| El Dorado, Arkansas–Monroe, Louisiana | |
|---|---|
| Branding | NBC 10 (general) NBC 10 News (newscasts) |
| Slogan | Coverage You Can Count On |
| Channels | Digital: 27 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | NBC (1955-1966, December 1981-present) |
| Owner | Mission Broadcasting, Inc. (operated by Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc.) |
| First air date | December 1955[1] |
| Call letters' meaning | TV El Dorado |
| Sister station(s) | KARD |
| Former callsigns | KRBB-TV (1955-1961) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 10 (VHF, 1955-2009) |
| Former affiliations | ABC (1955-1981; secondary until 1966) |
| Transmitter power | 822.8 kW |
| Height | 582 m |
| Facility ID | 35692 |
| Website | MyArkLaMiss.com |
KTVE, Channel 10, is the NBC affiliate television station for the El Dorado, Arkansas–Monroe, Louisiana DMA. The station is licensed to El Dorado, but its main studio is located in West Monroe, Louisiana. KTVE is owned by Mission Broadcasting, and operated by Nexstar Broadcasting. It is a sister station to the area's Fox affiliate, KARD.
KTVE’s transmitter, a 609.6-meter-high guy-wired aerial mast (or antenna) located in Bolding, Arkansas (geographical coordinates: ), is one of the largest structures of its kind. As a result, KTVE’s signal can be seen in 18 counties and parishes in Arkansas and Louisiana. On certain occasions, the signal can be seen as far north as Hot Springs, Arkansas, and as far west as Texarkana, Texas. For many years, it was known as "Region 10" because it could be seen over the air and on cable in many areas outside the market.
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The KTVE calls were originally assigned to UHF channel 32 in Longview, TX. KTVE Longview, which was a CBS affiliate, was on the air from 1953 to 1955. A history of the original KTVE can be found at [1].
The station debuted on December 3, 1955 as KRBB-TV. It became KTVE in 1961, and brought color television to the Ark-La-Miss in 1966. It was a primary NBC affiliate, sharing ABC with KNOE-TV. However on October 1, 1966, KTVE switched its primary affiliation to ABC. This was unusual for a two-station market, especially one of Monroe/El Dorado's size. However, J. B. Fuqua, who owned KTVE at the time, wanted to get that station in line with WTVW in Evansville, Indiana and KTHI (now KVLY-TV) in Fargo, North Dakota, both of which were ABC affiliates he had just purchased.
Fuqua sold KTVE in December 1967; the station continued to share NBC with KNOE until KLAA-TV (now KARD) signed on in 1974 and took the NBC programming, leaving KTVE as a full-time ABC affiliate. Until the early 1970s, the station had two news studios--one in Monroe and one in El Dorado, but KTVE closed its Monroe studios througout the 1970s and early 1980s.
For a time, former El Dorado mayor Mike Dumas served as the main evening anchor, while he was serving his early days in office.
On December 6, 1981, KTVE rejoined NBC while KLAA became an ABC affiliate (that station changed its call letters to KARD one year later), clearing the entire network schedule except for two local daytime programs and Saturday Night Live. The first program the station aired as a fullt-time NBC affiliate was a football game between the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins. Originally, the station wanted to return to being a primary NBC affiliate with secondary ABC affiliation, yet there were contractural issues preventing such.[2] In 1981, then-owner Gray Communications swapped networks with KARD, and in 1983, moved KTVE's main studio to Kilpatrick Blvd in Monroe; it only retained a satellite studio in El Dorado with only a few staff members, including a video journalist. This led to many complaints from Arkansas viewers that KTVE only featured stories from the Louisiana side of the market. In the late 1990s, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) forced KTVE to adopt a split-anchor format as a condition of renewing its license. During the weekday morning and weekday 5:00 pm newscasts, one anchor was stationed in Monroe, while another was stationed in El Dorado. This condition is no longer enforced by the FCC. KTVE does still report news from El Dorado.
KTVE originally aired Louisiana Lottery numbers during the station's 10pm newscast until KNOE complained to the FCC in 1997. Due to a technicality in FCC rules, KTVE couldn't air the lottery numbers since Arkansas had no lottery at the time; this would change in 2009 when the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery began play.
In 2002, KTVE took over the operations of KARD (then owned by Quorum Broadcasting) through a local marketing agreement. Although KTVE is the senior partner, operations were consolidated at KARD's studio in West Monroe. The two stations also share a web site.
KTVE also operated a translator station W02AW on Channel 2. The transmitter was said to be located south of Monroe, Louisiana. This translator was removed when KTVE increased its tower height.
In 2006, KTVE was the winner of the Radio-Television News Directors Association’s Ultimate News Makeover contest. The station received about $300,000 in free design, consultation, manufacturing, production and coaching. [2] On the same day that the station revealed its new set, it dropped the longstanding “Region 10” brand in favor of “NBC10.”
On January 16, 2008, Piedmont Television completed the sale of KTVE to Mission Broadcasting. On the same day, Nexstar Broadcasting Group (who acquired KARD as part of its purchase of Quorum Broadcasting in 2003) took over control of KTVE under a local sales agreement (LSA), like all of Mission's stations. As a result of the change, Nexstar now controls four of the five NBC affiliates serving Arkansas. Memphis-based WMC-TV, which covers northeast Arkansas, is owned by Raycom Media.
As of May 2011, KTVE and KARD continue to air their local newscasts in pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition. KNOE-TV began airing its local newscasts in partial high definition in January 2011.
On January 3, 2007, KTVE-DT signed on with a full-power digital signal with an ERP of 822 kW. KTVE-DT then started broadcasting the network feed of NBC in high definition on January 12, 2007.
Digital channels
| Virtual Channel |
Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | Main KTVE-TV programming / NBC HD |
| 10.2 | 480i | 4:3 | KARD (West Monroe, LA) simulcast / FOX |
In March 2009, KARD and KTVE informed the FCC that they needed to pull the plug on analog much earlier than June 12 (the earliest they could do so is April 16). KARD stated that a transmitter tube failed, bringing power down to 50% - KTVE claimed that its power was at 40%. Used parts were deemed unreliable, and staffers had to travel 50 miles to the transmitter from the studio - two to three visits per week are required to monitor the analog facilities, according to Nexstar.[3] The FCC denied the request based on the fact that they are the last two analog channels in the market.[4]
KTVE was previously seen by CMA Cable in Springhill, Louisiana. Springhill is about 50 miles from the nearest parish/county that lies within the viewing area of KTVE. But, it was shown as many viewers could see the station over the air. The digital transition is believed to be why the station was taken off the line-up.
Anchors
Reporters
StormTrack Doppler Weather Team
Sports team
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