KOBI (TV)

translators	see
affiliations	5.1/2.1: NBC for others, see
country	US
owner	California Oregon Broadcasting, Inc. (Smullin family)
licensing authority	FCC
website	https://kobi5.com/
name1	KOBI
name2	KOTI
virtual1	5
city1	Medford, Oregon
former channel numbers1	Analog: 5 (VHF, 1953–2009) Digital: 15 (UHF, until 2009)
former callsigns1	KBES-TV (1953–1964) KTVM (1964–1968)
facility id1	8260
digital1	5 (VHF)
airdate1	August 1, 1953
branding1	NBC 5
branding2	NBC 2
digital2	13 (VHF)
virtual2	2
airdate2	August 13, 1956
city2	Klamath Falls, Oregon
erp1	6.35 kW
callsign meaning1	K(C)alifornia (sic) Oregon Broadcasting, Inc.
coordinates1	42.69708°N, -123.22919°W
haat1	823 m
former affiliations1	CBS (primary 1953–1978, secondary 1978–1983) DuMont (secondary, 1953–1955) NBC (secondary, 1953–1961) ABC (secondary 1953–1978 and 1983–1984, primary 1978–1983)
callsign meaning2	Oregon Technical Institute or disambiguation of KOBI
former channel numbers2	Analog: 2 (VHF, 1956–2009)
former affiliations2	NBC (primary 1956–1961, secondary 1961–1984) ABC (secondary 1956–1961, primary 1961–1984) CBS (secondary, 1956–1984)
erp2	9 kW
haat2	659 m
facility id2	8284
coordinates2	42.09667°N, -121.63361°W

KOBI (channel 5) in Medford, Oregon, and KOTI (channel 2) in Klamath Falls, Oregon, are television stations affiliated with NBC, serving southern Oregon and far northern California. The stations serve as the flagship properties of locally based California Oregon Broadcasting, Inc., and maintain studios on South Fir Street in downtown Medford, with a news bureau on South 7th Street in downtown Klamath Falls. KOBI's transmitter is located atop Kings Mountain, 28 mi northwest of Medford, while KOTI's tower sits atop Stukel Mountain southeast of Klamath Falls.

KOTI operates as a full-time satellite of KOBI; its existence is only acknowledged in station identifications. Together, the two stations serve 12 mostly rural counties in southern Oregon and northern California.

History

KOBI was founded on August 1, 1953, by Bill Smullin, a 20-year veteran of the television industry.[1] Its call letters were originally KBES-TV ("Best TV"), and it carried programming from all four major networks.[2] However, for its first 25 years, it was primarily a CBS

Programming

Jackpot Bingo

During the 1980s, KOBI broadcast a popular interactive game show called Jackpot Bingo, hosted by Tom Carnes. The show aired before Days of Our Lives and took after the popular Dialing for Dollars format. Jackpot Bingo gave contestants the opportunity to win up to $5,000 in cash by playing blackout bingo. However, contestants usually won the minimum $200 prize. Carnes was replaced by Sally Holliday in 1987 and the show was renamed $10,000 Jackpot Bingo as the prize money doubled. Still, contestants usually won $200. The show garnered the highest ratings for its time slot, although it was canceled in 1988.

Academic Challenge

The Academic Challenge quiz bowl program, similar to GE College Bowl, places local high schools in a head-to-head battle for the championship title and over $40,000 in scholarship money.

Twenty high schools from Southern Oregon and Northern California participate in the Academic Challenge. Each school brings in a team of five students, four participating and one alternate, who answer a series of questions from the host, NBC 5 chief meteorologist Jeff Heaton, on topics such as history, math, literature, current events and a variety of other categories.

At the end of this double-elimination competition the final two teams split the scholarship money (60% to the championship team, 40% to the runner-up team).

The idea for Academic Challenge started at KRCR-TV in Redding in 1998 and was hosted by Gary Gunter from 1998 to 2005, then Tim Mapes from then on. NBC 5's newly hired general manager Bob Wise brought the identically formatted program to southern Oregon in 2005.

The program regularly aired on Sundays at 6:30 p.m., or after NBC Sunday Night Football and NBC 5 News during the NFL season, but has since been canceled.

Southern Oregon Meth Project

In 2005, KOBI started a special program called the Southern Oregon Meth Project to educate viewers and concerned citizens about the dangers of methamphetamine and what can be done to prevent it. The project was headed up by KOBI's lead news anchor Christina Anderson, where she remained until her departure for KOVR in Sacramento in 2010.[6] The project has since been disbanded.

News operation

KOBI presently broadcasts 22 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with four hours each weekday and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays).

KOTI previously produced its own newscasts (separate from KOBI) focusing on the eastern portion of the Medford–Klamath Falls market. The newscasts included NBC 2 News at 5, 6 and 11 p.m. Lyle Ahrens had served as the Klamath Basin news bureau chief, but retired in 2020.

At one time, KOTI aired a separate newscast at 6:30 p.m. with its own news bureau before becoming a repeater of KOBI.

After KMVU-DT discontinued its 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts in December 2023, KOBI added a 10 p.m. newscast to its Cozi TV subchannel on January 8, 2024,[7] which returned to KMVU on June 9, 2025.[8]

KOBI (TV)

History

Programming

Jackpot Bingo

Academic Challenge

Southern Oregon Meth Project

News operation

Technical information

Subchannels

Analog-to-digital conversion

Translators

External links

References