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KGO-TV, virtual channel 7 (VHF digital channel 12), is an ABC owned-and-operated television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is owned by the ABC Owned Television Stations subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. KGO-TV's studios are located at the ABC Broadcast Center in downtown San Francisco north of the city's Financial District, and its transmitter is based at Sutro Tower.

History[]

KGO-TV first signed on the air on May 5, 1949 as the San Francisco Bay Area's second-oldest television station, signing on five months after KPIX (channel 5) and the 50th in the United States. In fact, KPIX had a hand in getting KGO-TV on the air, as the CBS-affiliated (and now CBS-owned) station produced informational programming on how to receive and view ABC's channel 7. KGO-TV's original studios were located in the renovated Sutro Mansion near Mount Sutro in San Francisco, next to the transmitter tower it shared with KPIX.

Channel 7 was the fourth of ABC's five original owned-and-operated stations to sign-on, after outlets in New York City, Chicago and Detroit, and before Los Angeles. In addition, it is the only ABC station to keep its original call letters, which were inherited from KGO radio (810 AM). In addition to airing ABC programming, KGO-TV also aired syndicated programs from the Paramount Television Network; among the Paramount programs aired were Time For Beany,[1] Hollywood Reel, Sandy Dreams, Hollywood Wrestling, and Cowboy G-Men.

Channel 7 had a limited broadcasting schedule during its first year on the air. It was not until September 1950 that the station announced, in the San Francisco Chronicle, that it would broadcast on all seven days of the week. For much of the 1950s, the station signed on late in the morning or early afternoon, especially on the weekends, because the ABC network didn't offer many daytime programs then. For many years, Saturday programming began with King Norman's Kingdom of Toys, a popular children's program hosted by the owner of a San Francisco toy store, Norman Rosenberg, from 1954 until 1961. He died in December 2016 at the age of 98.

In 1954, KGO-TV moved to one of the most modern broadcasting facilities on the West Coast at the time at 277 Golden Gate Avenue, formerly known as the Eagle Building. The building was demolished between 2010 and 2011. As an ABC-owned station, KGO-TV originated a few network daytime shows, including programs hosted by fitness expert Jack La Lanne, singer Tennessee Ernie Ford, and entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee. Syndicated game shows Oh My Word and The Anniversary Game were produced at KGO-TV by Circle Seven Productions. In the mid-1950s, KGO-TV telecast live weeknight variety shows hosted by KSFO disc jockey Don Sherwood, until Sherwood was fired for making a political comment in defiance of a warning from station management. In September 1962, KGO began carrying ABC's first color program, the animated series The Jetsons, followed by The Flintstones. In the mid 1960s, KGO became the first Bay Area station to broadcast local programs in color, including its newscasts. In 1985, KGO-TV began broadcasting from its current studios at 900 Front Street, sharing the facility with radio stations KGO (AM 810), KSFO and KMKY (the former two are now owned by Cumulus Media).

By 2012, the radio stations had vacated 900 Front Street. In late 2014, MyNetworkTV affiliate KRON-TV (channel 4) moved its operations from 1001 Van Ness Avenue, a building it had occupied since 1967, to the ABC Broadcast Center, leasing from KGO-TV/ABC the space on the third floor that had been occupied by the radio stations. KRON-TV also uses one of the two studios on the first floor for production of its news programming.

For most of its existence, KGO-TV was the only network-owned television station in the Bay Area, even throughout the time when ABC underwent ownership changes: Capital Cities Communications bought out ABC and merged with the network in 1985, the combined company Capital Cities/ABC was then sold to The Walt Disney Company in 1996. As such, the station did not heavily preempt network programming unlike its local competitors or its sister stations—such as Philadelphia's WPVI-TV, Houston's KTRK-TV and Fresno's KFSN-TV—which were known for doing so in those days (as of 2007, some exceptions to this policy may be made when breaking news events or selected ABC Sports programs warrant exclusive coverage, in which case independent station KOFY-TV (channel 20), may pick up the pre-empted ABC programming scheduled for the time period). The distinction of being the Bay Area's only O&O station ended in 1995 when several other stations in the San Francisco-Oakland market became network-owned stations over the next twenty years—including KBHK (now KBCW) becoming a charter member of UPN (in which the station's then-owner was a partner) in 1995, KPIX becoming a CBS O&O with the network's 1995 merger with Westinghouse, KNTV becoming an NBC O&O in 2002 after being bought by the network after it disaffiliated from KRON-TV, and KTVU becoming a Fox O&O in 2015 after being acquired by the network alongside sister station KICU-TV a year prior (although KICU remains an independent station due to KRON-TV's affiliation with MyNetworkTV). After ABC sold Detroit's WXYZ-TV to Scripps–Howard Broadcasting in 1986 as part of the Capital Cities/ABC merger, KGO-TV went on to be the longest-serving ABC O&O outside of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

KGO in the Salinas, Monterey and Santa Cruz market[]

In 1999, KGO-TV—seeking to gain advertising revenue in the South Bay—reached an agreement with the Granite Broadcasting Corporation, then-owner of San Jose's ABC affiliate KNTV to pay Granite to drop KNTV's ABC affiliation, resulting in KGO-TV becoming the network's exclusive Bay Area outlet. This resulted in the Salinas–Monterey–Santa Cruz market losing over-the-air reception of ABC programs since KNTV had also served those communities (the station temporarily affiliated with The WB, before replacing KRON-TV as the Bay Area's NBC affiliate in January 2002). In response, a cable-only ABC affiliate was set up for the areas affected, that simulcast KGO-TV's programming (including ABC programming and local newscasts), with the exception of programs that channel 7 was only allowed to show within the San Francisco market under syndication exclusivity rules. On December 20, 2010, Hearst Television, owners of NBC affiliate KSBW, signed an affiliation agreement with ABC to bring the network's programming to KSBW's second digital subchannel. The new subchannel (branded on-air as "Central Coast ABC") debuted on April 18, 2011, effectively displacing KGO from cable providers in California's Central Coast, which replaced the station with KSBW's ABC-affiliated subchannel.

Logos[]

KGO-TV was one of the earliest ABC stations to use the original Circle 7 logo (along with sister station WBKB (now WLS-TV) in Chicago). According to Broadcasting magazine, KGO unveiled this logo, created by San Francisco design consultant G. Dean Smith, on August 27, 1962. When the station incorporated ABC into its branding in the late 1990s (initially as "Channel 7 ABC" from 1996 to 1997, then as "ABC 7"), the station—along with several other ABC stations broadcasting on channel 7 that used the original version of the Circle 7 logo—simply attached the ABC logo to the Circle 7


News operation[]

KGO-TV presently broadcasts 42½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 6½ each weekday and five hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). KGO-TV also produced an hour-long 9 p.m. newscast for independent station KOFY-TV (channel 20) from January 8, 2007 until July 19, 2019. The program usually rebroadcast stories previously shown during the 6 p.m. newscast and national and international news reports from ABC News.[citation needed]

KGO-TV had followed the lead of its New York City sister station, WABC-TV, and adopted the Eyewitness News format for its newscasts in the late 1960s; however, the Eyewitness News title had already been used on KPIX-TV at that time until 2013, which inherited its version of the format from its Philadelphia sister station KYW-TV. As a result, KGO-TV instead called its newscasts Channel 7 News Scene throughout the 1970s, and Channel 7 News from 1982 to 1998, when it switched to the current ABC 7 News branding. Along with the other ABC O&Os, KGO-TV also used an edited version of the "Tar Sequence" from the soundtrack of Cool Hand Luke as the theme music for its newscasts starting in 1969.[citation needed] After its Chicago sister station, WLS-TV, began to reuse the Eyewitness News branding, KGO-TV became the only ABC O&O that does not use the Eyewitness News or Action News brand for its newscasts as with other ABC O&O stations.

The station broadcast a 4:30 p.m. newscast named Early News in 1970, anchored by Ray Tannehill and John Reed King, with Pete Giddings covering weather and Bob Fouts presenting sports. Lu Hurley provided live helicopter traffic coverage, one of the first television programs in the San Francisco Bay Area to offer traffic reports. KGO-TV was one of the last ABC affiliates that broadcast the network's evening news program in the 7:00 p.m. time slot. By early 1992, World News Tonight had been displaced to 5:30 p.m., replacing the last half of the 5:00 p.m. news hour. KGO-TV has long broadcast an 11:00 p.m. newscast; it was originally a half-hour program, before expanding to 35 minutes in the early 1990s. In the 2000s, a staple of the 11 p.m. Sunday newscast was Richard Hart's segment about technological developments, alternatively titled "Next Step" and "Drive to Discover."[citation needed]

The station currently utilizes the market's first helicopter equipped to shoot and transmit high definition video, branded as "Sky 7HD", which made its on-air debut in February 2006. Due to logistical and equipment limitations, video from the helicopter is only available in 4:3 standard definition at times (when this occurs, the helicopter is branded simply "Sky 7"). KGO became the second television station in the Bay Area (after KTVU) to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition on February 17, 2007.[citation needed]

On July 20, 2007, longtime evening news anchor and KGO radio talk show host Pete Wilson died at age 62, following a massive heart attack that he suffered during a hip replacement procedure at Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, California. The station aired extensive tributes to Wilson when his death was publicly announced the following day. His final newscast and radio show were on July 18, 2007.

In 2008, KGO became the first station in the market to start its early morning newscast before 5 a.m., with the expansion of its weekday morning program to 4:30 a.m. Around that same time and prompted by a sluggish economy and the station's conversion to the "Ignite" automated control room system, on May 26, 2011, KGO debuted an hour-long 4 p.m. newscast, which filled the timeslot formerly held by The Oprah Winfrey Show (which ended its 25-year syndication run the previous day). On September 10, 2011, KGO-TV expanded its weekend 11 p.m. newscasts to one hour.

KGO broadcast a special seven-minute "minicast" at midnight during the 2012 Summer Olympics, called ABC 7 News Special Edition, as an effort to counterprogram the special midnight local newscast on NBC-owned KNTV that followed the network's primetime Olympics coverage. The special newscast did not air on nights when NBC's Olympic coverage ended before midnight (August 8, for example, resulting in no KGO midnight newscast on August 9). At least one other ABC-owned station, KABC-TV downstate in Los Angeles, also produced a seven-minute midnight newscast during the 2012 Olympics.[citation needed] On August 8, 2014, KGO struck a partnership with Univision O&O KDTV-DT to cross-promote newscast and share news context second behind its Philadelphia sister station WPVI-TV which in December partnered with WUVP-DT to produce a live 11 p.m. newscast.

On July 9, 2015, KGO became the first station in Northern California to fly a commercial drone under newly approved FAA guidelines. Called "DroneView7," the aircraft flew over the demolition of Candlestick Park, broadcasting live.

Newscast titles[]

  • San Francisco Tonight (1950s)
  • 90 for News/The News (1960s)
  • Roger Grismby and the News (1960s)
  • San Francisco Evening Tannehill (1968–1969)
  • Newsbeat 7 (1969–1970s)
  • Channel 7 News Scene (1970s–1982)
  • Channel 7 News (1982–1998)
  • ABC 7 News (1998–present)

Station slogans[]

  • You're Still Having Fun, Channel 7's the One (1977-1978; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • We're the One, on Channel 7 (1978–1979; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • You and Me and Channel 7 (1980-1981; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • Now is the Time, Channel 7 is the Place (1981–1982; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • Come on Along with Channel 7 (1982-1983; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • That Special Feeling on Channel 7 (1983-1984; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • We're With You on Channel 7 (1984-1985; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • You'll Love It on Channel 7 (1985-1986; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • Together on Channel 7 (1986–1987; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • Something’s Happening on Channel 7 (1987-1990; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • Number One in Northern California (1987–1996)
  • San Francisco-Bay Area's Watching KGO (1990-1992; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • If It’s San Francisco/Bay Area, It Must Be Channel 7 (1992-1993; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • Watched By More Northern Californians, Channel 7, ABC (1993-1996; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • Live, Local, Latebreaking. (1996–1998)
  • TV is Good, on Channel 7 (1997–1998; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • We Love TV, on ABC-7 (1998–1999; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • The Bay Area’s #1 News (1998–2007)
  • Discover ABC-7 (2007–?)
  • News Where You Live (?–2019)
  • Building a Better Bay Area (2019-present)

News team[]

Anchors[]

  • Dan Ashley - weeknights at 5:00, 6:00 & 11:00 p.m.
  • Ama Daetz - weekdays at 4; also weeknights at 6:00 & 11:00 p.m.
  • Larry Beil - weekdays at 4; also sports director
  • Kumasi Aaron -
  • Reggie Aqui -
  • Kristen Sze - weekdays at 11 a.m. and weeknights at 5:00 p.m.
  • Dion Lim -

Weather[]

  • Spencer Christian - meteorologist; weekdays at 4; also weeknights at 6:00 p.m.
  • Lisa Argen -
  • Mike Nicco - meteorologist; weekday mornings
  • Sandhya Patel - meteorologist; weeknights at 5:00 & 11:00 p.m.
  • Drew Tuma - meteorologist; weekend evenings at 5:00, 6:00 & 11:00 p.m.

Sports team[]

  • Larry Beil - sports director; weeknights at 6:00 & 11:00 p.m.
  • Chris Alvarez -

Reporters[]

Notable former on-air staff[]

  • Jessica Aguirre – anchor (now at KNTV)
  • Pete Giddings – meteorologist (retired)
  • Roger Grimsby – anchor and news director (later at WABC-TV; deceased)
  • Carolyn Johnson – anchor (now at KNBC)
  • Vic Lee – reporter (retired)
  • Bryan Norcross – meteorologist (now at WPLG)
  • Sergio Quintana – reporter (now at KNTV)
  • Pete Wilson – anchor (deceased)
  • Natasha Zouves – anchor


External links[]

Gallery[]

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TV stations in California
KABC, Los Angeles

KEYT, Santa Barbara/Santa Maria/San Luis Obispo
KAEF, Eureka
KXTV, Sacramento
KRCR, Redding/Chico
KESQ, Coachella Valley/Palm Springs
KGO, San Francisco
KSBW-DT2, Monterey
KECY-DT2, El Centro/Yuma
KFSN, Fresno
KERO/KZKC-LD, Bakersfield
KGTV/KZSD-LP, San Diego

Broadcast television in the Bay Area, including San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose
English stations Spanish stations
KAXT-CD 1 (Decades) KDTV-DT 14 (UNI)
KTVU 2 (Fox) KCNZ-CD 28 (LATV)
KURK-LD 3 (CMC) KSTS 48 (TLM)
KRON 4 (MNTV) KEMO 50 (Estrell)
KPIX 5 (CBS) KFSF-DT 66 (UMas)
KGO 7 (ABC)
KNTV 11 (NBC)
KQTA-LD 15 (Jewelry)
KOFY 20 (Grit)
KICU 36 (Ind)
KCNS 38 (ShopHQ)
KBCW 44 (CW)
KKPX 65 (ION)
KTLN 68 (H&I)
Public television stations
KQED 9 (PBS)
KRCB 22 (PBS)
KQEH 54 (PBS)
KPJK 60 (Ind)
Religious stations
KQSL-LD 17 (RDI)
KDTS-LD 52 (Daystar)
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