KWCH-TV

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KWCH-TV
Hutchinson/Wichita, Kansas
Branding	KWCH 12 Eyewitness News
Channels	12 (VHF) analog, 19 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	CBS
Owner	Schurz Communications (Sunflower Broadcasting, Inc.)
Founded	July 1, 1953
Call letters meaning	K WiCHita
Former callsigns	KTVH (1953-83)
Former affiliations	NBC (secondary, 1953-54); ABC (1954-55); DuMont (secondary, 1953-56)
Website	www.kwch.com

KWCH channel 12 is the CBS affiliate television station in Wichita, Kansas. It is licensed to nearby Hutchinson, with studios in Wichita. and owned by Schurz Communications.

KWCH is the flagship station for the Kansas Broadcasting System (KBS), a network of CBS affiliates serving central and western Kansas, along with parts of Nebraska and Oklahoma.

The KBS stations are:

• KBSD-TV channel 6 Ensign/Dodge City, also serving Garden City and Liberal. The station also reaches portions of the Oklahoma Panhandle.
• KBSH-TV channel 7 Hays, also serving Great Bend.
• KBSL-TV channel 10 Goodland, also serving Colby. The station also reaches parts of Nebraska.

KWCH also produces an evening newscast for Fox affiliate KSAS-TV called Fox Kansas Eyewitness News at 9:00pm.

Contents 1 History 2 Current on-air personalities 3 Past personalities 4 External links

[edit] History

Channel 12 debuted July 1, 1953 as KTVH, the state's first television station. It broadcast from a studio in Hutchinson, and was owned by a group of local businessmen. It added a studio in Wichita in 1954 and opened a low-powered relay there, KEDD-TV. In 1955, the station was bought by Cowles Communications of Des Moines, Iowa. In 1956, the station moved to a modern studio on 37th Street North in Wichita, where the station still is today. It also boosted its power to cover the entire Wichita metropolitan area, allowing it to shut down KEDD. However, the station still identifies as "Hutchinson/Wichita."

The station originally carried programming from all four major networks of the time (CBS, NBC, ABC and DuMont), but has always been a primary CBS affiliate. It lost NBC in 1954 when KAKE-TV signed on, and the two stations shared ABC programming until KARD-TV (now KSNW) signed on in 1955 as an NBC affiliate.

In 1962, the FCC ruled that central and western Kansas were part of the Wichita market. As a result, Cowles bought KTVC-TV in Dodge City (now KBSD), KAYS-TV in Hays (now KBSH) and KLOE-TV in Goodland (now KBSL) and formed the Kansas Broadcasting System, with KTVH as the flagship station. In 1963, channel 12 activated its current tower in Burton, just east of Hutchinson.

In 1983, the Cowles family began selling off its vast media holdings. KTVH and its sister stations were sold to the Kansas Broadcasting System Corporation, owned by a pair of businessmen from Hays. They changed the call letters to the current KWCH-TV. KBS Corporation merged with Smith Broadcasting of Birmingham, Alabama in 1989. An employee-owned group bought the station in 1989. Spartan Communications of Spartanburg, South Carolina bought the station in 1994. Spartan merged with Media General in 2000.

In 2005, KWCH received the "Large Market Television Station of the Year" award from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters[1].

On April 6, 2006, previous owner Media General announced that it would sell KWCH (including its satellites, which all count as one station) and four other stations as a result of its purchase of four former NBC owned and operated stations. [2]. Schurz eventually emerged as the winner, and took over on September 25, 2006. [3] [4]

[edit] Current on-air personalities

• Cindy Klose - News Anchor - 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 10 p.m.
• Roger Cornish - News Anchor - 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 10 p.m.
• Merril Teller - Chief Meteorologist
• Mark Larson - Meteorologist
• Ross Janssen - Meteorologist
• Lindsey Butor - Meteorologist
• Rodney Price - Meteorologist
• Bruce Haertl - Sports Anchor
• Richard Smith - Sports Anchor/Reporter
• Bryan Holmgren - Sports Anchor/Reporter
• Felicia Rolfe - News Anchor/Reporter - 5 a.m.
• Matt Mauro - News Anchor/Reporter - 5 a.m.
• Kim Setty - News Anchor/Reporter - 12 p.m.
• Michael Schwanke - News Anchor/Reporter Weekend News
• Kim Hynes - News Anchor/Reporter Weekend News
• Liz Collin - Reporter, 2005-January, 2007 (to Philadelphia)[5]
• Jim Grawe - Reporter
• Tucker Jankosky - Reporter
• Cliff Judy - Reporter
• Linda Mares - Reporter
• Sarah Pierik - Reporter
• Alana Rocha - Reporter
• Kim Wilhelm - Reporter

[edit] Past personalities

• David Bloom - Reporter, 1988–1989 (deceased)
• Cheryl Burton - News Anchor, (now at WLS-TV)
• Bernard Choi - education/city government Reporter, 2001-2004 (now at KING-TV)
• Mark Ewing - Sports anchor/reporter, (now at WIBW-TV)
• Michael Herzenberg (went to WTNH)
• Taunia Hottman (now at KUSA-TV)
• Jim Kobbe - Sports anchor/reporter, (now at KSNW-TV)
• Chris Koeberl - Investigative Reporter, 1999-2004 (went to KOB-TV)
• Susan Peters - News Anchor, 1983–1991
• Delaina Renfro - Reporter, 2002
• Joe Sheeran - Reporter, 2003-2006 (from KDLT-TV[6]; to Philadelphia)[7]
• Kristi Tedesco - (now at KVOA)

[edit] External links

• KWCH Homepage
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KWCH