KICU-TV
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Categories: Television stations in the San Francisco Bay Area | Television stations in Monterey/Salinas/Santa Cruz | Television stations in California | Independent television stations in the United States | Channel 36 TV stations in the United States | Cox Television | Television channels and stations established in 1967
KICU-TV, known as TV36, is a television station in San Jose, California that broadcasts on analog channel 36 and digital channel 52. It is owned by Cox Enterprises. It runs an independent schedule of classic sitcoms, talk shows, reality shows, movies, and some kids shows on weekends. It is also the flagship station for Oakland A's baseball.
HistoryThe independent station began as KGSC-TV in early October 1967 and was owned by Ralph Wilson. It is the Bay Area's longest continuously running commercial UHF television station. In the 1970s the station promoted itself as "The Perfect 36" and employed as spokesmodel San Francisco entertainer Carol Doda. KICU produced a half-hour 10 p.m. newscast in the 1980s and '90s. Jan Hutchins, formerly a sportscaster at KPIX, was a longtime anchor. In the late 1980s, KICU ran INN News at 10:30 p.m. INN News, also known as Independent Network News, was produced by WPIX-TV in New York City. Previously, from 1995-2000 KICU broadcast several Golden State Warriors basketball games each season. Over the years, the station ran a number of drama shows and older movies. It added more classic sitcoms and children's shows by the mid-1990s. However, the station gradually phased out children's programming between 1998 and 2002. In 2000 the station was sold to Cox, meaning that the station moved from its original studios in San Jose to share studio facilities with now-sister KTVU in Oakland, giving the Bay Area the first station duopoly. From January 2000 until September 14, 2001, KICU-TV aired the rebroadcast of the Emmy-Award winning Ten O'Clock News from KTVU, usually at 11 p.m. The broadcast on KICU was titled The Eleven O'Clock edition of the Original Ten O'Clock News. At the time, KRON(as NBC) and KPIX were broadcasting network primetime from 7-10 p.m. and had their own 10:00 p.m. newscasts. KTVU branded their newscast as the original ten o'clock newscast because theirs was the longest running and top-rated one in the market. In the early 2000s, KICU simulcast KTVU's 7-9 a.m. "Mornings on 2" newscast, but ran South Bay traffic and weather information at the bottom of the screen and broke away occasionally for South Bay-specific news. Nowadays if KTVU were unable to air Fox programs because of breaking news or on-air coverage of San Francisco Giants, KICU would pick them up. This pattern is usually followed on many duopolies involving a "Big 4" affiliate and an independent. KICU-TV is the flagship station for Oakland Athletics games; as KTVU had aired the Bay Area's other team, the Giants, up to the end of the 2007 season, the duopoly essentially had exclusive local baseball coverage for a brief period. Every Friday night at 11 p.m. from September to June, KICU-TV broadcasts its own Emmy-winning program High School Sports Focus live, which is rebroadcast on Sunday afternoons at 4 p.m. High School Sports Focus began in 1991 and lasted until 2007. Starting Monday January 21st, 2008, sister station KTVU has launched a 7 PM newscast for KICU entitled "Bay Area News at 7" on TV 36 which is anchored by Gasia Mikaelian. This is the first time that KICU has a 7 PM newscast since the cancellation of "Action 36 Prime news" which aired from 1992 until 1994 and the cancellation of The 11 PM edition of the Original 10 o'clock News in 2001. KICU is currently the only San Francisco Bay Area station that has 7 PM newscast. KICU also offers Korean language programming 24 hours a day on digital subchannel 36.2. Slogans"I see you TV 36!" - 1980s slogan displayed before KICU programs. It was usually followed with the line, "And you should see us now!," or the corresponding music. This was a play off of the call letters I-C-U. "You're watching the Perfect 36 in San Jose." was cooed by busty stripper Carol Doda in the late-1960s through the late-1970s, pictured from the waist up and wearing clothes which amplified her most prominent physical attributes. "Action 36 Cable 6" - Slogan used from 1992-1995 and then again from July, 2001 until October 28, 2007. On October 29th, 2007, KICU-TV rebranded themselves from Action 36, Cable 6 to TV 36 as part of their new campaign slogan, "Fun For You". TriviaIn the Pilot episode of Monk, one of the reporters who had a microphone had the former Blue/Red/Yellow graphics but identified itself as Action 16. External links
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