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KCAL-TV, channel 9, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA, owned by the CBS Corporation. KCAL-TV shares its studio facilities with KCBS-TV (channel 2) inside CBS Studio Center in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.

Digital television[link]

Digital channels

Analog-to-digital conversion[link]

KCAL-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 9, on June 12, 2009 at 1:10 p.m.,^[1][2] as part of the DTV transition in the United States. The station had been broadcasting its pre-transition digital signal over UHF channel 43, but returned to channel 9 for its post-transition operations.^[3] KCAL broadcasts in 1080i high definition on virtual channel 9.1.

History[link]

Early years[link]

Channel 9 went on the air as KFI-TV on August 25, 1948, owned by Earle C. Anthony, along with KFI radio (640 AM). KFI had long been affiliated with NBC and KFI-TV served for a brief period as Los Angeles' first NBC television affiliate. Channel 9 lost its NBC affiliation in January 1949 when the network launched its own station, KNBH (now KNBC). KFI-TV then became an independent station, a status it has retained to this day (though it carried DuMont programming from 1954 up to the network's demise in 1956).

Channel 9's engineers made noises about going on strike in 1951, leading Anthony to sell the station to the General Tire and Rubber Company in August of that year.^[4] A few months earlier, General Tire had purchased the Don Lee Broadcasting System, a regional West Coast radio network. Don Lee's flagship station was KHJ radio (930 AM), and General Tire changed its new TV station's call letters to KHJ-TV. The Don Lee name was so well respected in California broadcasting that KHJ-TV called itself "Don Lee Television" for a few years in the early 1950s, even though it had never been affiliated with KHJ radio until the 1951 deal. Most of Don Lee's television experiments had been conducted on what is now KCBS-TV – coincidentally, current sister station to channel 9.

In 1955 General Tire purchased RKO Radio Pictures, giving the company's TV stations access to RKO's film library, and soon after General Tire merged its broadcast interests as General Teleradio. In 1959, General Tire's broadcasting and film divisions were renamed as RKO General.

RKO ownership[link]

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By the mid 1960s, channel 9 offered a standard independent schedule of movies, off-network reruns, children's shows like "The Pancake Man" hosted by Hal Smith (actor) who showed educational shorts like The Space Explorers, syndicated fare, and locally-produced programs such as news, sports, and public-affairs shows. In the late 1960s KHJ embarked on a novel, groundbreaking (and inexpensive) experiment, called Tempo. Daytime programming was divided into 3 three-hour blocks, called Tempo I, Tempo II, and Tempo III. They borrowed heavily from the talk-radio craze on local radio stations and basically ported that format over to television. The middle of the three programs, Tempo II was perhaps the most active, controversial, and innovative. For the first couple of years the hosts were Stan Bohrman and Maria Cole (the wife of Nat King Cole). Guests ranged from William F. Buckley to Sammy Davis, Jr. and the political movers and shakers in Southern California. At one point Stan even quit the program after what he called censorship on the topic of Eldridge Cleaver. Bohrman came back to the program and was joined by a new co-host, Regis Philbin. They became a very popular fixture in Los Angeles television. In fact in his book about those days, Regis credits the chemistry with Stan and the format of the program as forerunners of much of what would become cable TV news 20 years later.^{[citation needed]}

In the early-1970s, KHJ-TV sought a similar programming strategy to that of cross-town competitor KTLA, which focused more on talk shows, game shows, sports, films, and off-network dramas. The cartoons were phased out (some moving to KTTV and KCOP), and the station ran fewer off-network sitcoms. It did continue to have a weekday children's show called Froozles, which ran until the late 1980s. It also produced many 30 minute public affairs programs as well as a local talk show called Mid Morning L.A.. The first host were Kathy McKee, Sandy Baron on the new 2 hour live Mid Day & Good Morning L.A. Talk Show. They were hired by then KHJ Station manager Lional Schaen. Bob Hilton, Meredith MacRae, Geoff Edwards and Regis Philbin, which ran well into the 1980s. Edwards and MacRae won Emmy Awards for their hosting duties during the early-1980s. Some other locally produced public affairs shows included the investigative show Camera 9 and The Changing Family, a program about family and social issues during the 1980s. Despite this, KHJ-TV was perceived as an also ran while KTLA was the leading independent with a similar format.

Meanwhile, a behind-the-scenes battle was underway with serious implications on the station's future – and that of its owner. In 1965, RKO General faced a threat to its license for KHJ-TV from a group called Fidelity Television.^{[citation needed]} At first, Fidelity's claim focused on channel 9's programming quality. Later, and more seriously, Fidelity claimed that KHJ-TV was involved in reciprocal trade practices. Fidelity alleged that RKO's parent company, General Tire, forced its retailers to purchase advertising on KHJ-TV and other RKO stations as a condition of their contracts with General Tire. An administrative law judge found in favor of Fidelity, but RKO appealed.^{[citation needed]} In 1972, the FCC allowed RKO to keep the license for KHJ-TV, but two years later conditioned future renewals on the renewal of sister station WNAC-TV (now WHDH-TV) in Boston.^{[citation needed]} Six years later, the FCC stripped WNAC-TV of its license for numerous reasons, but largely because RKO had misled the FCC about corporate misconduct at General Tire.^{[citation needed]} The decision meant KHJ-TV and sister station WOR-TV (now WWOR-TV) in New York City lost their licenses as well. However, an appeals court ruled that the FCC had erred when it tied channel 9's renewal to that of WNAC-TV and ordered new hearings for KHJ-TV and WOR-TV.^{[citation needed]}

The hearings dragged on until 1987. That year, an administrative law judge found RKO unfit to be a broadcast licensee due to numerous cases of dishonesty by RKO, including fraudulent billing and lying about its ratings.^{[citation needed]} The FCC advised RKO that it would almost certainly deny any appeals, and persuaded RKO to sell its stations to avoid the indignity of having their licenses taken away.^{[citation needed]}

Joining the House of Mouse[link]

Finally, in 1989, RKO agreed to sell KHJ-TV to Fidelity Television, the group that originally challenged the license in 1965. Fidelity then sold the license to the Walt Disney Company. As a result of the sale, many, if not all, of KHJ-TV's staffers were dismissed or left the station, including notably longtime KHJ-TV general manager Charles Velona.^{[citation needed]}

Even though Channel 9's longtime radio sisters had changed their calls to KRTH some years before, Disney wanted to make a clean start. Accordingly, it changed the calls to KCAL-TV, and initially branded the station as California 9 before adopting the branding K-CAL 9 in 1995. The station also overhauled its format in the wake of its ownership change, adding a three-hour primetime newscast featuring veteran newscasters Jerry Dunphy, Pat Harvey, and rising star Jane Velez-Mitchell (of CNN fame). This pioneering 3-hour prime newscast launched in the midst of LA's Rodney King verdict riots, O.J. Simpson's murder case, extensive canyon fires, flooding, and the '94 Northridge earthquake, resulting in improved ratings.

General Managers of the station under Disney's ownership included Blake Byrne from LIN, and David Woodcock from United Chris Craft. Janet Schoff, the station's Sales Manager under Disney created a successful new ad unit for the primetime newscast (the 'trombo'), which still exists to this day. The trombo is sold as one ad unit consisting of three spots (one in each hour of the primetime newscast). The station also carried several of the L.A. Lakers' games during the team's Magic Johnson "Showtime" era, which also added to its success during Disney's ownership.

KCAL also added many children's programs, including cartoons from the Walt Disney library (especially in 1989, when The Disney Afternoon transferred from KTTV after Fox's launch of Fox Kids). The station also ran a greater number of family based off-network sitcoms and syndicated programs.

Cartoons, such as DuckTales, continued to be a big part of KCAL's schedule in the 1990s, with blocks of children's programming on weekday mornings and afternoons, that lasted well into 1997. In the early 1990s, the family sitcoms were gradually phased out and KCAL added more first-run syndicated talk, reality, court, and newsmagazine shows.

In 1995, Disney purchased Capital Cities/ABC, which owned KABC-TV. Due to FCC regulations at the time, Disney was not allowed to keep both KABC-TV and KCAL. Disney chose to divest KCAL, which was purchased by Young Broadcasting in 1996.

The afternoon kids block would remain until 1999, when the Disney kids block moved to KCOP. In 2000, the children's shows in the morning were gone as well under the ownership of Young Broadcasting. The station also added more weekday daytime newscasts at 2 and 3 p.m., and the 6:30 p.m. newscast was discontinued. It would also be the last station in the Los Angeles area to air a half-hour local newscast at 6:30 p.m., until January 2009 when KTLA launched its 6:30 p.m. local newscast, a decade after KCAL ended.

CBS purchase[link]

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As a result of massive debt acquired from purchasing KRON-TV in San Francisco, Young Broadcasting put KCAL up for sale in 2002, and the station was purchased by CBS, then a subsidiary of Viacom, on June 1, 2002. KCAL's operations were merged with those of KCBS-TV, and channel 9 moved from its longtime headquarters at the Viacom-owned Paramount Studios on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood to the historic CBS Columbia Square, located one mile away.

When Viacom/CBS bought KCAL-TV, many in the broadcasting industry speculated that they would move its UPN affiliation from Fox-owned KCOP to KCAL. Chris-Craft Industries, KCOP's previous owners, had co-founded UPN with Viacom in 1995, and owned 50 percent of the network before selling out to Viacom in 2000. Fox's parent company, the News Corporation, purchased KCOP and the other Chris-Craft TV stations in 2001. However, CBS Corporation decided to leave channel 9 as an independent, as Fox renewed its affiliation agreement for its UPN-affiliated stations. It is widely believed that Fox used KCOP as leverage to keep UPN on Fox-owned stations in New York (WWOR-TV, KCAL's former sister station) and Chicago, threatening to drop the network in those markets should Viacom move UPN to KCAL. This issue became moot with the announcement of the merger of UPN and the WB Television Network into the CW Television Network, in January 2006. The new network launched in September 2006, with former WB affiliate KTLA (coincidentally founded by Paramount in 1947) affiliating with the CW.

KCAL-TV is still an independent, and is now one of three independent stations owned by CBS. The other stations are former UPN affiliate KTXA in Fort Worth, Texas and WLNY-TV in Riverhead, New York (another former UPN station WSBK-TV in Boston was independent from September 2006 to September 2011, when it joined MyNetworkTV). Channel 9 currently offers first-run syndicated programs such as Dr. Phil (one week-old reruns from KCBS), Inside Edition, The People's Court (the original version with Judge Joseph Wapner also aired on Channel 9 during various points of the '80s and '90s), same-night rebroadcasts of Entertainment Tonight and The Insider (which also both air on KCBS), reruns of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Scrubs, among others. KCAL is the Southern California home of the annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, which it has carried since 1997.

On April 21, 2007, KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV moved from Columbia Square to an all-digital facility at the CBS Studio Center in Studio City. The move allowed both stations to begin broadcasting all local programming in High Definition, and in addition, the two stations operate in a completely tapeless newsroom. This newsroom is named after veteran newscaster Jerry Dunphy, who worked at both stations during his career. With the move to Studio City, KTLA and KCET are the only stations (either in radio or television) in Los Angeles to broadcast from Hollywood.

Although KCAL-TV is an independent station, it has aired programming from the CBS network on at least two occasions. On August 30, 2007, it aired an elimination episode of Big Brother 8 and a rerun of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation because KCBS carried a National Football League preseason game between the San Francisco 49ers and the San Diego Chargers at the same time. In 2005, an episode of Big Brother 6 was bumped to KCAL, as KCBS-TV aired an Oakland Raiders preseason game.

Programming[link]

"Thames on 9"[link]

For a week in June 1979, KHJ-TV aired "Thames on 9," in which each night's lineup of programs was turned over to Great Britain's Thames Television. Shows included Man About the House (a forerunner of Three's Company) and The Benny Hill Show. A similar stunt had run two years earlier on WOR-TV in New York City, which was KHJ-TV's sister station.

Sports programming[link]

KCAL-TV currently holds broadcast television rights to only MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers.

Channel 9 has carried the Lakers twice, first from 1961 to 1964 (as KHJ-TV), and every year since the 1977-78 season -- the longest current consecutive station-team broadcast partnership in the NBA. KCAL-TV carries a minimum of 35 road games per season, with Fox Sports West given the rights to home games. However, the channel 9/Lakers partnership has ended at the conclusion of the 2011-12 NBA season, after which the Lakers will move to a new cable channel co-owned by the team and Time Warner Cable.^[5] KCAL-TV has broadcast Dodgers games since 2006, televising at least 50 games a year. Currently, channel 9 broadcasts all Dodgers games in High Definition.

For much of its history, sports have been a part of Channel 9's identity. From 1961 to 1963, KHJ-TV was the first television home of the Los Angeles Angels. The baseball team moved to KTLA starting in 1964, when then-Angels owner Gene Autry purchased that station. In 1996, KCAL-TV once again became the broadcast home of the Angels (Disney's ownership interest in the Angels briefly overlapped its stewardship of the station), and added more basketball coverage that same year with the Los Angeles Clippers, in addition to its Lakers telecasts. The station and the Clippers parted ways in 2001, as they eventually moved their over-the-air telecasts to KTLA. The Angels departed KCAL after the 2005 season, moving to KCOP.

In addition, KCAL broadcast selected weekend Mighty Ducks of Anaheim games from the NHL team's first season in 1993 (both entities were Disney properties until 1996) until 2005, when the Ducks moved their over-the-air broadcasts to Anaheim-based independent station KDOC-TV. KCAL was also home to the NHL's Los Angeles Kings in the early 1980s and again during the mid-to-late 1990s. Also, KCAL also carried selected games from the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer until 2005, when the games became cable-exclusive to Fox Sports West.

In 1997 KCAL premiered the first fifteen-minute weekday sports report Final Quarter. The show was an expansion of the typical five minute sports report seen towards the end of a newscast. Several years later the show was renamed KCAL 9 Sports News and with the purchase by CBS, joined KCBS-TV and was renamed Sports Central. The show was recently expanded to a full half-hour on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. With the termination of the Southern California Sports Report on Fox Sports West/Prime Ticket, this is the only nightly detailed sports highlights show on local television.

Channel 9 ran preseason coverage of the NFL's San Diego Chargers in 2005, and aired contests of the Chargers' AFC West rival, the Oakland Raiders, in 2006. The station also aired preseason Raiders during the middle 1990s. Also of note, KCAL-TV simulcasted the ESPN and TNT feeds of Sunday night football games featuring the then-Los Angeles Raiders and then-Los Angeles Rams (now the St. Louis Rams) from 1990 until 1993.

Since its founding in 1994 until 2008 KCAL was the originating station of the annual John R. Wooden college basketball classic at Anaheim's Honda Center. Channel 9's coverage was syndicated nationally to stations across the country, including on WGN America. Since 2009 the Wooden Classic has aired nationally on Fox Sports Net.

News programming[link]

In the 1970s, KHJ-TV had a 10 p.m. newscast. It was moved to 9 p.m. during the 1980s, and the station later added a half-hour 8 p.m. newscast during the late 1980s. Some of its most notable personalities included anchors George Putnam, Jerry Dunphy, Pat Harvey, Tom Lawrence, Nathan Roberts, Lonnie Lardner, Linda Edwards, and weather personality Andrew Amador. By 1989, Disney implemented the concept of a prime time news block, with "Prime 9 News" between 8 and 11 p.m. The 3-hour news block is still seen on KCAL-TV to this day. A few years later, channel 9 added a short-lived half-hour newscast at 6:30 p.m.

KCAL is notable for airing newscasts during unconventional time blocks. Along with newscasts at 10 p.m. (where it competes against KTLA and KTTV), noon (competes against KTTV and KNBC), and 4 p.m. (competes against KABC), it also airs news at 2 p.m., 3 p.m., 8 p.m., and 9 p.m. Combined with its sister station KCBS-TV the two stations air just over 11 hours of news programming every weekday. KCAL has no weekday morning newscast, but has a weekend morning newscast.

KCAL's newscasts run the gamut in tone. Its 8 p.m. newscast is generally an update on the day's news, which are much of the stories devoted to California and local news, and was previously branded California Report. Its 9 p.m. newscast is generally the most serious newscast and was branded in previous years as the Prime 9 News World Report. The 9 p.m. newscast prominently features political, business, and international news. The noon newscast, on the other hand, features lighter stories, including features on food, health, and entertainment news. The 4 p.m. newscast was essentially a repurposed KCBS-TV newscast and was done with former channel 2 anchors Harold Greene and Ann Martin, who did not appear recently elsewhere on KCAL.

The 4 p.m. newscast was moved to KCAL from KCBS-TV to make room for Dr. Phil, which by contract was not allowed to air opposite The Oprah Winfrey Show, which in Los Angeles aired on KABC-TV at 3 p.m. Its 10 p.m. newscast is simply more of an update of the 8 p.m. news, as it competes with KTTV and KTLA, and in the past KCOP, though in recent years, it has been shortened to 30 minutes, in order to make way for Sports Central, the only comprehensive local sports news program in Southern California (since the demise of the Southern California Sports Report on Fox Sports Net). The 6:30 p.m. newscast, which ran in the early 1990s was called First 9 News focused primarily on local news and competed against the national network newscasts aired on KCBS-TV, KNBC-TV and KABC-TV. However, KCBS did air a 6:30 p.m. local newscast in the mid to late 1990s, while the CBS Evening News aired at 5:30 p.m.

Because of the amount of news on the station, channel 9 is known as the station showing the most police chases. Often regular news programming is dropped to cover a police chase, and programming following the news is sometimes pre-empted to show the chase's conclusion.

On April 1, 2008, CBS' owned-and-operated television stations division ordered widespread budget cuts and staff layoffs from its stations. As a result of the budget cuts, roughly 10 to 15 staffers were released from KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV, including reporters Jennifer Sabih, Greg Phillips, and Jennifer Davis. Harold Greene and Ann Martin, who were then the 4:00 p.m co-anchors on channel 9 and 6:00 p.m. on sister station, Channel 2, were also said to have been on the layoff list, but have both decided to retire from television when their contracts expired in June.

On April 23, 2009, it was announced that Emmy winner and Los Angeles native Rick Garcia, formerly with KTTV Channel 11, had joined KCAL and would be paired with Pat Harvey as co-anchors for the station's weeknight 8 and 10 p.m. newscasts. He is now paired with Sharon Tay, since Pat Harvey moved to sister station KCBS-TV to co-anchor the 5 & 11 p.m. newscasts.

NewsCentral era[link]

On September 19, 2009, KCBS and KCAL rebranded to the NewsCentral brand (unrelated to Sinclair Broadcasting Group's former "News Central" brand; coincidentally, CBS also owns former Sinclair station KOVR in Sacramento). The slogan was changed to News That's Central To Your Life and Covering Stories That Hit Home! and was refocused to cover on more community news, including news from outlying communities. Local news headlines from the Los Angeles Newspaper Group and other MediaNews Group newspapers were displayed on a ticker, "street team" submissions of video and photos from viewers were featured, reporters ended stories with NewsCentral rather than the individual station names, and mic flags and news vehicles were branded to show both stations at once (previously the KCBS logo was displayed on half the sides and the KCAL logo on the other half). NewsCentral claimed they produced more local news than any other television station in the country, with reporters in Ventura County, the Inland Empire, and Orange County, and the only Los Angeles television station with two helicopters (subcontracted to Angel City Air, owned by reporter Larry Welk). Ed Asner was used to introduce the new newscast.^[6] CBS denies this move was made in response to other stations pooling newsgathering resources.^[7]

On December 10, 2009, CBS brought in Steve Mauldin to replace Patrick McClenahan as president and general manager of the duopoly. That week, the duopoly ultimately rescinded the NewsCentral branding, reverting to the "CBS2" and "KCAL9" news identities. The NewsCentral graphics, mic flags and logos remained in the interim, though on-air "talent" no longer used the NewsCentral identity.^[8][9]

News/Station presentation[link]

Newscast titles[link]

• Don Lee News (1948–1961)
• Channel 9 News (1961–1990)^[10]
• The Ten O'Clock News (1972–1983)
• The Nine O'Clock News (1983–1989)
• Prime 9 News (1990–1995)^[11]
• KCAL 9 News (1995-September 2009 and January 2010–present)^[12]
• KCAL 9 NewsCentral (September 2009-January 2010)

Station slogans[link]

• "America's Best Local News" (1994–1998)
• "Live. Local. Latebreaking." (1998–2009; news slogan)
• "Always On" (2007–2009; general slogan)
• "News That's Central to Your Life" (2009–present)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

Movie umbrella titles[link]

• The Million Dollar Movie (1957–1989)^[13]
• Saturday Night Showcase (1970s–1980s)
• 3:30 Movie (1981–1986)^[14]
• Frandsen's Feature hosted by Tom Frandsen (1960s–early 1980s)
• Fright Night (1970–1981)
• Elvira's Movie Macabre (1981–1991)
• Channel 9 Evening Movie (1980s)^[15]
• California 9 Cinema (1990–1995)
• K-CAL 9 Cinema (1995–present)^[16]

News team[link]

[edit] Current on-air staff^[17]

+ denotes personnel also seen on KCBS-TV

Anchors

• Serene Branson - weekend mornings (Saturdays 8-10 a.m.; Sundays 7-9 a.m.); also weekday reporter
• Kaj Goldberg - weekend mornings (Saturdays 8-10 a.m.; Sundays 7-9 a.m.); also weather anchor
• David Gonzales - weekdays at noon and 2 p.m.
• Rick Garcia - weeknights at 8 and 10 p.m.
• Sylvia Lopez - weekdays at 4, and weeknights at 9 p.m.
• Sandra Mitchell - weekdays at noon, 2 and 3 p.m.
• Leyna Nguyen - weekdays at 4, and weeknights at 9 p.m.
• + Rob Schmitt - weekends at 8, 9 and 10 p.m.; also weekday reporter
• + Suzie Suh - weekends at 8, 9:30 and 10 p.m., also weekday reporter
• Sharon Tay - weeknights at 8 and 10 p.m.

Skyview Weather Team

• Evelyn Taft - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 8, 9 and 10 p.m.
• + Kaj Goldberg - weather anchor; Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at noon, 2 p.m., 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.
• + Rich Fields - meteorologist; Mondays and Tuesdays at noon, 2, 3 and 4 p.m., and weekends at 8, 9 and 10 p.m.

Sports team

• + Jim Hill - sports director; also Sports Central and LTV co-host
• Jaime Maggio - sports anchor; Sports Central co-host
• + Gary Miller - sports anchor; weekends at 8 and 9 p.m., also Sports Central co-host
• Eric Collins - Los Angeles Dodgers play-by-play for road games
• Eric Karros - co-host of Think Blue TV
• John Ireland - curb-side reporter for Los Angeles Lakers games
• Stu Lantz - Los Angeles Lakers commentator
• Steve Lyons - Los Angeles Dodgers play-by-play for road games
• Bill Macdonald - Los Angeles Lakers play-by-play
• Vin Scully - Los Angeles Dodgers play-by-play for home games
• James Worthy - Los Angeles Lakers analyst for Sports Central

Reporters

• + Stephanie Abrams - general assignment reporter
• + Joy Benedict - general assignment reporter
• + Dave Bryan - political reporter
• + Amanda Burden - general assignment reporter
• + Stacey Butler - general assignment reporter
• + Whitney Drolen - general assignment reporter
• + Suraya Fadel - general assignment reporter
• + Juan Fernandez - general assignment reporter
• + Kara Finnstrom - general assignment reporter
• + Michele Gile - Orange County bureau reporter
• + David Goldstein - investigative reporter
• + Kirk Hawkins - general assignment reporter
• + Louisa Hodge - general assignment reporter
• + Amy Johnson - Ventura County reporter
• + Rachel Kim - general assignment reporter
• + Edward Lawrence - general assignment reporter
• + Kristine Lazar - general assignment reporter
• + Dave Lopez - Orange County bureau reporter
• + Suzanne Marques - entertainment reporter
• + Melissa Maynarich - general assignment reporter
• + Melissa McCarty - general assignment reporter
• + Greg Mills - Inland Empire bureau reporter
• + Jeff Nguyen - general assignment reporter
• + Randy Paige - consumer reporter
• + Rob Schmitt - general assignment reporter
• + Lisa Sigell – health reporter; also fill-in anchor
• + Suzie Suh - general assignment reporter

Sky 9

• + Derek Bell - pilot/reporter
• + Aaron Fitzgerald - fill-in pilot/reporter
• + Justin Jager - photographer/reporter
• + Gary Lineberry - pilot/reporter

Notable former employees[link]

• Jerry Dunphy (deceased)
• Mike Emanuel
• Hal Fishman (later with KTLA; deceased)
• Harold Greene
• Pat Harvey
• Sharon Ito
• Lisa Joyner
• Tawny Little
• Ann Martin (newsanchor)
• Byron Miranda
• Hank Plante
• George Putnam (deceased)
• David Sheehan
• Don Steele (host of "The Real Don Steele Show" : deceased)
• Mark Steines (now co-host of Entertainment Tonight)
• Cindy Vandor
• Jane Velez-Mitchell (now host of Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell on HLN)
• Andrew Amador

Rebroadcasters[link]

KCAL is rebroadcast on the following translator stations:

• K34EU Morongo Valley
• K41CY Daggett - Baker area.
• K54AD Lucerne Valley - Victor Valley area.
• K09MG Ridgecrest
• K45GQ Ridgecrest
• K14JT Joshua Tree

References[link]

1. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
2. ^ YouTube video of analog TV shutoffs in Los Angeles
3. ^ FCC DTV status report for KCAL
4. ^ "KFI-TV Sale". Broadcasting-Telecasting: pp. 25. August 13, 1951. 
5. ^ http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports/ci_17389357
6. ^ http://cbs2.com/local/NewsCentral.CBS.2.2.1198316.html
7. ^ http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/354501-CBS_L_A_Duop_Launches_NewsCentral_Branding.php
8. ^ http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/local-broadcast/e3icf90084764d1ef2dd1debeea031c411f
9. ^ http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/stories/2009/12/14/daily8.html
10. ^ KHJ News 1978
11. ^ KCAL Prime Nine News Open (1991?)
12. ^ KCAL Los Angeles News Open (KCAL - Channel 9)
13. ^ 1977-78 KHJ Commercials: Million Dollar Movie to Chrsyler Cordoba
14. ^ KHJ - 1981 - 3:30 Movie
15. ^ KHJ High Rollers promo/Evening Movie intro, 1987
16. ^ 1997 KCAL 9 Cinema Open and DuckTales trailer
17. ^ CBS2/KCAL9>>CBS2/KCAL9 News Team

External links[link]

• Official CBS2/KCAL9 Website at CBS Los Angeles
• Photos of KCAL's set
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KCAL-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KCAL-TV
• Program Information for KCAL at TitanTV.com
• KHJ-KCAL-TV logos and screenshots from 1950s to the present day

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (December 2010)

Al Kasha (born 22 January 1937) is a Brooklyn–born composer, songwriter and arranger, as well as businessman. He is most noted for his years of collaboration with songwriter Joel Hirschhorn. The two wrote and collaborated many successful songs for many musical groups such as The Peppermint Rainbow's "Will You Be Staying After Sunday".

The songwriting duo won two Oscars for Best Song, "The Morning After" from The Poseidon Adventure in 1972 and "We May Never Love Like This Again" from The Towering Inferno in 1974.^[1]

Along with Hirshhorn, Kasha also received two Tony nominations for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Copperfield, two Grammy nominations and an Emmy, as well as four Golden Globe nominations and a People's Choice award. They also composed the theme song to the short-lived 1990s game show The Challengers.

Al is currently married to Ceil Kasha who handles Donna Summer's business affairs.

Notes and References[link]

1. ^ Al Kasha Monday, November 24, 2003 Interview by Dan Kimpel

External links[link]

• Al Kasha at the Internet Movie Database
• Al Kasha's website

This United States musical biography article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Wayne Shorter
Convocation Hall, Toronto, Nov. 27, 1977. Photo courtesy of Jean-Luc Ourlin
Background information
Born	(1933-08-25) August 25, 1933 (age 78) Newark, New Jersey, United States
Genres	Modal jazz, crossover jazz, post-bop, hard bop, jazz fusion, Third Stream
Occupations	Musician, composer
Instruments	Saxophone
Years active	1958–present
Labels	Blue Note, Columbia, Verve
Associated acts	Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Weather Report

Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.

He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer,^[1] and many of his compositions have become standards. Shorter's output has earned worldwide recognition, critical praise and various commendations, including multiple Grammy Awards.^[2]

Shorter first came to wide prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he went on to join Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet, and from there he co-founded the jazz fusion band Weather Report. He has recorded over 20 albums as a bandleader.

Biography[link]

Early life and career[link]

Shorter was born in Newark, New Jersey, and attended Newark Arts High School^[3] from which he graduated in 1952. He loved music, being encouraged by his father to take up the saxophone as a teenager (his brother Alan became a trumpeter). After graduating from New York University in 1956, Shorter spent two years in the U.S. Army, during which time he played briefly with Horace Silver. After his discharge from the army, he played with Maynard Ferguson. It was in his youth that Shorter was given the nickname '"Mr. Gone", which would later become an album title for Weather Report.^[4]

In 1959, Shorter joined Art Blakey. He stayed with Blakey for five years, and eventually became musical director for his group.

With Miles Davis (1964–1970)[link]

When John Coltrane finally left Miles Davis' band in 1960 to pursue his own group (after previously trying to leave in 1959), Coltrane proposed Wayne Shorter as a replacement but Shorter was unavailable and Davis went with Sonny Stitt on tenor followed by a revolving door of Hank Mobley, George Coleman, and Sam Rivers. In 1964, Miles Davis persuaded Shorter to leave Blakey and join his quintet alongside Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams.

Miles's so-called Second Great Quintet (to distinguish it from the quintet with Coltrane) that included Hancock and Shorter has frequently been cited by musicians and critics as one of the most influential groups in the history of jazz, and Shorter's compositions are a primary reason. He composed extensively for Miles Davis (e.g. "Prince of Darkness", "E.S.P.", "Footprints", "Sanctuary", "Nefertiti", and many others); on some albums, he provided half of the compositions, typically hard-bop workouts with spaced-out long melody lines above the beat.

Herbie Hancock said of Shorter's tenure in the group, "The master writer to me, in that group, was Wayne Shorter. He still is a master. Wayne was one of the few people who brought music to Miles that didn't get changed."^{[citation needed]} Davis said, "Wayne is a real composer. He writes scores, write the parts for everybody just as he wants them to sound... Wayne also brought in a kind of curiosity about working with musical rules. If they didn't work, then he broke them, but with musical sense; he understood that freedom in music was the ability to know the rules in order to bend them to your own satisfaction and taste."^[5]

Shorter remained in Davis's band after the breakup of the quintet in 1968, playing on early jazz fusion recordings including In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew (both 1969). His last live dates and studio recordings with Davis were in 1970.

Until 1968, he played tenor saxophone exclusively. The final album on which he played tenor in the regular sequence of Davis albums was Filles de Kilimanjaro. In 1969, he played the soprano saxophone on the Davis album In a Silent Way and on his own Super Nova (recorded with then-current Davis sidemen Chick Corea and John McLaughlin). When performing live with Miles Davis, and on recordings from summer 1969 to early spring 1970, he played both soprano and tenor saxophones; by the early 1970s, however, he chiefly played soprano.

Solo Blue Note recordings[link]

Simultaneous with his time in the Miles Davis quintet, Shorter recorded several albums for Blue Note Records, featuring almost exclusively his own compositions, with a variety of line-ups, quartets and larger groups including Blue Note favourites such as Freddie Hubbard. His first Blue Note album (of nine in total) was Night Dreamer, recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in 1964 with Lee Morgan, McCoy Tyner, Reggie Workman and Elvin Jones.

JuJu and Speak No Evil are well known recordings from this era. Shorter's compositions on these albums are notable for their use of^{[original research?]}:

• pentatonic melodies harmonised with pedal points and complex harmonic relationships;
• structured solos that reflect the composition's melody as much as its harmony;
• long rests as an integral part of the music, in contrast with other, more effusive, players of the time such as John Coltrane.

The later album The All Seeing Eye was a free-jazz workout with a larger group, while Adam's Apple of 1966 was back to carefully constructed melodies by Shorter leading a quartet. Then a sextet again in the following year for Schizophrenia with his Miles Davis band mates Hancock and Carter plus trombonist Curtis Fuller, alto saxophonist/flautist James Spaulding and strong rhythms by drummer Joe Chambers. These albums have recently been remastered by Rudy Van Gelder.

Shorter also recorded occasionally as a sideman (again, mainly for Blue Note) with Donald Byrd, McCoy Tyner, Grachan Moncur III, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, and bandmates Hancock and Williams.

Weather Report (1971–1985)[link]

Shorter with Weather Report in Amsterdam, in 1980

Following the release of Odyssey of Iska in 1970, Shorter formed the fusion group Weather Report with Miles Davis veteran keyboardist Joe Zawinul. The other original members were bassist Miroslav Vitous, percussionist Airto Moreira, and drummer Alphonse Mouzon. After Vitous' departure in 1973, Shorter and Zawinul co-led the group until the band's break-up in late 1985. A variety of excellent musicians that would make up Weather Report alumni over the years (most notably the revolutionary bassist Jaco Pastorius) helped the band produce many high quality recordings in diverse styles through the years, with funk, bebop, Latin jazz, ethnic music, and futurism being the most prevalent denominators.

Solo[link]

Shorter also recorded critically acclaimed albums as a bandleader, notably Native Dancer, which featured his Miles Davis band-mate Herbie Hancock and Brazilian composer and vocalist Milton Nascimento. Shorter was to work with both of these musicians again later.

On the title track of Steely Dan's 1977 album Aja, he played a solo that moved the critic writing the album's liner notes to call it "suitable for framing". Concurrently, in the late 1970s and the early 1980s, he toured in the V.S.O.P. quintet. This group was a revival of the 1960s Miles Davis quintet, except that Freddie Hubbard filled the trumpet chair instead of Miles. Shorter appeared with the same former Davis bandmates on the Carlos Santana double LP The Swing of Delight, for which he also composed a number of pieces.

From 1977 through 2002, he appeared on ten Joni Mitchell studio albums, gaining him a wider audience.

Shorter performing. Photo by Tom Beetz.

Recent career[link]

After leaving Weather Report, Shorter continued to record and lead groups in jazz fusion styles, including touring in 1988 with guitarist Carlos Santana, who appeared on This is This!, the last Weather Report disc. In 1989, he contributed to a hit on the rock charts, playing the sax solo on Don Henley's song "The End of the Innocence" and also produced the album Pilar by the Portuguese singer-songwriter Pilar Homem de Melo. He has also maintained an occasional working relationship with Herbie Hancock, including a tribute album recorded shortly after Davis's death with Hancock, Carter, Williams and Wallace Roney. He continued to appear on Joni Mitchell's records in the 1990s. Shorter's distinctive sound is also apparent in the soundtrack for the Harrison Ford film The Fugitive, released in 1993.

In 1995, Shorter released the album High Life, his first solo recording for seven years. It was also his debut as a leader for Verve Records. Shorter composed all the compositions on the album and co-produced it with the bassist Marcus Miller. High Life received the Grammy Award for best Contemporary Jazz Album in 1997.

Shorter worked with Hancock once again in 1997, on the much acclaimed and heralded album 1+1. The song "Aung San Suu Kyi" (named for the Burmese pro-democracy activist) won both Hancock and Shorter a Grammy Award.

In 2009, he was announced as one of the headline acts at the Gnaoua World Music Festival in Essaouira, Morocco.

Quartet[link]

The Wayne Shorter Quartet at the Teatro degli Arcimboldi, Milan, 2010

Shorter formed his current band in 2000, the first permanent acoustic group under his leadership, a quartet with young musicians, pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade, playing his own complex compositions, many of them reworkings of tunes from his substantial portfolio going back to the 1960s. Two albums of live recordings featuring this quartet have been released, Footprints Live! (2002) and Beyond the Sound Barrier (2005). The quartet has received great acclaim from fans and critics, especially for the strength of Shorter's tenor saxophone playing. The Shorter biography Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter by journalist Michelle Mercer contains an insight into the working life of these musicians as well as insight into Shorter's life, thoughts and Buddhist beliefs.^[6] Beyond the Sound Barrier received the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Jazz Album.

Shorter's 2003 album Alegría (his first studio album for ten years, since High Life) received the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Jazz Album; it features the quartet with a host of other musicians, including pianist Brad Mehldau, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and former Weather Report percussionist Alex Acuña. Shorter's compositions, some new, some reworked from his Miles Davis period, feature the complex Latin rhythms that Shorter specialised in during his Weather Report days.

Personal life[link]

Shorter married Teruka (Irene) Nakagami, in the 1960s; they met in 1961 and later had a child, Miyako.^[7] Some of his compositions are copyrighted as "Miyako Music". Shorter dedicated some pieces to his daughter: "Miyako" and "Infant Eyes". The couple separated in 1964.^[8]

Shorter met Ana Maria in 1964 and they were married in 1970.^[8] In 1986, their daughter Iska died of a grand mal seizure at age 14.^[1] Ana Maria and the couple's niece Dalila were both killed in 1996 on TWA Flight 800 while en route to see him in Italy. Dalila was also the daughter of the jazz vocalist Jon Lucien who was married to Shorter's sister.^[8] Shorter married Carolina Dos Santos, a close friend of Ana Maria, in 1999. He is a Nichiren Buddhist and a member of Sōka Gakkai.^[8]

Discography[link]

Awards[link]

• Down Beat Poll Winner New Star Saxophonist (1962)
• Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance for Weather Report's 8:30 (1979)
• Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition for Dexter Gordon's Call Sheet Blues (1987)
• Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group for A Tribute to Miles (1994)
• Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album for High Life (1996)
• Miles Davis Award Wayne Shorter was granted the Miles Davis Award by the Montreal International Jazz Festival. (1996)
• Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition for Aung San Suu Kyi (1997)
• NEA Jazz Masters (1998)
• Honorary Doctorate of Music (1999; Berklee College of Music)
• Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo for In Walked Wayne (1999)
• Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition for Sacajawea (2003)
• Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group for Alegría (2003)
• Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group for Beyond The Sound Barrier (2005)
• Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Award Small Ensemble Group of the Year to Wayne Shorter Quartet (2006)

References[link]

External links[link]

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