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KCBS-TV
Los Angeles, California
Branding	CBS2 Los Angeles
Slogan	Coverage You Can Count On
Channels	2 (VHF) analog, 60 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	CBS (since 1951)
Owner	CBS Corporation
Founded	May 6, 1948 (originally experimental W6XAO 1931-1948)
Call letters meaning	Columbia Broadcasting System (former legal name of CBS)
Former callsigns	KTSL (1948-1951) KNXT (1951-1984)
Former affiliations	DuMont (1948-1951)
Transmitter Power	36.3 kW/1097 m (analog) 469 kW/1087 m (digital)
Website	www.cbs2/kcal9.com

KCBS-TV, "CBS2 Los Angeles" is the CBS owned and operated station in the Los Angeles area, and is the West Coast flagship station of the CBS network. It is sister station to KCAL, an independent station also in Los Angeles. The station is seen via satellite through Dish Network and DirecTV. Its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Experimental years 1.2 As KTSL 1.3 As KNXT 1.4 As KCBS-TV 1.5 Former callsigns 1.6 Logos 2 Newscasts 2.1 Monday-Friday 2.2 Saturday & Sunday 3 Newscast Titles 4 Movie Umbrella Titles 5 Personalities 5.1 Current 5.2 Former 6 Programming Notes 7 See also 8 External links

KCBS-TV is one of the oldest television stations in the world. It was created by Don Lee Broadcasting, which owned a chain of radio stations on the Pacific Coast, and was first licensed by the Federal Radio Commission, forerunner of the Federal Communications Commission as experimental television station W6XAO in June 1931. On December 23, 1931 it went on the air, and by March 1933 was broadcasting one hour daily except Sundays. The station used a mechanical camera which broadcast only film footage, but demonstrated all-electronic receivers as early as 1932. It went off the air in 1935, and then reappeared using an improved mechanical camera producing a 300-line image for a month-long demonstration in June 1936. By August 1937, W6XAO had programming on the air six days per week. Live programming started in April 1938.

By 1939, with the image improved to 441 lines, an optimistic estimate of the station's viewership was 1,500 people in a few hundred homes. Many of the receiver sets were built by television hobbyists, though commercially made sets were available in Los Angeles. The station's six-day weekly schedule consisted of live talent four nights, and film two nights. During World War II, programming was reduced to three hours, every other Monday. The station's frequency was switched from Channel 1 to Channel 2 in 1945 when the FCC decided to reserve Channel 1 for low-wattage community television stations.

The station was granted a commercial license (the second in California, behind KTLA-TV) as KTSL on May 6, 1948, from the initials of Thomas S. Lee, station owner and son of founder Don Lee. It affiliated with the DuMont Television Network later that year.

On January 1, 1951, CBS gave up its 49 percent stake in KTSL's competitor KTTV and purchased KTSL. CBS programming moved to KTSL. In November of 1951, KTSL changed its call letters to KNXT, to coincide with CBS' Los Angeles outlet, KNX-AM 1070. (KNXT's call sign meaning: K News-EXpress Television after a now-defunct newspaper.)

In 1960, KNXT created the nation's first one-hour local newscast, "The Big News," which featured the late Jerry Dunphy, one of Southern California's most beloved news icons, along with legendary weatherman Bill Keene and sportscaster Gil Stratton. This helped make KNXT the number-one news station in Los Angeles. At times, a quarter of Los Angeles televisions were tuned into the Big News, the highest ratings ever for a television newscast in the area. Eventually, KNXT expanded to two-and-a-half hours of live local news, as well as a late-night newscast. However, in the mid 1970s, rival KABC-TV began gaining ratings at KNXT's expense. The station fired Dunphy (who was quickly hired by KABC) and adopted a format similar to KABC's Eyewitness News. However, the change went nowhere. Just as most of its fellow CBS O&Os were dominating their cities' ratings, KNXT rapidly fell into last place.

On April 2, 1984, at noon, KNXT changed its call letters to the present KCBS-TV. In 1997, it adopted the "CBS2" moniker for its on-air image, following the lead of its Chicago and New York sisters. In 2002, KCBS-TV became sister stations with KCAL-TV after the latter was purchased by CBS Corporation.

For a time during the 1980s and 1990s, KCBS has several locally produced programs such as "2 on the Town," a local show similar to Evening Magazine and KABC-TV's Eye On L.A., and KidQuiz, a Saturday Morning Children's Game show hosted by longtime weathercaster Maclovio Perez. Ironically its sister station KCAL-TV still does a show called "9 on the Town."

Aside from a brief period in 1993, when its 6 p.m. news managed to tie KABC for first place, KCBS was an also-ran in the Los Angeles TV ratings for over 30 years, spending most of that time in last place while KABC and KNBC fought it out for first.

KCBS made numerous attempts to get out of the ratings basement at the start of the 21st century. In 2000, former KNBC "Today in L.A." anchor Kent Shocknek joined KCBS to become its morning co-anchor. Then in 2001 the station hired Harold Greene, longtime anchor at KABC, as its 5 and 11 p.m. anchor. A year later, he was joined by his former partner at KABC, Laura Diaz. In 2004, Paul Magers, longtime anchor at KARE-TV in the Twin Cities, replaced Greene on the 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. news, bumping Greene to the 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts. The 4 p.m. newscast moved to KCAL with the arrival of Dr. Phil on KCBS. At the beginning of 2005, longtime KABC weatherman Johnny Mountain moved to KCBS, surprising many since it appeared that he was going to retire.

At first, it seemed that none of these changes brought KCBS any closer to becoming a factor in the Los Angeles news race. However, in April 2006, KCBS grabbed the #2 spot at 5 PM from KABC due to a strong lead-in from Dr. Phil. More importantly, KCBS shot past both KABC and KNBC to take first place at 11 PM for the first time in 30 years.

In the Spring of 2007, KCBS and its sister station KCAL began moving from the old CBS Columbia Square on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street to a new office complex at CBS Studio Center in the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Studio City, several miles away from the old studio. With the move KTLA-TV will become the only VHF station in Los Angeles to broadcast from Hollywood. KTTV, KCOP, and KABC have abandoned their Hollywood studios during the mid 1990s and early 2000s, and KNBC abandoned Hollywood long before that, moving to Burbank in the early 1960s. Additionally, KNX Radio and KCBS-FM left Columbia Square in the fall of 2005, to move to studios in the Miracle Mile.

KCBS and KCAL will move to their new studios in the on April 23, 2007. From there, KCBS and KCAL will begin broadcasting 11 hours of local news per week in high definition, becoming the first CBS owned-and-operated stations, as well as the third and fourth stations in Los Angeles, to broadcast news in HD.

• 1948–1951: KTSL
• 1951–1984: KNXT
• 1984–present: KCBS-TV

KTSL logo from 1948 to 1950. Note the experimental station callsign (W6XAO) still shown.	KTSL logo from 1950 to 1951	KNXT logo from 1976 to 1977	KNXT logo from 1977 to 1978
KNXT logo from 1978 to 1979	KNXT logo from 1979 to 1984	KCBS-TV logo from 1984 to 1986	KCBS-TV logo from 1986 to 1987
KCBS-TV logo from 1987 to 1988	KCBS-TV logo from 1988 to 1994	KCBS-TV logo from 1994 to 1997	KCBS-TV logo from 1997 to 2003
KCBS-TV's current logo, used since January 2003

• CBS2 News at 5am 5-6 a.m.
• CBS2 News at 6am 6-7 a.m.
• CBS2 News at 11am 11-11:30 a.m.
• CBS2 News at 5 5-6 p.m.
• CBS2 News at 6 6-6:30 p.m.
• CBS2 News at 11 11-11:35 p.m.

• CBS2 News at 5 5-5:30 p.m.
• CBS2 News at 6 6-6:30 p.m.
• CBS 2 News at 11 11-11:35 p.m.
• CBS2 Sports Central 11:15-11:35 p.m.

• Telenews (1948-1949)
• Fleetwood Lawton & The News (1950-1951)
• World News and KNXT News (1951-1960
• The Big News (1960-1976)
• 2LA Newsroom (1976-1978)
• Channel 2 News (1978-1988)
• Channel 2 Action News (1988-1997)
• CBS 2 News (1997-present)

• The Early Show (1960s-late 1980s)
• The Late Show (1960s-1989)
• The Best of CBS (1970s)
• The CBS 6:30 Movie (1976-1978)
• The CBS Movie Special (1970s)
• The Saturday Night Movie Special (1980s)
• The Channel 2 Saturday/Sunday Night Movie (1980s)
• CBS Special Movie (1987-1995)
• The KCBS Early Movie (1989-1996)
• The KCBS Late Movie (1989-1996)
• The KCBS Saturday Night Movie (1989-1996)
• The CBS 2 Saturday/Sunday Night Movie (2001-present)
• A CBS 2 Special Movie Presentation (2001-present)

The station's former anchors include Steve Kmetko, Keith Olbermann, Paula Zahn, Ann Curry, Bree Walker, Brent Musburger, Dan Miller, Jerry Dunphy, Connie Chung and Maury Povich. Jerry Dunphy was once an anchor at KCBS and KCAL, both CBS-owned Stations in Los Angeles.

Sports director Jim Hill is the station's most notable current personality. Hill, a former San Diego Charger, was a sportscaster for CBS Sports during his first stint at KNXT/KCBS-TV, from 1976 to 1987. Hill then left to become sports director at KABC-TV, but returned to KCBS-TV in 1992 and has remained sports director at the station since. Two other ex-athletes who are also sportscasters for KCBS and KCAL are Eric Dickerson and James Worthy.

On an interesting note, current KCBS anchor Harold Greene was the inspiration behind fictional San Diego news anchor Ron Burgundy the 2003 film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.^{[citation needed]} Greene had previously anchored at KGTV in San Diego and nearby KABC-TV.

ANCHORS

• Laura Diaz - 5PM & 11PM Anchor
• David Gonzales - Anchor
• Harold Greene - 6PM Anchor
• Pat Harvey - Anchor
• Mia Lee - Anchor
• Sylvia Lopez - Anchor
• Paul Magers - 5PM & 11PM Anchor
• Ann Martin - 6PM Anchor
• Suzanne Rico - Morning Anchor
• Kent Shocknek - Morning and 11AM Anchor
• Linda Alvarez - Weekend Anchor / Reporter
• Dave Clark - Anchor / Reporter
• Sandra Mitchell - 11AM Anchor / Reporter
• Leyna Nguyen - Anchor / Reporter
• Glen Walker - Weekend Anchor / Reporter

WEATHER

• Henry DiCarlo - 11AM Meteorologist
• Jackie Johnson - Weather
• Johnny Mountain - Weather
• Josh Rubenstein - Weather

SPORTS

• Eric Dickerson - NFL This Morning analyst
• Steve Hartman - Weekend Sports Anchor and Sports Central Co-Host
• Jim Hill - Sports director and Sports Central Co-Host
• John Ireland - Sports
• Eric Karros - Sports
• Alan Massengale - Sports
• Gary Miller - Sports
• James Worthy - Sports

REPORTERS

• Dave Bryan - Political Reporter
• Stacey Butler - Reporter
• Rick Chambers - Reporter
• Mark Coogan - Reporter
• Jennifer Davis - Reporter
• Juan Fernandez (TV reporter) - reporter
• Jaime Garza - Reporter
• Michele Gile - Orange County Reporter
• David Goldstein - Investigative Reporter
• Vera Jimenez - Traffic Reporter
• Dave Lopez - Orange County Reporter
• Mary Beth McDade - Reporter
• Christina McLarty - Entertainment Reporter
• Randy Paige - Consumer Investigative Reporter
• Greg Phillips - Inland Empire Reporter
• Jennifer Sabih - Reporter
• Lisa Sigell - Reporter
• Larry Welk - NewsChopper 2 Pilot / Reporter

CBS2.com

• Mark Liu - Webcaster / Assignment Editor / Blogger
• Jen McBride - Webcaster / Web Producer

Terry Anzur - anchor (1990-1994) Jaie Avila - reporter (1998-2002, now at WOAI-TV in San Antonio) Ross Becker - reporter (1980-1990, now at KTVX-TV) Joseph Benti - anchor/reporter (1960-1966) Marcia Brandwynne - anchor/reporter (1980-1984) Angela Black - anchor/reporter (1996-2001) Gretchen Carr - anchor/reporter (1998-2004) Larry Carroll - anchor (1996-1999) Joel Connable - reporter (now at WTVJ in Miami) Paul Dandridge - anchor/reporter (1996-2007) Jerry Dunphy - anchor (1960-75 and 1995-1997) Connie Chung - anchor/reporter (1976-1983) Ann Curry - reporter (1984-1990) Bob Dunn - anchor/reporter (1962-1986) Steve Edwards - talk show host/reporter (1978-1984) Jonathan Elias - anchor/reporter (1999-2002, now at KNXV) John Elliott - morning weathercaster (2004-2006) Roy Firestone - sports anchor/reporter (1978-1985) Dr. George Fishbeck - weather anchor (1994-1997) Maury Green - anchor/reporter (1960-1973) Penny Griego - anchor/reporter (1986-1994) Joel Grover - reporter (1996-2002, now at KNBC) Steve Hartman - feature reporter (1994-1998, now at CBS News) Tony Hernandez - sports anchor/reporter (1984-1990) Sandy Hill - anchor (1980s) Lester Holt - reporter (1982-1983, now at NBC News) David Horowitz - consumer reporter (1993-1998) Huell Howser - features reporter (1981-1987) Lee Irwin - reporter (1978-1980) Lisa Joyner - entertainment reporter (2002-2006; now at TV Guide Channel) Bill Keene - weather anchor (1954-1974) Steve Kmetko - entertainment reporter (1987-1998) Jim Lampley - sports anchor (1987-1992) Kelly Lange - Women 2 Women host (1999-2001) Fleetwood Lawton - original news anchor (1950-1951) Rick Lozano - reporter (1986-1999) Harvey Levin - legal analyst (1987-1997)

Dorothy Lucey - anchor/reporter (1987-1992, now at KTTV) Jess Marlow - anchor (1980-1986) Dan Miller- anchor/reporter (1986-1989; now at WSMV-TV in Nashville) Byron Miranda - weather anchor (2002-2005) Now at KTVU in San Francisco Jim Moret - entertainment reporter/anchor (1984-1987) Terry Murphy - anchor/reporter (1980-1984 and 1987-1989) Brent Musburger - anchor (1971-1977) Bob Navarro - reporter (1972-1974 and 1994-1999) Pat O'Brien - reporter (1978-1981) Keith Olbermann - sports anchor (1988-1991) Warren Olney - anchor/reporter (1969-1975 and 1986-1989) Mary Parks - reporter (1991-1994) Maclovio Perez - weather anchor (1971-1997) Kyra Phillips - reporter (1995-1999, now at CNN Headline News) Denis Phillips - Weather Anchor (1992-1994) now at WFTS in Tampa Maury Povich - anchor (1977-1978) Art Rascon - reporter (1989-1994, now at KTRK in Houston) Steve Rambo - reporter (1988-2001) Clete Roberts - anchor/reporter (1966-1977) Willa Sandmeyer - reporter (1991-1993, now at KTLA) Hosea Sanders - anchor/reporter (1986-1994, now at WLS-TV in Chicago) Bill Seward - reporter (1992-1997) John Schubeck - anchor (1983-1988) David Sheehan - entertainment reporter (1971-1981 and 1994-2003) Debra Snell - reporter (1995-1999) Ralph Story - anchor/features reporter/host of Ralph Story's Los Angeles (1959-1970 and 1974-1986) Bill Stout - anchor/reporter (1951-1989) Gil Stratton - sports anchor (1954-1976) Ruth Ashton Taylor - anchor/reporter (1951-1958 and 1962-1989) Tritia Toyota - anchor (1985-1999) Michael Tuck - anchor (1990-1999; now at KUSI-TV in San Diego) Jane Velez-Mitchell - reporter (1990-2005) Bree Walker - anchor/reporter (1988-1994) Paula Zahn - anchor/reporter (1986-1987) Colleen Williams - anchor/reporter (1983-1985, now with KNBC) Alex Witt - reporter (1990-1992, now with MSNBC)

• KCBS airs the Young and the Restless at 11:30 AM instead of 11 AM. Most CBS affiliates and stations air it at 11 AM in the Pacific, Mountain and Central Time Zones, owing to newscasts that air at 12 Noon. But 11:30 AM is really CBS' recommended time slot to air it. This reflects off the fact that most affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone air it at 12:30 PM, following the midday news. This is also the case at KCBS, in lieu of sister station KCAL's newscast schedule.
• In Los Angeles, national news from the major networks air at 6:30 PM, an hour later than most West Coast affiliates. This includes the CBS Evening News on KCBS. During the 1980s, the CBS Evening News and ABC World News Tonight (broadcasted by KABC) aired on their respective stations at 7 p.m. From 1989 to 1999, KCBS aired the CBS Evening News at 5:30.

• KNX (AM)
• KCBS-FM
• KCBS-TV/FM Tower

• Official CBS2/KCAL9 Website
• Photos of KCBS's news set
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KCBS-TV

Coordinates: 34° 13' 55" N 118° 04' 18" W

v • d • e

Broadcast television in the Los Angeles market (Nielsen DMA #2)

KCBS 2 (CBS) - KNBC 4 (NBC, WX Plus on DT2) - KTLA 5 (The CW, The Tube on DT2) - KSFV-LP 6 (Ind/Spanish/Religious) - KABC 7 (ABC, News on DT2, AccuWX TV on DT3, Playhouse Disney on DT4) - KCAL 9 (Ind/CBS) - KTTV 11 (Fox) - KCOP 13 (MNTV) - KSCI 18 (Ind) - KWHY 22 (Ind/Spanish) - KVCR 24 (PBS) - KBLM-LP 25 (Ind/Spanish) - KNET-LP 25 (Ind/Infomercials) - KNLA-LP 27 (Ind/Spanish) - KZSW-LP 27 (Ind/IELN) - KCET 28 (PBS, Kids on DT2) - KPXN 30 (ION) - KMEX 34 (UNI) - KPAL-LP 38 (Ind) - KSKJ-CA 38 / KSKP-CA 25 (Ind) - KTBN 40 (TBN) - KXLA 44 (Ind) - KLAU-LP 45 (Ind/Infomercials) - KFTR 46 (TFU) - KOCE 50 (PBS, Kids on DT2, Orange Cty. on DT3) - KVEA 52 (TEL) - KAZA 54 (AZA) - KDOC 56 (Ind) - K57KF 57 (Almavision) - KJLA 57 / KSMV-LP 33 / KSGA-LP 64 (Ind) - KLCS 58 (PBS, Kids on DT2, Create! on DT3, Annenberg/CPB on DT4) - KRCA 62 (Ind) - KBEH 63 (MTV3) - KHIZ 64 (A1) - KHTV-LP 67 (HSN)
Local digital television channels KVMD 23 (Ind/A1)
Local cable television channels FSN West - FSN Prime Ticket
Past broadcast stations KKOG 16 (IND) - KVST / KEEF 68 (non-commercial)
See also Broadcast television in the San Diego / Tijuana, Imperial Valley / Yuma / El Centro, and Central Coast markets

v • d • e CBS Network Affiliates in the state of California
KCBS 2 (Los Angeles) - KPIX 5 (San Francisco) - KVIQ 6 (Eureka) - KFMB 8 (San Diego) - KCOY 12 (Santa Maria) - KHSL 12 (Chico) - KOVR 13 (Stockton/Sacramento/Modesto) - KBAK 29 (Bakersfield) - KPSP 38 (Coachella Valley) - KION 46 (Salinas) - KGPE 47 (Fresno)
See also: ABC, CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS, Telefutura, Telemundo, Univision, Independent, Other Spanish Network, Religious, Home Shopping and Other stations in California