KSWA-TV

**KSWA-TV** (channel 9) is an ABC-affiliated television station in Seattle, Washington, United States. It has been owned by the Dorado Media Group from its inception in 1953, making it one of two stations constructed and signed on by Dorado (along with corporate flagship KPRT [channel 11] in Portland). The studios are in Denny Way Plaza in Seattle's Lower Queen Anne neighborhood near the Space Needle. In contrast, KSWA-TV's transmitter is in the Queen Anne neighborhood.

KSWA-TV went on the air in December 1953; it was the television extension of KSWA (1000 AM), a sister station until 2021. After a year-long transition, the station became Seattle's ABC affiliate in 1959, when KSEA-TV switched to NBC; it has consistently rated second in the city's television market ratings behind KSEA-TV.

## History

### Beginnings

Due to KSWA radio's long-standing affiliation with the NBC Radio Network, KSWA-TV launched on December 10, 1953, as an NBC affiliate. This television station is the fourth-oldest in the Seattle–Tacoma metropolitan area. KSWA was also the first station in Seattle to transmit a television signal, an almost forgotten distinction. In November 1948, crosstown rival KQKZ-TV (channel 8, now KSEA-TV) was the first to send "wide audience" television, whereas KSWA broadcast a television signal for experimental purposes nearly 20 years earlier. Kelan Langley, a radio engineer at KSWA, transmitted images of a heart, a diamond, a question mark, letters, and numbers via electrical connections to small televisions with one-inch screens on June 3, 1929. This occurred 23 years before KSWA-TV's first regular broadcasts. The broadcast captivated a small number of viewers. If the Great Depression and World War II had not occurred, KSWA would probably have been the first television station in Seattle and possibly the nation.

The Franklyn family was the station's original owner, which began in the flour mill and lumber enterprises. Franklyn expanded into broadcasting in 1926 when it founded KSWA radio. The Franklyn family competed against the then-owners of KBLE radio for the construction permit for channel 9. After the KBLE group withdrew its proposal in June 1953, KSWA was granted the license, and KSWA-TV went on air only five months later. Buster Caulfield, general manager of KSWA radio and nephew of KSWA co-founder Randal Franklyn, oversaw the development of KSWA-TV, which was founded by the Downtown Broadcasting Corporation and controlled by Mason Garnier Franklyn, and remained involved in the station's management until his retirement in 1987.

In 1954, a KSWA news photographer discovered a new method for developing color film in hours instead of days. KSWA-TV was the first television station in the nation to transmit in actual color, thanks to his discovery.

However, in October 1958, NBC affiliated with King Broadcasting Company for their radio and television stations in Seattle and Portland, Oregon. In Seattle, channel nine and KQKZ-TV shared ABC and NBC programming until September 27, 1959, when KQKZ-TV switched to NBC full-time. KSWA-TV became an exclusive ABC affiliate at that time.

During the 1960s, Monty Weaver, a local television personality, became well-known in the Seattle market for two KSWA-TV programs. Weaver was known by thousands of local children as "Captain Puget" while conducting a children's entertainment program. Channel 9 and McCune also produced the documentary Exploration Northwest, which explored numerous Pacific Northwest locations and individuals.

### Mount St. Helens eruption, May 18, 1980

On May 18, 1980, the eruption of Mount St. Helens nearly cost KSWA-TV a member of its personnel. Dylan Hewitt, a station member since 1975, had been covering the mountain daily for three weeks before his departure. On May 18, he awoke at 3:00 a.m. in Seattle on a hunch that he would capture impressive footage that day. He then loaded his news vehicle and drove to Mount St. Helens without anyone at KSWA knowing. Just as the mountain began erupting, he arrived there. His news video, which depicts an advancing ash cloud and mud flows down the South Fork Toutle River, was made famous by its eleven-minute "journey into the dark," of which six minutes were recorded in "total darkness" as Crockett described his "last day on Earth." His video was featured in a remake of the calamity starring Art Carney and made international headlines. The vehicle he drove, with remnants of KSWA lettering still visible, is now part of the Mount St. Helens Volcano Museum just outside Toutle.

### 1984–present

KSWA was the first station to broadcast daily programming in full stereo sound in 1984.

In 1994, KSWA submitted the first application for a test license to transmit new high-definition signals. In 1997, KSWA began transmitting a high-definition digital signal; on May 18, 1999, it became the first television station in the United States to transmit its daily newscasts in high definition. This statement, however, contradicts a claim made by KBTV in Dallas on February 28, 1997, that it was the first station in the nation to broadcast its daily news programs in high definition. It also conflicts with the Raleigh, North Carolina station WNAO-TV.

On July 2, 2009, KSWA's 11 p.m. newscast was interrupted by a large electrical fire in an electrical substation at the Denny Way Plaza complex at 11:15 p.m. that evening.

At approximately 7:40 a.m. on March 18, 2014, KSWA-TV's news helicopter crashed at the Seattle Center while lifting off from Denny Way Plaza, landing on at least one car. A second automobile and pickup vehicle also caught fire. Fuel from the crashed helicopter, leased to the station by St. Louis-based Helicopters Inc. and used by KSEA-TV under an agreement with the Local News Service, ran down Broad Street (along and south of the accident site) before igniting. Jarrett Francis, the helicopter pilot, and Jayson Dedrick, a photographer, were both killed in the accident. According to the Seattle Fire Department, a 37-year-old man in one of the cars was critically injured, sustaining burns covering up to 20% of his body (revised from an earlier report of up to 50%). The Eurocopter AS350 B2 helicopter involved in the accident, FAA registration number N250FB, was leased to KSWA-TV while the station's helicopter underwent technical upgrades.

KSWA debuted a new studio for its newscasts on September 27, 2015, designed by Devlin Design Group. The new design references Seattle's landscape, such as tribal patterns on the floor, a desk inspired by whale groups, and a memorial helicopter blade for Francis and Dedrick.

KSWA-TV and KSWA radio were separated after 68 years as a result of the transfer of radio sister stations KSWA (1000 AM and 97.7 FM), KKVI (570 AM), and KETO-FM (101.5) to Lotus Communications in September 2021. Dorado retained complete control of the KSWA call sign; on February 2, 2022, Lotus changed KSWA radio's call sign to KGFA, although it maintains a partnership with KSWA-TV.

## Programming

To facilitate early evening newscasts on both stations, KSWA-TV and its Portland sister affiliate KPTB were the only two ABC stations in the contiguous United States to air Monday Night Football on a one-hour delay between 1970 and 1995. In 1976, when the Seattle Seahawks joined the NFL, this arrangement was modified so that MNF games involving the Seahawks could be broadcast live. After years of fan protests, in 1996, KSWA-TV and KPTB began broadcasting the entire Monday Night Football schedule live, regardless of the teams participating each week. A decade later, ESPN transferred the program to cable. KSWA-TV promoted the Seahawks' Super Bowl XL appearance.

### News operation

KSWA-TV broadcasts 45 hours per week of locally produced newscasts (seven hours per weekday and five hours per day on Saturdays and Sundays).

Over the past three decades, KSWA and KSEA-TV have vied for first place in Seattle's news ratings. KSWA consistently ranks first in the market among local newscasts.

## Technical information

### Subchannels

Multiplexing is used for the station's digital signal, which includes:

 **9.2** | 480i
 **9.3** | Charge

### Analog-to-digital conversion

On June 12, 2009, as part of the transition from analog to digital television that the federal government mandated, KSWA-TV turned off its analog signal broadcast over VHF channel 9. After the change, the station's digital signal was broadcast on channel 9 of the VHF band rather than its previous UHF channel 41.