is the
Fox Broadcasting Company affiliate in
Honolulu, Hawaii . The station broadcasts on NTSC channel 2(analog)/22(digital) and can be seen on
Oceanic Cable channel 3 statewide. In addition to its Honolulu broadcast facilities, KHON has relays on all the major
Hawaiian Islands to rebroadcast programs outside of metropolitan Honolulu.
KHON signed on in
1953 as an affiliate of
NBC . For decades, its news operation has been the highest rated in Hawaii. On
January 1 ,
1996 , KHON switched to Fox. KHON currently has the distinction of having the highest rated local news programming for FOX nationwide. Based on this evidence, KHON currently declares itself "America's No.1 Fox affiliate".
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Today, the station brands itself ''KHON 2: Hawaii's News Channel'' with ''The Team that Knows Hawaii''. It has been the highest-rated news station in Hawaii for almost 30 years. Its news operation is so well respected that even after it called itself "Fox 2" for a brief time after joining Fox, it still called its newscasts "Channel 2 News."
KHON's lead anchor, "Hawaii's most watched television newscaster" according to KHON, is and
Fox News . Moore is frequently the subject of controversy, but his popularity in the state usually prevents any attempts to rein him in.
On
January 27 ,
2006 , Emmis Communications completed the sale of KHON to Montecito Broadcast Group (formally SJL Broadcast Group). The sale has been controversial due to Montecito's plan to replace 35 of KHON's 111 employees with
Automation .
KHON employees first learned of the plan the morning of , assuring the public that no reporters or anchors would be affected, and the 6:00 PM newscast would be largely unchanged from the viewer's perspective.
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The purchase of KHON was scheduled to close
January 26 . Due to a mix-up in paperwork, however, Montecito was unable to complete the purchase of KHON that day. As a result, Emmis announced that no employees would be fired as a result of the sale until at least March 31, and that Emmis would pay additional benefits to the affected employees.
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Moore again used the last minutes of the 6:00 PM newscast, the final day under Emmis, to bid farewell to Blangiardi (who continues to manage KHON's former sister station,
KGMB-TV ) and to criticize Montecito Broadcast Group. Among other charges, he claimed that the terminations were tantamount to "the butchering of an already lean work force" and accused Montecito of being a "virtual company" with no physical offices. Montecito's chief operating officer, Sandy Benton, disputed the charges, saying that "what was said last night was not the truth."
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Since the purchase, KHON's new general manager, Joe MacNamara changed the scope of the terminations: instead of a number of people to fire, a salary goal was given. [http://starbulletin.com/2006/02/03/business/engle.html] Eight of KHON's nine managers resigned in a span of three days, each stating that they could not support Montecito's decision to terminate employees. (Only the chief engineer remains.) The resignations were surprising and unusual to MacNamara. The managers involved, including Blangiardi, all state that the mass exodus was not planned. [http://starbulletin.com/2006/02/04/business/story01.html]
Montecito continues to stand by the plan to move to automation, pointing out that most of the markets they have entered have seen
Ratings increases as a result of their management.
Moore, who was rumored to be considering leaving KHON as a result of the controversy, decided to remain as the station's chief anchor. In an e-mail to staff on
February 6 , Moore wrote, "How could I possibly work for owners I do not respect? After much deliberation, I reached this conclusion ... the owners are not KHON-2. We, the people who work here are KHON-2. I would not be working FOR THE OWNERS. I would be working FOR OUR VIEWERS, and WITH fellow employees I deeply respect. I have decided not to let our owners drive me out of KHON-2."
- KHAW-TV Channel 11 (Digital Channel 21) Hilo
- KAII-TV Channel 7 (Digital Channel 36) Wailuku
- K55DZ Channel 55 Lihue
