KSLA

KSLA

Shreveport, Louisiana
Branding	KSLA News 12
Slogan	Coverage You Can Count On(general) We Track STORMS (weather)
Channels	Digital: 17 (UHF) Virtual: 12 (PSIP)
Subchannels	12.1 CBS 12.2 This TV 12.3 Bounce TV
Affiliations	CBS
Owner	Raycom Media, Inc. (KSLA License Subsidiary, LLC)
First air date	December 22, 1953
Call letters' meaning	Shreveport, LouisianA
Former callsigns	KSLA (1953-1979) KSLA-TV (1979-2009)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 12 (VHF, 1953-2009)
Former affiliations	All secondary: NBC (1953-1955) DuMont (1953-1955) ABC (1953-1960) UPN (1995)
Transmitter power	175 kW
Height	518 m
Facility ID	70482
Transmitter coordinates	32°40′28.4″N 93°56′0″W
Website	KSLA.com

KSLA, virtual channel 12, is the CBS-affiliated television station for Shreveport, Louisiana and the Ark-La-Tex region. Owned by Raycom Media, it broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 17. The sole transmitter is located in Mooringsport, Louisiana. Alongside KYTX, it is carried on some cable providers in Lufkin and Nacogdoches and it is available on DirecTV in the Oklahoma portion of the Arklatex alongside Little Rock affiliate, KTHV, the Shreveport affiliates and other Little Rock affiliates.

Digital programming

The station's digital signal is broadcast on UHF channel 17, and is multiplexed:

Digital channels

Virtual channel	Video	Aspect	Programming
12.1	1080i	16:9	main KSLA-TV programming / CBS
12.2	480i	4:3	This TV
12.3			Bounce TV

On June 12, 2009, KSLA left channel 12 and moved to channel 17 when the analog to digital conversion completed.

History

KSLA went on the air on October 1, 1954, airing programming from all four networks -- CBS, ABC, NBC and DuMont. However, it has always been a primary CBS affiliate. It lost NBC a year later when KTBS entered the Shreveport market. The two stations shared limited ABC programming until 1960, when Texarkana's KTAL-TV took the NBC affiliation after Texarkana was collapsed into the Shreveport market. KTBS then became an exclusive ABC affiliate, leaving KSLA as a sole CBS affiliate. It, along with KMSS, is one of two stations in the area to not change their primary affiliation. The station's studios were originally housed inside the Washington Youree Hotel in downtown Shreveport. William Carter Henderson, a son of KWKH Radio founder William Kennon Henderson, Jr., was among the original owners of KSLA-TV.

On March 5, 1955, Elvis Presley made his television debut on KSLA on Louisiana Hayride from the Municipal Auditorium. That same year, D. L. Dykes, Jr., who launched a 30-year career as the pastor of the First Methodist Church at the Head of Texas Street in downtown Shreveport, began having his sermons televised on KSLA. Over the years, other churches followed Dykes's lead.

In 1966, Douglas F. Attaway, the publisher of the now defunct Shreveport Journal became the majority owner of the station. During the second half of the 1960s and the early 1970s, KSLA was hence called "The Journal Station." In 1983, Attaway sold to the original Viacom, which later owned CBS. He had previously sold the Shreveport Journal to Shreveport businessman and philanthropist Charles T. Beaird. In the early 1970s, the station moved to its current Fairfield Avenue studios near Schumpert Medical Center. The station added the -TV suffix in 1979, only to become the only Raycom-owned station to drop the suffix shortly after the 2009 digital transition.

KSLA was the first in the market to broadcast in color, to broadcast in stereo sound, and to employ the use of satellites. The station claims to have the highest rated newscast in the entire state of Louisiana. one of its early anchormen, Don Owen served as a member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission from 1985-2003. KSLA was once the home of the Shreveport Captains, the defunct Canadian Football League team, the Shreveport Pirates, and Southeastern Conference sports.

On October 8, 1977, the KSLA 1709' tower in Mooringsport, LA collapsed. No official cause was ever determined, but speculation centered upon a failure in the guy lines. Prior to 1978, Shreveport did not have a PBS member station. During some of this time, KSLA aired Sesame Street on weekday mornings. This arrangement ended when Louisiana Public Broadcasting began full time PBS programming on KLTS. For a brief time in 1995, channel 12 aired UPN programming late at night until KSHV (channel 45, now a MyNetworkTV affiliate) picked up the network later in the year.

On September 1, 1995, Ellis Communications bought KSLA from Viacom; at the time, Viacom was in the process of selling off all of its television stations that did not have UPN as their primary affiliation, with KSLA being the first to be divested. Ellis was folded into Raycom Media in 1997. KSLA is a charter affiliate for the upcoming African-American centric Bounce TV, which will launch September 26, 2011

Programming

Syndicated programming on KSLA includes The Doctors, Storm Stories, RightThisMinute and America Now.

Among its most popular local programming were Al's Coral, a western-themed children's show hosted by Al Bolton, who was station meterologist for many years; Bob & His Buddies, a children's show hosted by longtime sports reporter Bob Griffin; and Hallelujah Train, a Sunday morning program many consider a religious version of Soul Train.

KSLA was among the first 50 television stations in the country to air a local/national lifestyle newsmagazine program cooperative concept called PM Magazine from 1979 to 1984. This program franchise license was owned and guided by Group Westinghouse (Group W) and was also known as Evening Magazine at the five Group W owned and operated television stations. PM Magazine at KSLA in Shreveport was a cutting-edge program hosted by program producer Chuck Smith and Becky Strickland became one of the consistently highest rated versions in the country, beating popular syndicated programs M*A*S*H, The Newlywed Game and People's Court as it averaged high audience shares, sometimes higher than 30% throughout its 4+ years on KSLA. Despite its local success with high viewer ratings and sponsors alike, PM Magazine was canceled on KSLA in early 1984 after the station was bought by Viacom. The last rating period for 1984 revealed the program had a 25 rating/39 share (Arbitron 2/'84). Despite a huge fan protest, the show was replaced by Three's Company reruns as this was a syndicated property owned by Viacom and cost nothing to air but it did cost KSLA as the 6:30pm timeslot audience share performance guarantees to long-term national advertisers dropped almost immediately to 1/10th of what ratings/shares they were previously, thereby cancelling many 6 month upfront ad buys for what was the previous PM Magazine timeslot. Many television analysts agree that the PM Magazine concept was the forerunner to other magazine programs such as Real People, That's Incredible!, and Entertainment Tonight; as well as several other reality-based television spin-off programs and cable network show themes.

Another programming gaffe made by the Viacom management was the temporary cancellation of CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt in favor of running infomercials in the same timeslot. Cancellation of this long-term CBS signature program resulted in considerable outrage from local viewers, resulting in a strong letter campaign to Viacom, the CBS network and local newspapers. The station was even subjected to picketing by some upset viewers who took their disgust to the streets in an effort to get the show reinstated. CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt was reinstated to the original timeslot after a few short weeks.

News operation

In September 2008, KSLA became the first station in Louisiana (and one of the first in the nation) to air a 9 a.m. newscast. KSLA has the distinction of being one of two stations (KTBS being the other), to air an hour-long 6 p.m. newscast in the Shreveport-Texarkana market. On October 15, 2010, KSLA became the second television station in the Shreveport-Texarkana market to broadcast its local newscasts in high definition, rival KTBS upgraded its newscasts to high definition a day earlier.

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• KSLA-TV News (1954–1961)
• Television 12/TV 12 Reports (1961–1966)
• 24 Hours (1966–1971)
• Channel 12 News (1971–1976)
• Channel 12 Eyewitness News (1976–1991)
• Arklatex News 12 (1991–1997)
• News 12 (1997-2008)
• KSLA News 12 (2008–present)

Station slogans

• "The Journal Station" (mid 1960s–early 1970s)
• "Part of Your Life" (1970s)
• "A Breath of Fresh Air!" (1979; slogan for local version of PM Magazine)
• "The Ark-La-Tex Station" (1980s)
• "Project Pride"/"Building Pride in the Ark-La-Tex" (late 1980s–1997)
• "Coverage You Can Count On" (1997–present)
• "Coverage You Can Click On" (online slogan)
• "We Track STORMS" (weather slogan)

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

News team

Current on-air staff

Anchors

• Domonique Benn - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
• Jeff Ferrell - Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5:30, and weekends at 10 p.m.; also weeknight reporter
• Denise Middleton - weekday mornings (5-7 and 9-10 a.m.) and noon
• Pat Simon - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
• Doug Warner - weekday mornings (5-7 and 9-10 a.m.) and noon; also reporter

StormTracker 12 Weather Team

• Stephen Parr (NWA Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
• Kevin Roth - meteorologist; Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5:30, and weekends at 10 p.m., also reporter
• Ron Young - meteorologist; weekday mornings (5-7 and 9-10 a.m.) and noon

Sports team

• Colin McElroy - sports director; weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.

Reporters

• Fred Childers - general assignment reporter
• Tracy Clemons - general assignment reporter
• Adria Goins - general assignment reporter
• Summer Knowles - general assignment reporter
• Carolyn Roy - general assignment reporter
• Brittany Pieper - general assignment reporter
• Erin Stevenson - general assignment reporter

Former on-air staff

• Karin Adams - anchor/reporter
• Andy Barton - noon anchor/reporter
• David Begnaud - reporter (now with KTLA in Los Angeles)
• Al Bolton - meteorologist
• Gerard Braud - reporter
• Patsy Carter - reporter/weather
• Ron Casteel - anchor/reporter
• Roseanne Colletti - reporter (now with CBS News in New York)
• Ed Duranzyck - meteorologist
• Bob Griffin - sports (now with KTBS)
• Charles Hadlock - anchor/reporter
• Robert Hadlock - anchor/reporter
• Najahe Hall - weekday morning anchor/reporter (now with KSHB-TV in Kansas City)
• Taylor Henry - reporter
• Kelly Lane - anchor/reporter
• Tim Larson - weather
• Christine Negroni - reporter
• Don Owen - evening anchor
• Margaret Pelley - anchor/reporter (formerly with Dateline NBC)
• Carl Pendley - anchor/reporter
• Wray Post - reporter
• Frank Simpson - anchor/reporter
• Edward St. Pe' - weather (now with WeatherVision)
• Sylvia Rachal - anchor/reporter
• Darrell Rebouche - sports
• Jim Serra - reporter (Now General Manager at KPLC, Lake Charles, LA)
• Chuck Smith - producer/co-host of PM Magazine
• Rhett Smith - reporter
• Mike Staggs - reporter/assignment editor
• Becky Strickland - co-host of PM Magazine
• Tony Taglavore - sports
• Bob Thompson - news announcer
• Christie Walton - reporter
• Shari Warren - anchor/reporter

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

External links

• KSLA.com (Official Website)
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KSLA
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KSLA-TV