KEYC-TV

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KEYC-TV
Image:KEYC-12.gif

Image:Keyc dt2.png
Mankato, Minnesota
Branding News 12
Fox Mankato (DT2)
Slogan The one to watch
Channels Analog: 12 (VHF)

Digital: 38 (UHF)

Subchannels 12.1 KEYC-TV (CBS)
12.2 Fox TV
Affiliations CBS
Fox (DT2)
Owner United Communications Corporation
First air date October 5, 1960
Call letters’ meaning Key City, a former slogan for Mankato
Former affiliations NBC (1960-1961)
UPN (secondary, 1995-2006)
Transmitter Power 316 kW (analog)
300 kW (digital)
Height 317 m (analog)
290.7 m (digital)
Facility ID 68853
Transmitter Coordinates 43°56′12.4″N, 94°24′38.5″W
Website www.keyc.com

KEYC-TV is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Mankato, Minnesota, with studios in neighboring North Mankato. It is the sole station in the market that it serves, ranked as the 11th smallest out of 210 in the United States. The station is not without significant competition: stations from Minneapolis-St. Paul, the 15th largest market, cover major news in the region. The station, though, maintains a highly local focus, such as through its production of the long-running music series Bandwagon.

KEYC launched a digital subchannel, with programming from the Fox network, on July 1, 2007. The Fox subchannel is also carried on cable systems, and Minneapolis Fox affiliate KMSP-TV is blacked out on cable systems during network programming due to market regulations.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

KEYC signed on on October 5, 1960, just in time to broadcast the first game of the World Series that night on NBC. The station was owned by Lee Enterprises, who also started nearby KGLO, now KIMT, in Mason City, Iowa. Less than a year later, it switched its affiliation to CBS, which it maintains to this day. Lee Enterprises, intending to purchase KOIN in Portland, Oregon, was forced to sell the station to United Communications Corporation in 1977, due to ownership limits imposed by the Federal Communications Commission. On July 1, 2007, KEYC launched a digital subchannel affiliated with Fox.[2]

[edit] Coverage

KEYC broadcasts from a transmitter located outside of Lewisville, Minnesota, about 25 miles southwest of Mankato. The station is also available on DirecTV for local viewers. The station owns and operates one translator, K19CA, licensed to St. James, Minnesota.

[edit] Programming

KEYC airs the entire CBS schedule, but does not carry the CBS News overnight program Up to the Minute on their broadcast signal, signing off at around 1:00 each morning, though cable viewers in Mankato and some surrounding areas receive the program via WCCO, Minneapolis. KEYC is one of very few broadcast stations to still sign off nightly, as opposed to on weekends, once a week, or not at all.

A half-hour noon newscast airs weekdays, and a half-hour evening newscast airs at 6:00 p.m. weekdays and Saturdays. Late local news airs everyday of the week from 10:00 p.m. to 10:35 p.m. The station also provides three short local news updates in the morning during the The Early Show, as well as a short interview segment focusing on community organizations.

Aside from news, two programs has aired almost throughout the station's history: Bandwagon, and a local religious program, I Believe in Miracles, which first aired on February 19, 1961. Various other local programs have aired over the years, as well as a variety of specials, such as on holiday music or major community issues.

[edit] External links