Kansas – World Television

https://webappmagic.com Keeping You Connected! Mon, 09 Jan 2023 19:26:58 +0000 en hourly 1 https://webappmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/cropped-logo_blackBack-1-e1564772043650-2-32x32.png Kansas – World Television https://webappmagic.com 32 32 Kansas – KSNT https://webappmagic.com/kansas-ksnt/ Wed, 04 Sep 2019 23:57:50 +0000 https://webappmagic.com/?page_id=1588

About KSNT

KTSB went on the air for the first time on December 28, 1967. Ralph C. Wilson Jr., the founder of the NFL football franchise Buffalo Bills, once owned it. It was the Topeka market's second commercial television station, and Kansas' first full-power UHF station. Since its inception, the station has been an NBC affiliate. Unlike most two-station areas at the time, KTSB did not have a formal secondary affiliation with ABC, but it did clear a few programming from that network. It didn't need to carry many ABC shows because the network's two nearest affiliates, KMBC-TV in Kansas City and KQTV in St. Joseph, both have over-the-air transmissions that reach Topeka adequately. Following 16 years of sharing ABC programming with CBS affiliate WIBW-TV (channel 13), both stations lost local rights to the network when KLDH (channel 49, now KTKA-TV) signed on in June 1983, becoming the market's first full-time ABC affiliate.

George Hatch, owner of the Kansas State Network, a chain of NBC-affiliated stations beginning at Wichita's KARD-TV (now KSNW), acquired the station from Wilson in 1982. Later that year, on August 16, the station's call letters were changed to KSNT in an effort to let viewers see the KSN stations as part of a larger network. Over the following few years, the station rebranded as "KSN," but only provided limited simulcasts with KSNW and its three full-time satellite stations in western Kansas (KSNG in Garden City, KSNC in Great Bend, and KSNK in McCook, Nebraska); as a result, KSNT served as a de facto semi-satellite of KSNW.

SJL Communications (controlled by George Lilly) bought the station, along with KSNW, from Hatch in 1988; Lilly later had a portion of the microwave equipment that connected the two stations removed in a cost-cutting measure. Lee Enterprises of Davenport, Iowa, purchased the Kansas State Network group as well as KSNT in 1995. Lee Enterprises stated on March 9, 2000, that it will sell its 16 television station holdings in order to focus on its newspaper and web operations. On May 9, 2000, Lee sold KSNT to Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications as part of a $562.5 million group transaction that included included KSNW and its satellite stations, as well as CBS affiliate KMTV-TV in Omaha, Nebraska.

Emmis Communications stated on May 15, 2005, that it will sell its 16 television stations in order to focus on its radio station portfolio. Emmis sold KSNT, KSNW, and their satellites, as well as CBS station KOIN in Portland, Oregon, and Fox affiliate KHON-TV in Honolulu, Hawaii, to the Montecito Broadcast Group (previously SJL Broadcast Group) for $259 million on September 15, 2005; the transaction was completed on January 27, 2006.

]]> Kansas – WIBW 13 https://webappmagic.com/kansas-wibw13/ Wed, 04 Sep 2019 23:51:42 +0000 https://webappmagic.com/?page_id=1583

About WIBW 13

On November 15, 1953, the station went on the air for the first time. WIBW-TV was the first television station to go on in the Topeka market, and the third in Kansas (following KCTY in Kansas City, which had a transmitter in Overland Park and turned on in June 1953). Channel 13 was founded on the same day as KTVH (now KWCH-DT) in Wichita, and it is Kansas' second-oldest surviving television station (behind KWCH, as KCTY ceased operations in February 1954). The television station began operations from studios on 6th Street and Wanamaker Road in west Topeka, near the Menninger Clinic, where it shared space with co-owned WIBW radio (AM 580). On January 5, 2012, a fire seriously destroyed the plant, which was eventually abandoned.

Channel 13 was co-owned with the Topeka Daily Capital and WIBW radio by the family of the late Kansas Senator Arthur Capper. Originally, the station offered programs from all four major networks at the time (CBS, NBC, ABC, and the DuMont Television Network), although it has always been primarily a CBS affiliate. WIBW-TV aired its debut program, a DuMont network broadcast of an NFL game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Cleveland Browns, on the day of its sign-on, following an introduction show provided by the station's employees.

For fifteen years, WIBW-TV was the sole commercial television station in the Topeka market. This was primarily due to the fact that channel 11, the only other VHF frequency in the Topeka region, had been earmarked for non-commercial broadcasting usage; that allocation was subsequently held by KTWU, which went on the air in October 1965. However, people in the area did not have to worry about missing their favorite network shows because the Kansas City stations all had enough signal coverage within Topeka and had been available on the city's local cable providers since the 1960s. Topeka was previously part of the Kansas City market, but the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) separated it in 1963. While the city and its surrounding suburbs receive strong signals from Kansas City stations, several areas of northeastern Kansas to the west of the city receive just a mediocre signal at best.

The station's transmitter facilities were relocated to a 950-foot (290 m) broadcast tower 500 yards (457 m) west of the old tower in September 1954. (the tower was later leased to Washburn University when KTWU signed on). WIBW-AM-TV was joined in 1961 by a second radio sibling, WIBW-FM (94.5 FM). When the DuMont network went out of business in August 1956, the station lost its connection.

WIBW-TV is one of the few television stations situated west of the Mississippi River that employs a call sign that begins with the letter "W". In 1927, Capper obtained a radio station license in Logansport, Indiana, and added a "W" to the letters of the station's owner, Indiana Broadcast Works. However, AM 580 signed on before the FCC changed the "W/K" division for call letters to the Mississippi River. Kansas was on the eastern side of the original call split, therefore a "W" in Kansas would have been appropriate in any case.

Capper Publications amalgamated with Stauffer Publications, which owned Topeka's second daily, the Topeka State Journal, in 1957. WIBW-TV was the first television station in Topeka to transmit in color in 1966. When KTSB (channel 27, now KSNT) started on in December 1967, the station lost its NBC affiliation.

]]> Kansas – KOAM FOX14 https://webappmagic.com/kansas-koam-fox14/ Wed, 04 Sep 2019 23:33:53 +0000 https://webappmagic.com/?page_id=1566

]]> Kansas – KMBC 9 https://webappmagic.com/kansas-kmbc9/ Wed, 04 Sep 2019 23:24:24 +0000 https://webappmagic.com/?page_id=1560

About KMBC 9

The third and final VHF television allocation in the Kansas City market was highly disputed between two locally based firms who had both bid for the building permit to build the new station on VHF channel 9. The potential licensees were the Cook Paint and Varnish Company and the Midland Broadcasting Company, which had each held two of the area's AM radio stations - Cook operated WHB (then at 710 AM, now at 810 AM), while Midland had KMBC (980 AM, now KMBZ). Eventually, the firms agreed to combine their separate permission requests and collectively compete for the license. Under the proposed agreement, Cook Paint and Varnish and Midland Broadcasting would share the channel 9 allocation as well as a transmitter facility; however, each company would structure their common television property as two separate stations, maintaining operational stewardship of their respective stations and operating from different studio facilities within the metropolitan area.

In June 1953, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the Cook/Midland joint venture's plan and issued the individual licenses for which the two businesses had requested. On August 2, that year, Channel 9 went on the air as a joint venture. The call letters for their combined television station were lifted from their respective radio properties: the Midland-owned station was given the call letters KMBC-TV, while the Cook-owned station was given the call letters WHB-TV. The united company shared CBS's local affiliation rights when the network relocated its programming from WDAF-TV (channel 4, now a Fox affiliate), a station that had broadcast the network on a part-time basis since its inception as Kansas City's first television station in October 1949. KMBC-TV and WHB-TV would each maintain 90 minutes of programming airtime on an alternating basis throughout its broadcast day, which initially ran daily from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m., similar to the split-station arrangement that WHB radio had maintained three decades earlier with WDAF radio (610 AM, now KCSP; the WDAF calls on radio now reside on 106.5 FM). (The WHB/WDAF radio sharing agreement began in 1922, when both stations broadcast on 730 AM and swapped frequencies when both relocated to 680 AM in 1924; the timeshare terminated in 1927, when WHB radio moved to 710 AM).

]]> Kansas – WDAF FOX4 https://webappmagic.com/kansas-wdaf/ Wed, 04 Sep 2019 23:19:00 +0000 https://webappmagic.com/?page_id=1551

]]> Kansas – KSN 3 https://webappmagic.com/kansas-ksn3/ Wed, 04 Sep 2019 23:04:54 +0000 https://webappmagic.com/?page_id=1546

About KSN 3

On November 28, 1959, KOMC-TV (for Oberlin-McCook) went on the air as a satellite of Great Bend's KCKT-TV, under the control of Central Kansas Television. Garden City's KCKT, KOMC, and KGLD-TV created the "Tri-Circle Network," the NBC affiliate for central and western Kansas. After the FCC united central and western Kansas into the Wichita market in 1962, Central Kansas Television acquired Wichita's KARD-TV and consolidated it with KOMC, KCKT, and KGLD. A few years later, the Tri-Circle Network was renamed the "Kansas State Network," with KARD acting as the flagship of the new four-station regional network.

On August 16, 1982, the station's call letters were changed to KSNK in an effort to let viewers conceive of the four stations as part of a larger network. Around this time, the station's city of license was changed from Oberlin to McCook, Kansas, however the studios remained in Oberlin. SJL Broadcast Management purchased the KSN stations in 1988. In 1995, Lee Enterprises purchased the stations. In the year 2000, Emmis Communications purchased the majority of Lee Enterprises' television businesses. On January 27, 2006, Montecito Broadcast Group, a newly created partnership between SJL and the private equity company Blackstone Group, purchased the KSN stations from Emmis.

On July 24, 2007, Montecito announced the sale of its five stations to New Vision Television (KSNW, KHON-TV in Honolulu, KOIN in Portland, Oregon, and KSNT in Topeka, as well as satellites of KSNW and KHON); the deal was completed on November 1, 2007. The LIN TV Corporation announced on May 7, 2012, that it will purchase the New Vision Television station group, comprising KSNW and its four satellite stations, for $330.4 million and the assumption of $12 million in debt; the acquisition was completed on May 8, 2012, which was approved by the FCC on October 2 and completed 112 weeks later on October 12 - marked LIN's return to Kansas. In 2000, LIN briefly owned the license of KLBY (channel 4), a satellite of Wichita ABC affiliate KAKE-TV (channel 10), before selling it to Benedek Broadcasting shortly after the purchase was completed.

On March 21, 2014, Media General announced a $1.6 billion merger with LIN Media and its stations, including KSNW, giving the station its sixth owner since 2000. This acquisition signified Media General's re-entry into the market, since it previously controlled KBSL-TV (channel 10), a satellite of KWCH-TV (channel 12), from 2000 until 2006. On December 19, the transaction was finalized. Nexstar Broadcasting Group stated on September 28, 2015, that it has made an offer to buy Media General and its stations, including KSNW and its satellites. Nexstar announced on January 27, 2016, that it has struck a deal to acquire Media General. Nexstar's purchase of KSNK and its other satellites reunited the stations with previous satellite KSNF, ownership of which was severed from the rest of the Kansas State Network in 1986. The FCC authorized the transaction on January 11, 2017, and it was finalized on January 17, 2017, marking Nexstar's first foray into the Wichita market.

]]> Kansas – KWCH https://webappmagic.com/kansas-kwch/ Wed, 04 Sep 2019 22:43:34 +0000 https://webappmagic.com/?page_id=1537

About KWCH

On July 24, 1957, the station went on the air as KTVC. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) concluded in 1962 that central and western Kansas were included in the Wichita market. As a consequence, Cowles Communications of Des Moines purchased KTVC, KAYS-TV (now KBSH-DT) in Hays, and KLOE-TV (now KBSL-DT) in Goodland and converted them into semi-satellites of KTVH. The three stations, which constituted the Kansas Broadcasting System with flagship station KTVH, carried CBS programs throughout central and western Kansas.

The Cowles family began selling up their massive media interests in 1983. KTVH and its sister stations were sold to the Kansas Broadcasting System Corporation, which was controlled by Ross Beach and Bob Schmidt, two Hays businessmen. Smith Broadcasting purchased the Kansas Broadcasting System Corporation in 1989; following the sale, the station changed its call letters to KBSD-TV, as part of an effort that saw KWCH's three semi-satellites change their call letters to help viewers think of the stations as part of one large network. In 1994, Smith sold the station to Spartan Communications of Spartanburg, South Carolina. In the year 2000, Spartan joined with Media General. KWCH began running a digital automation system from its Wichita studio facility in 2005, which managed advertisement scheduling and master control operations for all four KBS stations.

As a result of its purchase of four former NBC owned-and-operated stations, Media General stated on April 6, 2006, that it would sell KWCH, its satellites, and four additional stations (WVTM-TV in Birmingham, WCMH in Columbus, Ohio, WNCN in Goldsboro, North Carolina and WJAR-TV in Providence). Schurz, located in South Bend, Indiana, finally won and assumed possession of the stations on September 25, at which point Schurz founded a new corporation called "Sunflower Broadcasting, Inc.," which became the licensee for its Kansas broadcasting holdings.

On September 14, 2015, Schurz announced its intention to depart broadcasting and sell its television and radio stations, including KWCH-DT and its satellites, to Gray Television for $442.5 million. Gray previously had KAKE and its satellites (including KUPK channel 13), but it sold it to Lockwood Broadcast Group while keeping the KBS stations. The transaction was finalized on February 16, 2016.

]]> Kansas TV Stations https://webappmagic.com/kansas/ Wed, 04 Sep 2019 22:38:38 +0000 https://webappmagic.com/?page_id=1534

]]>

About KSNT

Is this feed working?

About WIBW 13

Is this feed working?

About KOAM FOX14

Is this feed working?

About KMBC 9

Is this feed working?

About WDAF

Is this feed working?

About KSN 3

Is this feed working?

About KWCH

Is this feed working?

Choose a Station