View source for KOVR

{{Short description|Television station in Stockton, California}}
{{Distinguish|KOBR|KDVR}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox television station
| callsign = KOVR
| city = Stockton, California
| logo = KOVR Logo 2023.svg
| logo_upright = 1
| logo_alt = In a black box, the CBS eye logo and a numeral 13. Next to it, on two lines: the CBS eye and the words CBS News, and the word Sacramento in type.
| branding = CBS 13; ''CBS News Sacramento''
| digital = 25 ([[UHF]])
| virtual = 13
| affiliations = {{ubl|'''13.1:''' [[CBS]]|''for others, see {{section link||Subchannels}}''}}
| owner = [[CBS News and Stations]]
| licensee = Sacramento Television Stations, Inc.
| location = [[Stockton, California|Stockton]]–[[Sacramento]]–[[Modesto, California]]
| country = United States
| airdate = {{start date and age|1954|9|6|p=y|br=y}}
| callsign_meaning = "Coverage"; the original facility covered San Francisco, Sacramento, and Stockton
| sister_stations = [[KMAX-TV]]
| former_callsigns = {{ubl|KHOF (CP, 1954){{r|hc}}|KOVR-TV (1980–1989)}}
| former_channel_numbers = '''Analog:''' 13 ([[VHF]], 1954–2009)
| former_affiliations = {{ubl|[[Independent station|Independent]] (1954–1957)|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] (1957–1995)}}
| erp = 1,000 [[kW]]
| haat = {{convert|593|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| facility_id = 56550
| coordinates = {{coord|38|14|24|N|121|30|7|W|type:landmark_scale:2000}}
| licensing_authority = [[FCC]]
| website = {{URL|https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/}}
}}

'''KOVR''' (channel 13) is a [[television station]] licensed to [[Stockton, California]], United States, serving as the [[CBS]] outlet for the [[Sacramento]] area. It is [[owned and operated]] by the network's [[CBS News and Stations]] division alongside [[KMAX-TV]] (channel 31), an [[independent station]]. The two stations share studios on KOVR Drive in [[West Sacramento]]; KOVR's [[KXTV/KOVR tower|transmitter]] is located in [[Walnut Grove, California]].

After an application process stretching back to 1948, KOVR began broadcasting in September 1954 from studios in Stockton and a transmitter atop [[Mount Diablo]]. This facility provided wide coverage from San Francisco to Sacramento and beyond, but KOVR could not obtain a network affiliation in the San Francisco market, and it had to pay higher programming costs as a San Francisco station. To remedy these issues, the station moved transmitter sites in 1957, becoming fully a Stockton- and Sacramento-area station, and obtained an affiliation with [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]. It partly merged with Sacramento's original ABC affiliate, [[KCCC-TV]], a struggling [[UHF]] station.

After moving, the station was sold twice before being acquired by newspaper publisher [[McClatchy]] in 1963. This made KOVR a sister to the [[KFBK (AM)|KFBK]] radio stations in Sacramento as well as ''[[The Sacramento Bee]]'' newspaper; it marked McClatchy's entry into local television after an unsuccessful attempt to win channel 10 in the 1950s. McClatchy sold the station in 1980 under intense government pressure on owners of newspaper-broadcast combinations, and it changed hands another six times from 1983 to 1996. The station became a CBS affiliate in 1995 as the result of an affiliation switch and was purchased by CBS in 2005; uniquely, it broadcasts prime time programming one hour ahead of other West Coast stations. Traditionally a third-rated station in local news, ratings have gradually improved for its newscasts since the 1990s.

==History==

===The Mount Diablo years===
[[File:Northpeak.jpg|thumb|alt=A rocky, partially forested mountain peak with several communications antennas|KOVR broadcast from [[Mount Diablo]] from 1954 to 1957.]]
On March 5, 1948, Radio Diablo, Inc. (later Television Diablo) filed an application for a new television station to broadcast on channel 13, first assigned to [[San Francisco]] and then to [[San Jose, California|San Jose]], from [[Mount Diablo]] in [[Contra Costa County]].<ref name="hc">{{cite web|url=https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/attachment/25076ff38137a829018139044acc00b3|title=FCC History Cards for KOVR|publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]]|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043012/https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/attachment/25076ff38137a829018139044acc00b3|url-status=live}}</ref> From Mount Diablo, the principals in Radio Diablo operated FM station KSBR, which had an [[effective radiated power]] of 250,000 watts and, having just moved to the mountaintop, claimed it was heard from the Oregon state line to [[Bakersfield]].<ref name="Time480219">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108397157/ksbr-moves-to-mount-diablo/|date=February 19, 1948|page=7|title=KSBR Moves to Mount Diablo|newspaper=The Times|location=San Mateo, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827082546/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108397157/ksbr-moves-to-mount-diablo/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu --> Two other groups applied for the channel by late 1948,<ref name="Oakl481217">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108397212/bay-area-television-station-will-broadca/|date=December 17, 1948|page=1-A|title=Bay Area Television Station Will Broadcast By Christmas: Station KPIX Begins Tests|newspaper=Oakland Tribune|location=Oakland, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043011/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108397212/bay-area-television-station-will/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri --> but the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) imposed a freeze on new television station grants that October.<ref>{{cite news|first=Rufus|last=Crater|pages=22A, 57|work=Broadcasting|id={{ProQuest|1040475180}}|title=Television Freeze: FCC Action Halted Pending Definite Policy|date=October 4, 1948}}</ref>

When the freeze ended in 1952,<ref name="BC520415">{{Cite news|date=April 15, 1952|title=Thaw July 1: 617 VHFs, 1436 UHFs in 1291 Markets; Educators Win|work=Broadcasting|pages=23, 67–68|id={{ProQuest|1285696665}} }}</ref> channel 13 had been removed from San Jose to Stockton, where it could still cover the [[city of license]] from Mount Diablo. Stockton radio station [[KWSX|KXOB]] filed a competing application for channel 13.<ref name="Stoc520417">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108357034/battle-on-here-for-tv-channels-kxob-ra/|date=April 17, 1952|page=13|title=Battle On Here for TV Channels: KXOB, Radio Diablo Among Applicants|newspaper=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record|location=Stockton, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043010/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108357034/battle-on-here-for-tv-channels-kxob/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu --> Radio Diablo, headed by O. H. Brown, estimated it could serve 3.5 million people in San Francisco, Stockton, and Sacramento from its mountaintop site.{{r|Stoc520417}} The owners of KXOB ultimately received shares in Radio Diablo in exchange for the dismissal of KXOB's competing application in a settlement agreement. Broadcaster and furniture store owner Edward Peffer entered into a similar agreement,<ref name="Stoc540122">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108357086/channel-13-tv-permit-due-feb-1/|date=January 22, 1954|page=25|title=Channel 13 TV Permit Due Feb. 1|newspaper=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record|location=Stockton, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043009/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108357086/channel-13-tv-permit-due-feb-1/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri --> paving the way for the FCC to grant Radio Diablo the construction permit on February 11, 1954.{{r|hc}} Leslie Hoffman, who had become the new president of the company, was to have the station named for him as KHOF, but when Hoffman thought of the possibility of "cough" puns based on the designation, the call sign was changed to KOVR, for "coverage".<ref name="SanF540625">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108357198/day-and-night-with-radio-and-television/|date=June 25, 1954|page=22|first=Dwight|last=Newton|title=Day and Night with Radio and Television|newspaper=The San Francisco Examiner|location=San Francisco, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043009/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108357198/day-and-night-with-radio-and-television/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri -->

KOVR began broadcasting September 6, 1954;<ref name="SanF540906">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108357906/day-and-night-with-radio-and-television/|date=September 6, 1954|page=10|first=Dwight|last=Newton|title=Day and Night with Radio and Television|newspaper=The San Francisco Examiner|location=San Francisco, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827082816/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108357906/day-and-night-with-radio-and-television/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Mon --> after an opening night telecast produced in the Stockton studios, it aired live coverage from the [[California State Fair]]. It had studios in Stockton on Miner Avenue, as well as a converted bus that served as a remote broadcast van along with two other mobile units.<ref name="Conc540813">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108357337/television-station-kovr-plans-initial/|date=August 13, 1954|page=12|title=Television Station KOVR Plans Initial Program Sept. 6|newspaper=Concord Transcript|location=Concord, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827082829/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108357337/television-station-kovr-plans-initial/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri --> KOVR was the second television station in Stockton; an [[ultra high frequency]] (UHF) outlet, [[KTVU (Stockton, California)|KTVU (channel 36)]], had gone on the air the previous December.<ref name="Stoc531219">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108398902/ktvu-stocktons-first-tv-station-launc/|date=December 19, 1953|page=18|title=KTVU, Stockton's First TV Station, Launches Its Program Telecasting|newspaper=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record|location=Stockton, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043011/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108398902/ktvu-stocktons-first-tv-station/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat -->
[[File:2009-0722-MarkHopkinsHotel.jpg|thumb|alt=Refer to caption|In 1955, KOVR opened secondary studios and offices in San Francisco's [[Mark Hopkins Hotel]].]]
As an [[independent station]] without network affiliation (but with a secondary link with [[DuMont Television Network|DuMont]], primarily for [[NFL on DuMont|NFL games]] and ''[[Life Is Worth Living]]''<ref name="Time540827p17">{{Cite news |last=Foster |first=Bob |date=August 27, 1954 |title=TV-Radio: KOVR Joins DuMont |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-tv-radio-kovr-joins-dumont/172439879/ |access-date=May 15, 2025 |newspaper=The Times |location=San Mateo, California |page=17 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>), the program schedule was heavy with local programming. Lynn Taylor hosted a talent show, a weeknight "Do It Yourself" show, and a teen program. Sportscaster [[Bob Fouts]] began commuting to Stockton from San Francisco to host a sports show, leaving [[KGO-TV]] in that city, and regional news coverage and a bingo program were also slated.<ref name="Peni540816">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108357368/radio-tv-bingo-to-be-televised/|date=August 16, 1954|page=11|first=Ellis|last=Walker|title=Radio-TV: Bingo to be televised|newspaper=The Peninsula Times Tribune|location=Palo Alto, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043012/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108357368/radio-tv-bingo-to-be-televised/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Mon --> [[Art Finley]] hosted an afternoon [[children's program]], ''Toonytown'', on the station for several years before moving to San Francisco's [[KRON-TV]].<ref name="Pres560214">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108400475/tv-tonight-kovr-has-sleeper-kids-show/|date=February 14, 1956|page=13|first=Bob|last=Foster|title=TV Tonight: KOVR Has Sleeper Kid's Show|newspaper=The Press Democrat|location=Santa Rosa, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827082821/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108400475/tv-tonight-kovr-has-sleeper-kids-show/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue -->

By 1955, the station had opened offices in San Francisco,<ref name="Sacr550316">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108358306/kovr-has-north-states-highest-antenna/|date=March 16, 1955|page=K-10|title=KOVR Has North State's Highest Antenna On Diablo|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043010/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108358306/kovr-has-north-states-highest-antenna/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Wed --> where at one point it was proposed that [[NBC]] might try to affiliate with or purchase KOVR given discord with KRON-TV, its San Francisco affiliate, and a desire by NBC to own its San Francisco outlet.<ref name="SanF541202">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108400343/nbc-considers-shift-of-tv-outlet-in-sf/|date=December 2, 1954|page=6|title=NBC Considers Shift Of TV Outlet in S.F.|newspaper=The San Francisco Examiner|location=San Francisco, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827082825/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108400343/nbc-considers-shift-of-tv-outlet-in-sf/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu --> An attempt to move its main operation from Stockton to San Francisco was denied by the FCC as it would have stripped Stockton of its lone [[very high frequency]] (VHF) television station and there were already several television channels allotted to the Bay Area. The company did announce it would add a studio in San Francisco on a secondary basis.<ref name="Stoc550531">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108358370/kovr-plans-to-move-main-studio-to-sf/|date=May 31, 1955|page=1|title=KOVR Plans to Move Main Studio to S.F.|newspaper=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record|location=Stockton, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827082546/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108358370/kovr-plans-to-move-main-studio-to-sf/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue --><ref name="Stoc550721">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108358946/station-kovr-tv-loses-move-plea/|date=July 21, 1955|page=1|title=Station KOVR-TV Loses Move Plea|newspaper=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record|location=Stockton, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827082828/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108358946/station-kovr-tv-loses-move-plea/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu --> This studio was located in the [[Mark Hopkins Hotel]], where the San Francisco offices were also relocated.<ref name="Sacr790904">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108399872/kovrs-25th-anniversary/|date=September 4, 1979|page=C3, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108399920/ C4]|first=Dean|last=Huber|title=KOVR's 25th Anniversary|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043010/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108399872/kovrs-25th-anniversary/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue --><ref name="Redw550915">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108400441/daily-dialing-now-its-adult-tv-weste/|date=September 15, 1955|page=25|first=Ellis|last=Walker|title=Daily Dialing: Now It's 'Adult' TV Westerns|newspaper=Redwood City Tribune|location=Redwood City, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043011/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108400441/daily-dialing-now-its-adult-tv/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu --> In December 1955, ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' magazine reported that CBS, which coveted a VHF owned-and-operated station to serve San Francisco but had affiliate [[KPIX-TV]] there instead, was bidding on KOVR.<ref>{{cite news|id={{ProQuest|963031762}}|page=23|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=December 28, 1955|title=CBS-TV Eye On Frisco's KOVR?}}</ref>

As time went on, it became clear that a network affiliation was necessary to provide KOVR with adequate programming and secure its economic viability. Bob Foster, the media critic for ''[[San Mateo County Times|The Times]]'' newspaper in [[San Mateo, California|San Mateo]], described the station as "suffering from the lack of sponsors, the lack of network affiliation—at least one that meant anything—and from a lack of good programs".<ref name="Time551226">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359046/radio-tv-move-in-to-aid-in-floods/|date=December 26, 1955|page=19|first=Bob|last=Foster|title=Radio, TV Move In To Aid In Floods|newspaper=The Times|location=San Mateo, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827082557/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359046/radio-tv-move-in-to-aid-in-floods/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Mon --> DuMont ceased operating as a network in 1955,<ref name="BC550815p64">{{Cite magazine |date=August 15, 1955 |title=DuMont Network To Quit In Telecasting 'Spin-Off' |magazine=Broadcasting |page=64 |id={{ProQuest|1014914488}}}}</ref> but KOVR continued to carry the network's sole remaining program, ''[[Boxing from St. Nicholas Arena]]''.<ref name="Time551226" /> The station found itself paying for films and syndicated programs at San Francisco market rates while selling advertising at rates befitting its city of license, the much smaller Stockton;<ref name="Time570510">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108399473/kovr-to-move-off-mt-diablo-in-fall/|date=May 10, 1957|page=22|first=Bob|last=Foster|title=KOVR To Move Off Mt. Diablo In Fall|newspaper=The Times|location=San Mateo, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043011/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108399473/kovr-to-move-off-mt-diablo-in-fall/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri --> if it were to move out of the San Francisco market, it could cut its film acquisition costs by half.<ref>{{cite news|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=July 27, 1955|page=22|title=FCC Rejects KOVR's Bid to 'Go Frisco'|id={{ProQuest|1017003228}}}}</ref> KOVR had no prospect of obtaining a network alliance in the San Francisco market. However, opportunity lay in Sacramento. By 1956, there were three television stations in Sacramento itself. On the VHF band were CBS affiliate [[KXTV|KBET-TV]] (channel 10) and NBC affiliate [[KCRA-TV]] (channel 3), which had begun the year before, and a UHF station, [[KCCC-TV]] (channel 40), which was the local outlet for [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] and had been in service since 1953. As not all television sets could receive UHF, UHF stations were generally at a disadvantage to VHF stations, which networks and advertisers preferred to air their programming. In a bid to obtain the ABC affiliation while eliminating overlap to ABC-owned KGO-TV in San Francisco, KOVR filed in August 1956 to move from Mount Diablo to Butte Mountain near [[Jackson, California|Jackson]] in [[Amador County]], a proposal that blindsided KCCC-TV.<ref name="Sacr560817">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359130/channel-13-asks-okeh-to-move-to-jackson/|date=August 17, 1956|page=A-13|title=Channel 13 Asks Okeh To Move To Jackson Area|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043011/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359130/channel-13-asks-okeh-to-move-to-jackson/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri --> This application was initially approved by the FCC in November,<ref name="SanF561109">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108399083/tv-channel-13-shift-approved/|date=November 9, 1956|page=5|title=TV Channel 13 Shift Approved|newspaper=The San Francisco Examiner|location=San Francisco, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043013/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108399083/tv-channel-13-shift-approved/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri --> though KCCC-TV management protested the decision as a Stockton station encroaching on the Sacramento market.<ref name="Stoc561204">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108399098/kovr-tv-move-of-transmitter-fought/|date=December 4, 1956|page=1|title=KOVR-TV Move of Transmitter Fought|newspaper=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record|location=Stockton, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043012/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108399098/kovr-tv-move-of-transmitter-fought/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue --> As a result, the FCC stayed its grant of the construction permit in January 1957.<ref name="SanF570104">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108399108/kovr-moving-permit-stayed/|date=January 4, 1957|page=16|title=KOVR Moving Permit Stayed|newspaper=The San Francisco Examiner|location=San Francisco, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043018/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108399108/kovr-moving-permit-stayed/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri -->

KOVR blindsided KCCC-TV again in February 1957 when it announced that, beginning February 17, it would become an ABC affiliate, something that the network had previously promised KCCC-TV as not forthcoming until after the Butte Mountain move was approved.<ref name="Sacr570208">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112193165/tv-channel-13-reports-signing-as-abc-sta/|date=February 8, 1957|page=A-8|title=TV Channel 13 Reports Signing As ABC Station|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=October 29, 2022|archive-date=January 10, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110043022/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112193165/tv-channel-13-reports-signing-as-abc/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri --> The relocation application was granted again in April after KCCC-TV withdrew its opposition.<ref name="Time570415">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108399124/betty-white-starts-new-tv-fun-series/|date=April 15, 1957|page=17|title=Betty White Starts New TV Fun Series|newspaper=The Times|location=San Mateo, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827082828/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108399124/betty-white-starts-new-tv-fun-series/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Mon --><ref>{{Cite news|date=April 15, 1957|title=KCCC-TV Withdraws Protest|work=Broadcasting|page=56|id={{ProQuest|1401219828}} }}</ref>

On May 31, 1957, KCCC-TV ceased broadcasting in what amounted to a partial merger with KOVR. The Stockton station became the ABC affiliate of record for Sacramento—already simulcasting many ABC programs with channel 40—as KCCC-TV owner Lincoln Dellar purchased stock in Television Diablo.<ref name="Sacr570530">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359319/kccc-will-quit-tv-operations-tomorrow/|date=May 30, 1957|page=3|title=KCCC Will Quit TV Operations Tomorrow Night|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827082550/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359319/kccc-will-quit-tv-operations-tomorrow/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu --> The move to Butte Mountain became effective on October 28, 1957, taking KOVR out of conflict with the Bay Area television stations and cementing its status as a Stockton station serving Sacramento instead of San Francisco.<ref name="Oakl571029">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359513/channel-13-shift-alters-viewing-area/|date=October 29, 1957|page=E19|title=Channel 13 Shift Alters Viewing Area|newspaper=Oakland Tribune|location=Oakland, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827082550/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359513/channel-13-shift-alters-viewing-area/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue -->

===Gannett and Metromedia ownership===
As work continued on the Butte Mountain transmitter, Television Diablo began to seek a buyer for KOVR. It first proposed to sell the station to the Hudson Valley Broadcasting Company of [[Albany, New York]]—which was in the process of buying a television station in [[Durham, North Carolina]], and renaming itself the [[Capital Cities/ABC|Capital Cities Broadcasting Company]];<ref name="Sacr570831">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359477/3500000-kovr-sale-okeh-is-asked/|date=August 31, 1957|page=A-12|agency=United Press|title=$3,500,000 KOVR Sale Okeh Is Asked|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043107/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359477/3500000-kovr-sale-okeh-is-asked/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat --> despite the FCC's approval, this sale was not consummated and was dismissed in November.{{r|hc}} Weeks later, the [[Gannett Company]] of [[Rochester, New York]], entered into an agreement to acquire the station, taking ownership in February 1958.<ref name="Stoc580217">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359589/gannett-co-new-owners-of-station-kovr/|date=February 17, 1958|page=15|title=Gannett Co. New Owners of Station KOVR|newspaper=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record|location=Stockton, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827082824/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359589/gannett-co-new-owners-of-station-kovr/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Mon --> For Gannett, KOVR was far-flung compared to its other media properties. It owned radio and television stations in New York and Illinois as well as newspapers in those states, New Jersey, and Connecticut.<ref name="Demo571119">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108399507/gannett-co-acquires-california-tv-stati/|date=November 19, 1957|page=21|title=Gannett Co. Acquires California TV Station|newspaper=Democrat and Chronicle|location=Rochester, New York|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043104/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108399507/gannett-co-acquires-california-tv/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue --> The next year, KOVR reopened KCCC-TV's former Sacramento studios on Garden Highway<!--also "Hiway"-->, also providing use of the facilities by new educational station [[KVIE]].<ref name="Sacr580416">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108399613/channel-13-will-move-video-studio/|date=April 16, 1958|page=F-4|title=Channel 13 Will Move Video Studio|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827082830/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108399613/channel-13-will-move-video-studio/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Wed --><ref name="Sacr580920">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108360284/reno-tahoe-dateline/|date=September 20, 1958|page=A-8|first=Mark|last=Curtis|title=Reno-Tahoe Dateline|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043104/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108360284/reno-tahoe-dateline/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat -->

After less than two years of ownership, as well as the end of talks between Gannett and [[20th Century Fox]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1959/1959-11-02-BC.pdf|date=November 2, 1959|work=Broadcasting|via=World Radio History|page=38|title=KOVR (TV) sale off|id={{ProQuest|1014447376}}|access-date=August 28, 2022|archive-date=July 8, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220708133856/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1959/1959-11-02-BC.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Gannett applied to sell KOVR to the Metropolitan Broadcasting Company, owned by [[John Kluge]], in 1959.<ref name="Sacr591125">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359617/kovr-tv-purchase-okeh-is-sought/|date=November 25, 1959|page=B3|title=KOVR-TV Purchase Okeh Is Sought|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043108/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359617/kovr-tv-purchase-okeh-is-sought/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Wed --> This company renamed itself [[Metromedia]] in 1961.<ref>{{cite news|id={{ProQuest|1285745524}}|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1961/1961-04-03-BC.pdf|work=Broadcasting|date=April 3, 1961|title=It's Metromedia: Metropolitan stockholders vote to change firm name|page=56|via=World Radio History|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=July 12, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712151915/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1961/1961-04-03-BC.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> During Metromedia's ownership of KOVR, the station participated in the Trans-Tower project that built a [[KXTV/KOVR/KCRA Tower|common transmission facility]] for Sacramento's three commercial television stations in [[Walnut Grove, California|Walnut Grove]].<ref name="Sacr620107">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107494066/1549-foot-tv-tower-gets-final-touches/|date=January 7, 1962|page=D10|title=1,549 Foot TV Tower Gets Final Touches|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 13, 2022|archive-date=August 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813075001/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107494066/1549-foot-tv-tower-gets-final-touches/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sun --> Expanding production of commercials and other programming in Sacramento eventually led KOVR to leave the Garden Highway facilities and renovate a former Red Heart bakery on Arden Way to serve as its Sacramento studio and news center, operating alongside the Miner Avenue plant in Stockton.{{r|Sacr790904}}

===The McClatchy years===
On October 4, 1963, Metromedia announced it would sell KOVR for $7.65&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|7650000|1963}}}} in {{inflation/year|US}} dollars) to [[McClatchy Newspapers]], publisher of ''[[The Sacramento Bee]]'' and ''[[The Modesto Bee]]'' newspapers and owner of radio stations [[KESP|KBEE]] (970 AM) in Modesto and [[KFBK (AM)|KFBK]] (1530 AM) and [[KBEB|KFBK-FM 92.5]] in Sacramento.<ref name="Mode631004">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359747/mcclatchy-has-agreed-to-buy-station-kovr/|date=October 4, 1963|page=A-1|title=McClatchy Has Agreed To Buy Station KOVR|newspaper=The Modesto Bee|location=Modesto, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043106/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359747/mcclatchy-has-agreed-to-buy-station-kovr/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri --> For McClatchy, the contract to buy a television station serving Sacramento fulfilled a long-held dream of the company. McClatchy had desired to build a station in Sacramento since 1948, when it applied for channel 10.<ref name="Sacr520621">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107481667/new-tv-application-will-be-filed/|date=June 21, 1952|page=3|title=New TV Application Will Be Filed|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 13, 2022|archive-date=August 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813074901/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107481667/new-tv-application-will-be-filed/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat --> While an FCC examiner's initial decision favored McClatchy for the station,<ref name="Sacr531110">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107482463/mcclatchy-tv-wins-okeh-of-fcc-examiner/|date=November 10, 1953|page=1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107482487/mcclatchy-tv-wins-examiners-ruling/ 8]|title=McClatchy TV Wins Okeh Of FCC Examiner|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 13, 2022|archive-date=August 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813074906/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107482463/mcclatchy-tv-wins-okeh-of-fcc-examiner/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue --> its competition, a group known as Sacramento Telecasters and consisting of non-broadcast interests, successfully objected the award on diversification of media ownership grounds, with the FCC unanimously overturning the examiner and granting Sacramento Telecasters the permit for what signed on as KBET-TV.<ref name="Pres541005">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107482706/sacramento-tv-channel-denied-to/|date=October 5, 1954|page=10|agency=Associated Press|title=Sacramento TV Channel Denied To M'Clatchy|newspaper=The Press Democrat|location=Santa Rosa, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 13, 2022|archive-date=August 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813074958/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107482706/sacramento-tv-channel-denied-to/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue --> McClatchy continued legal action to try and force a rehearing on its proposal until February 1958.<ref name="Sacr580211">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107483613/mcclatchy-ends-legal-fight-for-tv/|date=February 11, 1958|page=A1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107483629/mcclatchy-ends-legal-fight-for-tv/ A2]|title=McClatchy Ends Legal Fight For TV Channel 10|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 13, 2022|archive-date=August 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813075001/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107483613/mcclatchy-ends-legal-fight-for-tv/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue -->

Several groups expressed concern about concentration of media ownership. The sale was initially opposed by a group calling itself the Citizens Committee to Promote Fair Coverage, which felt that a McClatchy purchase of KOVR would result in a "monopoly of news",<ref>{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1963/1963-10-14-BC.pdf|via=World Radio History|date=October 14, 1963|work=Broadcasting|id={{ProQuest|1014468372}}|title=Citizens group opposes sale of KOVR (TV)|page=50|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=November 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151413/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1963/1963-10-14-BC.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> while the Stockton city council, fearful of the station reducing its presence in its [[city of license]], initially voted unanimously to request an FCC hearing<ref name="Sacr631203">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359951/stockton-body-seeks-hearing-on-kovr-sale/|date=December 3, 1963|page=D3|title=Stockton Body Seeks Hearing On KOVR Sale|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043104/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359951/stockton-body-seeks-hearing-on-kovr-sale/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue --> before rescinding the resolution after [[Eleanor McClatchy]] wrote to the body, assuring them that the station would not leave.<ref name="Stoc640215">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108360115/council-may-act-monday-on-golf-pro/|date=February 15, 1964|page=17|title=Council May Act Monday on Golf Pro Pact: Contract Curbs Interest Conflict|newspaper=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record|location=Stockton, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043104/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108360115/council-may-act-monday-on-golf-pro/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat --> The FCC initially indicated the deal would require a hearing, an action recommended by commission staff,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1964/1964-07-20-BC.pdf|date=July 20, 1964|page=57|id={{ProQuest|1014483828}}|title=FCC's new tack in KOVR sale: Oral argument seen as vehicle for bypassing hearing on concentration|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=November 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108155153/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1964/1964-07-20-BC.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> but reversed course in July 1964, approving the acquisition on a 5–2 vote.<ref name="Stoc640730">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359990/fcc-in-reversal-oks-kovr-sale/|date=July 30, 1964|page=1|title=FCC in Reversal, OK's KOVR Sale|newspaper=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record|location=Stockton, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043105/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359990/fcc-in-reversal-oks-kovr-sale/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu -->

McClatchy's ownership of KOVR was dogged by groups seeking to force the matter on [[antitrust]] issues as early as the late 1960s. In 1969, McKeon Construction, a Sacramento firm, asked a U.S. district court to void the FCC's 1964 approval of the sale, which it claimed enhanced an existing monopoly on regional advertising; McClatchy sources told ''[[Broadcasting & Cable|Broadcasting]]'' magazine that the firm's ire had likely been provoked by unflattering coverage of its owner and of political pressures placed by Sacramento construction companies.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1969/1969-07-07-BC.pdf|id={{ProQuest|1014523390}}|title=Court asked to void 1964 KOVR purchase: Construction firm claims McClatchy has monopoly on advertising in area|page=44|work=Broadcasting|via=World Radio History|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=January 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128015146/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1969/1969-07-07-BC.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The lawsuit was dropped in 1971.<ref name="Sacr710717">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108417169/mckeon-drops-lawsuit-in-kovr-issue/|date=July 17, 1971|page=A9|title=McKeon Drops Lawsuit In KOVR Issue|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043106/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108417169/mckeon-drops-lawsuit-in-kovr-issue/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat --> Similarly, in 1974, the San Joaquin County Economic Development Association appealed to the FCC and asked it to review whether KOVR was adequately serving Stockton.<ref name="Sacr740420">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361059/appeal-to-fcc-review-of-kovr-license/|date=April 20, 1974|page=B6|title=Appeal To FCC: Review Of KOVR License Is Urged|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043110/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361059/appeal-to-fcc-review-of-kovr-license/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat -->

===Cross-ownership woes===
A new tenor taken by federal regulators toward [[Media cross-ownership in the United States|cross-ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations]] significantly escalated the public pressure on McClatchy to act. In 1975, the FCC moved to bar future acquisitions that created cross-ownership and ordered 16 such groups in small markets to break up their holdings, though others were allowed to remain [[grandfathered]].<ref name="Gree750129">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108418281/fcc-limits-purchases-by-media/|date=January 29, 1975|page=8|agency=Associated Press|title=FCC Limits Purchases By Media|newspaper=The Greenville News|location=Greenville, South Carolina|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022}}</ref><!-- Wed --> Two years later, on March 1, 1977, a federal appeals court amplified the policy; instead of merely barring future purchases against the rule, it ordered the divestiture of all such pairings except those that were in the public interest.<ref name="Mess770302">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108418398/paper-broadcast-station-cross-ownership/|date=March 2, 1977|page=3A|agency=Associated Press|title=Paper, broadcast station cross-ownership limited|newspaper=Messenger-Inquirer|location=Owensboro, Kentucky|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043107/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108418398/paper-broadcast-station/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Wed -->

Within days, McClatchy announced an agreement with [[Multimedia, Inc.]], designed to extricate both groups from their heaviest cross-ownership burdens. Where McClatchy owned a newspaper, AM, FM, and TV stations between Sacramento and Stockton, Multimedia had a similar situation in [[Greenville, South Carolina]]: two newspapers (morning daily ''[[The Greenville News]]'' and the afternoon ''The Greenville Piedmont''), [[WYRD (AM)|WFBC]] and [[WFBC-FM]] radio, as well as [[WYFF|WFBC-TV]], an NBC-affiliated TV station. McClatchy and Multimedia proposed a straight trade whereby the former would acquire WFBC-TV and Multimedia would receive KOVR; as a result, neither company would own a newspaper and a TV station in the same market.<ref name="Sacr770304">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361712/kovr-south-carolina-outlet-exchange/|date=March 4, 1977|page=A1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361730/kovr/ A24]|title=KOVR, South Carolina Outlet Exchange Channel Facilities|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043107/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361712/kovr-south-carolina-outlet-exchange/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri --><ref name="Gree770305">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361841/multimedia-plans-tv-trade/|date=March 5, 1977|page=4-B|title=Multimedia plans TV trade|newspaper=The Greenville News and Piedmont|location=Greenville, South Carolina|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043107/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361841/multimedia-plans-tv-trade/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat --> Petitions were lodged against the deal by organizations in Greenville and Sacramento, as well as the San Joaquin Communications Corporation. The former two groups emphasized the unfamiliarity of the companies to their new markets, calling McClatchy "totally foreign" to upstate South Carolina and Multimedia "completely unknown to the Sacramento community".<ref name="Gree770519">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361973/3-groups-oppose-trade-of-wfbc/|date=May 19, 1977|page=13-B|first=Karl|last=Hill|title=3 groups oppose trade of WFBC|newspaper=The Greenville News|location=Greenville, South Carolina|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043107/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361973/3-groups-oppose-trade-of-wfbc/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu --> The latter had been in a legal battle since 1974 seeking to wrest KMJ-TV in Fresno from McClatchy control.<ref name="Merc741102">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108419234/seek-to-block-operation-of-stations/|date=November 2, 1974|page=9|agency=Associated Press|title=Seek to Block Operation of Stations|newspaper=Merced Sun-Star|location=Merced, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043110/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108419234/seek-to-block-operation-of-stations/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat --> While the community organizations abandoned their opposition to the trade, San Joaquin Communications Corporation refused to yield, and the transaction reached its deadline date of March 1, 1978, without being adjudicated by the FCC. Negotiations to extend the term failed, and the deal was called off by mutual agreement later that month.<ref name="Sacr780315">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108362042/mcclatchy-multimedia-will-not-swap-tv/|date=March 15, 1978|page=A17|title=McClatchy, Multimedia Will Not Swap TV Stations|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043107/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108362042/mcclatchy-multimedia-will-not-swap-tv/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Wed --><ref name="Gree780315">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108362138/deal-to-swap-tv-stations-cancelled/|date=March 15, 1978|page=8-C|title=Deal to swap TV stations cancelled|newspaper=The Greenville News|location=Greenville, South Carolina|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022}}</ref><!-- Wed -->

McClatchy entered into an agreement to sell KMJ-TV to the San Joaquin Communications Corporation in May 1979, seeking to avoid a lengthy legal battle over the Fresno outlet.<ref name="Sacr790501">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361658/tv-station-at-fresno-to-be-sold/|date=May 1, 1979|page=D7|title=TV Station At Fresno To Be Sold|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043107/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361658/tv-station-at-fresno-to-be-sold/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue --> The company then decided to put KOVR, its only other television station, up for sale. Citing "increasingly strong government opposition" to cross-ownership, president [[C. K. McClatchy II]] noted that he felt it was in the community interest to ensure an "orderly transition" of ownership at KOVR.<ref name="Sacr790518">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361636/kovr-channel-13-for-sale-community/|date=May 18, 1979|page=B1|title=KOVR, Channel 13, For Sale; 'Community Interest' Cited|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043108/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361636/kovr-channel-13-for-sale-community/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri -->

===Changing ownership, falling ratings===
On July 5, 1979, McClatchy announced it would sell KOVR to [[The Outlet Company]] of [[Providence, Rhode Island]], for $65&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|65000000|1979}}}} in {{inflation/year|US}} dollars). C. K. McClatchy noted that Outlet was selected despite not making the highest offer because it had committed to ensuring local minority ownership in KOVR by selling 10 percent of the station's stock to minorities.<ref name="Sacr790706">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361475/buyer-for-kovr-tv-is-announced/|date=July 6, 1979|page=A1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361492/kovr-tv/ A22]|title=Buyer For KOVR-TV Is Announced|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043108/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361475/buyer-for-kovr-tv-is-announced/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri --> The deal, consummated in May 1980,<ref name="Sacr800502">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361356/minority-commitment-kovr-sale-is/|date=May 2, 1980|page=B1|title=Minority Commitment: KOVR Sale Is Completed|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043108/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361356/minority-commitment-kovr-sale-is/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri --> was the second-most expensive single-station TV station transaction ever at the time.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1981/BC-1981-09-14.pdf|date=September 14, 1981|page=81|id={{ProQuest|962734962}}|title=Hearst to buy Kansas City VHF|work=Broadcasting|via=World Radio History|access-date=August 28, 2022|archive-date=November 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151419/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1981/BC-1981-09-14.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> To reduce debt incurred in the KOVR purchase, Outlet sold 91 department stores.<ref name="Lans801002">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108421615/smalls-shops-part-of-91-store-sale/|date=October 2, 1980|page=B-2|first=Clarence A.|last=Chien|title=Small's shops part of 91-store sale|newspaper=Lansing State Journal|location=Lansing, Michigan|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043108/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108421615/smalls-shops-part-of-91-store-sale/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu --> During Outlet ownership, ratings for KOVR's newscasts fell to third place, behind KXTV and far behind a dominant KCRA.<ref name="Sacr821226">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108421157/rankings-illustrate-3s-lead/|date=December 26, 1982|page=H3|first=Herb|last=Michelson|title=Rankings Illustrate 3's Lead|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043108/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108421157/rankings-illustrate-3s-lead/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sun --> This occurred despite an infusion of resources to improve KOVR's news ratings.<ref name="Sacr821225">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361198/tv-news-expensive-high-pressure-show-b/|date=December 25, 1982|page=B4, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361229/ B5]|first=Herb|last=Michelson|title=TV News: Expensive, High-Pressure Show Business|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043110/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361198/tv-news-expensive-high-pressure-show/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat -->

The Outlet sale was the first in seven different ownership transactions involving KOVR between 1980 and 1996. In what was the second-largest group station deal for its time, in 1983, Outlet was purchased by the [[Rockefeller Group]] after [[The Coca-Cola Company|Coca-Cola]] walked away from a purchase agreement the year before.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1983/BC-1983-05-09.pdf|date=May 9, 1983|work=Broadcasting|via=World Radio History|id={{ProQuest|1014697378}}|title=Outlet purchased for $332 million: Rockefeller Center Inc. set to buy Rhode Island group broadcaster|pages=28–29|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=November 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151326/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1983/BC-1983-05-09.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> After the Rockefeller purchase, KOVR became the first station in Northern California to broadcast in [[stereo sound]], doing so in February 1985.<ref>{{Cite news|title=First station in Bay Area: Channel 20 bringing stereo to TV|work=San Francisco Chronicle|page=39|first=Scott|last=Blakey|date=February 18, 1985}}</ref><ref name="SanF850210">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108424507/bb-king-sings-the-commuter-blues-from/|date=February 10, 1985|page=B1|title=B.B. King sings the commuter blues from S.F. to Hollywood|newspaper=The San Francisco Examiner|location=San Francisco, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043110/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108424507/bb-king-sings-the-commuter-blues-from/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sun --> It also became the first local broadcast home of the newly relocated [[Sacramento Kings]] basketball team in [[1985–86 Sacramento Kings season|1985]].<ref name="Sacr860828">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108363296/kings-sue-kovr-for-15-million/|date=August 28, 1986|page=E1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108363320/kings/ E2]|first1=S. L.|last1=Price|first2=Stan|last2=Johnston|title=Kings sue KOVR for $15 million|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043109/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108363296/kings-sue-kovr-for-15-million/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu -->

[[File:2021 09 18 kmax-kovr-kxtv 02 (51563914804).jpg|right|thumb|alt=Closeup of a tall gray television tower with a candelabra shape holding three antennas|Closeup of the top of the [[KXTV/KOVR tower]] in [[Walnut Grove, California|Walnut Grove]], from which KOVR's signal is broadcast]]
In a management buyout that restored Outlet Communications to separate status, Rockefeller Group sold the firm in 1986 for $625&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|625000000|1986}}}} in {{inflation/year|US}} dollars).<ref name="Sacr860206">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361422/kovr-tv-sold-in-625-million-package/|date=February 6, 1986|page=C1|title=KOVR-TV sold in $625 million package deal|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043109/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361422/kovr-tv-sold-in-625-million-package/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu --> To raise capital, some stations were immediately divested, among them KOVR, which was sold on for $104&nbsp;million  (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|104000000|1986}}}} in {{inflation/year|US}} dollars) to another Rhode Island concern, Narragansett Capital Corporation, as its first television property.<ref name="Sacr860313">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108363149/kovr-sold-again104-million/|date=March 13, 1986|page=A1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108363176/station/ A24]|first=Ted|last=Reed|title=KOVR sold again—$104 million|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043111/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108363149/kovr-sold-again104-million/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu --> Amidst these two transactions, KOVR laid off 10 employees, and morale was low due to poor ratings in part attributable to the national underperformance of ABC at the time.<ref name="Sacr860218">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108363061/troubled-times-at-channel-13/|date=February 18, 1986|page=C6|title=Troubled times at Channel 13|first=Bob|last=Wisehart|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043111/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108363061/troubled-times-at-channel-13/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue --> The Kings telecasts had been one of the station's bright spots, but the team sued KOVR in August 1986 for breach of contract, alleging the station owed it hundreds of thousands of dollars and had tried to renegotiate the pact;{{r|Sacr860828}} it was another three years before a judge ruled in favor of the Kings.<ref name="Sacr890512">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108363719/kovr-owes-kings-425000/|date=May 12, 1989|page=B4|first1=Dale|last1=Vargas|first2=Dan|last2=Vierria|title=KOVR owes Kings $425,000|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043111/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108363719/kovr-owes-kings-425000/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri --> Also in 1986, the station broke ground on its present transmission tower, a {{convert|2049|ft|m|adj=on}} mast in Walnut Grove, in a joint venture with KXTV.<ref name="Mode860531">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108424305/work-begins-on-new-television-tower/|date=May 31, 1986|page=A-11|title=Work begins on new television tower|newspaper=The Modesto Bee|location=Modesto, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043111/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108424305/work-begins-on-new-television-tower/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat --> Otherwise, Narragansett—a holding company, not a broadcasting firm—generally underinvested in KOVR; one rival broadcaster commented that the company had "stripped the station clean".{{r|Sacr890321}}

===AnchorMedia ownership and move to West Sacramento===
In 1988, Narragansett received between seven and eleven offers, all unsolicited, for KOVR, and it opted to cash out by selling the station to AnchorMedia, a broadcasting company owned by Texas billionaire [[Robert Bass]], for $162&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|162000000|1988}}}} in {{inflation/year|US}} dollars)—a price considered to be "top dollar". The Bass Group had been making major business investments in Sacramento, including a purchase of land in [[Roseville, California|Roseville]] and the acquisition of the insolvent [[American Savings and Loan]] in Stockton.<ref name="Sacr881102">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108363530/bass-group-buys-ch-13-for-162-million/|date=November 2, 1988|page=A1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108363569/kovr/ A14]|first=Larry|last=Hicks|title=Bass Group buys Ch. 13 for $162 million|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043111/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108363530/bass-group-buys-ch-13-for-162-million/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Wed --> AnchorMedia sued Narragansett for allegedly withholding information and taking away key employees.<ref name="Sacr890321">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108363668/a-shaky-channel-13-may-finally-be-on-ste/|date=March 21, 1989|page=D4|first=Bob|last=Wisehart|title=A shaky Channel 13 may finally be on steady ground|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043112/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108363668/a-shaky-channel-13-may-finally-be-on/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue -->

The immediate task facing AnchorMedia management was one of procuring a new facility, as the Arden Way site had become overcrowded and insufficient for KOVR's needs. Outlet had bought land in [[Natomas]] for a potential new studio site, but Narragansett sold the parcel; Anchor began scouting property in West Sacramento.{{r|Sacr890321}} In late 1990, the new $8&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|8000000|1990}}}} in {{inflation/year|US}} dollars), {{convert|43000|ft2|m2|adj=on}} facility opened, featuring two studios and a helipad for the station's news helicopter.<ref name="Sacr901230">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361301/studio-built-for-efficiency-channel-13/|date=December 30, 1990|page=G1|first=Jim|last=Johnson|title=Studio built for efficiency: Channel 13 settles into its new home in Sacramento|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043114/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108361301/studio-built-for-efficiency-channel-13/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sun -->

===River City and Sinclair ownership; affiliation switch to CBS===
In 1994, AnchorMedia—by then known as Continental Broadcasting—was purchased by [[River City Broadcasting]], a [[St. Louis]]-based owner of television and radio properties. The three ABC affiliates owned by Anchor represented River City's first major network affiliates.<ref name="StLo940510">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108364144/broadcast-firm-expanding-with-7-station/|date=May 10, 1994|page=6C|first=Jerry|last=Berger|title=Broadcast Firm Expanding With 7-Station Deal|newspaper=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|location=St. Louis, Missouri|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043114/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108364144/broadcast-firm-expanding-with-7-station/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue --> River City found itself navigating an affiliation switch shortly after its purchase. Amid a [[1994–96 United States broadcast TV realignment|major national realignment]], the [[Belo Corporation|A. H. Belo Corporation]] and ABC renewed their agreement for Belo's ABC-affiliated stations in [[Dallas]] and [[Norfolk, Virginia]], including the move of ABC's Sacramento affiliation to the higher-rated KXTV. As a result, KOVR aligned with CBS. The switch took place on March 6, 1995.<ref name="Sacr950306">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107498887/tune-into-change-confusion-as-tv-networ/|date=March 6, 1995|page=A1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107498898/ A10]|first=Dan|last=Vierria|title=Tune into change, confusion as TV network swap starts|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 13, 2022|archive-date=August 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813075008/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107498887/tune-into-change-confusion-as-tv/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Mon --><ref name="Sacr940827">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91159296/reset-those-vcrschannel-10-13/|date=August 27, 1994|page=A1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91159310/tv-affiliate-shifts-abound-more-ahead/ A22]|first=Dan|last=Vierria|title=Reset those VCRs—Channel 10, 13 switch networks|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 13, 2022|archive-date=August 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813075008/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91159296/reset-those-vcrschannel-10-13/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat -->
[[File:2022-1026-smithsonian-apac-rick-blangiardi.jpg|right|thumb|alt=Refer to caption|[[Rick Blangiardi]] was president of River City Broadcasting and interim general manager of KOVR when it switched to CBS, adopting an [[early prime time]] schedule for channel 13.|upright=0.7]]
Uniquely for the market, KOVR adopted an [[early prime time]] schedule and air weeknight CBS programming from 7 to 10 p.m. instead of from 8 to 11 p.m. At the time, [[KPIX-TV]], the CBS affiliate in San Francisco, programmed on a similar basis (abandoning the practice in 1998),<ref>{{cite news|work=San Francisco Chronicle|url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/PAGE-ONE-KPIX-Plans-To-Push-Back-Prime-Time-3014789.php|date=January 14, 1998|first=John|last=Carman|title=KPIX Plans To Push Back Prime Time: 8-11 p.m. schedule may resume by fall|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 26, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826210149/https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/PAGE-ONE-KPIX-Plans-To-Push-Back-Prime-Time-3014789.php|url-status=live}}</ref> and KCRA-TV had done so with NBC programming between 1991 and 1993.<ref name="Oakl930813">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108426600/nbc-makes-kcra-pull-plug-on-early-prime/|date=August 13, 1993|page=C-1|first=Bill|last=Mann|title=NBC makes KCRA pull plug on early prime|newspaper=Oakland Tribune|location=Oakland, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043133/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108426600/nbc-makes-kcra-pull-plug-on-early-prime/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri --> The early prime move was designed to help KOVR's ratings by airing its late news for one hour at 10 p.m. and counterprogramming the 11 p.m. newscasts with ''[[The Late Show with David Letterman]]''.<ref name="SanF950119">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108426825/sacramentos-kovr-switches-over-to-cbs/|date=January 19, 1995|page=C-3|first=Al|last=Morch|title=Sacramento's KOVR switches over to CBS: Will go to early prime; KXTV goes to ABC|newspaper=The San Francisco Examiner|location=San Francisco, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043133/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108426825/sacramentos-kovr-switches-over-to-cbs/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu --> River City Broadcasting president and KOVR interim general manager [[Rick Blangiardi]] had previously been the general manager of KPIX and saw the scheduling practice as an opportunity.<ref name="Sacr950309">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sacramento-bee-change-is-in-the-airw/132554708/|date=March 9, 1995|page=Inside Sacramento 15|first=Dan|last=Vierria|title=Change is in the airwaves|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=October 6, 2023}}</ref><!-- Thu --> For the seventh time in 16 years, KOVR was sold again in 1996 when River City Broadcasting was acquired by [[Sinclair Broadcast Group]] of [[Baltimore]].<ref name="Sacr960412">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108364288/channel-13-soldfor-7th-time/|date=April 12, 1996|page=F1|first=Dan|last=Vierria|title=Channel 13 sold—for 7th time|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043133/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108364288/channel-13-soldfor-7th-time/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri -->

===CBS ownership===
By 2004, Sinclair was eyeing the creation of [[duopoly (broadcasting)|duopolies]] in as many markets as possible and seeking to sell stations in markets where it had no feasible options to create one. One of those markets was Sacramento.<ref name="Balt041203">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108365202/sinclair-to-sell-calif-station-to/|date=December 3, 2004|page=1D, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108365237/ 8D]|first=Andrea K.|last=Walker|title=Sinclair to sell Calif. station to Viacom|newspaper=The Baltimore Sun|location=Baltimore, Maryland|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043134/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108365202/sinclair-to-sell-calif-station-to/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri --> As a result, Sinclair agreed to sell KOVR to the [[Viacom (1952–2006)|Viacom]] Television Stations Group—the owned-and-operated stations division of CBS—in December 2004 for $285&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|285000000|2004}}}} in {{inflation/year|US}} dollars). This created a duopoly with then-[[UPN]] affiliate [[KMAX-TV]] (channel 31).<ref name="Sacr041203">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108365105/cbs-parent-viacom-agrees-to-buy/|date=December 3, 2004|page=A1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108365130/kovr-station-operations-will-be-combine/ A23]|first=J. Freedom|last=du Lac|title=CBS parent Viacom agrees to buy capital's KOVR|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043133/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108365105/cbs-parent-viacom-agrees-to-buy/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri --> In order to remain under ownership limits for radio stations in Sacramento, Viacom sold San Francisco radio station [[KEAR (AM)|KFRC (610 AM)]].<ref name="Sacr050427">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108443528/fcc-supports-sale-of-kovr-to-viacom/|date=April 27, 2005|page=D2|first=J. Freedom|last=du Lac|title=FCC supports sale of KOVR to Viacom|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043143/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108443528/fcc-supports-sale-of-kovr-to-viacom/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Wed -->

While operations of KMAX-TV moved in with KOVR in West Sacramento, resulting in the layoffs of 11 newly redundant employees,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2005/10/31/daily29.html|title=Viacom lays off 11 at KOVR, KMAX|work=Sacramento Business Journal|date=November 3, 2005|access-date=August 28, 2022|archive-date=August 6, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100806171148/http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2005/10/31/daily29.html|url-status=live}}</ref> $7&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|7000000|2005}}}} in {{inflation/year|US}} dollars) was spent on capital improvements at the studios, where some of the equipment had not been replaced since AnchorMedia built the facility 15 years prior.<ref name="Sacr051220">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108444157/writings-on-the-wall-kovrs-news-opera/|date=December 20, 2005|page=E1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108365573/savvy-turnover-of-anchors-and-tumbling/ E2]|first=Sam|last=McManis|title=Writing's on the wall: KOVR's news operation undergoes wrenching changes|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043134/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108444157/writings-on-the-wall-kovrs-news/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue --> Though speculation emerged at the time of the sale that CBS might abolish the early prime scheduling that KOVR had used for a decade, thereby bringing the station in line with its other West Coast outlets,{{r|Sacr041203}} CBS ultimately preserved the practice and even expanded it by shifting weekend programming up an hour in 2006.<ref name="Sacr060801">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108365764/kovr-moving-weekend-shows-up-an-hour/|date=August 1, 2006|page=E5|first=Sam|last=McManis|title=KOVR moving weekend shows up an hour|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 27, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043145/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108365764/kovr-moving-weekend-shows-up-an-hour/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue -->

==News operation==
Local news started with the station in 1954; the original news department consisted of three full-time employees and a part-time photographer, with Mel Riddle as news anchor and editor.{{r|Sacr790904}} In the early years, the station provided extensive film footage of events<ref name="Pres540928">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108446175/kovr-gets-into-local-news-picture-covera/|date=September 28, 1954|page=17|first=Bob|last=Foster|title=KOVR Gets Into Local News Picture Coverage|newspaper=The Press Democrat|location=Santa Rosa, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 28, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043136/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108446175/kovr-gets-into-local-news-picture/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue --> and used its remote vans to cover such events as flooding in [[Marysville, California|Marysville]].{{r|Time551226}}

Traditionally, KOVR's newscasts placed third in the Sacramento market.<ref name="Sacr910701">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108363866/kovr-news-chief-resigns/|date=July 1, 1991|page=B6, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108456869/ B11]|first=Dan|last=Vierria|title=KOVR news chief resigns|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 28, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043136/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108363866/kovr-news-chief-resigns/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Mon --> At times, not even KXTV and KOVR combined could equal KCRA-TV's news ratings.<ref name="Sacr831231">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107499208/a-big-win-for-kcra-news-channels-10-13/|date=December 31, 1983|page=A8|first=Dean|last=Huber|title=A Big Win For KCRA News: Channels 10, 13 Combined Can't Top 3's Numbers|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 13, 2022|archive-date=August 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813075031/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107499208/a-big-win-for-kcra-news-channels-10/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat --> Newscasts were produced from both the Stockton and Sacramento studios, and the geographic distance between the news crews sometimes hampered the functioning of the news operation.{{r|Sacr821225}} Even though KOVR's news budget often exceeded that of KXTV, KOVR typically tied that station or was narrowly edged out.{{r|Sacr821225}}

In the 1990s and early 2000s, despite a general lack of investment from Sinclair—which stripped the station of its helicopter and satellite truck and abandoned having a weeknight sports anchor—and a comparatively underresourced position, the lean KOVR news operation began to show signs of improvement and increased ratings.{{r|Sacr041203}}<ref name="Sacr050503">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108365322/channel-13-eager-to-join-news-fray/|date=May 3, 2005|page=E1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108365303/du-lac-boss-gives-kovr-news-high-marks/ E2]|first=J. Freedom|last=du Lac|title=Channel 13 eager to join news fray|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 28, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043148/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108365322/channel-13-eager-to-join-news-fray/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue --> In 1994, longtime KCRA-TV anchor [[Stan Atkinson]] moved to KOVR and presented the station's weeknight newscasts until his retirement in 1999.<ref name="Sacr990731">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108457202/stan-atkinsons-last-next/|date=July 31, 1999|page=B6|title=Stan Atkinson's last 'next'|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 28, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043136/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108457202/stan-atkinsons-last-next/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat -->

As part of Viacom's remake of KOVR's news department, Sam Shane, a former KCRA-TV anchor who spent two years at [[MSNBC]], was hired to anchor the station's newscasts, and personnel were shuffled on other programs; a 4 p.m. newscast was also added.{{r|Sacr051220}} Between 2006 and 2010, KOVR surpassed KXTV in morning and early evening news.<ref>{{cite news|pages=14–16|title=Sacramento, Calif.|work=Mediaweek|first=Eileen|last=Davis Hudson|id={{ProQuest|213650726}}|date=January 30, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/blog/marketing_media/2010/12/nielsen-kcra-channel-13-top-news.html|work=Sacramento Business Journal|title=Nielsen: KCRA, KOVR newscasts top ratings|first=Melanie|last=Turner|date=December 9, 2010|access-date=August 13, 2022|archive-date=December 12, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101212231936/http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/blog/marketing_media/2010/12/nielsen-kcra-channel-13-top-news.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In addition to its morning, noon, and evening news offerings, the KOVR-KMAX news operation produces ''Good Day'' (formerly ''Good Day Sacramento'') for KMAX. By 2019, KOVR was also airing an 11 p.m. late local newscast.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nexttv.com/news/sac-race-in-california-capital|title=Sac Race in California Capital|first=Michael|last=Malone|work=Broadcasting & Cable|date=October 28, 2019|access-date=August 28, 2022|archive-date=June 12, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220612233833/https://www.nexttv.com/news/sac-race-in-california-capital|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nexttv.com/news/the-cw31-adds-10-am-hour-to-morning-show|work=Broadcasting & Cable|date=September 11, 2020|title=The CW31 Adds 10 a.m. Hour to Morning Show|first=Chelsea|last=Anderson|access-date=August 28, 2022|archive-date=May 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509234857/https://www.nexttv.com/news/the-cw31-adds-10-am-hour-to-morning-show|url-status=live}}</ref>

As part of a rollout of streaming news channels across the CBS station group, CBSN Sacramento (now [[CBS News (streaming service)|CBS News Sacramento]]) began operating on June 16, 2021.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Miller|first=Mark K.|title=CBS Launches CBSN Sacramento|url=https://tvnewscheck.com/top-news/journalism/article/cbs-launches-cbsn-sacramento/|access-date=June 16, 2021|work=TVNewsCheck|date=June 16, 2021|language=en|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043138/https://tvnewscheck.com/journalism/article/cbs-launches-cbsn-sacramento/|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Notable former on-air staff ===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Stan Atkinson]] – anchor, 1994–1999{{r|Sacr990731}}
* [[Claudia Cowan]] – anchor/reporter<ref name="SanF970525">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108458317/barbara-rush-still-striking-gold/|date=May 25, 1997|page=Datebook 47|first=Peter|last=Stack|title=Barbara Rush still striking gold|newspaper=The San Francisco Examiner|location=San Francisco, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 28, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043137/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108458317/barbara-rush-still-striking-gold/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sun -->
* [[Kristine Hanson]] – meteorologist<ref name="Sacr041012">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108462867/right-stuff-fills-air-in-afternoon/|date=October 12, 2004|page=E1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108462858/du-lac-channel-13-mum-on-its-wounds/ E5]|first=J. Freedom|last=du Lac|title=Right stuff fills air in afternoon|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 28, 2022|archive-date=August 29, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220829035955/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108462867/right-stuff-fills-air-in-afternoon/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue -->
* [[Lois Hart]] – anchor<ref name="Sacr770728">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97172479/anchorwoman-lois-hart-career-movingfin/|date=July 28, 1977|page=C8|first=John V.|last=Hurst|title=Anchorwoman Lois Hart: Career Moving—Finally|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 28, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043137/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97172479/anchorwoman-lois-hart-career/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu -->
* [[Bob Hilton]] – anchor<ref name="Sacr021229">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108458253/father-timeformer-anchor-bob-hilton-wri/|date=December 29, 2002|page=L1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108458225/dads-ideas-come-from-personal/ L7]|first=Don|last=Bosley|title=Father time—Former anchor Bob Hilton writes a handbook for busy dads looking to make weekends count|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 28, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043137/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108458253/father-timeformer-anchor-bob-hilton/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sun -->
* [[Kim Khazei]] – anchor/reporter, 1989–1990<ref name="Sacr890726">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sacramento-bee-kim-khazei-makes-her/160912633/|date=July 26, 1989|page=D5|first=Dan|last=Vierria|title=Kim Khazei makes her move|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=December 14, 2024}}</ref><!-- Wed --><ref name="Sacr900911">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sacramento-bee-is-kcras-pelley-on-t/160912794/|date=September 11, 1990|pages=E1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sacramento-bee-broadcast/160912769/ E5]|first=Dan|last=Vierria|title=Is KCRA's Pelley on the move?|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=December 14, 2024}}</ref><!-- Tue -->
* [[Kinsey Schofield]] – anchor/reporter for ''Good Day Sacramento'', 2017<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.adweek.com/tvspy/kinsey-schofield-leaves-knxv-for-kmax/191827/|work=TVSpy|first=Chris|last=Ariens|date=June 30, 2017|title=Kinsey Schofield Leaves KNXV For KMAX|access-date=August 28, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828045443/https://www.adweek.com/tvspy/kinsey-schofield-leaves-knxv-for-kmax/191827|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Steve Somers]] – sports anchor<ref name="Sacr841025">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108458101/have-pod-people-taken-over-tvs-news-pro/|date=October 25, 1984|page=Scene 5|first=Bob|last=Wisehart|title=Have pod people taken over TV's news programs|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 28, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043138/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108458101/have-pod-people-taken-over-tvs-news/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu -->
* [[David Walker (journalist)|Dave Walker]] – anchor<ref name="Sacr750525">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108458194/anchor-man/|date=May 25, 1975|page=D14|title=Anchor Man|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 28, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043149/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108458194/anchor-man/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sun -->
* [[Jim Wieder]] – reporter/anchor<ref name="Sacr960420">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108458169/more-radio-stations-considered-for-sale/|date=April 20, 1996|page=G7|first=Dan|last=Vierria|title=More radio stations considered for sale|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 28, 2022|archive-date=August 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828043138/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108458169/more-radio-stations-considered-for-sale/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat -->
{{div col end}}

==Technical information==

===Subchannels===
KOVR's transmitter is located on the [[KXTV/KOVR tower]] in [[Walnut Grove, California]].{{r|FCC-LMS-56550}} The station's signal is [[Multiplex (TV)|multiplexed]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Subchannels of KOVR<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=KOVR|title=RabbitEars query for KOVR|website=[[RabbitEars]]|access-date=February 22, 2019|archive-date=February 23, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190223080026/https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=KOVR|url-status=live}}</ref>
! scope = "col" | [[Digital subchannel#United States|Channel]]
! scope = "col" | [[Display resolution|Res.]]
! scope = "col" | [[Aspect ratio (image)|Aspect]]
! scope = "col" | Short name
! scope = "col" | Programming
|-
! scope = "row" | 13.1 
| [[1080i]] || rowspan="5" |[[16:9]] || KOVR-DT || [[CBS]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 13.2 
| rowspan="4" |[[480i]] || StartTV || [[Start TV]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 13.3 
| DABL || [[Dabl]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 13.4 
| FAVE-TV || [[Fave TV]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 13.5 
| Catchy || [[Catchy Comedy]]
|}

Though it does not host any additional subchannels, KOVR is part of Sacramento's [[ATSC 3.0]] (NextGen TV) deployment on [[KQCA]], which began operating in July 2021.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://tvnewscheck.com/tech/article/6-sacramento-stations-launch-nextgen-tv-broadcasts/|work=TVNewsCheck|first=Mark K.|last=Miller|date=July 8, 2021|title=6 Sacramento Stations Launch NextGen TV|access-date=August 13, 2022|archive-date=August 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804001407/https://tvnewscheck.com/tech/article/6-sacramento-stations-launch-nextgen-tv-broadcasts/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Analog-to-digital conversion===
KOVR shut down its analog signal, over [[VHF]] channel 13, on June 12, 2009, as part of the [[Digital television transition in the United States|federally mandated transition from analog to digital television]]. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition [[UHF]] channel 25.<ref name="Analog to Digital">{{Cite web |date=May 23, 2006 |title=DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds |url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829004251/http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |archive-date=August 29, 2013 |access-date=August 29, 2021 |publisher=Federal Communications Commission}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*{{Official website|https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/}}

{{Sacramento TV}}
{{CBS California}}
{{CBSTVS}}
{{Major U.S. TV O-O Stations}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovr}}
[[Category:1954 establishments in California]]
[[Category:Catchy Comedy affiliates]]
[[Category:CBS affiliates]]
[[Category:CBS News and Stations]]
[[Category:Dabl affiliates]]
[[Category:Metromedia]]
[[Category:Start TV affiliates]]
[[Category:Stockton, California]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1954]]
[[Category:Television stations in Sacramento, California|OVR]]
[[Category:West Sacramento, California]]