television station in texarkana arkansas ktal . w6xyz redirects here . it is not to be confused with the abc affiliated television station in detroit michigan wxyz tv . ktla los angeles california united states branding ktla 5 general the ktla 5 news newscasts stylized as ktla slogan the beat of southern california channels digital 31 uhf virtual 5 psip translators see article affiliations .1 the cw .2 antenna tv .3 this tv owner tribune broadcasting ktla llc founded september 1942 1942 09 as experimental station w6xyz first air date january 22 1947 ; 69 years ago 1947 01 22 call letters meaning k television los angeles former channel number s analog 4 vhf 1942 1947 5 vhf 1947 2009 former affiliations dumont 1947 1948 independent 1948 1995 the wb 1995 2006 transmitter power 1 000 kw height 948 m 3 110 ft facility id 35670 transmitter coordinates 34 13 36 n 118 3 56 w 34.22667 n 118.06556 w 34.22667 ; 118.06556 coordinates 34 13 36 n 118 3 56 w 34.22667 n 118.06556 w 34.22667 ; 118.06556 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.ktla.com ktla channel 5 is a cw affiliated television station located in los angeles california united states . the station is owned by the tribune broadcasting subsidiary of tribune media . ktla maintains studio facilities located at the sunset bronson studios on sunset boulevard in hollywood and its transmitter is located atop mount wilson . ktla was the first commercially licensed television station in the western united states having begun operations in 1947 . 1 although not as widespread in national carriage as its chicago sister station wgn tv ktla is available as a superstation throughout north america via dish network available only to grandfathered subscribers that had purchased its a la carte superstation tier before dish halted sales of the package to new subscribers in september 2013 as well as on cable providers in select cities within the southwestern united states and throughout canada . contents 1 history 1.1 experimental years 1.2 early years as a commercially licensed station 1.3 golden west broadcasters ownership 1.4 tribune broadcasting ownership 1.5 the wb affiliation 1.6 the cw affiliation 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 3.1 sports programming 4 news operation 4.1 controversies 4.2 notable on air staff 4.2.1 current 4.2.2 former 5 rebroadcasters 6 in popular culture 7 references 8 external links history edit experimental years edit ktla s first commercial station logo from 1947 under paramount ownership . this logo combines paramount s mountain and stars logo with a tv transmitter . the station was licensed by the federal communications commission in 1939 as experimental station w6xyz broadcasting on vhf channel 4 ; it did not sign on the air until september 1942 . the station was originally owned by paramount pictures subsidiary television productions inc. and was based at the paramount studios lot . klaus landsberg already an accomplished television pioneer at the age of 26 was the original station manager and engineer . early years as a commercially licensed station edit on january 22 1947 the station was licensed for commercial broadcasting as ktla on channel 5 becoming the first commercial television station in los angeles the first to broadcast west of the mississippi river and the eighth television station in the united states . estimates of television sets in los angeles county at the time ranged from 350 to 600 since experimental station w6xao later ktsl and now kcbs tv was already in operation . bob hope served as the emcee for ktla s inaugural broadcast titled as the western premiere of commercial television which was broadcast live that evening from a garage on the paramount studios lot and featured appearances from many hollywood luminaries . hope delivered what was perhaps the most famous line of the telecast when at the program s start he identified the new station as ktl mistakenly omitting the a at the end of the call sign . a 10 minute fragment from ktla s first broadcast exists at the paley center for media . 2 ktla was originally affiliated with the dumont television network of which paramount held a minority stake ; it disaffiliated from the network in 1948 and converted into an independent station . despite this the fcc still considered paramount as controlling manager of dumont due to the strength of the company s voting stock and their influence in managing the network . 3 as a result the agency did not allow dumont to buy additional vhf stations a problem that would later play a large role in the failure of dumont whose programming was splintered among other los angeles stations including ktsl khj tv channel 9 now kcal tv kttv channel 11 and kcop tv channel 13 until the network s demise in 1956 . paramount even launched a short lived programming service the paramount television network in 1948 with ktla and wbkb tv now wbbm tv in chicago serving as its flagship stations . 4 5 6 the service never gelled into a true television network but during ktla s early years the station produced over a dozen series that were syndicated in much of the u.s. including armchair detective 7 bandstand revue 8 dixie showboat frosty frolics 9 hollywood reel 10 hollywood wrestling latin cruise 7 movietown rsvp 11 olympic wrestling 11 sandy dreams 9 and time for beany . in 1958 ktla moved its operations into the paramount sunset studios on sunset boulevard in hollywood . for many years those who have worked on stage 6 at ktla were told that it was the site where al jolson s landmark film the jazz singer was shot in 1927 when the lot was known as the warner bros. sunset studios ; mark evanier who wrote for one such show in 1978 points out on his website that stage 6 did not even exist at the time that the jazz singer was produced and that it was actually probably filmed at what is now stage 9 . 12 the former warner bros. paramount lot is now known as sunset bronson studios where ktla s facility remains based to this day and where shows such as wkrp in cincinnati judge judy hannah montana the gong show solid gold name that tune family feud the newlywed game madtv and let s make a deal have been produced over the years . ktla is currently the only los angeles area broadcaster that remains based in hollywood as many other television and radio stations have moved to other parts of the region . golden west broadcasters ownership edit in november 1963 ktla was purchased by actor and singer gene autry for 12 million ; upon the sale s finalization in may 1964 autry merged the station with his other broadcasting properties including kmpc radio 710 am now kspn into an umbrella company known as golden west broadcasters . 13 14 during the 1970s ktla was uplinked to satellite and became one of the nation s first superstations ; the station was eventually carried on cable providers across much of the united states located west of the mississippi river . ktla sought a different programming strategy from its competitors during the late 1960s and 1970s emphasizing syndicated reruns of off network hour long dramas with a heavy emphasis on western themed programs such as the gene autry show bonanza the big valley first run talk shows movies and sports programming . children s programs with the exception of weekend morning popeye cartoons which originally came from former parent paramount 15 but had been sold off to what became the syndication arm of united artists television 16 were also phased out . popeye continued sunday mornings but with only the 1960s king features episodes . later in the 70 s more drama shows like kojak and starsky and hutch were added . in 1979 ktla acquired much of the programming inventory of struggling independent competitor kbsc tv channel 52 now telemundo owned and operated station kvea tv including little rascals three stooges munsters addams family gilligan s island leave it to beaver among others . these shows ran weekend mornings and weekend early afternoons . in 1979 ktla acquired happy days in 1981 laverne and shirley little house on the prairie in 1982 taxi and chips among other shows . the station continued to emphasize hour long dramas during the day on weekdays but began to run recent sitcoms in the evenings . tribune broadcasting ownership edit in november 1982 golden west sold ktla to investment firm kohlberg kravis roberts for 245 million . 17 18 two years later kkr sold the station to chicago based tribune broadcasting for a then record price of 510 million which beat the station s earlier record sale price set by the 1982 acquisition by kkr . 19 20 under tribune ktla continued to acquire high rated off network sitcoms as well as talk shows for its schedule . ktla became an affiliate of the mgm ua premiere network an film based ad hoc television network with the showing of clash of the titans . 21 ktla spent much of the early and mid 1980s battling kttv channel 11 for the spot of the top rated independent station in southern california offering a variety of general entertainment programs including movies sports and off network reruns ; it took the top spot among the market s independents full time after kttv became a fox charter station in october 1986 . the station stayed out of the kids business throughout the 1980s unlike other tribune stations but acquired stronger programming like full house cheers punky brewster and silver spoons . the station also mixed in a few classic sitcoms weekday early mornings as well as on weekends . in the summer of 1991 the station debuted a two hour weekday morning newscast . sitcoms ran on the station 9 a.m. to noon weekdays . the wb affiliation edit on november 2 1993 the warner bros. television division of time warner and the tribune company announced the formation of the wb television network . due to the company s ownership interest in the network initially a 12.5 % stake later expanding to 22 % tribune signed its seven existing independent stations one such station atlanta s wgnx joined cbs instead one month prior to the wb s launch along with an eighth that the company had acquired the following year to serve as the wb s charter affiliates . 22 23 with this ktla became a network affiliate for the first time in 47 years when the wb launched on january 11 1995 . like with other wb affiliated stations during the network s first four years ktla initially continued to essentially program as a de facto independent station as the wb had broadcast only a two hour primetime schedule on wednesday nights at the network s launch ; the station continued to broadcast films in prime time along with some first run syndicated scripted series on nights when network programs did not air . the wb would eventually carry prime time shows six nights a week sunday through friday by september 1999 . in september 1995 ktla added afternoon cartoons and saturday morning cartoons from the network s newly launched kids wb block bringing weekday children s programs back to channel 5 for the first time in close to 25 years . the station continued use the channel 5 brand it used prior to its wb affiliation with the wb logo simply tacked onto the station s gold 5 logo until 1997 when the station overhauled its on air branding to ktla 5 l.a. s wb . ktla s halo logo used from january 1 2005 to october 13 2009 ; the cw network logo and 5 were added in 2006 . the tribune company purchased the times mirror company then owners of