KGHZ (channel 33) is a defunct
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...
in
Springfield, Missouri
Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...
, United States. Owned by
Schurz Communications, the station was operated by
Gray Television
Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United St ...
under a
local marketing agreement
In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...
(LMA) for its last four months on the air before its license was returned to the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) on May 31, 2017, as a result of the FCC's 2016
spectrum auction. KGHZ's transmitter was located on Switchgrass Road, north of
Fordland. For most of its history, it served as the Springfield–
Branson Branson may refer to:
Places
;Canada
* Branson, Toronto
;United States
* Branson, Missouri, a popular tourist destination in the Ozark Mountains
* Branson, Colorado
* Branson City, California
* The Branson School, in Ross, California
* Warrenpoi ...
market
Market is a term used to describe concepts such as:
* Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand
* Market economy
*Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market
Geography
*Märket, a ...
's
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
affiliate, a role now served by
KSPR-LD
KSPR-LD (channel 33) is a low-power television station in Springfield, Missouri, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside NBC affiliate KYTV (channel 3) and Branson-licensed CW affiliate KYCW-LD (channel 2 ...
.
History
The station first signed on the air on March 9, 1983 as KSPR; it was the first
independent station
An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...
in the Springfield market. KSPR was founded by Springfield TV Association Ltd. The station originally operated from studio facilities located on South Glenstone Avenue in eastern Springfield. The following year, it sold channel 33 to the broadcasting unit of television production company
Telepictures
Telepictures (also known as Telepictures Productions; formerly known as Telepictures Distribution and Telepictures Corporation) is an American television show and filmmaking company, currently operating as a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Television S ...
(later renamed
Lorimar-Telepictures
Lorimar-Telepictures Corporation was an entertainment company established in 1985 with the merger of Lorimar Productions, Inc. and Telepictures Corporation. Headquartered at the former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (now Sony Pictures Studios) ...
); the sale was approved by the FCC on December 12, 1984.
[Television and Cable Factbook 2014] The following February, Telepictures pursued an affiliation with ABC. On April 3, 1986, ABC decided to terminate its affiliation with KDEB-TV (channel 27, now
MyNetworkTV affiliate
KOZL-TV
KOZL-TV (channel 27) is a television station in Springfield, Missouri, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Osage Beach–licensed Fox affiliate KRBK (channel 49); Nexstar also provides certain ...
) and the network subsequently moved to KSPR. It was at this time KSPR moved to the Saint Louis Street facility.
Over the next several years, KSPR underwent several ownership changes. Lorimar-Telepictures sold the station to Goltrin Communications in 1987; the sale was approved by the FCC on February 12, 1988. Goltrin subsequently sold KSPR to Davis Goldfarb Communications several months later, with the sale being finalized on December 1, 1988. Cottonwood Communications acquired the station on March 29, 1995. Two years later, KSPR was sold to GOCOM Communications; which assumed ownership of the station on September 18, 1997. The station changed its branding to "ABC 33" around this time, before adopting the "Springfield 33" brand in 1998. GOCOM then merged with Grapevine Communications to form GOCOM Holdings LLC, which was later renamed
Piedmont Television Holdings, on November 1, 1999.
On September 21, 2006, Piedmont Television announced that it would sell KSPR to Perkin Media, LLC. Under the agreement,
South Bend, Indiana
South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 United S ...
-based
Schurz Communications, owners of
NBC affiliate
KYTV (channel 3), would take over KSPR's operations under a
shared services agreement; the FCC approved the sale on August 18, 2007 and the purchase was finalized on August 28, 2007. Two weeks later on September 9, the station changed its on-air branding to "KSPR ABC"; a gray and black "33" was added to the logo first introduced with the rebrand in November 2009. On November 1, 2009, KSPR relocated its operations from its longtime studios on East Saint Louis Street into KYTV's facility on West Sunshine Street in an expanded wing of the building.
KSPR has been digital-only since February 17, 2009.
Schurz announced on September 14, 2015 that it would exit broadcasting and sell its television and radio stations, including KYTV, K15CZ-D (channel 15), and the SSA with KSPR, to
Gray Television
Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United St ...
for $442.5 million.
Schurz subsequently agreed to exercise its option to purchase KSPR on December 15, 2015; the transfer, which was contingent on the completion of the sale of KYTV and the rest of its television division to Gray, called for the termination of KSPR's joint sales agreement with KYTV and for the KSPR license to be entered into the FCC's
broadcast incentive auction
The 2016 United States wireless spectrum auction, officially known as Auction 1001, allocated approximately 100 MHz of the United States Ultra High Frequency (UHF) spectrum formerly allocated to UHF television in the 600 MHz band. The spe ...
. The FCC approved the sale on February 12, 2016, and it was completed on February 16, 2016.
On January 2, 2017, KYTV began to simulcast KSPR 33.1 programming on one of its own subchannels. On February 1, 2017, channel 33's call letters were changed to KGHZ (a likely reference to the spectrum auction);
the KSPR call letters are now used by the former K15CZ-D, which changed its call letters from KYCW-LD to
KSPR-LD
KSPR-LD (channel 33) is a low-power television station in Springfield, Missouri, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside NBC affiliate KYTV (channel 3) and Branson-licensed CW affiliate KYCW-LD (channel 2 ...
on the same day.
Shortly after the callsign change, KGHZ swapped its
virtual channel
In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
33 position and
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
affiliation with
KSPR-LD
KSPR-LD (channel 33) is a low-power television station in Springfield, Missouri, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside NBC affiliate KYTV (channel 3) and Branson-licensed CW affiliate KYCW-LD (channel 2 ...
, with KGHZ's primary virtual channel mapping to 15.1. Through all of this, the on-air day-to-day operations of KSPR went unchanged on their new signal outside of mentions for over-the-air viewers to rescan their sets in order to continue to watch ABC programming. However, few viewers actually lost access to ABC programming due to the high penetration of cable and satellite, which are all but essential for acceptable television in this vast and mountainous market.
As KGHZ, the station maintained carried
Antenna TV on its main subchannel until May 31, when the station went off the air and its license was returned to the FCC the same day. The channel 19 frequency is now occupied by low-power sister station
KYCW-LD (formerly K25BD-D) in Branson on virtual channel 25. The KGHZ license was cancelled on that date.
Station Search Details - Federal Communications Commission
/ref> However, KYCW-LD utilizes KSPR/KGHZ's former full-power transmitter and tower at KYCW-LD's reduced power requirements.
Programming
As an ABC affiliate, KSPR carried the entire network schedule, with all programs airing in pattern.
Locally produced programming
On April 21, 1989, KSPR debuted ''The Late Night Horror Show with Count Norlock'', a showcase of syndicated horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
s that featured locally produced wraparound introductory and interstitial segments. Segments were hosted by local actor Jim Kellett in the role of "Count Norlock", a vampire reminiscent of Count Orlok
Count Orlok (german: Graf Orlok), commonly but erroneously known as Nosferatu, is the main antagonist and title character portrayed by German actor Max Schreck (1879–1936) in the silent film ''Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens'' (1922). He ...
from the 1922 F. W. Murnau
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (born Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe; December 28, 1888March 11, 1931) was a German film director, producer and screenwriter.
He was greatly influenced by Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Shakespeare and Ibsen plays he had seen at t ...
film ''Nosferatu
''Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror'' (German: ''Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens'') is a 1922 silent German Expressionist horror film directed by F. W. Murnau and starring Max Schreck as Count Orlok, a vampire who preys on the wife ...
''. Featuring films such as ''Magic
Magic or Magick most commonly refers to:
* Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces
* Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic
* Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
'' and '' The Brides of Dracula'', ''The Late Night Horror Show with Count Norlock'' only lasted one season, being cancelled later that year.
From 1985 to 1990, KSPR produced the local afternoon children's program ''Sammy's Place'', which was hosted by actor Wayne Milnes in the role of hobo clown
A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms.
History
The most ancient clowns have been found in ...
"Sammy B. Good." The program featured cartoons such as '' He-Man and the Masters of the Universe'', '' She-Ra: Princess of Power'', '' Voltron'', ''Transformers
''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, suc ...
'' and ''G.I. Joe
''G.I. Joe'' is an American media franchise and a line of action figures owned and produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier ( U.S. Army), Ac ...
''. Between the programs, Sammy featured area children as in-studio guests and entertained with a number of clown acts and skits; he famously excited the in-studio kids with screams of "Everybody go 'yeaaaa'!," which would be echoed in unison.
Notable former on-air staff
*Mark Steines
Mark Anthony Steines (born June 7, 1964) is an American broadcast journalist and actor who was host of the syndicated gossip and entertainment round-up program '' Entertainment Tonight'' from 2004 to 2012, joining the program on August 24, 1995. ...
– anchor/reporter (later anchor/correspondent for ''Entertainment Tonight
''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Para ...
'', then host of '' The Home and Family Show'')
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kghz
1983 establishments in Missouri
2017 disestablishments in Missouri
Television channels and stations established in 1983
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2017
GHZ
Gray Television
Defunct television stations in the United States
GHZ