KIMT (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 eart ...
licensed to
Mason City, Iowa
Mason City is a city and the county seat of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 27,338 in the 2020 census, a decline from 29,172 in the 2000 census. The Mason City Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Cerro G ...
, United States, serving North Central Iowa and
Southeast Minnesota
Southeast Minnesota comprises the corner of the U.S. state of Minnesota south of the Twin Cities metropolitan area extending east, and part of the multi-state area known as the Driftless Area. Rochester is the largest city in the area; other majo ...
as an affiliate of
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 Entertainm ...
and
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 ...
. Owned by
Allen Media Broadcasting, the station maintains studios on North Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Mason City, with a news bureau on
Highway 52 North in
Rochester, Minnesota, and a sales office on East William Street in downtown
Albert Lea, Minnesota
Albert Lea is a city in Freeborn County, in southern Minnesota. It is the county seat. Its population was 18,492 at the 2020 census.
The city is at the junction of Interstates 35 and 90, about south of the Twin Cities. It is on the shores of ...
. Its transmitter is located near
Meyer, Iowa (between
Stacyville and
McIntire) south of the Minnesota state line.
History
The station signed on for the first time on
May 15, 1954, as KGLO-TV, owned by
Lee Enterprises
Lee Enterprises, Inc. is a publicly traded American media company. It publishes 77 daily newspapers in 26 states, and more than 350 weekly, classified, and specialty publications. Lee Enterprises was founded in 1890 by Alfred Wilson Lee and is b ...
along with the ''
Globe Gazette
The ''Globe Gazette'', known locally as the ''Globe,'' is a daily morning newspaper published in Mason City, Iowa in the United States.
History
The Globe Gazette traces its history back to July 17, 1858, and a weekly newspaper called ''The Cerro ...
'' and KGLO radio (
AM 1300
AM or Am may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* A minor, a minor scale in music
* ''A.M.'' (Chris Young album)
* ''A.M.'' (Wilco album)
* ''AM'' (Abraham Mateo album)
* ''AM'' (Arctic Monkeys album)
* AM (musician), American musicia ...
and FM 101.1). On the station's first day, reception of its analog signal on
VHF channel 3 was reported as far away as
Gary, Indiana
Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel mill complex in North America. Gary is located along the sou ...
. The original
effective radiated power
Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would h ...
of 100,000
watt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...
s was the maximum amount permitted on the heritage allotment. It was affiliated with CBS owing to its radio sister's long affiliation with CBS Radio, but also carried a secondary relation with
DuMont until 1956, when that network ceased operations.
In August 1977, 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 jurisdicti ...
(FCC) ruled that one company could not own all the media outlets in a city, forcing Lee Enterprises to break up its cluster in Mason City. As a result, KGLO radio was sold to BY Communications in 1977 and the television station was renamed KIMT (standing for "Iowa Minnesota Television") on August 1. In 1980, it was sold to the Shott family of
Bluefield, West Virginia
Bluefield is a city in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 9,658 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Bluefield WV- VA micropolitan area, which had a population of 106,363 in 2020.
Geography
Bluefie ...
, and their
Daily Telegraph Printing Company. However, in 1984, they sold KIMT and
WBTW
WBTW (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Florence, South Carolina, United States, serving the Pee Dee and Grand Strand regions of South Carolina as an affiliate of CBS. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, and maintains ...
in
Florence, South Carolina, to Spartan Radiocasting Company (later to become
Spartan Communications
Spartan Communications, Inc. was a company that was based in Spartanburg, South Carolina that owned WSPA-TV as Spartan's flagship station from 1956 to 2000 when Spartan merged with Media General of Richmond, VA.
In 1984, Spartan bought WBTW and ...
).
Early in the morning on June 27, 1995, KIMT news anchor
Jodi Huisentruit was abducted outside her apartment while on her way to work. She has not been found and the case remains unsolved to this day.
Spartan merged with
Media General
Media General was an American media company based in Richmond, Virginia. The company's origins can be traced back to 1887 when Richmond attorney Joseph Bryan acquired ''The Richmond Daily Times'', which later became ''The Richmond Times-Dispatch ...
in 2000. KIMT's digital signal on UHF channel 42 launched in May 2002 and added high definition capabilities from the network during that summer. KIMT celebrated its 50th anniversary on May 15, 2004, with flashbacks and other special programming. On October 18, 2018, KIMT moved to channel 24 as part of the FCC repack.
On April 6, 2006, Media General announced it would sell KIMT as part of the company's acquisition of four
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
owned-and-operated stations. On August 2,
New Vision Television
New Vision Television was a broadcast company based in Santa Monica, California. Throughout its two decade plus history, the company owned or managed over 60 television stations in large and medium-sized markets.
History
New Vision I
Formed by ...
made public it had bought KIMT and sister station
WIAT
WIAT (channel 42) is a television station in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Nexstar Media Group. The station's studios are located on Golden Crest Drive atop Red Mountain, next to the American General ca ...
in
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...
, for $35 million. That company's acquisition of the two outlets was finalized on October 12, 2006. As part of the
analog to digital transition
Analog or analogue may refer to:
Computing and electronics
* Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable
** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals
*** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...
in 2009, the station opted to keep its analog channel on-air until the revised June 12 deadline. After the transition (which occurred at 12:12 p.m.), KIMT planned to continue using digital channel 42 and filed paperwork with the FCC to eventually increase that signal's output power from 200 to 800
kW which would more effectively fill its coverage footprint.
On May 7, 2012,
LIN TV Corporation announced that it would acquire the New Vision Television station group, including KIMT, for $330.4 million and the assumption of $12 million in debt. On October 2, the FCC approved the proposed sale to LIN TV. The transaction was finalized on October 12, 2012.
On March 21, 2014, Media General announced that it would acquire LIN. The merger was completed on December 19, making KIMT a Media General property once again, and marking the third ownership change for the station in less than a decade.
In September 2015, Media General announced the acquisition of
Meredith Corporation in a cash and stock deal valued at $2.4 billion.
Upon completion of the deal, KIMT, along with
Davenport sister station and NBC affiliate
KWQC-TV
KWQC-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Davenport, Iowa, United States, serving the Quad Cities area as an affiliate of NBC. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains studios on Brady Street in downtown Davenport, and its ...
, would have become Meredith's first television stations in its home state of Iowa. However, on January 27, 2016, it was announced that the
Nexstar Broadcasting Group would buy Media General for $4.6 billion. KIMT would have become part of "Nexstar Media Group", joining a cluster of Nexstar stations serving Iowa including ABC affiliates
WOI-DT
WOI-DT (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Ames, Iowa, United States, serving the Des Moines area as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside CW affiliate KCWI-TV (channel 23), also licensed to Ames. Both statio ...
in
Des Moines and
KCAU-TV
KCAU-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Sioux City, Iowa, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Nexstar Media Group. The station's studios are located on Gordon Drive in Sioux City, and its transmitter is located near Hinton, I ...
in
Sioux City
Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County ...
, and CBS affiliate
WHBF-TV
WHBF-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Rock Island, Illinois, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the Quad Cities area. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Burlington, Iowa–licensed CW owned-and-opera ...
in the
Quad Cities
The Quad Cities is a region of cities (originally four, see History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport and Bettendorf in southeastern Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in northwestern Illinois. These cities are t ...
. On June 13, 2016, Nexstar announced that it would sell KIMT and four other stations to
Heartland Media
Heartland Media, LLC is an American media company that owns television stations in smaller markets in the United States. The company is based in Atlanta, Georgia. It operates the television broadcasting companies, USA Television Holdings, LLC and ...
, through its USA Television MidAmerica Holdings
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...
with MSouth Equity Partners, for $115 million; the sale was required to allow Nexstar to comply with FCC ownership caps following the merger.
July 2015 carriage dispute with Mediacom
On July 14, 2015, KIMT and its
digital subchannels were pulled from the North Iowa region's
Mediacom
Mediacom Communications Corporation is the United States' fifth largest cable television provider based on the number of video subscribers, and among the leading cable operators focused on serving smaller cities and towns. The company has a s ...
cable
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
systems due to a
carriage dispute
A carriage dispute is a disagreement over the right to "carry", that is, retransmit, a broadcaster's signal. Carriage disputes first occurred between broadcasters and cable companies and now include direct broadcast satellite and other multicha ...
over
retransmission consent
Retransmission consent is a provision of the 1992 United States Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act that requires cable operators and other multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) to obtain permission from commer ...
fees between Mediacom and KIMT owner Media General. This carriage dispute was part of an ongoing disagreement nationwide between Mediacom and Media General, which saw Media General stations in 14 television markets in the United States pulled from Mediacom cable systems and even three
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
affiliates owned by Media General were lost to Mediacom subscribers in
Hampton Roads, Virginia
Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James, Nansemond and Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point where the Chesapeake Bay flows into the Atlantic O ...
,
Terre Haute, Indiana, and
Topeka, Kansas
Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central U ...
just before the start of the
2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. On July 30, 2015, Mediacom and Media General reached a new agreement, thereby restoring KIMT and its digital subchannels to North Iowa area Mediacom subscribers.
KIMT-DT3
In late 2010, KIMT-DT3 launched as a full-time 24-hour local weather channel. Previously, KIMT-DT2 had carried this service during overnight sign-off periods. It featured a rotating Storm Team 3 weather map such as Current Temperatures and Dew Points, Weather Alerts, the 7 Day Forecast, Local, Regional, and National Radar, the local Pollen Count, and a Growing Degree Days map, with audio from the
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...
's
NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards
NOAA Weather Radio NWR; also known as NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is an automated 24-hour network of VHF FM weather radio stations in the United States (U.S.) that broadcast weather information directly from a nearby National Weather Servi ...
. Known on-air as ''KIMT Storm Team 3'', this was available over-the-air, with the exception of nearby cities
Clear Lake and
Ventura's local cable company, CLTel, which broadcast on channel 361.
On November 18, 2015, KIMT-DT3 began broadcasting programming from the
Ion
An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge.
The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...
network, replacing the 24-hour local weather channel.
Programming
Syndicated programming
Syndicated programming on KIMT includes ''
Wheel of Fortune'', ''
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 gene ...
'', and ''
Dr. Phil'' among others. The three shows are distributed by
CBS Media Ventures
CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Television Distribution, Inc. and CBS Paramount Domestic Television, Inc.) is an American television distribution company owned by CBS Studios, part of CBS Entertainment Group, a division of Paramount Glo ...
, corporate cousin of KIMT's affiliated network.
News operation
Since KIMT is the only major station licensed to the Iowa side of the market, its newscasts have traditionally focused on Iowa issues. On June 12, 2009, KIMT became the first outlet to upgrade newscasts to
16:9 enhanced definition 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 ...
with some parts in full high definition. Although not truly HD, the
aspect ratio matches that of high definition television screens.
Also at some point that year, KIMT added three newscasts to its MyNetworkTV-affiliated subchannel. This included a half-hour extension to its weekday morning show at 7 (known as ''My Morning News on My 3.2''), a repeat of the thirty-minute weekday noon broadcast at 12:30 (called ''KIMT News 3 Midday on My 3.2''), and prime time newscast weeknights at 9 (known as ''My Primetime News at 9''). Eventually, the half-hour weeknight show was reduced to a five-minute cut-in featuring an updated weather forecast.
On March 20, 2011, rival NBC affiliate
KTTC
KTTC (channel 10) is a television station licensed to Rochester, Minnesota, United States, serving Southeast Minnesota and Northern Iowa as an affiliate of NBC and The CW Plus. It is owned by Gray Television, which provides certain services to ...
(channel 10) in Rochester upgraded its local news to full high definition becoming the first outlet to do so. KIMT has expanded its weekday morning news show, airing two and a half hours of news from 4:30 a.m. thru 7:00 a.m. and an additional half hour, ''My Morning News on My 3.2,'' starting at 7:00 a.m. on KIMT-DT2.
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 ...
:
References
External links
KIMT News 3KIMT-DT3 WeatherKIMT Storm Team 3 on Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kimt
Entertainment Studios
Television channels and stations established in 1954
1954 establishments in Iowa
IMT
CBS network affiliates
Ion Television affiliates
Antenna TV affiliates