KUAM-TV
Encyclopedia
KUAM-TV is the NBC
affiliate
serving Guam
. The station is currently owned by Pacific Telestations, Inc., and is a sister station to CBS
affiliate KUAM-LP
and the local Public-access television
cable channel Local 2. The station also serves the Northern Mariana Islands
via translator WSZE on channel 10.
debuted in 1986, they carried its lineup as well. For a time, this made KUAM one of the few stations to be affiliated with all four major networks.
Despite being affiliated with all four networks at the time, KUAM was hindered by the fact that Guam was a day ahead of the United States and that most of the shows, especially those from the network, were sent via air and/or mail, which meant that viewers would have to wait from a period of two weeks to a month to see any of the offerings. When they were not showing any network fare they featured local in-house programming, syndicated shows and films (mostly travel or cultural) to make up the difference.
The station lost ABC
to KTGM
when it began operations in 1987, and lost Fox to the same station in 1990. CBS programming was dropped in 1995 with the launch of KUAM-LP; that station, in turn, would be added as KUAM's digital subchannel, broadcasting on channel 8.2, in 2009.
As technology and satellite started to take off and expand, KUAM began to gradually catch up with the rest of the continental United States
. Today the station now follows the complete NBC schedule, but on a Tuesday through Monday pattern rather than the traditional Monday-Sunday pattern, with the exception of NBC's sports lineup, which is live in the early morning hours of Sunday (for all Saturday games and events) and Monday (for all Sunday games and events).
In 2006 KUAM's website, kuam.com, received honors at that year's RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award for having the best small market web site, unprecedented honors for a Guam broadcaster.
On February 18, 2009, KUAM signed off their analog signal on channel 8 and switched on its digital signal also on channel 8.
NBC
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
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...
serving Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
. The station is currently owned by Pacific Telestations, Inc., and is a sister station to 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 KUAM-LP
KUAM-LP
KUAM-LP, digital channel 8.2, LPTV analog channel 20, and cable 11 on MCV Broadband and GTA's GUdTV system, is a CBS affiliate based in Hagåtña in the United States territory of Guam, which it covers with broadcasts and on cable...
and the local Public-access television
Public-access television
Public-access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels...
cable channel Local 2. The station also serves the Northern Mariana Islands
Northern Mariana Islands
The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , is a commonwealth in political union with the United States, occupying a strategic region of the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines...
via translator WSZE on channel 10.
History
KUAM is Guam's first television station, signing on August 5, 1956 on analog channel 8. It carried programming from all three networks, but has always been a primary NBC affiliate. KUAM began its first broadcast in color in 1970. When FoxFox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
debuted in 1986, they carried its lineup as well. For a time, this made KUAM one of the few stations to be affiliated with all four major networks.
Despite being affiliated with all four networks at the time, KUAM was hindered by the fact that Guam was a day ahead of the United States and that most of the shows, especially those from the network, were sent via air and/or mail, which meant that viewers would have to wait from a period of two weeks to a month to see any of the offerings. When they were not showing any network fare they featured local in-house programming, syndicated shows and films (mostly travel or cultural) to make up the difference.
The station lost ABC
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...
to KTGM
KTGM
KTGM is a full-power television station located in Hagåtña , Guam transmitting over digital channel 14 and on cable channel 7 . The station is owned by Sorensen Television Systems, Inc...
when it began operations in 1987, and lost Fox to the same station in 1990. CBS programming was dropped in 1995 with the launch of KUAM-LP; that station, in turn, would be added as KUAM's digital subchannel, broadcasting on channel 8.2, in 2009.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Today the station now follows the complete NBC schedule, but on a Tuesday through Monday pattern rather than the traditional Monday-Sunday pattern, with the exception of NBC's sports lineup, which is live in the early morning hours of Sunday (for all Saturday games and events) and Monday (for all Sunday games and events).
In 2006 KUAM's website, kuam.com, received honors at that year's RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award for having the best small market web site, unprecedented honors for a Guam broadcaster.
On February 18, 2009, KUAM signed off their analog signal on channel 8 and switched on its digital signal also on channel 8.
Newscast titles
- KUAM Island News (early 1970s-2000)
- News 8 (2000-2008)
- KUAM News (2008-present)
News team
- Sabrina Salas Matanane — news director / weeknight news anchor
- Jason Salas — interactive media manager / weeknight news anchor
- Mindy Aguon — assistant news director / senior investigative reporter
- Michele Catahay — reporter / weekend news anchor
- Nick Delgado — reporter
- Lannie Walker — reporter
- Joan Aguon — associate producer
Alumni
- Madeleine BordalloMadeleine BordalloMadeleine Mary Zeien Bordallo is the Delegate from Guam to the United States House of Representatives.She was the first woman ever to serve as Guam's Delegate, Guam's first female Lieutenant Governor , Guam's first female candidate for Governor , and the first Democratic woman elected to the...
— Former TV host; currently serving Guam as the territory's DelegateDelegate (United States Congress)A delegate to Congress is a non-voting member of the United States House of Representatives who is elected from a U.S. territory and from Washington, D.C. to a two-year term. While unable to vote in the full House, a non-voting delegate may vote in a House committee of which the delegate is a member...
to the U.S. House of Representatives. - C. Alex Fields - FM Disc Jockey and Broadcast Engineer
- Cindy Hanson — Former Account Executive (also a former radio announcer with both KUAM AM & FM); currently working as a staff writer for the Governor of Guam, a regular writer for the award winning Island Time magazine, and co-host of "Tourism & You" which airs on Guam's newstalk radio station.
- Patrick McMurtry-Former News Director/Anchor; currently News Anchor at WCHS-TV in Charleston, WV since 2003
- Kathleen San Nicolas - Former associate producer and administrative assistant; currently a customer service representative at the Bank of Guam.