KSBI

Not to be confused with KBSI.

KSBI

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma United States
Branding	KSBI (general) News 9 (newscasts)
Slogan	Oklahoma's Own (KWTV news simulcasts)
Channels	Digital: 23 (UHF) Virtual: 52 (PSIP)
Subchannels	52.1 MyNetworkTV
Translators	K42IC Weatherford K31JW Elk City K50KE Altus K15HQ Sayre K27JO Strong City
Affiliations	MyNetworkTV CBS (alternate)
Owner	Griffin Communications (Griffin Licensing, LLC)
First air date	September 19, 1988 (1988-09-19)
Sister station(s)	KWTV-DT
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 52 (UHF, 1988–2009) Digital: 51 (2010–2014)
Former affiliations	Primary: Independent (1988–2012) DT2: America One (2004–2011) Tuff TV (2011–2012) This TV (2012–2014)
Transmitter power	1,000 kW
Height	457.9 m
Facility ID	38214
Transmitter coordinates
Licensing authority	FCC
Public license information:	Profile CDBS
Website	www.news9.com

KSBI, virtual channel 52 (UHF digital channel 23), is a MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. The station is owned by Griffin Communications, as part of a duopoly with CBS affiliate KWTV-DT (channel 9). The two stations share studio facilities located on Kelley Avenue (adjacent to the studios and offices of the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority) in northeast Oklahoma City; KSBI maintains transmitter facilities located near the Kilpatrick Turnpike/I-44 on the city's northwest side.

KSBI's signal is relayed on five low-power translators: K42IC (channel 42) in Weatherford, K31JW (channel 31) in Elk City, K50KE (channel 50) in Altus, K15HQ (channel 15) in Sayre and K27JO (channel 27) in Strong City. On cable, KSBI is available on Cox Communications channel 7 and AT&T U-verse channel 52 in standard definition, and in high definition on Cox digital channel 707 and U-verse channel 1052.

History

Under Locke Supply ownership

The station first signed on the air on October 3, 1988; it was founded by Don J. Locke, owner of locally-based regional hardware store chain Locke Supply Company. KSBI's original studios were housed out of Locke Supply's corporate offices on 82nd Street and Pole Road in southeast Oklahoma City. For its first 16 years on the air, channel 52 was largely run as a religious independent station; during most of the 1990s and early 2000s, it also carried a limited amount of secular sitcoms, Westerns and movies, some of which were cherry-picked from INSP and FamilyNet. Beginning in the 1990s, KSBI gradually signed on translators throughout the state, eventually claiming the largest broadcast coverage area of any commercial television station in Oklahoma; at its peak, its signal was relayed over 12 translators serving areas within the Oklahoma City market and in markets adjacent to it such as Tulsa, Elk City, Ponca City and Ardmore. It also gained cable (and eventually, satellite) coverage in the Tulsa, Wichita, Wichita Falls and Ada-Sherman markets.

Sale to Family Broadcasting Group

Following Don Locke's death in February 2000, Locke Supply's board of directors were approached by various station owners beginning in April 2001 for offers to acquire KSBI and its regional translator network. The company ultimately decided to sell off the stations to focus on operating the Locke Supply chain that Don Locke founded more than three decades earlier. In October 2001, Locke sold KSBI and its translators to Family Broadcasting Group of Oklahoma, Inc., a newly formed locally-based company that was founded by former KWTV (channel 9) meteorologist Brady Brus; his wife, certified public accountant and treasurer Angie Brus; his sister and local media personality Brenda Bennett and Jon Bowie of Seekfirst Media LLC; the sale was finalized 2½ years later in March 2004.

Former KSBI logo, used from 2003 to 2009.

After Family Broadcasting assumed control of the station, KSBI was repositioned as a family-oriented general entertainment independent with syndicated secular programming that contained minimal to no sexual content, overt violence or strong profanity added to the schedule (programs that contained some degree of the aforementioned content were edited to fit the station's content standards). Most of the initial secular programs seen on KSBI under Brus' management were series from the 1960s to the early 1990s. The station eventually added state high school and Southeastern Conference college sporting events. It also heavily invested in its newly formed weather department, airing local weather updates throughout the broadcast day (including five-minute late afternoon and evening updates on weekdays presented by a two-person on-camera weather staff led by Brus, who also served as the station's chief meteorologist in addition to his duties as its owner and general manager), incorporating interactive touch screen technology for its weather presentation and installing a network of remote cameras throughout various cities across Oklahoma (branded as the "KSBI Statecam Network").

While its syndicated inventory was fairly limited early on, KSBI eventually expanded its programming slate; this began in the fall of 2008 with the additions of NurseTV, Lost and American Chopper, followed the next year by the acquisitions of Deadliest Catch, Cold Case Files, The Martha Stewart Show, Judge Hatchett, My Wife and Kids and then the addition of The King of Queens to the schedule in the spring of 2010.

Former KSBI logo, used from 2009 to 2011; this logo was introduced during the "Thunder TV" branding era alongside a secondary logo using that branding that accompanied the primary logo. It was also used alongside the "OK52" branding until May 23, 2011.

After reaching a deal with the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder to telecast select regular season games from Oklahoma City's first long-term major professional sports franchise in 2008, KSBI began branding as "Thunder TV", with the "KSBI 52" brand being used secondarily. That year, the station also began construction on a new state-of-the-art studio facility in Yukon, which was completed in the spring of 2009; KSBI relocated its local programming production and various other operations to the new facility that September. That year, DirecTV began carrying KSBI's programming in the Tulsa area as an out-of-market station (the station was removed from the satellite provider in January 2012 following a carriage dispute between Family Broadcasting Group and DirecTV).

On September 10, 2009, the Federal Communications Commission approved the transfer of a portion of Family Broadcasting Group's stock to now-former Chesapeake Energy chief executive officer and chairman Aubrey McClendon, and Chesapeake co-founder (and current SandRidge Energy chairman and CEO) Tom L. Ward, after Family Broadcasting restructured its equity to retire all long-term debt and accelerate growth.

Management and programming changes

On November 1, 2010, Family Broadcasting Group appointed two former area newscasters as its top executives – Vince Orza as its president and CEO, and Jerry Hart as its vice president and operations manager (Orza had earlier announced on October 21 that he would step down as dean of the Meinders School of Business at Oklahoma City University, shortly before he accepted the position). That month, Orza began appearing in a promotional campaign for the station, seeking opinions from viewers on programming changes that KSBI should make. The station also divested some of its translators; six were converted into repeaters of former sister station KXOC-LP (channel 41), while two others based in Enid and Stillwater continued to rebroadcast KSBI's signal. It also began a gradual rebrand under the moniker "OK52"; the "OK52" and "KSBI 52" brandings were both used by the station until May 23, 2011, when KSBI started using the "OK52" branding full-time, before reverting to simply "KSBI" in March 2012.

A further expansion of the station's programming came in January 2011 with the additions of shows such as The Daily Buzz, Judge Karen's Court, Emergency! and Cash Cab, effectively decreasing the number of infomercials on its weekday schedule. Following the management changes at Family Broadcasting Group, KSBI transitioned into a traditional general entertainment independent station (with programs being aired as is content-wise) featuring recent off-network and first-run syndicated programs as well as the few classic television shows that remained on the schedule; the station also began placing an emphasis on locally-produced lifestyle and entertainment programs.

MyNetworkTV affiliation

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Alternate MyNetworkTV logo used in station promos from September 17, 2012 to December 6, 2014.

On June 14, 2012, KSBI announced (through a promo for its Fall 2012 programming slate which was uploaded to the station's official YouTube channel) that it would join the MyNetworkTV programming service that fall, bringing a primary network affiliation to the station's main channel for the first time. The service's programming officially moved to KSBI on September 17; the market's original MyNetworkTV affiliate KAUT-TV (channel 43) became an independent station with an informal secondary affiliation with Antenna TV (which continued to be carried full-time on sister station KFOR-TV's 4.2 subchannel).

Differing from KAUT-TV (which refrained from using MyNetworkTV branding on-air throughout its six-year tenure with the service), KSBI branded as "MyKSBI" on-air (though it used the "KSBI 52" brand more often beginning in 2013, before becoming its sole brand after the sale to Griffin Communications), and used a secondary visual brand overlaying the "circle" logo used by the station since March 2012 on a red and white version of MyNetworkTV's logo (to match the main station logo's color scheme). Upon receiving the MyNetworkTV affiliation, KSBI expanded its programming inventory by acquiring additional syndicated shows (mainly sitcoms and drama series), it also greatly reduced the amount of infomercials it aired in certain overnight timeslots, eventually limiting them to weekends. KSBI also counterprogrammed shows seen on the major networks and primetime newscasts on KOKH-TV (channel 25) and KAUT in the 9:00 p.m. hour on weeknights with a nightly lineup of varying programs (mainly drama series).

Cutbacks and sale to Griffin

In September 2014, KSBI cancelled two of its local programs, the talk/lifestyle show Oklahoma Live and game show Wild Card; the station had also, reportedly, laid off most of its employees, aside from its sales and operational staff. The move came as a result of a restructuring and a possible shift away from local programming, along with the possibility that Family Broadcasting would place the station up for sale. Indeed, a sale of KSBI was announced on September 29, 2014, when Family Broadcasting Group announced that the station would be sold to Griffin Communications, longtime owner of CBS affiliate KWTV.

Griffin took over the operations of KSBI on December 1, 2014, with the station switching to a pre-recorded feed of its regular programming schedule until the company completed the move of KSBI's master control operations to KWTV's North Kelley Avenue studios in Oklahoma City on December 6. Additionally, citing low viewership, the station's This TV-affiliated second digital subchannel was removed, temporarily leaving that network without an affiliate in Oklahoma City (Tribune Broadcasting, which owns a 50% stake in This TV, also currently owns KFOR-TV and KAUT-TV, the latter of which took over the affiliation on a new 43.2 subchannel on December 24, 2014). The station's programming lineup remains similar (with a few programs carried over from KWTV such as Extra and The Insider as well as reruns of since-discontinued series from Entertainment Studios being added after Griffin took over), although KSBI will also be able to air CBS programming in the event that extended breaking news or severe weather coverage requires KWTV to pre-empt it (taking over this responsibility from News 9 Now, a news rebroadcast subchannel on KWTV virtual channel 9.2). Unusual for a recently acquired duopoly outlet, KSBI also ceased all separate programming promotions, outside of a modified version of its final logo under Family Broadcasting ownership that is mainly used to fulfill FCC-mandated station identification requirements, with all promotional content airing on the station being in the form of news and image promos produced for KWTV.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel	Video	Aspect	PSIP Short Name	Programming
52.1	1080i	16:9	KSBI-HD	Main KSBI-TV programming / MyNetworkTV

On February 28, 2011, it was announced that Tuff TV had signed an affiliation agreement with KSBI for its 52.2 digital subchannel and its low-power sister KXOC-LP. KXOC/KSBI 52.2 switched affiliations from America One to Tuff TV on March 7, 2011; during the first months of the affiliation, KSBI cherry-picked select Tuff TV programs to air Saturday afternoons on the primary 52.1 signal. KSBI 52.2 affiliated with This TV on September 17, 2012, ending the KXOC-LP simulcast; the station assumed the This TV affiliation from ABC affiliate KOCO-TV (channel 5, whose second digital subchannel switched to This TV's then-sister network Me-TV on October 1, 2012, resulting in the two stations temporarily sharing This TV's programming for two weeks from September 17 to the 30th). On December 1, 2014, KSBI shut down subchannel 52.2 and ended their affiliation agreement with This TV.

Analog-to-digital conversion

KSBI chose to continue to simultaneously operate its analog and digital signals past the original February 17, 2009 digital television transition deadline; as KSBI operated a weather department at the time, this was done in order to enable viewers that were not prepared for the transition to continue receiving emergency weather information during the Spring 2009 severe weather season. The station discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 52, on June 1, 2009. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 51, using PSIP to display KSBI's virtual channel as 52 on digital television receivers, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

On July 18, 2014, the FCC granted an application to relocate KSBI's digital signal to UHF channel 23; the station continued to operate its existing UHF 51 signal under a special temporary authority (STA), with an on-screen message directing viewers to rescan their digital tuners to receive the UHF 23 signal until KSBI ceased broadcasting on UHF channel 51 on August 1, 2014.

Programming

Outside of the MyNetworkTV schedule, Syndicated programs broadcast by KSBI include Extra, The Insider, Supreme Justice with Judge Karen, Dr. Phil, and King of the Hill. KSBI also carried feature films that were pre-recorded from the This TV national feed on Saturdays in primetime; the station did not run films on weekends until the This TV features were moved to Saturdays in September 2013 (these films previously ran on weekdays during the late morning hours from May to September 2013, before syndicated series were added to the timeslot).

The station preempted some programming from This TV on its 52.2 subchannel (on weekdays from 4:00 to 6:30 (or 7:00) a.m. and weekends from 5:00 to 7:00 a.m., or as late as 8:00 a.m. on either day, when This TV runs classic television series or movies), replacing them with syndicated religious, lifestyle and comedy programs that KSBI holds the local rights to and infomercials (KSBI-DT2 also preempted This TV programs airing weekdays from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. from May to September 2013).

Local programming

Upon taking over the operations of Family Broadcasting Group in 2010, CEO Vince Orza and vice president Jerry Hart began developing local programming for KSBI that would serve as an alternative to the news-based local programs on other Oklahoma City area stations, featuring a mix of talk, lifestyle and entertainment programs.

Initial local programs produced under Orza and Hart's management of the station – neither of which gained much ratings momentum – included the lifestyle-oriented talk program All About You (which was cancelled in June 2012), local cooking show Oklahoma Cooks (which was cancelled in August 2012), movie review program Hollywood Spotlight (a revival of the program of the same name that originally aired on KOCO-TV until 1997, both incarnations were hosted by Dino Lalli; the revived program was cancelled in December 2012) and the sports discussion program OK Sports Wrap (which was cancelled in May 2013). Orza also provided a commentary segment that aired during certain commercial breaks titled Common Sense, in which Orza gave his opinion on a particular national or local news story; these segments were discontinued in 2014.

2011 and 2012 saw the debuts of four new programs: the daytime interview show Oklahoma Live!, country music showcase Oklahoma Centennial Rodeo Opry (which was taped at the Oklahoma Opry in Oklahoma City's Capitol Hill district, hosted by local radio DJ Owen Pickard), Dog Talk (a program aimed at dog owners, hosted by Pat Becker) and College Bowl-style quiz show Mind Games (the program, featuring teams from colleges and universities across Oklahoma, was retitled Mind Games: College Edition in 2012, when a spinoff called Mind Games: High School Edition featuring contestants from Oklahoma high schools debuted). In November 2013, KSBI debuted the trivia game show Wild Card (hosted by former KWTV anchor and Mind Games host Ed Murray) and Night Music, a weekly music series hosted by Allison Gappa that featured repurposed music performances from Oklahoma Live! (which was cancelled in February 2014). Oklahoma Live and Wild Card were cancelled shortly before the sale to Griffin was announced in September 2014; the remaining local shows were dropped once Griffin took over KSBI that December.

Newscasts

Immediately following the sale to Family Broadcasting Group, KSBI began airing occasional local breaking news stories. In 2004, KSBI launched a weekday morning news and talk program called Hello Oklahoma, which was canceled in 2006. Subsequently thereafter, KSBI launched an hour-long early evening newscast called Oklahoma News Tonight (later renamed KSBI-TV News), which competed against the 5:30 p.m. national evening newscasts and the locally-produced 6:00 p.m. newscasts on KFOR-TV (channel 4), KOCO-TV and KWTV (channel 9). In addition, KSBI aired primetime Presidential press conferences and State of the Union addresses, as well as national breaking news stories, using wire news video supplied by CNN Newsource.

In September 2009, KSBI suspended Oklahoma News Tonight as the station began relocating its operations to the newly built Yukon studios; the suspension was intended to be temporary until the move was completed. News programming was then limited to five-minute updates that aired each half-hour from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m., which continued even after KSBI began operating out of the Yukon studios. In August 2010, station management unveiled plans to produce a late evening newscast that would have competed with the existing in-house 9:00 p.m. newscast on KOKH-TV and a KFOR-produced primetime newscast on KAUT-TV.

On November 12, 2010, Family Broadcasting Group announced that KSBI would cease all news and weather content, and laid off the remainder of its news staff, as well as some employees in the station's production and sales departments. Brian Birchell and Kealey McIntire (who respectively served as sports and news anchors for Oklahoma News Tonight) were retained, with Birchell becoming host of OK Sports Wrap and McIntire as host of the lifestyle program All About You, both of which premiered in 2011 (Birchell departed in early 2012, while McIntire left after the June 2012 cancellation of All About You). The set at the Yukon studio that was initially used for the news segments (and was to be used for the aborted primetime newscast) is now used for the station's locally-produced entertainment and talk programs. In January 2011, KSBI began airing the syndicated news and entertainment show The Daily Buzz on weekday mornings (the station currently airs only the first hour of the program, running on a half-hour delay from 5:30 to 6:30 a.m.; the program previously aired on KAUT-TV from June 2004 to September 2010).

In February 2014, KSBI began airing weather updates during the station's daytime and evening programming, with forecast segments produced by WeatherVision airing daily at 12:59, 6:59 and 10:59 p.m., along with a static graphic that is shown hourly featuring the current temperature and a four-day extended forecast; these updates were discontinued once Griffin Communications assumed the station's operations. With the sale to Griffin, it is expected that KWTV will eventually produce newscasts for KSBI. However on February 3, 2015, KSBI began simulcasting KWTV's noon newscast.

Sports programming

Under Family Broadcasting Group's management by Brady Brus, KSBI aired sporting events (mainly football and basketball games) from Oklahoma high schools, through a broadcast agreement signed in October 2005 with the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association in which KSBI gained the exclusive rights to televise post-season high school sports tournaments. The station also added Southeastern Conference college football and basketball games supplied by Raycom Sports and Lincoln Financial Sports. In April 2008, KSBI televised select regular season games from the now-defunct Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz Arena Football League team, which ended after the team's Spring 2008 season.

On October 2, 2008, KSBI signed a two-year agreement with the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA franchise (formerly the Seattle SuperSonics until it relocated that year, after the team was unable to obtain government funding for renovations to KeyArena) to broadcast select games starting with the 2008-09 inaugural season in Oklahoma City; it shared the television rights with Fox Sports Oklahoma (which launched in September 2008 as a subfeed of regional sports network Fox Sports Southwest). The station's broadcast relationship with the Thunder ended on August 3, 2010, after the team signed an exclusive multi-year agreement with Fox Sports Oklahoma starting with the 2010–11 season. On May 10, 2012, KSBI began broadcasting Texas Rangers Major League Baseball games on Friday evenings, produced by KTXA-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth; these games moved to KSBI's 52.2 subchannel in 2013. It has since been discontinued due to the shutdown of the 52.2 Subchannel (due to The Sale to Griffin) and The Rangers signing a 20 year TV Contract making Fox Sports Southwest the exclusive home of the Rangers involving games not aired by ESPN, TBS, Fox or Fox Sports 1. (Fox Sports Oklahoma replaces KSBI as the Oklahoma City home of the Rangers via a simulcast through Fox Sports Southwest)

External links

• KSBITV.com - KSBI official website
• OklahomaCity.ThisTV.com - KSBI-DT2 ("This TV Oklahoma City") official website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KSBI
• Query the FCC's TV station database for K42IC
• Query the FCC's TV station database for K31JW
• Query the FCC's TV station database for K50KE
• Query the FCC's TV station database for K15HQ
• Query the FCC's TV station database for K27JO
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KSBI-TV