Product Code Database
KGUN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Tucson, Arizona, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Sierra Vista–licensed independent station KWBA-TV (channel 58). The two stations share studios on East Rosewood Street in east Tucson; KGUN-TV's transmitter is located atop Mount Bigelow, northeast of the city.
KGUN-TV went on the air as KDWI-TV, Tucson's third commercial station, in 1956. Within a year, it was sold by its founding owner and took its present call sign and ABC affiliation. The station has generally run second or third in local news throughout its history.
In November, Ingram sold KDWI-TV to the Tucson Television Company, an unrelated concern led by Hugh U. Garrett, an oilman from Longview, Texas, and two other East Texas men; the $533,000 sale was accompanied by a 15-year lease of the studios. The call letters were changed to KGUN-TV on March 14, when the station joined ABC, bringing the full network lineup to southern Arizona for the first time. With the change from an all-film lineup, local programming was added; the children's show "Marshal KGUN" debuted at that time and ran until 1968. Other remembered programs from this period in station history include the local Romper Room franchise as well as Mexican Theater, which aired Mexican television fare, and the Chiller Saturday night horror movie (hosted by KGUN program director Jack Jacobson). For more than 30 years, KGUN covered the Fiesta de los Vaqueros rodeo parade, the world's longest non-mechanized parade; it dropped coverage after the 2004 edition because it lost money despite good ratings.
Garrett sold the station in 1961 to a group headed by Cincinnati meatpacker Henry S. Hilberg and Edwin G. Richter of Evansville, Indiana, who owned WEHT in that city. Hilberg and Richter sold both stations to Gilmore Broadcasting in 1964; Richter stayed on as manager of KGUN-TV. Gilmore then sold KGUN-TV to May Broadcasting for $2.9 million in 1968.
In 2005, Emmis began the liquidation of its television properties, selling KGUN to the Milwaukee-based Journal Broadcast Group, which already owned four radio stations in Tucson; the transfer was part of a $235 million transaction which included KMTV and WFTX-TV in Fort Myers, Florida.
On March 18, 2008, Journal announced plans to buy The CW affiliate KWBA-TV from Cascade Broadcasting Group on undisclosed terms, creating a duopoly with KGUN-TV. To make the purchase, Journal had to apply for a failing station waiver; even though Tucson had too few commercial station owners to normally permit another duopoly, it presented financial statements showing it had lost money for three years straight, a situation exacerbated by the loss of Arizona Diamondbacks baseball rights, and pledged to start a local newscast from KGUN-TV for air on KWBA-TV. The FCC permitted the acquisition in June.
On July 30, 2014, it was announced that the E. W. Scripps Company would acquire Journal Communications in an all-stock transaction. The combined firm would retain its broadcast properties, including KGUN, and spin off the print assets as Journal Media Group. The deal made KGUN a sister station to Phoenix's ABC affiliate, KNXV-TV. The FCC approved the deal on December 12, 2014, and shareholders followed suit on March 11, 2015; the merger was completed on April 1. Scripps then sold off its radio properties in 2018, including the Tucson stations, which were purchased by Lotus Communications.
On October 5, 2023, the Arizona Coyotes announced their departure from the troubled regional sports network Bally Sports Arizona as during its parent company's bankruptcy, the network rejected the Coyotes' contract. That same day, the team and Scripps Sports announced a new contract. As part of the deal, games will be broadcast by KGUN-TV in Tucson. Because of network programming commitments, most games will air on KGUN's second subchannel, which usually carries Laff, though the station will carry surrounding Coyotes team content on its main channel. The games will also air on a subchannel of KNXV in the Phoenix market and outside of Arizona via the league's out-of-market sports package deal with ESPN+.
KGUN was the first local station to air a morning newscast, doing so in 1987. On April 21, 2014, KGUN began airing a one-hour extension of its weekday morning newscast on KWBA from 7 to 8 a.m. titled Good Morning Tucson Extra.
| + Subchannels of KGUN-TV ! scope = "col" | Channel ! scope = "col" | Res. ! scope = "col" | Aspect ! scope = "col" | Short name ! scope = "col" | Programming |
The main channel is also simulcast from the KWBA-TV transmitter as an aid to reception in parts of the market, particularly to the south of Tucson.
Beginning with the 2024–25 NHL season, select Utah Mammoth and Vegas Golden Knights games air on KGUN's Antenna TV subchannel—as with KNXV-TV in Phoenix—during conflicts with sister station KWBA-TV.
|
|
