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Much has changed since September 6, 1954, the night KOVR Channel 13 Broadcast Sacramento's first television pictures from a talent show at the California State Fair. As the city matured into a major metropolitan region, and the 21st-largest television market in the United States, KOVR 13 has grown up, too - from a small, independent station in nearby Stockton to a multimillion-dollar award-winning operation. Initially, KOVR 13 didn't even have a studio in Sacramento. Channel 13 operated as in independent station and broadcast into Sacramento from studios in Stockton and San Francisco. In 1957, however, the Gannett Company bought the station and moved it into Sacramento studios in 1960. Through the years, KOVR 13 has invested in the technology to keep pace with a growing Sacramento. KOVR, for example, was the first Sacramento television station to videotape events at remote locations and play them back later on news broadcasts. KOVR 13 is the only television station in the city that is able to land and take off from a helicopter on the station's roof. This unique advantage means that KOVR's reporters can fly to and from breaking stories without having to first drive to a separate takeoff site. In turn, KOVR 13 is able to bring news and information to its viewers faster than any other station in the area. In fact, when KOVR's $8 million, state-of-the-art broadcast complex designed early in the 1990's, architects created a unique double roof to shield the studios below from the high noise level of helicopter take-off and landings. KOVR 13, even with its access to news from across the nation and around the world, has not lost sight of its commitment to superior, in-depth coverage of local news. KOVR's newsroom boasts a long list of journalistic accomplishments. For instance, in the mid 1970's the station secured the first television images of the SR-71, the Air Force's once-classified spy plane. A few years later, following the crash of a B-54 jet near Mather Air Force Base, it was KOVR 13 again that probed into the incident and uncovered information Congress later used to strengthen pilot-training requirements. For these and many other efforts, KOVR 13 News has been recognized by countless organizations: the Emmy Awards, the Associated Press, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Radio and Television News Director's Association, to name a few. |
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 INTRODUCTION HISTORY SINCLAIR DEMOGRAPHICS OPPORTUNITIES SPECIALS BANNERS IMPRESSIONS CONTACT TECHNICAL |
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