5 general kens 5 eyewitness news newscasts callsign pronounced as a word kens slogan coverage you can count on ; south texas 1 newscast ; san antonio s news leader channels digital 39 uhf virtual 5 psip subchannels 5.1 cbs 5.2 estrella tv 5.3 justice network affiliations cbs owner tegna media kens tv inc. first air date february 15 1950 call letters meaning k express news station sister station s wfaa khou kvue kcen tv kags ld kytx kbmt kiii kidy kxva former callsigns keyl 1950 1954 kgbs tv 1954 former channel number s analog 5 vhf 1950 2009 digital 55 uhf 2002 2009 former affiliations secondary dumont 1950 1955 abc 1950 1957 paramount television network 1950 1953 nta film network 1956 transmitter power 1 000 kw height 441 m facility id 26304 transmitter coordinates 29 16 11 n 98 15 55 w 29.26972 n 98.26528 w 29.26972 ; 98.26528 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website kens5.com kens virtual channel 5 uhf digital channel 39 is a cbs affiliated television station located in san antonio texas united states . the station is owned by tegna inc. kens maintains studio facilities located on fredericksburg road spur 345 in the mockingbird hill neighborhood of northwest san antonio and its transmitter is located off of route 181 in northwest wilson county northeast of elmendorf . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit the station first signed on the air on february 15 1950 as keyl ; channel 5 was the second television station to sign on in the san antonio market debuting three months after primary nbc affiliate woai tv channel 4 . the station has been a primary cbs affiliate since its sign on however it initially carried secondary affiliations with dumont abc and the paramount television network 1 the former two affiliations were shared with woai tv . the station was originally owned alongside kabc radio 680 am now kkyx . keyl was one of paramount s strongest affiliates carrying nearly the network s entire lineup . among the paramount programs that keyl aired were armchair detective 1 latin cruise 1 hollywood reel 2 hollywood wrestling 3 time for beany 4 and movietown rsvp . 5 in 1951 storer broadcasting which had good relations with cbs bought keyl and kabc . on february 1 1954 channel 5 changed its call letters to kgbs tv ; kabc s calls were subsequently changed to match its television sister as kgbs am on march 1 . 6 in november of that year storer was forced to sell kgbs am tv to the san antonio express news in order to complete the company s purchase of wxel tv now wjw in cleveland ohio as keeping kgbs tv would have put the company one station over the federal communications commission s ownership regulations that went into effect that year which limited the number of television stations that can be owned by one company to seven with no more than five of those allocated to the vhf band at the time newspapers could own television and or radio stations in the same market provided that such ownership complied with the fcc mandated ownership limits of each property in effect at the time . the express news then changed the call letters of the television and radio stations to kens tv and kens am the tv suffix was dropped from the call letters of the television station following the digital television transition on june 12 2009 when several other belo stations dropped the suffix from their legal call signs ; storer later re used the kgbs calls on what is now ktnq and kamp fm in los angeles . dumont ceased most network operations in 1955 but would honor network commitments until august 1956 when it ceased operations permanently . channel 5 lost abc programming when kono tv channel 12 now ksat tv signed on in 1957 leaving kens as a full time cbs affiliate . during the late 1950s the station was also briefly affiliated with the nta film network . 7 in early 1962 the express news and kens am tv were purchased by harte hanks communications ; the radio station was sold off a few months later since harte hanks was not interested in radio station ownership at the time . when the fcc tightened its cross ownership rules in the early 1970s harte hanks sought grandfathered protection for its san antonio media combination . however while the fcc granted such protection to several media combinations across the country it would not do the same to the harte hanks combination in san antonio . accordingly in 1973 harte hanks opted to keep kens tv and sell the express news to rupert murdoch s news corporation . in the mid 1980s kens broadcast a short lived local cable channel that was carried on rogers cablevision channel 24 called kens ii . under the direction of station manager larry smith the channel s programming included replays of channel 5 s local newscasts broadcasts of ron taylor and janie groves classified real estate programming and a few locally produced programs and specials such as auto tv hosted by richard courchesne and michael saul and barney regets computer generated musical video kaleidoscope created earlier at ua columbia s consumer cable 29 . in 1993 harte hanks acquired what at the time became the second incarnation of kens radio 1160 am . in september 1997 harte hanks sold its remaining media properties including the kens stations to the e. w. scripps company in order to concentrate on the company s direct marketing operations . at the same time belo corporation announced that it would trade its controlling stake in the food network to scripps in exchange for the kens stations . the harte hanks scripps deal and the transfer of belo s stake in the food network to scripps were both completed on october 15 of that year . at that time belo took over the operations of the kens stations through a time brokerage agreement . belo completed its purchase of the kens stations on december 4 1997 . the second incarnation of kens radio was sold to the walt disney company in 2003 which converted the station into a radio disney outlet as krdy . in august 2000 kens began to manage upstart upn affiliate kbej channel 2 now mynetworktv affiliate kcwx under a local marketing agreement . the lma was terminated in april 2010 five months before the station lost its cw affiliation . kens remained closely associated with the express news even though the station and newspaper had been under separate ownership for many years . the station shared its main website with the newspaper until the end of 2008 when the news partnership agreement between kens and the express news ended . the station launched its own website kens5.com on january 26 2009 . the site has been recognized with two lone star emmy awards for interactivity and the 2011 and 2015 regional edward r. murrow award for best large market website . on june 13 2013 the gannett company announced that it would acquire belo s television properties including kens for 1.5 billion . 8 the sale received fcc approval on december 20 and was formally completed on december 23 2013 reuniting kens with former harte hanks sister stations wfmy and wtlv . 9 on june 29 2015 the gannett company split in two with one side specializing in print media and the other side specializing in broadcast and digital media . kens was retained by the latter company named tegna . 10 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 11 5.1 1080i 16 9 kens hd main kens programming cbs 5.2 480i 4 3 kens sd estrella tv 12 5.3 480i 4 3 kens sd justice network analog to digital conversion edit kens discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over vhf channel 5 on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 55 which was among the high band uhf channels 52 69 that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition and was vacated early by the station in november 2008 to allow qualcomm to begin testing for its now defunct mobile television service mediaflo to uhf channel 39 13 14 using psip to display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 5 . in the interim period between november 2008 and june 2009 kens dt s digital signal was broadcast on a subchannel of univision owned and operated station kwex dt mapped to virtual channel 5.1 which broadcast on channel 39 prior to the transition ; since the entire kwex schedule was at the time presented in 480i standard definition kens continued to transmit in 1080i hd without any problems between the two stations . after the digital transition was complete kens dt retained the channel 39 facilities while kwex dt launched its permanent digital operations on uhf channel 41 the station s previous analog frequency . the transition also allowed former sister station kcwx which prior to the conversion did not have an over the air digital signal to begin transmitting its digital signal on vhf channel 5 . programming edit kens does not clear the entire cbs network schedule . the station pre empts the saturday edition of cbs this morning due to its saturday morning newscast as a result cbs this morning saturday does not air in the san antonio market splits the cbs dream team lineup into two blocks that bookend its saturday morning newscast with the first hour airing before the program and the final two airing after it and splits face the nation into two half hour blocks as such it is one of several cbs affiliates that carry the program on both sunday mornings and overnights in such a manner . syndicated programs broadcast by kens include the ellen degeneres show extra and right this minute . kens acquired the local syndication rights to jeopardy and wheel in september 1999 from kmol tv now woai tv the station also produces the local talk and lifestyle program great day sa which airs weekday mornings at 9 a.m. the format of the program is modeled after similar morning talk programs produced by other former belo stations as well as certain ones owned by gannett prior to the latter s purchase of belo including dallas sister station wfaa s good morning texas and houston sister station khou s great day houston ; the program debuted on september 8 2003 and features local and national music artists celebrities and local human interest stories . formerly hosted by 1994 miss usa winner lu parker and later kristina guererro later a reporter for the syndicated program inside edition most recently an entertainment reporter for e great day sa is currently hosted by former kens reporter bridget smith . kens is also one of the few big three network affiliates in the united states that maintains over the air broadcast rights to a major sports franchise the station carries rights to broadcast nba games featuring the san antonio spurs that are not carried by fox sports southwest . news operation edit kens presently broadcasts 31 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with five hours on weekdays 3 hours on saturdays and three hours on sundays . former kens employee bob rogers was and remains the station s most successful and longest running news director . under rogers stewardship the ratings for kens 5 s newscasts shot to first place . rogers