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KCRA-TV is a television station broadcasting on channel 3 in Sacramento, California. KCRA-TV is owned by Hearst-Argyle Television, and has been an affiliate of the NBC Television Network since its inception. KCRA shares studio and office facilities with sister station KQCA (channel 58, Sacramento's MyNetworkTV affiliate) at Three Television Circle in downtown Sacramento, and has its transmitter located in Walnut Grove, California.

The station is also available on cable in the northern portions of the San Francisco Bay Area.

History

KCRA-TV was founded on September 3, 1955 by the Kelly and Hansen families, who also owned KCRA radio (1320 AM, now KCTC) and KCRA-FM (96.1 MHz., now KYMX). The radio station's call letters were supposed to be KRCA, but the letters were misspelled when the license application was filed with the Federal Communications Commission. By the time KCRA-TV went on the air, the KRCA-TV calls had already been taken by NBC's owned-and-operated television station in Los Angeles (which is now KNBC).

The Kelly family bought out the Hansens' share of the KCRA stations in 1962. The radio stations were sold to the Tribune Company in 1975, and Kelly Broadcasting continued to operate KCRA-TV until 1999, when it was purchased by Hearst-Argyle Television [1]. It has always been an NBC affiliate, and along with Fox affiliate KTXL (channel 40), is the only "Big Four" station in Sacramento that has never changed its affiliation.

File:Kcra-1975.png
The classic KCRA-TV logo, with green border, was used for over three decades. This version dates to 1975.

KCRA-TV has long been an innovator in local news. The station's motto, "Where The News Comes First", has become a symbol for its news coverage. KCRA has used the slogan since 1957. It has been the ratings leader in Sacramento for many years, and continues to dominate every newscast timeslot during all sweeps periods.

In 1965, it first used color film in its newscasts. Starting in 1975, it used remote cameras to report the news live. Recent years have brought helicopters and satellite remotes. On September 10, 1966, Bob Wilkins hosted a late Saturday Night horror movie show called "Seven Arts Theatre". Bob Wilkins later moved his show to KTXL, and then to KTVU in Oakland in the 1970s.

Harry Geise was hired by KCRA as a weatherman. While he used information coming out of a weather bureau in Suitland, Maryland; his forecasts were so accurate that almost every farmer in the Sacramento Valley listened to his forecasts. He developed many techniques which are now taken for granted. Through his weathercasts he taught a couple of generations all about weather from "upper level devils" to looking out the window. On the scantest of data - weather bureaus, out the window, smell in the air, and nut gatherers) but prior to satellite, doppler weather radar, space weather, home weather stations, and little local information - he could look globally and tell what the local weather would be in six weeks or six months.

By the mid-1970s, KCRA established news bureaus throughout the state to broaden its range of reporting, as well as producing its own public affairs programming, and initiating a consumer affairs division to answer the needs of concerned consumers.

KCRA/KQCA Studios at 3 Television cir

Like many NBC affiliates, KCRA over the years preempted some NBC programming, notably the soap opera Another World. That show would reair for certain time, but was preempted again due to low ratings -- this was the case with local counterpart KOVR, which despite being a CBS O&O, does not run Guiding Light due to poor ratings, and has been cancelled from the market by former CBS affiliate KXTV. Given its news station status, KCRA also preempted the weekend version of The Today Show and the T-NBC lineup which aired Saturday mornings for more local news. Notably enough, the station had a 4:30 p.m. newscast launched, causing Days of Our Lives to air half an hour earlier than the typical practice. That newscast ended with KCRA's acquisition of "The Oprah Winfrey Show;" in September, 2002. "Days" now airs at 1pm weekdays.

Like other local stations, KCRA developed an in-house production facility, with local children's programming, news magazines and talk shows. By the beginning of the 21st century, KCRA became the first station in the Sacramento/Stockton market to broadcast digitally in HDTV.

In early 2004, KCRA opened the new exhibit, "The KCRA 3 Experience" at local Arden Fair Mall in Sacramento, California. This is where Walt Gray and Eileen Javora do the news Monday-Friday at noon. This is the only scheduled KCRA newscast NOT produced in HD.

In late December 2005 KCRA began using a new "Triple Doppler" system for weather reports. In addition to KCRA's own doppler weather radar system at Walnut Grove, range and accuracy were increased by adding data from NEXRAD sites. KRGX north of Reno on Virginia Peak improves the accuracy of Sierra images, KMUX south of San Jose on Mt. Umunuhm has a great view of storms approaching from the Pacific Ocean, and KBBX at Beale Air Force Base gives improved detail in the valley.

File:KCRA Sattelite Truck.PNG
KCRA Satellite Truck at the 2006 California INTL. Marathon

KCRA delays by one hour the third hour of The Today Show for "Live With Regis And Kelly; and pre-empts the fourth hour entirely for "The Morning Show with Mike And Juliet."

Digital Television & HD

Digital Television

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Digital channels
Virtual
Channel 		Physical
RF Channel 		Cable Video Aspect Programming
3.1 35.1 3 / 903 1080i 16:9 KCRA HD
3.2 35.2 480i 4:3 NBC Weather Plus

In 2009, KCRA will move to channel 35 when the analog to digital conversion is complete.[2]

On February 12, 2007 KCRA started broadcasting all of its news broadcasts in HD and also debuted its news set designed by FX Group and also LiveCopter 3 HD, becoming the first station in the Sacramento viewing area and first in the Hearst-Argyle family to broadcast the majority of its programming and the first to deliver local newscasts in HD.

Known Slogans

  • Where the news comes first - 1957-present The slogan has been a historical part of the station.
  • You've been watching Channel 3 Reports, the Valley's largest and most respected broadcast news team. - late 1980s slogan that was announced at the end of most newscasts. (As news staff expanded, the word "Valley" eventually was replaced with "northern California.")

Notable Personalities

Current News Personalities

  • NOTE: Some reporters are also feature reporters for nearby Hearst-Argyle sister station KSBW, and Washington Bureau reporters appear on all Hearst-Argyle stations

Current Personalities/Joined Date

Anchors

  • Deirdre Fitzpatrick- Weekday Morning Anchor 5-7am, 7-9am/ Reporter (1997)
  • Teo Torres, KQCA My58 10 p.m. Anchor (2008)
  • Walt Gray- Weekday Morning Anchor 5-7am and Noon anchor 12-1pm at the Arden Mall Set (1988)
  • Lois Hart- Weekday Evening Anchor 5pm, 6:30pm (Wife of Dave Walker co-anchor) (1990)
  • Edie Lambert- Weekday Evening Anchor 6, 10, 11pm (1995)
  • Kevin Riggs- Weekend Evening Anchor/ Weekday Political Reporter (1994)
  • Chris Riva- Weekday Morning Anchor 7-9am, Noon Reporter (2005)
  • David Walker- Weekday 5, 6:30pm anchor (Husband of Co-anchor Lois Hart) (1990)
  • Pamela Wu- Weekend Evening Anchor/ Mon-Weds Reporter (2001)

Weather

  • Mark Finan- Weekday Evening Chief Meteorlogist (1991)
  • Eileen Javora- Weekday Morning/ Noon Meteorologist (2005) (AMS Certified)
  • Dirk Verdoorn- Weekend Evening Meteorologist (1998)
  • Julie Watts-Weekend Morning Meteorologist/ Reporter (2006)

Sports

Traffic Team

Reporters

Past News Staffers

  • Miguel Almaguer, Reporter (March 2003-May 2006), now at WRC in Washington, DC
  • John Alston, 6 p.m. & 11 p.m. Anchor/Reporter (2002-2006)
  • Stan Atkinson, Anchor (1970s?-1994), later moved to KOVR in Sacramento
  • Carol Bland, Anchor/Reporter (1980s?-1994), later moved to KGW Portland as Carol Jensen. Retired and lives in San Diego [3]
  • Cory Bergman - Assignment editor (1993-1996), now at msnbc.com in Seattle
  • Josh Bernstien- Investigative Reporter (2005-2007) Now at KNXV in Pheonix
  • Mike Boyd, Anchor/Reporter (1963-2001), died of lung infection on October 14, 2006
  • Lisa Breckenridge, Anchor/Reporter (199?-1997), now at KTTV Fox 11 in Los Angeles; also on Fox News
  • Catalina Martinez, Reporter from Aug '07-Dec 2007 former KUVS-TV Univision Weather Anchor.
  • Angela Buchman, Meteorologist (1998-2001), now at WISH-TV in Indianapolis
  • Mike Bond, Reporter - (2005-2007), now back at KTXL FOX40 Sacramento
  • Tana Castro, General Assignment Reporter (1995-2006), Switched careers
  • Ed Chapuis, former News Director, now News Director at KTVU Oakland
  • Chuck Copola - Reporter 80's - San Francisco
  • Maurice DuBois, Anchor/Reporter, now at WCBS-TV in New York, NY
  • Deborah Collura, Assistant News Director / Executive Producer, now at WDIV-TV Detroit
  • Jon Duncanson, Reporter/News Anchor (1988-1992)- Los Angeles
  • Gina Garcia, General Assignment Reporter, now Reporter / KTTV Fox 11 in Los Angeles
  • Sarah Gardner, Anchor at 6, 10 p.m. Stay a home mother now. (1993- Dec. 28th, 2007) [4]
  • Bill George, Assignment Editor, now in Public Relations, Sacramento
  • John Gibson, Bay Area correspondent for many years, now at Fox News Channel
  • Marty Gonzalez, Reporter/Producer/Host (1980-1987), now at KRON in San Francisco
  • David Gregory, now NBC News Chief White House Correspondent in Washington, DC
  • Rick Griffin, Chief Meteorologist (1989-1992), rejoined The Weather Channel in 1992. Married to AMS & NWA broadcast certified meteorologist Vicki Williams Griffin.
  • Kristine Hanson, Former Playboy Playmate, Sports/Weather/Entertainment, 1980s
  • Ethan Harp, Reporter (2000-2003), now at KNTV NBC11 in San Jose
  • Susan Hirasuna, Anchor/Reporter (1988-1991), now Anchor/reporter KTTV Fox 11, Los Angeles
  • Bob Hogue, Sports Director early 1980s, former Hawaiian State Senator
  • Ron Hyde, Sports Director/Anchor/Reporter (1991-2006)
  • Candice Jones, Morning News Reporter (2001-2003)
  • Ron Jones, Anchor/Reporter (1998-2001), now Anchor / Reporter at KOVR/KMAX
  • Michael Kidd, LiveCopter 3 Pilot (1990s)
  • Lilian Kim, Reporter, [1995-2000] now at KGO ABC7 in San Francisco
  • Grace Lee, Reporter, (January 2004-May 2007), Now at KGMB in Honolulu
  • Tom Loffman, Meteorologist, later moved to KOVR/KMAX, and now runs a Business.
  • Rick Lopes, Producer (1991-94), later moved to Producer at KPIX, San Francisco, Executive Producer at WJXT, Jacksonville, Executive Producer at KTXL, Sacramento, now Chief of Public Affairs, California Contractors State License Board
  • Mike Luery, Call 3 Reporter 1984-2000, now Capitol Bureau Chief for KNTV NBC11 in San Jose
  • Joan Lunden, started in television here in the 1970s, moved to ABC Good Morning
  • Scott Mace, sub-weather anchor at KCRA and full time weather at KSBW 1998 and 1999, now at KMGH in Denver
  • Eric McLendon, Sports Director/Anchor/Reporter (early 1990s), later moved to WNBC-TV in New York, NY
  • Alicia Malaby, Anchor/Reporter (1989-1999), now Weekend Anchor/ Reporter at KXTV in Sacramento
  • Marty Matthews, Morning Meteorologist, now news anchor at WTSP-TV, Tampa-St. Petersburg
  • Rob Mayeda, Meteorologist/Anchor/Reporter (1999-2000), now at KNTV NBC11 in San Jose
  • Todd Mokhtari, Itern / editor / writer/ producer, now News Director at KIRO-TV Seattle
  • Shelly Monahan, Meteorologist (1985-1989 and 1992-1997), now at KHQ in Spokane, WA
  • Heather Moore, Reporter (2002-2004), Now Reporter KTVK in Phoenix
  • Leyna Nguyen, Anchor/Reporter, now at KCAL in Los Angeles
  • Joe Oliver, Reporter, Now Weekend Anchor WESH in Orlando
  • Margaret (Pelley) Larson, Anchor/Reporter (1980s), later moved to NBC News, now working in humanitarian aid based in Seattle
  • Ken Pritchett, General Assignment reporter (2002-2005), now at KTVU in Oakland.
  • Jeff Ranieri, Meteorologist (2000-2005), now at MSNBC/NBC Weather Plus in New York, NY
  • Beth Ruyak, Anchor (1980s), now an Olympics commentator for NBC Sports, also hosts program for Sutter Health
  • Creighton Sanders, Sports Director/Anchor (briefly during the 1980s)
  • Sam Shane, Reporter (1996-1999), Now Anchor/Reporter at KOVR/KMAX in Sacramento
  • Bryan Smith, reporter (1981), now at WPVI-TV in Philadelphia
  • Christie Smith, Reporter (1999-2001), now at KNTV NBC11 in San Jose
  • Bianca Solorzano, Weekend Morning Anchor and Reporter (1999-2003), now a CBS News correspondent in New York, NY
  • Patty Souza, Morning/ Noon Meteorologist (2002-2006), now at KXTV News10 Chief Meteorologist
  • Eric Sperling, News and Sports Producer, now at KOLO in Reno
  • Gordon Tokumatsu, Reporter (1991-1993), now at KNBC in Los Angeles
  • Kaity Tong, Anchor/Reporter (?-1989), now at WPIX in New York, NY
  • Roy Walkenhorst, Anchor/Reporter (1969–1980), now CEO of Lightbridge Media[5]
  • Sarah Wallace, Reporter/Anchor (?-1984), now at WABC-TV in New York, NY
  • Kirsten Wolff, Executive producer, now Assistant News Director at WESH in Orlando
  • Bette Vasquez, News/Weather Anchor/ Reporter (198?-1991) Now retired
  • Ryan Yamamoto, Reporter (1998-2004), now Sports Anchor/Reporter at KXTV in Sacramento
  • Harry Martin, Weather and Entertainment reporter, retired, Died 2/08-Cancer 81 yrs old
  • Bob Whitten, Main News Anchor 60's and 70's. Died while on the air during a radio shift.

References

  1. ^ Abate, Tom. Hearst to Buy KCRA-TV, Affiliates in Sacramento, San Francisco Chronicle, August 22, 1998
  2. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
  3. ^ "More comings and goings of the local tube tribe". Retrieved 2007-02-01.
  4. ^ "Anchor Sarah Gardner to leave KCRA". Retrieved 2007-12-28.
  5. ^ "HealingQuest - Press Kit - Roy Walkenhorst, CEO". Retrieved 2007-01-30.
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