Address: 3701 South Peoria, Tulsa, OK 74101-0002
Phone: 918-743-2222
Fax: management, 918-748-1476; news, 918-748-1436; sales, business, traffic, 918-748-1460; promotions, 918-748-1477
URL: www.tulsateam.com

The facilities that today bear the KJRH logo were dedicated in 1957 with "all the fanfare of a Hollywood Premiere," according to a trade publication report.

Tag Line: Oklahoma's Hometeam
Employees: 122 full-time, 10 part-time
Market Rank: 58; 468,000 households
Network Affiliation: NBC since founding

Format: With four daily newscasts and two weekend news programs, KJRH offers the most local programming in Oklahoma.

Recent Awards: Best weather coverage and best weather special, Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters; first place in television programming from the Keep Oklahoma Beautiful Foundation for "From the Heartland," a regular segment hosted by Jerry Webber; top sports award from the Tulsa Area Sportscasters Association for coverage directed by Al Jerkins; and top programming award from the Oklahoma Early Childhood Association for the Safe and Sound series by Mike Browning.

THE MARKET

Distinction: Tulsa is the headquarters of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) with 400 member colleges, conducting 23 national championships.

Nicknames: Oil Capital of the World and Tulsey Town

Population: 383,487 in 1996; 404,712 projected for 2000

Ethnic Makeup: 81 percent Caucasian, 9.2 percent African-American, 7.9 percent American Indian, 2.4 percent Hispanic, 1.1 percent Asian

Major Employers: American Airlines, Amoco Production, Arrow Trucking, Avis, Bank of Oklahoma, Ford Motor Company, Hillcrest Medical Center

Education: 13 independent school districts, 2 dependent, 7 private/parochial schools, 11 higher education institutions, 9 industrial and technical schools, 6 trade schools

Sports: Tulsa Drillers (baseball), Tulsa Oilers (hockey), University of Tulsa (football, basketball, baseball), Oral Roberts University (basketball, baseball)

Music and Arts: Tulsa Opera, Tulsa Philharmonic, Tulsa Ballet Theatre, Oklahoma Sinfonia, Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, Philbrook Museum of Art

 

	Among members of the executive staff are, above ­ front: Russell Stuart, new media manger; Peggy Loop, business manager; Duane Mathias, creative services director; Alan Douglas, production manager; and back: Janice Todd, general sales manager.

MILESTONES

KVOO-TV, the "Voice of Oklahoma," began operation Dec. 1, 1957 with a week-long series of open houses. The new facilities, in the trendy arts district called "Brookside," combined offices and studios for both KVOO-TV and KVOO-Radio, which was the only combined operation in Tulsa. The station was affiliated even then with NBC.

The call letters changed in 1971 to KTEW-TV. Scripps purchased the station on Dec. 30, 1970, and the call letters were changed to KJRH on July 14, 1980, to honor Jack R. Howard, chairman of Scripps Howard Broadcasting.

Jerry Webber, who has been with the station almost 30 years, says the biggest changes he's seen have been in technology.

Elaine Ford, Tulsa's first female TV news editor, recalls a time when "everything was live." There were no camcorders, VCRs, computers or videotape in the '50s and '60s . News editors/reporters wrote their own stories on manual typewriters, illustrated with black and white film and presented their work live on the air.

"One thing you had to have was good health," she says."You could be battling ice and snow to film broken trees and downed power lines, another time broiling under the summer sun during a political campaign, or wading up to your knees in flood water that inundated homes from a rampaging Arkansas River."

Over the years, KJRH has distinguished itself with a number of firsts. It was the first TV station in Tulsa to broadcast in color, the first to broadcast a news story from a remote site and the first to hire a female news director.

 

In the newsroom are, ­ from left: William Donahue,vice president and general manager; Mimi Strawn, news director; and Dale Vennes, engineering manager.

PROGRAMMING

Vice President and General Manager William Donahue has had ties to the station since 1977, when he arrived from Denver as the new sales manager. Though he worked elsewhere for a few years in 1980, he returned in 1984 as assistant general manager. Typical of the staff at KJRH, he is very proud of both the city and the station.

"The station performs very well in our news and metro ratings," he says. "We know our strengths," he adds confidently, crediting both NBC and Scripps for their support.

The station's strong news, sports and weather reports are the products of what Donahue considers another strength -- a predominantly local staff. "We put a premium on people who want to be here and stay here," he says.

KJRH programming is planned with the entire community in mind. "We don't limit ourselves," Donahue says. "We try to bring everyone into our tent."

The station boasts the most local programming in Oklahoma, as well as unparalled weather coverage in its market. "StormTeam Advantage" has three full-time meteorologists, fully accredited with the AMS and NWA. Their presence extends beyond newscasts and into schools and community forums. This year, they'll address nearly 200 groups.

In a climate rife with tornadoes, KJRH has invested heavily in weather forecasting equipment. The StormTeam uses Pinpoint Doppler Radar, Pinpoint Storm Alert, Pinpoint Views with four live cameras atop buildings throughout Tulsa and Pinpoint Video that uses Emmy winning technology. With Pinpoint Global Position, the meteorologists can track a storm to a street address. 2News WeatherNet, an instant weather forecast system, has 15 sub-stations at Tulsa area schools.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

The station hosts a variety of community events, including a bridal fair, gathering merchants and vendors who specialize in weddings; the Children's Miracle Network Broadcast of Champions, which benefits the local children's hospital; a program involving the Tulsa City-County Library system; the Mayor's Summer Job Program, which helps place area young people in jobs; Partners in Education, a cooperative effort with a shopping mall and area schools; and Race for the Cure, a race/walk benefitting the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

The station regularly produces community service specials. Among them: "Tornado Alley," which emphasizes safety; and "Tulsapalooza," a showcase for local cultural events.

KJRH ONLINE

Russell Mills, who helped develop the highly acclaimed TCPalm Web site for Scripps media on Florida's Treasure Coast, led the recent redesign of www.teamtulsa.com.

"It's one of the first sites of its size outside the largest cities," he says of the ambitious project.

As a result, KJRH's online staff has grown in recent months from one technician to four production specialists and three sales representatives.

"Streaming video" gives site visitors current and archival newscasts, as well as two forecasts a day filmed specifically for the Web. Archival newscasts permit users to watch the newscast in the order they designate rather than the order produced, as TV viewers must.

Cameras give site visitors constantly updated views of Tulsa and the station. An interactive camera can be directed by the user. The site features extensive sports information, recipes and links to 15 newspapers.

COMMITMENT PERSONIFIED

He was there before color, before videotapes, before live programming and before Scripps. Jerry Webber has been at KJRH during countless natural disasters, economic hardships and the biggest terrorist act in the history of the nation, the Oklahoma City bombing.

He'll be celebrating 30 years with KJRH in March. "For me, every experience has been a good one with this company," he says, "and I've never been tempted to leave."

Webber began at then KVOO in 1969 as sports director, a position he held for 17 years before joining the news anchor desk. Currently, he hosts From the Heartland, a feature that closes the daily newscasts. He describes it as "the sweetest challenge."

"Being a native, you know all these great stories are out there, and once you've done a couple weeks of (shows) your phone rings off the wall," he says. Topics have ranged from a 70-year-old woman who makes buffalo grass dolls to the home of the first tree planted in Oklahoma.

One of his most memorable assignments was the 1995 bombing. "I would have bet my life that that couldn't happen in my state," he says of the most deadly terrorist act on U.S. soil.

"Reporters from around the world came to Oklahoma to cover it, and if you asked them today, they would tell you they found a special brand of people here," he says. "You never heard anyone ask 'God, why did you let this happen to me?' They just went about the business of burying the dead."

Of all the awards he has received, Webber is most proud of the George Washington Honor Medal he received in 1993 from the Freedom Foundation for stories on Americanism.

Webber's commitment to Oklahoma is as strong as ever, and he "tries never to turn down a church or a school. I'm glad to donate my time to them. I consider it my responsibility to contribute to my state."

HOME TEAM ADVANTAGE

Starting at KJRH in 1988 as a teleprompter, Susie Douglas has worked her way up to managing editor. Known within the station for her excellent contacts and her ability to get exclusives, Douglas attributes these strengths to her lifelong Tulsa residency.

Yet one of her fondest memories involves out-of-towner Katie Couric.

"At 10:30 one night during the Anita Hill controversy, Katie called from the Today Show," Douglas recalls. "She was demanding an interview from Channel Two that was supposed to have been faxed to her earlier in the day.

"At first I thought it was a joke, but then I realized it really was Katie Couric. I didn't know what she was talking about, but I checked around and still couldn't find this interview she was talking about. Eventually she realized that she had the wrong station, and was very apologetic."

She considers spot news her forte and the people she meets along the way a fringe benefit. An added bonus to her work at KJRH is the family-oriented atmosphere -- all the way to the production department, which her husband, Alan, manages.