KPWB-TV: Pappas ownership, WB affiliation, and 31 Action News
Through 1993, rumors continued of a possible sale of KRBK-TV amid concern for the financial future of Koplar Communications. The company's stations had suffered from the early 1990s recession, increased competition, and a high load of commitments to unsuccessful programming. Expensive programming purchases accelerated a spiral of borrowing that had begun with the KRBK-TV acquisition in 1981 but was masked by the solid performance of KPLR-TV in St. Louis.[54][55] Broadcasting magazine reported in February that syndicators, who supply television programs, were meeting to review Koplar's indebtedness as well as a rumor that KRBK-TV was up for sale along with a second Sacramento-market independent station, KSCH-TV (channel 58), to be packaged together for possible consolidation.[56]
The Tribune Company negotiated to acquire the two stations, but talks—prolonged by syndicators' objections to proposed concessions and contract forgiveness[57]—fell through after ten months. Instead, Pappas Telecasting purchased KRBK-TV and provided a program-buying alliance for KPLR-TV, which remained with Koplar.[58][59] The $22 million acquisition[60] closed in July 1994, at which time Pappas imposed a new dress code on station employees that prohibited women from wearing slacks.[61]
Just before Koplar sold channel 31, it committed the station to The WB, a new television network slated for a 1995 launch.[62] When The WB debuted on January 11, 1995, KRBK-TV became KPWB-TV for its new owner (Pappas) and network (WB).[63] Additionally, the station renewed its agreement with the Kings and expanded it to 35 telecasts a season;[64] the team cut back to 25 games a year beginning in the 1996–97 season.[65]
In preparation for the switch, 31 News moved in September 1994 from its double-half-hour format at 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., putting it back into competition with KTXL and KSCH, and introduced weekend reports.[66] In spite of its more limited resources—the station had 25 employees in news, a third the size of its rivals—and its third-place ratings at 10, KPWB attempted to remain competitive on reporting with the four other local TV news departments with creative coverage decisions.[67] Competition was fiercer at 10 because there were three other newscasts in the time period, from Fox affiliate KTXL; KQCA (the former KSCH-TV), which offered news produced by KCRA-TV; and KOVR, which switched to CBS in 1995 and simultaneously adopted early prime time scheduling with its late news at 10 p.m.[68]
Pappas invested in the news product, quadrupling the size of the KPWB newsroom and launching a local morning program, The Morning Show, in August 1995. The evening news coverage was rebranded 31 Action News in January 1996 and reformatted from an hour-long report at 10 to half-hour newscasts at 7 and 10 p.m. designed to cater to busy viewers. The existing anchor team of John Malos and Sharon Ito was replaced by John Alston, who came from WSB-TV in Atlanta.[69] 31 Action News expanded to add news at 11:30 a.m. in August 1996[70] and 11 p.m. in June 1997, bringing KPWB-TV's local news output to five hours a day—second only to KCRA-TV.[71] KPWB-TV also provided management services to two other Pappas stations—WB affiliate KREN-TV and Univision outlet KUVR-LP—in Reno, Nevada.[72]
