KETV
Encyclopedia
KETV, digital channel 20 (virtual channel 7 and cable channel 9), is the ABC
affiliate
television station in Omaha, Nebraska
and is owned by Hearst Television. KETV's nearest sister stations (that are also owned by Hearst) are CBS
affiliate KCCI-TV channel 8 in Des Moines, Iowa
, and fellow ABC affiliate KMBC-TV
channel 9 in Kansas City, Missouri
.
The station's studios are located near 27th and Douglas in downtown Omaha. The transmitter tower and Super Doppler 7 tower are located on a "tower farm" near North 72nd street and Crown Point.
served as Omaha's ABC affiliate for much of 1953 and 1954 until Lincoln was split off as its own market. Channel 7 was originally owned by World Publishing Company, publisher of the Omaha World-Herald
. It branded itself as "Omaha World-Herald Television."
Peter Kiewit, Jr. bought World Publishing in 1962. Due to a change in FCC regulations, Kiewit sold the station to Pulitzer Broadcasting Company in 1976. In 1998, Pulitzer sold its entire broadcasting division, including KETV, to Hearst-Argyle Television.
antenna
. Thankfully, it happened late at night and no one was injured. The station was forced to broadcast from its shorter auxiliary tower for over a year. A new transmitter was erected almost 200 feet east of where the old transmitter stood on the tower farm and was completed in late 2004. In 2007 The station erected a new high resolution weather radar at the station's "Crown Point" transmitter site. It was built in addition to the downtown weather radar (now referred to on air as Classic Super Doppler 7) that has been located atop the channel 7 studios since the 1970s.
Until KLKN-TV signed on from Lincoln in 1996, KETV was also the default ABC affiliate in the state capital. To this day KETV still retains significant viewership in Lincoln, and operates a news bureau in Lincoln.
rather than 720p
like most ABC stations.
, The Doctors
, Judge Judy
, and Wheel of Fortune
.
Since 1982, KETV has been known for its weekly Crimestoppers segments, and has contributed to the arrest and conviction of more than 1000 wanted felons. KETV has also had a long running hot-line and web-page called 7 Can Help, which has and continues to contribute to helping the greater Omaha community through financial grants, high utility bill relief, and services for area children. 7 Can Help has also been known to intercede on behalf of senior citizens with matters such as getting benefits that have been otherwise denied them.
In October 1996, KETV began televising all of its local newscasts from a working newsroom which is known as The Newsplex. The multi-million dollar broadcast facility is still in use to date. In the years prior to the Newsplex, reporters and anchors had to type their news stories in a separate news room and deliver them to the NewsWatch 7 studios which were on the opposite side of the building. In February 2006, KETV reformatted its investigative unit, in an effort to bring more attention to in depth investigative stories, along with health and consumer reporting. It has been re-launched as the NewsWatch 7 "I-Team".
KETV was the first to have a full-time meteorologist beginning in the early 1970s, the first station with live weather radar in the late 1970s, and was the second station to utilize Doppler weather radar
in the early 1990s. In July 2006 KETV launched a 24-hour local weather channel, "Weather Now," that appeared on digital sub-channel 7.2 as well as local cable systems and the station's website. On September 1, 2011, KETV replaced sub-channel 7.2 with classic television programming from Me-TV.
Among the many KETV alumni is John Coleman
who worked at the station in the 1960s. Coleman later appeared as the meteorologist for Good Morning America
before going on to create and launch The Weather Channel in 1982. That same year, then KETV Chief Meteorologist, Charlie Martin took a job at TWC to become one of the cable channel's first on camera meteorologists. Martin, who worked at KETV from the late 1970s through the early 1980s was known on The Weather Channel as Charlie Levy.
On February 1, 2010, KETV became the third commercial station in Omaha to present local news in a 16:9 widescreen format, which included updated graphics.
affiliate WOWT (channel 6) to become the number one station for local news in Omaha. In recent years, the two stations have fought neck-and-neck for the number one spot.
Anchors
SuperDoppler Storm Team
Sports team
Reporters
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate
Affiliate
An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity.- Corporate structure :A corporation may be referred to as an affiliate of another when it is related to it but not strictly controlled by it, as with a subsidiary relationship, or when it is desired to avoid...
television station in Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
and is owned by Hearst Television. KETV's nearest sister stations (that are also owned by Hearst) are CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
affiliate KCCI-TV channel 8 in Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...
, and fellow ABC affiliate KMBC-TV
KMBC-TV
KMBC-TV virtual channel 9 is a television station affiliated with the ABC television network, located in Kansas City, Missouri. KMBC-TV is owned by Hearst Television and its studios are located on Winchester Ave. near Swope Park in Kansas City, Missouri. The station's high guyed mast broadcast...
channel 9 in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
.
The station's studios are located near 27th and Douglas in downtown Omaha. The transmitter tower and Super Doppler 7 tower are located on a "tower farm" near North 72nd street and Crown Point.
History
KETV first signed on September 17, 1957 as Omaha's third television station. The station has always been Omaha's ABC affiliate. It is actually the second full ABC affiliate in Omaha; previously KOLN-TV in LincolnLincoln, Nebraska
The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379....
served as Omaha's ABC affiliate for much of 1953 and 1954 until Lincoln was split off as its own market. Channel 7 was originally owned by World Publishing Company, publisher of the Omaha World-Herald
Omaha World-Herald
The Omaha World-Herald, based in Omaha, Nebraska, is the primary daily newspaper of Nebraska, as well as portions of southwest Iowa. For decades it circulated daily throughout Nebraska, and in parts of Kansas, South Dakota, Missouri, Colorado and Wyoming. In 2008, distribution was reduced to the...
. It branded itself as "Omaha World-Herald Television."
Peter Kiewit, Jr. bought World Publishing in 1962. Due to a change in FCC regulations, Kiewit sold the station to Pulitzer Broadcasting Company in 1976. In 1998, Pulitzer sold its entire broadcasting division, including KETV, to Hearst-Argyle Television.
New transmitter and new weather radar (2003-2007)
On July 4, 2003, KETV's transmitter tower (at the north 72nd St. tower farm) collapsed during the addition of a digital televisionDigital television
Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...
antenna
Antenna (radio)
An antenna is an electrical device which converts electric currents into radio waves, and vice versa. It is usually used with a radio transmitter or radio receiver...
. Thankfully, it happened late at night and no one was injured. The station was forced to broadcast from its shorter auxiliary tower for over a year. A new transmitter was erected almost 200 feet east of where the old transmitter stood on the tower farm and was completed in late 2004. In 2007 The station erected a new high resolution weather radar at the station's "Crown Point" transmitter site. It was built in addition to the downtown weather radar (now referred to on air as Classic Super Doppler 7) that has been located atop the channel 7 studios since the 1970s.
Until KLKN-TV signed on from Lincoln in 1996, KETV was also the default ABC affiliate in the state capital. To this day KETV still retains significant viewership in Lincoln, and operates a news bureau in Lincoln.
Logo
KETV's logo is its variation of a widely used Circle 7 logo which has been in use by the station since 1984 and received a slight update in 2000.Digital television
KETV's digital signal on UHF 20 is multiplexed:| Channel | Name | Video | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.1 | KETV-DT | 1080i | Main KETV Programming / ABC |
| 7.2 | KETV-DT2 | 480i | Me-TV |
Analog-to-digital conversion
Like many other stations in the Hearst Television group, KETV began broadcasting in digital-only on June 12, 2009. KETV and several other Hearst stations broadcasts in 1080i1080i
1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels...
rather than 720p
720p
720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan...
like most ABC stations.
Programming
Syndicated programming on KETV includes The Rachael Ray Show, The Dr. Oz ShowThe Dr. Oz Show
The Dr. Oz Show is an American syndicated television talk show, hosted by Dr. Mehmet Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon and teaching professor at Columbia University who became famous for his appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show from 2004 until 2009....
, The Doctors
The Doctors (2008 TV series)
The Doctors is an American syndicated talk show airing daily in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Ireland, Sweden and Finland. It debuted on September 8, 2008. The hour-long daytime program is produced by Phil McGraw and his son Jay McGraw and is distributed domestically and globally by CBS Television...
, Judge Judy
Judge Judy
Judge Judy is an American court show featuring former family court judge Judith Sheindlin arbitrating over small claims cases in small claims court...
, and Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show)
Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, which premiered in 1975. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a large wheel. The title refers to the show's giant carnival wheel that...
.
News operation
For the last three decades, the station's newscasts have been branded as NewsWatch 7. Under its current ownership, it has been known since 2000 as KETV NewsWatch 7.Since 1982, KETV has been known for its weekly Crimestoppers segments, and has contributed to the arrest and conviction of more than 1000 wanted felons. KETV has also had a long running hot-line and web-page called 7 Can Help, which has and continues to contribute to helping the greater Omaha community through financial grants, high utility bill relief, and services for area children. 7 Can Help has also been known to intercede on behalf of senior citizens with matters such as getting benefits that have been otherwise denied them.
In October 1996, KETV began televising all of its local newscasts from a working newsroom which is known as The Newsplex. The multi-million dollar broadcast facility is still in use to date. In the years prior to the Newsplex, reporters and anchors had to type their news stories in a separate news room and deliver them to the NewsWatch 7 studios which were on the opposite side of the building. In February 2006, KETV reformatted its investigative unit, in an effort to bring more attention to in depth investigative stories, along with health and consumer reporting. It has been re-launched as the NewsWatch 7 "I-Team".
KETV was the first to have a full-time meteorologist beginning in the early 1970s, the first station with live weather radar in the late 1970s, and was the second station to utilize Doppler weather radar
Weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, estimate its type . Modern weather radars are mostly pulse-Doppler radars, capable of detecting the motion of rain droplets in addition to the...
in the early 1990s. In July 2006 KETV launched a 24-hour local weather channel, "Weather Now," that appeared on digital sub-channel 7.2 as well as local cable systems and the station's website. On September 1, 2011, KETV replaced sub-channel 7.2 with classic television programming from Me-TV.
Among the many KETV alumni is John Coleman
John Coleman (meteorologist)
John Coleman is an American TV weatherman noted, along with entrepreneur Frank Batten, for founding The Weather Channel. He presently works as an on-camera weather caster at KUSI-TV in San Diego but is no longer affiliated with The Weather Channel....
who worked at the station in the 1960s. Coleman later appeared as the meteorologist for Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
before going on to create and launch The Weather Channel in 1982. That same year, then KETV Chief Meteorologist, Charlie Martin took a job at TWC to become one of the cable channel's first on camera meteorologists. Martin, who worked at KETV from the late 1970s through the early 1980s was known on The Weather Channel as Charlie Levy.
On February 1, 2010, KETV became the third commercial station in Omaha to present local news in a 16:9 widescreen format, which included updated graphics.
Ratings
In November 2006, KETV overtook long-time ratings leader NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate WOWT (channel 6) to become the number one station for local news in Omaha. In recent years, the two stations have fought neck-and-neck for the number one spot.
Newscast titles
- The Coca-Cola Report (1957–1963)
- KETV News (1963–1970)
- KETV Omaha News at 10 O'Clock (1970–1971)
- KETV News Service (1971–1976)
- NewsWatch 7 (1976–2000)
- KETV NewsWatch 7 (2000–present)
Station slogans
- The One To Count On (1987–1996)
- More Complete Coverage (1996–present; primary news slogan)
- Omaha's News Leader (2004–present; secondary news slogan)
Current on-air staff
(as of July 13th, 2011)Anchors
- Todd Andrews - Fridays at 5, Friday-Saturdays at 6 and 10 p.m.; also general assignment reporter
- Nichole Berlie - weekday mornings "KETV Newswatch 7 First News"
- Melissa Fry - Monday-Thursday at 5 p.m. (also reporter)
- Natalie Glucklich - weekends; also general assignment reporter
- Jeremy Maskel - weekend mornings "KETV Newswatch 7 First News"
- Rob McCartney - Monday-Thursdays at 6, and Sunday-Thursdays at 10 p.m.
- John Oakey - weekday mornings "KETV Newswatch 7 First News"; also reporter
- Brandi Petersen - Sundays at 5:30, Sunday-Thursdays at 10, and Monday-Thursdays at 6 p.m.
- Adrian Whitsett - Monday-Thursday at 5 p.m. (also reporter)
SuperDoppler Storm Team
- Bill Randby (AMSAmerican Meteorological SocietyThe American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...
Certified Broadcast Meteorologist) - Chief Meteorologist; Monday-Thursdays at 5 and 6, Sundays at 5:30 and Sunday-Thursdays at 10 p.m. - Tyson Pearsall - Meteorologist; Monday-Friday 4:30-7 a.m.
- Holly McCarthy (AMSAmerican Meteorological SocietyThe American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...
Certified Broadcast Meteorologist) - Meteorologist; Fridays at 5, Fridays and Saturdays at 6, and Friday-Sunday at 10 p.m. (also reporter) - Melissa Hoeman - Meteorologist; weekend mornings "KETV Newswatch 7 First News"
Sports team
- Andy Kendeigh - Sports Director; weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
Reporters
- Michelle Bandur - investigative and general assignment reporter
- Julie Cornell - general assignment reporter
- Ryan Luby - general assignment reporter
- Hannah Pickett - general assignment reporter
- John Thomas - traffic reporter
Notable former on-air staff
- John Coleman - meteorologist (1960s; one of the founders of The Weather ChannelThe Weather ChannelThe Weather Channel is a US cable and satellite television network since May 2, 1982, that broadcasts weather forecasts and weather-related news, along with entertainment programming related to weather 24 hours a day...
in 1982, now with KUSI in San Diego) - Jill CordesJill CordesJill Lynette Cordes is a television personality, currently appearing on the HGTV program My First Place and The Best Of on the Food Network....
- morning anchor (1990s; now hostess of My First Place on HGTVHGTVHGTV , is a cable-television network operating in the United States and Canada, broadcasting a variety of home and garden improvement, maintenance, renovation, craft and remodeling shows...
) - Carol SchraderCarol SchraderCarol A. Schrader is an Omaha, Nebraska news anchor and celebrity who worked at KETV from 1977-1996.-Education and early career:Schrader was initially a radio reporter in the 1970s after attending the University of Nebraska-Omaha where she was elected homecoming queen...
- weeknight anchor/reporter (1977–1996; hosted PBS interview program called "Consider This" from 1997–2006 - Michael ScottMichael ScottMichael Scott, Michael Scot, or Mike Scott may refer to:* Michael Scott , former regional manager of Dunder Mifflin Scranton in the U.S. TV series The Office-Academics:...
- weeknight anchor/reporter (1982-1993; correspondent Entertainment Tonight...KXAS/NBC Dallas anchor...KCTV/CBS Kansas City anchor