KVOS-TV
Encyclopedia
KVOS-TV is television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 station licensed in Bellingham, Washington
Bellingham, Washington
Bellingham is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the twelfth-largest city in the state. Situated on Bellingham Bay, Bellingham is protected by Lummi Island, Portage Island, and the Lummi Peninsula, and opens onto the Strait of Georgia...

 and is an affiliate of Me-TV. The station's over-the-air
Terrestrial television
Terrestrial television is a mode of television broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission or cables — typically using radio waves through transmitting and receiving antennas or television antenna aerials...

 transmissions are on digital channel 35, though through PSIP the station remaps to its former analog channel 12. While it is licensed in Bellingham and is nominally part of the Seattle market, it primarily serves an audience in southwestern British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, including Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

 and Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

. The station currently broadcasts in standard definition.

KVOS' OTA channel 35 transmitter is situated atop Mt. Constitution
Mount Constitution
Mount Constitution is a mountain on Orcas Island, and the highest point in the San Juan Islands. A stone observation tower patterned after a medieval watch tower stands at the summit. It was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1936. The tower offers panoramic views of the surrounding...

 on Orcas Island
Orcas Island
Orcas Island is the largest of the San Juan Islands, which are located in the northwestern corner of Washington state in San Juan County, Washington.-History:...

 in the San Juan Islands
San Juan Islands
The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the northwest corner of the contiguous United States between the US mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of the U.S...

, at an altitude of approximately 800 meters above the adjacent terrain. The OTA channel 35 signal is very well received throughout the British Columbia Lower Mainland
Lower Mainland
The Lower Mainland is a name commonly applied to the region surrounding and including Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. As of 2007, 2,524,113 people live in the region; sixteen of the province's thirty most populous municipalities are located there.While the term Lower Mainland has been...

, southern Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...

, and much of northwest Washington.

As KVOS serves both sides of the border, at one time KVOS decided to use both Canadian and American TV ratings
Television rating system
Television content rating systems give viewers an idea of the suitability of a television program for children or adults. Many countries have their own television rating system and each country's rating process may differ due to local priorities...

 at the start of each program, after they were established—they were the only station on either side of the border to do so. As of early 2007, only US ratings have been shown.

History

KVOS signed on June 3, 1953; owned by Bellingham businessman Rogan Jones along with KVOS radio (AM 790, now KGMI
KGMI
KGMI is a radio station broadcasting a news/talk and information format. Licensed to Bellingham, Washington, the station is owned and operated by Saga Broadcasting, dba Cascade Radio Group....

). Jones had owned the radio station since 1928, and was best known for being the focus of a case that established broadcasters' right to the same news reports as newspapers. Its first broadcast was a kinescope
Kinescope
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...

 of Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...

's coronation
Coronation
A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...

. Since Canada had no television stations west of Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 at that point, the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 government flew film of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

's coverage to Vancouver, where the Mounties
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...

 escorted it to the border. The Washington State Patrol
Washington State Patrol
The Washington State Patrol is the state police agency for the State of Washington. The first six motorcycle patrolmen of the Highway Patrol were commissioned September 1, 1921. The agency was renamed to Washington State Patrol in June 1933. In 1925 William Cole was appointed as the first...

 then drove the film to Bellingham. The station's original slogan was "Your Peace Arch
Peace Arch
The Peace Arch is a monument situated on the Canada – United States border between the communities of Blaine, Washington and Surrey, British Columbia. The Peace Arch, which stands...

 Station, serving Northwest Washington and British Columbia."

KVOS initially experienced financial trouble, despite Jones thinking that he could successfully support a television station in a city the size of Bellingham. He built a powerful transmitter on Orcas Island in hopes of reaching Seattle, but even with increased power it didn't cover enough of the Seattle area to solve the problem. For a time, the revenues from his radio station were all that kept channel 12 afloat. In 1955, Jones, realizing that most of his audience was across the border, incorporated KVOS in Canada, establishing a subsidiary company in Vancouver. The subsidiary, KVOS-TV Limited, brought in revenue for the station by allowing many Vancouver-area businesses to buy advertising time on the station, which is still the case today. KVOS-TV continued to broadcast from Bellingham, with much of its audience based in southwestern British Columbia.

After just nine years of owning KVOS-TV, in 1962 Jones sold the station to Miami-based Wometco Enterprises
Wometco Enterprises
Wometco Enterprises is a company headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida; a suburb of Miami. It was a large media company but today it is known only as the owner of the Miami Seaquarium.- History :...

.

KVOS began as an affiliate of DuMont
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...

 upon sign-on in 1953 and remained so until DuMont folded in 1956. From January 1, 1955 until the late 1970s, KVOS was a 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. In the late 1970s, KVOS sharply reduced its carriage of CBS programming to resolve two commercial disputes. First, Seattle's CBS affiliate, KIRO-TV
KIRO-TV
KIRO-TV, virtual channel 7, is the CBS affiliate television station in Seattle, Washington. It broadcasts on digital channel 39. The station's offices and broadcasting center are located near Seattle Center in Belltown, and its transmitter is located on Queen Anne Hill...

, had launched complaints against the station and CBS regarding duplicate transmission of CBS programming in the Seattle media market. Second, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission regulations seeking to increase Canadian content
Canadian content
Canadian content refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requirements that radio and television broadcasters must air a certain percentage of content that was at least partly written, produced, presented, or otherwise contributed to by persons from...

 and reduce the number of American network affiliates retransmitted on cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

 systems in Canada put pressure on the station.

While KVOS nominally retained its CBS affiliation up to 1987, carrying a few CBS programs such as 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....

,
the station primarily carried a diverse mix of syndicated and locally produced programming, including locally produced news and public affairs programs. The station also carried a number of programs syndicated from the Canadian Citytv
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian English language television system owned and operated by Rogers Communications under its Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. division...

 system, which did not have a station in Vancouver; this ceased when Citytv acquired CKVU
CKVU-TV
CKVU-DT is a television station based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Owned by Rogers Media , it was the second station to become part of the Citytv system in Canada.-History:CKVU's history dates back to 1975, when Western Approaches Ltd...

.

Wometco was bought by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in 1984. KKR sold off the Wometco group in 1987, with KVOS was sold to Ackerley Communications. In the early 1990s, due to Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...

 syndicated exclusivity rules affecting the Seattle media market, KVOS was dropped from most Seattle cable television systems.

In 2001, after being carried on cable channel 12 on many systems in the Vancouver/Victoria television market for many years, KVOS was bumped up the dial to different cable channels, such as channel 23 (now 30) in Vancouver, 46 in Nanaimo and points northwest and eventually 70 in Victoria, due to the launch of Victoria station CIVI
CIVI-TV
CIVI-DT, also known as CTV Two Vancouver Island, is a television station based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Currently owned by Bell Media, the station serves the Vancouver Island area, and operates as part of the CTV Two system...

, which is now carried on channel 12 on many systems in the area.

The station came under the ownership of Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...

 in 2003, following that company's purchase of Ackerley. On November 16, 2006, Clear Channel announced that it would be selling its entire television division, including KVOS-TV, after being bought by private equity firms. On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel entered into an agreement to sell its entire television stations group to Providence Equity Partners
Providence Equity Partners
Providence Equity Partners is a global private equity investment firm focused on media, entertainment, communications and information investments...

' Newport Television
Newport Television
Newport Television, LLC is a television station holding company founded by Providence Equity Partners and Sandy DiPasquale in 2007 to acquire the television stations owned by Clear Channel Communications. In September 2007, Newport agreed to sell KFTY and KVOS-TV to LK Station Group LLC for $26.6...

. Providence Equity initially announced that it would not keep KVOS or KFTY in Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa is the county seat of Sonoma County, California, United States. The 2010 census reported a population of 167,815. Santa Rosa is the largest city in California's Wine Country and fifth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, after San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont and 26th...

; instead, those stations were to be resold to LK Station Group. However, LK could not obtain financing, so KVOS will remain with Newport. (KFTY was eventually sold to High Plains Broadcasting, with Newport operating the station; it has since been sold to Una Vez Más Holdings, LLC
Una Vez Mas Holdings, LLC
Una Vez Mas Holdings, LLC is the owner of a group of low-power television stations, mostly in the Southwest, and is the largest Azteca América affiliate group in the United States...

, becoming KEMO-TV.)

In 2008, KVOS filed an application to the FCC to change its transmitter location from Mount Constitution
Mount Constitution
Mount Constitution is a mountain on Orcas Island, and the highest point in the San Juan Islands. A stone observation tower patterned after a medieval watch tower stands at the summit. It was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1936. The tower offers panoramic views of the surrounding...

 to Granite Falls
Granite Falls, Washington
Granite Falls is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The population was 3,364 at the 2010 census.-History:Before the arrival of European settlers, the area that is now Granite Falls was used by Native Americans to portage their canoes between fishing grounds.The first permanent...

 (48°08′09"N 121°58′56"W) to serve the Seattle market and lessen its signal into Canada. Presently, KVOS provides grade B coverage of Seattle's northern suburbs (such as Everett
Everett, Washington
Everett is the county seat of and the largest city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. Named for Everett Colby, son of founder Charles L. Colby, it lies north of Seattle. The city had a total population of 103,019 at the 2010 census, making it the 6th largest in the state and...

, Edmonds
Edmonds, Washington
Edmonds is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. Edmonds has a view of Puget Sound and both the Olympic Mountains and Cascade Range. The third most populous city in Snohomish County after Everett and Marysville, the population was 39,709 according to the 2010 census...

, Bothell
Bothell, Washington
Bothell is a city located in King and Snohomish Counties in the state of Washington. It is part of the Seattle metropolitan area. The population was 33,505 as of the 2010 census...

 and Lynnwood
Lynnwood, Washington
Lynnwood is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The population was 35,836 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth largest in Snohomish County and twenty-ninth largest in Washington State. The city is a mix of urban, suburban, small city, crossroads and bedroom community to many...

), but just misses Seattle itself. This application was dismissed on July 16, 2009.

On February 17, 2009, KVOS ceased its over-the-air signal in analog.

In January 2010, KVOS swapped channel positions (now on channel 30) with TSN
The Sports Network
The Sports Network, commonly abbreviated as TSN, is a Canadian English language Category C specialty channel and is Canada's leading English language sports TV channel. TSN premiered in 1984, in the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels...

 on Shaw Cable
Shaw Communications
Shaw Communications is Canada's largest telecommunications company that provides telephone, Canada's fastest Internet and television services as well as broadcasting and soon Wifi. Shaw is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta...

 in Metro Vancouver and is no longer available on basic Shaw cable.

In October 2010, KVOS was added to Comcast's digital lineup on channel 72. This is the first time in 20 years that the station has been able to be seen in Seattle proper. This also marks the first time KVOS has been viewed in parts of Southwest Washington and Grays Harbor coastal communities of Aberdeen and Hoquiam.

The station became an affiliate of the classic television network Me-TV on April 25, 2011. Later, TheCoolTV
TheCoolTV
THECOOLTV is a United States over-the-air digital subchannel launched in March 2009. The network's current program schedule consists of an all-music video lineup that can be customized to meet an affiliate's preference, along with the three hours per week of E/I programming as required by the...

 was added as a subchannel of KVOS on August 18, 2011. Unlike the main 12.1 feed, the 12.2 feed is not carried on any Canadian cablesystem.

Programming

Currently, KVOS airs most of its programming from the Me-TV schedule such as Cheers
Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...

, M*A*S*H, Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. The show featured a fictional state police unit run by Detective Steve McGarrett,...

, The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....

, Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....

plus locally acquired classic programming like Matlock
Matlock (TV series)
Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of attorney Ben Matlock. The show originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC, where it replaced The A-Team, then from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC.The show's format was similar...

, The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...

and The A-Team
The A-Team
The A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...

. Other features between shows include On Scene and Daily Planner and FMA Entertainment Weekly. KVOS also runs a variety of religious, paid, and children's programs (the latter mainly to meet American E/I
E/I
E/I, which stands for "educational and informative," refers to a type of children's television programming shown in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission requires that every full-service Terrestrial television station in the U.S. show at least three hours of these television...

 rules).

KVOS has produced a variety of local shows over the years. The religious program Anchor first aired in 1968 with host, Pastor Len Ericksen. Anchor ran for 30 years, becoming one of the longest running shows of its kind on television. KVOS also produced many news, feature, public affairs, and informational programs as well. The 10:30 Report, Weeks End and Cana West helped launch the careers of well known names like Andy Anderson and Al Swift
Al Swift
Allan Byron Swift , an Emmy award–winning broadcaster, served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1995. He represented the Second Congressional District of Washington as a Democrat....

, who both went on to successful careers in politics. Some other feature programs have included Kids Stuff, Pacific Style, Pacific Issues, Sports Probe and Red's Classic Theatre with famed BC radio personality Red Robinson
Red Robinson
Red Robinson was the first Canadian disc jockey to play Rock and Roll music, both in the Vancouver, British Columbia and Portland, Oregon markets....

 from 1989 to 2001. Another famous B.C. radio personality, Jack Cullen, hosted Owl Prowl Television Theatre in the 1950s: two reels of footage from that show are held by the City of Vancouver Archives. In the late 80’s, WeatherView started a tradition with local forecasts at the top of every hour.

Then on the morning of May 21, 1990, NewsView hit the air, originally starting as a half-hour show. NewsView featured a variety of local and regional news, sports, and weather for northwest Washington and the border communities of British Columbia. Anchor Ty Ray, reporter Joe Bates and Weatherman Greg Otterholt
Greg Otterholt
Greg Otterholt is known as a musician, broadcaster, and inspirational entertainer. He was born without part of his right arm below his elbow and was one of the youngest children fitted with an artificial arm, or transradial prosthesis. Otterholt's progress with the device was observed throughout...

 hosted the 90 minute show from 6:30am to 8am. Due to low advertising revenues, however, KVOS ended NewsView on January 23, 2007, after 16½ years on the air. Various syndicated programming replaced NewsView in the 6:30-8 a.m. time slots.

KVOS began airing Northwest Notebook, hosted by Ty Ray, in February 2007. The show featured interviews with newsmakers from Northwest Washington and the Lower Mainland. Ray also hosted Daily Planner, a community calendar that aired six times a day.

Digital programming

The station's over-the-air transmission is in standard definition. The station has the following subchannels:
Virtual
channel
Programming
12.1 Main KVOS programming / Me-TV
12.2 TheCoolTV
TheCoolTV
THECOOLTV is a United States over-the-air digital subchannel launched in March 2009. The network's current program schedule consists of an all-music video lineup that can be customized to meet an affiliate's preference, along with the three hours per week of E/I programming as required by the...


External links



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