tucson slogan investigating 4 you channels digital 23 uhf virtual 4 psip subchannels 4.1 nbc 4.2 cozi tv 4.3 escape translators k04qp d casas adobes owner cordillera communications kvoa communications llc first air date september 15 1953 ; 63 years ago 1953 09 15 1 call letters meaning voice of arizona former callsigns kvoa tv 1953 1996 former channel number s analog 4 vhf 1953 2009 former affiliations secondary abc 1953 1956 transmitter power 405 kw height 1123 m facility id 25735 transmitter coordinates 32 24 55.8 n 110 42 51.9 w 32.415500 n 110.714417 w 32.415500 ; 110.714417 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.kvoa.com kvoa virtual channel 4 uhf digital channel 23 is a nbc affiliated television station located in tucson arizona united states . owned by cordillera communications a subsidiary of evening post industries the station maintains transmitter facilities located atop mount bigelow northeast of tucson while its studios are located on west elm street north of downtown . the station has one low power translator station k04qp d channel 4 located in casas adobes arizona . 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 translators 6 references 7 external links history edit in september 1953 kvoa signed on as tucson s second television station and nbc affiliate eight months after kold tv signed on as the cbs affiliate . although kvoa was an nbc affiliate it carried a secondary affiliation with abc until 1956 when kdwi tv now kgun began operations . during the late 1950s the station was also briefly affiliated with the nta film network . 2 it was originally owned by chicago advertising executive john louis sr. along with kvoa am 1290 now kcub . it was a sister station to ktar in phoenix . in october 1953 kvoa brought tucson its first ever live television event a world series broadcast . 3 the louis broadcasting empire eventually became known as pacific & southern broadcasting headquartered in phoenix ; however louis did not keep kvoa for long . in 1955 louis sold the kvoa stations to clinton d. mckinnon who would later acquire koat tv in albuquerque new mexico and combine the two television stations to form alvarado television . in 1962 the alvarado stations were sold to steinman stations the owner of wgal tv in lancaster pennsylvania . in 1968 the steinmans sold a controlling stake in kvoa tv to pulitzer publishing making it pulitzer s first partial television station acquisition outside of its home base in st. louis missouri ; koat went to pulitzer fully a year later . in 1972 pulitzer was forced to spin off its share of kvoa to an employee group called channel 4 tv after it purchased the arizona daily star the year before due to the tightening of the federal communications commission s cross ownership rules . channel 4 tv also acquired steinman s stake in kvoa around the same time . also in 1968 kvoa became the de facto tucson home of the infamous heidi game between the new york jets and the oakland raiders so called because of an nbc decision to break away from its coverage of the game to broadcast the television film heidi costing many tucson viewers an opportunity to see the raiders comeback since most of kvoa s live programming came from the nbc east coast feed at the time . the station was acquired by the hobby family of houston publishers of the houston post in 1982 . when the post was sold a year later the hobby family reorganized its broadcasting interests as h & c communications . h & c sold off its television stations in 1993 with kvoa going to the evening post publishing company . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 4 4.1 1080i 16 9 kvoa main kvoa programming nbc 4.2 480i cozi tv cozi tv 5 4.3 4 3 escape analog to digital conversion edit on june 15 2000 kvoa was issued a construction permit to build digital station kvoa dt on uhf channel 23 . there were delays in building the new station and on june 18 2003 kvoa was granted special temporary authority sta to operate the digital station at reduced power . the sta has been extended several times and as of september 2006 kvoa dt continues to operate under sta at reduced power . in october 2006 kvoa requested companion digital lptv channels for its sierra vista translator k20fo and casas adobes translator k64bv . the fcc granted a construction permits for the sierra vista companion channel k10qa d and the casa adobes companion channel k04qp d on december 26 2007 . kvoa discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over vhf channel 4 on june 12 2009 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television . 6 the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 23 using psip to display kvoa s virtual channel as 4 on digital television receivers . the same day kvoa ended analog broadcasts on its channel 64 casas adobes translator began digital operations on k04qp d and applied for a license to cover which was granted june 16 . programming edit long known as tucson s nbc affiliate kvoa currently clears that network s entire lineup . syndicated programming on kvoa includes inside edition the insider the dr. oz show rachael ray and dr. phil . kvoa began airing nbc s long running tonight show sometime in 1960 or 1961 ; 7 for the remainder of jack paar s tenure on the show and for the first few years of johnny carson s tenure on the show kvoa only joined the show s east coast feed for 45 minutes thus for the latter the station did not air his monologue and pre interview sketches 8 9 until the station expanded its late night newscast to 30 minutes during the 1970 71 season and established a satellite link with nbc s phoenix affiliate ktar tv now kpnx . 10 kvoa appeared to have shown the tonight show in its entirety by 1975 and is still doing so today . 11 12 during the 2009 super bowl comcast s standard definition transmission of the station was interrupted for approximately 20 seconds replacing kvoa s broadcast of the game with soft core porn affecting comcast s analog subscribers in portions of the tucson area ; it allowed kvoa to join chicago stations wgn tv and wttw and the cable channel hbo all of which had similar incidents as victims of broadcast signal intervention . 13 wgn s former superstation feed was and remains available on much of tucson s cable systems ; as such wgn was tucson s de facto wb affiliate until kwba signed on in 1999 14 15 16 17 the substitution appears to have been made at comcast not at kvoa leaving kvoa s over the air satellite and other cable providers viewers unaffected . also comcast s high definition transmission of kvoa was not affected . 18 in may 2011 kvoa announced that it would delay the showing of an upcoming episode of law & order la based on the mass shootings which occurred in tucson earlier that year with a late night airing due to concerns that its content would be too sensitive . 19 to date it has been the station s last known pre emption of any nbc program for any reason other than for breaking news or severe weather coverage . news operation edit kvoa formerly operated southern arizona news network a 24 hour cable news television network that was exclusive to local cox cable subscribers that premiered on june 7 2007 and ended broadcasting on march 31 2010 . since the early 1970s kvoa had used the eyewitness news moniker and later used the slogan where the news comes first . these newscasts first used a variation of lalo schifrin s tar sequence from the 1967 film cool hand luke and then later used the various news series themes composed by frank gari . these themes were all usually associated with local newscasts on abc stations not those of kvoa s affiliated network of nbc which was more than satisfied with kvoa s news ratings ; those in particular had made it one of nbc s strongest affiliates in the southwest . just as nbc became the nation s overall leader during the 1980s and 1990s kvoa also was the market s news leader by 1995 channel 4 had led the tucson news ratings for 21 straight years half of its history 20 but only after jon f. ruby became the station s general manager in 1974 and initiated a major expansion of news . in 1995 kvoa s 750 000 satellite truck was the market s only microwave based live news vehicle ; eyewitness news equaled or beat kgun and kold combined in all time slots ; was first with stereo closed captioning and microwave electronic news gathering ; and had the largest television news staff in the market second in size only to the arizona daily star . however in february 2006 the name shortened to news 4 with the new slogan coverage you can count on . in november 2007 kvoa changed its slogan to balanced news you can count on and also began using normal nbc station themes . on april 22 2007 kvoa became the first station in tucson to broadcast its local newscasts in high definition starting with the 10 p.m. newscast ; among the changes included a new set andupdated graphics . kvoa is the first station in tucson to offer news in high definition and the second in arizona following kpnx in phoenix . sister station wlex in lexington kentucky is also currently broadcasting its local newscasts in hd . notable current on air staff edit sean mooney anchor notable former on air staff edit christine devine now at kttv fox 11 los angeles savannah guthrie current co anchor of the today show mary kim titla ran for congress in 2008 ; publishes native youth magazine lou waters joined cnn when launched in 1980 21 22 translators edit k04qp d channel 4 casas adobes serving the northwest part of the tucson metropolitan area shielded by mount lemmon 23 k20fo channel 20 sierra vista references edit the broadcasting and cable yearbook says september 15 while the television and cable factbook says september 27 . require prime evening time for nta films boxoffice 13 november 10 1956 stations.gif rabbitears tv query for kvoa cozi tv kvoa list of digital full power stations http www.radiodiscussions.com showthread.php 598596 retro tucson amp phoenix thursday february 9 1961 http www.radiodiscussions.com showthread.php 602716 retro tucson and nogales arizona thursday april 4 1968 http www.radiodiscussions.com showthread.php 511599 retro tucson monday june 19 1967 http www.radiodiscussions.com showthread.php 602716 retro tucson and nogales arizona thursday april 4 1968 & p 5415828 & viewfull 1 post5415828 http www.radiodiscussions.com showthread.php 602759 retro tucson and nogales arizona tuesday april 29 1975 http www.radiodiscussions.com showthread.php 548890 retro tucson arizona december 12 13 1977 super bowl cut off by porn scene retrieved february 3 2009 time warner takes crucial step toward new network television a pact with superstation wgn tv gives it access to 73 % of homes . analysts say that will still leave gaps . los angeles times december 4 1993 . retrieved 12 10 2010 . linda moss september 20 1999 . wgn drops wb adds movies sitcoms . multichannel news . cahners business information . retrieved june 22 2013 via highbeam research . marywade burnside october 7 1999 . last night dawson s last wgn ceases to air wb programming . the charleston gazette . the daily gazette company .