KRDO-TV

KRDO-TV, virtual channel 13 (UHF digital channel 24), is an ABC-affiliated television station licensed to Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States and also serving Pueblo. Owned by Pikes Peak Television, a subsidiary of the News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG), it is sister to low-powered Telemundo affiliate KTLO-LP, channel 46 (which is simulcast on KRDO-TV's second digital subchannel) and radio stations KRDO-AM (1240 kHz) and KRDO-FM (105.5 MHz). The four stations share studios on South 8th Street in Colorado Springs; KRDO-TV's transmitter is located on Cheyenne Mountain.

KRDO-TV
Colorado Springs/Pueblo, Colorado
United States
CityColorado Springs, Colorado
BrandingNewsChannel 13
SloganWhere the News Comes First (general)
Always Tracking. Always Alerting.(weather)
ChannelsDigital: 24 (UHF)
Virtual: 13 (PSIP)
Affiliations13.1: ABC (1960–present)
13.2: Telemundo
13.3: Heroes & Icons
13.4 Dabl
OwnerNews-Press & Gazette Company
LicenseePikes Peak Television, Inc.
First air dateSeptember 21, 1953 (1953-09-21)
Call sign meaningKoloRaDO
(K is a substitute for the C)
Former channel number(s)Analog:
13 (VHF, 1953–2009)
Former affiliationsNBC (1953–1960)
Transmitter power200 kW
Height675 m (2,215 ft)
Facility ID52579
Transmitter coordinates38°44′45.1″N 104°51′39.1″W
Licensing authorityFCC
Public license informationProfile
CDBS
Websitewww.krdo.com

On cable, KRDO-TV is carried on Comcast Xfinity channel 12 in Colorado Springs (channel 13 is instead occupied by KTLO-LP).

History

KRDO-TV first went on the air on September 21, 1953 as an NBC affiliate. At that time, KKTV (channel 11) was a primary CBS affiliate with a secondary affiliation with ABC, and KCSJ-TV (channel 5, now KOAA-TV) was the NBC affiliate for nearby Pueblo. As such, during much of the 1950s, Southern Colorado was served by two full-time NBC affiliates and a CBS affiliate that also carried ABC programming.

By 1960, the formerly separate Colorado Springs and Pueblo TV markets melded into one single market serving the Pikes Peak region and surrounding areas. At that point, each of the three commercial TV stations became "exclusive" network affiliates with KKTV retaining CBS, KCSJ-TV continuing with NBC and KRDO-TV becoming a full-time ABC affiliate. KRDO was one of the few ABC affiliates that didn't clear The Dick Cavett Show during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

KRDO-TV had been locally owned by Pikes Peak Broadcasting Company since the station signed on. In April 2006, the company announced that it was selling KRDO-TV (along with KRDO radio and KJCT in Grand Junction) to the News-Press & Gazette Company. News-Press & Gazette officially took over operations of KRDO-TV on June 26, 2006; in honor of Pikes Peak Broadcasting, it changed the name of its Colorado broadcast group to Pikes Peak Television.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[1]
13.1720p16:9KRDO-HDMain KRDO-TV programming / ABC
13.2KTLOSimulcast of KTLO-LP / Telemundo
13.3480iNOWHeroes & Icons
13.4DRDODabl

Analog-to-digital conversion

KRDO-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 13, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 24.[2] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 13.

News operation

KRDO-TV's news operation was rebranded from News 13 to NewsChannel 13 on the same day that NPG took over the station's operations. Under NPG, KRDO expanded its newscasts starting with 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts replacing the single early evening 5:30 p.m. newscasts. It added weekend morning newscasts (currently airing from 6–7 a.m. and 8–9 a.m. both on Saturdays and Sundays) that started in the final week of December 2006. In June 2007 it started a midday newscast that airs from noon–1 p.m. Both were first anchored by former KKTV anchor Eric Singer who would anchor KRDO's 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts. Singer now works at the Gazette as a reporter and anchor on the newspaper's new media platforms.

On July 23, 2008, KRDO-TV began broadcasting Southern Colorado's first local newscasts in high definition (HD), beginning with NewsChannel 13 at Noon.

On October 10, 2011, KRDO-TV added an early evening newscast at 4:30 p.m. The early evening newscast was moved up to 4:00 p.m. during September 2012.

Former on-air staff
  • David Brody – news director (now serves as a correspondent for the CBN News segment on The 700 Club)
  • John Gurtler – sports anchor (now serves as the play-by-play voice of the Buffalo Bandits)[3]
  • Giselle Fernández – Began her broadcasting career as the Pueblo reporter for KRDO-TV in 1983. She later worked for CBS and NBC among other prominent national broadcast positions.[4]
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References
  1. RabbitEars TV Query for KRDO
  2. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  3. "John Gurtler". Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  4. Telgen, Diane; Kamp, Jim (1993). Notable Hispanic American Women. Verlag für die Deutsche Wirtschaft AG. p. 156. ISBN 0-8103-7578-8.
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