
Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
. On the evening of June 8, 1974, the Brookside district was struck by a destructive F3 tornado that killed one person and caused $44 million in damage. Station management sent most of KTEW's staff to seek shelter as the twister, which reached the district after tearing across the
Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United Stat ...
, tracked close to the station's Peoria Avenue studios; the tornado narrowly missed the building and its spire tower to the north, but destroyed a Braum's Ice Cream and Dairy Stores location to the adjacent northwest of the facility. The KTEW studio facility went without electricity most of the night as
Public Service Company of Oklahoma American Electric Power (AEP), (railcar reporting mark: AEPX) is a major investor-owned electric utility in the United States, delivering electricity to more than five million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation's largest gen ...
(PSO) crews attempted to restore power to the Brookside district. On July 14, 1980, the station's call letters were changed to KJRH-TV, which were assigned in honor of Jack R. Howard, who served as president of the E. W. Scripps Company and chairman of the Scripps-Howard Broadcasting subsidiary from January 1953 until his retirement from the company in December 1976 (the "TV" suffix was added to the callsign on February 10, 2010; the KTEW call letters are now used by a
Retro Television Network Retro TV (stylized as retrotv), formerly known as Retro Television Network, is an American broadcast television network owned by Get After It Media. The network mainly airs classic television sitcoms and drama series from the 1950s through t ...
-affiliated low-power station based in
Ponca City Ponca City ( iow, Chína Uhánⁿdhe) is a city in Kay County in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The city was named after the Ponca tribe. Ponca City had a population of 25,387 at the time of the 2010 census- and a population of 24,424 in the 2020 ...
). In July 1985, KJRH became the first television station in the Tulsa market to broadcast in stereo, initially broadcasting NBC network programs, local programs and certain syndicated shows that were transmitted in the audio format. In April 1992, KJRH became the first Tulsa-area television station to relay its signal directly to a cable television system by fiber optics, after it activated a fiber cable link between the Peoria Avenue studios and the local headend facility of
United Artists Cable UA-Columbia Cablevision was a cable television provider in the United States. Originally partially owned by United Artists Entertainment (UA), UA would later gain full control. It was one of the largest providers in the early years of cable TV s ...
(now operated by Cox Communications, which acquired successor
Tele-Communications Inc. Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI) was a cable television provider in the United States, and for most of its history was controlled by Bob Magness and John Malone. The company was started in 1958 in Bozeman, Montana as Western Microwave, Inc. and Co ...
's Tulsa cable operations in March 2000) near 44th Street and South Sheridan Avenue – the construction of which was completed weeks prior on March 19. KJRH was not affected by a 1994 affiliation deal between Scripps and its ABC affiliates, as
Allbritton Communications The Allbritton Communications Company was an American media company. Based in Arlington, Virginia, Allbritton was the leading subsidiary of Perpetual Corporation, a private holding company owned by the family of company founder and former Riggs B ...
(who then owned KTUL) was in the process of signing a group-wide affiliation deal with ABC at the time. In November 1997, KJRH changed its on-air branding to "2 NBC" for general purposes and ''2 News NBC'' for its local newscasts. The station changed its branding to " hannel2 Works for You" in January 2001, following the implementation of a new graphics package that placed the current red and white "square 2" logo (which had first been introduced in May 2001 as a time-temperature bug shown during local newscasts, syndicated programming and intermittently during some NBC network shows) into full-time usage. In January 2001, per an agreement reached by the group involving
Paxson Communications Ion Media (formerly known as Paxson Communications Corporation and Ion Media Networks) was an American broadcasting company that owned and operated over 71 television stations in most major American markets (through its television stations group ...
-owned stations in three markets, the E. W. Scripps Company entered into local marketing and joint sales agreements with Pax TV (now
Ion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...
) owned-and-operated station KTPX-TV (channel 44). Under the agreement, KJRH handled advertising sales for channel 44, and maintained a news share agreement to allowed that station to air rebroadcasts of channel 2's 10:00 p.m. newscast after its initial airing; KTPX also occasionally served as a default carrier of NBC programs that could not air on KJRH because of conflicts with special event programming. The LMA ended on July 1, 2005 upon Pax's rebranding as i: Independent Television. On December 31, 2009, the Peoria Avenue studios served as the centerpiece of "The Party! New Year's Eve on Brookside" event in Tulsa's Brookside entertainment district, which also helped benefit the Oklahoma Food Bank. During the close of the festivities, a large, lighted "crystal" ball was dropped from the large spire atop the microwave tower at the building during the countdown to the start of 2010. Streets in the Brookside district near the studio were closed off to allow pedestrian traffic for attendees to the event inspired by the New Year's celebrations at
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
's
Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
. On July 30, 2014, Scripps announced it had reached an agreement with
Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...
-based
Journal Communications Journal Media Group (formerly Journal Communications) was a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based newspaper publishing company. The company's roots were first established in 1882 as the owner of its namesake, the ''Milwaukee Journal'', and expanded into br ...
to merge their respective broadcasting assets (consisting of KJRH and its 21 fellow existing Scripps television stations, and Journal's thirteen television and 46 radio stations) under its corporate umbrella, and, in turn, spin off its newspaper publishing division into Journal's remaining print unit, which would be rechristened as the Journal Media Group (which was acquired by the Gannett Company in August 2015, three months after the refocused publishing company spun off its own broadcasting and digital assets into
Tegna Inc. Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into tw ...
). The stock-only merger/spin-off transaction – in which Scripps shareholders acquired minority stakes in Journal, while Journal shareholders received minority shares in Scripps – was approved by the FCC on December 12, 2014 and finalized on April 1, 2015. The acquisition of Journal's broadcasting unit displaced KJRH as Scripps's smallest television station by market size (as Journal had owned ten stations in seven markets with a Nielsen ranking lower than Tulsa, the smallest being ABC affiliate and
KIVI-TV KIVI-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Nampa, Idaho, United States, serving the Boise area as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, which provides certain services to Caldwell-licensed Fox affiliate ...
repeater KSAW-LD in
Twin Falls, Idaho Twin Falls is the county seat and largest city of Twin Falls County, Idaho, United States. The city had a population of 51,807 as of the 2020 census. In the Magic Valley region, Twin Falls is the largest city in a radius, and is the regiona ...
), reunited it with KFAQ after 44 years under separate ownership, and placed it under common ownership with Journal's other four Tulsa radio properties,
KVOO-FM KVOO-FM (98.5 Hertz, MHz) is a commercial radio station in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The station is owned by Griffin Communications and it airs a country music radio format. The station picked up the heritage call sign and country format in 1988. It sha ...
(98.5),
KBEZ KBEZ (92.9 MHz, "92.9 The Drive") is a commercial FM radio station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. It is owned by Griffin Communications and airs a classic hits radio format. Its studios are located in Downtown Tulsa and the transmitter is in ...
(92.9 FM), Muskogee-licensed
KHTT KHTT (106.9 FM, "106.9 K-HITS") is a top 40 mainstream (CHR) radio station licensed to Muskogee, Oklahoma, and serving the Tulsa metropolitan area. It is owned by Griffin Communications. The radio studios are located in Downtown Tulsa and ...
(106.9 FM) and Henryetta-licensed KXBL-FM (99.5). On June 25, 2018, Scripps announced it would sell its Tulsa radio properties to Oklahoma City-based
Griffin Communications Griffin Media is an American media company based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The company began as a subsidiary of Muskogee-based Griffin Foods, which produces a line of pancake and waffle syrups and other foods. It owns Oklahoma's two large CBS ...
– owner of rival KOTV-DT and CW-affiliated sister
KQCW-DT KQCW-DT (channel 19) is a television station licensed to Muskogee, Oklahoma, United States, serving the Tulsa area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Griffin Media alongside CBS affiliate KOTV-DT (channel 6) and radio stations KTSB (1170 ...
(channel 19) – for $12.5 million. Griffin began operating the radio stations under a local marketing agreement on July 30, and completed the purchase on October 2, 2018, separating KJRH and KFAQ for a second time.


Duopoly with KTPX-TV

On September 25, 2020, a consortium made up of Scripps and
Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Its main business and source of capital is insurance, from which it invests the float (the retained premiu ...
announced the proposed purchase of Ion Media. The sale was completed on January 7, 2021, making Ion Television station KTPX-TV a sister station to KJRH-TV. The station took advantage of having a sister UHF-band station to address shortfalls in its VHF coverage by adding a simulcast mapped to 2.11 using KTPX's spectrum at the start of March 2021.


Subchannel history


KJRH-DT2

KJRH-DT2 is the Bounce TV-affiliated second digital subchannel of KJRH-TV, broadcasting in standard definition on channel 2.2. KJRH-TV launched a digital subchannel on
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 ...
2.2 in 2004, which originally carried a live feed of the station's
Doppler radar A Doppler radar is a specialized radar that uses the Doppler effect to produce velocity data about objects at a distance. It does this by bouncing a microwave signal off a desired target and analyzing how the object's motion has altered the fr ...
(then known as "First Warning Doppler," now branded as "2 Works for You Live Radar") accompanied by an audio simulcast of Tulsa-based
NOAA Weather Radio NOAA Weather Radio NWR; also known as NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is an automated 24-hour network of VHF FM weather radio stations in the United States (U.S.) that broadcast weather information directly from a nearby National Weather Servi ...
station
KIH27 NOAA Weather Radio NWR; also known as NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is an automated 24-hour network of VHF FM weather radio stations in the United States (U.S.) that broadcast weather information directly from a nearby National Weather Ser ...
. On October 18, 2007, KJRH-DT2 became an affiliate of
NBC Weather Plus NBC Weather Plus was an American weather-oriented digital broadcast and cable television network owned as a joint venture between NBC Universal and the local affiliates of the NBC television network. The service, which was broadcast in standard d ...
under the brand "2NEWS WeatherPlus" (which, in compliance with branding standardizations for NBC stations that carried the network, also served as the universal on-air branding for KJRH's weather department). It added programming content from the national Weather Plus network, along with pre-recorded local weather updates conducted by the station's meteorologists and an "L"-shaped ticker displaying local weather observations and forecasts for cities within the KJRH viewing area; in addition, the subchannel provided supplementary coverage of severe weather events affecting the northeastern Oklahoma viewing area in the event that such coverage did not warrant wall-to-wall carriage on the station's main feed. At that time, Cox Communications began carrying KJRH-DT2 on digital cable channel 222. After NBC Weather Plus discontinued its national programming on November 30, 2008, the subchannel converting into an automated service associated with Weather Plus successor service NBC Plus, featuring local and regional weather maps using the Weather Plus graphics platform. In September 2011, KJRH-DT2 became an affiliate of the
Live Well Network Localish (formerly Live Well Network, stylized as LOCALISH) is a lifestyle TV network owned by ABC Owned Television Stations, part of Walt Disney Television, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Localish's 24/7 channel streams on Hulu Li ...
, a 24-hour network devoted to health and lifestyle programming. On April 15, 2015, when Live Well relegated its national distribution exclusively to owned-and-operated stations of sister network ABC, the subchannel became an affiliate of Bounce TV, as part of an affiliation agreement between the E. W. Scripps Company and network parent
Katz Broadcasting Katz Broadcasting, LLC, doing business as Scripps Networks, is an American specialized digital multicasting network media company and a subsidiary of E. W. Scripps Company. The company owns (as of 2022) nine television networks that each carry ...
(which manages distribution of Bounce on behalf of owner Bounce Media LLC, and was acquired by Scripps in August 2017).


KJRH-DT3

KJRH-DT3 is the Laff-affiliated third digital subchannel of KJRH-TV, broadcasting in standard definition on channel 2.3. On April 15, 2015, as part of an affiliation agreement between the E. W. Scripps Company and network parent Katz Broadcasting, KJRH launched a third digital subchannel on virtual channel 2.3, which served as a charter affiliate of the comedy-oriented multicast network Laff.


KJRH-DT4

KJRH-DT4 is the
Defy TV Defy TV is an American free-to-air television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. Defy TV is targeted at men aged 25–54. Defy TV and TrueReal, a complementary network targeted at women aged 25–54 ...
-affiliated fourth digital subchannel of KJRH-TV, broadcasting in standard definition on channel 2.4. On May 8, 2019, Court TV was relaunched, and on September 9, 2019, KJRH launched Court TV, owned by Katz Broadcasting, on subchannel 2.4. On February 28, 2021, Scripps announced that Court TV will replace Ion Plus on KTPX-TV subchannel 44.3. On July 1, 2021, Defy TV was launched, and replacing Court TV.


KJRH-DT5

KJRH-DT5 is the
TrueReal TrueReal (working title: Doozy) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. TrueReal is targeted at women aged 25–54. TrueReal and Defy TV, a complementary network targ ...
-affiliated fifth digital subchannel of KJRH-TV, broadcasting in standard definition on channel 2.5. On July 1, 2021, the network was launched on 2.5 and other stations.


KJRH-DT6

KJRH-DT6 is the
Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is con ...
-affiliated sixth digital subchannel of KJRH-TV, broadcasting in standard definition on channel 2.6. This subchannel launched on May 17, 2022.


Programming

KJRH-TV currently broadcasts the entire NBC network schedule, albeit with variances for certain programs that place them outside of their network-recommended scheduling (as detailed in the section below). However, it may preempt some NBC programs in order to air long-form
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 ...
or
severe weather Severe weather is any dangerous meteorological phenomenon with the potential to cause damage, serious social disruption, or loss of human life. Types of severe weather phenomena vary, depending on the latitude, altitude, topography, and atmos ...
coverage, which may be rebroadcast on tape delay over KJRH's main channel in place of regular overnight programs. Station personnel also gives viewers the option of watching the affected shows on NBC's website and
mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...
or its cable/satellite
video-on-demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...
service the day after their initial airing. The station currently airs ''
Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...
'' in three blocks – the main program from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m., the third hour from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. and ''
Today with Hoda & Jenna ''Today with Hoda & Jenna '' (also known as the fourth hour of ''Today'' or simply ''Hoda & Jenna'') is an American daytime television talk show on NBC, hosted by Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager. The program airs as the fourth hour of NBC's ''Toda ...
'' from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. – with the final two hours airing on tape delay in order to air ''
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 ...
'' during the 9:00 a.m. hour. It also airs '' Days of Our Lives'' one hour later than most NBC stations (airing it at 1:00 p.m. on tape delay), the network's educational program block ''
The More You Know ''The More You Know'' is a series of public service announcements (PSAs) broadcast on the NBC family of channels in the United States and other locations, featuring educational messages. These PSAs are broadcast occasionally during NBC's networ ...
'' on a one-hour delay in order to accommodate its two-hour-long Saturday morning newscast, and airs ''Meet the Press'' on a one-hour delay from the political talk show's live feed (at 9:00 a.m.). Syndicated programs broadcast by KJRH () include ''
The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was pro ...
'', '' Right This Minute'', ''
25 Words or Less ''25 Words or Less'' is a party board game in which two teams of players take turns bidding words back and forth, until one team allows the other to try to give that number of clues to their team to try guessing five words from a card in only ...
'', ''The List'', ''Live with Kelly and Ryan'', and ''
The Kelly Clarkson Show ''The Kelly Clarkson Show'' is an American daytime television variety talk show hosted by American singer Kelly Clarkson. It is produced and distributed by NBCUniversal Syndication Studios and features Clarkson interviewing celebrities and seg ...
''.


Past program preemptions and deferrals

Historically, although NBC was far less tolerant of preemptions than its fellow major network rivals, KVOO/KTEW/KJRH has either preempted or aired out of pattern certain NBC network programs to make room for other local or syndicated programs, including some
sporting events Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, t ...
and an occasional prime time show. From the 1970s to the mid-1990s, it preempted a selected number of NBC late morning daytime shows in order to run syndicated and locally produced programs; this was particularly the case during the early and mid-1990s, when KJRH preempted the vast majority of NBC's late-morning
talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sh ...
s and
soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
s, opting to clear only the afternoon soap operas ''Days of Our Lives'' (which aired on the station until the series moved to streaming service
Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera '' Pavo'' and '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are r ...
in September 2022) and '' Another World''. Among the notable daytime preemptions included ''
Leeza ''Leeza'' is an NBC and syndicated daytime television talk show. It premiered on June 14, 1993 as ''John & Leeza from Hollywood'', hosted by John Tesh and Leeza Gibbons. Tesh left the show after seven months, and on January 17, 1994, the pro ...
'', which was preempted throughout its NBC run from June 1993 (under its original format as ''John and Leeza from Hollywood'') until it was moved to syndication in September 1999; from September 1997 until it was discontinued in December 1999, KJRH preempted '' Sunset Beach'' in favor of syndicated programming. Channel 2, the only NBC affiliate to have preempted ''Sunset Beach'', removed the soap from its schedule eight months into its run, after which
UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...
affiliate KTFO (channel 41, formerly KGCT and now
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 ...
affiliate
KMYT-TV KMYT-TV (channel 41) is a television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Imagicomm Communications alongside Fox affiliate KOKI-TV (channel 23). The two stations share studios on East 27th Stree ...
) carried the program on tape delay in the mid-afternoon. The station also preempted the final two hours of NBC's Saturday morning cartoon lineup from the late 1970s until 1992. In August 1996, KJRH chose to preempt nearly the entire
TNBC TNBC (or Teen NBC) was an American teen-oriented television programming block that aired on NBC from September 12, 1992, to September 28, 2002. The Saturday morning block featured live-action series – primarily in the form of scripted teen si ...
lineup (with the exception of '' Saved by the Bell: The New Class''), in favor of a mix of syndicated educational children's shows; channel 2 began clearing most of the TNBC lineup (outside of seasonal companion program ''
NBA Inside Stuff ''NBA Inside Stuff'' is a television program previously aired on NBC from 1990 to 2002, then on ABC and NBA TV, featuring behind the scenes activities of NBA players. The program also includes features on fitness and fundamentals of basketball. ...
'') in September 1999. The station also delayed '' Late Night'' (during its David Letterman and Conan O'Brien runs) to 12:05 a.m. from September 1987 until September 2002 in order to run either syndicated sitcoms, newsmagazines or game shows in the program's recommended 11:35 p.m. timeslot. It also preempted NBC's initial prime time airing of ''
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy ''Queer Eye'' is an American reality television series that premiered on the cable television network Bravo in July 2003. Originally ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy'', the title was later shortened to broaden the overall scope. The series was cr ...
'' in July 2003, citing what station management considered to be poor production values for the show and concerns that promoting a program airing on a competing cable channel— Bravo, which NBC acquired from
Rainbow Media AMC Networks Inc. is an American entertainment company headquartered in 11 Penn Plaza, New York. AMC Networks owns and operates the eponymous cable channel and its siblings, IFC, We TV, and Sundance TV; the art house movie theater IFC Cen ...
the year prior—would cannibalize viewership; the station agreed to clear a second condensed half-hour episode that NBC aired that August. In a rare instance of a station preempting a syndicated program, KJRH declined carriage of a March 1990 episode of ''
Donahue Donahue is the Americanized version of Irish surname Donohoe, which, in turn, is an Anglicized version of the ancient Irish name "Donnchadh" (sometimes "Donncha"). Donncha was a common “first name” in 9th Century Ireland, and when the use of ...
'' discussing the topic of music censorship with a syndicated rerun of the defunct NBC medical drama '' Quincy M.E.'', which then-general manager Bill Donahue (no relation to
Phil Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as a root ter ...
) cited was because the episode contained "numerous vulgarities and crude associations" including strong profanity in the song lyrics featured in a
music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
from one of the episode's guests,
rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
group
2 Live Crew 2 Live Crew is an American hip hop group from Miami, Florida, which had its greatest commercial success from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. The group's most well-known line up was composed of Luke Campbell, Fresh Kid Ice, Mr. Mixx, and ...
(portions of which were already electronically censored for broadcast), that were inappropriate to air in the station's regular 4:00 p.m. timeslot for ''Donahue''. KJRH management opted to rebroadcast the episode following its late newscast on April 1, preempting that night's episode of ''
The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...
''.


Sports programming

In 1986, channel 2 obtained the partial local syndication rights to broadcast regular season and postseason
college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...
games involving teams from the Big Eight Conference – which evolved into the Big XII in 1996 – that were distributed by Raycom Sports (those rights transferred to
ESPN Plus ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, in partnership with ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between The Walt Disney Com ...
in 1993, with KJRH obtaining that package once the Big Eight changed over-the-air syndication distributors). This agreement allowed the station to carry select regular season games featuring the
Oklahoma State Cowboys The Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University, located in Stillwater. The program's mascot is a cowboy named Pistol Pete. Oklahoma State participates at the National Col ...
and the
Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Ru ...
men's and women's teams, as well as any of their playoff appearances during the first three rounds of the
Big 12 men's basketball tournament The Big 12 men's basketball tournament (known since its inception in 1997 under sponsorship agreements as the Phillips 66 Big 12 men's basketball tournament) is the championship men's basketball tournament in the Big 12 Conference. It is a single- ...
. Until the conference rights moved locally to WB affiliate KWBT (channel 19, now CW affiliate KQCW-DT) in 2000, most college basketball telecasts on KJRH were shown on Saturday afternoons, although it also occasionally carried prime time games on weeknights, specifically during the Big 12 men's tournament. In addition, in 1998, KJRH-TV entered into a broadcast partnership with the
University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...
's sports broadcasting unit, the Sooner Sports Network, which gave it the local over-the-air broadcast rights to televise college basketball games involving the Sooners men's and women's teams; in addition until 2011, Sooner Sports' agreement with channel 2 included the exclusive local rights to the weekly coaches programs for the Sooners' basketball and football teams. During the
1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...
and
1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...
seasons, KJRH held the local syndication rights to broadcast
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(MLB) games involving the Kansas City Royals (which were produced by the team's flagship broadcaster at the time, Kansas City-based independent station
KSMO-TV KSMO-TV (channel 62) is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Gray Television alongside CBS affiliate KCTV (channel 5). Both stations share studios on Shawnee Mission Parkway ...
ow a MyNetworkTV affiliate and distributed by the Royals Television Network syndication unit); Royals telecasts returned to independent station KGCT for the 1992 season. Since KJRH lost the local syndication rights to the ESPN-produced Big XII basketball telecasts to KMYT-TV after that station gained the exclusive local rights to the package in 2009 and the rights to the Sooner Sports package in 2014, all sports event broadcasts aired on the station come mainly through NBC Sports.


News operation

, KJRH-TV presently broadcasts 33 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with five hours each weekday, 3½ hours on Saturdays and 4½ hours on Sundays). The station is one of ten television in the United States (the majority of which are also owned by Scripps) that carry the "Don't Waste Your Money" consumer reports (filed by John Matarese, the consumer/investigative reporter at ABC-affiliated sister station
WCPO WCPO-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based E. W. Scripps Company, which has owned the station since its inception. WCPO-TV's ...
in Cincinnati) on a syndicated basis. The station's Doppler radar system – branded as "2 Works for You Live Radar" – provides live dual-Doppler radar data from sites northwest of
Coweta Coweta is a city in Wagoner County, Oklahoma, United States, a suburb of Tulsa. As of 2010, its population was 9,943. Part of the Creek Nation in Indian Territory before Oklahoma became a U.S. state, the town was first settled in 1840.Wagoner County and near Gregory in southeastern
Rogers County Rogers County is located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 95,240, making it the sixth-most populous county in Oklahoma. The county seat is Claremore. Rogers County is included i ...
; both also utilize
NEXRAD NEXRAD or Nexrad (Next-Generation Radar) is a network of 160 high-resolution S-band Doppler weather radars operated by the National Weather Service (NWS), an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the United S ...
data from radar sites operated by the
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...
(NWS) nationwide. KJRH has the unique characteristic of being only one of two Oklahoma television stations that maintain two Doppler radar sites operated by the station directly (the other being fellow NBC affiliate KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City, whose Doppler radar site near
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
is the more powerful of the radar systems operated by the two stations, emitting a radiated power of 1 million watts).


News department history

Channel 2's news department began operations along with the station on December 5, 1954, originally consisting of half-hour newscasts at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m., using wire copies of local news headlines read by anchors over still newspaper photographs. The newscasts were anchored by Forrest Brokaw, who had been serving as
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, ...
at KVOO radio since 1951 and took on the same role at KVOO-TV, remaining there until he was replaced by George Martin in 1960; Brokaw was joined alongside meteorologist Bill Hyden and sports anchor Len Morton. In 1970, the station lured Jack Morris – one of the original anchors and the founding news director at KTUL – to anchor KTEW's evening newscasts. In addition to his anchoring duties, Morris became known in the market for his nightly editorial segment, "Commentary," which provided his viewpoint on current events, often reflecting his staunchly
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
views in pertinence on national and world affairs. Channel 2 shot to the top of the local news ratings during this time, right as KTUL was fighting against it for first place, aided by colleagues, chief meteorologist Gary Galvin and
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 ...
Jerry Webber (who joined the station, then KVOO-TV, as a news reporter in 1969). Morris left the station after a seven-year tenure in 1979, and subsequently shifted outside of the news industry to become public relations director for aerospace contractor Nordam Group. In 1976, channel 2 became the first television news operation in the Tulsa market to provide live remote footage for field reports. In February 1983, Ed Scripps Jr. – the great-grandson of KJRH's parent company namesake, Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps, and whom became an
associate producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...
at the station one year prior after leaving a similar producing role at KCRL (now
KRNV-DT KRNV-DT (channel 4) is a television station in Reno, Nevada, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, which maintains joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner ...
) in
Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
– was appointed as news director. (Scripps Jr., who would later be elected to the E. W. Scripps Company's board of directors in 1998, resigned from the station in August 1993.) During this period, the station's newscasts – while usually in a strong third place behind long-dominant KTUL and perennial second placer KOTV – often competed for and even placed second at times. In September 1986, Webber – who had previously served as anchor of the 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. weekday newscasts for ten months from March 1970 until December 1971 – was moved back to the anchor desk full-time as co-anchor at 5:00, 6:00 and 10:00 p.m., after spending 15 years in the sports department. Replacing him was Al "Big Al" Jerkens, who had previously served as the station's weekend sports anchor from 1979 to 1982 and remained with KJRH until his retirement from full-time broadcasting on August 3, 2017. (Jerkens would stay on as an occasional sports contributor through February 2018, after ceding his sports director role to longtime weekend sports anchor Cayden McFarland.) With his combined 31-year run at KJRH, Jerkens holds the record for the longest single-station tenure for a sports anchor in the Tulsa market. In May 1990, KJRH dropped the long-standing "Newscenter 2" branding, and rebranded its newscasts under the "Channel 2 News" handle. The station positioned itself as "Tulsa's 24 Hour NewsSource" at that time, as it implemented the "24-Hour News Source" concept. The format – which was developed by
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
sister station
WEWS WEWS-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It has been owned by the E. W. Scripps Company since its inception in 1946, making it one of two stations that have been built and signed on by ...
earlier that year and allowed for stations to provide news headlines to viewers at times when regularly scheduled, long-form newscasts were not being carried – saw KJRH produce 30-second-long news updates near the top of each hour and brief weather updates every half-hour during local commercial break inserts within syndicated and NBC network programs. Shortly afterward, the station launched ''Channel 2 News Today'', a half-hour morning newscast at 6:30 a.m. that became the second such program to launch in the Tulsa market, competing against KTUL's ''Good Morning Oklahoma''. (The program, which was retitled ''NewsChannel 2 Today'' following a minor rebrand that took place earlier that year, would expand to a full hour at 6:00 a.m. on October 4, 1993, and would expand earlier over time, first to 1½ hours in September 1995, then to two hours in May 2001 and finally to 2½ hours on June 7, 2016.) In October 1990,
Tulsa County Tulsa County is located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 669,279, making it the second-most populous county in Oklahoma, behind only Oklahoma County. Its county seat and largest city is Tulsa, the secon ...
prosecutors presiding over the
DUI Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...
/ vehicular manslaughter trial of Billy Ray Hinshaw (who killed two Macomb men in a head-on collision in east Tulsa that July) attempted to subpoena KJRH news photographer Mark Whaley to testify about what he saw at the accident scene while filming the story; the
Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals is one of the two highest judicial bodies in the U.S. state of Oklahoma and is part of the Oklahoma Court System, the judicial branch of the Oklahoma state government.
intervened following an emergency order by Whaley and Scripps Jr. to stay the trial, citing state journalist shield statutes and the need to protect the station's journalistic independence. Chief Prosecutor Tom Gillert contended that issue pertained to whether journalists had "blanket immunity" from being forced to testify when no question of confidentiality, or confidential sources, was at issue. The Court of Criminal Appeals ruled in January 1992, that prosecutors could not force Whaley to testify unless prosecutors proved that any evidence cannot be obtained by other means. On October 3, 1993, the station debuted ''Insight'', a weekly public affairs program (originally hosted by weekday morning anchor Darlene Hill) with discussions focusing on prominent people and issues in the Tulsa area's ethnic community. On April 26, 1991, a KJRH storm chasing unit led by meteorologist Gary Shore observed the touchdown of what became a violent , F4 tornado near Red Rock. Shore and his photographer recorded the tornado – which traveled for and injured six people – from a position about south of the funnel, though the inflow winds into the parent supercell were strong enough to nearly blow his cap off his face before catching them as he stood in front of the tornado. Abrupt changes to KJRH's newscasts took place in the fall of 1994. Margaret "Peggy" Phillip, who had served as
managing editor A managing editor (ME) is a senior member of a publication's management team. Typically, the managing editor reports directly to the editor-in-chief and oversees all aspects of the publication. United States In the United States, a managing edit ...
at
WSVN WSVN (channel 7) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is the flagship station of locally based Sunbeam Television. WSVN's studios are located on 79th Street Causeway ( SR 934) in North ...
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 ...
, was appointed as news director in January 1994 and brought a considerably watered-down version of WSVN's fast-paced news format to Tulsa. Prior to Phillips' appointment and the subsequent implementation of the retooled ''2 News'' identity that September, Philip and then-general manager Bill Donahue began changing the newscast anchor lineups; in March 1994, 6:00 p.m. anchor Karen Keith was moved from to the 5:00 p.m. newscast in a move to "help build the 5 p.m. news" by teaming her with Webber. Denise Brewer was promoted to female co-anchor at 6:00 p.m., co-anchoring with Jay Rickerts, while remaining partnered with Webber on the 10:00 late news. (Brewer and Rickerts would later be paired on the 5:00 p.m. newscast in January 1995.) With the introduction of the retooled newscast format in September, additional changes concerning the look of the newscasts went into effect. Compared to its previous look, which used varied colors and a background of the Tulsa skyline and a lighter theme package (" WWL News" by Stephen Arnold), KJRH's new look was far different, incorporating dark blue, red, black and silver elements and a "circular stripe" theme that morphed into the silver "circle 2" logo; the custom theme (composed by Chris Crane, who created several news themes used by WSVN and later by
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
sister station WHDH since 1991) was also quite different, made up primarily of dissonant, droning synth chords that were mixed with elements of and full cuts from
615 Music 615 Music is a broadcast production music company based in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded by Randy Wachtler. 615 Music composes television news music packages and custom image campaigns for many television networks around the world. 615 Music al ...
's "News One" package. Ed Hopkins was replaced as promotional announcer by Scott Chapin, who has acted as the announcer for WSVN from 1988 to 2011 and again since 2014. The set was also revamped and included a large video monitor, which was prominently featured during sports segments (with game clips and full-screen graphics being shown behind either Al Jerkens or weekend sports anchor Keith Isbell, who sat in a
director's chair A director's chair is a lightweight chair that folds side-to-side with a scissors action. The seat and back are made of canvas or a similar strong fabric which bears the user's full weight and can be folded; the frame is made of wood, or someti ...
), in a concept borrowed by and developed with the help of news management at
WTSP WTSP (channel 10) is a television station licensed to St. Petersburg, Florida, United States, serving the Tampa Bay area as an affiliate of CBS. The station is owned by Tegna Inc., and maintains studios on Gandy Boulevard on St. Petersburg' ...
in
Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...
. Much of the news department staff's doubts about the new, impending tabloid style were realized once the format was implemented in September 1994. Some of the station's prominent newscasters disliked the WSVN-style format – which, in the original form developed by longtime WSVN news director Joel Cheatwood, became well known for its emphasis on crime stories and sensationalistic reporting, earning the Miami station a reputation as a pioneer in
tabloid television Tabloid television, also known as teletabloid, is a form of tabloid journalism. Tabloid television news broadcasting usually incorporate flashy graphics and sensationalized stories. Often, there is a heavy emphasis on crime and celebrity news. G ...
– and resigned. Webber quickly became displeased with the new tabloid-style format, and, after negotiations between him and Phillip (which included attempts to offer Webber a role as managing editor) failed, announced his resignation as evening anchor on January 5, 1995. Webber reversed course one week later, deciding to continue as 6:00 p.m. co-anchor and taking on a role as managing editor, while Karen Keith was promoted to community specialist in addition to co-anchoring that same broadcast. Shore was one of the first to actually leave KJRH in response to Phillip's changes. Only one month prior to the revamp, Shore decided to resign over his displeasure of the reduction in airtime allotted to weather segments within the newscasts from three minutes to 1¾ minutes (this move, which was made up for by having weather segments air every six minutes during its newscasts, was fairly unusual as Oklahoma television stations traditionally place an emphasis on weather, in part because of the state's location within the climatological peak region of
Tornado Alley Tornado Alley is a loosely defined area of the central United States where tornadoes are most frequent. The term was first used in 1952 as the title of a research project to study severe weather in areas of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, ...
). He signed off from KJRH after spending 16 years at the station (minus a brief stint at
WJLA-TV WJLA-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with ABC. It is one of two flagship stations of Sinclair Broadcast Group (alongside dual Fox/ MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFF hannel 45in Baltimore), and is also s ...
in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
from 1982 to 1983) on December 1, 1994; Jeff Lazalier – who had previously served as a weekend meteorologist at channel 2 from 1984 to 1989, before moving to KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City – was hired to replace Shore as chief meteorologist in December 1995. (Lazalier would, ironically, be replaced by his former KFOR colleague Dan Threlkeld following the former's firing by KJRH in October 2002.) KJRH's morning newscast went through periodic turnover during this time as well; John Hudson (whose first tenure at channel 2, from 1976 to 1978, saw him serve as Jack Morris's co-anchor on the evening newscasts) collapsed and died in June 1994 from a massive
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
he suffered 40 minutes before going on-air to anchor an edition of ''Channel 2 News Today''. His co-anchor, Gillian Kirk (who began co-anchoring the program with Hudson in 1994), was subsequently paired with John McIntire; both Kirk and McIntire were replaced by Karen Larsen (the original Saturday anchor of KTUL's ''Good Morning Oklahoma'') and Mike Browning in June 1996. In November 1995, KWHB entered into a news share agreement with KJRH-TV to produce twice-daily news and weather updates each weekday at 5:55 and 6:29 p.m. The five-minute-long updates utilized the same anchors as those seen on KJRH's 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. newscasts. These news updates continued to air until the agreement concluded in 1998. In November 1997, KJRH began providing
closed captioning Closed captioning (CC) and subtitling are both processes of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information. Both are typically used as a transcription of the audio po ...
of its severe weather coverage for deaf and hard of hearing viewers under an agreement with Ability Resources, a locally based agency that provides resources for disabled persons. Shortly after the launch of the ''2 News NBC'' identity in October 1997, KJRH also began to emphasize other local programs alongside its newscasts, moving Webber and Keith from their anchoring roles as a result. Webber began hosting "From the Heartland," a series of five-minute-long, thrice-daily feature segments highlighting life in Oklahoma (which he continued to do until shortly before his death from stomach cancer in December 1998) that was similar in format to his bi-monthly half-hour series ''Oklahoma People''; Keith, meanwhile, began hosting ''Oklahoma Living'', a half-hour midday lifestyle talk show that premiered in January 1998 (for a time, the program also aired nationally on then-corporate cousin HGTV and statewide on the
Oklahoma Educational Television Authority The Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA) is a state network of PBS member television stations serving the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The authority operates as a statutory corporation that holds the licenses for all of the PBS stati ...
ETA Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...
. Evening co-anchor Denise Brewer was dismissed around his time, which she cited in a ''Tulsa World'' interview occurred after being told by management her contract would not be renewed because she was "too '90s" and "not deferential enough to men on the set." In February 1999, the station premiered ''The Weekend Show'', a Saturday evening local entertainment news program hosted by Jonathan Dylen that lasted only seven months due to low ratings and frequent NBC Sports event run-ins, while longtime documentary producer Jack Frank – who produced the ''Tulsa History Series'' documentaries for OETA and later for KOTV from 1989 to 1997 – began hosting the ''Oklahoma Memories'' series of thrice-weekly short films about the state's history told through modern images and historical film clips. Several changes to the newscasts took place in the summer of 2001. When the former ''Channel 2 News'' moniker was restored as KJRH's newscast branding that May, the morning newscast adopted a more
hard news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. N ...
format and began featuring weather and traffic segments in ten-minute intervals at times ending in "2," with cooking and interview segments being relegated to either the new midday newscast or within Keith's community segments; sports coverage was also dropped from the weekday 5:00 p.m. newscast, in favor of additional news and health segments. On July 16, the station premiered a half-hour midday newscast at 11:00 a.m.; originally anchored by the husband-and-wife team of Russ McCaskey and Deborah Lauren McCaskey (who replaced Keith Isbell and Deirdre Davis as anchors of ''Channel 2 News Today'' at that time), the program was the first midday newscast to air on the station since it cancelled a prior half-hour broadcast at noon in 1996. (The midday newscast would expand to a full hour on September 8, 2015; it would move to noon in August 2018.) ''Oklahoma Living'' was also relegated to Sunday mornings effective on July 22, where it remained until its cancellation that December. Larsen and John Walls were also appointed as anchors of the 5:00 p.m. newscast in place of McCaskey and Stephanie Dukes, the latter of whom was moved to a role as health reporter. In May 2003, the station launched hour-long weekend morning newscasts at 8:00 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. (The broadcast would expand to two hours on September 30, while an hour-long extension of the Sunday edition at 10:00 a.m. was added in September 2013, in a revamp that saw the existing Sunday broadcast be separated into two additional blocks at 6:00 and 8:00 a.m.) On February 25, 2008, KJRH became the first television station in the state of Oklahoma to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition; the upgrade came with the introduction of a new graphics package similar to that used by Kansas City sister station
KSHB-TV KSHB-TV (channel 41) is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Lawrence, Kansas-licensed independent station KMCI-TV (channel 38). Both stations share ...
with the format change (the existing news set, introduced in 2000, continued to be used until 2011). In November 2009, KJRH introduced a new red and brown graphics package and new news theme ("Scripps TV Station Group Package" by Musikvergnuegen) for its newscasts, that was being utilized on all Scripps-owned stations. On August 2, 2012, the station introduced a new blue and gold standardized graphics package for the Scripps stations and began using "Inergy" by Stephen Arnold Music as its new news theme (KJRH became the second Scripps-owned station to adopt the new standardized graphics and music, following
West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populati ...
sister station
WPTV-TV WPTV-TV (channel 5) is a television station in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Stuart-licensed news-formatted independent station WHDT (channel 9); Scripps al ...
). In recent years, KJRH's newscasts have placed at a distant third among the local television newscasts in the Tulsa market. However, in July 2009, KJRH's newscasts set a new benchmark for the station, firmly capturing second place in nearly all timeslots; KJRH's ratings in the 5:00 to 6:00 a.m. slot on weekday mornings increased to a 2 rating and a 10 share, while remaining second in early evening news (behind KOTV) with a 7 rating/12 share during the November 2009 ratings period. On July 30, 2018, KJRH expanded its 6:00 p.m. newscast on weeknights to an hour, only for the broadcast to revert to a half-hour two months later on September 24; it had marked the first time any television station in the Tulsa market aired its 6:00 p.m. newscast for a full hour.


Notable former on-air staff

* Jim Forbes – investigative reporter (1980–1981; currently narrator for VH1's ''
Behind The Music ''Behind the Music'' is a documentary television series on VH1. Each episode profiles and interviews a popular musical artist or group. The program examines the beginning of their career, their road to success, and the hardships they may have ...
'') *
Ron Franklin Ronald Franklin (February 2, 1942January 18, 2022) was an American sportscaster. He was employed by ESPN from 1987 to 2011. He was fired by ESPN on January 4, 2011, after making sexist comments to a colleague.ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
; died in 2022) * Anthony Mason – reporter (1980–1982; now co-host of ''
CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987, to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012, to September 6, 2021. The program was aired from Monday through Saturday. ...
'') * Nicole Mitchell – meteorologist (2002–2004; now at
KSTP-TV KSTP-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, serving the Twin Cities area as an affiliate of ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based Hubbard Broadcasting, which has owned the ...
in
Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
and member of the
53d Weather Reconnaissance Squadron The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, also known by its nickname, Hurricane Hunters, is a flying unit of the United States Air Force, and "the only Department of Defense organization still flying into tropical storms and hurricanes." Aligne ...
in the U.S. Air Force Reserve) * Mike Morgan – meteorologist (1985–1988; later chief meteorologist at
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 ...
in Oklahoma City, now at KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City in the same position) * Steven Romo – anchor (2013-2016); now a correspondent and anchor with
NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
and
MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...
* Ron Stone – anchor (later at
KPRC-TV KPRC-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Graham Media Group. Its studios are located on Southwest Freeway (I-69/US 59) in the Southwest Management District (formerly Greater ...
in
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
; died in 2008)


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's digital signal is
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 ...
:


Analog-to-digital conversion

KJRH-TV launched a digital signal on UHF channel 56 on January 24, 2002, become the first television station in the Tulsa market to transmit a digital broadcast feed. That day, it became the first television station in the Tulsa market to broadcast local content in high definition, when it televised station promotions filmed in the format that aired during NBC's coverage of the
2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...
. The station shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on June 12, 2009, the original date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal operated on a high-band UHF channel (in the 52 to 69 channel range) that was removed from broadcast use after the official June 12, 2009 transition date; its analog channel assignment was in the low-band VHF range (channels 2 to 6) and therefore prone to signal interference from impulse noise; as a result, KJRH selected VHF channel 8 (the former channel allocation used by KTUL's analog signal) for its post-transition digital operations. Through the use of
PSIP The Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) is the MPEG (a video and audio industry group) and privately defined program-specific information originally defined by General Instrument for the DigiCipher 2 system and later extended for the AT ...
, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 2. As part of the
SAFER Act In cryptography, SAFER (Secure And Fast Encryption Routine) is the name of a family of block ciphers designed primarily by James Massey (one of the designers of IDEA) on behalf of Cylink Corporation. The early SAFER K and SAFER SK designs share ...
, KJRH kept its analog signal on the air until June 26 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of
public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...
s from the National Association of Broadcasters.


References


External links


KJRH.com
– KJRH-TV official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Kjrh-Tv JRH-TV NBC network affiliates Bounce TV affiliates Laff (TV network) affiliates Defy TV affiliates TrueReal affiliates Circle (TV network) affiliates E. W. Scripps Company television stations Television channels and stations established in 1954 1954 establishments in Oklahoma