144-604: KPRC may refer to: KPRC-TV , a television station (PSIP 2/RF 35) licensed to Houston, Texas, United States KPRC (AM) , a radio station (950 AM) licensed to Houston, Texas, United States KPRC-FM , a radio station (100.7 FM) licensed to Salinas, California, United States KODA , a radio station (99.1 FM) licensed to Houston, Texas, United States; formerly KPRC-FM from 1946 to 1958 The ICAO code for Prescott Municipal Airport in Prescott, Arizona, United States Topics referred to by
288-586: A 50,000 watt clear-channel station , was purchased from Cleveland Electric Illuminating and the Van Sweringen brothers on October 16, 1930. Chicago station WENR , time-sharing with WLS , was purchased in July 1931 from Samuel Insull for $ 1 million (equivalent to $ 20 million in 2023), a purchase price compared to the then-record set with WEAF in 1926. WENR was paired with Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) affiliate WMAQ when NBC acquired it from
432-608: A Princeton Tigers – Harvard Crimson college football game over GE's WGY in Schenectady, New York , linked together via the Western Union system. The first attempt at using shortwave for chain broadcasting took place on March 7, 1924, when Westinghouse's KFKX in Hastings, Nebraska —constructed as an experimental repeater for KDKA and supplanting KDPM in Cleveland, Ohio —was part of
576-562: A consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice resolving antitrust charges; Westinghouse and GE gave up their ownership stakes in the company, while restrictions created through RCA's cross-licensing agreements for nearly 4,000 patents were also removed. A ceremonial broadcast over both NBC networks on November 11, 1933, formally opened the RCA Building's "Radio City" studios, with Sarnoff, Young, NBC president Merlin H. Aylesworth and BBC Director-General John Reith participating in
720-474: A lease agreement . NBC's operations, including WEAF and WJZ, moved to 711 Fifth Avenue in 1927, designed by architect Lloyd Brown. The studios featured elements of Gothic architecture , the Roman Forum and Louis XIV in stark contrast to radio studios of that era; Raymond Hood designed the studios under the belief a well-designed studio could act as an audience for the performers. Due to NBC's rapid growth,
864-470: A Hispanic news anchor for an English-language newscast. The station's first female anchor was Sara Lowrey, who had co-anchored the 6 p.m. news with Rasco. In 1973, after Smith departed for KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh (at the time, a larger market than Houston), the station hired former KHOU anchor Ron Stone and paired him with weatherman Doug Johnson and sportscaster Bill Worrell (who had formerly co-anchored
1008-453: A Los Angeles radio outlet to complement KNBH, NBC sold KOA and KOA-FM in 1952 to a group that included Bob Hope. While initially only carrying NBC programming, WNBT started adding a slate of local shows and soon featured five hours of local programs during the daytime by May 1950. A business built on a few comedians isn't a business worth being in. David Sarnoff, in response to CBS's 1948 "Paley raids" on NBC talent For two decades
1152-412: A Spanish-language newscast on Univision station KXLN (channel 45), and even syndicated reruns of The Simpsons on Fox station KRIV (channel 26) which at one point even led all Houston newscasts airing in that timeslot. Despite a strong lead-in from Dr. Phil , KPRC-TV also continued to decline at 4 p.m. and in both the morning and evening hours as NBC's ratings began to enter a steep decline following
1296-640: A broadcast deal with NBC . As a result, KPRC-TV became the primary station for regular season games of the Houston Oilers , one of the league's eight founding teams; this continued after the AFL became the American Football Conference of the National Football League in 1970 . Local Oilers broadcasts ended after the 1996 NFL season , when the team relocated to Nashville and eventually became
1440-526: A concerted effort began to distinguish NBC Red and NBC Blue. One 1939 story in Time magazine described NBC Blue as "... long considered a weak sister to NBC's Red Network". Most network programs were owned by their sponsors and produced by advertising agencies . For example, Lum and Abner was sponsored by Quaker Oats in 1931 when WMAQ originated the show regionally, became a sustaining program when it debuted over NBC Red in 1932, then sponsored by Ford
1584-527: A continuous, all-weekend programming umbrella featuring a mix of music, news, interviews and features that debuted on June 12, 1955. Monitor boasted a variety of hosts including such well-known television personalities as Dave Garroway , Hugh Downs , Ed McMahon , Joe Garagiola and Gene Rayburn . The potpourri also tried to keep vintage radio alive in featuring segments from Jim and Marian Jordan (in character as Fibber McGee and Molly ), Ethel and Albert and iconoclastic satirist Henry Morgan . Monitor
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#17328552505601728-416: A cultural landmark and the first successful hit program in the medium. In the first of what became several efforts to keep classic radio relevant, NBC sanctioned The Big Show , a 90-minute Sunday night variety program which debuted on November 5, 1950. Hosted by stage actress Tallulah Bankhead , it harked back to radio's earliest musical variety style along with sophisticated comedy and drama. The Big Show
1872-422: A deal made public on July 22, 1926. This sale transferred ownership of WEAF to RCA; included was WEAF's network of 15 stations, plus an agreement by AT&T to make its telephone lines readily available for networking. In a separate deal, WCAP was sold to RCA on July 28, 1926, its broadcast hours ceded to time-share partner WRC three days later. Variety regarded the sale as an economical one for AT&T, as
2016-505: A four-station network involving WJZ, WGY and KDKA, with KGO in San Francisco receiving KFKX's signal. While that experimental relay suffered from "barely distinguishable" audio on KGO's end, a second attempt (also including WRC) on November 15, 1924, was judged a transcontinental success as KGO was better able to pick up KFKX. The "WJZ chain" saw little growth compared to AT&T's efforts. President Coolidge's March 1925 inaugural speech
2160-589: A history of innovation in television journalism. In its early years under the stewardship of news director Ray Miller, KPRC-TV often led the local news ratings with such notable personalities as Miller and fellow anchors Steve Smith and Larry Rasco. KPRC-TV was the first station in Houston to use weather radar for its weather reports, to use videotape for field reporting, to have a fully staffed news bureau in Austin , to hire female and African American reporters, and to hire
2304-683: A larger market, the basic station was WAVE , the supplemental was WGRC —also a primary Mutual affiliate. Concerned that NBC's control of two national radio networks gave it too much power over the industry, in May 1941 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) promulgated a rule, the Report on Chain Broadcasting , designed to force NBC to divest one of them. RCA fought the divestiture order, but divided NBC into two companies in case an appeal
2448-454: A live transatlantic conversation. "Radio City" occupied ten floors of the RCA Building with thirty-five studios supported by 1,250 miles (2,010 km ) of wiring and 89 miles (143 km) of cables. During much of radio's " Golden Age ", both NBC networks—in particular NBC Red—were home to multiple popular performers and programs. The two networks originally did not have distinct identities or "formats" and, beginning in 1929, shared use of
2592-520: A major drain on company profits. The radio group efforts centered on WJZ , a Newark, New Jersey , station RCA acquired from Westinghouse and moved to New York City on May 14, 1923, the same day WJY launched as a time-share, also owned by RCA and broadcasting from WJZ's Aeolian Hall facilities. RCA then inaugurated WRC in Washington, D.C., as a time-share with WCAP on August 1, 1923; much of RCA's early efforts involved linking WRC and WJZ just as WCAP
2736-415: A nationwide commercial radio network using their Bell System infrastructure. The original plan for the "toll" station was to offer the station for leasing to different operators for fees based on the length of airtime and the specific daypart. Out of the two New York City stations AT&T set up, WEAF emerged as the more successful and served as the key station for AT&T's network development. Although
2880-402: A new newsroom within one of its three studios, using the newsroom as a backdrop that was similar to the "newsplex" set used by Miami Fox affiliate WSVN , itself a former NBC affiliate which became a ratings leader in that market after losing its NBC affiliation and switching to a similar tabloid-style format. This set was referred to as the "News Center" and was used on-air until 2006, even though
3024-515: A new state-of-the-art studio facility in the Sharpstown area (then part of unincorporated Harris County ) where it operated from for 45 years. Built on property originally lent to Houston Baptist University , KPRC-TV chose the site to build its new facilities in large part due to its location on the feeder road of the Southwest Freeway . The building housed three studios which were suspended from
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#17328552505603168-450: A new studio, behind the old studio in the employee parking lot, on the same Sharpstown site. While the old studio was 90,000 square feet (8,361 m ), the new studio would have only 65,000 square feet (6,039 m ). The new studios were dedicated in April 2016, and the previous 45-year-old studios were demolished. Since October 1994, KPRC-TV has used the familiar " Lone Star 2" logo, which
3312-534: A period of time, the United Fruit Company ). Organized radio broadcasting started in the early 1920s, with AT&T soon becoming an industry leader. In 1920 and 1921, AT&T concluded a series of patent cross-licensing agreements with the "radio group" companies. The "radio group" began negotiating under that name through a cross-licensing agreement between GE and Westinghouse, agreed to on July 1, 1921. Under these agreements, AT&T asserted that it held
3456-666: A regional network of their own, dubbed the " Orange Network ", notably originating play-by-play of the 1927 Rose Bowl and a live performance of Carmen from the Philharmonic Auditorium on January 23, 1927; the latter broadcast was additionally relayed over CNVR in Vancouver , WAMD in Minneapolis , and WGY. Affiliating the chain with NBC, the Orange Network relayed an address by President Coolidge that jointly aired over
3600-613: A remote link from KYW in Chicago , was coordinated through WEAF, and carried by twenty-two eastern and Midwestern stations, located as far west as WDAF in Kansas City, Missouri . Following NBC's formation, RCA inaugurated a second network on January 1, 1927; called " the 'blue' network ", it was led by WJZ along with Westinghouse's WBZ, KDKA and KYW; with the WEAF-led chain concurrently named "the 'red' network". The debut program, sponsored by
3744-404: A repeat of KPRC-TV's 10 p.m. newscast often filling the void. While Late Night did return to KPRC-TV in 1996, the station continued to delay its broadcast as far back as 2:40 a.m. (even truncating the broadcast of its overnight news program, NBC Nightside , in the process). This fact was not lost on O'Brien, who visited Houston (making impromptu stops at Houston's central bus terminal and
3888-464: A reputation from the 1980s well into the early 2000s for airing various syndicated tabloid talk shows that often fit the pejorative definition of "Trash TV". Indeed, KPRC-TV was the original Houston affiliate for Geraldo , which the station carried from its 1987 debut until complaints from viewers and even station management over its content led KPRC-TV to drop the show in 1990 ( Geraldo moved to KTXH , then later to KTRK). After Post-Newsweek acquired
4032-516: A reward for Trammell's loyalty. The "Paley raids" had other consequences for RCA itself: Sarnoff and Paley (who also headed up Columbia Records ) originally agreed to a new phonograph record standard of 33 RPM to replace the long-standing 78 RPM standard. After Jack Benny defected to CBS, Sarnoff rescinded the agreement and began marketing the RCA-developed 45 RPM instead; pressured by record stores and other major labels, RCA eventually agreed to
4176-467: A signal showing KLEE's station ID supposedly appeared on TV sets throughout England—three years after the station was sold and changed to KPRC-TV. Although quickly revealed as a hoax to sell TV sets in the UK, it remains a long-standing urban legend . In the 1980–82 NBC soap opera Texas , which was set primarily in Houston, the series made several mentions of fictional television station "KVIK", run by one of
4320-682: A similar reason in 1942, four years before Banning's book was published. Other possible explanations for the names included push-pins engineers used to mark affiliates of WEAF (red pins) and WJZ (blue pins), the colors of wires used for switchboards , or from jack panel connections. The names were not commonplace as newspapers also referred to "NBC-WEAF" or "NBC-WJZ"; NBC made "NBC Red" and "NBC Blue" official network designations by 1936. As 1927 began, KFI in Los Angeles and KPO in San Francisco were successfully transmitting live programming to
4464-451: A staple of the station since its days as a locally owned station in the 1980s, at 10:20 p.m. following its late Sunday newscast, as well as Houston Newsmakers (a local Sunday morning talk show similar in format to NBC's Meet the Press ) at 10:30 a.m. Appropriate for a station with roots in a newspaper, KPRC-TV has long been a very news-intensive station, and in particular one with
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4608-470: A talk show hosted by sex columnist Ruth Westheimer beginning in 1984, which originated at NBC's New York FM station WYNY . NBC Radio's last major programming venture occurred with the November 2, 1981, debut of NBC Talknet , a talk radio program block for the late-evening hours. Headlined by advice host Sally Jessy Raphael and personal finance talker Bruce Williams , NBC Talknet was largely inspired by
4752-524: A weaker network, likely originated the misperception that NBC Blue solely featured sustaining programs (e.g., news, cultural and educational programs which had no sponsor) and NBC Red solely featured commercial fare. As it was, networks had limited control over their schedules as advertisers bought available time periods for programs, regardless of what other sponsors broadcast in other time slots. Networks rented out studio facilities used to produce shows and sold air-time to sponsors. Sustaining programs were
4896-448: A year of Westwood One's takeover, several tenured NBC Radio News staffers resigned, including London bureau chief Fred Kennedy, who told Broadcasting magazine, "what was once a great network and broadcast news operation is becoming an audio wire service... and not even a good audio wire service." Some affiliates also expressed concern over a decline in technical and editorial quality, even as NBC Radio successfully added 90 affiliates since
5040-448: Is multiplexed : KPRC-TV had carried This TV from the start of 2009 until May 28, 2018, on its second subchannel, being one of the network's longest-tenured affiliates before leaving This TV on that day. KPRC 2.2 then became the new home of MeTV in the Houston market, taking over that role from KUBE-TV 57.4. (This TV moved to the newly created 57.7 and Cozi TV swapped to 57.4). On March 29, 2021, MeTV moved to KYAZ channel 51.1. KYAZ
5184-585: Is also available on cable in Lufkin – Nacogdoches and Bryan – College Station . NBC Red Network The National Broadcasting Company 's NBC Radio Network (also known as the NBC Red Network from 1927 to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in continuous operation from 1926 through 1999. Along with the NBC Blue Network , it was one of the first two nationwide networks established in
5328-440: Is credited for succeeding in an era where television became the dominant entertainment medium, but after the mid-1960s, local stations with established music formats—especially in larger markets—became increasingly reluctant to run network fare, dropping the program block outright, including flagship WNBC. In turn, the number of sponsors for Monitor began to decline precipitously. Monitor ' s final broadcast took place over
5472-531: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages KPRC-TV KPRC-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Houston , Texas, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Graham Media Group . Its studios are located on Southwest Freeway ( I-69 / US 59 ) in the Southwest Management District (formerly Greater Sharpstown), and its transmitter
5616-665: Is located near Missouri City , in unincorporated northeastern Fort Bend County . Houston is the second-largest television market (after WXIA-TV in Atlanta ) where the NBC station is not owned and operated by the network. The station first signed on the air on January 1, 1949, as KLEE-TV. It was Houston's first television station and the second one to sign on in Texas, three months behind Fort Worth station WBAP-TV (now KXAS-TV ) and over eight months ahead of Dallas station KBTV (now WFAA ). It
5760-589: The Chicago Daily News on November 1, 1931; like WTAM, WMAQ and WENR-WLS were also clear-channels. KPO was then purchased from Hale Bros. on June 10, 1932, officially pairing it with KGO. The previous October, KPO became one of the lead stations for the NBC Gold Network, a regional chain of stations that also relayed Blue Network programming. WRC was paired with WMAL in 1933 when NBC took over operations of that station from founding owner M. A. Leese via
5904-749: The Astrodome ) to watch an episode of his own show with Houstonians in a classic remote piece. KPRC-TV's mail servers were flooded with emails from O'Brien's fans in response. KPRC-TV responded by moving the show to 12:35 a.m. in 1998, and finally to its network-recommended (for the Central Time Zone ) 11:35 p.m. slot in 2005, where Late Night , now hosted by Seth Meyers , continues to air. Channel 2 also delayed A Little Late with Lilly Singh (and its predecessor, Last Call with Carson Daly ) in late nights (recently at 1:35 am) until August 13, 2021, when NBC gave that timeslot back to its affiliates;
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6048-585: The Commerce Department had legal jurisdiction to reject the deal inasmuch as they could not prevent a store from selling bread or meat. On September 13, 1926, RCA chairman of the board Owen D. Young and president James G. Harbord announced the formation of the National Broadcasting Company, Inc., to begin operations upon RCA's acquisition of WEAF on November 15. A widely placed full-page company advertisement stated that: "The purpose of
6192-484: The Hard Rock Cafe with Paul Shaffer , along with an oldies show hosted by WNBC's Soupy Sales . NBC Radio also acquired the national play-by-play rights for NFL games for both the 1985 and 1986 seasons , outbidding long-standing rights holder CBS Radio. NBC made its final radio station acquisition in 1983 when it bought Boston station WJIB from GE, which was divesting its radio properties. In February 1984,
6336-590: The National Carbon Company . Debuting over WEAF in December 1923, the program quickly grew in popularity; unlike most sponsored programs which typically featured music from a dance orchestra, it is credited as the first variety program and the first to utilize scripts and dress rehearsals prior to broadcast. The Eveready Hour ' s installment on November 4, 1924, was notably interspersed with election returns read by WEAF's Graham McNamee and aired over
6480-840: The Supreme Court declared the trade null and void in June 1965; the KYW call letters were moved back to Philadelphia with Westinghouse while NBC rechristened the Cleveland stations as WKYC-AM-FM-TV, a derivative of KYW. NBC kept ownership of the Cleveland radio stations until 1972, selling them off to Ohio Communications. In 1957, NBC Radio won the rights to broadcast the Major League Baseball All-Star Game and World Series from Mutual, who had held exclusive rights since 1942 and 1939, respectively, for both events . It gave NBC sole control of
6624-627: The Tennessee Titans , though Oilers games would continue to be prioritized for broadcast during the 1997 season , which also turned out to be the last for NBC as the primary broadcaster of Sunday afternoon AFC games. During the team's final years in Houston , the Oilers failed to sell out many home games, subjecting them to in-market television blackouts under league rules at the time in addition to preemption from radio broadcasts locally. Since 2006 ,
6768-559: The Victor Talking Machine Company , was carried on both chains and subsequently alternated between "red" and "blue" on a weekly basis. WEAF historian William Peck Banning suggested the "red" and "blue" names originated from circuit maps drafted in colored pencil by Bell System engineers, which carried over as these circuits began to be used exclusively for radio, thus the former "WEAF chain"—mapped out in red—became "the 'red' network". RCA's Radio Age magazine outlined
6912-498: The "RCA Victor" record label) while Westinghouse received NBC's WTAM-AM-FM and WNBK television in Cleveland (all of which took the KYW call signs). Westinghouse also received $ 3 million in cash compensation. After Westinghouse expressed its unhappiness with the arrangement, the United States Department of Justice took NBC to court in late 1956. In a civil antitrust lawsuit filed against NBC and RCA, Westinghouse claimed
7056-464: The 1989 season . Following the sale, NBC Radio added one long-form program to their lineup—a daily talk/variety show hosted by Steve Allen based from WNEW that debuted in October 1987. Westwood One initially promoted the show as part of the new "Mutual P.M." program service, but it was moved to being under the NBC umbrella prior to launch. Failing to get enough affiliates for the program, Allen ended
7200-427: The 33 RPM standard, but the feud risked creating damage to the record industry as a whole. Many NBC radio stars gravitated to television as it became more popular. Toscanini made ten appearances on NBC-TV simulcast on the radio network between 1948 and 1952. Texaco Star Theater , an umbrella title for various radio variety shows from 1938 to 1949, migrated to NBC-TV in 1948 with Milton Berle as host, becoming both
7344-588: The Ace in August 2009 (along with WDIV and Milwaukee's WTMJ-TV ), preempting both prime time airings with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital programs. As is the case with Detroit's WDIV, NBC's current overnight lineup (a rebroadcast of the fourth hour of Today on weekdays; LXTV 1st Look and Open House NYC on weekends) also does not air in Houston. Beginning in 1965 , the American Football League signed
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#17328552505607488-452: The FCC that NBC's grandfathered status permitting radio-TV combinations in three markets be broken up within 18 months, retaining the five NBC-owned television stations and GE's KCNC-TV . A planned sale of the entire radio unit to Westinghouse Broadcasting at the end of 1986 collapsed, prompting Westwood One , a Culver City, California –based syndicator that acquired Mutual in 1985, to purchase
7632-517: The Houston market in October 2007, KPRC-TV began to see gains in most timeslots, while its competition saw declines. KPRC-TV's morning and late-evening newscasts made the most gains in 2007, competing for second place with KHOU. On July 19, 2008, during its 6 p.m. newscasts, KPRC-TV began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition in the run up to NBC's coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics . On August 24, 2009, KPRC-TV expanded its morning newscast to an additional half-hour at 4:30 am. By 2012,
7776-586: The Moving Image and approximately 250 clips can be viewed on their website. Since its inception KPRC-TV has been an NBC affiliate, and in part because of NBC's affiliation the station was the first in Houston to broadcast in color. From 1969 to 1998, KPRC-TV produced the longest-running syndicated television program in Texas, The Eyes of Texas , a lifestyle program which focused on segments relating to Texas culture and life (the program continues to air locally on PBS member station KUHT , channel 8). KPRC-TV
7920-879: The NBC Radio Network, The Source, NBC Talknet and NBC Radio Entertainment, along with leases to the radio network facilities at 1700 Broadway, for $ 50 million (equivalent to $ 134 million in 2023). As part of the deal, a long-term brand licensing deal for the "NBC Radio" name was agreed to, while NBC Radio employees, including in the news division, were transferred to Westwood One. The remaining divisions and assets of RCA, including RCA Records were spun off to various companies, including Bertelsmann and Thomson SA . The seven NBC-owned radio stations, which initially agreed to remain with NBC Radio as affiliates, were all put up for sale and divested to various buyers between 1988 and 1989, including Emmis Communications , Westinghouse and Susquehanna Radio Corporation . WNBC
8064-600: The NBC radio network's roster of stars provided ratings consistently surpassing those of CBS, its main competitor. But in 1948, as the transition from radio to television was beginning, NBC's leadership came under attack due to what became known as the "Paley raids", named after the president of CBS, William S. Paley . After World War II the tax rate for annual incomes above $ 70,000 was 77 percent, while capital gains were taxed at 25 percent. Paley worked out an accounting technique whereby individual performers could set up corporations that allowed their earnings to be taxed at
8208-640: The National Broadcasting Company was a consolidation and reorganization of earlier network radio operations developed by the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) beginning in 1922, in addition to more limited efforts conducted by the "radio group" companies, which consisted of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and its corporate owners, General Electric (GE) and the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company (and, for
8352-473: The National Broadcasting Company will be to provide the best program available for broadcasting in the United States. ... It is hoped that arrangements may be made so that every event of national importance may be broadcast widely throughout the United States." As part of a renegotiation of the cross-licensing agreements, NBC was also permitted to accept advertising. The purchase of WEAF and NBC's formation
8496-639: The New York radio stations reverted to WNBC-AM-FM and WRCA-TV became WNBC-TV. In 1962, KRCA became KNBC, while KNBC-AM-FM in San Francisco became KNBR-AM-FM. WNBQ in Chicago became WMAQ-TV in 1964. NBC also purchased WKNB in New Britain, Connecticut , in late 1956, and WJAS and WJAS-FM in Pittsburgh , in 1957. The acquisition of WJAS was to offset KDKA 's defection from the network several years earlier, while WKNB
8640-825: The Red and Blue networks on February 22. The Orange Network formally relaunched as a part of NBC on April 5, 1927, adding KGO and three other stations. NBC eventually utilized the Orange Network to relay Red Network programming to the Pacific states, with the Red Network relaying Orange Network programming for the Eastern Seaboard . At the same time, NBC began acquiring radio stations to extend its reach, beginning with KGO and KOA in Denver, Colorado , from GE in March 1930. Cleveland affiliate WTAM ,
8784-652: The United States. Its major competitors were the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), founded in 1927, and the Mutual Broadcasting System , founded in 1934. In 1942, NBC was required to divest one of its national networks, so it sold NBC Blue, which was soon renamed the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). After this separation, the Red Network continued as the NBC Radio Network. For the first 61 years of its existence, this network
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#17328552505608928-472: The WEAF chain generated an annual income of $ 500,000, with little hope of turning a profit, "which even an affluent corporation like (AT&T) takes into consideration". While the deal was criticized for granting RCA a monopoly on broadcasting, a charge RCA denied, then- Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover declined to publicly comment; Chief Radio Supervisor W. D. Terrell stated that neither he or anyone else in
9072-476: The WEAF chain until "long after midnight". McNamee already had made another first for the "WEAF chain" one month earlier, calling play-by-play of the 1924 World Series over an eight-station hookup. On May 11, 1926, AT&T centralized its radio operations into a new subsidiary known as the Broadcasting Company of America . Although not widely known at the time, this was done in anticipation of selling
9216-621: The air, will mark the introduction of the National Broadcasting company to the radio public Monday evening", with NBC president Merlin H. Aylesworth characterizing the event as "a four-hour program beginning at 8 p.m., which will live long in their memories as an occasion marking another milestone in the history of radio broadcasting". Carl Schlegel of the Metropolitan Opera opened the inaugural broadcast, which also featured Will Rogers and Mary Garden . This broadcast, which included
9360-592: The band leaders with regular time slots on NBC were Carmen Cavallaro , Nat King Cole , Xavier Cugat , Tommy Dorsey , Eddy Duchin , Benny Goodman , Stan Kenton , Guy Lombardo , Glenn Miller , Leo Reisman , and Paul Whiteman . NBC's radio news service featured regular broadcasts by journalists and commentators, including Morgan Beatty, Alex Dreier , Pauline Frederick , Floyd Gibbons , John Gunther , Richard Harkness , George Hicks , H. V. Kaltenborn , John MacVane , Adela Rogers St. Johns , Dorothy Thompson , Edward Tomlinson, and Hendrik Willem van Loon . From
9504-559: The big events in baseball as they had been exclusively airing both the All Star Game and World Series on television since 1947. NBC ended its radio association with baseball after the 1975 season in order to clear space for its 24-hour "News And Information" service programming, though it continued broadcasting on its television network until 1989 (while splitting coverage with ABC in all but the first year of that period). NBC Radio drastically revamped its programming lineup with Monitor ,
9648-465: The call letters stand for " Post-Dispatch Radio Company", they actually stand for "K(C)otton Port Rail Center", a nod to Houston's role in the cotton trade. After the Hobbys took over, channel 2 became a primary NBC affiliate due to KPRC radio's longstanding affiliation with the NBC Red Network . Due to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)-imposed freeze on new station licenses , channel 2 remained
9792-428: The case. Despite NBC historically being less tolerant of preemptions than other networks, KPRC-TV has at times preempted programming particularly in late night and daytime hours. While NBC has become more tolerant of preemptions than in previous years, it prefers that its affiliates clear the entire schedule whenever possible. Following its acquisition by Post-Newsweek, various programs have been preempted by KPRC-TV over
9936-492: The closure of NIS in November 1976 in six months, allowing for affiliates to find alternate programming. While some former NIS affiliates—including WRC and KQV —remained with all-news formats, the NBC-owned FM stations all adopted music formats. In 1979, NBC launched The Source , a secondary network that targeted younger listeners, providing news, short features and music specials to FM rock stations. The Source also featured
10080-486: The controversy, KPRC-TV hired longtime KHOU anchor Jerome Gray, who is African American, to anchor its early evening newscasts as well as serve as a managing editor, and moved former anchor Khambrel Marshall to executive producer, with Marshall eventually moving back on-air as a weekend meteorologist and host of Houston Newsmakers . Overall, by early 2007, KPRC-TV was in third place behind KHOU and KTRK. However, since Nielsen Media Research began using Local People Meters in
10224-577: The day, including during NBC prime time shows. For several years during the early 1990s, updates also aired during the overnight hours with producers and other newsroom personnel serving as anchors. During this time, national voiceover announcer Charlie Van Dyke served as the station's image announcer, with KPRC-TV personality Don Armstrong serving as the local promo announcer. With anchors such as Stone, Balleza, Nicholas, Jan Carson, Linda Lorelle , and Dan O'Rourke, weathermen Johnson and Ted Shaw, and sports anchors Ron Franklin, Craig Roberts and Lisa Malosky,
10368-580: The defections, stating at an annual meeting that "Leadership built over the years on a foundation of solid service cannot be snatched overnight by buying a few high-priced comedians. Leadership is not a laughing matter." In part due to the talent raids, NBC president Niles Trammell—who had been with NBC since 1929 and RCA since 1933—resigned to help establish WCKT in Miami with the Cox and Knight newspaper families. WCKT signed on with an NBC-TV affiliation, ostensibly as
10512-475: The distinctive three-note " NBC chimes ". The WEAF-led Red Network, with a robust affiliate lineup, was seen as carrying more popular, "big budget" sponsored programs in comparison to the WJZ-led Blue Network, which had a smaller lineup of often lower-powered stations. Both networks shared sales executives, off- and on-air staff, and production and studio facilities; it was not until c. 1938 that
10656-606: The end of 1975, NIS had 57 affiliates, significantly less than the 227 stations which carried either part or all of Monitor when it ceased; additionally, the NBC-owned NIS affiliates all failed to make a profit in 1975, but the network hoped for them to break even in the coming year. As 1976 progressed, however, only 62 affiliates remained with NIS after 18 months, some of which were competing against long-established news-focused stations. Assuming over $ 10 million (equivalent to $ 53.5 million in 2023) in losses, Thayer announced
10800-455: The ending of several of its 1990s-era staples such as Friends and Frasier , with the station even dropping Dr. Phil at one point and not even clearing the show for another Houston station to pick up. KPRC-TV was also hit with a 2006 boycott by civil rights activist Quanell X and other African American leaders following the demotion of African American anchors Linda Lorelle and Khambrel Marshall from its evening broadcasts. In response to
10944-528: The following TV stations: WNBW in Washington, D.C. (June 27, 1947), WNBK in Cleveland (October 30, 1948), WNBQ in Chicago (January 9, 1949) and KNBH in Los Angeles (January 16, 1949); all five TV stations contained the letter combination "NB" within their call signs. FM stations built and signed on by NBC included: KOA-FM, WRC-FM (June 1947), WMAQ-FM (October 13, 1948), WTAM-FM (December 6, 1948) and KNBR-FM (October 12, 1949). In hopes of buying
11088-535: The following year (originating from WTAM). Moving to the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1934 and to NBC Blue in 1935, Horlicks became the sponsor. NBC Blue sometimes carried newer and untried programs that, if successful, moved "up" to the Red Network at the behest of the sponsor, these shows included Amos 'n' Andy , Fibber McGee and Molly , Information, Please! , The Bob Hope Show and The Jack Benny Program . This practice of moving popular shows over to NBC Red, coupled with NBC Blue's reputation as
11232-458: The ground to reduce vibration, and when viewed from space via satellite map, the building resembled a film camera . In 1983, the Hobbys sold the Houston Post to MediaNews Group , while the family's broadcast holdings were reorganized as H&C Communications , with KPRC-AM-TV remaining as the flagship stations. (KPRC-FM was sold in 1958.) After 40 years under Hobby family ownership, KPRC-TV
11376-456: The latter program in its network-recommended 2 p.m. timeslot in August 2004 (with Maury moving to KHWB [channel 39, now KIAH] at the same time), but the issue became moot when the program was canceled in September 2007. During the 2000s, KPRC-TV was also among a handful of NBC affiliates that did not air Poker After Dark during its entire run, and likewise did not carry the short-lived Face
11520-431: The latter was a WB affiliate). KNWS-TV (channel 51, now KYAZ ), which had also picked up another preempted NBC daytime program, the talk show Leeza during the late 1990s, would pick up Passions in 2001 before the program moved to KPRC-TV in 2002 at 3:05 am. Following the expansion of Today to three hours in 1999, Maury (which previously filled the 9 a.m. hour) aired in place of Passions until KPRC-TV placed
11664-480: The long-running NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives from its network-recommended 1 pm. Central Time slot to 2 pm, where it replaced the canceled Meredith Vieira Show . Broome was replaced by former KPRC reporter and weekend anchor Courtney Zavala in 2018; Zavala departed KPRC in 2023 and was replaced by Tessa Barrera who also co-hosts The Rod Ryan Show on KTBZ-FM . While KPRC-TV generally airs NBC's programming lineup in pattern, this has not always been
11808-748: The main NBC Radio Network had been losing money in recent years, Thayer stressed NIS was not to replace it, nor was the main network threatened with closure. NBC assigned NIS to all but one of their FM stations—WNWS in New York (the former WNBC-FM), WNIS in Chicago (the former WJOI) and KNAI in San Francisco (the former KNBR-FM); WRC in Washington also became an affiliate, while WKYS (the former WRC-FM) assumed WRC's existing Top 40 format. Other major affiliates included WBAL-FM in Baltimore , KHVH in Honolulu , KQV in Pittsburgh and KRUX in Glendale–Phoenix. At
11952-591: The network outgrew these facilities. RCA agreed to a lease in May 1930 as the lead tenant for 30 Rockefeller Plaza which was still under construction , including a studio complex for NBC and theaters for RCA-owned RKO Radio Pictures . Named the RCA Building in May 1932, the deal was arranged through the Rockefeller Center 's founder and financier, John D. Rockefeller Jr. , along with GE chairman Owen D. Young, David Sarnoff and Raymond Hood. RCA had been spun off as its own fully-independent company in 1932 through
12096-430: The network sold WRC in Washington to Greater Media for $ 3.6 million (equivalent to $ 10.6 million in 2023). On December 11, 1985, GE announced it was acquiring RCA in a $ 6.28 billion deal (equivalent to $ 17.8 billion in 2023). Earlier in the year, RCA entertained merger talks with Universal Pictures parent MCA Inc. while fending off hostile takeover threats. GE requested in paperwork filed with
12240-458: The network threatened to pull their TV affiliation from Westinghouse's Philadelphia and Boston stations, and withhold an affiliation from their Pittsburgh TV property if Westinghouse did not agree to the trade. In August 1964 NBC's license for WRCV radio and television was renewed by the FCC—but only on the condition that the 1956 station swap be reversed. Following nearly a year of appeals by NBC,
12384-657: The network trunk lines. Such stations were usually offered to advertisers on both the Red and Blue Network line-ups. As of early 1939, the Red Network was divided into five geographical regions. The East consisted of 16 basic and 16 supplemental stations; the Midwest had 8 basic and 15 supplemental stations; the South had 7 basic and 30 supplemental stations; Mountain had 2 basic and 9 supplemental stations, and Pacific had 5 basic and 7 supplemental stations. For example, in Louisville, Kentucky,
12528-697: The network's airtime by 1942. The network provided a rich variety of classical concert broadcasts, including performances by the Metropolitan Opera (1931–1940) and the NBC Symphony Orchestra (1937–1954) conducted by Arturo Toscanini . Notable series include the General Motors Concerts (1929–1937) and The Eastman School of Music Symphony (1932–1942). From 1935 to 1950, it presented numerous live remote broadcasts of popular music from ballrooms, hotels, supper clubs and Army camps. Among
12672-496: The network's formation, NBC was a dominant force on the radio landscape. In 1932, out of the 40 clear-channel stations licensed by the Federal Radio Commission (FRC), 28 were affiliated with either NBC network, 13 were affiliated with CBS, and two were independents. By 1939, the Red and Blue networks were competing with CBS and the Mutual Broadcasting System in providing nationwide coverage. NBC advertising rate cards of
12816-601: The news with Rasco) for its evening newscasts, then known as Big 2 News (Smith would eventually return to Houston as the lead anchor at KHOU in 1975). In addition to Stone, other news anchors for Big 2 News included Cindy Martin, former ABC News correspondent George Caldwell (later George Sells) and New York anchorwoman Anna Bond. Three KHOU personalities, news anchor Bob Nicholas (in 1979), along with sportscaster Ron Franklin and news anchor Bill Balleza (both in 1980) would follow Stone to KPRC-TV. On September 15, 1980, KPRC-TV rebranded their newscasts from Big 2 News (which
12960-430: The only programs produced by the networks and were used to fill unsold time periods (affiliated stations had the option to "break away" from the network to air a local program during these periods) but the network had the "option" to take back the time period if a network sponsor wanted the time period. Dramatic programs, which comprised only 2 percent of program time on NBC Red in 1926, accounted for 25 percent of
13104-454: The only television station in Houston for four more years. CBS moved its affiliation to KGUL-TV (channel 11, now KHOU ) in 1953 and KTRK-TV (channel 13) took over the ABC affiliation when it signed on one year later. DuMont ceased operations in 1956, though it was briefly affiliated with now-defunct KNUZ-TV (channel 39, frequency now occupied by KIAH ). Because of its affiliation with NBC, KPRC-TV
13248-464: The original plan was to build additional stations throughout the United States, the "broadcasting boom" of 1922 resulted in a total of over 500 assorted broadcasting stations by the end of the year, so AT&T only found it necessary to build one additional outlet, WCAP in Washington, D.C. , owned by its Chesapeake & Potomac subsidiary. AT&T's radio network, commonly called the "WEAF chain",
13392-537: The overexposure of their genres, as well as the gradual expansion of NBC's Today (which KPRC-TV has historically aired in its entirety) from two to three hours in 1999, and eventually four hours by 2007. On August 23, 2016, KPRC-TV began airing a daily lifestyle and entertainment program called Houston Life and featured Jennifer Broome and Derrick Shore as hosts. Houston Life focuses on lifestyle and feature segments in and around Houston. This resulted in KPRC-TV bumping
13536-440: The period listed "basic" and "supplemental" affiliated stations. Advertisers were encouraged to buy time for their programs on the full "basic" line-up (plus any "supplemental" stations they wished) but this was open to negotiation. It was not unusual for Red Network advertisers to place shows on Blue Network stations in certain markets (and the other way around). Supplemental stations were generally located in smaller cities away from
13680-434: The physical newsroom continued to exist until the move to its current facilities in 2017. In addition, KPRC also added longtime WSVN voiceover Scott Chapin as promotional announcer during the late 1990s. In 1996, KPRC-TV debuted a half-hour 4 p.m. newscast. During this time, KPRC-TV won more awards and continued to avidly compete in the ratings with KTRK as well as a resurgent KHOU, even occasionally beating KTRK at 10 p.m. on
13824-612: The program ended after 2014). Historically, KPRC-TV was the original Houston affiliate for the nighttime syndicated editions of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! , both of which had their roots as NBC daytime game shows, from their respective 1983 and 1984 debuts until the game shows moved to rival KHOU in 1986. (The latter was picked up by KTRK in 2015.) From 1986 to 1993, KPRC-TV filled Wheel ' s 6:30 p.m. slot with various syndicated revivals of Hollywood Squares , Family Feud and You Bet Your Life before settling on Entertainment Tonight in 1993. The station also gained
13968-693: The program to be rescheduled, resulting in the preemption of the Firecracker 400 , then televised on NBC under an alternating basis with Fox (which in return carried the Daytona 500 held at the same track). In 2013, KPRC also preempted coverage of NBC's inaugural Formula 1 telecast of the 2013 Monaco Grand Prix (which aired locally at 6:30 a.m. due to time differences between the U.S. and Monaco ) with infomercials and local news. That incident led to Fox owned-and-operated station KRIV posting on social media that they would air that year's Coca-Cola 600 live with
14112-507: The radio network, the result of a management decision that the radio operations were incompatible with the company's primary role as the leading U.S. supplier of telephone services. The "radio group" quickly recognized the value of network programming, but was badly handicapped in its attempts to effectively compete. AT&T's assertion that only it could sell radio advertising meant that the radio group stations had to be commercial-free, and thus were financed by their owners, which soon became
14256-486: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title KPRC . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=KPRC&oldid=836539112 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Broadcast call sign disambiguation pages Airport disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
14400-601: The show the following March. The Sunday morning religious program The Eternal Light , for years the networks' only non-news program, ended its 45 year run on NBC Radio in 1989. Another NBC–branded program introduced following the Westwood One purchase was the morning newsmagazine First Light , hosted by Dirk Van, which debuted in April 1990. First Light was complimentary to Mutual's existing morning newsmagazine, America in The Morning hosted by Jim Bohannon . Within
14544-483: The show's characters. A brief view of the exterior of KPRC-TV's studio facility, which was marked with a "KVIK" sign out front, can be seen during a later version of the show's opening title sequence. One episode of the series features a scene in which two characters are conversing while walking down a second-floor hallway at "KVIK" (which was filmed at the KPRC building) that overlooks the first-floor lobby. The station's signal
14688-451: The significantly lower rate. Instead of NBC responding with a similar package, RCA's president, David Sarnoff, decided that this accounting method was legally and ethically wrong. NBC's performers did not agree, and most of the top stars, including Amos 'n' Andy , Jack Benny , Red Skelton , Edgar Bergen , Burns and Allen , Ed Wynn , Fred Waring , Al Jolson , Groucho Marx and Frank Sinatra moved from NBC to CBS. One notable exception
14832-518: The sole right to sell commercial time on radio stations, which it called "toll broadcasting", although for the next few years the idea of radio advertising remained controversial. AT&T also recognized that its longline telephone network could be used to connect radio stations together to form networks to share programming and costs. In early 1922, AT&T announced the establishment of a "toll" station in New York City and its intention to develop
14976-658: The station announced that former KPRC reporter and weekend anchor Daniella Guzman (who had anchored at NBC owned-and-operated stations WMAQ-TV in Chicago and KNBC in Los Angeles) will succeed Sachse; Guzman returned to KPRC-TV on January 12, 2022. Gutierrez departed from KPRC-TV in February 2022 and was later succeeded (officially on June 20) by Keith Garvin, a former ABC News correspondent who had joined KPRC-TV in August 2012 as news anchor and reporter. In 1958, Reader's Digest published an article on how one afternoon in 1953,
15120-550: The station in line with its fellow Post-Newsweek stations which adopted similar branding and perhaps to avoid confusion with News 24 Houston , a 24-hour local cable news channel owned by Time Warner Cable and Belo (then-owner of KHOU) which shut down just weeks before KPRC-TV's transition was complete. However, by this time the station had gone into a period a decline both in terms of quality and ratings. At one point, KPRC-TV's 5 p.m. newscast even reportedly finished in fifth place, behind English-language newscasts on KHOU and KTRK-TV,
15264-528: The station is also involved with Houston's current NFL team, the Texans (who began play in 2002 ), in that the station airs games when they are featured on NBC's Sunday Night Football , as well as broadcasting a Sunday morning pregame show during the season on Sunday afternoon game days. In addition to Oilers/Texans games, KPRC-TV has aired Houston Astros games via NBC's broadcast contract with Major League Baseball from 1962 to 1989 . KPRC-TV also served as
15408-668: The station now airs a rebroadcast of the 10 p.m. news at 12:37 a.m. When Passions debuted on NBC in 1999, KPRC-TV (along with Detroit sister station WDIV-TV) were the only NBC affiliates that preempted the soap opera until 2002, even though Passions ' predecessor Another World was cleared by KPRC for most if not all of its entire run. Around this time, KPRC, WDIV and Bonneville International –owned NBC affiliate KSL-TV in Salt Lake City declined to air Sunset Beach ; respectively, Sunset Beach aired on KTXH (channel 20), WKBD and KOOG (the former two were UPN affiliates and
15552-668: The station's 10,000 watt transmitter from being built, NBC converted W2XWG to commercial operation in 1944 as WEAF-FM . In order to further align the network's radio flagship with the network, on November 1, 1946, WEAF and WEAF-FM changed call signs to WNBC and WNBC-FM, respectively. West Coast flagship KPO followed suit, becoming KNBC on November 23, 1947. Following the lead of WNBT, NBC filed applications for multiple FM and television stations as adjuncts to their radio properties as early as 1943, including for TV outlets in Denver and San Francisco. The network ultimately built and signed on
15696-440: The station's 6 p.m. newscast had ratings gains, boasting its highest viewership in November and December, as well as significant increases in all other time periods; the 10 p.m. broadcast also grew, besting KTRK for first in the timeslot for several consecutive months that year. KPRC-TV retitled its newscasts back to Channel 2 News in 2015. In January 2020, Bill Balleza retired from KPRC-TV. Two months later, Kris Gutierrez, who
15840-408: The station's newscasts often competed for and even placed first at times. In the fall of 1994, shortly after Post-Newsweek Stations bought KPRC-TV, its newscasts were retitled as News 2 Houston with a somewhat more tabloid presentational style (in contrast to its more traditional format under local ownership) similar to that of its Detroit sister station, WDIV-TV. Two years later, KPRC-TV constructed
15984-522: The station). News anchors for KPRC in the 1990s included Brett Lea (who had anchored at KPRC-TV's former sister station under H&C Communications ownership, WTVF in Nashville), future Chicago news anchor Rob Johnson and Khambrel Marshall, a former sportscaster for KPRC's then-sister station WPLG-TV and news anchor at WCIX/WFOR-TV in Miami. In 2004, KPRC-TV retitled its newscasts as Local 2 News , putting
16128-427: The station, KPRC-TV nonetheless began broadcasting more syndicated talk shows in the afternoon including ones hosted by Montel Williams , Maury Povich , Jenny Jones , Ricki Lake and Jerry Springer , as well as infotainment news programs such as A Current Affair , Hard Copy , Extra , Access Hollywood and Inside Edition . Many of these shows eventually moved to other stations due to ratings declines and
16272-533: The strength of NBC's " Must See TV " programming of the 1990s. Notable personalities who rose to prominence in the News 2 Houston era included Dominique Sachse (who started as a traffic reporter before moving to an anchor role on the morning news), chief meteorologist Frank Billingsley (who left his position as KTRK's weekend meteorologist to succeed Doug Johnson as evening weather anchor), and investigative reporter Tony Kovaleski (whose reports resulted in numerous awards for
16416-434: The success of the all-night Larry King Show on Mutual. When Williams was critically injured in a 1982 airplane crash, he resumed his NBC Talknet show four weeks later, conducting it from his hospital room. Williams' show proved to be very successful and ultimately outlived NBC Talknet itself. NBC Radio Entertainment was established in December 1984 to handle the distribution of Jazz with David Sanborn and Live From
16560-890: The tag, "We've been promoting the race as live, and we'll show it live." In September 2007 , the first half-hour of the NFL Kickoff game between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts was shown on KPRC-TV with default audio in Spanish rather than English . KPRC inadvertently aired the secondary audio program feed provided by Telemundo (owned by NBC parent company NBCUniversal ). KPRC-TV presently broadcasts 39 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours each weekday, three hours on Saturdays and four hours on Sundays). The station also carries Sports Sunday , which has been
16704-575: The team's over-the-air flagship station from 1973 to 1978 . Channel 2 also aired Houston Rockets games via NBC's broadcast contract with the NBA from 1990 to 2002 , including the team's championship victories in 1994 and 1995 . However, KPRC-TV has been known for motorsports preemptions. In 2001, a contract with the Miss Texas Scholarship Pageant (which predated NBC's acquisition of partial NASCAR broadcast rights) did not allow for
16848-586: The two together. NBC Radio News, which was also folded into Mutual's news operations, saw most of its functions cease on April 17, 1999, after further consolidation merged both NBC and Mutual directly into CBS's radio news operations. Westwood One and its successor network continued to use "NBC" branding for some of its programming until 2020, partnering with NBC News to operate NBC News Radio from 2003 until 2014, and with NBC Sports for NBC Sports Radio . From 2016 onward, iHeartMedia has handled production and distribution of NBC News Radio. The 1926 formation of
16992-689: The weekend of January 25–26, 1975. From that point onward, the NBC Radio Network's main lineup consisted of hourly newscasts and commentary segments, plus religious programs and Meet the Press on Sundays. Monitor was succeeded with another major programming investment: the NBC News and Information Service (NIS). Conceived by NBC Radio president Jack G. Thayer as a secondary network for local stations wishing to adopt an all-news radio format, NIS supplied up to 55 minutes of news content per hour to stations. Thayer described NIS as "an over-all restyling" of NBC Radio providing "a more contemporary feel". While
17136-419: The weekend program umbrella Monitor (1955–1975), the all-news focused NBC News and Information Service (1975–1977) and the talk radio service NBC Talknet , all of which encountered varying degrees of success and failure. Following General Electric 's purchase of RCA in late 1986, GE sold the NBC Radio Network to Westwood One in 1987. Westwood One previously acquired Mutual in 1985 and gradually merged
17280-443: The years in a pattern similar to that of its Detroit sister station, WDIV-TV . Most notorious of all, the station dropped Late Night with Conan O'Brien from 1994 to 1996, leaving Houston as the largest market in the country to not air the program, with reruns of various tabloid talk shows including the aforementioned Ricki Lake and Jenny Jones , tabloid news programs such as Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood , and even
17424-456: Was Bob Hope, who not only stayed, but moved to NBC television; by the time of his retirement in 1996, Hope's association with NBC spanned nearly 60 years. As a result of the defections, CBS boasted in 1949 of having sixteen of the twenty top rated programs. The consequences carried over to television, where CBS maintained its newfound dominance for decades. Paley personally worked to woo the performers, while Sarnoff professed his indifference to
17568-614: Was acquired by Weigel Broadcasting in December 2020 and became a MeTV owned-and-operated station. Start TV moved from KPRC 2.4 to 2.2 on the day of the switch. KPRC-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television . The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 35, using virtual channel 2. On that date, tropospheric ducting resulted in KPRC-TV's digital signal being receivable as far away as Alexandria, Louisiana , where KPRC-TV virtual channel 2.1
17712-532: Was already doing for WEAF. However, AT&T generally refused access to its high-quality telephone lines to competitors, so these efforts generally tried to use telegraph lines , which were found to be incapable of good quality audio transmissions. Use of high-powered stations and shortwave connections were also investigated, but none of these approaches matched the reliability and quality of AT&T's telephone links. The first RCA network broadcast occurred on November 17, 1923, when WJZ rebroadcast play-by-play of
17856-547: Was also a challenge to CBS 's Sunday night lineup, much of which had come from NBC, including—and especially—Jack Benny. Despite critical praise, The Big Show ' s initial success failed to last as NBC cancelled it after only two years, purportedly losing a million dollars on the project. To reflect RCA's ownership, some of NBC's radio and television stations adopted "RCA"-derived call signs in October 1954: WNBC/WNBT in New York became WRCA-AM-FM-TV, WNBW in Washington became WRC-TV, and KNBH in Los Angeles became KRCA. By 1960,
18000-621: Was also one of the first stations to air telethons , raising $ 28,000 for the American Cancer Society in 1950. It carried the MDA Labor Day Telethon every Labor Day from 1970 to 2012 (KPRC's status as an MDA "Love Network" affiliate ended in 2013, when the telethon discontinued its syndicated distribution model and moved to ABC as a short-form program rebranded as the MDA Show of Strength , where it aired locally on KTRK-TV until
18144-514: Was first developed in the northeastern United States . The first joint broadcast was a one-time effort made on January 4, 1923, when a program WEAF originated was relayed by WNAC in Boston, Massachusetts . The first continuous link was established on July 1, 1923, when Colonel Edward H. R. Green arranged for AT&T to provide WEAF programming for rebroadcast by his station, WMAF at South Dartmouth, Massachusetts . The first transcontinental link
18288-561: Was formally renamed as the American Broadcasting Company on June 15, 1945. NBC and RCA were one of the key forces in the development of television in the 1930s and 1940s, dating back to New York City experimental station W2XBS in 1928. Before the American entry into World War II in 1941, W2XBS was officially licensed as WNBT (channel 1) . NBC also launched W2XWG, an experimental Apex station, in April 1939; after planned FM station W51NY failed due to World War II shortages preventing
18432-872: Was in the rear of the lot. The station became the source of controversy after some television viewers in the United Kingdom claimed to receive its signal on September 14, 1953, three years after the original signal was transmitted. However, this was actually a hoax . Over the years, the Hobby family bought several other television stations, including KVOA-TV in Tucson , KCCI in Des Moines , WTVF in Nashville , WESH in Orlando , and KSAT-TV in San Antonio . In March 1972, KPRC-TV moved into
18576-621: Was included as part of the sale of its sister television station . NBC had no interest in owning a daytime-only station in the shadow of its powerful Hartford, Connecticut , affiliate, WTIC , so the network sold WKNB in 1960. The Pittsburgh stations were sold in 1972. In 1956, NBC sought to get an owned-and-operated television station in the Philadelphia market, so it forced a station ownership/ call sign swap with Westinghouse Broadcasting . NBC acquired Westinghouse's KYW radio and WPTZ television in Philadelphia (which became WRCV-AM-TV, for
18720-633: Was included in Emmis's multi-station purchase; as Emmis already owned WFAN in New York City, it sold that station's license and transferred the intellectual property onto the WNBC license, supplanting it outright (WNBC was thus regarded in media coverage as "ceasing operation"). The last station to be sold, KNBR, was delayed due to a long-term play-by-play contract with the San Francisco Giants that ran through
18864-617: Was lost. The Blue network became the "NBC Blue Network, Inc." and the NBC Red became "NBC Red Network, Inc." Effective January 10, 1942, the two networks had their operations formally divorced, and the Blue Network was referred to on the air as either "Blue" or "Blue Network," with its official corporate name being Blue Network Company, Inc. Consequently, the NBC Red Network became known on-air as simply "NBC" on September 1, 1942. The FCC order
19008-462: Was made in early 1924, and that fall a coast-to-coast network of 23 stations broadcast a speech by President Calvin Coolidge . By the end of 1925, there were 26 affiliates in the standard "WEAF chain", extending west to St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri . One early success for the "WEAF chain" was The Eveready Hour , the first sponsored program to be broadcast over a radio network, paid for by
19152-500: Was modified in 2004 for HD . The "two" in KPRC-TV's current logo is vertically parallelogrammed and similar to former logos used by KCBS-TV in Los Angeles (1994) and WMAR-TV in Baltimore (1998) but with the CBS and ABC logos (respectively) in place of the NBC one; neither logo uses the Texas star. The film and video archives of KPRC have been partially digitized by the Texas Archive of
19296-544: Was originally owned by hotelier W. Albert Lee and carried programming from all four networks of the day—NBC, CBS , ABC , and DuMont . After a year of difficulty, Lee sold the station to the Hobby family, owners of the Houston Post and Houston's oldest radio station, KPRC (950 AM) and KPRC-FM (99.7, now KODA at 99.1). The Hobby Family took control on June 1, 1950, and changed the television station's call sign to match its radio stations on July 3. Although it appears that
19440-434: Was owned by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) with New York City radio station WEAF (renamed WNBC in 1946, WRCA in 1954 and again as WNBC in 1960) as its flagship station . Following the emergence of television as the dominant entertainment medium and much of NBC Radio's talent migrating both to CBS and NBC television, the network made multiple investments in programming in hopes of retaining relevance. These included
19584-517: Was previously with KPRC-TV from 2003 to 2007, rejoined KPRC-TV as Balleza's replacement. Gutierrez, in between his stints for KPRC-TV, was a Fox News Channel correspondent and an anchor for WBBM-TV in Chicago, as well as for NBC owned-and-operated station KXAS-TV in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex . In January 2021, KPRC-TV's newscasts were retitled as KPRC 2 News . Dominique Sachse departed from KPRC-TV on October 29, 2021. Three days later,
19728-463: Was seen as an achievement for RCA's general manager David Sarnoff , who was later regarded as the founder of NBC. NBC's network operations were officially launched with a gala broadcast beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on November 15, 1926. In anticipation, one newspaper reported: "The most pretentious broadcasting program ever presented, featuring among other stars of the theatrical, concert and radio field, some of whom have never been heard on
19872-534: Was seen in place of KALB-TV 's virtual channel 5.1 on digital receivers (both stations transmit their digital signals on UHF channel 35). As part of the SAFER Act , KPRC kept its analog signal on the air until July 12 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters . Prior to the digital transition, KPRC-TV
20016-560: Was sent over an AT&T transcontinental network of 23 stations, but the WJZ chain's broadcast of the speech was carried by only four stations, all located in the East. A few weeks after AT&T consolidated its radio operations into the Broadcasting Company of America subsidiary, it agreed to sell BCA's assets to RCA for approximately $ 1 million (equivalent to $ 17.2 million in 2023),
20160-539: Was sold to The Washington Post Company on April 22, 1994; an attempt to sell the station to Young Broadcasting in 1992 was unsuccessful. (The Houston Post was then bought by the Hearst Corporation and absorbed into its Houston Chronicle , with the last edition printed on April 18, 1995.) In 2004, KPRC-TV was rebranded "Local 2". In January 2015, KPRC-TV dropped the "Local" and began simply calling itself "Channel 2". In December 2015, KPRC-TV broke ground on
20304-581: Was the first station in Houston to broadcast a program in color and was subsequently the first to broadcast its entire schedule in color. In March 1953, the station operated its first permanent studio located on 3014 Post Oak Road, which later became the Lakes on Post Oak near the Galleria shopping complex in Uptown Houston . The studio building was along the street frontage, while the KPRC radio transmitter site
20448-450: Was the only Houston station on the VHF dial whose cable channel position did not match its over-the-air analog channel. Due to interference from the low-band VHF terrestrial signal, Comcast Xfinity carried KPRC-TV in analog SD on channel 12. It is carried on digital HD on channels 612 and 1002. Other cable systems on the outer edges of the Houston media market carry KPRC-TV on cable channel 2. It
20592-555: Was ultimately upheld by the U.S Supreme Court in National Broadcasting Co. v. United States , asserting that the FCC had authority to regulate the networks and their associations with affiliates. Consequently, the Blue Network was sold on July 30, 1943, to candy magnate Edward J. Noble for $ 8 million (equivalent to $ 141 million in 2023). When the deal closed on October 12, the Blue Network came under ownership of "American Broadcasting System, Inc." The Blue Network
20736-480: Was used since 1969) to Channel 2 News (presented on air as 2News ). During this time, KTRK overtook KPRC-TV and became the dominant news station in Houston, even though KPRC-TV would continue to fare a strong second from the late 1970s well into the early 1990s as KHOU began to struggle with management and ownership issues during this period. From 1985 to 1992, the station's newscasts were branded as ChannelTwoNews , broadcasting round-the-clock news updates throughout
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