KTVO
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City | Kirksville, Missouri |
Channels | |
Branding | KTVO ABC 3(general) KTVO News(newscasts) KTVO CBS 3(on DT2) Southeast Iowa's Own Evening News (newscasts; on DT2) |
Programming | |
Affiliations | 3.1:ABC(secondary until 1968) 3.2:CBS 3.3:Comet 3.4:Charge!(soon) |
Ownership | |
Owner |
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History | |
First air date | November 21, 1955 |
Former channel number(s) | Analog: 3 (VHF,1955–2009) |
CBS (1955–1974; secondary from 1968) NBC(secondary 1955–1974) | |
Call signmeaning | Kirksville Television Ottumwa |
Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Facility ID | 21251 |
ERP | 87kW 174 kW (application) |
HAAT | 290 m (951 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 40°31′47″N92°26′30″W/ 40.52972°N 92.44167°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | ktvo |
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/KTVO-Studio-2.jpg/220px-KTVO-Studio-2.jpg)
KTVO(channel 3) is atelevision stationlicensed toKirksville, Missouri,United States, serving theOttumwa, Iowa–Kirksville, Missourimarketas an affiliate ofABCandCBS.Owned bySinclair Broadcast Group,the station maintains studios onUS 63two miles (3.2 km) north of Kirksville, with a secondary studio,news bureauand advertising sales office on South Market Street in downtown Ottumwa. Its transmitter is located northwest ofDowning, Missouri,alongUS 136.
History
[edit]When theFederal Communications Commission(FCC) lifted the "Freeze of '48" —the nationwide halt to reorganize TV frequencies—on April 14, 1952 the VHF channel 3 was assigned to the Kirksville, Missouri market.[2]This prime channel attracted the attention of North Missouri Broadcasting Partners, a group led by former U.S. CongressmanSam "Wat" Arnoldand Sam Burk, owners of Kirksville radio stationKIRX,who had already been discussing the feasibility of adding a television station to their operations.[2]Hoping to defray the costs and risk of the new venture, in early 1953 the Kirksville group joined with another led by James J. Conroy, owner ofKBIZin Ottumwa, Iowa. In return for shares in KBIZ, the Kirksville group would allow construction of a tower and transmitter site whose signal would cover both Kirksville and Ottumwa. Following FCC approval, a 1,100-foot (340 m) tower was built nearDowning, Missouri.[2]
KTVO signed-on November 21, 1955 airing ananalogsignal onVHFchannel 3. However, by time of sign-on the Kirksville group felt the venture held little hope for profitability and had sold all shares back to Conroy.[2]For much of its early history KTVO was a primary CBS affiliate, although its singlemarketstatus allowed it to cherry-pick the most popular programming fromNBCand ABC. At first, Arnold and Burk's fears that the Ottumwa–Kirksville market was too small to support a television station were proven true[2]but Conroy persevered, believing southeastern Iowa and northeastern Missouri would be proud to have a locally based station. This was not a surprise, given that KTVO was the area's only channel until 1986, when KOIA-TV (channel 15, nowFoxaffiliateKYOU-TV) began operations.
On January 7, 1964, Conroy sold KTVO to thePost Corporation,a media conglomerate of newspapers and broadcasting properties based inAppleton, Wisconsin.The new owners renovated and expanded the KTVO facilities in Ottumwa, shared for the station's first twenty years with then co-owned KBIZ-AM 1240.[2]On June 1, 1968, KTVO switched primary affiliation to ABC, although the station continued carrying a few CBS and NBC shows until 1974. The year 1976 brought great change to KTVO. The Post Corporation received FCC approval to erect a new 2,000-foot (610 m)towernearColony, Missouri.This new height and location would allow KTVO's signal to reach the lucrativeQuincy, Illinois–Hannibal, MissouriDMA while still serving its two original cities of license.[2]As part of the upgrade KTVO's main studios were moved from Ottumwa to a newly constructed building three miles north of Kirksville, with a secondary studio remaining in Ottumwa and a news bureau to be established in Quincy. With more room to grow in their new Kirksville facility, in the early 1980s KTVO operated a short-lived,low-powerUHF station, K40AI, channel 40. A large bulk of K40AI's schedule was made up of programming from the now-defunctSatellite Program Network.K40AI also re-purposed a small amount of the syndicated programming aired on KTVO at the time, such asSolid Gold.In 1984,Gillett Corporationbought the Post Corporation Stations; however, due to the FCC ownership limit of five VHF television stations that was in effect at the time, KTVO was spun off to a local telecommunications company called "Gillbro Communications". Federal Broadcasting (later Federal Enterprises) acquired the station in 1987.
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/KTVO-Studio-1.jpg/220px-KTVO-Studio-1.jpg)
On June 2, 1988, a three-member broadcast tower maintenance crew were killed when the KTVO transmitter tower collapsed.[3][4]This forced the channel, along with radio stationKRXL-FM 94.5 (which had been renting antenna space on the tower) off-the-air. Since the original tower was still available, KTVO was able to resume broadcasting within thirty hours of the collapse. AnOccupational Safety and Health Administration(OSHA) investigation[5]placed official blame for the tower collapse primarily on the maintenance crew, citing the removal of too many tower cross-braces at once for repair. Although a relatively new structure, the steel cross-braces had already shown signs of cracking, rust, and other deterioration thus necessitating the early repair and maintenance.
KTVO, along with the rest of Federal, was acquired byRaycom Mediain 1996. On April 28, 1999, KTVO launched its website.[6]In December 2003, Raycom acquired the television stations of Waitt Media, which included KYOU. However, due to FCCduopolyregulations, KYOU was transferred to Ottumwa Media Holdings, LLC and entered into alocal marketing agreement(LMA) with KTVO. On March 27, 2006, the company announced that it would sell KTVO along with thirteen other stations across the country toBarrington Broadcasting.The sale closed that August. As a result, KYOU's owner, Ottumwa Media Holdings, was renamed American Spirit Media and the LMA dissolved.
KTVO had been serving the Quincy–Hannibal–Keokuk, Iowamarket as the default analog ABC affiliate on cable with some locations being able pick up its over-the-air signal. On August 28, 2007, sister stationKHQA(which had served as CBS' affiliate of record in the Kirksville market after 1974) announced that they would launch a newseconddigital subchannelto offer ABC programming beginning September 30. However, KTVO remains on area cable systems, and launched a CBS-affiliated second digital subchannel on May 15, 2010 effectively marking the network's return to the area after a 36-year absence. Like KHQA-DT2, KTVO-DT2 originally offeredAmerica Oneas a secondary affiliate but has since added syndicated programming to its schedule. On February 28, 2013, Barrington Broadcasting announced the sale of its entire group, including KTVO, toSinclair Broadcast Group.[7]The sale was completed on November 25.[8]In November 2015, KTVO celebrated the 60th anniversary of its original airdate.
Programming
[edit]KTVO's second digital subchannel airs an alternate live feed of theCBS Evening Newsat 6:00 p.m. This is unlike most CBS affiliates in theCentral Time Zone,which normally air the newscast at 5:30 p.m.
News operation
[edit]KTVO was the primary local source of newscasts until 1990 when Fox affiliate KOIA-TV began five-minute mini-newscasts which continued until 1991. On November 2, 2015, that station, now KYOU-TV, launched a 9 p.m. newscast.[9]KTVO shares resources with sister station KHQA and with other Sinclair-owned stations to provide additional coverage. In addition to its main studios, KTVO operates a bureau on South Market Street in Downtown Ottumwa which is just around the corner from the original studios. KTVO-DT2 airs a Southeastern Iowa-focused newscast on weeknights calledKTVO CBS 3.2 News at 6:30originating from the Ottumwa bureau. To meet the needs of the areas increasing Hispanic population, a five-minuteSpanish-language"mini-newscast" was begun on KTVO-DT2 in October 2011, but later discontinued.
In March 2009, KTVO received national attention as the victim of a viewer prank. A list of fake names many considered crude or obscene (i.e. Dixie Normus and Craven Moorhead) was submitted to its weekday morning show birthdays/anniversaries segment. This list was aired in February 2009 and by March a video of the incident began appearing on websites such asYouTubeandBreak.Over 400,000 viewings occurred on YouTube before KTVO management forced the removal citing copyright violations. However, it had gained enough national attention that theHoward Sternradio show andJimmy Kimmel Live!exposed the prank to a larger audience.
During the week of March 19, 2018, KTVO became the second station in the market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. The station's Ottumwa bureau was also upgraded to allow for HD broadcasts.
Notable former staff
[edit]- Steve Bell,former ABC news anchor (Good Morning America)
- Bill Jackson,children's TV host and author
- Kathryn Marlowe,actress and singer
Technical information
[edit]Subchannels
[edit]The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
Channel | Video | Aspect | Short name | Programming[10] |
---|---|---|---|---|
3.1 | 720p | 16:9 | KTVOABC | Main KTVO programming /ABC |
3.2 | 1080i | KTVOCBS | KTVO-DT2 /CBS | |
3.3 | 480i | Comet | Comet TV |
KTVO-DT2 was eventually upgraded from720pinto1080i.
Analog-to-digital conversion
[edit]KTVO discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 3, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United Statestransitioned from analog to digital broadcastsunder federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transitionUHFchannel 33.[11]Through the use ofPSIP,digital television receivers display the station'svirtual channelas its former VHF analog channel 3.
References
[edit]- ^"Facility Technical Data for KTVO".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.
- ^abcdefgBurk, Samuel (1976).A Book of Adair County History.Kirksville, Missouri: Kirksville-Adair County Bicentennial Committee. pp. 271–272.
- ^"TV tower collapses; 2 killed (June 3, 1988)".Retrieved2017-07-11.
- ^"Searchers find missing body in tower collapse".UPI.Retrieved2017-07-11.
- ^"Inspection Detail | Occupational Safety and Health Administration".osha.gov.Retrieved2017-07-11.
- ^"KTVO HOME page".ktvotv3.Archived fromthe originalon 13 October 1999.Retrieved11 January2022.
- ^Malone, Michael (February 28, 2013)."Sinclair's Chesapeake TV Acquires Barrington Stations".Broadcasting & Cable.RetrievedMarch 1,2013.
- ^"Archived copy"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2013-12-03.Retrieved2013-11-25.
{{cite web}}
:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^KYOU is adding a local newscast at 9:00 p.m., starting tomorrow.
- ^RabbitEars TV Query for KTVO
- ^"DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2013-08-29.Retrieved2012-03-24.