KUAM-TV

KUAM-TV

Hagåtña, Guam
Branding KUAM-TV 8 (general)
CBS TV 11 (on DT2)
KUAM News (newscasts)
Slogan First On Guam (general)
Guam's News Network (newscasts)
Channels Digital: 8 (VHF)
Virtual: 8 (PSIP)
Subchannels 8.1 NBC
8.2 CBS
Translators K28HS Hagåtña, GU
K30HB Hagåtña, GU
K32GB Tamuning, GU
K36GJ Tamuning, GU
Owner Pacific Telestations, Inc.
First air date August 5, 1956 (1956-08-05)
Call letters' meaning Guam
Sister station(s) KUAM, KUAM-FM
Former channel number(s) Analog:
8 (VHF, 1956–2009)
Digital:
2 (VHF, 2000–2009)
Former affiliations ABC (secondary, 1956–1987)
CBS (secondary, 1956–1995)
Fox (secondary, 1986–1990)
Transmitter power 3.5 kW
Height 304 m
Facility ID 51233
Transmitter coordinates 13°25′58″N 144°42′45″E / 13.43278°N 144.71250°E / 13.43278; 144.71250
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.kuam.com

KUAM-TV is the NBC affiliate serving the United States territory of Guam. The station is owned by Pacific Telestations, Inc., and is a sister station to the local Public-access television cable channel Local 2. It is licensed to the territorial capital of Hagåtña, while its studios are located at 600 Harmon Loop in Dededo, and its transmitter is located east-northeast of Agat.

History

KUAM was Guam's first television station, signing on August 5, 1956 on analog channel 8. It carried programming from all three networks, but has always been a primary NBC affiliate. KUAM began its first broadcast in color in 1970. When Fox debuted in 1986, they carried its lineup as well. For a time, this made KUAM one of the few stations to be affiliated with all four major networks.

Despite being affiliated with all four networks, KUAM was hindered by the fact that Guam was a day ahead of the United States and that most shows, especially those from the network, were sent via air and/or mail, which meant that viewers would have to wait from a period of two weeks to a month to see any of the offerings. When it was not showing any network fare it featured local in-house programming, syndicated shows and films (mostly travel or cultural) to make up the difference.

KUAM-TV, together with KUAM radio, were originally owned by Harry S. Engel, a former owner-manager of radio station KVEN in Ventura, California, with Adam Young International as the stations' representative. Two enterprising mainlanders, H. Scott Kilgore and Sam Rubin, formed the Pacific Broadcasting Corporation and bought the KUAM stations in 1964; the company changed its name to Pacific Telestations, Inc. in the 1970s.[1]

At one point, the station also served the Northern Mariana Islands, via satellite station WSZE on VHF channel 10 in Saipan. However, by the 2000s, the station had gone dark and its license deleted by the FCC.[2][3][4][5][6]

KUAM would lose ABC to KTGM when it began operations in 1987, and lost Fox to the same station in 1990. CBS programming was dropped in 1995 with the launch of KUAM-LP; that station, in turn, would be added as KUAM's digital subchannel, broadcasting on channel 8.2, in 2009.

KUAM's previous logo, as News 8

As technology and satellite started to take off and expand, KUAM began to gradually catch up with the rest of the continental United States. The station now follows the complete NBC schedule, but on a Tuesday through Monday pattern rather than the traditional Monday-Sunday pattern, with the exception of NBC's sports lineup, which is live in the early morning hours of Sunday (for all Saturday games and events) and Monday (for all Sunday games and events).

In 2006 KUAM's website, kuam.com, received honors at that year's RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award for having the best small market web site.

On February 18, 2009, KUAM signed off its analog signal on channel 8 and switched on its digital signal also on channel 8.[7]

Alumni

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.kuam.com/story/10863272/the-history-of-kuam
  2. ↑ http://digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu/ttphotos/Pages/browseby.php?s=browse&by=reference&reference=2492
  3. ↑ http://www.saipanstewart.com/essays/Sapuanthenandnow.html
  4. ↑ http://www.mvariety.com/cnmi/cnmi-news/editorials/52766-thirty-five-years-ago-2013-01-16
  5. ↑ http://www.radioheritage.net/RHF_Media_Release_20111014_RNZI.pdf
  6. ↑ http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=WSZE
  7. ↑ "List of TV stations to end analog on Tuesday" From Google (February 13, 2009)

External links

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