branding kotv 6 general the news on 6 newscasts slogan oklahoma s own channels digital 45 uhf virtual 6 psip subchannels 6.1 cbs 6.2 the cw kqcw 6.3 news on 6 now translators 19 uhf mcalester 30 uhf caney kansas affiliations cbs owner griffin communications griffin licensing llc first air date october 22 1949 1949 10 22 call letters meaning oklahoma television sister station s kqcw dt kwtv former channel number s analog 6 vhf 1949 2009 digital 55 uhf 2009 former affiliations secondary paramount 1949 1953 nbc 1949 1954 abc 1949 1954 dumont 1949 1954 transmitter power 970 kw height 490.4 m facility id 35434 transmitter coordinates 36 1 14.9 n 95 40 31.7 w 36.020806 n 95.675472 w 36.020806 ; 95.675472 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.newson6.com kotv dt virtual channel 6 uhf digital channel 45 is a cbs affiliated television station located in tulsa oklahoma . the station is owned by griffin communications as part of a duopoly with cw affiliate kqcw dt channel 19 . the two stations share studio facilities located at the griffin communications media center on north boston avenue in downtown tulsa ; kotv maintains transmitter facilities located on south 273rd east avenue in broken arrow just north of the muskogee turnpike . on cable the station is available on cox communications and at & t u verse channel 6 and in high definition on cox digital channel 1006 and u verse channel 1006 . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 notable current on air staff 4.2 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit in 1946 the griffin family owners of local radio station ktul 1430 am now ktbz assigned helen alvarez to study television s chances of success in tulsa . after two years of research alvarez suggested that the griffins apply for a construction permit to build transmitter facilities to launch a television station as quickly as possible . the radio executives decided that television was too risky a venture and planned to wait a year before going to the federal communications commission fcc to apply for a station license . 1 unfortunately due to an fcc imposed freeze on television station license applications the griffins would face a much longer wait to get into television but eventually did so when john toole griffin founded ktvx channel 8 now ktul in 1954 . alvarez immediately resigned and began casting about for investors willing to get a station on the air right away . at a party she was introduced to texas oilman george cameron who was looking to spend monthly royalty checks he was banking that totaled 50 000 . along with salesman john hill who was working for a tulsa wire maker cameron and alvarez formed the cameron television corporation and applied to the fcc for the vhf channel 6 allocation in tulsa . with no other applications to consider the fcc granted a construction permit to cameron television in the spring of 1948 . the application that was granted listed the callsign for the new station as kovb not for kotv for oklahoma television as cameron had requested . the typo on the application meant that the request had to be re filed ; the fcc approved the callsign change to kotv in may 1948 . alvarez negotiated the lease of an international harvester dealership and repair shop at third street and frankfort avenue in downtown tulsa and converted the building into what was then the largest television studio facility in the united states . kotv s transmitter built in the backyard of chief engineer george jacobs was eventually hoisted in downtown to the top of the national bank of tulsa building on boston street . alvarez had spent a year convincing bank officers that the tower would be safe and in time become a local landmark . while the tower was being installed a workman s wrench fell and struck a woman passing below on the head killing her instantly . detractors jumped on the accident proclaiming kotv was jinxed from the start . they took to calling it cameron s folly and a local radio executive speaking at a tulsa chamber of commerce luncheon said that anyone investing in kotv or buying a television set was foolish ; however cameron television continued on . kotv first signed on the air on october 22 1949 as the first television station to sign on in the tulsa market the second in oklahoma behind wky tv now kfor tv in oklahoma city which debuted five months earlier and the 90th to sign on in the united states . alvarez was the station s first general manager and along with hill held a minority ownership stake in the station . the station s first broadcast was a test pattern seen by a handful of viewers across oklahoma kansas missouri and arkansas . more than a month later on november 23 kotv broadcast its first local program a live chamber of commerce meeting attended by many of the station s original critics . one week later the station presented a special dedication program featuring oklahoma governor roy j. turner ; tulsa mayor roy lundy ; singer patti page ; leon mcauliffe and his western swing band ; and miss oklahoma louise o brien . the next day on december 1 kotv broadcast a two hour sampling of the top programs from all five networks of the time from which the station carried programming during its first few years primary affiliation cbs and secondary affiliations abc nbc the dumont television network and the paramount television network the latter s programming was fed to affiliates around the country through a link between ktla in los angeles and wbkb now wbbm tv in chicago . over 3 000 television sets were placed throughout the city for public viewing some of them set on sidewalks outside of appliance stores . after several days of this sampling the public began to buy their own television sets and kotv began to cement a small but growing viewing audience in the four state area . during the late 1950s the station was also briefly affiliated with the nta film network . 2 even though relations between kotv and all the networks were smooth kotv showed a preference for cbs over the others . at first network programming was aired about a week after their initial live broadcast on the east coast ; it would not be until 1952 before a microwave link with new york city made live network programming possible . three hours of programming were filled during the evening hours . signing on each day at 12 30 p.m. early on channel 6 filled the remainder of its schedule with live locally produced programs . the cooking program lookin at cookin began a 32 year run that first year broadcast from the nation s first telecast kitchen which was shut down in 1981 . eventually the show was cut down to a five minute program and was retitled coffee break which aired at 10 55 a.m. and pre empted douglas edwards cbs midday newsbreak . kotv also aired a live wrestling program ; when the station s staff announcer bob hower ended his shift as host of the game show wishing well he became tulsa s first news anchorman reading associated press and united press wire copy headlines four times a week for 15 minutes . in 1952 cameron sold kotv to another texas oil magnate jack wrather for 2.5 million by comparison it had cost only 400 000 to build the station . wrather knew little about television and persuaded alvarez to stay on as general manager . he also made her a full partner in what was named the wrather alvarez television corporation later renamed the general television corporation . in 1953 kotv began airing another live show which aired on sunday mornings for 42 years lewis meyer s bookshelf ; the book review show was hosted by author and literary critic lewis meyer during which he showcased books from his bookstore which was located in the city s brookside district for many years . meyer would read some of the content from the featured books each sunday and selected and gave a review of the book of the week ; meyer signed off each program reminding viewers that the more books you read the taller you grow . before his death in 1995 meyer showed off his bookshelf in an interview with paula zahn on cbs this morning . after meyer s death the show was not replaced cbs s political talk show face the nation now airs in bookshelf s former sunday morning timeslot . kotv gained a competitor in march 1954 when kceb channel 23 channel now occupied by koki tv signed on as a primary nbc and secondary dumont affiliate . however as manufacturers were not required to include uhf tuners on television sets at the time nbc made a secret agreement with kotv that allowed channel 6 to continue cherry picking stronger shows from that network . that april 1954 kotv installed color equipment as part of an agreement to carry nbc programs produced in the format with the first network color broadcast on the station airing ding dong school on may 21 1954 . a few months later kvoo tv channel 2 now kjrh tv signed on and took the remaining nbc programs . kceb then switched to abc which agreed to affiliate with that station on the condition that kotv be allowed to cherry pick its shows as well . when ktvx signed on in september 1954 it took all of the remaining abc programs leaving kotv exclusively with cbs and kceb with fourth ranked dumont . like many early uhf television stations kceb would cease operations in december of that year ; dumont itself would fold less than two years later in august 1956 . also in 1954 kotv constructed a 1 135 feet 346 m transmitter tower north of sand springs which was the fifth tallest structure in the world at the time located on a mountain named by station president c. wade petersmeyer as big heart mountain where the station donated antenna space to non commercial educational station koed channel 11 . kotv logo used from 1996 to october 24 2010 . soon after kotv became an exclusive cbs affiliate general television sold the station to the indianapolis based whitney corporation which was renamed corinthian broadcasting corporation in 1957 . in 1958 kotv became the first television station in oklahoma to install videotape equipment for the production and broadcast of programming . the following year in 1959 kotv upgraded its equipment to broadcast local film shows in color ; the later began broadcasting its local programming in color in december 1966 . corinthian merged with dun & bradstreet in 1971 . in december 1983 belo corporation acquired dun and bradstreet s television station properties including kotv . on october 18 2000 the station returned to oklahoma based ownership when griffin communications which is now run by the descendants of john toole griffin whose family had earlier passed on bidding for the channel 6 license and had owned oklahoma city s cbs affiliate kwtv since its december 1953 inception announced its purchase of kotv from belo . 3 griffin upgraded kotv s facilities to accommodate high definition and digital broadcasting including a new transmitter production control and master control facilities . kotv outfitted its photojournalists with the first digital cameras in the market . since the griffin purchase kotv and kwtv have cooperated with one another sharing news stories between the two stations and jointly producing and simulcasting the sunday night sports highlight and discussion program oklahoma sports blitz . in recent years kotv also debuted tulsa s most advanced news helicopter skynews