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KPTM

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Coordinates:41°4′15.9″N96°13′32.3″W/ 41.071083°N 96.225639°W/41.071083; -96.225639
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KPTM
The Fox network logo in black next to a blue numeral 42 in a sans serif with custom cuts. Beneath is the text "K P T M Omaha/Council Bluffs".
The CW network logo with the word "Omaha" above
CityOmaha, Nebraska
Channels
BrandingFox 42
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
KXVO
History
First air date
April 6, 1986(38 years ago)(1986-04-06)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:42 (UHF, 1986–2009)
  • Digital:43 (UHF, 2002–2019)
Independent(1986–1988)
Call signmeaning
Pappas Telecastingof the Midlands, founding owner
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID51491
ERP800 kW
HAAT475 m (1,558 ft)
Transmitter coordinates41°4′15.9″N96°13′32.3″W/ 41.071083°N 96.225639°W/41.071083; -96.225639
Links
Public license information
Website

KPTM(channel 42) is atelevision stationinOmaha, Nebraska,United States, affiliated withFoxandThe CW.It is owned bySinclair Broadcast Group,which provides certain services toTBDoutletKXVO(channel 15) under alocal marketing agreement(LMA) with Mitts Telecasting Company. Both stations share studios on Farnam Street in Omaha, while KPTM's transmitter is located on Pflug Road, south ofGretnaandI-80.

KPTM went on air as Omaha's firstindependent stationin 1986. It was built by and named for California-basedPappas Telecasting.KPTM affiliated with Fox in 1988, after Pappas originally sat out the network's launch, and began airing local newscasts in June 1990. After the bankruptcy of Pappas, Titan Broadcast Management acquired the station in 2009, selling most of its broadcasting properties to Sinclair in 2013. While KPTM aired a 9 p.m. newscast for more than 30 years, a major attempt at expansion in the late 1990s was rolled back for economic reasons less than 18 months later, and for the last decade, the news programs were presented by talent outside the Omaha market.

History[edit]

Construction and Pappas ownership[edit]

Pappas Telecastingbegan conducting community surveys in February 1979 with an eye to establishing a station onultra high frequency(UHF) channel 15 in Omaha; the company also leased the building at 2615 Farnam Street, recently vacated byKMTV.[2]Competition grew crowded for channel 15, with three groups in the running by June 1979[3]and a total of eight by early November, when Pappas switched from seeking channel 15 to channel 42.[4]There was only one other group that had filed for channel 42: Christian Broadcasting of the Midlands, which in March filed an application proposing a Christian television station.[5]

Pappas was selected over Christian Broadcasting by theFederal Communications Commission(FCC) for a construction permit in 1984 and announced its plans to put channel 42 on the air by October 1985.[6]However, the battle between the two applicants continued because Christian Broadcasting of the Midlands appealed the FCC's decision to the commission's review board and then to the full FCC.[7]

After Christian lost, construction began on KPTM (taking its name from the owner, Pappas Telecasting of the Midlands). A tower was built inSarpy County, Nebraska,while a former insurance office at 4625 Farnam was renovated for the TV station.[8]Prior to the launch of KPTM, Omaha had no independent stations. OnlyKBGT-TV"Big 8", which primarily served the central and western part of the state, operated as an independent in Nebraska, and two independent stations operated in Iowa.[9]

KPTM began broadcasting on April 6, 1986.[10]Even though it was the only non-network station in Omaha, it refused to join the fledglingFoxnetwork at its launch that October. Doing so meant KPTM would have had to carry Fox's first and initially only offering,The Late ShowStarringJoan Rivers,oppositeThe Tonight Show.At the time,The Tonight Showwas hosted byJohnny Carson,a native of nearbyCorning, Iowa,who spent his youth inNorfolk, Nebraska,and had begun his career at Omaha'sWOW-TVin the early 1950s. Station manager Gary Nielsen told theLincoln Journal Star,"Why would you program Joan Rivers in Johnny Carson's hometown?"[11]In the July 1986Arbitronratings, KPTM was the highest-rated independent station in the country in prime time and the third-highest in total-day audience share.[11]

In September 1988, the three Pappas independents—KPTM;KMPH-TVinFresno, California;andWHNSinAsheville, North Carolina—joined Fox.[12]Pappas expanded its programming in the Omaha market when it began operating the newKXVO(channel 15) in 1995; the station, owned by Cocola Broadcasting, was an affiliate ofThe WB.[13]

Titan and Sinclair ownership[edit]

Pappas Telecasting filed for bankruptcy in May 2008.[14]Several Pappas stations, including KPTM and its local marketing agreement to program KXVO, were sold to Titan Broadcast Management in 2009.[15]During this time, co-owned KCWL-TV in Lincoln was converted to an in-market Fox affiliate asKFXL-TV.[16]Cable carriage of KPTM's high-definition feed in Lincoln was discontinued in 2012 in favor of KFXL-TV, though KPTM continued to be offered instandard definition.[17]

Also in 2009, the station completed its conversion to digital television on June 12.[18]The station's digital transmissions remained on channel 43, usingvirtual channel42,[19]until KPTM relocated its signal from channel 43 to channel 26 on June 2, 2019, as a result of the2016 United States wireless spectrum auction.[20]

Titan TV Broadcast Group announced the sale of most of its stations, including KPTM, to theSinclair Broadcast Groupon June 3, 2013; the purchase includes the local marketing agreement with KXVO,[21]which remained under Mitts Telecasting LLC ownership after the sale. Sinclair announced the closing of the sale on October 3.[22]

News operation[edit]

Under Pappas[edit]

At the end of 1989, new KPTM general manager Hal Protter announced that the station would debut a weeknight 9 p.m. newscast in 1990.[23]Protter was familiar with news on independent stations, having supervised newsrooms atKPLR-TVinSt. Louis,KRBK-TVinSacramento,andWVTVinMilwaukee.On June 14, 1990, theNine O'Clock Nightly Newsdebuted as a half-hour program;[24]the newscast title had previously been used by Protter at WVTV.[23]The month before, the station had aired its first live news program when it broadcast cut-ins of Nebraska election returns into its prime time programming.[25]Fox took interest in the startup newsroom in Omaha as a model for Fox stations in smaller markets seeking to add newscasts.[26]The half-hour newscast expanded to an hour in October 1995, a change that had been planned for several years.[27][28]

The KPTM news department made plans for expansion in 1998 with the launch of a3+1⁄2-hour morning newscast,Good Day,as well as an 11 a.m. newscast. Pappas invested $1.5 million in new equipment and a new news set and doubled the news staffing. The previous set was then shipped to the Pappas-ownedNebraska Television Network(NTV) inKearney.[29]However, the news expansions were rolled back for economic reasons in March 2000, resulting in 28 employees being laid off.[30]Generally, KPTM's newscasts had a higher proportion of national news stories than their competitors.[31]Another expansion was attempted with a 4 p.m. newscast in 2007,[32]but this was canceled in 2009 as the station laid off 22 staffers due to theGreat Recession.[33]

Outsourcing and shutdown[edit]

On July 6, 2010, station management announced it would cease presenting the newscast in Omaha and outsource production of the 9 p.m. newscast to theIndependent News NetworkofDavenport, Iowa,starting September 6. The move allowed KPTM to convert its newscasts to high-definition production but resulted in layoffs in Omaha.[31]In a 2011 interview withBroadcasting & Cable,general manager Jeff Miller credited the outsourcing to INN with allowing KPTM to "stay in the news game".[34]

By July 2013, after the announcement that KPTM would be acquired by Sinclair, the station announced it would discontinue its agreement with INN and return production of the 9 p.m. in-house, with station management citing viewers' dislike of the outsourced production model. At the outset, the "On the Street" setup would be retained, but the newscasts would be produced with the assistance of KPTM's Fresno sister station, KMPH-TV.[35]As late as 2022, the Fresno-produced news program was described by its general manager as "a nice looking, locally flavored, profitable newscast".[36]

Sinclair shut down the Fresno-produced KPTM newscast on May 12, 2023, making Omaha one of five markets where all newscasts on the Sinclair-owned station were discontinued in favor ofThe National Desk.[37]

Technical information[edit]

Subchannels[edit]

The station's signal ismultiplexed:

Subchannels of KPTM[38]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
42.1 720p 16:9 FOX42 Fox
42.2 480i MyTV MyNetworkTV&Dabl
42.3 720p CW The CW
42.4 480i Comet Comet
15.1 480i 16:9 TBD TBD(KXVO)
Broadcast on behalf of another station

The main subchannel of KXVO, with programming fromThe CW,became the 42.3 subchannel of KPTM on September 14, 2021.[39]KXVO then began broadcasting programming from the Sinclair-owneddiginetTBD, converting toATSC 3.0broadcasting in April 2022.[40]

References[edit]

  1. ^"Facility Technical Data for KPTM".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^Ivey, James (February 9, 1979)."Californian Tunes Plan for TV Station".Omaha World-Herald.p. 35.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  3. ^"Nebaskans Request TV License".Omaha World-Herald.June 21, 1979. p. 53.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  4. ^Jordan, Jeff (November 8, 1979)."Competition for UHF Station Spreading to 2 Channels".Omaha World-Herald.p. 63.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  5. ^Cattau, Daniel (April 17, 1979)."Plans Proceed for Christian TV Station in City".Omaha World-Herald.p. 23.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  6. ^"Pappas TV Firm Plans Broadcasts".Omaha World-Herald.Associated Press. July 19, 1984. p. 67.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  7. ^Gonzalez, Cindy (November 9, 1985)."Future Potential Seen: Needs Hamper Religion Channel".Omaha World-Herald.p. 7.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  8. ^Millburg, Steve (February 22, 1986)."KPTM Will Start Broadcasting in April".Omaha World-Herald.p. 45.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  9. ^Gonzalez, Cindy (August 17, 1985)."Battle for Channel 42 Nearing an End".Omaha World-Herald.p. 7.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  10. ^Gollim, Doug (April 4, 1986)."Television Station KPTM Ready to Go on Air Sunday".Omaha World-Herald.p. 44.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  11. ^abWolgamott, L. Kent (September 28, 1986)."Omaha's Channel 42 ties with Chicago's WGN: KPTM rated No. 1 independent stations".The Lincoln Star.p. 1TV,18TV.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  12. ^Wolgamott, L. Kent (August 28, 1988)."Fox programs to debut here over KPTM next weekend".Lincoln Journal Star.p. 1TV.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  13. ^Minge, Jim (May 13, 1995)."Changes Afoot At KMTV".Omaha World-Herald.p. 59.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  14. ^Larson, Virgil (May 12, 2008)."KPTM, KXVO to stay on air".Omaha World-Herald.p. 2D.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  15. ^"New World Gets Pappas TVs for $260M".TVnewsday.January 16, 2009. Archived fromthe originalon July 30, 2018.RetrievedJanuary 18,2009.
  16. ^Korbelik, Jeff (June 5, 2009)."Station switches to Fox".Lincoln Journal Star.p. F1.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  17. ^Korbelik, Jeff (August 6, 2012)."Time Warner drops KPTM's high-def channel".Lincoln Journal Star.Archivedfrom the original on August 8, 2012.RetrievedAugust 7,2012.
  18. ^Redemske, Bryan (February 7, 2009)."June 6 [sic] is the new Feb. 17—except where it isn't".Omaha World-Herald.pp. 1E,2E.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  19. ^"DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds"(PDF).Federal Communications Commission. May 23, 2006. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on August 29, 2013.RetrievedAugust 29,2021.
  20. ^"FCC TV Spectrum Phase Assignment Table"(CSV).Federal Communications Commission.April 13, 2017.Archivedfrom the original on April 17, 2017.RetrievedApril 17,2017.
  21. ^"Sinclair Buys 6 Titan Television Stations".TVNewsCheck.June 3, 2013.Archivedfrom the original on September 21, 2013.RetrievedJune 4,2013.
  22. ^Sinclair Broadcast Group."Sinclair Broadcast Group Closes on Acquisition of the Titan Stations"(PDF)(Press release). Archived fromthe original(PDF)on October 4, 2013.RetrievedOctober 3,2013.
  23. ^abBahr, Jeff (December 30, 1989)."KPTM's 'Next Step' Is 9 p.m. Newscast".Omaha World-Herald.p. 51.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  24. ^Bahr, Jeff (June 9, 1990)."KPTM News Follows Proven Formula".Omaha World-Herald.p. 65.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  25. ^Bahr, Jeff (May 19, 1990)."Primary Coverage Is First Live News for Channel 42".Omaha World-Herald.p. 12.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  26. ^Wolgamott, L. Kent (May 30, 1990)."KPTM adding news at 9 p.m. next month".Lincoln Journal.p. 15.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  27. ^"World-Herald, KPTM Reach Agreement".Omaha World-Herald.October 3, 1995. p. 14.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  28. ^Bahr, Jeff (December 26, 1992)."KPTM Expands Nightly News".Omaha World-Herald.p. 43.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  29. ^Johnson, Tom (September 7, 1998)."Channel 42 bringing big changes to newsroom".Lincoln Journal Star.p. 2C.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  30. ^Korbelik, Jeff (March 20, 2000)."KPTM's news cutbacks force big changes".Lincoln Journal Star.p. 4B.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  31. ^abPitcher, John (July 8, 2010)."KPTM outsources newscast to Iowa".Omaha World-Herald.Archived fromthe originalon September 5, 2012.
  32. ^Malone, Michael (October 26, 2007)."Omaha Stakes".Broadcasting & Cable.Archivedfrom the original on May 25, 2022.RetrievedMay 2,2023.
  33. ^Keenan, John (April 4, 2009)."KPTM cuts jobs, ends 4 p.m. news".Omaha World-Herald.p. 7A.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023– via Newspapers.
  34. ^Malone, Michael (September 4, 2011)."Market Eye: Big Two in Big Ten Market".Broadcasting & Cable.Archivedfrom the original on October 16, 2021.RetrievedMay 2,2023.
  35. ^"Fox 42 News at Nine Revamps".Nebraska Broadcasters Association.July 2013. Archived fromthe originalon August 17, 2013.RetrievedJuly 4,2013.
  36. ^Malone, Michael (July 15, 2022)."Local News Close-Up: Omaha Stakes".Broadcasting & Cable.Archivedfrom the original on March 28, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023.
  37. ^Stahl, Michael (May 1, 2023)."Sinclair Shutters Five News Markets: 'We Just Turned Off The Lights For Many'".TVNewsCheck.Archivedfrom the original on May 2, 2023.RetrievedMay 1,2023.
  38. ^"TV Query for KPTM".RabbitEars.Archivedfrom the original on September 25, 2013.RetrievedSeptember 21,2013.
  39. ^"How to rescan your TV to get channels with an antenna".KPTM.September 14, 2021.Archivedfrom the original on April 11, 2023.RetrievedMay 2,2023.
  40. ^Lafayette, Jon (April 20, 2022)."Omaha Stations Start Switch to NextGen TV Broadcasting".Broadcasting & Cable.Archivedfrom the original on May 23, 2022.RetrievedMay 2,2023.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=KPTM&oldid=1217453353"