2's Main move — Station to play visible, interactive role in downtown Salt Lake

Published: Friday, Oct. 24, 2003 7:15 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
When the owners of the Wells Fargo Building tried to talk KUTV-Ch. 2 into moving in, it wasn't exactly an easy sell.

Channel 2's vice president and general manager, Dave Phillips, compared it to a "time-share presentation. . . . I didn't want anything to do with it. I was like a cigar-store Indian with my arms crossed.

"They took me to the 23rd floor and showed me African-wood offices with leaded-glass windows, and I said, 'I can't afford this.' They took me to law offices on the 17th floor. Then, of all things, they took me to the health club. I got about halfway through that and I said, 'Guys, stop it. I'm a TV guy. Show me the ugly space. I've got to know where I can put my satellite dishes, where I can park my satellite trucks.' "

When they showed him the basement with its 22-foot ceilings and the loading dock, "where you can get four or five big semis," Phillips realized he wouldn't have to put part of his operation on the first floor and the rest on the 13th or 17th or 23rd floor — he could use the basement and expand the mezzanine. "And by the time we walked out, I was thinking, 'This could work.' "

Monday — a year to the day later — Ch. 2's newscasts will begin broadcasting from the new downtown facilities, and even the most casual viewers will notice the huge difference. The studios are nothing short of spectacular, and the window-on-the-world aspect — or, at least, window-on-Main Street — will make KUTV distinctive. Which is how Phillips sold his bosses at the CBS station on the idea.

Story continues below

"I said, 'There's nothing I can do to change the image of the station faster than to move out of an industrial park in West Valley and to the heart of downtown Salt Lake,' " he said.

And it's nothing short of a great view out those new windows of the TRAX station and the charming buildings on the west side of Main between 200 and 300 South. The Gallivan Center is on the other side.

KUTV's move won't be finished until early December. And that includes not just staff but much of the technical equipment it takes to operate a TV station.

"If we bought all the equipment and moved to a new facility, it would've been a $40 million project," Phillips said. "The transition move like we're doing is a $6 million project."

The move to downtown wasn't planned — it was a "move of opportunity" presented to KUTV by Wasatch Property Management and Salt Lake City. The city kicked in $4 million (a $2.8 million low-interest loan from the city's Redevelopment Agency to Wasatch Property and a $1.2 million loan from Salt Lake City to KUTV) — but Ch. 2 sees benefits for its new hometown.

"We think that moving a television station down to the heart of Main Street will revitalize it more than any other kind of business," Phillips said. "You couldn't buy that kind of publicity and attention that that will bring. Yes, we're doing that for us. But it will help Salt Lake, too."

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

Image
Ravell Call, Deseret Morning News

Richard Todd operates the lighting console that controls lights inside the studio in addition to adjusting the amount and color of light coming through the windows from Main Street.

previousnext

Latest comments

Creepy. Very creepy that so many are eager to use the coercive power of...

KOC I hope you realize that you are getting worked right now. You just got...

Rush Junior | 6:00 p.m. When are you going to learn that it doesn't even...

I could be wrong on this, but I think they generally withhold names in sex...

that so many people take this as an opportunity to slander any faith!!!! what...

Mall owner seeks to retain zoning

Why is the Holladay Council wanting to put a "gun " to their head? What kind...

Contrary to what a few people have mentioned here, if the Jazz don't match...

All you Jazz fans are clueless! When this deal is final, there will be no 3...

I heard that Elvis was scheduled for baptism just before he died.

Mormon myths mostly harmless but unnecessary

McKay wrote: "But I worry about the few among us who base their testimonies...

Advertisements