KARD

This article is about the television station in West Monroe, Louisiana. For the television station in Wichita, Kansas, that formerly used the KARD call sign, see KSNW.

KARD

Monticello, Arkansas/West Monroe, Louisiana
Branding	Fox 14
Slogan	The Right News at the Right Time
Channels	Digital: 36 (UHF) Virtual: 14 (PSIP)
Subchannels	14.1 Fox 14.2 Bounce
Owner	Nexstar Broadcasting Group (Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.)
First air date	October 6, 1974
Call letters' meaning	unknown, but pronounced "card"; could be a reference to the Arkansas Delta region which it serves
Sister station(s)	KTVE
Former callsigns	KUZN (1967–1968), KYAY (1970–1971), KLAA (1974–1982)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 14 (UHF, 1974–2009)
Former affiliations	Independent (1967–1968 & 1970–1971) CBS (secondary as KYAY, 1970–1971) NBC (1974 – December 6, 1981) ABC (secondary as KYAY, 1970–1971)(December 6, 1981 – April 17, 1994) Fox (secondary, 1987–1994)
Transmitter power	1000 kW
Height	520.8 m
Facility ID	3658
Transmitter coordinates	32°5′42″N 92°10′34″W
Website	www.myarklamiss.com

KARD, channel 14, is the Fox affiliate for the El Dorado, Arkansas/Monroe, Louisiana market area. KARD's transmitter is located in Columbia, Louisiana. The station is licensed to West Monroe, Louisiana. It is owned by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group, which acquired the station in 2003 as part of its purchase of Quorum Broadcasting.

Digital television

KARD is simulcast on KTVE's digital subchannel 10.2 in standard definition.

In March 2009, KARD and KTVE informed the Federal Communications Commission that they needed to end analog operations sooner than June 12, 2009 (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. The FCC denied the request based on the fact that they are the last two analog channels in the market.

Channel	Video	Aspect	Programming
14.1	720p	16:9	Main KARD programming / Fox
14.2	480i	4:3	Bounce

History

The station that became KARD first signed on on August 19, 1967 as KUZN-TV on channel 39 and was owned by Howard E. Griffiths was a television counterpart of KUZN radio. The station aired a local newscast, the BBC series Panorama, and old Western movies. The station signed off on January 12, 1968 but was sold to Northeast Louisiana Broadcasting Corporation.

It resumed operations on August 31, 1970 as KYAY-TV. During this incarnation, KYAY, again, aired news and off-network Westerns and movies, as well as ABC and CBS programming not carried on KNOE and KTVE, such as That Girl, Mod Squad, Hawaii Five-0, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, The Lawrence Welk Show, Engelbert Humperdinck, and The Merv Griffin Show. The station signed off after nearly one year of service on August 16, 1971.

In 1974, the station sought to change its call letters to KLAA, its channel to 14, and picked up the NBC affiliation when it returned to the air on October 6, 1974. Today, channel 39 is occupied by KMCT-TV, a religious station, and that station now occupies KUZN/KYAY/KLAA/KARD's former studios.

On December 6, 1981, KLAA became an ABC affiliate, while KTVE retook the NBC affiliation it held in the 1950s and 1960s. In December 1982, the station changed its calls to KARD, with the station manager citing the call sign change a reflection on the station's progress at the time. It began airing Fox programming late at night in 1987 and in the same year was the first station in the Monroe area (and one of the first in Louisiana) to broadcast in stereo. In addition to KARD's secondary Fox affiliation, starting in 1991, Foxnet was available for cable subscribers in Monroe. In 1994, it dropped ABC to take Fox full-time, due to Fox picking up NFL football that season, and it was the first station in the nation to switch from a Big Three network to Fox during the U.S. television network affiliate switches of 1994, doing so April 17 that year. This left the Monroe market without an ABC affiliate until December 1998, when KAQY signed on. Between then, ABC programming was available on local cable systems via Alexandria's KLAX-TV and Shreveport's KTBS-TV.

In 2002, Piedmont Television, then-owner of KTVE, took over KARD's operations under a local marketing agreement. However, the two stations' operations were consolidated in KARD's former studio in West Monroe. In addition to a common sales and promotions staff, the KTVE news department produces KARD's newscast. Piedmont's control of the duopoly officially came to an end on January 16, 2008 when KTVE was sold to Mission Broadcasting. This resulted in Nexstar, already the owner of KARD, taking over control of KTVE under a local sales agreement (LSA). The station no longer has a separate website. Its old address, kard.com, redirects to www.myarklamiss.com, a site powered by both KARD and its sister station KTVE.

Programming

In addition to Fox programming, KARD-TV airs syndicated programs such as The People's Court, Judge Mathis, Judge Alex, Family Feud, The Steve Harvey Show, Ricki Lake, and Friends.

Newscasts

KTVE currently produces two newscasts for KARD, a half-hour weeknight newscast at 9 p.m. and an hour-long weekday morning newscast.

News team

Anchors

• Rick Adams – weekday mornings Your Morning News
• Nina Criscuolo – weeknights at 9 p.m.; also reporter
• Gene Ponti – sports director; weeknights at 9 p.m.

StormTrack Doppler Weather Team

• Jarod Floyd – chief meteorologist; weeknights at 9 p.m.
• Natalie Walters – meteorologist; weekday mornings Your Morning News

Reporters

• Paige Brown – general assignment reporter
• Brea Douglas – El Dorado reporter
• Heather Parker – general assignment reporter
• Rudy Williams – general assignment reporter
• Erik Wheater – general assignment reporter

External links

• MyArkLaMiss.com – Official Website
• FCC coverage map
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KARD
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KARD-TV