KTVE

KTVE

El Dorado, Arkansas–Monroe, Louisiana
Branding	KTVE 10 (general) KTVE 10 News (newscasts)
Slogan	Coverage You Can Count On
Channels	Digital: 27 (UHF) Virtual: 10 (PSIP)
Affiliations	NBC (1955-1966, December 1981-present)
Owner	Mission Broadcasting (operated under a SSA by Nexstar Broadcasting Group) (Mission Broadcasting, 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
Transmitter coordinates	33°4′41.7″N 92°13′31″W / 33.078250°N 92.22528°W / 33.078250; -92.22528
Website	www.myarklamiss.com

KTVE, virtual channel 10, is the NBC-affiliated television station for the El Dorado, Arkansas–Monroe, Louisiana Designated Market Area. 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. Syndicated programming on KTVE includes: Entertainment Tonight, The Dr. Oz Show, Rachael Ray, The Unit and Family Feud.

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.

Digital television

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.

In March 2009, KARD and KTVE informed the FCC that they needed to end analog operations sooner 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 were required to monitor the analog facilities, according to Nexstar.^[2] The FCC denied the request based on the fact that they are the last two analog channels in the market.^[3]

Analog-to-digital conversion

KTVE shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 10, in 2009, before the full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 27.^[5] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 10.

History

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 .

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. For many years, the station had two news studios—one in Monroe and one in El Dorado. However, KTVE closed its Monroe studios sometime in the early 1970s.

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 full-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 contractual issues preventing such.^[6] 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 10 p.m. newscast until KNOE complained to the FCC in 1997. Due to a technicality in FCC rules, KTVE could not air the lottery numbers since it was licensed in Arkansas, which had no lottery at the time; this would change in 2009 when the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery began operations.

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 website. 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.

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, 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.

Out-of-market cable coverage

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.

News operation

KTVE's former 5 p.m. newscast open

For a time, former El Dorado mayor Mike Dumas served as the main evening anchor, while he was serving his early days in office.

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.^[7] On the same day that the station revealed its new set, it dropped the longstanding "Region 10" brand in favor of "NBC10". This news set and graphics package remained in use until the station began broadcasting its local news in HD in 2012.

In early 2012, KTVE began airing its newscasts in high definition (studio cameras are not HD only in the field are they HD). When this occurred, the station upgraded its set and graphics and changed its news theme from Stephen Arnold's "The Rock" to "Evolution." In June 2012, sister station KTAL in Shreveport made the same move.

On April 2, 2012, KTVE debuted a half-hour midday newscast titled Arkansas Today, airing weekdays at noon; produced by Little Rock sister station KARK-TV (anchor Mallory Hardin and meteorologist/co-host Greg Dee also appear on KARK's weekday morning newscast) and broadcast in high definition, the statewide newscast also features news stories filed by reporters from all four Nexstar-owned NBC stations serving Arkansas as well as a sports segment produced by Fayetteville sister station KNWA-TV, focusing on University of Arkansas athletics, called Razorback Nation. KTVE also provides a weather insert for southern Arkansas during the broadcast. In addition to airing on KTVE, KNWA and KARK, the program is also simulcast on KTAL-TV/Shreveport-Texarkana (the coverage areas of KTVE and KTAL include several counties in southern Arkansas (fourteen in KTVE's viewing area, ten in KTAL's), though both stations primarily serve parts of northern Louisiana).^[8]

The KTVE transmission tower located just north of Huttig, AR is the tallest structure in Arkansas, the 9th tallest structure in the US, and among the top 20 tallest structures in the world.

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• Your Esso Reporter (1955–1957)
• Newsroom (1957–1964)
• The Sixth Hour Report/The Eleventh Hour Report (1967–1973)
• TV-10 News (1973–1979)
• News Scene 10 (1979–1983)
• Channel 10 News (1983–1989)
• Region 10 News (1989–2006)
• NBC 10 News (2006–2013)^[9]
• KTVE 10 News (2013–present)

Station slogans

• "People Like You" (1981–1986)
• "The Team You Trust" (1986–1989)
• "Watch The Best on Channel 10 News" (1989–1994)
• "Coverage You Can Count On" (2000–2012)
• "Your First Choice for Local News and Part of Your Community" (2012–present)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

On-air staff

Current on-air staff^[10]

+ denotes personnel from KARK-TV in Little Rock
Anchors

• + Mallory Hardin – weekdays at noon (Arkansas Today)
• Heather Parker - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
• Judy Wagoner - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
• Alanna Quillen - Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5 and weekends at 10 p.m.; also weekday reporter

StormTrack Doppler Weather Team

• Jarod Floyd - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
• + Greg Dee - meteorologist/host; weekdays at noon (Arkansas Today)
• Kayleigh Klaustermeier - morning meteorologist
• Wesley Williams - weekend meteorologist

Sports team

• Gene Ponti - sports director; weeknights at 6, and 10 p.m.
• Brady Renard - sports anchor; weekend evenings, also sports reporter

Reporters

• Jacobi Tubbs - general assignment reporter
• Nina Criscuolo - general assignment reporter; also KARD 9 p.m. anchor
• Brea Douglas - El Dorado reporter

References

External links

• MyArkLaMiss.com - Official KTVE/KARD-TV Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KTVE
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KTVE-TV
• Program Information for KTVE at TitanTV.com
• History of KTVE Channel 32 in Longview, TX
• KTVE Television Tower at Structurae
• Listing 1039950 in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Antenna Structure Registration database
• http://www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b7097