KOMU-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = KOMU-TV
city =
station_
station_slogan = Coverage You Can Count On
station_branding = KOMU 8
KOMU 8 News
analog = 8 (VHF)
digital = 36 (UHF)
other_chs = K07SD Rolla
affiliations = NBC (1953-1981, 1986-present)
NBC Weather Plus (DT2)
The CW (DT3)
network =
founded =
airdate = December 21, 1953
location = Columbia/Jefferson City, Missouri
callsign_meaning = K O MU
"(MU references ownership by the University of Missouri)"
former_callsigns =
former_channel_numbers =
owner = University of Missouri–Columbia
licensee = The Curators of the University of Missouri
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = ABC (secondary, 1953-1971; primary, 1982-1985)
CBS (secondary, 1953-1955)
DuMont (secondary, 1953-1955)
effective_radiated_power = 316 kW (analog)
1000 kW (digital)
HAAT = 242 m (analog)
225 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 65583
coordinates = coord|38|53|16.7|N|92|15|48.6|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.komu.com/ www.komu.com]

KOMU-TV (Channel 8) is the NBC affiliate serving the cities of Columbia and Jefferson City, Missouri along with several surrounding counties in central Missouri. The station is owned by the University of Missouri–Columbia and operated by the university's Missouri School of Journalism, making KOMU the only commercial TV station in the US to be owned by a major university. The station has paid, professional staff serving as managers, engineers, sales representatives, and so on. The managers, editors and main anchors are School of Journalism faculty members. The reporters, weekend/substitute anchors, and many producers are undergraduate and graduate broadcast journalism students. Its transmitter is located in Columbia.

KOMU's programming is repeated on low-power translator K07SD in Rolla.

History

KOMU-TV first broadcast on December 21, 1953. It carried programming from all four major networks, but was a primary NBC affiliate. It lost CBS in 1955 when KRCG signed on from Jefferson City. The two stations shared ABC until 1971, when KCBJ-TV (now KMIZ) signed on. It has been the dominant station in the area for most of its history.

In 1982, ABC moved its affiliation to KOMU; ABC was the highest-rated network at the time and wanted a stronger outlet. By 1985, however, NBC had regained the ratings lead. Accordingly, KOMU rejoined NBC on New Year's Day 1986.

In September 2006 a KOMU digital subchannel began to serve as the new affiliate of The CW Television Network. The new CW network is also on local cable. KOMU's CW affiliate operates with the fake call letters KJWB. The move makes them the only educational institution-owned station to affiliate with the new network. While CW programming is carried on DT3, KOMU 8 WeatherPlus operates on DT2.

In 2002, the station won the Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism for maintaining its policy banning political symbols on air despite government and popular pressure in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

On August 8, 2008, KOMU became the first station in Mid-Missouri to broadcast local news in HDTV. [ [http://www.newscaststudio.com/blog/2008/08/07/komu-tv-to-go-hd/ "KOMU-TV to go HD"] ]

Current Staff

*Lauren Whitney - KOMU 8 News Today
*Megan Murphy - KOMU 8 News Today
*Sarah Hill - KOMU 8 News at Five
*Angie Bailey - KOMU 8 News at Five, Six, and Ten
*Jim Riek - KOMU 8 News at Six and Ten

Weather
*Eric Aldrich - Meteorologist: KOMU 8 News Today
*Dave Schmidt - Weathercaster: KOMU 8 News at Five, Six, and Ten "(weeknights)"
*Anthony Slaughter - Weathercaster: KOMU 8 News at Six and Ten "(weekends)"

Sports
*Chris Gervino - Main Sports anchor; host, KOMU 8 Sports Show
*Eric Blumberg - Sports anchor/reporter

Pepper & Friends
*Paul Pepper - Host
*James Mouser - Co-host

News Management
*Stacey Woelfel - News Director
*Holly Edgell - Executive Producer
*Jennifer Reeves - New Media Director
*Randy Reeves - Managing Editor
*Scott Schaefer - Chief Photographer

Station Management
*Marty Siddall - General Manager
*Matt Garrett - Program Director
*Shelly Silvey - Production Manager
*Chris Swisher - Chief Engineer
*Tom Dugan -- Sales Manager

News/Station Presentation

Newscast Titles

*"KOMU-TV News" (1953-1964)
*"The News Camera" (1964-1971)
*"News Eight Reports" (1971-1974)
*"NewsCenter 8" (1974-1997)
*"NBC 8 News" (1997-2002)
*"KOMU News" (2002-2008)
*"KOMU 8 News" (2008-present)

KOMU Alumni

NBC News: Lisa Myers ('73), Mark Potter ('75)

ABC News: Elizabeth Vargas ('84)

CBS News: Russ Mitchell ('82)

CNN: Sophia Choi ('92), Chuck Roberts ('71)

Fox News: Jon Scott ('81), Phil Keating ('90)

ESPN: John Anderson ('87), Matt Winer ('90), Michael Kim ('88)

tation Logos

External links

* [http://www.komu.com/ KOMU-TV website]
*TVQ|KOMU
**TVQ|K07SD
*BIA|KOMU|TV|TV
* [http://journalism.missouri.edu/ Missouri School of Journalism]

References