KAUT-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = KAUT-TV
city =
station_
station_slogan = An Oklahoma Original
station_branding = OK 43
analog = 43 (UHF)
digital = 40 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = MyNetworkTV
network =
founded =
airdate = September 24, 1980
location = Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
callsign_meaning = Gene AUTry
former_callsigns = KAUT (1980-1992)
KTLC (1992-1998)
KPSG (1998)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Local TV, LLC
licensee = Local TV Oklahoma License, LLC
sister_stations = KFOR-TV
former_affiliations = independent (1980-1986)
Fox (1986-1990)
PBS (1991-1998)
UPN (1998-2006)
effective_radiated_power = 1950 kW (analog)
1000 kW (digital)
HAAT = 475 m (analog)
436.9 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 50182
coordinates = coord|35|35|19.7|N|97|29|3.2|W|type:landmark_scale:2000 (analog)
coord|35|35|52.1|N|97|29|23.2|W|type:landmark_scale:2000 (digital)
homepage = [http://www.ok43.com/ www.ok43.com]

KAUT-TV (branded as simply "OK 43") is the affiliate for the Fox Entertainment Group owned MyNetworkTV television network in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. KAUT is owned by Local TV, which also owns Oklahoma City's NBC affiliate KFOR-TV ("Oklahoma's News Channel 4"). The station's transmitter is located in Oklahoma City.

The station broadcasts its analog signal on UHF channel 43, and its digital signal on UHF channel 40. On cable, KAUT-TV can be seen on cable channel 16 on Cox Oklahoma City, on cable channel 14 in Pauls Valley/Wynnewood and Chickasha, on cable channel 23 on Lindsay, and on channel 25 on Crescent. The station is also available to DirecTV and Dish Network customers within the Oklahoma City market.

History

Founded by actor Gene Autry, KAUT signed on in 1980. It was the sixth television station and the fourth UHF television station in Oklahoma City, after KGMC (now KOCB), KOKH-TV, and the short-lived KTVQ. The station was owned by his Golden West Broadcasters, which also owned LA's legendary KTLA. It was a groundbreaking station, airing an all local new format called "Newswatch 43" which ran initially from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. before expanding to 7 p.m. VEU, a scrambled subscription based service, signed on at 5 p.m. initially and 7 p.m. after the expansion of news programming.

In late 1981, the plug was pulled on "Newswatch", and KAUT introduced a temporary format of old Western films, most of them starring Autry. Innovation continued in early 1982 with the launch of a two-hour local dance show called "TMC 43", which ran from 4-6 p.m. From 6-7 p.m., KAUT aired a live local country dance show from a local bar called "Oklahoma Country Live". Both shows were gone by fall 1982. By then, some dramas and sitcoms had been added.

The station dropped VEU in 1983. Initially, it added programming from Financial News Network at night and Independent Network News. Later in the year, FNN was dropped and KAUT added more prime time movies and drama shows. In 1984, KAUT added morning cartoons as well as a few more sitcoms in the evening.

The station became a charter Fox affiliate in 1986, carrying "The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers" and later the fourth network's early original series, such as "Married... with Children" and "21 Jump Street" In addition, more afternoon cartoons were added. Golden West sold KAUT to Heritage Broadcasting in the mid 1980s. In 1987, Pappas Telecasting made a proposal to buy KOKH. In the deal it would also buy the programming of KAUT and KGMC and merge them into KOKH's schedule; KGMC would switch to a religious/home shopping format, while Heritage would agree to sell KAUT to the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority, the state's PBS network. KOKH would then take over as Oklahoma City's Fox affiliate. In 1988, the deal fell through. All three stations continued on with general entertainment schedules.

After KOKH went on the market in 1990, Heritage bought it and moved KAUT's programming there, including the Fox affiliation. Heritage then sold KAUT to OETA. In the summer of 1991 it became KTLC, the city's second PBS station. It was known as "The Literacy Channel." Despite the name, however, its emphasis wasn't entirely on literacy.

Following the switch to a secondary PBS station, KTLC's schedule included fitness programs such as "Body Electric", "Homestretch" and "Sit and Be Fit" on weekday mornings from 7 to 8:30 a.m., instructional programming and select PBS series (including "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer") during the late evenings, and children's programming for much of the rest of the day. Unlike many PBS stations, KTLC aired children's programs from mid-morning to early evening. Most of the programs were rebroadcasts from KETA.

KTLC's schedule was trimmed back from its earlier lineup as it ended its programming day at midnight, like OETA. KTLC's weekend lineup initially retained the same broadcast day period as it previously did on weekdays, but in 1995, KTLC trimmed back its program hours on weekends to begin the day at 4:00 p.m. and end the broadcast day at midnight. Cox Communications filled non-programming hours with QVC programming on cable channel 13.

OETA eventually found it too hard to run two stations in Oklahoma City, so it decided to put channel 43 up for sale. After KOCB announced in January 1998 that it would drop its UPN affiliation to pick up The WB, Paramount Stations Group agreed to buy KTLC.

Channel 43 signed off as a full-time educational station at midnight for the last time on June 19. It returned at 5 a.m. the next day as KPSG, named after its new owner. KPSG still aired educational shows from 7 a.m. to noon, followed by a general entertainment format consisting of classic sitcoms, cartoons, UPN first run shows, and movies. That fall, the station became a full-time general entertainment station. When the station's founder Gene Autry died that November, the station changed its calls back to KAUT-TV to honor him.

Viacom, parent company of Paramount since 1994, acquired CBS in 1999. Gradually classic sitcoms were replaced with talk, reality, and court shows. Cartoons were also gradually phased out and gone by the fall of 2003.

At the end of 2005, Viacom's broadcasting assets and other "slow-growth" businesses became part of a new company called CBS Corporation. In the meantime, CBS sold KAUT to The New York Times Company, making it a sister station to NBC affiliate KFOR-TV. The sale brought some changes to the station, including the additional of news to the KAUT lineup. The newscasts are produced by sister station KFOR-TV and broadcast at 9:00 p.m. local time.

On September 12 2006, less than one year after closing on its purchase of KAUT, The New York Times Company announced its intention to sell all of its television stations. [http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=105317&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=904561&highlight=] On January 4, 2007, the New York Times Company entered into an agreement to sell the stations to affiliates of the private equity group Oak Hill Capital Partners. KAUT officially became part of Local TV, a subsidiary of Oak Hill Capital, on May 7, 2007.

KAUT now airs "The Daily Buzz" on Monday through Friday mornings, sitcoms and talk/reality shows in the late morning and afternoons, off-network sitcoms in the evenings and late nights, and dramas and movies on weekends along with some college and professional sports.

From UPN to MyNetworkTV

On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. made the decision to merge UPN and The WB to form a new network, The CW. On February 22, 2006, Fox Television Stations announced a new competing network, MyNetworkTV.

For months, it was unclear whether KAUT would go independent or affiliate with MyNetworkTV beginning on September 5, 2006. On May 2, 2006, KOCB was announced as Oklahoma City's CW affiliate. The day before, KAUT removed the UPN branding from its logo, becoming one of a few non-Fox O&O UPN stations to do so. It was then referred to as simply "43." The station also announced that they would no longer promote any UPN programing. (Ironically, KAUT was erroneously mentioned as a CW affiliate in the first press statements about the new network. What was not realized was that CBS Corporation had just sold the station to NYT.)

Finally, on August 22, 2006, the station was added to the roster of MyNetworkTV's stations on their website as Oklahoma City's affiliate, while station personnel also confirmed the affiliation via email. The word came just two weeks before MNTV aired its first program.

When the announcement of MyNetworkTV's formation was made, a promotional video shown on the day of the network's announcement on New York affiliate WWOR-TV showed that the branding of MNTV stations would be "My (channel number)." However, KAUT opted instead to brand itself as "OK43", making it one of two MyNetworkTV affiliates not to use the "My" branding, logos or other trademarks on any elements of the channel (the other being Portland affiliate KPDX), going against the network's branding conventions. However, KAUT's website does have a generic MyNetworkTV logo. The new branding was accompanied by a new marketing campaign with the slogan "OK43: An Oklahoma Original," focusing on the station's history and origins with Gene Autry.

KAUT may also take on the responsibility of airing NBC programs when KFOR is not able to such as in a news-related emergency.

Newscasts

In May 2006, KFOR-TV began producing a nightly 9PM newscast for KAUT to compete with KOKH's 9PM newscast. An two hour-long extension of KFOR's weekday morning newscast was added to KAUT on September 15, 2008.

Personalities

Current On-Air Talent

Anchors
*Lance West: Rise & Shine Oklahoma (weekdays)
*Ernie Paulson: NewsChannel 4 at 9 on OK43 (weeknights)

Weather
*Mike Morgan: NewsChannel 4 at 9 on OK43 (weeknights)
*David Payne: Rise & Shine Oklahoma (weekdays)

Traffic
*Shane Faulkner: Rise & Shine Oklahoma (weekdays)

Sports
*Bob Barry, Jr.: NewsChannel 4 at 9 on OK43 (weeknights)KAUT features additional news personnel from KFOR. See that article for a complete listing.

ports

Since 2004, KAUT-TV broadcasts Oklahoma Sooners sports including basketball games (mostly women's games) and occasional baseball games. In addition to those they also air Sooners-related basketball and football shows. The station aired the "Oklahoma High School Sports Express", a weekly high school sports program hosted by former KFOR sports reporter Van Shea Iven, from January of 2006 thru May of 2008.

KAUT-TV has been the Oklahoma City broadcast home of Texas Rangers major league baseball since April 6, 2007. These games are simulcast from fellow MyNetworkTV affiliate KDFI in Dallas, which is the official over-the-air broadcast flagship station for the team's games in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex.

News/Station presentation

Newscast titles

*"Oklahoma's NewsChannel 4 at 9 on 43" (May-September 2006)
*"Oklahoma's NewsChannel 4 at 9 on OK43" (September 2006-present)
*"Rise and Shine Oklahoma" (September 2008-present; morning newscast)

tation slogans

*"Central Oklahoma's Rising Star" (Mid to Late 1980s)
*"Oklahoma's Favorite" (2001-2002)
*"It's On!" (2002-2003)
*"It's U!" (2003-2006; reference to its UPN affiliation)
*"An Oklahoma Original" (2006-present)

tation brandings

*"KTLC, The Literacy Channel 43" (1991-June 1998)
*"KPSG UPN43" (June-November 1998)
*"KAUT UPN43" (November 1998-May 2006)
*"43KAUT" (May-September 2006)
*"OK43: An Oklahoma Original" (September 2006-present)

Movie umbrella titles

*"Paramount Teleplex/Prime/Matinee Movie" (1998-2000)
*"UPN43 Matinee/Prime/Late Movie" (2000-2006)
*"Channel 43 Matinee/Prime/Late Movie" (May-September 2006)
*"OK43 Matinee/Late Movie" (September 2006-present):inc-video

Logo gallery

Trivia

*KAUT is one of a few stations to have been affiliated with both News Corporation-owned networks, Fox and MyNetworkTV.

External links

* [http://www.ok43.com/ KAUT: 43 Homepage]
*TVQ|KAUT-TV
*BIA|KAUT|TV|TV