states branding komo 4 general ; visually displayed as komo abc 4 komo 4 news newscasts komo 4 abc during radio promos for abc network shows slogan when experience matters channels digital 38 uhf virtual 4 psip subchannels 4.1 abc 4.2 comet tv 4.3 grit affiliations abc owner sinclair broadcast group sinclair seattle licensee llc . founded june 1953 first air date december 10 1953 1953 12 10 call letters meaning derived from sister station komo radio pronounced como sister station s komo komo fm kplz fm kuns tv kvi former channel number s analog 4 vhf 1953 2009 former affiliations nbc 1953 1959 transmitter power 810 kw height 223 m 732 ft facility id 21656 transmitter coordinates 47 37 56 n 122 21 14 w 47.6321398 n 122.3539424 w 47.6321398 ; 122.3539424 coordinates 47 37 56 n 122 21 14 w 47.6321398 n 122.3539424 w 47.6321398 ; 122.3539424 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website komonews.com komo tv channel 4 is an abc affiliated television station located in seattle washington united states . komo tv is owned by sinclair broadcast group as part of a duopoly with univision affiliate kuns tv licensed to bellevue . the station s studios and offices are co located with sister radio stations komo 1000 am and 97.7 fm kvi 570 am and kplz fm 101.5 mhz . within komo plaza formerly fisher plaza in the lower queen anne section of seattle directly across the street from the space needle . the station s transmitter is located on queen anne hill . komo tv is available to most cable subscribers in vancouver bc area as the abc affiliate and is one of five seattle television stations seen in canada on the bell tv and shaw direct satellite providers . from the station s inception until august 2013 komo tv was the flagship station of seattle based fisher communications . contents 1 history 1.1 beginnings 1.2 mount st. helens eruption may 18 1980 1.3 1984 present 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 awards 4.2 on air staff 4.2.1 notable current on air staff 4.2.2 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit beginnings edit komo tv began operating on december 10 1953 as an nbc affiliate owing to komo radio s long time relationship with the nbc radio network . 1 it is the fourth oldest television station in the seattle tacoma area . komo also has an almost forgotten distinction as being the first station in seattle to broadcast a television signal . whereas crosstown rival krsc tv channel 5 now king tv was the first to air wide audience television in november 1948 komo broadcast a television signal nearly 20 years prior . on june 3 1929 komo radio engineer francis j. brott televised images of a heart a diamond a question mark letters and numbers over electrical lines to small sets with one inch screens 23 years before komo tv s first regular broadcasts . a handful of viewers were captivated by the broadcast . komo would likely have held the distinction of being the first television station in seattle and perhaps the nation were it not for the occurrences of the great depression and world war ii . 2 the station was originally owned by the fisher family which had its start in the flour mill and lumber businesses . the fishers branched into broadcasting with its founding of komo radio in 1926 . 3 in competing for the channel 4 construction permit the fishers faced off against the then owners of kjr radio . komo was awarded the license in june 1953 after the kjr group dropped their bid 4 5 and komo tv first signed on the air only five months later . william w. warren general manager of komo radio and a nephew of komo co founder oliver d. fisher oversaw the development of komo tv and remained involved with the station s management until his retirement in 1987 . 6 in 1954 a komo news photographer discovered a way to develop color film in a new process that took just a few hours instead of days . his discovery allowed komo tv to become the first television station in the nation to broadcast in true color . citation needed in october 1958 however nbc signed affiliation deals with king broadcasting company for their radio and television properties in seattle and portland oregon . 7 in seattle channel 4 shared both abc and nbc programming with king tv until september 27 1959 when king tv took the nbc affiliation full time . at that point komo tv became a primary abc affiliate . 8 9 10 during the 1960s local television personality don mccune became well known in the seattle market for two programs seen on komo tv . mccune was known to thousands of children in the area who came to know him in the role of captain puget hosting a children s entertainment program . channel 4 and mccune also produced the documentary series exploration northwest which explored many of the places and people of the pacific northwest . komo tv and its portland sister station katu built by fisher and signed on in 1962 were the only two abc stations in the contiguous united states which aired monday night football on a one hour delay from 1970 to 1995 in order to accommodate early evening newscasts on both stations . when the seattle seahawks joined the nfl in 1976 the stations modified this arrangement in order to broadcast seahawks games live . in 1996 after years of fan protests komo tv and katu began clearing the entire monday night football schedule live regardless of the teams that were playing each week . a decade later the program moved to espn . mount st. helens eruption may 18 1980 edit komo tv nearly lost one of its staff in the volcanic eruption of mount st. helens on may 18 1980 . dave crockett who had been with the station since 1975 had been covering the mountain every day for three weeks until being rotated out a few days prior . on the morning of may 18 he woke up at 3 00 a.m. in seattle on a hunch that he would get some impressive video that day and loaded up his news car and headed towards mount st. helens without anyone at komo knowing about it . he arrived at the mountain just as it was erupting . 11 his news video which shows an advancing ash cloud and mud flows down the south fork toutle river was made famous by its eleven minute long journey into the dark six of those minutes of which were recorded in total darkness as crockett narrated to what he thought would be his last day on earth . his video made worldwide news and was used in a movie remake of the disaster starring art carney . the car he drove with the remains of komo lettering still visible is now a part of a mount st. helens volcano museum just outside toutle . 1984 present edit in 1984 komo became the first television station to broadcast daily programming in full stereo sound . 12 in 1994 komo applied for the first test license for broadcasting new high definition signals . komo began broadcasting a high definition digital signal 13 in 1997 ; on may 18 1999 komo became the first television station in the united states to broadcast its daily newscasts in high definition . 14 this statement however comes into conflict with a claim made by wfaa in dallas a sister station to king tv that it is the first station in the nation to broadcast its daily news programs in high definition on february 28 1997 . 15 dubious discuss komo s present broadcast facility known as fisher plaza completed in 2001 . the broadcast portion of the complex was opened in june 2000 . on july 2 2009 a large electrical fire 16 that started in an electrical vault at the fisher plaza complex at 11 15 p.m. that evening knocked komo off the air during its 11 p.m. newscast . 17 18 on april 10 2013 sinclair broadcast group announced that it would acquire fisher communications for 373.3 million . 19 20 however the deal was subjected to financial scrutiny ; the law firm levi & korsinsky notified fisher shareholders with accusations that fisher s board of directors were breaching fiduciary duties by failing to adequately shop the company before agreeing to enter into the transaction and sinclair was underpaying for fisher s stock . 21 shortly after the announcement a lawsuit was filed by a fisher shareholder . 22 on august 6 the shareholders voted to approve the sale after they approved that the shareholders would get 41 per share . 23 the federal communications commission granted approval of the deal on august 6 24 and the sale was consummated on august 8 . 25 prior to the sale komo tv had been the last television station in the seattle market to be owned by local interests . on march 18 2014 komo tv s news helicopter crashed at the seattle center as it was taking off from fisher plaza around 7 40 a.m. falling onto at least one car . 26 a second car and pickup truck also involved caught fire . fuel from the crashed helicopter which was leased to the station by st. louis based helicopters inc. 27 and was also used by king tv under a local news service agreement 28 ran down broad street along and south of the crash site later bursting into flames . 29 30 31 helicopter pilot gary pfitzner and photographer bill strothman were both killed in the crash . a 37 year old man in one of the cars was also critically injured reportedly suffering burns covering up to 20 % of his body revised from an earlier report of burns at up to 50 % according to the seattle fire department . 32 33 the eurocopter as350 b2 helicopter involved in the crash faa registration number n250fb 26 had been leased to komo tv while technical upgrades were being made to the station s own helicopter . on september 27 2015 komo introduced a new studio for its newscasts which was designed by devlin design group sinclair s primary set design firm . the new design contains nods to seattle s scenery including tribal designs on the floor a desk inspired by whale pods as well as a helicopter blade serving as a memorial to pfitzner and strothman . 34 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 35 4.1 720p 16 9 komo main komo tv programming abc 4.2 480i 16 9 komo 2 comet 4.3 480i 16 9 grit tv grit analog to digital conversion edit komo tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 4 on june 12 2009 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television . 36 the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 38 37 38 using psip to display komo tv s virtual channel as 4 on digital television receivers . in 2009 komo tv became one of four television stations in the country to be the first to launch mobile dtv signals . the open mobile video coalition chose komo and independent station kong channel 16 and wpxa tv and watl in atlanta georgia to beta test the atsc m h standard which has since been officially adopted for free to air digital broadcast television with clear reception on mobile devices which overcomes the defects of the original atsc standard . programming edit syndicated programming includes live with kelly harry wheel of fortune jeopardy and