KREM (TV)

KREM, virtual channel 2 (UHF digital channel 20), is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Spokane, Washington, United States and also serving Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The station is owned by Tegna Inc., as part of a duopoly with CW affiliate KSKN (channel 22). The two stations share studios on South Regal Street in Spokane; KREM's transmitter is on Krell Hill southeast of Spokane.

This article is about the CBS affiliate in Spokane, Washington. For the Belizean cable television station, see Krem Television.
Not to be confused with KREN-TV.
KREM
Spokane, Washington–
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
United States
CitySpokane, Washington
ChannelsDigital: 20 (UHF)
Virtual: 2 (PSIP)
BrandingKREM 2 (general)
KREM 2 News (newscasts)
(pronounced "crem")
SloganOn Your Side
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerTegna Inc.
(King Broadcasting Company)
Sister stationsKSKN
History
First air dateOctober 29, 1954 (1954-10-29)[1]
Former call signsKREM-TV (1954–2009)
Former channel number(s)Analog:
2 (VHF, 1954–2009)
Former affiliations
Call sign meaningSounds like "Crem"
Technical information
Licensing authorityFCC
Facility ID34868
ERP893 kW
HAAT641 m (2,103 ft)
Transmitter coordinates47°35′41″N 117°17′57″W
Translator(s)See below
Links
Public license informationProfile
LMS
Websitewww.krem.com

On cable and satellite, the station can be seen in high definition on Comcast Xfinity channel 102 in the Spokane area, Charter Spectrum channel 1209 in the Coeur d'Alene area and the Palouse, and channel 2 (in both standard and high definition) on Dish Network and DirecTV.

The station is also carried on cable systems in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, both of which are double the size of KREM's American coverage area. One result of this is that stations in Calgary and Edmonton air American shows on Pacific Time, even though Calgary and Edmonton are both on Mountain Time. It is one of five local Spokane area television stations seen in Canada on the Shaw Direct satellite service. It can also been seen on local cable systems in eastern British Columbia.

While KREM is the primary CBS affiliate for the Spokane market, Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned KLEW-TV (channel 3), based in Lewiston, Idaho, also is a CBS affiliate. However, it focuses on the southern portion of the market. Both KREM and KLEW are available on Dish Network and DirecTV throughout the Spokane market.

History

KREM-TV signed on October 31, 1954 with an "inaugural program" at 6:30 p.m.,[2] followed by the 1933 movie The Private Life of Henry VIII.[3] It initially had a dual affiliation with ABC and the DuMont Network, the latter shared with cross-town competitor KXLY-TV because of its then-CBS affiliation at the time. After DuMont dissolved, KREM continued as an ABC affiliate. In the late 1950s, the station was briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[4]

KREM-TV was affiliated with ABC until August 8, 1976, when it swapped affiliations with KXLY-TV, whom CBS immediately dropped for constantly pre-empting or delaying its network shows. KREM thus became a full member of the CBS network. Initially, CBS had approached KHQ-TV, while KREM was considered for a possible NBC affiliation because of the King Broadcasting Company's sister stations being NBC affiliates, but KREM decided to sign with CBS instead. It was the only non-NBC affiliated station in the King Broadcasting portfolio.

KREM-TV was originally owned by Cole Wylie alongside KREM radio (AM 970, now KTTO; and FM 92.9, now KZZU-FM). The King Broadcasting Company, run by Seattle businesswoman Dorothy Bullitt, bought the KREM stations from Wylie in 1957; the radio stations were sold off in 1984. (Coincidentally, the former KREM-FM is now a sister station to KXLY-TV.) However, channel 2 retained the -TV suffix in its callsign until 2009.

King Broadcasting was sold in 1992 to the Providence Journal Company, which merged with Belo Corporation five years later. On June 13, 2013, the Gannett Company announced that it would acquire Belo.[5] The sale was completed on December 23.[6]

On June 29, 2015, the Gannett Company split in two, with one side specializing in print media and the other side specializing in broadcast and digital media. KREM and KSKN were retained by the latter company, named Tegna.[7]

KREM and KSKN are a part of a cluster of television stations in the Northwestern United States owned by Tegna, which includes KING-TV and its sister station KONG in Seattle; KGW in Portland, Oregon; and KTVB in Boise. All four stations had provided material to co-owned Northwest Cable News, a regional 24-hour cable news service based in Seattle that served much of the region. KREM was the only non-NBC affiliate to be a primary contributor to NWCN, with the exception of KSKN and Seattle independent station KONG. The channel shut down on January 6, 2017.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[8]
2.11080i16:9KREM-HDMain KREM programming / CBS
2.2480i4:3KREM-DTTrue Crime Network
2.316:9Court TV

Analog-to-digital conversion

KREM discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, 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.[9][10] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 2.

Programming

KREM currently features CBS programming, as well as local news, public affairs and syndicated entertainment programming including The 700 Club, Dr. Phil, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Friends, and Tegna's Daily Blast Live.

News operation

KREM airs 28½ hours of newscasts with a two-hour morning broadcast, a noon telecast, and evening telecast at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, and 11:00 p.m., along with weekend telecasts every Saturday and Sunday at 5:00, 6:00, and 11:00 p.m. KREM is still the only station in Spokane to hold a monopoly on midday newscasts for the Spokane area as of 2019.

In 1997, KREM, with its reporter Tom Grant, won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award "for Investigative Reporting on the Wenatchee Child Sex Ring."[11][12][13]

In April 2010, KREM and KSKN began broadcasting its local newscasts in 16:9 enhanced definition widescreen, and KREM became the third station in Spokane to switch in either HD or widescreen.[14][15][16]

From September 15, 2014 to January 2, 2015, KREM was the only station to air their newscasts from 7:00-9:00 a.m. on its sister station KSKN.[17] KREM switched to Gannett's "This is Home" music and graphics package on October 25, 2014 at the 5:00 newscast.[18] KREM became the last station in the Spokane market to switch their newscasts to HD.

Notable former on-air staff

Translators

KREM is rebroadcast on the following translator stations.

gollark: I'm pretty sure that's also impractical.
gollark: On what? There are devices without real time clocks.
gollark: You could easily make it so that some tiny community runs it on their toasters, but if there's ever an actual financial incentive someone *will* fix it.
gollark: Someone could just fix that, and I don't know *how* you would manage to introduce those in a mining algorithm.
gollark: Interesting. Toasters aren't fast, though. So anyone doing it seriously would just port the code to an actual high power computer.

References
  1. The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says October 31, while the Television and Cable Factbook says October 29.
  2. "New TV Station Plans Inaugural on Sunday Night" Spokane Daily Chronicle, October 29, 1954. Retrieved: May 19, 2012.
  3. Spokane Daily Chronicle - "Announcing the Telecast Premiere of KREM-TV" (advertisement) - October 30, 1954
  4. "Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films", Boxoffice: 13, November 10, 1956
  5. "Gannett to buy KREM-TV owner Belo for $1.5 billion". KREM.com. Associated Press. June 13, 2013. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
  6. Gannett Completes Its Acquisition of Belo, TVNewsCheck, Retrieved 23 December 2013
  7. "Separation of Gannett into two public companies completed | TEGNA". Tegna. 29 June 2015. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
  8. RabbitEars TV Query for KREM
  9. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  10. CDBS Print
  11. Silver Batons: Medium Market Television
  12. "Grant Wins 'Pulitzer of Broadcasting' | the Spokesman-Review".
  13. "KREM-TV, Investigative Reporting on the Wenatchee Child Sex Ring | 1997 duPont-Columbia Award Winner in 1997 duPont Winners on Vimeo". Vimeo.com. 2013-04-01. Retrieved 2020-05-18.
  14. "Is Your local news in HD?". Avsforum.com. 2011-02-17. Retrieved 2012-08-23.
  15. "KXLY 4 HD". Youtube.com. 2008-08-01. Retrieved 2012-08-23.
  16. "KHQ Local News 11@11 HD Open - 2008". Youtube.com. 2008-10-18. Retrieved 2012-08-23.
  17. "For the first time, 7:00-9:00 a.m. morning news in Spokane". changingnewscasts.wordpress.com. 2014-08-31. Retrieved 2014-10-15.
  18. "New design coming to KREM 2 newscasts". krem.com. 2014-10-23. Retrieved 2014-10-23.
  19. "KPIX's Paul Deanno, two others leaving station". EastBayTimes.com. 27 September 2019. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  20. "Eric Johnson". KOMOnews.com. 20 November 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  21. "Sports Anchor Tim Lewis Leaving Spokane to Join His Dad at Seattle's KOMO". AdWeek.com. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  22. "Dan Lewis, Tim Lewis share anchor desk for first time". KOMONews.com. 18 July 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  23. "Maureen O'Boyle: WBTV Bio". WBTV.com. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  24. Shanks, Adam. "Spokane's Next Mayor". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  25. "Woodward claims victory in race for mayor | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  26. "RabbitEars.Info".
  27. "RabbitEars.Info".
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