SALINAS — As of Tuesday, KION-TV has shut down its local news operations, the station said in a statement. In its place, the Bay Area CBS station KPIX has formed a partnership with KION and will air its news broadcast in the Santa Cruz, Monterey, Carmel and Salinas areas.
CBS Bay Area will expand its weather forecasts to include the Santa Cruz, Monterey and Salinas areas, according to the statement. Those forecasts will come through the station’s augmented/virtual reality studio, which launched in 2023 and puts meteorologists into a virtual three-dimensional environment for their forecasts.
The statement also said the station will “add more resources” to cover the region but did not mention what those resources might be. KION airs on Channel 46. News-Press and Gazette bought KION in 2013.
KION began airing local news in 1969 and has been a CBS affiliate since it first signed on. The station’s shutdown leaves the Monterey Bay area with just one TV station, KSBW, dedicated to local news.
Despite the shutdown of KION’s local news operations, Rall Bradley, executive vice president of broadcast at KION’s parent company, News-Press and Gazette, said in a statement that the partnership between KION and KPIX would ensure “that viewers across the Monterey, Salinas and Santa Cruz region continue to receive the high-quality local journalism they deserve.”
The Sentinel’s requests for comment from News-Press and Gazette and KPIX were not returned before its print deadline.
