KVUE

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Not to be confused with KUVE-DT.

KVUE
KVUE 2018 Logo.png
Austin, Texas
United States
ChannelsDigital: 33 (UHF)
Virtual: 24
BrandingKVUE
Programming
Affiliations24.1: ABC
24.2: Estrella TV
24.3: True Crime Network
24.4: Quest
24.5: Circle
24.6: Twist
Ownership
OwnerTegna Inc.
(KVUE Television, Inc.)
History
First air date
September 12, 1971 (50 years ago) (1971-09-12)
Former channel number(s)
Analog:
24 (UHF, 1971–2009)
Call sign meaning
"K-VUE", pronounced "k-view"
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID35867
ERP1,000 kW
HAAT376 m (1,234 ft)
Transmitter coordinates30°19′18″N 97°48′11″W / 30.32167°N 97.80306°W / 30.32167; -97.80306
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websitewww.kvue.com

KVUE, virtual channel 24 (UHF digital channel 33), is an ABC-affiliated television station licensed to Austin, Texas, United States. The station is owned by McLean, Virginia-based Tegna Inc. KVUE's studios are located on Steck Avenue just east of Loop 1 in northwest Austin, and its transmitter is located on the West Austin Antenna Farm northwest of downtown Austin.

KVUE was the third television station established in Austin.

History[]

Pre-launch and construction[]

In the fall of 1961, the FCC began to receive applications for channel 24 in Austin. Applicants included Dalton Homer Cobb, a Midland oilman who owned that city's (channel 18), and John R. Powley of Altoona, Pennsylvania (whose Texas Longhorn Broadcasting Company sought channel 67).[1] They were soon followed by an Austin radio station in business for 15 years and also seeking channel 24: KVET (1300 AM), which filed on December 12, 1961,[2] in anticipation of a future day when a UHF station could be viable.[3] The Cobb and KVET bids were designated for hearing by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1962, and KVET got the nod on March 13, 1963.[2]

While KVET manager Willard Deason announced the station would be built at "deliberate speed" and be on the air by early 1965,[4] Austinites would have to wait some time to see it. In 1965, KVET was sold to Butler Broadcasting, channel 24 construction permit included.[5] Butler announced a start date in February or March 1966,[6] then a fall 1967 launch was floated.[7]

KVET filed to sell the construction permit in 1968 to McAlister Television Enterprises, owner of KSEL-TV in Lubbock, for $44,000.[8] McAlister sold a majority stake to several other investors which included former governor Allan Shivers, resulting in the creation of the Channel Twenty-Four Corporation as the assignee. The FCC approved in June 1970,[9] The KVET-TV call letters were changed to KVUE, and a site in what was then far north Austin along Shoal Creek was selected for the studios,[10]

The station signed on the air on September 12, 1971, after winds from Hurricane Fern delayed the intended start-up.[11] KVUE was the market's first full-time ABC affiliate and finally gave the capital city the full program lineups from all three networks; prior to KVUE's sign-on, the network's programming had previously been limited to off-hours clearances on KTBC-TV and KHFI-TV.[12]

Growth and ownership changes[]

In 1978, the Evening News Association, publisher of The Detroit News and owner of several television stations, purchased KVUE; it was the last locally-owned TV station in the market to be sold.[13] Under Evening News, the station added 13,000 square feet (1,200 m2) to its studio facility, doubling its size, in an expansion begun in 1985.[14]

After a hostile takeover bid by Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio was rebuffed, ENA put itself up and sale and was purchased by the Gannett Company in 1985,[15] a transaction that closed in early 1986.

One of the state's most important owners of media properties was Belo Corporation. It owned The Dallas Morning News and TV stations in most of the state's important cities: KHOU-TV in Houston, WFAA-TV in Dallas, and KENS-TV in San Antonio. However, it lacked an Austin property and coveted one, particularly given its impending launch of Texas Cable News (TXCN). In February 1999, Gannett agreed to a trade with Belo: Belo received KVUE, while Gannett received KXTV in Sacramento, and $55 million.[16] With the addition of KVUE, TXCN could provide news and information from the four largest cities in Texas.

On June 13, 2013, Gannett announced that it would acquire Belo for $1.5 billion.[17] The sale was completed on December 23.[18]

On June 29, 2015, the Gannett Company split in two, with one side specializing in print media and the other side specializing in broadcast and digital media. KVUE was retained by the latter company, named Tegna.[19]

News operation[]

KVUE reporters and camera personnel participating in an interview

KVUE was the first Austin-market television station to make a serious challenge in the local news race, which even after the introduction of two UHF competitors was dominated by KTBC. In May 1981, its Action News edged out KTBC at 6 and 10 p.m.[20] The station remained a solid first place for the next several years,[15] but a spirited competition emerged between channels 7 and 24 in the ratings for the rest of the decade, with KVUE and KTBC leading at different times.[21][22] KVUE continued to dominate in the ratings after the 1995 switch of CBS and Fox affiliations, which caused KXAN to surge into second place and a slide for KTBC.[23]

Under news director Carole Kneeland, who guided the KVUE newsroom from 1989 until her death from breast cancer in 1998, the station scaled back its crime coverage—which resulted in national attention and even a feature on ABC's Nightline[24]—and introduced fact-checking of political advertising, a practice soon adopted by stations across the United States.[25] However, by the last years of Gannett ownership, KXAN had started to edge ahead of KVUE, replacing KTBC as channel 24's main competition.[24] The competition between channels 24 and 36 has generally defined Austin television news since; in May 2021, KVUE came second to KXAN in early and late evening news.[26]

In 2014, KVUE won a Peabody Award for a documentary entitled The Cost of Troubled Minds, about Texas' underinvestment in addressing mental health care; this was the first Peabody won by an Austin television station.[27]

On June 1, 2008, KVUE began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. With the transition, KVUE became the first Austin area station to implement HD weather graphics and broadcast field reports in the 16:9 widescreen format.

[]

In 2021, the station was tricked into promoting a fake sexual wellness product, "invented" by a team working for late-night political commentary show Last Week Tonight, called the "Venus Veil", which was actually just a blanket; the show's team paid KVUE $2,650 to feature the fake product and an interview with its "creator" as a way to illustrate how stations such as KVUE promote sponsored content without being upfront about the sponsorship, essentially passing off advertising as news.[28][29]

Notable former on-air staff[]

Technical information[]

Subchannels[]

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[30]
24.1 1080i 16:9 KVUE-DT Main KVUE programming / ABC
24.2 480i NVUE-TV Estrella TV[31]
24.3 Crime True Crime Network
24.4 Quest Quest
24.5 Circle Circle
24.6 Twist Twist

Analog-to-digital conversion[]

KVUE shut down its analog signal on February 17, 2009, as part of the FCC-mandated transition to digital television for full-power stations (which Congress had moved the previous month to June 12). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 33, using PSIP to display KVUE's virtual channel as 24 on digital television receivers.[32]

References[]

  1. ^ "Second TV Station Talk Heard Again". The Austin Statesman. Austin, Texas. October 13, 1961. p. 1. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b FCC History Cards for KVUE
  3. ^ "KVET Files TV Station Application". The Austin Statesman. Austin, Texas. December 20, 1961. p. 1, 12. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Permit on TV Is Announced". The Austin American. Austin, Texas. January 23, 1963. p. 17. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "TV Permit Requested Sale Okay". The Austin American. Austin, Texas. Associated Press. April 10, 1965. p. 34. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Weddell, Wray (October 21, 1965). "Wray Weddell's Austin". The Austin Statesman. Austin, Texas. p. 1. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Maddigan, Jack (June 16, 1967). "KVET Television Broadcasting May Start Late In Fall". The Austin Statesman. Austin, Texas. p. 29. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. November 4, 1968. p. 92. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via World Radio History.
  9. ^ Fairchild, Don (June 11, 1970). "Third TV Station Planned For Austin". The Austin American. Austin, Texas. p. A21. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Weddell, Wray (October 3, 1970). "Wray Weddell's Austin". Austin American-Statesman. Austin, Texas. p. 1. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "KVUE-TV On the Air After Delay". The Austin American. Austin, Texas. September 13, 1971. p. 18. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Bustin, John (September 12, 1971). "Local TV: New Season Historic Occasion in Austin". The Austin American. Austin, Texas. p. 15. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Frink, David (May 13, 1978). "Austin growth market attracts KVUE-TV buyers". Austin American-Statesman. Austin, Texas. p. B5. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Tyson, Kim (May 12, 1985). "September finish scheduled on Chancellor Office Center". Austin American-Statesman. Austin, Texas. p. H15. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ a b "Sale of KVUE is planned in deal with Gannett Co". Austin American-Statesman. Austin, Texas. August 30, 1985. p. A1. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Tyson, Kim (February 26, 1999). "Belo adds KVUE to Texas TV holdings". Austin American-Statesman. Austin, Texas. p. A1, A7. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Gannett to buy TV station owner Belo for $1.5B". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Associated Press. June 13, 2013. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
  18. ^ "Gannett Completes Its Acquisition Of Belo". TVNewsCheck. December 23, 2019. Archived from the original on February 25, 2020. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  19. ^ "Separation of Gannett into two public companies completed | TEGNA". Tegna. Archived from the original on July 2, 2015. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
  20. ^ Holloway, Diane (August 27, 1981). "Hanks, Scolari almost rise above 'Buddies' scripts". Austin American-Statesman. Austin, Texas. p. D30. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ Holloway, Diane (June 12, 1986). "News ratings flip-flop: KVUE returns to No. 1 spot, Australian anchor-swap did little for KTVV". Austin American-Statesman. Austin, Texas. p. C8. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ Holloway, Diane (March 20, 1989). "'Live-In' wears out crude humor fast". Austin American-Statesman. Austin, Texas. p. D8. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ Holloway, Diane (December 31, 1995). "TV twists through real-life dramas". Austin American-Statesman. Austin, Texas. p. Show World 5, 6. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ a b c "KVUE put to the test". Austin American-Statesman. Austin, Texas. June 1, 1998. p. E1, E8. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ Ivins, Molly (January 22, 1998). "Kneeland's news: The end of a life devoted to improving TV journalism". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Fort Worth, Texas. p. B11. Retrieved December 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ Malone, Michael (May 17, 2021). "Local News: Austin Still Weird, Booming". Broadcasting & Cable. Archived from the original on May 19, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  27. ^ Whittaker, Richard (April 29, 2015). "Film Flam: Linklater, Krisha, and Slackerwood". Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on June 8, 2016. Retrieved October 1, 2016. The National Association of Broadcasters honored Andy Pierrotti, photojournalists Derek Rasor and Matt Olsen, president general manager Patti C. Smith, news director Frank Volpicella and assistant news director Michelle Chism for The Cost of Troubled Minds, a seven month investigation into the staggering and frightening underinvestment in mental health care in Texas.
  28. ^ Matthew Dessem, May 24, 2021, Slate Magazine, John Oliver Tricked Local News Shows Into Promoting a Bogus "Sexual Wellness Blanket" He Invented Archived May 24, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved May 24, 2021, "...Oliver tricked three local TV stations—KVUE in Austin, Texas, KMGH-TV (Denver7) in Denver, Colorado, and KTVX (ABC4), in Salt Lake City, Utah—into airing a promo for a completely worthless "sexual wellness blanket" ... all three stations will apparently ... hawk whatever kind of pseudoscience (if you) pay their extraordinarily low rates for sponsored content..."
  29. ^ "Sponsored Content". Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Season 8. Episode 23. May 23, 2021. HBO. Archived from the original on May 25, 2021. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  30. ^ "Digital TV Market Listing for KVUE". RabbitEars. Archived from the original on March 26, 2016. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  31. ^ "Four Belo Stations Grab Estrella TV". Broadcasting & Cable. May 19, 2009. Archived from the original on May 23, 2009. Retrieved June 5, 2009.
  32. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). FCC. p. 27. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved February 2, 2020.

External links[]

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