Branding NewsChannel 13 HD | Affiliations ABC (1960–present) | |
Slogan Where The News Comes First (general)
Always Tracking. Always Alerting. (weather) Channels Digital: 24 (UHF)
Virtual: 13 (PSIP) Subchannels 13.1 ABC
13.2 Telemundo
13.3 News Channel 13 Owner News-Press & Gazette Company
(Pikes Peak Television, Inc.) | ||
KRDO-TV, virtual channel 13, is the ABC-affiliated television station in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. The station broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 24. The station is owned by Pikes Peak Television, a subsidiary of the News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) of St. Joseph, Missouri, and is sister station to KRDO (AM) and KRDO-FM.
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KRDO-TV is carried on channel 12 on Colorado Springs Comcast cable; Comcast channel 13 is instead occupied by Telemundo affiliate KTLO, which is on virtual channel 13.2 over the air.
History
KRDO-TV first went on the air on September 21, 1953 as an NBC affiliate. At that time, KKTV (channel 11) was a primary CBS affiliate with a secondary affiliation with ABC, and KCSJ-TV (channel 5, now KOAA-TV) was the NBC affiliate for nearby Pueblo. As such, during much of the 1950s, Southern Colorado was served by two full-time NBC affiliates and a CBS affiliate that also carried ABC programming.
By 1960, the formerly separate Colorado Springs and Pueblo TV markets melded into one single market serving the Pikes Peak region and surrounding areas. At that point, each of the three commercial TV stations became "exclusive" network affiliates with KKTV retaining CBS, KCSJ-TV continuing with NBC and KRDO-TV becoming a full-time ABC affiliate. KRDO was one of the few ABC affiliates that didn't clear The Dick Cavett Show during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
KRDO-TV had been locally owned by Pikes Peak Broadcasting Company since the station signed on. In April 2006, the company announced that it was selling KRDO-TV (along with KRDO radio and KJCT in Grand Junction) to the News-Press & Gazette Company. News-Press & Gazette officially took over operations of KRDO-TV on June 26, 2006; in honor of Pikes Peak Broadcasting, it changed the name of its Colorado broadcast group to Pikes Peak Television.
Digital channels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
Analog-to-digital conversion
KRDO-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 13, 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 remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 24. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 13.
News operation
KRDO-TV's news operation was rebranded from News 13 to NewsChannel 13 on the same day that NPG took over the station's operations. Under NPG, KRDO expanded its newscasts starting with 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts replacing the single early evening 5:30 p.m. newscasts. It added weekend morning newscasts (currently airing from 6-7 a.m. & 8-9 a.m. both on Saturdays and Sundays) that started in the final week of December 2006. In June 2007 it started a midday newscast that airs from noon-1 p.m. Both were first anchored by former KKTV anchor Eric Singer who now anchors KRDO's 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts.
On July 23, 2008, KRDO-TV began broadcasting Southern Colorado's first local newscasts in high definition (HD), beginning with "NewsChannel 13 at Noon."
On October 10, 2011, KRDO-TV added an early evening newscast at 4:30 p.m. The early evening newscast was moved up to 4:00 p.m. during September 2012.
KRDO has been very competitive with KKTV and KOAA in the local news ratings since News Press & Gazette bought the station in 2006.