KLRT-TV

KLRT-TV ("FOX16"), virtual channel 16 (digital channel 30), is the Fox-affiliated television station for Central Arkansas that is licensed to Little Rock. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30, which maps to its former UHF analog channel assignment of 16 via PSIP, from a transmitter on Shinall Mountain near the Chenal Valley section of Little Rock.

Owned by Newport Television, the station is sister to CW affiliate KASN (channel 38) and the two share studios on Colonel Glenn Road in the city near I-430.

History
Original KLRT logo from 1983.The logo used from 1999 to 2004 with KLRT-DT being added in 2002.KLRT signed on-the-air on June 26, 1983. It was Arkansas' first independent station as well as the first new commercial station to sign-on in Little Rock in almost thirty years, it was originally locally owned by Little Rock Communications Associates and operated by Scollard Communications.

During KLRT's early independent years, it slogan was "Prime All The Time". The original offices and studios were on West Markham Street at the southeast corner of Bowman Road in Western Little Rock. It was the first of Little Rock's television stations to maintain a studio outside the downtown area and remains so today.

In 1988, then-Fox affiliate KASN negotiated a merger with eventual sister station KLRT that would have moved KASN's Fox network affiliation and syndicated programming to KLRT, with KASN becoming a Home Shopping Network affiliate. KLRT then abruptly pulled out of the merger deal with KASN, notifying the station by fax of its nullification of the deal on its part. However in April 1990, Fox chose to have its affiliation moved to the higher-rated KLRT, despite the fact that the deal made it so that KASN would continue as a Fox station if the merger fell through. KASN owner MMC Television filed a lawsuit against KLRT owners LRCA/Scollard due to the failed merger, alleging civil conspiracy, misappropriation of trade secrets, interfering with business relationships, breach of contract and fraud.[1] [2]

In 1996, KLRT was sold to Clear Channel Communications through the company's acquisition of the station's then-owners US Radio.[3] Over the years, KLRT and KASN became properties of Clear Channel Communications, along with various radio stations serving the market. KLRT vacated its original studios and moved southeast into the Clear Channel Metroplex (a converted former Sam's Club) on Colonel Glenn Road east of Interstate 430 in West Little Rock where all of Clear Channel's Central Arkansas properties were consolidated.[4] The original KLRT building was razed shortly after KLRT's departure. Today a local branch of National Bank of Arkansas, an office of its mortgage division, and a San Francisco Bread Company restaurant now occupy the former studio site.

On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel entered into an agreement to sell its entire television stations group to Providence Equity Partners.[5] KLRT's broadcast tower remains atop Shinall Mountain in Western Little Rock. Following the sale of KLRT and KASN to Providence Equity Partners, both stations remain in the same complex with the radio stations still owned by Clear Channel. The special events portion of the site is now referred to as the Metroplex Events Center.

Digital television
KLRT's digital channel is multiplexed.

KLRT-DT
KLRT-DT broadcasts on UHF digital channel 30. KLRT broadcasts Untamed Sports TV on its second digital subchannel, which is currently not offered to Comcast digital cable subscribers in Central Arkansas.

KLRT-TV requested to transmit in digital only, effective February 17, 2009.[6] After it shut down its analog signal on that date, the original scheduled completion date of the nationwide analog television shutdown, which Congress had moved the previous month to June 12, 2009, KLRT-DT remained on its pre-transition digital channel number, 30, using PSIP to display its virtual channel as 16.

Programming
Syndicated programming on KLRT includes: AgDay, First Business, Extra, Live with Regis and Kelly, Nate Berkus, Steven and Chris, The Andy Griffith Show, Jerry Springer, Maury, Swift Justice with Nancy Grace, Judge Mathis, Two and a Half Men, and How I Met Your Mother.

News operation
KLRT broadcasts a total of 14½ hours of local news per week (with 2½ hours on weekdays and one hour each on weekends) which is well behind the weekly output of the big three network affiliates in the area. This is because the station has yet to offer weekday morning and midday newscasts as Tulsa sister station KOKI, which offers newscasts in the same evening time-slots as KLRT, currently does. Prior to its full-scale broadcasts, this station provided some brief news updates and public affairs programming during its earliest years on the air.

Early weather information was once presented by former KKYK-FM and KURB-FM morning disc jockey and current KTHV news anchor Craig O'Neill. He included a vocal rendition of his radio character "Sherman Bonner, the World's Only Human Themometer" to voiceover some of the weather introduction. News information was presented by Bill Powell (formerly of KTHV) and Linda Gilliam on an individual basis in the early years. Ron Breeding, who then primarily worked with radio station KARN-FM (currently working with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock via KUAR-FM) provided news and later weather information for the station in the late-1980s.

On September 4, 2000, the station began airing "Fox First Weather", a five-minute weathercast that ran until shortly before KLRT's newscasts debuted.[7] The station began airing a nightly hour-long prime time newscast at 9 p.m. on March 28, 2004.[8] In 2007, it began airing two half-hour newscasts on weeknights at 5 and 5:30 p.m.[9] On January 18, 2010, KLRT debuted a 10 p.m. newscast on weeknights airing immediately following the 9 p.m. newscast which competes head-to-head against the big three stations;[10] this addition increased KLRT's weekdaily news output to 2½ hours. Fellow Fox affiliate and Tulsa sister station KOKI also launched a 10 p.m. newscast on that date.[11]

On April 5, 2011, KLRT became the second television station in the Little Rock market to broadcast their local newscasts in high definition. It was the second news operation to do so preceded by KTHV. With the switch to HD, they introduced new graphics, music, and logos. The music and logo currently used is the typical style found on Fox owned-and-operated stations and some affiliates nationwide (although the Fox searchlights are noticably absent from the station logo unlike other stations that use the Fox O&O graphics). The new FOX O&O graphics are the same as those used on KSWB, KOKI, WMPT and WAWS.

Newscast titles

 * Newscap 16 (1983-mid 1980s)
 * Fox First Weather (10 p.m. weather program; 2000–2004)
 * Fox 16 News (2004–present)

Station slogans

 * "Prime All The Time" (1983-late 1980s)
 * "First. Complete. Local." (2004–2006; also used by sister station KOKI-TV in Tulsa)
 * "Right Here. Right Now" (2006–2008)
 * "Arkansas' New Choice for News" (2008–present)

News music packages[12]

 * Extreme by Stephen Arnold Music (2004-2009)
 * FOX Affiliate News Theme by OSI Music (2009-present)

Current on-air staff (as of January 1, 2011)[13]
Anchors Fox 16 Pinpoint Weather Sports team Reporters
 * Kelly Dudzik - weekends at 9 p.m.
 * Justin Earley - weekends at 9 p.m.; also weekday reporter
 * Kevin Kelly - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 9 and 10 p.m.; also "Neighborhood Crime Tracker" segment producer and Friday Night Tailgate "Big Hit" specialist
 * Donna Terrell - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 9 and 10 p.m.
 * Jeff Baskin (AMS Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 5:30, 9 and 10 p.m.
 * Chad Garneau (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekends at 9 p.m.
 * David Raath - sports director; weeknights at 5:30, 9 and 10 p.m.
 * Dustin Barnes - general assignment reporter
 * Roby Brock - business and financial analyst; also Talk Business host
 * David Goins - general assignment reporter
 * Katherine Johnson - general assignment reporter
 * Josh Rosenthal - general assignment reporter
 * Kent Smith - chief photographer
 * Karoline Wightman - general assignment reporter

Former on-air staff

 * Jennifer Akers - reporter
 * Jeremy Baker - weekend meteorologist
 * Troy Bridges - chief meteorologist (2004–2008; now at WKMG-TV in Orlando)
 * Nate Higgens - weekend meteorologist
 * Morgan Adsit - sports anchor (2004-2011; now at WBFF-TV in Baltimore)