please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message kcpq tacoma seattle washington united states city tacoma washington branding q13 fox general q13 secondary q13 fox news newscasts slogan we are q13 fox general we are q13 fox news newscasts the exclusive home of your seattle seahawks during nfl season channels digital 13 vhf virtual 13 psip subchannels 13.1 fox 13.2 this tv 13.3 escape translators see article affiliations fox owner tribune broadcasting tribune broadcasting seattle llc first air date august 2 1953 1953 08 02 call letters meaning clover park quality reference to the clover park school district sister station s kzjo former callsigns kmo tv 1953 1954 ktvw 1954 1975 former channel number s analog 13 vhf 1953 2009 digital 18 uhf 1998 2009 former affiliations nbc 1953 1954 independent 1954 1974 briefly carried cbs newscast in 1957 1958 1980 1986 dark 1974 1975 1980 pbs 1975 1980 transmitter power 30 kw height 610 m 2 001 ft facility id 33894 transmitter coordinates 47 32 53 n 122 48 22 w 47.54806 n 122.80611 w 47.54806 ; 122.80611 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website q13fox.com kcpq channel 13 is a fox affiliated television station licensed to tacoma washington united states that serves the seattle tacoma television market . the station is owned by the tribune broadcasting subsidiary of the tribune media company and is a sister station to mynetworktv affiliate kzjo channel 22 & 10 . the two stations share studio and office facilities located on westlake avenue in seattle s westlake neighborhood and kcpq s transmitter is located on gold mountain in bremerton washington . kcpq is one of five local seattle television stations seen in canada on satellite providers bell tv and shaw direct as well as various cable systems across canada . the station is also carried on several cable systems in southeastern alaska . contents 1 history 1.1 as kmo tv ktvw 1.2 as kcpq 1.3 averted loss of fox affiliation 2 digital television 2.1 digital channel 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 news operation 3.1 notable former on air staff 4 repeaters 5 references 6 external links history edit as kmo tv ktvw edit channel 13 signed on air on august 2 1953 as kmo tv co owned with kmo radio am 1360 now kkmo initially owned by carl haymond . the station carried some nbc programming for its first year until seattle licensed komo tv channel 4 began broadcasting on december 11 . hampered by a poor signal from north of tacoma and the lack of alternate sources of programming haymond was forced to declare bankruptcy and sell the station to j. elroy mccaw a colorful and eccentric radio and television station owner and father of cellular phone magnate craig mccaw . under the ownership of mccaw s gotham broadcasting who changed channel 13 s call letters to ktvw the station closed its studio in tacoma s roxy theater and relocated to its transmitter building in north tacoma overlooking commencement bay . mccaw operated the independent station on a shoestring budget . it limped along on a diet of a low budget local programming and older off network syndicated programs and obscure movies . its branding of the period featured a stylized black cat and the ironic tag line lucky 13 . ktvw was opportunistic on occasion and picked up broadcast rights to tacoma s minor league baseball team games and an occasional seafair hydroplane race . during much of the 1960s an afternoon children s show penny and her pals was hosted by ventriloquist lamoyne penny hreha . an interesting note in channel 13 s history is that for a very brief time in late 1957 and early 1958 it carried cbs network news . ktnt tv channel 11 now kstw which at that time was the local cbs affiliate stopped carrying the 15 minute cbs evening news with douglas edwards sometime in late summer 1957 saying that it wanted to expand its local news show to 30 minutes . ktvw picked up the newscast on october 28 1957 according to the seattle times . cbs which wanted to see its newscasts remain on the air in seattle tacoma set up special telephone lines to permit channel 13 to carry edwards as its first live network show under the ktvw name . speculation is that when ktnt learned that it would eventually lose its cbs affiliation to kiro tv which hit the airwaves in february 1958 it threw an on air tantrum by dropping cbs evening news and letting channel 13 pick it up . in the mid to late 1960s stu martin also known as stu baby and stu boo was host of a locally produced in studio b movie program on ktvw called stu martin s double date at the movies . in addition to its host it featured two women with beehive hairdos miss early date and miss late date . during breaks in the movie in addition to commercials the program featured a talent show . viewers called miss early date or miss late date with their vote on the evening s top talent featuring local entertainers or those who thought they were entertaining . the station got a competitor in 1962 when ktnt tv lost its cbs affiliation for good and became an independent . in 1970 ktvw ran a weekday stock market news program called business action line ; the show s producer rockwell hammond leased 6 hours a day on ktvw and originated the program which was broadcast live from the northern life tower in seattle from where it was microwaved to the station in tacoma . their financial news studio later moved to west seattle and was housed in a building with ample microwave line of sight to the tacoma tower . the show was hosted by merrill mael ; dick stokke and later joe mccusker read the news . despite the poor over the air reception of ktvw in seattle the program had a following in the business community if only for the 15 minute delayed stock ticker and the real time display of the dow jones industrial average . however expenses quickly overcame the income from what proved to be a limited commercial base and the venture failed . mael a respected broadcaster for six decades died in 2000 . mccusker moved on to a career with the united nations television operation retiring in 2007 . during the 1960s and early 1970s the station featured an on air sports program and swing shift theater movie host named bob corcoran who hawked endless items from tacoma s b & i circus store and niagara recliners . he shared night time television time with stu martin in airing b movies . corcoran later forged a fledgling political career from his television late night talk show he died in february 2014 . one of his early forays into politics was to enthusiastically support the candidacy of seattle chrysler plymouth dealer ralph williams for washington attorney general . not long after waging a losing campaign williams was indicted for tax evasion . when mccaw died in 1969 the mccaw estate sold ktvw to seattle based blaidon mutual investors corporation in 1971 for 1.1 million . blaidon tried to turn ktvw around by boosting the station s signal strength acquiring first run syndicated programming and color capable broadcast equipment the station had broadcast exclusively in black and white until 1972 . channel 13 premiered its new programming lineup with the tony visco show its flagship effort . the talk entertainment show was an attempt to recreate a tonight show style program hosted by las vegas lounge entertainer singer tony visco . it was taped at a seattle night spot called the cirque dinner theatre . blaidon brought in a los angeles producer director to develop the show which featured a live band on set and had hopes of flying in show business guests from l.a. and later syndicating the program nationwide . after two months on air the high production costs forced blaidon to relocate the program to the station s tacoma studios . channel 13 cancelled the tony visco show after it completed its 13 week run because of poor advertising sponsorship and high production costs . ktvw launched an afternoon cartoon show hosted by a superhero for whom viewers were asked to suggest a name . the winning entry was flash blaidon and the host frequently made his entrance flying onto the set by jumping off a ladder whose shadow was often visible on the back wall of the cramped studio . ktvw introduced an evening movie program that included a puzzle contest offering 1 000 to the call in winner . during the program s first week on the air an overwhelming number of phone calls overloaded the station s phone system and put it out of order . a cult favorite program dr. zingrr s astro projections aired on saturday nights and into the wee hours of sunday . dr. zingrr was played by popular seattle tacoma radio disc jockey robert o. smith . he introduced z grade horror movies and performed satirical comedic segments during movie breaks . 1 despite ktvw s improved and sometimes innovative programming national advertisers failed to materialize and the station quickly lost momentum in the market . channel 13 s over the air signal still spotty in many parts of the seattle tacoma market along with a weak puget sound economy and blaidon s under capitalized organization rendered the station a money losing proposition . 2 even though seattle tacoma was big enough on paper to support two independent stations channel 13 increasingly lost ground to ktnt tv which had a stronger signal and much wealthier ownership that could afford stronger programming . plagued by numerous lawsuits from unpaid syndication suppliers who reclaimed most of their programming from the station ktvw s ratings plummeted and remaining advertisers deserted the operation . blaidon was forced into bankruptcy protection . program suppliers had asked a district court judge to place the station in receivership . interestingly blaidon president donald wolfstone had attempted to sell the station to then unknown televangelist pat robertson and his fledgling christian broadcasting network but a court appointed trustee canceled the deal . for a brief time under the court appointed trusteeship len sampson a former komo tv talk show host and personality served as station manager and revised the schedule with a variety of syndicated programs and old network reruns as well as hosting some broadcasts himself . another sale to suburban broadcasting a long island television broadcast company also fell through when the potential buyers failed to agree to assume the station s 4 million in liabilities . a bankruptcy judge then forced ktvw to cease operations at the end of a batman rerun at 5 p.m. on december 12 1974 . as kcpq edit the station s remaining assets were bought in bankruptcy court bidding by the clover park school district in lakewood for 378 000 . clover park outbid the trinity broadcasting network and a local group to acquire the station . the call letters were changed to kcpq replacing clover park s uhf channel 56 transmitter which had operated under the name kpec tv . the station went back on the air as the third pbs member station in the market after kcts and ktps tv airing secondary pbs and educational programs . the channel 56 license would return to the air in 2000 as kwdk . by 1980 the seattle tacoma market was large enough that it could now sustain another vhf commercial television station . kelly broadcasting owners of kcra tv in its home city of sacramento california purchased kcpq from the clover park school district for 6.25 million outbidding roadrunner television