KCTV

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KCTV
Kansas City
Branding	KCTV5
Slogan	"Live, Late-breaking, Investigative"
Channels	5 (VHF) analog, 24 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	CBS (since 1955)
Owner	Meredith Corporation
Founded	1953
Call letters meaning	Kansas City's TeleVision
Former callsigns	KCMO-TV (1953-83)
Former affiliations	ABC, DuMont (1953-55)
Website	www.kctv.com

For the North Korean TV channel, see Korean Central Television

KCTV (channel 5, DTV 24), "KCTV5" is the CBS affiliate television station in the Kansas City Designated market area. Currently owned by the Meredith Corporation, the station runs practically the entire CBS schedule, along with local news and first run syndicated shows. It is a sister station to MyNetworkTV affiliate KSMO-TV channel 62.

Contents 1 History 2 Branding 3 Content 4 Controversial programming 5 Awards and honors 6 Newscasts 7 Logos 8 Tower 9 List of on-air personalities 9.1 Current 9.2 Past 10 References 11 External links

[edit] History

The broadcast history dates to 1925 when the Wilson Duncan Broadcasting Company launched KWKC radio. In 1936 the station changed its call letters to KCMO (AM).^[1] Walter Cronkite broadcast sports for the radio and met his wife (Mary Elizabeth Maxwell) while working there in the 1930s.

In September 1953 the television station began as KCMO-TV (for Kansas City MissOuri), it was originally an ABC affiliate with DuMont programming. A week after its launch Meredith Broadcasting bought both the television and radio from KCMO Broadcasting Corporation in October 1953. ^[2]. In 1955 it became a CBS affiliate.

Its call letters were changed to KCTV in 1983, when it was split from KCMO (AM) and KCMO-FM and moved from its studio (now occupied by KCPT) next to its landmark tower in Missouri to Fairway, Kansas.

The KCTV transmission tower is a 317.6-meter-high free-standing steel framework tower for FM and TV broadcasting, and is located in Kansas City, Missouri, its city of license.

In May 2006, KCTV acquired a helicopter for news (named "Chopper 5"). The station was the last in the market (with a news department) to use a helicopter regularly for news coverage.

[edit] Branding

As featured in news footage from the 1960s, KCMO-TV branded itself as "Television 5". The branding was simplified to "TV5" when the "Eyewitness News" format was adopted, and continued into the 1980s. When Meredith separated KCMO radio from KCMO-TV, the "KCTV" calls were adopted based on the familiarity of the "TV5" branding. A font similar to that of co-owned WNEM-TV was then adopted, and a new slogan brought forth: "TV5 Loves You".

The advertised "TV5" branding ended in 1992, when a new logo was adopted and KCTV took on the "Kansas City's News" slogan, simply taking on the "KCTV Kansas City" branding. Its logo, however, continues to subtly advertise its commonly known former branding, "TV5", by changing the font of "TV" (as done when the "TV5" branding was dropped from 1992-2000), bolding the "TV" (as done from 2000-2002), or connecting "T" to "V" (as seen in the current logo).^{[citation needed]}

In 1995, KCTV dropped "Kansas City's News" and adopted "In Kansas City, '5' stands for News" as its new slogan. Its newscasts were branded as "News 5"; however, KCTV still branded itself as "KCTV Kansas City".

KCTV took on its current "KCTV5" branding upon a logo redesign in April 2000.

[edit] Content

Over the years KCTV would preempt moderate amounts of CBS programming such as some morning daytime shows, Sunday morning cartoons, a couple Saturday morning cartoons, an occasional prime time show, and some late night shows prior to David Letterman's arrival in 1993. Today KCTV still runs a large amount of local news along with most every CBS show. The only CBS program it currently regularly pre-empts is The Saturday Early Show in favor of "KCTV5 News This Weekend"; however, it has been shown in years past as a brief back-up in the event of technical difficulty.

KCTV and its news director, Regent Ducas, have come under fire in recent years for bringing what some call tabloid-style reporting to the market. "Live, Late-breaking, Investigative" became KCTV's new slogan in September 2002 (also the slogan of sister KPHO), six months after Regent's hiring. A year later, sports reporting was outsourced to Metro Sports, a local cable channel operated by Time Warner Cable, with most of the former staff making the move.

Because of the station's "new direction", several high profile anchors and reporters left the station, including Anne Peterson, Russell Kinsaul (who is now working across the state in St. Louis) and Dave Helling.

[edit] Controversial programming

KCTV has not shied away from reporting on controversial topics, two of which were featured nationally by CBS. KCTV aired a seven-part series in February 2004 that exposed the dangers children can face in internet chat rooms. A group called Perverted Justice[1] posed as minors in chat rooms and waited for adult men to proposition them for sex. The "minors" then invited the men to meet them at a house where KCTV was waiting. The program Dateline NBC later used Perverted Justice as the basis for its "To Catch A Predator" series.

After the series aired, local law enforcement made a new effort to police chat rooms and prosecute men who attempt to meet minors for sex through the internet. None of the people "stung" by KCTV could be charged in these cases, because the operation was done without police involvement.

In June 2005, KCTV exposed a doctor's negligent handling of private medical records. A scavenger gave the station a computer found at the curb of a Mission Hills, Kansas plastic surgeon's home. The plastic surgeon claimed he erased the patients' information from the computer. However, only the computer's random access memory was removed. The computer's hard drive was intact and contained photos and files on many patients.

KCTV attempted to contact several of the patients whose information was found on the discarded computer. The surgeon sued, citing that interviewing the patients violated medical confidentiality. The judge ruled in favor of the doctor, though KCTV took the case to federal court in Kansas City, Kansas. The doctor withdrew his lawsuit, and the story aired on June 30.

As a result of this story, several of the surgeon's patients have filed a class action lawsuit against him for negligent handling of their confidential records. [2]

[edit] Awards and honors

In November 2004, KCTV won the coveted 10pm news race, unseating KMBC for the first time in a decade. However, in November 2006, KCTV dropped back to second place at 10pm. The station remains in third place at 5 and 6pm, after KMBC and WDAF. KCTV continues to win the noon news, but once again finishes third in the morning.

KCTV's news team has been honored with the Mid-America Emmy award for overall news excellence, the Edward R. Murrow Award for overall news excellence and multiple awards for its investigative reporting.

[edit] Newscasts

Weekdays

• KCTV5 More In The Morning - 5 AM-7 AM
• KCTV5 News at Noon - NOON-12:30 PM
• KCTV5 News at Four - 4 PM-5 PM
• KCTV5 News at Five - 5 PM-5:30 PM
• KCTV5 News at Six - 6 PM-6:30 PM
• KCTV5 News at Ten - 10 PM-10:35 PM

Saturdays

• KCTV5 This Weekend - 7 AM-10 AM
• KCTV5 News at Five - 5 PM-5:30 PM
• KCTV5 News at Six - 6 PM-6:30 PM
• KCTV5 News at Ten - 10 PM-10:35 PM

Sundays

• KCTV5 This Weekend - 9:30 AM-11 AM
• KCTV5 News at 5:30 - 5:30 PM-6 PM
• KCTV5 News at Ten - 10 PM-10:30 PM
• KCTV5 News at 10:30 - 10:30 PM-11 PM

KCTV produces a 9 PM newscast every night under its namesake for sister KSMO ever since the latter was bought by Meredith. The purpose was to compete with WDAF.

[edit] Logos

KCMO circa 1970-1974.	Original KCTV logo, based apon sisters KPHO, and WNEM, and ex-sister WTVH.	KCTV "Heart logo" from 1984-1990	KCTV logo from 1993-1999
KCTV logo from 1999-2002	Current KCTV logo, used since 2002

[edit] Tower

KCTV's tower, located at its former studios (now the KCPT studios) on East 31st Street on Union Hill in Kansas City, Missouri, is a widely-recognized Kansas City landmark, due largely in part to the string lights on the four corners of the tower that can be seen for miles around at night. It is so recognized that, for a time, it was the official logo of KCTV. It is 317.6 m tall. Prior to September 11, 2001, KCTV flashed the lights on the tower due to inclimate weather in downtown/immediate surrounding communities, in three sections:

• Top third flashing = Thunderstorm watch/Tornado watch/Winter Weather Advisory
• Two thirds flashing = Thunderstorm warning/Winter Weather Warning
• All lights flashing = Tornado warning/highly threatening weather

After the September 11 attacks, KCTV changed the tower to red-white-blue, with the top third red and the bottom third blue.

The lights on the tower went dark for a period, until all of the light bulbs could be changed. On July 1, 2006, KCTV turned the tower back on, in all white lights, just as it originally was. Since then, there has been no threatening weather condition affecting downtown Kansas City, Missouri; it is yet to be determined whether the tower will flash in the same manner it had before September 11, 2001.

The tower is similar to the KQTV 750 feet (228.6 m) high tower in St. Joseph, Missouri. Both stations began broadcasting on September 27, 1953.

[edit] List of on-air personalities

[edit] Current

• Gary Amble - "More in the Morning" and noon meteorologist
• Amy Anderson - Weekend 6 and 10 PM anchor
• Julie Broski - "KCTV5 News This Weekend" morning meteorologist
• Surae Chinn - "KCTV5 News This Weekend" morning news anchor
• Karen Fuller - 5, 6, 9* and 10 PM anchor
• Katie Horner - Chief Meteorologist, 4, 5, 6, 9* and 10 PM
• Liana Joyce - reporter
• Leif Lisec - KCTV5 "MetroSports Report" - 5, 6, 9* and 10 PM weekdays
• Carolyn Long - "More in the Morning" and Noon anchor/health reporter
• Devon Lucie - Weekend 6 & 10 PM meteorologist
• Randy Miller - "More in the Morning" Traffic Anchor as of August 14th, 2006 (Former KC Radio Personality)
• Craig Nigrelli - Weekend 6 and 10 PM anchor
• Sandra Olivas - reporter
• Chris Pisano - "More in the Morning" and Noon anchor
• Ash-har Quraishi - chief investigative reporter
• Heather Staggers - reporter
• Brad Stephens - 4, 5, 6, 9* and 10 PM anchor
• Matt Stewart - "KCTV5 News This Weekend" morning news anchor
• Tim Vetscher - reporter
• Tom Wait - reporter
• Betsy Webster - reporter
• Sophia Wharton - reporter
• Ty Wilson - reporter
• Dana Wright - 4 PM anchor

Asterisks denote the KSMO-TV 9 PM newscast.

[edit] Past

• Michael Scott - 5, 6, 9 (on 62), and 10 PM anchor until December 1, 2006 [3]
• Karen Foss - 6 and 10 PM anchor, moved to KSDK, St. Louis
• Mike Thompson - Chief Meteorologist, moved to WDAF-TV
• Fred Broski - "KCTV5 News This Weekend" morning meteorologist
• Tracy Townsend - moved to WBBM-TV, Chicago, now at WBNS-TV, Columbus, Ohio
• Wendall Anchsutz - 5 and 10 PM anchor at time of retirement
• Jack Harry - Sports reporter, moved to KSHB-TV
• Lili Shank - 5 PM anchor
• Kathy Quinn - "KCTV5 News This Morning" traffic reporter, moved to WDAF-TV
• Valissa Smith - "KCTV5 News This Weekend" morning anchor
• Dee Griffin - Weekend 6 and 10 PM anchor, moved to WPTY
• Brian Curtis - "KCTV5 News This Morning" weekday anchor, moved to KXAS-TV
• Barbara Porter - Weekend 6 and 10 PM anchor
• Bob Thill - "KCTV5 News This Weekend" morning anchor
• Anne Peterson - 5 and 6 PM anchor, moved to KSHB-TV
• Russell Kinsaul - 6 and 10 PM anchor, moved to KMOV, St. Louis
• William Jackson - Sports director (ousted with the KCTV sports dept.), now with Comcast Sportsnet-Chicago
• Bruce Thomas - Weekend 6 and 10 PM meteorologist
• Dave Helling - 4 PM and Weekend 6 and 10 PM anchor
• Ted Textor - Weekend 6 & 10 PM meteorologist
• Ally Francis - "More in the Morning" traffic anchor, resigned after being indicted for federal wire fraud[4]

[edit] References

1. ^ Kansas City's KCMO, WHB and KCXL
2. ^ Chillicothe Constitution, October 3, 1953

[edit] External links

• KCTV's website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KCTV
• KC Radio history
• KCTV tower at www.structurae.net
• FCC-license

Coordinates: 39°4′14.37″N, 94°34′57.53″W