KOAA-TV
KOAA-TV, virtual channel 5, is an NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Pueblo, Colorado, United States and also serving Colorado Springs. The station is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. KOAA-TV's main studios and business offices are located on 7th Avenue in Pueblo, with a satellite studio and news bureau in the Tech Center office complex in Colorado Springs; its transmitter is located on Cheyenne Mountain.
KOAA operates a low-power digital translator, K30JM-D in Colorado Springs, whose transmitter is also located on Cheyenne Mountain.
History
The station signed on for the first time on June 30, 1953 as KCSJ-TV, owned by the Star-Chieftain Publishing Corporation, owners of Pueblo's two major newspapers, the morning Pueblo Chieftain and evening Pueblo Star-Journal, along with KCSJ-AM. It is Colorado's second-oldest station outside of Denver.During the 1950s, KCSJ-TV was one of two full-time NBC affiliates serving Southern Colorado—the other being KRDO-TV in Colorado Springs, about to the north. In 1960, the Federal Communications Commission collapsed all of southern Colorado into a single television market. At this point, KCSJ-TV became the area's sole NBC affiliate with KRDO-TV switching to ABC.
In 1961, Star-Chieftain sold KCSJ-TV to Metropolitan Broadcasting, owners of KOA-AM-FM-TV in Denver. KCSJ-TV then became KOAA-TV, but remained a free-standing station programmed separately from Denver's KOA-TV. The two stations did, however, occasionally do cross-promotion, and both were NBC affiliates. With much wealthier ownership, KOAA was able to add videotape in 1962. In 1967, it became the first television station in Southern Colorado to broadcast local programming in color. When sister stations KOA-TV-AM-FM were sold off to General Electric in 1968, Metropolitan sold KOAA to a different owner in a separate deal.
KOAA floundered through the early and mid-1970s, largely because of reception problems in the northern part of the market. Channel 5 had to conform its signal to protect KGWN-TV in Cheyenne, Wyoming. As a result, while most of Colorado Springs received the channel 5 signal very well, it was barely viewable in northern Colorado Springs and that city's northern suburbs because of the area's rugged terrain. Most viewers in the northern portion of the market couldn't get a clear signal from KOAA until cable arrived in the market in the 1970s. This posed a problem for KOAA, as the Colorado Springs area began an unprecedented period of growth that continues to this day while Pueblo remained relatively unchanged.
After spending most of the 1970s going through a number of non-broadcast owners via Sangre de Cristo Broadcasting Corporation, things finally turned around in 1977 when the Evening Post Publishing Company of Charleston, South Carolina bought the station and brought in former ABC executive John Gilbert as general manager. In honor of its previous owners, the station's licensee was changed to Sangre de Cristo Communications Inc. Evening Post's broadcasting arm eventually evolved into Cordillera Communications and continued to be a subsidiary of Evening Post Publishing Company. Soon after Gilbert's arrival, KOAA opened a studio and sales office in Colorado Springs and steadily beefed up its news operation. In 1980, KOAA signed on K30AA, a 132,500-watt translator on channel 30 in Colorado Springs, bringing a clear signal to the northern part of that city for the first time ever. For the next three decades, it branded itself as "5/30". It was also during this time that KOAA adopted the Eyewitness News format that was popular with TV stations nationwide during the 1970s and 1980s.
Cordillera announced on October 29, 2018 it would sell most of its stations, including KOAA, to the E. W. Scripps Company. The sale was completed on May 1, 2019. This made KOAA a sister station to ABC affiliate KMGH-TV in Denver.
Digital television
Digital channels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:| Channel | Video | Aspect | PSIP Short Name | Programming |
| 5.1 | 1080i | KOAA-HD | Main KOAA-TV programming / NBC | |
| 5.2 | 480i | KOAA-D2 | WeatherNation TV | |
| 5.3 | 480i | Grit | Grit | |
| 5.4 | 480i | 16:9 | Court TV |
KOAA-TV activated its digital television signal on channel 42 on August 1, 2006. It has the capability to broadcast in Dolby 5.1 surround sound. It began broadcasting "NewsFirst NOW" as a digital subchannel after only having it on local cable systems earlier. On September 15, 2015, the subchannel became an affiliate of WeatherNation TV, while retaining the "News 5 NOW" name.
Analog-to-digital conversion
KOAA-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 5, 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 42. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 5.On April 15, 2010, K30AA was converted from analog to digital and continues to operate as a repeater of KOAA-TV. On June 14, K30AA changed its calls to K30JM-D.
Programming
Outside of the NBC network schedule, syndicated programs currently broadcast by KOAA-TV include The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Dr. Phil, The Rachael Ray Show and Extra.News operation
Starting in 2001, KOAA used the NewsFirst 5/30 name for its morning and midday newscasts but continued to use the Eyewitness News brand for all other dayparts until February 8, 2002. On that date, the station adopted the News First brand for all of its newscasts.In 2009, the branding was changed to NewsFirst 5, acknowledging that with K30AA's transition to digital K30JM-D, the station could also identify via PSIP as Channel 5 throughout the market. The name was modified slightly to News 5 in 2011. The station operates a News 5 Now channel on its second subchannel which is carried by the cable systems in both Colorado Springs and Pueblo, and includes news updates along with real-time weather forecasts and conditions. KOAA used to have newscasts at 4 and 9 p.m. on News 5 Now, but it would later cancel the 4 p.m. newscast and reduced the 9 p.m. newscast to 10 minutes. Eventually the 9 p.m. newscast was canceled altogether.
On February 18, 2010, KOAA-TV became the third station in the Colorado Springs–Pueblo market to broadcast its newscasts in true high definition and widescreen, beginning with its midday newscast. Fox affiliate KXRM-TV is now the only remaining station in the market that still broadcasts its local newscasts in 16:9 widescreen standard definition, but not true HD.
Repeaters
In addition to K30JM-D in Colorado Springs, the station also has the following repeater stations throughout the state of Colorado.KOAA also operates a digital fill-in translator in Woodland Park on channel 47.