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*'''[[Gina Kurre]]''': Former News Anchor and Reporter (80's)
*'''[[Gina Kurre]]''': Former News Anchor and Reporter (80's)
*'''[[Mark Russell]]''': Former Weather Anchor (early 80's)
*'''[[Mark Russell]]''': Former Weather Anchor (early 80's)
*'''[[Gary Weir]]''': 1966-1991: Sports
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Revision as of 01:28, 10 July 2009

{{Infobox broadcast}} may refer to:

{{Template disambiguation}} should never be transcluded in the main namespace.

KATV is an ABC affiliated television station serving the Little Rock television market and central Arkansas. The station is owned by Allbritton Communications Company.

The station broadcasts its digital signal via UHF channel 22. Until it collapsed January 11, 2008, both signals were broadcast from the KATV Tower near Redfield, Arkansas . Its analog license continued to reflect this site while the station was broadcasting in analog from a temporary site, and in HDTV on a subchannel of KWBF. It began broadcasts on February 1, 2009 from a new digital transmitter located on Shinall Mountain, near the Chenal Valley neighborhood of Little Rock.

History

KATV debuted on December 19, 1953, originally in Pine Bluff. The station was an ABC affiliate; during the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[1]

KATV is Little Rock's oldest continually operating television station, beating KARK-TV by a few months. Less than a year after sign-on, KATV moved from Pine Bluff to Little Rock and took over the studio of KRTV, a failed UHF station that had been Arkansas' first TV statio. The new operations were on North Beech Street near Kavanaugh in the Pulaski Heights section of Little Rock; however, the station burned in 1957.

KATV's studio on Fourth Street in Little Rock

KATV then moved to downtown Little Rock; it moved to its current studio, a former home of Worthen Bank (now Bank of America) at Fourth and Main Streets, in 1970. The KATV Building at 401 Main Street extends along Fourth Street a full block eastward to Scott Street, one block north of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and across Fourth Street from the Rose Law Firm. KATV continues to maintain a nominal studio in Pine Bluff to satisfy the original FCC conditions for moving the license to Little Rock, even though modern FCC rules would allow it to operate only from Little Rock even if the license returned to Pine Bluff. A secondary studio utilized primarily for its daily mid-morning Good Morning Arkansas program is located in Little Rock's River Market District, at President Clinton Avenue and Ottenheimer Plaza.

KATV, along with sister station KTUL in Tulsa, Oklahoma and original sister station KWTV in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, were founded by John Griffin (whose company would later become today's Griffin Communications) and Jimmy Leake. Leake became sole owner of KATV and KTUL in the late 1960s or early 1970s, and owned the stations until 1982, when he sold both stations to their current owner, Allbritton Communications Company.

KATV has used the Circle 7 logo since the 1960s; though it is traditionally associated with owned-and-operated ABC stations, KATV is one of several non-O&Os to have used it. KATV's use of the Circle 7 logo predates even the variant Circle 7 once used by Allbritton's flagship WJLA before it switched to the standard version. However, unlike WJLA and most of the O&Os, KATV only uses the ABC logo with the Circle 7 occasionally, usually in screen-corner bugs where the Circle 7 covers the standard ABC bug. KATV also first placed the Circle 7 inside a square in the 1990s; WJLA now uses that as well, though neither station uses it consistently. In fall 2008, KATV discontinued use of the square Circle 7 logo.

KATV's Broadcast Service Area

Before the recently-collapsed tower was built in 1965, KATV broadcast from a smaller tower near Jefferson (south of Redfield).

KATV's broadcast area comprises mostly central Arkansas. However, many sections of the state were able to receive KATV's signal. Western sections of Bolivar and Coahoma Counties in west central Mississippi have been known to receive KATV's signal. KATV is also carried on cable systems in those areas, including Greenville, Cleveland, Clarksdale, and Drew.

On July 6, 2004, a spectacular intense high MUF Sporadic-E opening allowed Mike Bugaj [2] to receive KATV[3] (channel 7, Little Rock, Arkansas) in Enfield, Connecticut, 1,176 miles (1,892 km) away. [4]

Tower collapse

The former KATV tower.

The KATV Tower collapsed January 11, 2008 while workers were adjusting guy wires. [5] KATV's analog signal returned to the air a couple of weeks later from an auxiliary tower of competitor KTHV. In addition, Equity Media Holdings, based in Little Rock, initially helped restore KATV's signal to cable and satellite systems.[5] Equity is presently carrying KATV's digital signal through its station KWBF--originally as 42.3 in SDTV, now as 7.1 in HDTV. KATV's analog signal was never interrupted on Comcast's Little Rock system due to a direct studio feed, though the HDTV feed was initially interrupted; Comcast also delivered KATV's signal to other cable and satellite providers.[6][7]

The tower was also used by the Arkansas Educational Television Network for analog broadcasts into central Arkansas via KETS Channel 2. Its analog signal was unavailable until June 13, 2008, when a temporary analog antenna was installed at the Clear Channel Broadcasting Tower Redfield, where its digital signal already originated.

KATV eventually received approval to replace this tower with a new tower on Shinall Mountain, where Little Rock's other major-network affiliates (and both of its present backup signals) are located. [8]

Digital Television

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Digital channels

Digital Channel Virtual (PSIP) Name Programming
44.1 7.1 KATV-DT Main KATV programming / ABC HD
44.2 7.2 KATV-DT Main KATV programming / ABC SD

In 2005, KATV launched a 24-hour news and weather channel, called KATV News Now, which features rebroadcasts of KATV's newscasts. This channel competes directly with KTHV's THV2 24-hour news and weather channel. Before the collapse of KATV's tower, KATV News Now aired over virtual digital channel 7-2 (physical RF digital channel 22-2). Digital broadcast of KATV News Now have not yet resumed as of February 1, 2009, the date on which broadcasts began from KATV's new tower on Shinall Mountain. KATV News Now continues to be available online at www.katv.com; it remained online even after the tower collapse, and has recently been restored on Comcast Digital Cable in Little Rock.

News Operation

KATV broadcasts a total of 28 hours of local news per week (with five hours on weekdays, two hours on Saturdays and one hour on Sundays), the most of any station in the Little Rock market. KATV is currently the only Little Rock station carrying a weekend morning newscast, a Saturday edition of Channel 7 News Daybreak. Until the 1990s, rival station KARK was the market leader, but since then, KATV has taken the crown.

From 2001 to 2005, KATV rebroadcast its 6:00 and 10:00PM newscasts weeknights on then-Pax affiliate KYPX (now KKYK-DT). This ended in 2005 due to two factors: the first being Pax's rebranding as i: Independent Television (now ION Television) with KYPX instead becoming the flagship station of Retro Television Network, and Pax's earlier decision to cut ties with its news share agreements with major network affiliates in the markets it had an affiliate, due to financial troubles. KATV was one of a few non-NBC affiliates to rebroadcast its newscasts on a Pax affiliate.

KATV 7 Notable Personalities

Current On-Air Talent

(as of October 20, 2008)

Current Anchors

  • Heather Crawford - weeknights at 5PM (also investigative reporter)
  • Beth Hunt - weekday mornings "Daybreak" and Mid-Day Arkansas Anchor (also reporter)
  • Scott Inman - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10PM (also reporter)
  • Christina Muñoz - weeknights at 6 and 10PM (also reporter)
  • Jason Pederson - weekday and Saturday mornings "Daybreak" (also consumer reporter)
  • Pamela Smith - Sundays at 5:30, Saturdays "Daybreak" and 6, and weekends at 10PM (also reporter)
  • Renee Shapiro - Saturday mornings "Daybreak" (also entertainment editor)

Reporters

  • Jessica Dean - general assignment reporter and "Choose Your News" feature reporter
  • Joan Early - "Family First" feature reporter
  • Michael Knight - traffic reporter, seen weekday mornings
  • Amanda Manatt - general assignment reporter
  • "Chopper" Scott Munsell - Air7 pilot reporter
  • Michelle Rupp - special assignment reporter

KATV Weather

  • Ned Perme (NWA Seal of Appoval) - Chief Meteorologist; weeknights at 6 and 10PM
  • Barry Brandt (AMS Seal of Appoval) - Meteorologist; weekdays "Good Morning Arkansas", "Mid-Day Arkansas" and 5PM
  • Melinda Mayo - Weather Anchor; weekday mornings "Daybreak" and host of "Good Morning Arkansas"
  • Todd Yakoubian - Weather Anchor; Sundays at 5:30, Saturdays "Daybreak" and 6, and weekends at 10PM

Sports

  • Steve Sullivan - Sports Director; weeknights on Channel 7 News at 5, 6 and 10PM
  • Dale Nicholson III - Sports Anchor; Sundays at 5:30, Saturdays at 6, and weekends at 10PM

Former On-Air Talent

Logos

  • Original KATV logo, 1953.
    Original KATV logo, 1953.
  • KATV logo, circa 1990.
    KATV logo, circa 1990.
  • KATV logo, 2000-2008
    KATV logo, 2000-2008
  • KATV logo, 2008-present
    KATV logo, 2008-present

News/Station Presentation

Newscast Titles

  • Arkansas Newsreel (1953-1962)
  • KATV News (1962-1974)
  • Newscene 7 (1974-1987)
  • Channel 7 News (1987-present)

Station Slogans

  • 77 - The Year Of The Seven, in Arkansas. Channel 7! (1977)
  • Channel 7's Still the One! (1977-1978, local version of ABC slogan)
  • The One and Only TV7 (1978-1979)
  • Superseven's the One! (1979-1980, local version of the 1979-80 ABC "Still the One" slogan)

NOTE: For a few years, KATV used a separate Superman style logo for on-air promotions but retained the Circle 7 logo for the news. The Superseven name remained well into the mid-80s, but the Superman style logo was dropped in favor of the Circle 7 logo.

  • The Spirit Of Arkansas (Early 1980s-present; general slogan)
  • If It's KATV-7, It Must be ABC (1992-1993, local version of ABC campaign)
  • 7 is News (2000-present; newscast slogan)

References

  1. ^ "Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films", Boxoffice: 13, November 10, 1956{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  2. ^ Mike's TV and FM DX page
  3. ^ "High Band E Skip". Mike's TV and FM DX Page. Retrieved April 26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ See E-skip#Notable_sporadic_E_DX_receptions
  5. ^ a b Cause of Tower Collapse Still Unknown, KATV, January 11, 2008 - Redfield
  6. ^ DBStalk
  7. ^ KATV Tower Collapses; Competitors, Comcast Try to Help, Nate Hinkel, Arkansas Business, January 11, 2008
  8. ^ KATV Gets FCC Permit for New Tower, KATV, June 17, 2008 - Little Rock

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