KBSL-DT

KBSL-DT
(satellite of KWCH-DT, Wichita, Kansas)
Goodland, Kansas
United States
Branding KBSL 10
Channels Digital: 10 (VHF)
Virtual: 10 (PSIP)
Subchannels 10.1 CBS
10.2 Always on Storm Team 12
Affiliations CBS
Owner Gray Television
(Gray Television Licensee, LLC)
First air date April 1959[1]
Sister station(s) KWCH-DT
KSCW-DT
Former callsigns KLOE-TV (1959–1989)
KBSL-TV (1989–2009)
Former channel number(s) Analog:
10 (VHF, 1959–2009)
Digital: 14 (UHF, –2009)
Former affiliations Secondary:
ABC (1958–1960s)
Transmitter power 26.5 kW
Height 299 m
Facility ID 66416
Transmitter coordinates 39°28′10″N 101°33′19″W / 39.46944°N 101.55528°W / 39.46944; -101.55528
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information:
(satellite of KWCH-DT, Wichita, Kansas) Profile

(satellite of KWCH-DT, Wichita, Kansas) CDBS
Website www.kwch.com

KBSL-DT, virtual and VHF digital channel 10, is a CBS-affiliated television station located in Goodland, Kansas, United States. The station is owned by Gray Television. KBSL maintains news bureau and advertising sales offices located on West 31st Street in southwestern Goodland, and its transmitter is located east of K-27 in rural northeastern Sherman County.

KBSL is part of the Kansas Broadcasting System (KBS), a statewide network of four full-power stations that relay programming from Wichita CBS affiliate KWCH-DT central and western Kansas; KBSL incorporates local advertising and news inserts aimed at areas of northwestern Kansas and southwestern Nebraska within the Wichita-Hutchinson Plus television market (including Colby), as well as portions of east-central Colorado.

Because the station's signal lies between the Central and Mountain Time Zones (its transmitter is located on the Mountain Time Zone side of the state), CBS primetime programming in the western part of the station's viewing area airs Monday through Saturdays from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. and Sundays from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m.; however, since it operates as a satellite station of Wichita-based KWCH, the station runs on a Central Time Zone schedule.

History

The station first signed on the air on April 28, 1959 as KLOE-TV. It was founded by Hays businessman Ross Beach, owner of radio station KLOE (730 AM); the station's studio facility West 31st Street, known as "Broadcast Plaza," was originally only large enough to house the radio station; as a result, Beach added on a half-story to the facility, raising the building's ceiling to accommodate television lighting. The station has been a CBS affiliate since its sign-on, however it originally maintained a secondary affiliation with ABC until the 1970s.

In 1962, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled that central and western Kansas were part of the Wichita market. As a result, Des Moines-based Cowles Communications bought KLOE-TV, KTVC (now KBSD-DT) in Dodge City and KAYS-TV (now KBSH-DT) in Hays, and converted them into semi-satellites of KTVH. The three stations, which – along with flagship station KTVH – formed the Kansas Broadcasting System, relayed CBS programming throughout central and western Kansas.[2]

In 1983, the Cowles family began selling off its vast media holdings. KLOE-TV, KTVH and their sister stations were sold to the Kansas Broadcasting System Corporation, owned by Beach and Bob Schmidt; the sale separated KLOE-TV from its radio sister, however KLOE radio (as well as its sister radio stations) continues to operate from KBSL's facility on 31st Street. In 1989, the Kansas Broadcasting System Corporation was purchased by Smith Broadcasting; after the sale was completed, the station changed its call letters to KBSL-TV, as part of an effort that saw KWCH's three semi-satellites change their call letters to help viewers think of the stations as part of one large network. Smith sold the station to Spartanburg, South Carolina-based Spartan Communications in 1994; Spartan merged with Media General in 2000. In 2005, KWCH began operating a digital automation system from its Wichita studio facility, which handled the scheduling of advertisements and master control operations for all four KBS stations.

On April 6, 2006, Media General announced that it would sell KWCH, its satellites, and four other stations as a result of its purchase of four former NBC owned-and-operated-stations (WVTM-TV in Birmingham, WCMH in Columbus, WNCN in Goldsboro, North Carolina and WJAR-TV in Providence). South Bend, Indiana-based Schurz Communications eventually emerged as the winner and took ownership of the stations on September 25, at which time Schurz formed a new company known as "Sunflower Broadcasting, Inc.," which became the licensee for its Kansas broadcasting properties.[3][4][5]

Schurz announced on September 14, 2015 that it would exit broadcasting and sell its television and radio stations, including KWCH-DT and its satellites, to Gray Television for $442.5 million. Gray already owns KAKE and its satellites (including KLBY channel 4); however, it will sell that station to Lockwood Broadcast Group and keep the KBS stations.[6][7][8]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[9]
10.1 1080i 16:9 KBSL-DT Main KBSL-DT programming / CBS
10.2 480i 4:3 KBSL-WX Always On Storm Team 12

Analog-to-digital conversion

KBSL shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 10, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which 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 14 to VHF channel 10.[10] Two weeks later on June 25, 2009, the station's call letters were modified to KBSL-DT to reflect the change.

Newscasts

The station produced separate local newscasts for many years; however due to the smaller size of its studio facility, the news department was based out a tiny studio on the west edge of the city. The station's "Tri-State Report" was a local news staple for many years. It was claimed that KLOE was once the smallest television station in the United States that produced its own local newscasts[11] In the 1970s, most of the station's operations were moved to KBSH-TV's studios in Hays, and the news department was reduced to a single reporter/photographer. Daily news stories are fed via microwave relay to KWCH's facility in Wichita, which produces local news content for KBSL.

References

  1. ↑ The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says April 28, while the Television and Cable Factbook says April 26.
  2. ↑ About KWCH-DT 12
  3. ↑ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Media General, April 6, 2006. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  4. ↑ Schurz Snaps Up Kansas Affil, Broadcasting & Cable, July 28, 2006. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  5. ↑ News Releases, Media General, September 25, 2006. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Schurz Communications to sell WSBT and other TV, radio stations". South Bend Tribune. September 14, 2015. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
  7. ↑ Kuperberg, Jonathan (September 14, 2015). "Gray Acquiring TV, Radio Stations from Schurz for $442.5 Million". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Gray Television Sells Some, Buys Some". TVNewsCheck. October 1, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
  9. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KBSL
  10. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  11. ↑ According to the online biography of former KLOE anchor Ted Hall (now with WXIA-TV in Atlanta)

External links

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