Historical Timeline for KPHO and Phoenix TV

Historical Phoenix TV Timeline
KPHO and Phoenix Area Television

TV station (and the only station between El Paso, Texas and San Diego, CA). Studio is located at 631 N. First Ave. in the Westward Ho building.

1950 -- April, debut of Lew King Ranger Show broadcast live on Ch. 5 with a young Wayne Newton as announcer. First local TV Newscast, with Jack Murphy as anchor.

1952 -- Meredith Corp. buys Ch. 5 for $1.5 million - by this time Ch. 5 is affiliated with four networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and DUMONT).

1953 -- Ch. 12 signs on the air with NBC, followed shortly by Ch. 10 (CBS).

1954 -- “Wallace Snead” debuts as a character on Goldust Charlie Show, a kid’s show starring Ken Kennedy (Wallace Snead played by Bill Thompson soon gets his own show called “It’s Wallace”).

1955 -- Ch. 5 loses its last affiliation and becomes independent. Ch. 3 (ABC) signs on the air.

1956 -- ASU baseball star, Ladimir Kwiatkowski is hired as cameraman –soon joins “It’s Wallace Show.”

1959 -- First videotape machines arrive (2”).

1960 -- Pat McMahon is hired as a weatherman --soon joins Wallace Show. (July) Transmitter site moves from top of Westward Ho to South Mountain Park.

1961 -- KAET, Ch. 8 signs on (PBS).

1964 -- During major Phoenix power outage, Ch. 5 is only station to remain on the air due to backup generator.

1965 -- Ch. 5 broadcasts in color (first film color camera).

1966 -- First “live” color broadcast (July) at 4 pm on Wallace & Ladmo, beating Ch.10 by one hour!

1971 -- November, Ch. 5 moves from Westward Ho to new building at Indian School & 1-17 freeway.

1978 -- July – Ch. 5 purchases 3 x 1” VTR’s --begins switch from 2” to 1.”

1981 -- First feed off of Satellite dish.

1982 -- First station in Valley to install ADO.

1985 -- First stereo broadcast (Dec. 25).

1989 -- Final Wallace & Ladmo Show airs Dec. 29th after almost 36 years on the air.

1994 -- Ladmo dies of lung cancer on March 2.

1994 -- May –Biggest “Network Shuffle” in modern TV history is sparked when Ch. 10’s parent company announces merger with Fox. Eventually Phoenix experiences a 4-station flip-flop: Ch. 10 (CBS) becomes Fox. Ch.15 (Fox) becomes ABC. Ch. 3 (ABC) becomes independent and…

1994 -- Sept. 10, Ch. 5 becomes a CBS affiliate by signing on at 7 am with “Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles.”

1999 -- November – KPHO became one of the state’s first digital broadcasters on UHF DT-17.

2005 -- April 4th – Kent Dana joins the CBS 5 news – first day on air – Legendary Broadcaster Kent Dana joined KPHO after leaving KPNX after 25 years of services.

2006 -- CBS 5 broadcasts “March Madness” multicast – a first ever in Phoenix all 63 games were broadcasted.

2006 -- September 5th Sean McLaughlin joins the CBS 5 Weather team as Chief Meteorologist – Sean McLaughlin comes back to Phoenix after a 3 years on national network MSNBC.

http://www.historiccentralphoenix.com/