KRIV (TV)
{{Infobox broadcast}} may refer to:
- Template:Infobox broadcasting network
- Template:Infobox television channel
- Template:Infobox television station
If an internal transclusion led you here, you may wish to change it to point directly to the intended page.
{{Template disambiguation}} should never be transcluded in the main namespace.
KRIV, "FOX26" is the Fox owned-and-operated affiliate in Houston, Texas, USA. It is co-owned with UPN affiliate KTXH. Both stations share the same studio complex on 4261 Southwest Freeway in Houston. KRIV operates on 5000 Kilowatts of power from a 1,949-foot (594 meter) tower located in Missouri City, Texas.
History
KRIV signed on in 1971 under its original call letters of KVRL. It was the second UHF station in Houston to sign on the air. Several years after siging on, the call letters were changed to KDOG. The former GM of the station, the late Jerry Marcus, chose the letters, and saw them appropriate during the station's formative years as, in his words, they were a "dogged station" ratings-wise. During this period, the station aired a wide variety of programs. During the day they ran English general entertainment programming such as old cartoons, sitcoms, and old movies. At night they ran Spanish programming such as spanish-language telenovelas, Spanish language movies, Spanish Serials.
In May 1978, Metromedia purchased the station and changed the station's call letters to KRIV. The new call letters were in honor of Albert Krivin, then a top Metromedia executive. Jerry Marcus, General Sales Manager of Metromedia's WTTG in Washington, DC, was brought to Houston to manage the station, where he remained until his retirement in the late 1990's. This influx of dollars caused the station to begin taking more risks by picking up higher profile syndicated programming and forming a news department, featuring the first major primetime newscast in the market. The station was running a general entertainment format complete with cartoons, sitcoms, movies, first run syndicated shows, locally produced talk shows, and the one of the only spanish language forums on television at the time. Overall, the station ranked near KHTV, a more well-established outlet, over the years.
Six years later in 1986, Australian newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch purchased Metromedia television stations, including KRIV, which became a founding owned-and-operated station of his new Fox television network. The acquisition caused the station, along with a number of other former Metromedia outlets, to suddenly adopt a more sophisticated look for a network that at the time, didn't actually exist. A unified music and graphics packaged was featured on this station, as well as the original FOX O & Os, which is consistantly noted for featuring graphics that were among the first of their kind for local television. Since 1986 KRIV 26 has been known as "FOX 26".
In 1987, the station formed an investigative unit, and a program called "City Under Siege" which aired after the evening news. Originally hosted by anchors Jim Marsh & Fran Fawcett, the show was actually a predecessor to one of the FOX network's later standouts: COPS.
As a Fox O & O more first run programming was added. In 1993 KRIV Fox 26 joined 4 other O & O stations along with a growing number of affiliates launching a weekday morning newscast. The morning cartoons were dropped but they continued their afternoon kids block from Fox Kids until the end of 2001 when Fox ended the weekday kids' block nationwide. Today Fox 26 runs over 30 hours a week of local news along with off network sitcoms, sports, Fox first run shows, syndicated talk, court shows, and reality shows.
KRIV moved to its current home studios in 1997, after 26 years at its original home on Westheimer Road. KRIV's current studios is where the syndicated television series Texas Justice and Judge Alex have been produced.
Newscasts
- FOX26 Morning News 5:00-9:00AM
- FOX26 News at Noon 12:00-12:30PM
- FOX26 News at 9 9:00-10:00PM (Everyday)
Helicopter information
SkyFox (Eurocopter AS350BA A-star)
