KHNL

About KHNL

KHNL, channel 13, is the NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Honolulu, Hawaii, serving the Hawaiian Islands as part of the Hawaii News Now operation. Owned by Gray Media alongside CBS affiliate KGMB, it carries NBC network programming and Telemundo, with local newscasts produced by the combined Hawaii News Now newsroom. The station's history is among the most colorful in American broadcasting: it signed on in 1962 as an independent, spent years as Hawaii's Japanese-language television station, became a Fox affiliate, and finally landed with NBC in 1996. Its signal is rebroadcast across the islands through satellite stations on Maui, Hawaii Island, and Kauai.

KTRG-TV: the early years

The present station on channel 13 began broadcasting on July 4, 1962, as KTRG-TV, an independent station owned by the Watumull family of Hawaii. As an independent in a three-station market, it programmed movies, syndicated shows, and local productions. KHNL ran newscasts intermittently from its early years, but the station's identity in its first decade was defined by its independence and its local ownership. In 1966 the station was purchased by Friendly Broadcasting and the United Broadcasting Company of Maryland, and in 1967 Richard Eaton's United Broadcasting took control, setting the stage for a dramatic reinvention.

The KIKU years: Japanese-language television

In 1967 the call letters were changed to KIKU-TV and the format shifted to primarily Japanese-language programming, serving Hawaii's large Japanese-American community. Beyond its community service, the station gained notice in the wider market for its telecasts of sumo wrestling and tokusatsu science-fiction series, particularly Android Kikaider, better known in Hawaii as Kikaida, which developed a devoted local following. A general partnership of investors from California and Hawaii, along with Japan's TV Asahi, acquired KIKU-TV in 1979. In 1981 the station significantly reduced its Japanese-language broadcasting and became a general-entertainment independent, though some Japanese programming continued into the early 1990s.

Becoming KHNL and joining Fox

In 1984, under general manager Rick Blangiardi, who would later become mayor of Honolulu, the station renamed itself KHNL. It added coverage of University of Hawaii athletics and, in 1986, affiliated with the fledgling Fox network, giving Hawaii a full-time Fox outlet. In 1986 the station was purchased by King Broadcasting Company of Seattle. In 1992, King Broadcasting was acquired by the Providence Journal Broadcasting Company in partnership with Kelso and Company, and in 1997 the Belo Corporation completed its acquisition of the Providence Journal Company, bringing KHNL into the Belo station group.

KHNL formed its longest-running news department to date in April 1995 as a Fox affiliate, launching a 9 p.m. newscast. It added newscasts at 5, 6, and 10 p.m. during the summer and fall of 1995. The station's network destiny changed again at the start of 1996: in a Honolulu affiliation swap, KHON took the Fox affiliation and KHNL picked up NBC on January 1, 1996. A weekday morning newscast followed the NBC switch, establishing the news schedule the station carries in evolved form today.

Raycom ownership and the KFVE partnership

In 1993, KHNL began operating KFVE through one of the first local marketing agreements in the United States; KFVE had first signed on in 1988. In 2004, Raycom Media acquired KHNL and KFVE, bringing the stations into one of the country's largest privately held broadcast groups. Under Raycom, the stations continued to build their news presence, with KHNL's NBC affiliation anchoring the operation and KFVE programming independent and MyNetworkTV content.

The birth of Hawaii News Now

On August 18, 2009, MCG Capital Corporation, then the owner of CBS affiliate KGMB, and Raycom Media announced a shared services agreement with Raycom as the senior partner, creating the combined operation known as Hawaii News Now. Though non-news programming remained separate, the three stations, KHNL, KGMB, and KFVE, would share a single news department dominated by former KGMB personalities. The combined operation was based at the KHNL and KFVE studios on Waiakamilo Road in Honolulu, and KGMB vacated its longtime home on Kapiolani Boulevard.

The arrangement also included a channel swap: KGMB's call letters, CBS affiliation, and programming moved from PSIP channel 9 to channel 5, while the KFVE intellectual unit, including its MyNetworkTV affiliation, moved from channel 5 to channel 9. The consolidation was controversial, drawing criticism from media watchdogs concerned about reduced diversity of news voices in the islands, but it created the largest television newsroom in Hawaii.

Supporters of the arrangement argued that the economics of the Honolulu market, where local television advertising revenue had fallen sharply during the recession, made consolidation the only way to preserve a large-scale local news operation in the islands.

Gray Media ownership

Gray Television announced its acquisition of Raycom Media in June 2018, and the deal closed on January 2, 2019, making Gray the owner of KHNL and, through the earlier arrangements, its CBS partner KGMB. The KHNL and KGMB combination, branded collectively as Hawaii News Now, remains the state's largest local television news operation. Gray, a major owner of stations in small and mid-sized markets across the country, has continued to invest in the Honolulu operation's newsroom and digital platforms.

News operation

Hawaii News Now produces local newscasts across morning, midday, evening, and late-night dayparts, airing on both KHNL and KGMB. The newsroom covers the issues unique to island life: tourism and the visitor industry, military affairs around Pearl Harbor and the state's major bases, Native Hawaiian affairs, volcanic activity and natural disasters, ocean safety, and the high cost of living in the most isolated population center on earth. Its weather operation tracks Pacific storms, surf conditions, and vog from volcanic emissions. The combined newsroom's scale allows for bureaus and coverage across the island chain that no single Honolulu station could sustain alone.

Technical information and island-wide coverage

KHNL broadcasts digitally with its signal displayed to tuners on virtual channel 13. Its transmitter is located in Akupu, Hawaii, on Oahu. Because of Hawaii's island geography, the station is rebroadcast through satellite stations: KOGG in Wailuku on Maui and KHBC in Hilo on the island of Hawaii, along with translators serving Kauai and other communities. This satellite network gives the NBC affiliate and the Hawaii News Now newscasts true statewide reach, from the dense Honolulu metro to rural communities across the archipelago. The two stations share studios on Waiakamilo Road in Honolulu.

Programming

As an NBC affiliate, KHNL carries the full NBC network schedule, including Today, NBC Nightly News, prime-time entertainment, and NBC Sports, whose Sunday Night Football and Olympic coverage draw large Hawaii audiences. The station also carries Telemundo programming, serving the islands' Spanish-speaking viewers. Around the network schedule, the station airs syndicated talk and entertainment programming, and its digital subchannels carry additional multicast networks, including classic television offerings.

Community role and digital presence

Hawaii News Now plays an outsized civic role in a state with limited local media. Its journalists cover the state legislature, county governments, and community issues across the islands, and the operation's scale makes it the primary electronic news source for much of Hawaii. The digital home at hawaiinewsnow.com publishes breaking news, live streams, and weather coverage, supported by mobile apps and social media channels that keep island residents informed across time zones and geography. For the people of Hawaii, from Honolulu to Hilo, the station remains a daily companion and a vital link across the water that separates the islands.