KCEN-TV

KCEN also has a low-power satellite rebroadcaster, KMAY-LP on channel 23 in Bryan, which serves the Brazos Valley area. KMAY-LP began rebroadcasting KCEN in 2003. Previously, KCEN maintained a low-power channel 62 for the Bryan/College Station area for a number of years. KMAY is a straight simulcast of KCEN, with no local programming or commercials.

History
KCEN signed on for the first time on November 1, 1953 on analog channel 6. It was owned along with KTEM-AM 1400, which Frank W. Mayborn, who published the Temple Daily Telegram, established in 1936. Mayborn, however, realized that Temple/Killeen and Waco were going to be a single television market (although they are separate radio markets). To signify his goal to serve all of Central Texas, he decided to call his new station KCEN-TV (for CENtral Texas) rather than KTEM-TV (for TEMple). It was the first television station to serve the Waco/Temple/Killeen market, and the second television station in Central Texas behind KTBC in Austin by a year.

KCEN signed on with one of the tallest towers in the Southwest, at 830 feet (253 m). The station originally carried programming from all four major networks at the time, but was a primary NBC affiliate. It lost CBS to KWTX-TV in 1955; later that year DuMont halted operations. This left KCEN as an NBC affiliate with a primary ABC affiliation. When KXXV signed on in March 1985, it took over the NBC affiliation, leaving KCEN with ABC. However, that fall, KXXV and KCEN switched affiliations and KCEN returned to NBC.

In 1981, KCEN moved to a new 1,924-foot (586.5 m) tower, expanding its coverage area to almost 29,000 square miles (75,000 km2)--one of the largest in the nation. The station now provides at least secondary coverage from the fringes of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to the fringes of Austin.

The station was the first in Central Texas to broadcast in closed captioning, in 1989. KCEN, the Temple Daily Telegram and the Killeen Daily Herald remained under Mayborn family ownership after Frank's death in 1987. In January 2009, a sale of both KCEN and KMAY-LP to London Broadcasting Company of Dallas, Texas was announced, with a purchase price of $26 million.[1] The sale was completed on April 30, 2009.

KCEN broadcasts on cable channel 3 in Waco, Killeen and Temple, while KMAY broadcasts on cable channel 6 in Bryan/College Station.

KCEN also maintains business offices at 111 West Central Ave. in Temple, as well as sales and news offices in Killeen and Waco.

Digital television
The station ended its analog broadcasts on February 17, 2009 — the original date for the analog shutdown in the United States. KCEN's digital branding became KCEN 9.[2] The branding was again changed, to simply KCEN-HD, on February 1, 2010; the station also resumed mapping to channel 6 via PSIP.

KCEN also carries This TV on its second digital subchannel; the station brands it as "MY TX", a branding also used by a subchannel of sister station KYTX (though they are largely programmed independently). KCEN-DT2 preempts some This TV programming in favor of either syndicated programming or sports.

Newscast titles

 * TV-6 News
 * NewsWatch 6 (19??–1990s)
 * NewsStrong 6 (1990s–2001)
 * NBC 6 News (2001–2009)
 * KCEN 9 News (2009–2010)
 * KCEN-HD News (2010–2016)
 * Channel 6 News (2016–present)

Anchors

 * Doug Currin - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
 * Heidi Alagha - weekday mornings on "Texas Today"; also reporter
 * Kris Radcliffe - weekday mornings on "Texas Today"
 * Leslie Draffin - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
 * Chris Rogers - weekend evenings; also reporter

Meteorologists

 * Andy Andersen - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
 * Meagan Massey - meteorologist; weekday mornings on "Texas Today"
 * Zac Scott - meteorologist

Sports team

 * Nick Canizales - sports director
 * Jessica Morrey - sports anchor; weekend evenings; also reporter
 * Kurtis Quillin - fill-in

Reporters

 * Jillian Angeline - reporter
 * Andrew Moore
 * Heidi Alagha
 * Jasmin Caldwell
 * Emani Payne
 * Chris Rogers
 * Shawn Hobbs - film critic
 * Jamie Kennedy

Station slogans

 * Channel 6, Proud As A Peacock! (1979-1981; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Channel 6, Our Pride Is Showing (1981-1982; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * We're Channel 6, Just Watch Us Now (1982-1983; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Channel 6 There, Be There (1983-1984; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Channel 6, Let's All Be There (1984-1985 and 1985-1986; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * You'll Love It On Channel 6 (1985; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * Come Home to Channel 6 (1986-1987; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * NBC for Central Texas (1987-1990)
 * Come on Home to Channel 6 (1987-1988; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Come Home To The Best, Only on Channel 6 (1988-1990; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * The Strength of Central Texas (1990-1995)
 * Channel 6, is The Place To Be! (1990-1991; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * TV-6, Texas Strong (mid-late 1990s)
 * It's A Whole New Channel 6 (1992-1993; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * The Stars Are Back on Channel 6 (1993-1994; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Where Local News Comes First (1995-2004)
 * Where Central Texas Comes First (2004-2007)
 * Live, Local, Now (2007-Present)

Areas Served

 * Bell County, Texas
 * Bosque County, Texas
 * Brazos County, Texas
 * Burleson County, Texas
 * Burnet County, Texas
 * Comanche County, Texas
 * Coryell County, Texas
 * Falls County, Texas
 * Freestone County, Texas
 * Grimes County, Texas
 * Hamilton County, Texas
 * Hill County, Texas
 * Leon County, Texas
 * Limestone County, Texas
 * Llano County, Texas
 * Madison County, Texas
 * McLennan County, Texas
 * Milam County, Texas
 * Mills County, Texas
 * Navarro County, Texas
 * Robertson County, Texas
 * San Saba County, Texas
 * Williamson County, Texas

[edit] References

 * 1) ^ London Buys Waco NBC Affil for $26M, Harry A. Jessell, TVNEWSDAY, Jan 16 2009
 * 2) ^ http://www.kcentv.com/?p=3462

[edit] External links

 * Official site
 * Query the FCC's TV station database for KCEN
 * Query the FCC's TV station database for KMAY
 * BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KCEN-TV