KICU-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = KICU-TV
city =
station_
station_slogan = Fun For You
station_branding = TV36
analog = 36 (UHF)
digital = 36 (UHF)
digital_temporary = 52 (UHF)| subchannels = 36.1 KICU 36.2 Korean Broadcasting System
other_chs = K29AB Monterey, etc.
K31GK Ukiah
K33CH Lakeport
K64AZ Lakeport
affiliations = Independent
Fox (secondary since 2000)
NBC (secondary since 2008)
network =
founded =
airdate = October 1967
location = San Jose/San Francisco, California
callsign_meaning = ICU = "I See You"
former_callsigns = KGSC-TV (1967-1981)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Cox Enterprises
licensee = KTVU Partnership
sister_stations = KTVU
former_affiliations =
effective_radiated_power = 4070 kW (analog)
1000 kW (digital)
550 kW (after 2009)
HAAT = 686 m (analog)
668 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 34564
coordinates = coord|37|29|16.6|N|121|52|2.7|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.kicu.com/ www.kicu.com]

KICU-TV, known as TV36, is a television station in San Jose, California that broadcasts on analog channel 36 and digital channel 52. It is owned by Cox Enterprises. It runs an independent schedule of classic sitcoms, talk shows, reality shows, movies, and some kids shows on weekends. It is also the flagship station for Oakland A's baseball.

History

The independent station began as KGSC-TV in early October 1967 and was owned by Ralph Wilson. It is the Bay Area's longest continuously running commercial UHF television station. In the 1970s the station promoted itself as "The Perfect 36" and employed as spokesmodel San Francisco entertainer Carol Doda. KICU produced a half-hour 10 p.m. newscast in the 1980s and '90s. Jan Hutchins, formerly a sportscaster at KPIX, was a longtime anchor. In the late 1980s, KICU ran "INN News" at 10:30 p.m. "INN News", also known as "Independent Network News", was produced by WPIX-TV in New York City. Previously, from 1995-2000 KICU broadcast several Golden State Warriors basketball games each season. Over the years, the station ran a number of drama shows and older movies. It added more classic sitcoms and children's shows by the mid-1990s. However, the station gradually phased out children's programming between 1998 and 2002.

In 2000 the station was sold to Cox, meaning that the station moved from its original studios in San Jose to KTVU's Jack London Square facilities in Oakland, becoming the first Bay Area television duopoly. The station aired a rebroadcast of KTVU's "Ten O'Clock News" at 11pm from January 2000 until September 14, 2001 under the titling "The Eleven O'Clock Edition of the Original Ten O'Clock News" (the "Original" branding used to stand out from 10pm newscasts airing on KRON and KPIX at the time, which pushed their network primetime schedules back an hour for viewership concerns and to compete with KTVU). KICU also simulcast the 7am-9am block of "Mornings on 2" in the early 2000s with a South Bay traffic/weather ticker and news briefs and breaking news specific to that area.

The station resumed airing a newscast from KTVU on January 21, 2008 with the weeknight "Bay Area News at 7 on TV 36", which is anchored by Gasia Mikaelian; the station had previously aired a newscast at 7pm called "Action 36 Prime News" from 1992-1994.

Due to being co-owned with KTVU, KICU airs any primetime programming from Fox in lieu of KTVU if that station is pre-empting the network for local programming, or in the past, San Francisco Giants baseball until 2007. With NBC O&O KNTV becoming the broadcast home of the Giants in 2008, KICU also has taken the role of airing pre-empted NBC programming in lieu of KNTV.

KICU is the broadcast television flagship for Oakland Athletics games (produced by CSN Bay Area). Since KTVU had the Giants, the Cox duopoly essentially had exclusive control of the local broadcast television rights for a short while until the end of the 2007 season. The station airs "High School Sports Focus" on Friday nights at 11pm with a 4pm Sunday rebroadcast; the show also also won regional Emmy awards.

KICU also offers Korean language programming from Korean Broadcasting System, 24 hours a day on digital subchannel 36-2.

High definition

The station's high definition signal is carried on Comcast systems, but beyond the 7pm newscast in HD, only currently carries 4:3 SDTV content.

logans

"I see you TV 36!" - 1980s slogan displayed before KICU programs. It was usually followed with the line, "And you should see us now!," or the corresponding music. This was a play off of the call letters I-C-U.

"You're watching the Perfect 36 in San Jose." was cooed by busty stripper Carol Doda in the late-1960s through the late-1970s, pictured from the waist up and wearing clothes which amplified her most prominent physical attributes.

"Action 36 Cable 6" - Slogan used from 1992-1995 and then again from July, 2001 until October 28, 2007.

On October 29, 2007, KICU-TV rebranded themselves from Action 36, Cable 6 to TV 36 as part of their new campaign slogan, "Fun For You".

Trivia

In the Pilot episode of "Monk", one of the reporters who had a microphone had the former Blue/Red/Yellow graphics but identified itself as Action 16.

External links

* [http://www.kicu.com/ KICU's official site]
* [http://www.uhfnocturne.com/36KGSC_index.html UHF Nocturne: Channel 36]
* [http://www.ktvnnc.com/ Korean Television Network - Northern California (airs on digital channel 36.2)]
*TVQ|KICU-TV
**TVQ|K29AB
**TVQ|K31GK
**TVQ|K33CH
**TVQ|K64AZ
*BIA|KICU|TV|TV