Taft/Great American ownership
In 1963, Transcontinent sold the WDAF stations, as well as WGR AM-FM-TV in Buffalo, New York, and WNEP-TV in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Cincinnati-based Taft Broadcasting. The Transcontinent purchases bought Taft to the limit of seven television stations. The transaction was part of the largest set of sales in broadcasting history to that time, totaling more than $38.5 million for three buyers to acquire nearly all of Transcontinent's radio and TV stations.[46][47] After receiving FCC approval, the deal was finalized on April 1, 1964.[48] In 1967, the existing tower on Signal Hill was replaced with a new, 1164 ft mast that was shared with a new Kansas City independent station, KBMA-TV (channel 41),[49] which began broadcasting in 1970.[50]
After the purchase, Taft led a round of cost-cutting measures that slimmed down the news department. In 1972, the radio news department, which had continued to share resources with television, was separated.[51] The next year, the television news director resigned after being forced to implement budget cuts of 5 to 8 percent;[52] The Star/Times television critic Joyce Wagner described WDAF radio and television as having a "revolving door policy" due to constant corporate cuts, noting, "In the last six years, WDAF has lost enough personnel to fully staff at least three television and radio stations."[53] By 1976, channel 4's late newscast was in a distant third-place position against its competitors;[54] Barry Garron of The Kansas City Star wrote in 1985 of this era, "For most of the 1970s WDAF-TV acted as if local news were an inconvenience."[55]
In response to the falling ratings, the station rebranded its newscasts Action News and hired two new on-air personalities, including Stacy Smith, who had previously anchored in Louisville, Kentucky.[56] Smith remained WDAF-TV's main male anchor until he departed in 1983 for KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh; he was replaced by Phil Witt,[57] Witt, who had joined WDAF in 1979 as a weekend anchor and reporter, remained in that position for the next 34 years.[58][59][60][61]
In 1980, WDAF-TV replaced KBMA-TV as the television home of Kansas City Royals baseball under a five-year contract; the team sought the move because WDAF's signal went further than KBMA's.[62] Under the deal, WDAF presented between 40 and 47 Royals games a year.[63] The relationship between WDAF and the Royals was renewed for another three years, covering 1985 through 1987,[64] followed by a five-year renewal covering 1988 through 1992 with an increase to 51 games per year.[65]
Taft in 1982 bought WDAF-TV a satellite uplink which was used for baseball and by the news department,[66] and the station's news staff grew from 24 to 39 full-time employees, with Royals games providing a platform to promote the late newscast.[67] During this time, WDAF-TV was separately home to a regional news bureau for the short-lived Satellite News Channel cable service.[68] While the station's late news continued to rank third, WDAF-TV came on stronger in the early evening newscasts, particularly the 5 p.m. slot where it had been first to establish a news presence,[69] and in 1985 it registered two consecutive ratings surveys in which it led at 5, 6, and 10 p.m.[70]
On October 12, 1987, an investment group led by Carl Lindner Jr. completed a hostile takeover of Taft Broadcasting from the Taft family, which had owned the company;[71] the Taft Broadcasting name remained with the Taft family, and the reorganized firm became Great American Broadcasting Company.[72] Due to the way the reorganization was structured, FCC rules of the time required Great American to sell either its radio stations or its TV station in the Kansas City and Cincinnati markets where it had grandfathered operations. However, Great American received a permanent waiver in 1989 to maintain its broadcasting clusters in each city.[73] After the change, the station debuted a morning newscast in 1988,[74] but WDAF-TV's evening news ratings slumped. In November 1989, it posted its lowest audience shares at 5, 6, and 10 p.m. of the entire decade, while KMBC-TV had become the new number-one with decade-long highs.[75] The Royals departed after the 1992 season for independent station KSMO-TV (channel 62), which offered the opportunity to telecast more games; the 65 games a season to be carried by KSMO was more than WDAF-TV had ever offered in its 13-year tenure as the team's TV broadcaster.
Harris Faulkner joined the WDAF-TV staff as a reporter in February 1992.[78] Months later, as part of a reshuffling of the station's anchor lineup, she added anchoring duties for the 6 p.m. newscast alongside Phil Witt,[79] and when Witt's co-anchor on the other newscasts departed, Faulkner replaced her.[80] The station also expanded its news department in the early 1990s. It was the first station in the market to begin weekend morning newscasts, doing so in 1992.[81] WDAF-TV leased a helicopter in 1993, becoming the first TV station in town to do so and breaking a years-long gentlemen's agreement among the major stations in Kansas City to prevent the stations from competing with helicopters.[82] KCTV responded by leasing a helicopter of its own.[83]
The 1987 Taft buyout saddled Great American with a substantial debt load it could no longer service,[84] and other subsidiaries of Great American Communications Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1993, a move that did not affect the television and radio holdings.[85] After emerging from bankruptcy, Great American Broadcasting (renamed Citicasters soon after[86]) put four of its stations (including WDAF-TV) up for sale, seeking to raise money to pay down debt and fund more acquisitions in radio.[87]
