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| Channels for KOBI | |
| Channels for KOTI | |
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| Owner | California Oregon Broadcasting, Inc. (Smullin family) |
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Licensing authority | FCC |
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| Translator(s) | see§ Translators |
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| Website | kobi5 |
KOBI (channel 5) is atelevision station inMedford, Oregon, United States, affiliated withNBC. It serves as theflagship property of locally based California Oregon Broadcasting, Inc. KOBI's studios are located on South Fir Street in downtown Medford, and its transmitter is located atop Kings Mountain, 28 miles (45 km) northwest of the city.
KOTI (channel 2) inKlamath Falls operates as a full-timesatellite of KOBI; this station maintains anews bureau on South 7th Street in downtown Klamath Falls and a transmitter atop Stukel Mountain. KOTI covers areas of southwest and south-central Oregon that receive a marginal to non-existentover-the-air signal from KOBI, although there is significant overlap between the two stations'contours otherwise. KOTI is a straightsimulcast of KOBI; on-air references to KOTI are limited toFederal Communications Commission (FCC)-mandated hourlystation identifications during newscasts and other programming.
Together, KOBI and KOTI serve 12 mostly rural counties in southern Oregon and northernCalifornia.
KOBI was founded on August 1, 1953, by Bill Smullin, a 20-year veteran of the television industry.[3] Its call letters were originally KBES-TV ("Best TV"), and it carried programming from all four major networks.[4] However, for its first 25 years, it was primarily aCBS affiliate.
Smullin soon realized that KBES' signal was not strong enough to cover all of southern Oregon, which the FCC had ruled was part of the Medford market, so he bought the license for channel 2 in Klamath Falls, and KOTI debuted on August 12, 1956. Itscall letters KOTI are believed to have come from the city's local four-year college, theOregon Institute of Technology (formerly Oregon Technical Institute). Originally, KOTI carried all three networks.
On September 21, 1964, Smullin changed the call letters to KTVM.[3] When channel 10 was allocated to Medford, Smullin helped the owners ofKMED get the license, as well as space on his transmitter on Blackwell Hill. Partly because of his help, KMED-TV (channel 10, nowKTVL) signed on in 1961. In 1968, KTVM moved to a powerful transmitter on King Mountain and changed its calls to the current KOBI.
By 1978, KOBI had become a primaryABC affiliate, which by then had become the top network.[5] However, they continued to carry some CBS programs (such as theCBS Evening News and several daytime shows). In 1983, KOBI picked up NBC from KTVL, which switched to CBS. It carried a few ABC programs for another year untilKDRV (channel 12) signed on.
For many years, KOBI branded itself as "Channel 5M", for its channel bullet designation within the Oregon State/Southern Oregon State edition ofTV Guide, with a logo showing a "5" on anInterstate Highway shield, reflecting the area's major interstate highway,I-5. This type of station theming around interstate numbers is common with radio stations, but rare with television stations. The interstate shield motif was later extended to KOTI andKRCR. KOBI rebranded itself as "The News Channel" in 1998 and as "NBC 5" in 2004, but continues to theme its station logo around the I-5 shield.
Bill Smullin retired in 1985 and was succeeded by his daughter, Patricia C. "Patsy" Smullin, who serves as owner and president today.
KOBI added aDT2 channel forAccuWeather'slocal and national weather digital channel to KOBI's digital signal in early 2008. It was replaced byThis TV in January 2014, thenCozi TV in December 2019. In May 2022,Quest andTwist were added.[6]
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During the 1980s, KOBI broadcast a popular interactivegame show calledJackpot Bingo, hosted by Tom Carnes. The show aired beforeDays of Our Lives and took after the popularDialing for Dollars format.Jackpot Bingo gave contestants the opportunity to win up to $5,000 in cash by playing blackoutbingo. However, contestants usually won the minimum $200 prize. Carnes was replaced by Sally Holliday in 1987 and the show was renamed$10,000 Jackpot Bingo as the prize money doubled. Still, contestants usually won $200. The show garnered the highest ratings for its time slot, although it was canceled in 1988.
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(October 2015) |
TheAcademic Challengequiz bowl program, similar toGE College Bowl, places local high schools in a head-to-head battle for the championship title and over $40,000 in scholarship money.
Twentyhigh schools from Southern Oregon and Northern California participate in theAcademic Challenge. Each school brings in a team of five students, four participating and one alternate, who answer a series of questions from the host, NBC 5 chief meteorologist Jeff Heaton, on topics such as history, math, literature, current events and a variety of other categories.
At the end of this double-elimination competition the final two teams split the scholarship money (60% to the championship team, 40% to the runner-up team).
The idea forAcademic Challenge started atKRCR-TV in Redding in 1998 and was hosted by Gary Gunter from 1998 to 2005, then Tim Mapes from then on. NBC 5's newly hired general manager Bob Wise brought the identically formatted program to southern Oregon in 2005.
The program regularly aired on Sundays at 6:30 p.m., or afterNBC Sunday Night Football andNBC 5 News during theNFL season, but has since been canceled.
In 2005, KOBI started a special program called theSouthern Oregon Meth Project to educate viewers and concerned citizens about the dangers ofmethamphetamine and what can be done to prevent it. The project was headed up by KOBI's lead news anchor Christina Anderson, where she remained until her departure forKOVR inSacramento in 2010.[7]
KOBI presently broadcasts 22 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with four hours each weekday and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays).
KOTI previously produced its own newscasts (separate from KOBI) focusing on the eastern portion of the Medford–Klamath Fallsmarket. The newscasts includedNBC 2 News at 5, 6 and 11 p.m. Lyle Ahrens had served as the Klamath Basin news bureau chief, but retired in 2020.
At one time, KOTI aired a separate newscast at 6:30 p.m. with its own news bureau before becoming a repeater of KOBI.
AfterKMVU-DT discontinued its 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts in December 2023, KOBI added a 10 p.m. newscast to its Cozi TV subchannel on January 8, 2024.[8]
The stations' signals aremultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KOBI | KOTI | KOBI | KOTI | |||
| 5.1 | 2.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | KOBI-TV | KOTI-TV | NBC |
| 5.2 | 2.2 | 480i | COZI | Cozi TV | ||
| 5.3 | 2.3 | QUEST | Quest | |||
KOBI shut down its analog signal, overVHF channel 5, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were totransition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transitionUHF channel 15 to VHF channel 5 for post-transition operations.[11][12]
KOTI shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on February 17, 2009. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 13, usingvirtual channel 2.[13]
KOBI has a UHF translator,K32DY-D, to serve non-antenna-rotator-equipped households between Medford andAshland. It is located onMt. Baldy, east ofPhoenix.