| Shreveport, Louisiana | |
|---|---|
| Branding | KTBS 3 (general) KTBS 3 News (newscasts) |
| Slogan | On Your Side (general) News When You Need It; First in News, First in HD (news) Local Lives Here (6 p.m. newscast) The Calm During The Storm (weather) |
| Channels | Digital: 28 (UHF) Virtual: 3 (PSIP) |
| Affiliations | ABC (secondary until 1960) |
| Owner | KTBS, Inc. (Wray family) |
| First air date | September 3, 1955 |
| Call letters' meaning | Tri-State Broadcasting System |
| Sister station(s) | KPXJ |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 3 (VHF, 1955-2009) |
| Former affiliations | Primary: NBC (1955-1960) |
| Transmitter power | 1000 kW |
| Height | 563 m |
| Facility ID | 35652 |
| Website | KTBS.com |
KTBS-TV, virtual channel 3, is the ABC-affiliated television station in Shreveport, Louisiana. Its transmitter is located near Mooringsport. The station broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 28 and is owned locally by the Wray family as part of a duopoly with the CW affiliate KPXJ (channel 21). The two stations share studios on East Kings Highway in Shreveport, as well as equipment, talent, and crew.
Contents |
The station's digital signal is broadcast on UHF channel 28, and is multiplexed:
Digital channels
| Virtual Channel |
Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | 720p | 16:9 | Main KTBS-TV programming / ABC HD |
| 3.2 | 480i | 4:3 | AccuWeather.com |
| 3.3 | 480i | 4:3 | KTBS 24 Hour News Channel |
On June 12, 2009, KTBS-TV left channel 3 and moved to channel 28 when the analog to digital conversion completed.[1]
KTBS began broadcasting on September 3, 1955. It was owned by the Wray family along with KTBS radio (AM 710, now KEEL) and several other radio stations in Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas. These stations were known as the Tri-State Broadcasting System--hence the station's calls. The radio stations were sold off in the late 1950s, but the Wrays have retained channel 3 to this day.
The station was originally a primary NBC affiliate, sharing ABC with KSLA-TV. In 1960, Shreveport and Texarkana were collapsed into a single television market. Texarkana's KTAL-TV took over the NBC affiliation for the enlarged market, leaving KTBS with ABC. Over the years, KTBS has been one of the strongest ABC affiliates in the country. Along with sister station KPXJ, it is one of the only locally owned and operated stations in the area.
The station was one of two de facto ABC affiliates (KLAX-TV (channel 31) in Alexandria being the other) for the Monroe area starting in 1994, when their ABC affiliate, KARD-TV (channel 14) switched its affiliation to Fox, until 1998, when ABC returned to the Monroe area on upstart KAQY (channel 11).
KTBS is carried on various cable companies outside of the designated market. KTBS is carried as far as Longview, Texas to the west, Mount Pleasant, Arkansas to the northwest, El Dorado, Arkansas to the northeast, Jonesboro, Louisiana to the southeast, and Carthage, Texas to the southwest.
KTBS clears the entire ABC schedule, with the exception of World News Sunday, which is pre-empted in favor of an hour-long newscast on Sundays at 5 p.m. As of 2009, it is one of a few television stations still signing off at night. The station signs off on Friday nights/early Saturday mornings at 1:05-4 a.m. and on Saturday nights/early Sunday mornings at 1:45-5 a.m. But instead of a usual sign-off, its weather radar is displayed instead.
KTBS was the home of the Louisiana Lottery drawings from its inception in 1993 to April 2009 when KTAL acquired the rights to the drawings.
In 2003, following the Wrays' purchase of KPXJ from Paxson Communications, KTBS began producing a nightly, half-hour 9 o'clock newscast (which has since been expanded to one-hour in length) on that station. The broadcast consists of the same format as the 10 o'clock news on KTBS. Additionally, KTBS produces a half-hour, weekday morning newscast at 7 a.m. on KPXJ. KTBS had aired rebroadcasts of its 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts on KPXJ before the station switched from i affiliation to UPN. As of the May 2008 ratings period, KTBS is rated number one in several time periods.
In addition to their main studios, KTBS operates two news bureaus: the Texarkana Bureau is located on Jefferson Avenue in Texarkana, Arkansas. On weeknights at 6 and 10 o'clock, the station airs news segments from the East Texas area. KTBS operates a 24-hour live signal of its "KTBS Mega 3 Radar" on its second digital subchannel, which, in addition to airing weather reports, also air Texas Rangers baseball games on Friday Nights. On its third digital subchannel, KTBS operates a 24-hour news rebroadcast channel known as KTBS 24 Hour News. It is also offered on Comcast basic channel 30 and digital channel 201.
On October 15, 2008, KTBS began broadcasting its newscasts in a 16:9 standard definition widescreen format; becoming the first station in the market to do so. On June 28, 2010, KTBS expanded its 6 p.m. newscast to one hour, becoming the first station in the market to carry an hour-long 6 p.m. newscast (CBS affiliate KSLA began broadcasting an hour-long 6 p.m. newscast a short time later); As a result, KTAL is the only Big Three affiliate in the market to carry syndicated programming during the 6:30 half-hour.
In July 2010, KTBS also expanded the weekend edition of its 10 p.m. newscast to one hour. Again, KSLA quickly followed suit with an hour-long newscast at 10 p.m. on weekends. On August 30, 2010, KTBS expanded its weekday morning newscasts to 2½ hours, by moving its start time to 4:30 a.m. (one of the few stations in a non-Top 50 Nielsen market to begin their weekday morning newscast at 4:30). On October 14, 2010, KTBS became the first in the market to broadcast its local newscasts in high definition during their 5pm newscast. Rival KSLA, began producing news in high definition the next morning.
KTBS airs a total of 31½ hours of local newscasts a week (five hours on weekdays, and three hours each on Saturdays and Sundays) on KTBS. In addition, KTBS produces morning and 9 p.m. newscasts for sister station; these programs add an additional 9 1/2 hours of newscasts that KTBS produces each week (1 1/2 hours on weekdays and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays). In total, KTBS produces 41 hours of local newscasts each week. This amount of news greatly exceeds any other station in the area and many in the nation.
KTBS is one of two stations in the Arklatex that have their own radar. But the KTBS doppler radar system, "Mega 3", operates on 1 million watts of power, much stronger than the "StormTracker 12 Live Doppler" radar used by rival KSLA-TV. KTBS also utilizes their radar much more than KSLA. During severe weather events, KTBS uses Mega 3 alone. KSLA does not use their radar thus going with the NWS radar sites across the region. On a side note, KTBS was the first in the nation to have a doppler radar operating at 1 million watts of power.
Weekdays
Saturdays
Sundays
Anchors
Storm Team 3
Sports team
Reporters
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