KTVE

KTVE, Channel 10, is the NBC affiliate television station for the El Dorado, Arkansas/Monroe, Louisiana DMA. The station is licensed to El Dorado, but its main studio is located in West Monroe, Louisiana. KTVE is owned by Mission Broadcasting, and operated by Nexstar Broadcasting. It is sister station to the area's Fox affiliate, KARD.

KTVE’s transmitter is a 609.6 meter high guy-wired aerial mast (or antenna) is located in Bolding, Arkansas (geographical coordinates: 33°4′41.7″N 92°13′31″W﻿ / ﻿33.07825°N 92.22528°W﻿ / 33.07825; -92.22528), is one of the largest structures of its kind. As a result, KTVE’s signal can be seen in 18 counties and parishes in Arkansas and Louisiana. On certain occasions, the signal can been seen as far north as Hot Springs, Arkansas, and as far west as Texarkana, Texas. For many years, it was known as "Region 10" because it could be seen over the air and on cable in many areas outside the market.

History
The KTVE calls were originally assigned to UHF channel 32 in Longview, TX. KTVE Longview, which was a CBS affiliate, was on the air from 1953 to 1955. A history of the original KTVE can be found at [1].

The station debuted on December 3, 1955 as KRBB-TV. It became KTVE in 1961, and brought color television to the Ark-La-Miss in 1966. It was a primary NBC affiliate, sharing ABC with KNOE-TV. However on October 1, 1966, KTVE switched its primary affiliation to ABC. This was unusual for a two-station market, especially one of Monroe/El Dorado's size. However, J. B. Fuqua, who owned KTVE at the time, wanted to get that station in line with WTVW in Evansville, Indiana and KTHI (now KVLY-TV) in Fargo, North Dakota, both of which were ABC affiliates he had just purchased.

Fuqua sold KTVE in December 1967; the station continued to share NBC with KNOE until KLAA-TV (now KARD) signed on in 1974 and took the NBC programming, leaving KTVE as a full-time ABC affiliate.

For a time, former El Dorado mayor Mike Dumas served as the main evening anchor, while he was serving his early days in office.

In 1983, then-owner Gray Communications swapped networks with KARD, and moved KTVE's main studio to Kilpatrick Blvd in Monroe; it only retained a satellite studio in El Dorado with only a few staff members, including a video journalist. This led to many complaints from Arkansas viewers that KTVE only featured stories from the Louisiana side of the market. In the late 1990s, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) forced KTVE to adopt a split-anchor format as a condition of renewing its license. During the weekday morning and weekday 5:00 pm newscasts, one anchor was stationed in Monroe, while another was stationed in El Dorado. This condition is no longer enforced by the FCC. KTVE does still report news from El Dorado.

KTVE originally aired Louisiana Lottery numbers during the station's 10pm newscast until KNOE complained to the FCC in 1997. Due to a technicality in FCC rules, KTVE couldn't air the lottery numbers since Arkansas had no lottery at the time; this would change in 2009 when the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery began play.

In 2002, KTVE took control of KARD's operations under a local marketing agreement. Although KTVE is the senior partner, operations were consolidated at KARD's studio in West Monroe. The two stations also share a web site.

KTVE also operated a translator station W02AW on Channel 2. The transmitter was said to be located south of Monroe, Louisiana. This translator was removed when KTVE increased its tower height.

In 2006, KTVE was the winner of the Radio-Television News Directors Association’s Ultimate News Makeover contest. The station received about $300,000 in free design, consultation, manufacturing, production and coaching. [2] On the same day that the station revealed its new set, it dropped the longstanding “Region 10” brand in favor of “NBC10.”

On January 16, 2008, Piedmont Television completed the sale of KTVE to Mission Broadcasting. On the same day, Nexstar Broadcasting Group, the owner of KARD, took over control of KTVE under a local sales agreement (LSA), like all of Mission's stations. As a result of the change, Nexstar now controls four of the five NBC affiliates serving Arkansas. Memphis-based WMC-TV, which covers northeast Arkansas, is owned by Raycom Media.

Digital television
On January 3, 2007, KTVE-DT signed on with a full-power digital signal with an ERP of 822 kW. KTVE-DT then started broadcasting the network feed of NBC in high definition on January 12, 2007.

Digital channels In March 2009, KARD and KTVE informed the FCC that they needed to pull the plug on analog much earlier than June 12 (the earliest they could do so is April 16). KARD stated that a transmitter tube failed, bringing power down to 50% - KTVE claimed that its power was at 40%. Used parts were deemed unreliable, and staffers had to travel 50 miles to the transmitter from the studio - two to three visits per week are required to monitor the analog facilities, according to Nexstar.[2] The FCC denied the request based on the fact that they are the last two analog channels in the market.[3]

Out of market viewing
KTVE was previously seen by CMA Cable in Springhill, Louisiana. Springhill is about 50 miles from the nearest parish/county that lies within the viewing area of KTVE. But, it was shown as many viewers could see the station over the air. The digital transition is believed to be why the station was taken off the line-up.

Current on-air staff
Anchors Reporters StormTrack Doppler Weather Team Sports team
 * Cynthia Milledge - weekday mornings "NBC10 News Today" (also reporter)
 * Heather Parker - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10PM
 * Rudy Williams - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10PM
 * Jennifer Auh - Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10PM (also weekday reporter)
 * Meagan Fitzgerald - general assignment reporter (also anchors FOX 14 News at 9)
 * Daisy O'Donnell - Crime and Investigative Reporter
 * Brea Douglas - general assignment reporter
 * Erik Wheater - general assignment reporter
 * Jarod Floyd - Chief Meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6 and 10PM
 * Kayleigh Klaustermeier - Meteorologist; Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10PM
 * Natalie Walters - Meteorologist; weekday mornings "NBC10 News Today"
 * Gene Ponti - Sports Director; Weeknights at 6, and 10PM
 * Hobie Artigue - Weekends (also sports reporter)

Former on-air staff

 * Griffin Scott - news anchor/news reporter
 * Jenifer Andrews - news anchor (now at WJCL in Savannah, GA)
 * Beau Baehman - weekday sports anchor (now at KMIZ in Columbia, MO)
 * Matthew Becker - news reporter (now at Epic Systems in Madison, WI)
 * Kevin Bowles - weekday director/technical director/editor (now at KOTV in Tulsa, OK)
 * Melissa Clark - news anchor (won Miss Louisiana in 2003)
 * Kate Cornell - news reporter (now at WLKY in Louisville, KY)
 * Eric Connor - news reporter/anchor (now producer at WSB-TV in Atlanta, GA)
 * Hilarie Courtney - news reporter
 * Angela Cruz - weekday morning anchor
 * John Denison - news anchor/news director (now at KNOE-TV)
 * Keidron Dotson - news anchor/news reporter (now at KJRH in Tulsa)
 * Bill Evans - sports director/news reporter/news anchor/assignment editor/interim news director (now VP of News and Operations at WPSD in Paducah, KY)
 * Stephanie Farrar - news reporter
 * Casey Ferrand - news reporter (now at KTBS in Shreveport, LA)
 * Bill "Gig" Giacona - news reporter
 * Julie Jameson Grayum - anchor/investigative reporter
 * Alex Hale - reporter
 * Eric James - morning news anchor/news reporter (now at KTRK-TV in Houston, TX)
 * Brittney Johnson - reporter
 * Sam Jones - production manager/senior director (now at KTVT in Dallas, TX)
 * Melissa Klinzing - news director
 * Teresa LaBarbera - news anchor/news reporter (now at WFSB in Hartford, CT)
 * Nathan Ledford - reporter
 * Matt Lincoln - sports anchor/sports reporter (now sports director at WWBT in Richmond, VA)
 * Candace Miers - weekend anchor/news reporter
 * Scott Miller - production staff
 * Laura Diaz Monserrate - news anchor/news reporter (now at WKMG-TV in Orlando, FL)
 * Chris Mycoskie - sports anchor/sports director (now director of television and electronic media for Southland Conference in Frisco, TX)
 * Phil Orban - sports director (now at WRIC-TV in Richmond, VA)
 * Tom Pearson - chief meteorologist (now at KNOE-TV)
 * Joseph Pleasant - news reporter (now at WAPT-TV in Jackson, MS)
 * Myrt Price - reporter (now at WOIO in Cleveland, OH)
 * Joaquin Sanchez - Sports Director
 * Ayna Sehgal - meteorologist (now at KBMT in Beaumont, TX)
 * Mary Shalvarjian - news reporter
 * Kim Vaughn - meteorologist (now at WVUE in New Orleans)
 * Mike'l Severe - news anchor sports reporter (now at KETV in Omaha