Branding Fox 4 Subchannels 4.1 Fox | Slogan Your Alaska Link Affiliations Fox (1986–present) | |
Channels Digital: 20 (UHF)
Virtual: 4 (PSIP) Owner Coastal Television Broadcasting Company, LLC | ||
KTBY, virtual channel 4, is a Fox-affiliated television station serving Anchorage, Alaska. The station is owned by Coastal Television Broadcasting Company, LLC. and co-owned with KYUR, both of which use recording studios located on East Tudor Road in Anchorage, while KTBY uses a transmitter tower in historic downtown Anchorage on top of the Hilton Anchorage East Tower hotel.
Contents
The station is broadcast on digital over-the-air channel 20, and on the local cable TV system, GCI.
History
KTBY signed on the air on December 2, 1983 as a locally owned independent with Mike Parker President, Mike Buck General Manager and Dave Peters II Program Director before joining the then-fledgling Fox Network on its launch of October 9, 1986, and today is still one of the charter affiliates. It was the only Fox station in Alaska until 1992, when KFXF in Fairbanks went on the air; in the late 1980s, it also became the first station in Alaska to broadcast 24 hours a day.
During the 1980s, KTBY was the first Anchorage station to air professional wrestling with any regularity, largely in response to the increase in mainstream interest. Televised wrestling programs were largely absent from Anchorage television, as the programs were traditionally used to promote live events, which have been held only occasionally in Alaska dating back to the 1950s. The station originally aired AWA All-Star Wrestling (in conjunction with a short-lived attempt on their part to promote events in the market), and later World Class Championship Wrestling and WWF Superstars of Wrestling.
In June 2010, Coastal Television hired Scott Centers as General Manager to manage KTBY and under a shared services agreement, manage Vision Alaska I and Vision Alaska II. In September 2010, KTBY relocated its master control operations to colocate with Vision Alaska I. Dave German is the Station Manager.
Analog-to-digital conversion
KTBY shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 4, 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 20. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 4.
News operation
Until October 1, 2008, KTBY aired a 9:00 p.m. weeknight newscast produced by local CBS affiliate KTVA. This production ceased when KTBY began its own news operation. Trill Gates, Kristen Doogan and Ebony Williams were initial members of the news operation. Currently newscasts are produced by KYUR.