KCTV
Encyclopedia : K : KC : KCT : KCTV
For the North Korean TV channel, see Korean Central Television
KCTV (channel 5, DTV 24), "KCTV5" is the CBS affiliate television station in the Kansas City Designated market area. The station, which Meredith Corporation (who is the station's current owner) purchased shortly after its inception in 1953, runs practically the entire CBS schedule, along with local news and first run syndicated shows. It is a sister station to The WB (and future My Network TV) affiliate KSMO-TV channel 62.
Started in 1953 as KCMO-TV (for Kansas City MissOuri), it was originally an ABC affiliate with DuMont programming. In 1955 it became a CBS affiliate. Its call letters were changed to KCTV in 1983, when it was split from KCMO (AM) and KCMO-FM. The two radio stations (now owned by Cumulus Media) were sold by Meredith Corporation while retaining ownership of KCTV. The KCTV's studios are located in Fairway, KS. Its original studios are now the location of KCPT.
The KCTV transmission tower is a 317.6-meter-high free-standing steel framework tower at 39°04'15.0" N and 94°34'58.0" W for FM and TV broadcasting, and is located in Kansas City, Missouri, its city of license.
In May 2006, KCTV acquired a helicopter for news (named "Chopper 5"). The station was the last in the market (with a news department) to use a helicopter regularly for news coverage.
Branding
As featured in news footage from the 1960s, KCMO-TV branded itself as "Television 5". The branding was simplified to "TV5" when the "Eyewitness News" format was adopted, and continued into the 1980s. When Meredith separated KCMO radio from KCMO-TV, the "KCTV" calls were adopted based on the familiarity of the "TV5" branding. A font similar to that of co-owned WNEM-TV was then adopted, and a new slogan brought forth: "TV5 Loves You".The advertised "TV5" branding ended in 1992, when a new logo was adopted and KCTV took on the "Kansas City's News" slogan, simply taking on the "KCTV Kansas City" branding. Its logo, however, continues to subtly advertise its commonly known former branding, "TV5", by changing the font of "TV" (as done when the "TV5" branding was dropped from 1992-2000), bolding the "TV" (as done from 2000-2002), or connecting "T" to "V" (as seen in the current logo).[[Citing sources citation needed]]
KCTV took on its current "KCTV5" branding upon logo redesign in April 2000.
Content
Over the years KCTV would preempt moderate amounts of CBS programming such as some morning daytime shows, Sunday morning cartoons, a couple Saturday morning cartoons, an occasional prime time show, and some late night shows prior to David Letterman's arrival in 1993. Today KCTV still runs a large amount of local news along with most every CBS show.KCTV and its news director, Regent Ducas, have come under fire in recent years for bringing what some call tabloid-style reporting to the market. "Live, Late-breaking, Investigative" became KCTV's new slogan in September 2002, six months after Regent's hiring. A year later, sports reporting was outsourced to Metro Sports, a local cable channel operated by Time Warner Cable, with most of the former staff making the move.
Because of the station's "new direction", several high profile anchors and reporters left the station, including Anne Peterson, Russell Kinsaul (who is now working across the state in St. Louis) and Dave Helling.
Controversial programming
KCTV has not shied away from reporting on controversial topics, two of which were featured nationally by CBS. KCTV aired a seven-part series in February 2004 that exposed the dangers children can face in internet chat rooms. A group called Perverted Justice[link] posed as minors in chat rooms and waited for adult men to proposition them for sex. The "minors" then invited the men to meet them at a house where KCTV was waiting.After the series aired, local law enforcement made a new effort to police chat rooms and prosecute men who attempt to meet minors for sex through the internet. None of the people "stung" by KCTV could be charged in these cases, because the operation was done without police involvement.
In June 2005, KCTV exposed a doctor's negligent handling of private medical records. A scavenger gave the station a computer found at the curb of a Mission Hills, Kansas plastic surgeon's home. The plastic surgeon claimed he erased the patients' information from the computer. However, only the computer's random access memory was removed. The computer's hard drive was intact and contained photos and files on many patients.
KCTV attempted to contact several of the patients whose information was found on the discarded computer. The surgeon sued, citing that interviewing the patients violated medical confidentiality. The judge ruled in favor of the doctor, though KCTV took the case to federal court in Kansas City, Kansas. The doctor withdrew his lawsuit, and the story aired on June 30.
As a result of this story, several of the surgeon's patients have filed a class action lawsuit against him for negligent handling of their confidential records. [link]
Awards and honors
In November 2004, KCTV won the coveted 10pm news race, unseating KMBC for the first time in a decade. The station continues to lead at 10pm, and is making gains in other timeslots, although in those timeslots KMBC and WDAF-TV continue to fight it out for first.KCTV's news team has been honored with the Mid-America Emmy award for overall news excellence, the Edward R. Murrow Award for overall news excellence and multiple awards for its investigative reporting.
Newscasts
Weekdays- KCTV5 More In The Morning - 5 AM-7 AM
- KCTV5 News at Noon - NOON-12:30 PM
- KCTV5 News at Four - 4 PM-5 PM
- KCTV5 News at Five - 5 PM-5:30 PM
- KCTV5 News at Six - 6 PM-6:30 PM
- KCTV5 News at Ten - 10 PM-10:35 PM
- KCTV5 This Weekend - 7 AM-10 AM
- KCTV5 News at Five - 5 PM-5:30 PM
- KCTV5 News at Six - 6 PM-6:30 PM
- KCTV5 News at Ten - 10 PM-10:35 PM
- KCTV5 This Weekend - 9:30 AM-11 AM
- KCTV5 News at 5:30 - 5:30 PM-6 PM
- KCTV5 News at Ten - 10 PM-10:30 PM
- KCTV5 News at 10:30 - 10:30 PM-11 PM
Logos
External links
- [KCTV's website]
- [Query the FCC's TV station database for KCTV]
- [KC Radio history]
- [KCTV tower at www.structurae.net]
- [FCC-license]
| Broadcast television in the Saint Joseph market [(Nielsen DMA #201)] | ||
|---|---|---|
| KQTV 2 (ABC) - WDAF 4 (Fox) - KCTV 5 (CBS) - KMBC 9 (ABC) - KTWU 11 (PBS) - KTAJ 16 (TBN) - KCPT 19 (PBS) - KSHB 41 (NBC) - K46FG 46 (PBS/NET) | ||
| Local cable television channels | ||
| WBJO 6 (The WB) | ||