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KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the
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of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner,
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 ...
, and is the second-largest operated property after
WPIX WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, it is operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Nexstar Media Group, making it a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station and flagship (broadcas ...
in New York City. KTLA's studios are located at the Sunset Bronson Studios on Sunset Boulevard in
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...
, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson. KTLA was the first commercially licensed television station in the western United States, having begun operations in January 1947. Although not as widespread in national carriage as its Chicago sister station
WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...
, KTLA is available as a
superstation ''Superstation'' (alternatively rendered as "super station" or informally as "SuperStation") is a term in North American broadcasting that has several meanings. Commonly, a "superstation" is a form of distant signal, a terrestrial television, br ...
via DirecTV and
Dish Network DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. A ...
(the latter service available only to grandfathered subscribers that had purchased its a la carte superstation tier before Dish halted sales of the package to new subscribers in September 2013), as well as on cable providers in select cities within the
southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...
and throughout Canada. As of 2015, KTLA operates an internet-only news radio channel on
iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming Computing platform, platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbr ...
.


History


Experimental years

The station was licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1939 as experimental station W6XYZ, broadcasting on
VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
channel 4; it did not sign on the air until September 1942. The station was originally owned by
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
subsidiary Television Productions, Inc., and was based at the Paramount Studios lot.
Klaus Landsberg Klaus Landsberg (July 7, 1916 – September 16, 1956) was a pioneering German-American electrical engineer who made history with early telecasts, and after emigrating to the United States helped pave the way for today's television networks. He ...
, already an accomplished television pioneer at the age of 26, was the original station manager and engineer.


Early years as a commercially licensed station

On January 22, 1947, the station was licensed for commercial broadcasting as KTLA on channel 5, becoming the first commercial television station in California, the first in the city of Los Angeles, the first to broadcast west of the Mississippi River, and the eighth commercial television station in the United States. Estimates of television sets in
Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...
at the time ranged from 350 to 600, since experimental station W6XAO (later KTSL and KNXT, now
KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...
) was already in operation broadcasting with a regular schedule. Bob Hope served as the emcee for KTLA's inaugural broadcast, titled as ''The Western Premiere of Commercial Television'', which was broadcast live that evening from a garage on the Paramount Studios lot and featured appearances from many Hollywood luminaries. Hope delivered what was perhaps the most famous line of the telecast when, at the program's start, he identified the new station as "KTL" – mistakenly omitting the "A" at the end of the call sign. A 10-minute fragment from KTLA's first broadcast exists at the Paley Center for Media. KTLA was originally affiliated with the
DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being ...
, of which Paramount held a minority stake; it disaffiliated from the network in 1948 and converted into an
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, market ...
. Despite this, the FCC still considered Paramount as controlling manager of DuMont due to the strength of the company's voting stock and their influence in managing the network. As a result, the agency did not allow DuMont to buy additional VHF stations—a problem that would later play a large role in the failure of DuMont, whose programming was splintered among other Los Angeles stations—including KTSL, KHJ-TV (channel 9, now
KCAL-TV KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). Both stations share studios at the C ...
), KTTV (channel 11) and KCOP-TV (channel 13)—until the network's demise in 1956. Paramount even launched a short-lived programming service, the Paramount Television Network, in 1948, with KTLA and WBKB-TV (now WBBM-TV) in Chicago serving as its
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
stations.White, Timothy R. (1992)
"Hollywood on (Re)Trial: The American Broadcasting-United Paramount Merger Hearing"
''Cinema Journal'', Vol. 31, No. 3. (Spring, 1992), pp. 19–36.
Jajkowski, Steve (2001)

Chicago Television History. Retrieved January 10, 2007.
The service never gelled into a true television network, but during KTLA's early years, the station produced over a dozen series that were syndicated in much of the U.S., including ''Armchair Detective'', ''Bandstand Revue'', ''Dixie Showboat'', ''Frosty Frolics'', ''Hollywood Reel'', ''Hollywood Wrestling'', ''Latin Cruise'', ''Movietown, RSVP'', ''Olympic Wrestling'', ''Sandy Dreams'', and '' Time for Beany''. In 1958, KTLA moved its operations into the Paramount Sunset Studios on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. For many years, those who have worked on Stage 6 at KTLA were told that it was the site where Al Jolson's landmark film '' The Jazz Singer'' was shot in 1927, when the lot was known as the Warner Bros. Sunset Studios;
Mark Evanier Mark Stephen Evanier (; born March 2, 1952) is an American comic book and television writer, known for his work on the animated TV series ''Garfield and Friends'' and on the comic book ''Groo the Wanderer''. He is also known for his columns and bl ...
, who wrote for one such show in 1978, points out on his website that Stage 6 did not even exist at the time that ''The Jazz Singer'' was produced and that it was actually probably filmed at what is now Stage 9. The former Warner Bros./Paramount lot is now known as Sunset Bronson Studios, where KTLA's facility remains based to this day, and where shows such as '' WKRP in Cincinnati'', '' Judge Judy'', ''
Hannah Montana ''Hannah Montana'' is an American teen sitcom created by Michael Poryes, Rich Correll and Barry O'Brien that aired on Disney Channel for four seasons between March2006 and January2011. The series centers on Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus), a ...
'', '' The Gong Show'', '' Solid Gold'', '' Name That Tune'', '' Family Feud'', '' The Newlywed Game'', '' MADtv'' and '' Let's Make a Deal'' have been produced over the years. KTLA is currently the only Los Angeles area broadcaster that remains based in Hollywood as many other television and radio stations have moved to other parts of the region. KTLA has the distinction as being the first news station to use a helicopter as a news broadcasting platform. KTLA engineer
John D. Silva John D. Silva (1920-2012) was the chief engineer for KTLA-TV in Los Angeles, California and is most famous for inventing the first telecopter, or a helicopter fitted with a TV camera in 1958. John D. Silva was born in San Diego, California on ...
pioneered the use of a Bell 47G-2 outfitted with transmitters in order to relay live breaking news back to the KTLA transmitter receiver on Mount Wilson in order to scoop their competitors, making their first successful in-flight broadcast on July 4, 1958.


Golden West Broadcasters ownership

In November 1963, KTLA was purchased by actor and singer
Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...
for $12 million; upon the sale's finalization in May 1964, Autry merged the station with his other broadcasting properties, including KMPC radio (710 AM, now KSPN) into an umbrella company known as
Golden West Broadcasters Golden West Broadcasters was an umbrella investment company founded and co-owned by late actor/singer Gene Autry (1907–1998) and late two-time All-American and former Detroit Lions tackle Bob Reynolds (1914–1997). Headquartered in Hollyw ...
. During the 1970s, KTLA was uplinked to satellite and became one of the nation's first
superstation ''Superstation'' (alternatively rendered as "super station" or informally as "SuperStation") is a term in North American broadcasting that has several meanings. Commonly, a "superstation" is a form of distant signal, a terrestrial television, br ...
s; the station was eventually carried on cable providers across much of the United States located west of the Mississippi River. KTLA sought a different programming strategy from its competitors during the late 1960s and 1970s, emphasizing syndicated reruns of off-network hour long dramas with a heavy emphasis on western-themed programs such as '' The Gene Autry Show'', ''
Bonanza ''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 432 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running western, the second-longest-running western series on U ...
'', ''
The Big Valley ''The Big Valley'' is an American Western drama television series that originally aired from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969 on ABC. The series is set on the fictional Barkley Ranch in Stockton, California, from 1884 to 1888. The one-hour e ...
'', first-run talk shows, movies and sports programming. Children's programs, with the exception of weekend morning '' Popeye'' cartoons (which originally came from former parent Paramount, but had been sold off to what became the syndication arm of United Artists Television), were also phased out. Popeye continued Sunday Mornings but with only the 1960s King Features episodes. Later in the 1970s more drama shows like '' Kung Fu'', '' Wonder Woman'' and ''
Starsky & Hutch ''Starsky & Hutch'' is an American action television series, which consisted of a 72-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a ''Movie of the Week'' entry) and 92 episodes of 50 minutes each. The show was created by William Blinn (inspired by th ...
'' were added. In 1979, KTLA acquired much of the programming inventory of struggling independent competitor KBSC-TV (channel 52, now Telemundo
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 ...
KVEA) including ''
The Little Rascals ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'', '' The Three Stooges'', '' The Munsters'', '' The Addams Family'', ''
Gilligan's Island ''Gilligan's Island'' is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The show's ensemble cast features Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells. It aired for thr ...
'', '' Leave It to Beaver'', among others. These shows ran weekend mornings and weekend early afternoons. In 1979, KTLA acquired '' Happy Days'', in 1981 ''
Laverne & Shirley ''Laverne & Shirley'' (originally ''Laverne DeFazio & Shirley Feeney'') is an American sitcom television series that played for eight seasons on ABC from January 27, 1976, to May 10, 1983. A spin-off of ''Happy Days'', ''Laverne & Shirley'' star ...
'', '' Little House On The Prairie'', in 1982 '' Taxi'', and '' CHiPs'', among other shows. The station continued to emphasize hour long dramas during the day on weekdays but began to run recent sitcoms in the evenings.


Tribune Broadcasting ownership

In November 1982, Golden West sold KTLA to investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts for $245 million. In May 1985, KKR sold the station to Chicago-based Tribune Broadcasting, for a then-record price of $510 million, which beat the station's earlier record sale price set by the 1982 acquisition by KKR. Under Tribune, KTLA continued to acquire high rated off-network sitcoms as well as talk shows for its schedule. KTLA became an affiliate of the MGM/UA Premiere Network, a film-based ad hoc television network, with the showing of '' Clash of the Titans''. The station added the syndicated Action Pack programming block to its schedule starting in mid-January 1994. KTLA spent much of the early and mid-1980s battling KTTV (channel 11) for the spot of the top-rated independent station in Southern California, offering a variety of general entertainment programs including movies, sports and off-network reruns; it took the top spot among the market's independents full-time after KTTV became a Fox charter station upon that network's start-up in October 1986. The station stayed out of the kids' business throughout the 1980s, unlike other Tribune stations but acquired stronger programming like ''
Charles In Charge ''Charles in Charge'' is an American sitcom television series that premiered on October 3, 1984, on CBS. The series was a production of Al Burton Productions and Scholastic Productions in association with Universal Television and starred Scott B ...
'', '' Full House,'' ''
Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...
,'' '' Punky Brewster,'' and '' Silver Spoons.'' The station also mixed in a few classic sitcoms weekday early mornings as well as on weekends. In the summer of 1991, the station debuted a two-hour weekday morning newscast. Sitcoms ran on the station 9 a.m. to noon weekdays.


The WB affiliation

On November 2, 1993, the Warner Bros. Television division of Time Warner and the Tribune Company announced the formation of The WB Television Network. Due to the company's ownership interest in the network (initially a 12.5% stake, later expanding to 22%), Tribune signed its seven existing independent stations (one such station, Atlanta's
WGNX WGNX (96.7 FM) is an American radio station licensed to Colchester, Illinois, United States. The station is currently owned by Patricia Van Zandt. The station broadcasts a Christian format including some programming from the Moody Broadcasting N ...
, joined CBS instead one month prior to The WB's launch), along with an eighth that the company had acquired the following year, to serve as The WB's charter affiliates. With this, KTLA became a network affiliate for the first time in 47 years when The WB launched on January 11, 1995. Like with other WB-affiliated stations during the network's first four years, KTLA initially continued to essentially program as a ''de facto'' independent station as The WB had broadcast only a two-hour primetime schedule on Wednesday nights at the network's launch; the station continued to broadcast films in prime time along with some first-run syndicated scripted series on nights when network programs did not air. The WB would eventually carry prime time shows six nights a week (Sunday through Friday) by September 1999. In September 1995, KTLA added afternoon
cartoon 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 ...
s and Saturday morning cartoons from the network's newly launched Kids' WB block, bringing weekday children's programs back to channel 5 for the first time in close to 25 years. The station continued use the "Channel 5" brand it used prior to its WB affiliation (with The WB logo simply tacked onto the station's "Gold 5" logo) until 1997, when the station overhauled its on-air branding to "KTLA 5, L.A.'s WB". The Tribune Company purchased the Times Mirror Company (then-owners of the '' Los Angeles Times'') in 2000, bringing the newspaper into common ownership with channel 5; ironically, the ''Los Angeles Times'' was the original owner of Fox owned-and-operated station KTTV from 1949 (under a joint venture with CBS through 1951) until it sold the station to Metromedia (successor to DuMont's owned and operated stations) in 1963 (that company would eventually become Fox Television Stations upon Metromedia's 1986 merger with News Corporation); as FCC rules prohibited the common ownership of newspapers and broadcast outlets in the same market, Tribune filed for and was granted a waiver by the agency in order to acquire the ''Times''. The ''Times'' and KTLA were separated on August 4, 2014, when Tribune spun off its publishing division into a separate company; KTLA and Tribune's other broadcasting properties (as well as its
Media Services Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...
and real estate units) remained with the original company, which was renamed as the Tribune Media Company. KTLA unveiled a new branding campaign on January 1, 2005, that omitted all references to its over-the-air channel 5 position (although the references returned after the station became a CW affiliate one year later). The new look included a modernized logo with a halo emblem over the KTLA calls and WB logo, and a change in branding to ''KTLA, The WB''.


CW affiliation

On January 24, 2006, the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner and CBS Corporation announced that the two companies would shut down The WB and UPN and combine the networks' respective programming to create a new "fifth" network called The CW. With the announcement, Tribune Broadcasting signed ten-year agreements for KTLA and 16 of the company's 18 other WB-affiliated stations (three of which it would sell to other groups shortly before The CW launched including WLVI,
WATL WATL (channel 36) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside NBC affiliate WXIA-TV (channel 11). Both stations share studios at One Monroe Place on the north end ...
, and
WCWN WCWN (channel 45) is a television station licensed to Schenectady, New York, United States, serving the Capital District as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside CBS affiliate WRGB (channel 6, also licensed to ...
) to become charter affiliates of The CW. The station changed its branding to "KTLA 5, The CW" on September 17, 2006, immediately after the airing of The WB's final broadcast, ''
The Night of Favorites and Farewells The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...
''. On January 22, 2007, KTLA celebrated its 60th anniversary of continuous broadcasting. Two days later, on January 24, 2007, KTLA became the first television entity to be honored with a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...
. In addition to the station itself, six other individuals associated with KTLA—former owner Gene Autry, newsmen
Hal Fishman Harold Fishman (August 25, 1931 – August 7, 2007) was a local news anchor in the Los Angeles area, serving on-air with Los Angeles-area television stations continuously from 1960 until his death in 2007. Fishman was the longest-running news anc ...
, George Putnam,
Stan Chambers Stanley Holroyd "Stan" Chambers (August 11, 1923 – February 13, 2015) was an American television reporter who worked for KTLA in Los Angeles from 1947 to 2010. Chambers was born in Los Angeles. His career began shortly after KTLA became the fi ...
and Larry McCormick, and founding manager Klaus Landsberg—have received stars on the Walk of Fame. In addition, KTLA continued its celebration on the weekend after Thanksgiving with a 60-hour
marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...
of classic shows that aired on KTLA in the past such as '' The Honeymooners'', '' The Jack Benny Program'', ''
The Little Rascals ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'', '' Wonder Woman'' and '' Peter Gunn''. KTLA also aired retrospectives of historic Los Angeles news stories during its weekend evening newscasts, but was not aired on November 24 due to coverage of the Corral Canyon fire in Malibu. On February 14, 2008, the Tribune Company sold Tribune Studios and related real estate in Los Angeles to equity firm Hudson Capital LLC for $125 million, with the studio lot being renamed Sunset Bronson Studios following the sale. There had been speculation that KTLA would move into the Los Angeles Times Building in
downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is ...
, combining operations and staff with the ''Times'' newspaper; this arrangement is also used by two other Tribune combined newspaper-broadcast operations: Miami's WSFL-TV is based in the offices of former sister newspaper ''
Sun-Sentinel The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as surrounding Br ...
'', while the Hartford duopoly of WTIC-TV/ WTXX moved into new facilities in the ''
Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...
'' building in December 2009. On October 14, 2009, KTLA unveiled a new logo and a redesigned news set, bringing back the classic stylized number "5" that was previously used by the station from 1981 to 1997, and eliminating The CW's logo from regular usage (though it is still used in promotions for the network's programs). The "LA" in the KTLA callsign is rendered in bold lettering to emphasize the station's Los Angeles location and coverage area, similar to a previous wordmark logo used from 1997 to 2005.


Aborted sale to Sinclair; sale to Nexstar

Sinclair Broadcast Group entered into an agreement to acquire Tribune Media on May 8, 2017, for $3.9 billion, plus the assumption of $2.7 billion in Tribune debt. The prospect of Sinclair acquiring KTLA was met with consternation among station employees, due to concerns over the influence the company might have on the station's news content. Sinclair has been known for requiring its stations to run news reports and commentaries that reflect a conservative perspective; the city of Los Angeles and some adjacent and outlying suburbs are predominately liberal, while some outlying areas elsewhere in the market (including portions of
Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...
) lean conservative. The deal received significant scrutiny over Sinclair's forthrightness in its applications to sell certain conflict properties, prompting the FCC to designate it for hearing and leading Tribune to terminate the deal and sue Sinclair for
breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other party ...
. Following the Sinclair deal's collapse,
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 ...
of
Irving, Texas Irving is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. Located in Dallas County, it is also an inner ring suburb of Dallas. The city of Irving is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. According to a 2019 estimate from the United States Census Bureau, ...
, announced its purchase of Tribune Media on December 3, 2018, for $6.4 billion in cash and debt. The sale was completed on September 19, 2019.


Programming

KTLA clears the entire CW schedule, although since the expansion of its Saturday morning newscast in May 2014, it has aired the network's children's block—currently known as '' One Magnificent Morning''—three hours later (from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.) than the network's other
Pacific Time Zone The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00) ...
affiliates until September 30, 2017. From October 7 to December 30, 2017, the station aired the ''OMM'' block locally on a two-hour delayed basis from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. On January 6, 2018, the station began airing the ''OMM'' block again on a three-hour delayed basis, this time from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., due to the expansion of its weekend morning newscast to five hours. Until the network expanded its schedule to seven nights a week in September 2021, the station also aired '' The CW Daytime'' reruns of the syndicated talk show '' The Jerry Springer Show'' at 2:00 p.m.—one hour earlier than the network's recommended timeslot at 3:00 p.m.—due to its 3:00 p.m. newscast (a scheduling inherited from ''
The Bill Cunningham Show ''The Bill Cunningham Show'' is an American television talk show hosted by radio host Bill Cunningham which aired for four of its five seasons on The CW as part of that network's daytime hour. ''The Bill Cunningham Show'', produced by ITV Studios ...
'' after KTLA displaced the program from its network-dictated timeslot following the launch of its mid-afternoon newscast in December 2014 and, most recently, ''
The Robert Irvine Show ''The Robert Irvine Show'' is an American daytime talk show hosted by Robert Irvine and produced by Tribune Studios and Irwin Entertainment. The show premiered on The CW on September 12, 2016, as part of their late afternoon timeslot, and repla ...
''). Syndicated programs broadcast by KTLA () include '' Karamo'', '' Last Man Standing'', ''
Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...
'', '' Two and a Half Men'', ''
Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...
'', and '' The Goldbergs''. Throughout the film and television awards seasons, as KTLA is unassociated with an entity owning a film or television studio or streaming service, those entities will often purchase the hours before prime time on KTLA to present "for your consideration" programs regarding their series or films, often behind-the-scenes looks and interviews with acting nominees for the interest of awards voters. The station is also a part of Nexstar's statewide network when KTLA or another California Nexstar station originates a political debate for statewide office. KTLA has also broadcast the annual Tournament of Roses Parade from
Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...
each
New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...
since 1948; while other local stations have also broadcast the parade over the years, KTLA remains the sole English-language outlet in the Los Angeles market to continuously broadcast the event. The station also served as host broadcaster of the
Hollywood Christmas Parade The Hollywood Christmas Parade (formerly the Hollywood Santa Parade and Santa Claus Lane Parade) is an annual American parade held on the Sunday after Thanksgiving in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It follows a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) route al ...
, which was later syndicated to all Tribune-owned stations and the Hallmark Channel, a role it resumed in 2015 when The CW received the national broadcast rights. KTLA also broadcasts the San Diego Big Bay Boom
4th of July Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music) In music a fourth is an interval spanning four staff po ...
fireworks show, with coverage produced by sister station KSWB-TV.


Sports programming

KTLA serves as the over-the-air home of the Los Angeles Clippers, broadcasting 15 preseason and regular season games starting in the 2022–23 season. The station had earlier carried the team from 1985 to 1991 and from 2002 to 2009. From 1964 to 1995, KTLA served as the broadcast television home of the Los Angeles/California Angels baseball team, after then-Angels owner Gene Autry purchased the station through Golden West Broadcasters. The television rights to Angels games moved to KCAL-TV in 1996 (which KTLA had previously assumed broadcast rights from, and whose then-owner The Walt Disney Company's ownership interest in the Angels briefly overlapped with KCAL's contract with the team). KTLA served as the local over-the-air television broadcaster rights to Los Angeles Dodgers baseball games from 1993 to 2001. The station would return to its over-the-air relationship with the Dodgers on September 2, 2016, when KTLA entered into an agreement with Charter Communications (which had acquired Time Warner Cable's Southern California systems earlier that year through its acquisition of the latter cable provider) to simulcast six regular season games scheduled for the final two weeks of the 2016 season to which regional sports network SportsNet LA already held rights to broadcast through its contract with the Dodgers. This arrangement would extend into the following year, when on March 8, 2017, SportsNet LA agreed to simulcast ten Dodgers games scheduled during the first and last five weeks of the
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regular season on KTLA. The original decision for the simulcasting arrangement was made after complaints were raised that fans would not be able to watch the final broadcasts of retiring legendary commentator Vin Scully, since SportsNet LA's availability in Southern California is primarily limited to Charter Spectrum systems because of disagreements between Charter/TWC and five major television providers serving the region (
Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable) is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services. It i ...
, Frontier FiOS, AT&T U-verse, DirecTV and
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) over transmission rates that have prevented them from agreeing to carry the channel. Channel 5 would continue this arrangement with SportsNet LA since the 2018 season. KTLA also carried selected
Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...
road games from 1967 to 1977, and as well as selected Los Angeles Kings road games during that same time period (and again selected telecasts during the majority of the Wayne Gretzky era in the late 1980s to mid 1990s). Other than telecasts of preseason games from the Las Vegas Raiders (who were based in Los Angeles from 1982 until the team returned to Oakland in 1994) syndicated by the Las Vegas Silver and Black Network, along with a 30-minute show each weekend during the regular season before the game, KTLA does produce one sporting event each year, the LA Marathon, which features many of the ''Morning News'' on-air staff, along with running specialists on a Sunday morning in February/March of each year.


News operation

KTLA presently broadcasts 89 hours, 20 minutes of locally produced newscasts each week (with 14 hours, 20 minutes each weekday; 8 hours, 20 minutes on Saturdays and 9 hours, 20 minutes on Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the highest newscast output among television stations in California and in the United States as a whole. KTLA produces a 15-minute sports wrap-up show every night at 10:45 p.m., during ''KTLA 5 News at 10:00''; produces a 30-minute show, ''KTLA 5 Sports Final'', on the weekends at 11:35 p.m. after ''KTLA 5 News at 11:00''. KTLA's news department is located inside the former
Warner Bros. Cartoons Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was an American animation studio, serving as the in-house animation division of Warner Bros. during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, it was ...
studio (known as the Hal Fishman Newsroom since 2000) at the corner of Van Ness and Fernwood in Hollywood. Although KTLA does not cover police pursuits as much as other stations, it has put more emphasis in local crime stories, as opposed to politics, health and other serious news. KTLA has also created
synergy Synergy is an interaction or cooperation giving rise to a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts. The term ''synergy'' comes from the Attic Greek word συνεργία ' from ', , meaning "working together". History In Christia ...
between Tribune Company entities. For example, entertainment reporter
Sam Rubin Sam Rubin (born 1960) is an American journalist who serves as the entertainment reporter for the ''KTLA Morning News'' and as a correspondent for Reelz production ''Hollywood Dailies''. He hosts ''Live From the Academy Awards'' and the celebrit ...
is often featured in addition to his KTLA work as the main Los Angeles-based entertainment reporter for Chicago sister station WGN-TV. ''Los Angeles Times'' columnist
David Lazarus David Lazarus is an American business and consumer columnist who works for ''KTLA'' and worked for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from August 2007 to January 2022. His last column was published on January 28, 2022. Early life and education He attende ...
also frequently reports on consumer stories from the paper's headquarters in El Segundo. For many years, Channel 5's news department, which has existed since its sign-on, was considered the benchmark of Los Angeles television. In 1958, KTLA began operating a well-equipped helicopter for newsgathering known as the "Telecopter", and was the most advanced airborne television broadcast device of its time; it was ultimately sold to NBC-owned KNBC (channel 4), which flew the Telecopter with pilot Francis Gary Powers and cameraman George Spears until it crashed on August 1, 1977, killing the two on board. During the early 1960s, under the final years of ownership under Paramount Pictures, KTLA launched ''am:LA'', a one-hour morning news program anchored by Stan Chambers, and with it, it was the first extended morning newscast in Southern California. Before eventually launching a 10:00 p.m. newscast in 1965, originally titled ''Newscene'' (also known over the years as ''The George Putnam News'', ''NewsWatch'', ''Channel 5/KTLA News at Ten'' and ''KTLA Prime News''), KTLA had its weeknight evening newscasts airing at 7 and 11 pm, with the latter in direct competition with the network-owned local newscasts on KNXT (now KCBS-TV), KRCA-TV (now KNBC) and KABC-TV. Traditionally, the evening news programs are often serious and no-nonsense in nature and has received many journalism awards. Putnam and fellow KTLA news anchors Hal Fishman and Larry McCormick became icons in Los Angeles television news over the years. Accompanying his news anchoring career, McCormick also hosted ''Making It!'', a public affairs (broadcasting), public affairs program on the station which featured stories on the entrepreneurial successes of ethnic minorities. Its veteran field reporters have included 62-year KTLA veteran Stan Chambers and Warren Wilson. Stu Nahan, Keith Olbermann and Ed Arnold (former anchor of KOCE-TV's ''Real Orange'') formerly served as sports anchors. In March 1991, KTLA was the first station to air the infamous video of Rodney King's beating by three Los Angeles police officers, whose eventual acquittal sparked 1992 L.A. Riots, rioting within the city in 1992. In July 1991, KTLA debuted the Los Angeles market's first live, local morning two-hour newscast, the ''KTLA Morning News'', to compete with the network morning shows on KABC-TV (channel 7),
KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...
(channel 2) and KNBC (which each started at 7:00 a.m., as KTLA's program initially did). The program suffered from low ratings at first; however, the ability to cover breaking news live (as opposed to the network morning programs, which were aired on a three-hour Broadcast delay, tape delay) attracted more viewers to the program. As time went on, the ''Morning News'' has enjoyed great ratings success, generally ranking number one in its main 7:00–9:00 a.m. time period. The program's success spawned rival KTTV to launch its own morning newscast, ''Good Day L.A.'', in 1993. From 1994 to 1995, the station aired gavel to gavel coverage of the O. J. Simpson O. J. Simpson murder case, trial anchored by Marta Waller (this coverage was rebroadcast by other stations such as Portland, Oregon WB affiliate [and future Tribune sister station] KWBP (now KRCW-TV)). The station debuted a midday newscast at noon in 1995, which later moved to 11:00 a.m. the following year, which lasted less than two years before it was canceled in 1997. In recent years, KTLA's newscasts have become more tabloid-based in nature, perhaps to compete with KTTV (both stations have rivaled each other in the ratings for many years). With this, KTLA has placed more emphasis on entertainment news and has featured personalities such as Mindy Burbano Stearns, Zorianna Kitt, Ross King (presenter), Ross King and most recently Jessica Holmes (television presenter), Jessica Holmes as entertainment reporters. In 2004, KTLA debuted a segment on its morning newscast titled "The Audition," in which several actors and actresses competed for a role as weathercaster on its 10:00 p.m. newscast. Ross King was the winner of the first installment, followed by Jessica Holmes as the winner of the second installment (Holmes now serves as co-anchor of the 7:00–11:00 a.m. weekday block of the ''KTLA Morning News''). On January 13, 2007, KTLA became the second television station in the Los Angeles market (after KABC-TV) to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in High-definition television, high definition. On July 30, 2007, Hal Fishman anchored what would be his final newscast for KTLA. Following several days of hospitalization for a liver infection, Fishman died on August 7, 2007. KTLA's newscasts that day were dedicated to Fishman, for whom the station dedicated its news studio in 2000. After Fishman's passing, longtime ''Morning Show'' co-host Carlos Amezcua became the interim co-anchor on the 10:00 p.m. newscast. Local media speculated that Amezcua would be named full-time anchor of the primetime newscast; however, on September 4, Amezcua announced his departure from KTLA to replace John Beard (news anchor), John Beard as co-anchor of KTTV's 10:00 p.m. newscast. Morning co-anchor Emmett Miller took over as interim evening anchor and was named as Fishman's permanent replacement on December 4. After former KCBS/KCAL general manager Don Corsini was appointed as KTLA's president and general manager in January 2009, the station spearheaded an expansion of its news programming that year. On January 19, KTLA soft-launched a nightly half-hour 6:30 p.m. newscast (the market's first since KCAL-TV and KCBS-TV ran newscasts in that slot – KCBS's being part of an hour-long 6:00 p.m. newscast – during the mid-1990s, prior to CBS's 2002 purchase of KCAL). Then on April 1, 2009, the ''KTLA Morning News'' was expanded by a half-hour to start at 4:30 a.m. and an hour-long midday newscast at 1:00 p.m. debuted. On April 4, the weekend edition of the 6:30 p.m. newscast expanded to a full hour at 6:00 p.m., with the 6:30 p.m. weekday newscasts following suit that September. Shortly afterward, KTLA expanded the station's traffic reports to the afternoon and evening newscasts (the weekday edition of the ''Morning News'' utilizes a dedicated traffic anchor, while traffic reports for all other newscasts are done by channel 5's on-air weather staff). In April 2011, KTLA added weekend morning newscasts (an hour-long newscast at 6:00 a.m. on Saturdays, which expanded to two hours at 5:00 a.m. in September 2012 and a three-hour Sunday newscast at 6:00 a.m.; the Saturday morning edition aired in the earlier timeslot due to The CW's ''Vortexx'' animation block). In August 2011, KTLA added a two-hour primetime newscast titled the ''KTLA 5 Sunday Edition'' from 8:00–10:00 p.m. on Sunday evenings, leading into that night's 10:00 p.m. newscast (the 8:00 hour of the program was later dropped in September 2013, while the 9:00 hour moved to 7:00 p.m. on October 7, 2018, to accommodate the return of The CW's Sunday night two-hour prime time block). On February 2, 2012, KTLA expanded the weekday edition of the ''KTLA Morning News'' to begin at 4:00 a.m. On May 9, 2014, the Saturday morning newscast was expanded to three hours and moved to 6:00–9:00 a.m., in a uniform timeslot as the Sunday morning newscast, causing The CW's children's program block at the time, ''Vortexx'', to be aired to a two-hour tape delay (that broadcast expanded to four hours from 6:00–10:00 a.m. on August 6, 2016, further aligning it with the prior expansion of the Sunday morning newscast into the same four-hour slot on July 5, 2015, and pushing the successor One Magnificent Morning block back by an additional hour). The following month on June 16, KTLA quietly "soft launched" a half-hour nightly newscast at 11:00 p.m. without any promotion (becoming Tribune's first news-producing CW affiliate to carry a newscast in the traditional late news timeslot), its first regularly-scheduled 11 pm newscast since 1965. On December 26, 2014, KTLA added separate hour-long, weekday afternoon newscasts at 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. The creation of the three-hour mid-afternoon news block—which expanded upon the existing 1:00 p.m. newscast—was in response to CBS Television Stations' December 10 announcement that it would discontinue KCAL-TV's newscasts at 2:00 and 3:00 late that month to refocus newsgathering resources towards KCAL's 4:00 p.m. newscast and the respective evening newscasts on KCAL and sister station KCBS-TV. While the 3:00 broadcast was a permanent addition, the 2:00 p.m. newscast was intended as a temporary fill-in that ran until December 31, 2014 (it was replaced two days later on January 2, 2015, by a double-run of ''Celebrity Name Game (American game show), Celebrity Name Game''). In July 2015, KTLA became the first television station in Los Angeles to carry live audio simulcasts of its newscasts on the
iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming Computing platform, platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbr ...
app. On June 12, 2017, KTLA expanded the weekday edition of the ''KTLA 5 Morning News'' to 11:00 a.m. On January 6, 2018, KTLA expanded the weekend edition of the ''KTLA 5 Morning News'' to 11:00 a.m. On May 1, 2018, KTLA debuted an hour long newscast at 11:00 a.m. On October 7, 2018, KTLA moved its ''Sunday Edition'' up two hours earlier to 7:00 p.m. due to The CW adding prime time programming on Sundays. On December 27, 2018, KTLA ''Weekend News'' anchor and reporter, Chris Burrous, was found unconscious from a methamphetamine overdose in a Days Inn hotel room in Glendale, California. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. On January 12, 2019, KTLA began producing a weekend 30-minute edition of ''KTLA 5 Sports Final'' at 11:35 pm after the 11:00 p.m. newscast. On February 9, 2019, KTLA added a new hour-long 5 p.m. weekend newscast. On September 21, 2020, KTLA added a new hour-long 12 p.m. weekday newscast. The newscast had started months earlier due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Los Angeles, COVID-19 pandemic and became permanent on that day. Also on that day, the lifestyle show ''LA Unscripted'' debuted. On October 4, 2021, KTLA added a new hour-long 5 p.m. weekday newscast.


Controversies

* In 1978, Arnold Shapiro's documentary ''Scared Straight'' was broadcast on the station without edits for the film's profanity, narrated by Peter Falk as a controversial deterrent to juvenile delinquency. * In 2004, ''People (magazine), People'' and ''The Hollywood Reporter, Hollywood Reporter'' entertainment writer Zorianna Kit was hired as an on-air reporter despite having no television news experience (Kit had previously served as a panelist on the short-lived television series ''Movie Club with John Ridley''). Kit raised ethical questions in January 2005 when she made an on-air criticism of Brad Grey's appointment as the head of Paramount Pictures, without disclosing that her husband, producer Bo Zenga, had sued Grey over profits from the film ''Scary Movie''. The issue was reported in the ''Los Angeles Times'' and in mid-January, Kit apologized on-air; she left KTLA in July 2005. * In January 2006, KTLA management came under fire for replacing Stephanie Edwards (TV personality), Stephanie Edwards, who emceed the Tournament of Roses Parade for nearly three decades, with Bob Eubanks, as co-host of the station's annual broadcast of the parade. Edwards was moved out of the booth and became a street reporter, being replaced in the booth by Michaela Pereira. The move was widely seen as insensitive and created a storm of controversy, including a scathing ''Times'' column by Patt Morrison. This situation was made worse because it was raining that day, and Edwards was forced to stay outside near the parade route. Pereira fully replaced Edwards in 2007, though in September 2008, KTLA management announced that Edwards would resume co-hosting duties with Eubanks for the parade's 2009 telecast. * In February 2006, the ''Pasadena Star-News'' reported that anchors Carlos Amezcua and Michaela Pereira, and entertainment reporter Sam Rubin, had accepted free rooms at the recently renovated Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel and Spa in
Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...
. The station telecast an entire ''Morning News'' episode from Pasadena, although the hotel was not specifically mentioned. Still, it was widely seen as a significant ethical lapse, one that violated Tribune Company guidelines. * On March 4, 2006, the ''Times'' reported that Michaela Pereira had accepted $10,000 worth of furniture for her Pasadena home. The furnishings, delivered in September 2005, were to be part of an unaired "Extreme Home Makeover" segment on the ''Morning News''. The furniture company was never paid, stating that it was under the impression that the work was in exchange for favorable coverage. * In June 2009, the ''Los Angeles Times'' reported that anchor Lu Parker began a relationship with Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in March of that year. KTLA management was reportedly unaware of this until May 2009. Parker reported several stories on Villaraigosa's political future before being reassigned. * During a live interview on February 10, 2014, entertainment reporter Sam Rubin got a "shellacking" by actor Samuel L. Jackson after Rubin confused him with Laurence Fishburne in an opening reference to "the Super Bowl commercial". While Rubin promptly apologized and later suggested that he was referring to a different commercial, Rubin received heavy criticism from Jackson for mixing him up with "the other black guy" – in an outrage over purported racial 'in-discrimination'. Jackson also referred to other examples on Twitter. * In September 2022, long-time news anchor Lynette Romero left the station for a weekday morning news position at cross-town rival KNBC. Romero was given the opportunity to say goodbye to viewers, but decided to take vacation time through the end of her contract. Instead, entertainment reporter Sam Rubin told viewers she was leaving the station. The following weekend, Romero's co-anchor Mark Mester delivered a four-minute monologue in which he apologized on behalf of the station for its "inappropriate" remarks about Romero's departure. Mester was suspended for the comments; the station ultimately fired him. The incident prompted a severe backlash against KTLA and its management over the handling of Romero's departure and the subsequent firing of Mester.


Notable current on-air staff

* Gayle Anderson – reporter * Wendy Burch – reporter * Cher Calvin – anchor * Dayna Devon – anchor; also host of ''LA Unscripted'' * Courtney Friel – anchor and general assignment reporter * Steve Hartman (sportscaster), Steve Hartman – sports anchor * Jessica Holmes (television presenter), Jessica Holmes – anchor * Derrin Horton – sports director * Lauren Lyster – general assignment reporter * Micah Ohlman – anchor * Lu Parker – anchor *
Sam Rubin Sam Rubin (born 1960) is an American journalist who serves as the entertainment reporter for the ''KTLA Morning News'' and as a correspondent for Reelz production ''Hollywood Dailies''. He hosts ''Live From the Academy Awards'' and the celebrit ...
– entertainment reporter


Notable former on-air staff

* Carlos Amezcua (1991–2007; later at KUSI) * Asha Blake * Jann Carl (later with ''Entertainment Tonight'') *
Stan Chambers Stanley Holroyd "Stan" Chambers (August 11, 1923 – February 13, 2015) was an American television reporter who worked for KTLA in Los Angeles from 1947 to 2010. Chambers was born in Los Angeles. His career began shortly after KTLA became the fi ...
(1947–2010) (deceased) * Richard de Mille (1947–1950) (deceased) * Tom Duggan (deceased) * Stephen Dunne (actor), Steve Dunne (deceased) * Dick Enberg (1965–1975; later at NBC Sports, CBS Sports, ESPN and play-by-play TV voice of the San Diego Padres) (deceased) * Giselle Fernández (1985–1987 and 2001–2003; now with Spectrum News 1) *
Hal Fishman Harold Fishman (August 25, 1931 – August 7, 2007) was a local news anchor in the Los Angeles area, serving on-air with Los Angeles-area television stations continuously from 1960 until his death in 2007. Fishman was the longest-running news anc ...
(1965–1970 and 1975–2007) (deceased) * Tom Harmon (1958–1964) (deceased) * Tom Hatten (1952–1992) (deceased) * Brad Johnson (television actor), Brad Johnson – announcer and stage manager; also played Deputy Lofty Craig on the syndicated series ''Annie Oakley (TV series), Annie Oakley'' (deceased) * Ross King (presenter), Ross King * Dick Lane (TV announcer), Dick Lane (1946–1972) (deceased) * Dave Malkoff (now at The Weather Channel) * Rory Markas (deceased) * Larry McCormick (deceased) * Brett Miller * Frank Mottek (now with KNX (AM), KNX 1070 AM) * Stu Nahan (1988–1999) (deceased) * Keith Olbermann (1985–1988; later with ESPN and MSNBC) * Ron Olsen (1987–2009) * Michaela Pereira (2004–2013; later with CNN; now with KTTV) * George Putnam (deceased) * Victoria Recaño (2009–2010; now with ''Inside Edition'') * Clete Roberts (deceased) * Brandon Rudat (2009–2010; later at WANF, WGCL-TV in Atlanta, now at both KTVK and KPHO-TV in Phoenix) * Michele Ruiz (1991–1998; later at KNBC; now president & CEO of Ruiz Strategies) * Willa Sandmeyer (1993–2008) * Bill Stout (1960–1963) (deceased) * Tom Snyder (1963; later at KYW-TV (now WKYC-TV), KYW-TV, KNBC, NBC News, WNBC, WABC-TV, KABC-TV, ABC News Radio, ABC Radio, CNBC, and host of ''The Late Late Show (American talk show), The Late Late Show'') (deceased) * Bob Starr (sportscaster), Bob Starr (deceased) * Sharon Tay (1993–2004; later with MSNBC; and with KCBS-TV, KCBS/KCAL-TV, KCAL) * Katy Tur (later with News 12 Brooklyn, News 12 Networks; then at
WPIX WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, it is operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Nexstar Media Group, making it a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station and flagship (broadcas ...
; then at WNYW; then at The Weather Channel; and at WNBC; now at NBC News as correspondent) * Marta Waller (1984–2008) * Jane Wells (1988–1989; now with CNBC) * Jennifer York (1991–2002; now with KNX (AM), KNX 1070 AM)


In popular culture

* KTLA gained some notoriety among fans of ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' on November 30, 1991, with the airing of their mockery of the film ''War of the Colossal Beast''. In the movie, there are scenes of a KTLA news anchor – real-life station reporter
Stan Chambers Stanley Holroyd "Stan" Chambers (August 11, 1923 – February 13, 2015) was an American television reporter who worked for KTLA in Los Angeles from 1947 to 2010. Chambers was born in Los Angeles. His career began shortly after KTLA became the fi ...
– predicting where the title character Glen Manning will end up next. The anchor ends up pronouncing the station's call letters as "''KIT-lah''". In a skit segment later in the show, Joel Robinson, portrayed by Joel Hodgson, mocks the anchor's "KTLA Predicts" style of newsreading and parodies The Amazing Criswell. The phrase "KTLA Predicts" became a catchphrase among fans of the show. * During the 1950s, while Paramount owned the station, that company also produced '' Popeye'' cartoons. In one cartoon, "Punch and Judo" (1951), Popeye's nephews turn on their television to "chanel number 5" (not referring to Chanel No. 5, the perfume, but channel 5 – KTLA). * KTLA has also been featured in other media (usually in the form of fictionalized depictions of its newscasts for scenes).
Hal Fishman Harold Fishman (August 25, 1931 – August 7, 2007) was a local news anchor in the Los Angeles area, serving on-air with Los Angeles-area television stations continuously from 1960 until his death in 2007. Fishman was the longest-running news anc ...
was featured reporting for ''Channel 5 News at Ten'' in the movie ''Malibu's Most Wanted''. In one scene in the 2002 movie ''Showtime (movie), Showtime'', "SkyCam 5" (later renamed the KTLA HD Telecopter, now Sky 5 HD) was seen among a group of helicopters surrounding the Bonaventure Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. * Fictionalized newscasts from KTLA appear in the 2006 movie ''Crank (film), Crank'', including a scene where the newscaster warns parents to "send children out of the room, as we will be bringing live coverage of the mayhem in downtown Los Angeles live and uncensored." * A fictionalized version of KTLA was seen on the Nickelodeon sitcom ''Big Time Rush''; it is identified as KULA and is seen on channel 6 instead of channel 5. * Another fictionalized version of KTLA is seen in the 1983 film ''Blue Thunder (film), Blue Thunder''; it is identified as KBLA and is seen on channel 8. * In the film ''Friends with Benefits (film), Friends with Benefits'', Dylan (Justin Timberlake) and Jamie (Mila Kunis) appear in a news story seen on KTLA. * Another fictionalized version appears in the 2014 film ''Nightcrawler''. The exterior of the station and iconic tower are shown throughout, altered to read "KWLA 6". * In 2007, KTLA received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in celebration of the station's 60th anniversary, the first star received for a television station in Los Angeles.


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's digital signal is Multiplex (TV), multiplexed:


Analog-to-digital conversion

KTLA, in the tradition of television pioneering successes, was an FCC volunteer "early adopter" HD station. On October 28, 1998, KTLA-DT signed on with the West Coast's first commercially broadcast high definition programming. It was on UHF channel 31 in 1080i 16:9 format. Frank Geraty was the KTLA Director of Broadcast Operations and Engineering, and Ira Goldstone was the Corporate VP of Engineering. At precisely 9 a.m., VIP Milton Berle threw the ceremonial "Transmit On" switch, as he did at the Chicago World's Fair in 1939 at the birth of analog television broadcasting. The modern day event took place during KTLA's signature morning news broadcast and KTLA HD programming began simultaneously transmitting for the first time along with its analog channel. KTLA-DT went on to do the first HD Rose Parade and the first HD Los Angeles Dodgers, Dodgers baseball game broadcasts in the several months that followed. KTLA shut down its analog signal, over
VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
channel 5, on June 12, 2009, as part of the Digital television transition in the United States, federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.List of Digital Full-Power Stations
The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition Ultra high frequency, UHF channel 31, using Program and System Information Protocol, PSIP to display KTLA's virtual channel as 5 on digital television receivers. Veteran newsman
Stan Chambers Stanley Holroyd "Stan" Chambers (August 11, 1923 – February 13, 2015) was an American television reporter who worked for KTLA in Los Angeles from 1947 to 2010. Chambers was born in Los Angeles. His career began shortly after KTLA became the fi ...
, who was hired by KTLA almost a year after its 1947 launch and remained with the station until his retirement in 2010, was given the honor of "throwing" a ceremonial mock switch from the analog to digital position, signaling the engineers to shut down the analog signal at its Mount Wilson transmitter site at 10:45 p.m., during KTLA's ''Prime News'' telecast. Covering the on-air event for KTLA was Stan's grandson, reporter Jaime Chambers. As part of the Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act, SAFER Act, KTLA temporarily restored its analog signal 15 minutes later at 11:00 p.m. to inform viewers of the Digital television transition in the United States, digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters.


Spectrum auction repack

KTLA was one of nearly 1,000 television stations that changed their digital signal allocation in the spectrum auction repack of late 2017 or early 2018. The station reallocated to UHF channel 35 in phase two of the auction. The spectrum change took place on March 18, 2019.


Translators


See also

* *


References


External links

*
www.ktla.antennatv.tv
– KTLA-DT2 ("Antenna TV Los Angeles") official website

Metropolitan News-Enterprise column on KTLA when it broadcast as experimental TV station W6XYZ, taking on the sole existing experimental station in L.A. (now KCBS-TV, KCBS).
"A Tale of Two Stations"
Metropolitan News-Enterprise column on operations in the 1940s of the stations that are now KTLA, Channel 5 (then W6XYZ, Channel 4) and KCBS, Channel 2 (then W6XAO, Channel 1)


KTLA logos and screenshots from the 1950s to the present day

KTLA 70th Anniversary – A look back (Segment 1 of 2)

KTLA 70th Anniversary – A look back (Segment 2 of 2)

KTLA 35MM Station Slides

Behind The Scenes – KTLA Channel 5 News
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ktla 1947 establishments in California Antenna TV affiliates Court TV affiliates Nexstar Media Group Rewind TV affiliates Superstations in the United States TBD (TV network) affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1947 Television stations in Los Angeles, TLA The CW affiliates