KWCH-DT

KWCH-DT is the CBS-affiliated television station for Wichita, Kansas that is licensed toHutchinson. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 19 (virtual channel 12) from a transmitter in Colwich. Although the station no longer airs an over-the-air analog signal, it can be seen on Cox cable channel 12 and in high definition on digital channel 2012. Owned bySchurz Communications of South Bend, Indiana, KWCH is sister to The CW Television Networkaffiliate KSCW and Univision/TeleFutura affiliate KDCU-DT (the latter owned by Entravision Communications but operated by Schurz through a joint sales agreement). The two stations share studios on East 37th Street North in Wichita, which also houses the master controls for KDCU. Syndicated programming on KWCH includes: Inside Edition, Oprah, and Dr. Phil.

History
Channel 12 debuted July 1, 1953 as KTVH. It is Kansas' oldest surviving station. The first station to sign on in Kansas was KCTY which operated a transmitter in Overland Park for less than a year in 1953 and 1954. That station went on the air in June 1953 just prior to KTVH's sign-on. Channel 12 broadcasted from studios in Hutchinson and carried programming from all four networks of the time (CBS, NBC, ABC, and DuMont). In 1954, it lost NBC when KAKE-TVsigned on but continued to air some ABC programming until KARD-TV (now KSNW) signed on in 1955 and took over the NBC affiliation. The first NBC affiliate in Wichita was with KEDD-TV which operated as an independent station for a short time before shutting down after losing its network affiliation to KAKE.b[1] Also in 1954, KTVH opened satellite studios on 37th Street North in Wichita.

In 1955, the station was bought by Cowles Communications of Des Moines, Iowa. In 1956, the station boosted its signal to cover all of the Wichita metropolitan area. It also moved its main studios to the KEDD facility, where it is today, though it still identifies itself as serving "Hutchinson / Wichita". The power boost brought CBS color programming to Wichita for the first time. KEDD did not have the capability to broadcast in color. In 1962, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled that central and western Kansas were part of the Wichita market. As a result, Cowles bought KTVC in Dodge City (now KBSD-DT), KAYS-TV in Hays (now KBSH-DT), and KLOE-TV in Goodland (now KBSL-DT) and merged them into the Kansas Broadcasting System with KTVH as the flagship station.

In 1963, channel 12 activated its current tower north of Burrton just east of Hutchinson which is the tallest in the state. Combined with its three satellites, it boosted channel 12's signal to cover almost two-thirds of Kansas. In 1983, the Cowles family began selling off its vast media holdings. KTVH and its sister stations were sold to the Kansas Broadcasting System Corporation owned by a pair of businessmen from Hays, Ross Beach and Bob Schmidt. They changed the call letters to the current KWCH-TV.

In 1989, the Kansas Broadcasting System Corporation was purchased by Smith Broadcasting which included, as an owner, longtime Wichita television executive Sandy DiPasquale (now the CEO of Newport Television). Smith sold the station to Spartan Communications ofSpartanburg, South Carolina in 1994. Spartan merged with Media General in 2000. Until late-1999, all shows produced by King World aired on KWCH. Since then, ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeopardy! Jeopardy!] and Wheel of Fortune'' have moved from channel 12 to KSNW. In 2005, KWCH received the "Large MarketTelevision Station of the Year" award from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters. On April 6, 2006, Media General announced that it would sell KWCH and its satellites (which all count as one station) and four other stations as a result of its purchase of four former NBC owned-and-operated-stations. Schurz eventually emerged as the winner and took over on September 25. However, KWCH still uses the same logo from the Media General era. In July 2007, KSCW became a sister station to KWCH after Schurz bought the station. On February 17, 2009,[2], the station became digital exclusive and moved back to channel 12. On June 24, 2009, KWCH-TV and satellites KBSL-TV and KSBH-TV replaced "-TV" in their callsigns with "-DT". KBSD-TV did so on June 25, 2009.

In the spring of 2010, Schurz entered into a long-term Web site management agreement with the Tribune Company's Tribune Interactive division. Schurz's Kansas properties were the first to launch new Tribune-run Web sites in late June 2010.

In a bit of an ironic twist, KWCH's former owner Media General now manages a Schurz-owned station in another market: Augusta, Georgia's NBC affiliate WAGT has been controlled by that market's ABC affiliate WJBF since the beginning of 2010.

Digital television
The station's digital signal is multiplexed. On its second digital subchannel, there is a 24-hour local weather channel known as "Always On Storm Team 12". The doppler weather radar and regional forecasts are displayed in the top right-hand corner, city and town forecasts across the state are on the bottom of the screen, and a second doppler radar constantly showing is in the top left-hand corner. When applicable, weather closings are displayed on the bottom of the screen below the city forecasts. The weather channel can also seen on Cox digital cable channel 675 and online through live streaming video. After the June 12, 2009, transition, KWCH was one of four VHF digital stations granted a power increase later that month after stations experienced signal problems as a result of changing their digital channel from UHF to VHF.[3] Since reception problems continue, the FCC granted KWCH special permission to switch transmitting facilities with KSCW-DT. On September 29, 2009, KWCH-DT moved back to Channel 19 (their pre-transition UHF channel) and moved their sister-station KSCW-DT to Channel 12.[4]

Satellites
KWCH operates a network of three full-power stations covering Central and Western Kansas, the Kansas Broadcasting System.

A special feed of KBSH-DT with local news, weather, and commercials is broadcast on Cox cable systems in Salina with the ability to locally insert news, weather, and commercials. All satellite stations shut down their analog signal on 12 June 2009, except for KBSH which shut down on 17 February 2009. In the 1970s, KWCH operated a translator in Arkansas City on channel 70.

News operation
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Since 1985, KWCH has led the news ratings in the Wichita market.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[5] In the May 2007 ratings period, its newscasts attracted more viewers than KAKE and KSNW combined. KBSH in Hays provided daily news coverage from its Hall Street studios through much of the late 1980s and 1990s. The full daily newscast continued until the late-1990s when new ownership brought consolidation to the Kansas Broadcasting System. KBSH's evening newscasts were reduced to a short insert that aired during the main newscasts on KWCH in Wichita. In 2001, these news inserts came to an end. The two reporter / photographers stationed at KBSH began sending their stories to Wichita to be incorporated into the Eyewitness News programs seen simultaneously in Wichita, Hays, Goodland, Dodge City, and Ensign. Today, KBSH maintains a full time anchor / reporter at a news bureau in the same location in Hays that it has occupied since the beginning.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">There is also a Salina Bureau that provides a short news and weather insert during the main broadcasts and online. It is identified as "KWCH 12 Eyewitness News Salina". KBSD in Dodge City produced a full local newscast for many years in addition to carry the newscasts from KWCH. More recently, this station has been downsized to contribution reports to the Wichita newscasts and web content supplied through KWCH's website. In October 2008, the station became the first in the market to broadcast their local news in high definition. In order to make the change, KWCH upgraded their studios. The KSAS and KSCW broadcasts were included in the switch. Its weather segments upgraded to high definition level in March 2009, also a first in the market.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">KWCH produces a nightly 9 p.m. newscast for Fox affiliate KSAS-TV called Fox Kansas Eyewitness News at 9. On weekday mornings at 7, KWCH also produces a two-hour long newscast for KSCW called Eyewitness News This Morning on Kansas CW. KWCH continued production of the KSAS 9 p.m. newscast despite Schurz Communications' purchase of KSCW in 2008. During weather segments, the station uses live NOAA National Weather Service radar data from sites located in Goodland, Dodge City, Wichita, and central Wabaunsee County. This radar data is known on-air as "Live Storm Team 12 High Definition Super Doppler Radar" or as it is commonly referred to as "HD Super Doppler".

Newscast titles

 * Eyewitness News (1969-1976)
 * The News (1976-1980)
 * News 12 (1980-1983)
 * Eyewitness News (1983-1995)
 * Channel 12 Eyewitness News (1995-2001)
 * KWCH 12 Eyewitness News (2001-present)
 * KWCH 12 Eyewitness News HD (2009-present)

Station slogans

 * Kansas' #1 News Source (1995-2001)
 * Coverage You Can Count On/People You Can Count On (2001-2009)
 * Expect More (2009-present)

On-air staff
====Current on-air staff (as of September 2010)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[6] ==== <p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Anchors


 * Roger Cornish - weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
 * Rebecca Gannon - weeknights at 9 p.m. (on KSAS); also reporter
 * Brian Heap - weekday mornings; also investigative reporter
 * Denise Hnytka - Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10 p.m.; also weeknight reporter
 * Cindy Klose - weeknights at 5, 6, and 10 p.m.; also reporter
 * Felicia Rolfe - weekday mornings
 * Michael Schwanke - weeknights at 5 p.m.; also reporter
 * Kim Setty - weekdays at noon; also "Does It Work?" segment producer
 * Kara Sewell - Saturday mornings; also weekday reporter

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Storm Team 12


 * Merril Teller (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
 * Ross Janssen (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seals of Approval) - Meteorologist; Saturday mornings and 6 p.m., Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10 p.m.
 * Mark Larson (AMS Seal of Approval) - Meteorologist; weekday mornings
 * Rodney Price (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - Meteorologist; fill-in

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Sports team


 * Bruce Haertl - Sports Director; weeknights at 6, 9 (on KSAS) and 10 p.m.
 * Jenn Bates - Sports Anchor; Saturday mornings and 6 p.m., Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10 p.m., also sports reporter
 * Bryan Holmgren - sports reporter
 * Trista Hall - KBSD sports reporter
 * Grant Meech - KBSH sports reporter

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Reporters


 * Tracy Crockett - KBSH reporter
 * Kim Hynes - general assignment reporter
 * Karl Man - KBSH reporter
 * Melody Pettit - KBSH general assignment and sports reporter
 * Dave Roberts - general assignment reporter
 * Megan Strader - general assignment reporter
 * Kim Wilhelm - general assignment reporter

Past on-air staff

 * David Bloom - reporter (1988–1989; deceased)
 * Cheryl Burton - anchor (now at WLS-TV in Chicago)
 * Bernard Choi - education / city government reporter (2001-2004; now at KING-TV in Seattle)
 * Mark Ewing - sports anchor and reporter (now at WIBW-TV in Topeka)
 * Shon Gables - anchor/reporter (now at WFAA in Dallas-Fort Worth)
 * Michael Herzenberg (freelance reporter: CBS News/CBS Newspath - NYC)
 * Taunia Hottman (married Jeremy Hubbard; wa at KUSA-TV in Denver from 2004-2007)
 * Tucker Jankosky - reporter
 * Andrea Joyce - anchor (now at NBC Sports)
 * Jim Kobbe - sports anchor and reporter (now at KSNW-TV)
 * Chris Koeberl - investigative reporter (1999-2004; now at KOB-TV in Albuquerque)
 * Linda Mares - general assignment reporter (now at KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City)
 * Adam Everett Marshall - KBSH anchor and reporter
 * Susan Peters - anchor (1983–1991; now at KAKE-TV)
 * Delaina Renfro - reporter (2002-2003)
 * Ayna Sehgal - Meteorologist
 * Joe Sheeran - reporter (2003-2006; now in Philadelphia)
 * Kristi Tedesco (now at KVOA in Tucson, Arizona)