KYTV (channel 3) is a
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, affiliated with
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
. It is owned 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 ...
alongside
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
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 ...
(channel 33) and
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 ...
-licensed
CW affiliate
KYCW-LD
KYCW-LD (channel 24) is a low-power television station licensed to Branson, Missouri, United States, serving the Springfield area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Gray Television alongside NBC affiliate KYTV (channel 3) and ABC affi ...
(channel 24); it is also
sister
A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...
to Branson-licensed
tourist information
A visitor center or centre (see American and British English spelling differences), visitor information center, tourist information center, is a physical location that provides tourist information to visitors.
Types of visitor center
A visit ...
–formatted station
K17DL-D
K17DL-D (channel 17) is a low-power tourist information–formatted television station in Branson, Missouri, United States. It is owned by Branson Visitors TV, LLC, a joint venture between Gray Television (50.1%) and Market Branson, LLC (49.9%); ...
, channel 17 (which is owned by Branson Visitors TV,
LLC, a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
between Gray
0.1%and Market Branson, LLC
9.9%
9.9 was an American R&B group formed in the mid-1980s. The group consisted of members Margo Thunder, Leslie Jones (1962-2013), and Wanda Perry. The group formed in 1985 in Boston, Massachusetts. They signed to RCA Records and released their fi ...
. KYTV, KSPR-LD and KYCW-LD share studios on West Sunshine Street in Springfield, while KYTV's transmitter is located on Highway FF north of
Fordland.
History
The station first signed on the air on October 1, 1953, becoming the second television station to sign on in the Springfield market; the first was
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
affiliate KTTS-TV (channel 10, now
KOLR
KOLR (channel 10) is a television station in Springfield, Missouri, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement(LMA) with Nexstar Media Group, owner of MyNetworkTV affiliate ...
), which signed on in March of that same year. Founded by the Cox and Duvall families, it operated from a studio on West Sunshine Street, the first facility located west of the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
that was built specifically for television production. Channel 3 has been an NBC affiliate since its sign-on, although it also shared a secondary
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 KTTS until KMTC (channel 27, now
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...
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 ...
) signed on in 1968. On December 26, 1953, KYTV debuted a television broadcast of the show ''
Ozark Jubilee
''Ozark Jubilee'' is a 1950s United States network television program that featured country music's top stars of the day. It was produced in Springfield, Missouri. The weekly live stage show premiered on ABC-TV on January 22, 1955, was renamed ' ...
'', a live
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
program which originated on radio station
KWTO (560 AM), owned by the Coxes; ABC began televising the program nationally on January 22, 1955, although it temporarily originated from
Columbia until it moved to the Jewell Theatre on April 30 using KYTV's staff and equipment. The station's staff and facilities also played key roles in the production of two other programs that aired on ABC during the 1950s shows ''
Talent Varieties
''Talent Varieties'' is a country music talent show on United States, American television network, network television and radio network, radio in 1955 that featured performers hoping to achieve fame in the entertainment business.
The weekly Ameri ...
'' and ''
The Eddy Arnold Show
''The Eddy Arnold Show'' is the name of three similar United States, American network television summer variety show, variety programs during the 1950s hosted by Eddy Arnold and featuring popular music stars of the day. It was also the name of a ...
''.
KYTV purchased remote broadcasting equipment in 1954. Its first remote broadcast originated that year from the Ozark Empire Fair. Remote telecasts were also brought to viewers from the Plaza Bowl featuring area bowling teams. Other remotes included Springfield
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
parades, "Man with a Mike" from the Tower Theater on the Plaza, sporting events, and (beginning in 1986) the station's ''Celebrate the Ozarks'' program. KYTV purchased one of the nation's first mobile videotape units in March 1959. That year, the station videotaped the dedication of
Table Rock Dam and produced Harold Bell Wright's ''
The Shepherd of the Hills'' on location in Branson. From March 17 to September 22, 1961, KYTV transmitted ''
Five Star Jubilee
''Five Star Jubilee'' is an American country music variety show carried by NBC-TV from March 17–September 22, 1961. The live program, a spin-off of ABC-TV's '' Jubilee USA'', was the first network color television series to originate outsid ...
'' to NBC from the
Landers Theatre
The Landers Theatre in Springfield, Missouri, built in 1909, is the second oldest and largest civic theater operation in Missouri. It has been in continuous use either as a legitimate theatre or a movie theater since it opened. In 1928, the theate ...
. It was the first network
color television
Color television or Colour television is a television transmission technology that includes color information for the picture, so the video image can be displayed in color on the television set. It improves on the monochrome or black-and-white t ...
program to originate outside of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
or
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
although KYTV could not yet broadcast the show locally in color. In 1970, the station adopted its current on-air name, “KY3.”
In 1973, the station built a transmission tower in
Marshfield, which became the
tallest structure in Missouri, approaching nearly —more than three times the height of the
Gateway Arch
The Gateway Arch is a monument in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Clad in stainless steel and built in the form of a weighted catenary arch, it is the world's tallest arch and Missouri's tallest accessible building. Some sources conside ...
in
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
. In 1978, the Cox and Duvall families sold channel 3 to
Harte-Hanks Communications. Harte-Hanks sold the station to
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
Schurz Communications is a South Bend, Indiana-based broadband media group and cloud services provider. It owned newspapers.
History
The company was founded in 1872 by Alfred B. Miller and Elmer Crockett with the creation of the ''South Bend ...
in 1987. In 1997, Schurz migrated KYTV's operations from its original building on West Sunshine Street into new facilities adjacent to the original studio.
In 2000, KYTV erected a tower in
Fordland for its digital transmitter; the towers in Marshfield and Fordland were surpassed in 2001 by a tower in
Syracuse
Syracuse may refer to:
Places Italy
*Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa''
*Province of Syracuse
United States
*Syracuse, New York
**East Syracuse, New York
**North Syracuse, New York
*Syracuse, Indiana
* Syracuse, Kansas
*Syracuse, Miss ...
, used by
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
member station
KMOS-TV
KMOS-TV (channel 6) is a PBS member television station licensed to Sedalia, Missouri, United States. The station is owned by the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg. KMOS-TV's studios are located in the Patton Broadcast Center on the ...
in
Sedalia, which was only higher than either of KYTV's towers, which remain the second and third tallest structures in the state and are among the
tallest structures in the world
Tall commonly refers to:
*Tall, a degree of height
**Tall, a degree of human height
Tall may also refer to:
Places
* Tall, Semnan, a village in Semnan Province of Iran
* River Tall, a river in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Arts. entertainmen ...
.
On September 21, 2006, Schurz entered into a deal in which Perkin Media would acquire ABC affiliate KSPR (channel 33, later
KGHZ
KGHZ (channel 33) is a defunct television station in Springfield, Missouri, United States. Owned by Schurz Communications, the station was operated by Gray Television under a local marketing agreement (LMA) for its last four months on the air be ...
) from
Piedmont Television
Piedmont Television was a broadcasting company in the United States that owned television stations in smaller markets. The company was based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Piedmont was founded in 1996 as Grapevine Communications, and was originall ...
and manage that station under a
shared services 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 time ...
. Under the deal, Schurz controlled all of KSPR's non-license assets, with Perkin serving as the owner of that station's
FCC
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 ...
broadcast license
A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which vary ...
; channel 33's operations remained at its studio facility on East Saint Louis Street until November 2009, when KSPR moved into a new newsroom and studio addition built onto the Sunshine Street facility.
KYTV's broadcasts became digital-only, effective June 12, 2009.
As part of the
SAFER Act
In cryptography, SAFER (Secure And Fast Encryption Routine) is the name of a family of block ciphers designed primarily by James Massey (one of the designers of IDEA) on behalf of Cylink Corporation. The early SAFER K and SAFER SK designs share ...
,
KYTV kept its analog signal on the air until June 26 to inform viewers of the
digital television transition
The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover (DSO), the analogue switch/sign-off (ASO), the digital migration, or the analogue shutdown, is the process in which older analogue television broadcasting technology is conv ...
through a loop of
public service announcement
A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...
s from the
National Association of Broadcasters
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a trade association and lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States. The NAB represents more than ...
.
Schurz announced on September 14, 2015 that it would exit broadcasting and sell its television and radio stations, including KYTV, K15CZ-D (channel 15, now
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 ...
), 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.
The FCC approved the sale on February 12, 2016, and the sale was completed on February 16, 2016.
Programming
In addition to the NBC network schedule,
syndicated programs broadcast by KYTV include ''
Wheel of Fortune The Wheel of Fortune or ''Rota Fortunae'' has been a concept and metaphor since ancient times referring to the capricious nature of Fate. Wheel of Fortune may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Art
* ''The Wheel of Fortune'' (Burne-Jo ...
'', ''
Dr. Phil'', ''
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was prod ...
'' and ''
The Doctors'', among others. ''
Jeopardy!
''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...
'', which is usually paired with ''Wheel of Fortune'' in most markets, airs instead on ABC-affiliated sister station KSPR-LD; Springfield is one of the few markets where ''Jeopardy!'' and ''Wheel'' are carried on separate stations. Channel 3 also serves as the local broadcaster of the ''
Children's Miracle Network
Children's Miracle Network Hospitals (CMN Hospitals) (French: Réseau Enfants-Santé (RES)) is a nonprofit organization that raises funds for children's hospitals in the U.S. and Canada. Donations support the health of 10 million children each ...
Telethon'', which airs annually on the first weekend in June.
News operation
KYTV presently broadcasts 26½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 4½ hours on weekdays and two hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); in addition, the station produces the half-hour sports highlight program ''O-Zone Sports'', which airs Sundays at 10:30 p.m. The station operates its own
Doppler radar
A Doppler radar is a specialized radar that uses the Doppler effect to produce velocity data about objects at a distance. It does this by bouncing a microwave signal off a desired target and analyzing how the object's motion has altered the f ...
system, called "Storm Tracker 3", near its transmitter in Fordland. All news anchors may also serve as reporters. For many years, channel 3's newscasts have been in first place in the market, and as of 2013, its news programs have ranked #1 in all timeslots according to
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
.
Since its sign-on, the station has been airing nightly 6 and 10 o'clock broadcasts. A satellite news gathering truck was purchased in 1986. In November 2006, KYTV debuted a new set for its newscasts, which integrated the weather center into the main studio; it also included a background that could be lowered over the set used for sports segments to convert it into an interview area, which changed with the time of day (such as the morning featuring a picture of a sunrise over Springfield). The former weather area was turned into the "Virtual Newsroom," which was later renamed the "KY3 Web Center," where Internet-related news topics are discussed.
Although KSPR moved into KYTV's studio facilities on November 1, 2009, the two stations continued to maintain separate news departments for nearly eight years, occasionally sharing footage for certain news stories. On January 28, 2010, beginning with the 5:00 p.m. newscast, KYTV began broadcasting its local newscasts in
high definition; with the upgrade, came the introduction of a new logo and an updated graphics package. In-studio cameras record in HD, however video from field cameras continued to be broadcast in
standard definition
Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...
and upconverted to a
16:9 widescreen
Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...
format in the control room until June 28, 2011, when the station began transmitting field video in high definition. On August 22, 2011, KYTV began producing an hour-long extension of ''Ozarks Today'' on weekday mornings from 7:00 to 8:00 a.m., and a half-hour 9:00 p.m. newscast (which expanded to one hour in June 2013) for CW affiliate KYCW-LD; this is despite the fact that the station is simulcast on the second digital subchannel of ABC-affiliated sister station KSPR-LD.
In 2017, KSPR's news operation was folded into KYTV's. KSPR retains unique local news broadcasts at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., while at most other times, the stations air combined newscasts. Additionally, ''Ozarks Today'' expanded to a fourth hour, airing from 8 to 9, and the KYTV noon news was extended to a full hour. On September 6, 2021, KY3 added an 11 a.m. newscast replacing ''
The Andy Griffith Show
''The Andy Griffith Show '' is an American situation comedy television series that aired on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons—159 in black and white and 90 in color.
The ...
'' (since that show is already airing on KSPR-LD3, which is affiliated with
MeTV
MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television program ...
).
Notable former on-air staff
*
Norma Champion – former children's show host (1957–1986)
*
Slim Wilson
Clyde Carol Wilson (July 14, 1910 – July 15, 1990), better known as Slim Wilson, was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and radio and TV personality who was a cornerstone of country music in the Ozarks for more than 50 years beginning ...
– country music host (1964–1975)
Subchannels
The station's digital signal is
multiplexed
In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...
:
On December 31, 2008, with the discontinuation of
NBC Weather Plus
NBC Weather Plus was an American weather-oriented digital broadcast and cable television network owned as a joint venture between NBC Universal and the local affiliates of the NBC television network. The service, which was broadcast in standard d ...
, the station changed the name of its weather offering to ''KY3 24/7''.
On January 2, 2017, KYTV moved its 24/7 weather channel, which had become known as KY3 Weather Nation, to a subchannel of KYCW-LD. On the same day, it added a subchannel simulcasting ABC programming from KSPR 33.1. KYTV notified viewers, saying, "You may notice two KSPR 33.1 subchannels. That is normal, for now."
Trouble finding KY3's Weather Nation? Here's how to find it
Retrieved January 7, 2017. On May 31, 2017, Cozi TV
Cozi TV (stylized on-air as COZI TV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. The network airs classic television series from the 1960s to the 2000s.
The network origina ...
(which was available on DT3, then DT2 after April 1, 2017) was moved to channel 25.3 which is a subchannel of KYCW-LD
KYCW-LD (channel 24) is a low-power television station licensed to Branson, Missouri, United States, serving the Springfield area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Gray Television alongside NBC affiliate KYTV (channel 3) and ABC affi ...
.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kytv (Tv)
NBC network affiliates
Circle (TV network) affiliates
True Crime Network affiliates
ABC network affiliates
Gray Television
YTV (TV)
Television channels and stations established in 1953
1953 establishments in Missouri