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| Channels | |
| Branding | CBS Colorado;CBS News Colorado |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | December 24, 1953 (71 years ago) (1953-12-24) |
Former call signs | KOA-TV (1953–1983) |
Former channel number(s) | Analog: 4 (VHF, 1953–2009) |
| NBC (1953–1995) | |
Call sign meaning | "Colorado's News Channel" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 47903 |
| ERP | 1,000kW |
| HAAT | 374 m (1,227 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 39°43′50.6″N105°13′55.6″W / 39.730722°N 105.232111°W /39.730722; -105.232111 |
| Translator(s) | see§ Translators |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
KCNC-TV (channel 4), brandedCBS Colorado, is atelevision station inDenver, Colorado, United States, serving as the market'sCBS outlet. It isowned and operated by the network'sCBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios on Lincoln Street (between East 10th and 11th Avenues) indowntown Denver; its transmitter is based onLookout Mountain, nearGolden.
The station first signed on the air at 6:30 p.m. on December 24, 1953, as KOA-TV. KOA-TV brought NBC programming to the area which prior to the station's launch, was temporarily discontinued. The station aired an inaugural program followed by the Christmas featureThe Lamb and the Manger.[2] Founded by Metropolitan TV Company (partly owned by famed comedianBob Hope, and not to be confused with a similarly named company later known asMetromedia),[3] owners of KOA radio (850 AM and 103.5 FM, nowKRFX), channel 4 immediately assumed theNBC affiliation from KBTV (channel 9, nowKUSA), due to KOA radio's longtime affiliation with and ownership by theNBC Red Network.
In 1965, KOA-TV began carrying most of NBC'sAmerican Football League game telecasts as the network obtained the league's broadcast television rights (with play-by-play announcing duties handled byCurt Gowdy); however,Denver Broncos home games aired by the network had to beblacked out due to the team's inability to sell out tickets to the games (NFL blackout rules in effect at the time required teams to sell all tickets for home games in order to allow them to be broadcast in the team's primarymarket; the league later lowered the designated sales threshold to allow home game broadcasts to 75% of all tickets, and as of 2015, the blackout rules have been lifted indefinitely), this partnership continues to this day with CBS (with exception of a hiatus from the second week of the 1995 season to end of the 1997 season, when most games moved to KUSA in that interim period). In 1967, KOA-TV ran an award-winning documentaryThe Acid Test,LSD; hosted by news editor Bob Palmer, the film took five months to produce with more than 5,000 feet of film shot. Photographers involved included Bill Baker, Medill Barnes, Allan Bisset, Jerry Curran, Sam Houston and Barry Trader.
In 1968, Metropolitan TV Company sold KOA-AM-TV toGeneral Electric for $10 million. General Electric sold the KOA and KOAQ radio stations toA. H. Belo Corporation in 1983 for $22 million, as part of the company's overall exit from broadcasting. GE retained channel 4, but was required by FCC regulations at the time—which forbade TV and radio stations in the same city, but with different owners from sharing the same call letters—to change the station's call letters to KCNC-TV (standing for "Colorado's News Channel"), which it officially adopted on August 12 of that year.
In 1986, General Electric acquired NBC, resulting in GE's return to broadcasting and KCNC becoming the firstowned-and-operated station of a major network in the state of Colorado. In 1987, control of the station has been transferred from GE itself to NBC, becoming a proper O&O.[4] By 1990, KCNC-TV devoted nearly all of its programming hours outside of network shows to locally produced news programs, broadcasting nearly 40 hours of newscasts each week.General manager Roger Ogden felt his station's money was better spent on local programming, rather than paying syndication distributors to acquire nationally syndicated shows. In 1990, KCNC paid $11,000 to the market's PBS member stationKRMA-TV (channel 6) to carry the station's election coverage (using KCNC's reporters), in order to allow channel 4 to air NBC's Tuesday night lineup, includingMatlock andIn the Heat of the Night.[5]
By early 1995, KCNC-TV was airing 41 hours of news a week, and the station programmed either local-interest programming or newscasts at times when NBC did not have network programming, because the station did not buy syndicated programming. This ended almost as soon as Group W/CBS took over after the affiliation switch.
On July 14, 1994, CBS andWestinghouse Electric Corporation agreed to a long-term affiliation deal that would result in three of Westinghouse's television stations (longtime ABC affiliateWJZ-TV inBaltimore and longtime NBC stationsKYW-TV inPhiladelphia andWBZ-TV inBoston) become CBS affiliates, joining the company's two longtime CBS affiliates (KDKA-TV inPittsburgh andKPIX inSan Francisco).[6] The deal initially called for CBS to sell its owned-and-operated Philadelphia stationWCAU; however, CBS later discovered that if it sold WCAU in order to affiliate with KYW-TV, it would have had to pay heftycapital gains taxes on the profit of the transaction.[7] To alleviate this problem, in November 1994, NBC decided to swap ownership of KCNC-TV andKUTV inSalt Lake City (which NBC had acquired the month before), along with theVHF channel 4 allocation and transmitter inMiami to CBS in exchange for WCAU and theVHF channel 6 allocation and transmitter in Miami, which for legal purposes made the deal an even trade.[8]
KCNC-TV became Denver's CBS affiliate at 12:07 a.m. on September 10, 1995, after a rerun ofSaturday Night Live ended, as part of a three-way affiliation swap involving each of the market's"Big Three" network affiliates. Longtime CBS affiliateKMGH-TV (channel 7) switched its affiliation toABC through a multi-station affiliation agreement with KMGH's owners at the time,McGraw-Hill; while longtime ABC affiliate KUSA took the NBC affiliation through a multi-station affiliation agreement with theGannett Company, which itself was spurred by the initial affiliation deal that was reached betweenNew World Communications and Fox. (Gannett had already owned several NBC affiliates at the time, as is the case in the present day with successor companyTegna Inc.) Under the terms of the CBS/Westinghouse deal, CBS a sold controlling ownership interest (55%) in KCNC to Westinghouse's broadcasting divisionGroup W. The previous month on August 1, Westinghouse had acquired CBS for $5.4 billion; once the merger was finalized on November 24, 1995, KCNC-TV became a CBS-owned-and-operated station, making it one of a handful of television stations that have been owned by two different networks at separate points in its history.[9] As of 2025[update], KCNC, along withCW outletKWGN-TV (through its ownerNexstar Media Group) are the only television stations in the Denver market that are owned-and-operated stations of one of the five majorEnglish language broadcast networks (concurrent to the CBS-Westinghouse merger,Fox had acquiredKDVR (channel 31), which it would eventually sell toLocal TV in 2008; it is now owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside KWGN-TV).
The station was featured in the 2007 filmBlades of Glory; along with other Denver area stations, it has also been mentioned on the Colorado-setComedy Central seriesSouth Park. In one episode, Ron Zappolo is referenced as still being with channel 4 (although at the time, Zappolo served as evening anchor at KDVR).[10]
KCNC became the last of the "big 3" stations in Denver to start a digital subchannel, launchingDecades on January 23, 2015.[11][12] On July 24, 2018, CBS andWeigel Broadcasting announced the creation of theStart TV subchannel which launched on September 3, 2018.
In March 2023, the station rebranded as "CBS Colorado", as part of a rebranding of all of the CBS owned-and-operated stations. At that time the newscasts were rebranded asCBS News Colorado, which was already the name of KCNC-TV's streaming news service.
As an owned-and-operated station, KCNC-TV clears the entire CBS network schedule; however, it is one of the few CBS stations that airs theCBS Weekend News (the Saturday and Sunday editions of theCBS Evening News) a half-hour earlier than most affiliates due to its hour-long 5 p.m. newscast (aligning it with the program's recommended timeslot in theCentral Time Zone) andCBS Saturday Morning (the Saturday edition ofCBS Mornings) two hours earlier than most CBS stations (aligning it with the program's recommended timeslot in theEastern Time Zone).
In1998,CBS acquired the broadcast rights to theAmerican Football Conference of theNational Football League (which absorbed the AFL and the Broncos in 1970), moving the conference's game telecasts to the network fromNBC (and with it, from KUSA, which aired most games between the second week of the 1995 season to the end of the 1997 regular season [andSuper Bowl XXXII in January 1998, which the Broncos won]); as a result, KCNC regained the local television rights to the Broncos (coinciding with theseason in which the team won itssecond straight Super Bowl championship and fan favoriteJohn Elway played his final season with the Broncos before his retirement from the NFL). Ironically, KCNC would later carry the Broncos' win inSuper Bowl 50, the last game of quarterbackPeyton Manning before he retired.
As an NBC affiliate, KCNC aired anyDenver Nuggets basketball contests through theNBA on NBC beginning in 1990 until the station's 1995 disaffiliation with the network.
KCNC-TV presently broadcasts 39 hours, 55 minutes of locally produced newscasts each week (with 6 hours, 35 minutes on Mondays through Thursdays; 6 hours, 5 minutes on Fridays; and3+1⁄2 hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); in addition, the station produces the public affairs programTogether with Karen Leigh (which airs every Friday at 6:30 p.m., with a rebroadcast on Sunday mornings at 7:30 a.m.) and sports highlight/discussion programsSaturday Sports Extra (which airs during the final 13 minutes of the Saturday 10 p.m. newscast) andAutoNation All Access (which airs after the Sunday 10 p.m. newscast).
In 1969, Bob Palmer, who served as anchor of the 10 p.m. newscast, left channel 4 for KLZ-TV (now KMGH-TV), to replace John Rayburn, who left for an anchor job at a station inKansas City. In the 1970s, the station ran its late evening newscasts on weekends at 11 p.m. (one hour later than the typical late news timeslot in theMountain Time Zone). In 1981, KBTVnews director Roger Ogden was hired by KOA-TV as its general manager; during his tenure, Ogden hired Marv Rockford and John Haralson, who had both worked alongside Ogden at channel 9, to join the station's news staff. Ogden named George Caldwell, Sam Allred and Ron Zappolo as its main anchor team. Janet Zappala and Alan Berg joined the station as well that year. In 1983, Marv Rockford was promoted to the news director position; while Peter Rogot was named the station's weekend anchor and Marty Aarons joined Bob Palmer and Janet Zappala as anchors; other staffers that joined channel 4 during 1983 included Wendy Bergen, Karen Layton, Marcia Neville, Tom Raponi and Mike Silva.
In 1982, KMGH-TV anchor Bill Stuart left to join KOA-TV, joining several other new hires such as Linda Farrell, Sylvia Cordy,Jeff Hullinger, Steve Anderson, Stephanie White, Merrie Lynn,Tom Martino and Tom Baer. That June, KOA-TV debuted a half-hour 4:30 p.m. newscast titledFirst News, which was co-anchored by Larry Green and Linda Farrell, with Suzanne McCarroll as the featured reporter on the new show; the program would eventually expand to an hour-long broadcast beginning at 4 p.m., and remained on the station until it was canceled on May 26, 2006, in order to airThe Oprah Winfrey Show in the timeslot. Also that year, the station's news helicopter ("Copter 4") crashed into a snowy stand of pine trees nearLarkspur, while en route to the crash site of a commuter airplane, killing KOA-TV pilot/reporter Karen Key (who was the first female pilot of a news helicopter in the country) and mechanic Larry Zane; autopsy results later reported that Key had ablood alcohol content at the time of the crash at 0.09 (just below the legal limit of 0.10).
On the evening of June 18, 1984,Alan Berg—an attorney who hosted programs on both KOA radio and KOA-TV and was known for taking a largely liberal stand on issues, using an abrasive and combative demeanor to callers and guests with opposing views at times—was shot and killed in the driveway of his home by members of aWhite Nationalist group calledThe Order. The incident was adapted intoSteven Dietz's 1988 playGod's Country and the 1988 filmBetrayed, as well as the filmBrotherhood of Murder (1999). Oliver Stone's1988 film ofEric Bogosian's playTalk Radio drew inspiration from Berg's plight.
In 2002, Marv Rockford was forced out as general manager of KCNC and replaced by Walt DeHaven. Meanwhile, Tony Lopez moved fromSan Antonio to join channel 4. In 2003, Molly Hughes and Bill Stuart served as KCNC's primary evening news team for its 10 p.m. newscast, with Brian Maass and Rick Sallinger as reporters. On April 21, 2008, Karen Leigh (who previously worked atMinneapolis sister stationWCCO-TV) replaced Molly Hughes as co-anchor of the weeknight newscasts. KCNC also began broadcasting its local newscasts inhigh definition on that date, becoming the second television station in the Denver market (after KUSA) to make the conversion and the market's third station to broadcast all of its programming, including syndicated programs, in the format (behind KUSA and its sister stationKTVD (channel 20)).
The 4 p.m. newscast returned to the schedule on June 13, 2011, only lasting less than three months before it was dropped a second time after the September 2, 2011, broadcast and replaced three days later byDr. Phil.[13] On February 3, 2013, KCNC debuted a "Mobile Weather Lab", a technologically equippedChevrolet Suburban (which is retrofitted for off-road use and is primarily used during the weekday morning newscasts; and the equipped-based model was manufactured byGeneral Motors-ownedChevrolet) that is used for storm tracking and is equipped with a weather station that provides live data.[14] On January 13, 2014, KCNC expanded its weekday morning newscast to 2½ hours, with the addition of a half-hour at 4:30 a.m.
KCNC-TV launched a streaming news service, CBSN Denver (now CBS News Colorado) on February 19, 2020, as part of a rollout of similar services (each a localized version of the nationalCBSN service) across the CBS-owned stations.[15]
KCNC re-added an hour-long 4 p.m. newscast on weekdays on September 12, 2022.
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | KCNC-TV | CBS |
| 4.2 | 480i | StartTV | Start TV | |
| 4.3 | Dabl | Dabl | ||
| 4.4 | MeTV | MeTV (KREG-TV) | ||
| 4.5 | Catchy | Catchy Comedy | ||
| 4.6 | Story | Story Television |
KCNC-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, overVHF channel 4, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United Statestransitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transitionUHF channel 35, usingvirtual channel 4.[26]
As part of theSAFER Act,[27] KCNC kept its analog signal on the air until July 12 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop ofpublic service announcements from theNational Association of Broadcasters.
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofColorado | ||
|---|---|---|
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| MyNetworkTV | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| PBS |
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| Telemundo | ||
| Univision | ||
| UniMás | ||
| Other |
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(*) – indicates station is in one of Colorado's primaryTV markets (**) – indicates station is in an out-of-state TV market, but reaches a small portion of Colorado | ||
