KAMR-TV

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For Local 4 News in the Quad Cities, see WHBF-TV. For Local 4 News in Detroit, Michigan, see WDIV-TV. For Local 4 News in Superior, Nebraska, see KSNB-TV.
KAMR-TV
KAMR-TV logo.png
Amarillo, Texas
United States
ChannelsDigital: 19 (UHF)
Virtual: 4
BrandingKAMR Local 4 (general)
KAMR Local 4 News (newscasts)
SloganYour Local News Leader
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerNexstar Media Group
(Nexstar Inc.)
KCIT
KCPN-LD
History
First air date
March 18, 1953 (68 years ago) (1953-03-18)
Former call signs
KGNC-TV (1953–1974)
Former channel number(s)
Analog:
4 (VHF, 1953–2009)
Former affiliations
Analog/DT1:
Secondary:
DuMont (1953–1956)
NTA (1956–1961)
DT2: NBC Weather Plus (2005–2008)
Call sign meaning
AMaRillo
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID8523
ERP400 kW
HAAT455.2 m (1,493 ft)
Transmitter coordinates35°20′33.1″N 101°49′21.2″W / 35.342528°N 101.822556°W / 35.342528; -101.822556
Translator(s)See below
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websitewww.myhighplains.com

KAMR-TV, virtual channel 4 (UHF digital channel 19), is an NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Amarillo, Texas, United States. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also operates Fox affiliate KCIT (channel 14) and low-powered MyNetworkTV affiliate KCPN-LD (channel 33) under joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with owner Mission Broadcasting. The three stations share studios on Southeast 11th Avenue and South Fillmore Street in downtown Amarillo (500 feet [150 m] northwest of the studios of ABC affiliate KVII-TV [channel 7]); KAMR-TV's transmitter is located on Dumas Drive (US 87/287) and Reclamation Plant Road in rural unincorporated Potter County.

On cable, KAMR-TV is available on Suddenlink Communications channel 5 in Amarillo, and on channel 4 on other cable systems in outlying areas of the market.[1]

History[]

On September 5, 1951, the Plains Radio Broadcasting Company – a subsidiary of Globe News Publishing Co. (owned by landowner and oilman and civic leader Samuel "S.B." Whittenburg), then-publisher of the Amarillo Globe-News and owner of radio station KGNC (710 AM) – filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to obtain a license and construction permit to operate a commercial television station on VHF channel 4.[2][3] The FCC awarded the license and permit for channel 4 to Plains Radio Broadcasting on October 8, 1953; the group subsequently requested and received approval to assign KGNC-TV (for Globe-News Company) as the television station's call letters.[4]

The station first signed on the air on March 18, 1953. KGNC-TV was the first television station to sign on in the Amarillo market, debuting two weeks before KFDA-TV (channel 10) signed on as the market's CBS affiliate on April 4. Channel 4 has been an NBC television affiliate since its debut, inheriting those rights through KGNC radio's longtime relationship with the progenitor NBC Red Network, which had been affiliated with that station since January 1937; it also maintained a secondary affiliations with the DuMont Television Network. The operations of KGNC-TV were originally located at a facility on North Polk Street and Northeast 24th Avenue in northeastern Amarillo, which it shared with KGNC radio. DuMont shut down in 1955, amid various issues that arose from its relations with Paramount that hamstrung it from expansion; that year, the station joined the NTA Film Network until that network closed in 1961.[5]

On October 8, 1966, the Globe News Publishing Company announced that it would sell KGNC-TV and its sister radio properties to Topeka, Kansas-based Stauffer Communications (a family-owned company run by Oscar S. Stauffer, Stanley H. Stauffer, John H. Stauffer and Marion W. Stauffer) for $5.6 million (split between Globe-News Publishing for $4.225 million plus a three-year non-compete agreement worth $300,000, and $1.375 million to Plains Broadcasting); the sale was approved by the FCC on January 12, 1966. The Whittenburg family retained ownership of the Globe-News.[6][7][8][9]

In October 1973, Stauffer announced it would sell KGNC-TV to Cannan Communications – a locally based company managed under the direction of Darrell A. Cannan, Sr. and Darrell A. Cannan, Jr. – for $2.5 million; the sale received FCC approval, along with the renewal of the KGNC-TV license, on July 31, 1974. In order to comply with an FCC rule in effect at the time that prohibited separately owned radio and television stations in the same market from sharing the same base call letters, as Stauffer was allowed to keep the KGNC call letters for its new radio properties, the station's call letters were changed to KAMR-TV (in reference to its city of license, AMaRillo) on November 5 of that year.[10][11][12]

During the late 1980s, KAMR-TV had experienced a gradual ratings downturn in both local news and, to a lesser extent, in total-day viewership. Especially troubling for KAMR was the fact that its ratings decline occurred at a timeframe when NBC's ratings were otherwise strong, thanks to its prime time programming (including its Thursday night comedy lineup). Not helping matters was that NBC also held partial broadcast rights to the NFL's American Football Conference (which it continued to broadcast through 1997, when those rights shifted to CBS [and by association, KFDA-TV]), which included rights to Super Bowls following the 1992, 1993, 1995, and 1997 seasons. Each of these telecasts featured an NFC or AFC team of interest to significant cohorts of KAMR's viewing area (particularly, the Dallas Cowboys and the Denver Broncos). Meanwhile, KFDA's ratings continued to improve despite CBS losing its NFL telecast rights after the 1993 season. (Prior to 1993, KFDA's final Super Bowl telecast determined 1991's NFL champions; after CBS regained the NFL rights in 1998, channel 10 also carried the Super Bowl that determined the champions for the 2000 season.)

On January 5, 1999, Boston-based Quorum Broadcasting announced that it would purchase KAMR-TV from Cannan Communications as part of a $64-million, three-station deal. The following day (January 6), Westlake, Ohio-based Mission Broadcasting announced that it would acquire KCIT and KCPN-LP from Wichita Falls-based Wicks Broadcast Group for $13 million; the sale to Quorum received FCC approval on February 23, 1999. Quorum took over the operations of KCIT and KCPN on June 1, 1999, under joint sales and shared services agreements with Mission, under which KAMR would handle news production, engineering, security and certain other services as well as handling advertising sales for the two stations.[13][14][15][16][17] Although KAMR was the senior partner in the deal, it subsequently vacated its longtime studio facility on North Polk Street, and relocated its operations seven miles (11 km) south to KCIT/KCPN's facility on South Fillmore Street. (The former Polk Street studio is now occupied by the Faith Clinic Christian Center Church, which relocated its campus into the building in July 2003.)[18][19]

On September 8, 2003, Irving, Texas-based Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced that it would acquire Quorum Broadcasting's ten television stations, including KAMR-TV and the JSA/SSAs involving KCIT and KCPN-LP, for $230 million; the sale of KAMR to Quorum and the transfer of the joint sales and shared services agreements to Nexstar was completed on December 31, 2003.[20][21][22][23] On February 25, 2013, the over-the-air signals of KAMR, KCIT and KCPN were knocked off the air for more than 18 hours as a result of electricity fluctuations that shut off cooling pumps on the stations' transmitter tower off of U.S. 287 during a major blizzard that crippled much of the Texas Panhandle. Snow drifts of up to 4 feet (1.2 m) prevented station employees from accessing the site until the morning of February 26, in order to restore power to the transmitters. All three stations remained available to Suddenlink Communications systems in the area through a direct fiber feed.[24]

Subchannels[]

KAMR-DT2[]

Main article: KCPN-LD

As the low-power station's signal is limited to the immediate Amarillo area, KAMR carries a simulcast of MyNetworkTV-affiliated sister station KCPN-LD on virtual channel 4.2 (UHF digital channel 19.2) in order to relay channel 33's programming throughout the entire Amarillo market. On cable, the KAMR-DT2 simulcast of KCPN-LD is carried on Suddenlink Communications channel 7 in Amarillo.

KAMR-TV first launched a digital subchannel on virtual channel 4.2 in September 2005, which was originally served as a charter affiliate of NBC Weather Plus under the brand "KAMR NBC 4 Weather Plus"; it was the only Nexstar-owned NBC affiliate to have carried the Weather Plus service. KAMR-DT2 converted into a KCPN simulcast after Weather Plus ceased operations on December 31, 2008 (which coincided with NBCUniversal's purchase of The Weather Channel under a joint venture with The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital).

In September 2017, the KAMR-DT2 simulcast of KCPN-LD (then KCPN-LP) was upgraded to 1080i 16:9 high definition. (Ever since its inception, it had been presented in 480i 4:3 standard definition.)

KAMR-DT3[]

KAMR-DT3 is the Laff-affiliated third digital subchannel of KAMR-TV, broadcasting in standard definition on UHF digital channel 19.3 (or virtual channel 4.3 via PSIP). The subchannel is not currently carried on Suddenlink Communications or on other cable providers within the Amarillo market.

On June 15, 2016, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced that it had entered into an agreement with Katz Broadcasting to affiliate 81 stations owned and/or operated by the group — including KAMR-TV and KCIT — with one or more of Katz's four digital multicast networks, Escape, Laff, Grit and Bounce TV (the latter of which is owned by Bounce Media LLC, whose COO Jonathan Katz serves as president/CEO of Katz Broadcasting).[25] As part of the agreement, on September 1 of that year, KAMR launched a digital subchannel on virtual channel 3.3 to serve as an affiliate of Laff (the affiliation rights to the three other Katz networks were given to sister station KCIT, which launched three subchannels that affiliated respectively with Grit, Bounce TV and Escape on that same date).

KAMR-DT4[]

KAMR-DT4 is the Antenna TV-owned-and-operated fourth digital subchannel of KAMR-TV, broadcasting in standard definition on UHF digital channel 19.4 (or virtual channel 4.4 via PSIP). The subchannel is not currently carried on Suddenlink Communications or on other cable providers within the Amarillo market.

The Cozi TV subchannel was added in August 2018 a couple months after KAUO-LD's fourth subchannel dropped the network to become an affiliate of Justice Network (now True Crime Network). On February 1, 2021, KAMR-DT4 became the new home for Antenna TV, replacing Cozi TV.

Digital television[]

Digital channels[]

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[26]
4.1 1080i 16:9 KAMR-HD Main KAMR-TV programming / NBC
4.2 KCPN-HD Simulcast of KCPN-LD / MyNetworkTV
4.3 480i Laff Laff
4.4 Cozi Antenna TV

Analog-to-digital conversion[]

KAMR-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 4, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital television under federal mandate.[27][28] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 19. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 4.

The main channel was converted to 720p high definition on May 22, 2017. As of September 2017, the NBC feed was restored to its native 1080i resolution.

Programming[]

KAMR-TV currently broadcasts the majority of the NBC schedule, although the station currently does not clear most of NBC's overnight programming (preempting its weekend lifestyle lineup outright and carrying Early Today as a single half-hour broadcast instead of offering most of its customary overnight loop), preferring to carry infomercials and some syndicated programming in the designated time period (particularly on Tuesday through Saturday mornings after A Little Late with Lilly Singh). Syndicated programs broadcast by KAMR include The Dr. Oz Show, The 700 Club, The Kelly Clarkson Show, Rachael Ray, AgDay and Entertainment Tonight.[29] KAMR broadcast Dr. Red Duke's syndicated medical reports to viewers in the Texas Panhandle throughout the 1980s and 1990s. From its 1986 start until the 2002–03 season, KAMR aired The Oprah Winfrey Show to viewers on the High Plains when the show moved to ABC affiliate KVII-TV for its last 9 years on the air (2010–11).

The station also produces the news/talk/lifestyle program Studio 4, which airs weekdays at 4:00 p.m.; the hour-long program, which debuted on October 4, 2010, is currently hosted by Meaghan Collier and Andy Justus (both of whom also serve as weeknight co-anchors for the KAMR-produced newscast Fox 14 News at 9:00 on sister station KCIT; Justus also co-anchors KAMR's weeknight newscasts).[30]

News operation[]

As of September 2017, KAMR-TV presently broadcasts 16 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with three hours on weekdays and a half-hour each on Saturdays and Sundays). Unlike most NBC-affiliated stations in the Central Time Zone, it does not carry a midday newscast (instead, the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives fills the 12:00 p.m. timeslot) or a full-length morning newscast of two to 2½ hours (running only 90 minutes) on weekdays, nor does it produce an early evening newscast on Saturdays and Sundays.

In addition, KAMR produces 3½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week for Fox-affiliated sister station KCIT (with one hour on weekdays, and a half-hour each on Saturday and Sundays). Through the shared services agreement with KCIT, the station may also simulcast long-form severe weather coverage on channel 18 in the event that a tornado warning is issued for any county in its viewing area within the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles as well as Eastern New Mexico.

News department history[]

Concurrent to Cannan Communications's purchase of KAMR, in 1974, the station adopted the Action News format, which allowed it to feature more stories within its newscasts than those seen on KVII and KFDA due to strict time limits on story packages. In October 1990, as part of a major re-imaging of the station, KAMR retitled its newscasts from Action News 4 to News 4. However, these changes — as well as the adoption of "Straight Facts, Straight to You" as its news slogan (which was also used by fellow NBC affiliate KMOL-TV [now WOAI-TV] in San Antonio during the time period) — did little to improve the station's mediocre local news ratings, which had slid from second place during 1989 to an ever-more-distant third by the November 1990 sweeps period; KFDA, which had long rated at third place in local news, overtook KAMR for the #2 spot. (KFDA would surge to first place by the end of the 1990s.)[31]

Following their respective sales to Quorum and Mission Broadcasting and the formation of the SSA between the two stations, on March 11, 2001, KAMR began producing a half-hour newscast at 9:00 p.m. through a news share agreement with Fox affiliate KCIT. The program, titled Fox 14 News at 9:00, was KCIT's second attempt at a local newscast (following an in-house effort that lasted from its sign-on in October 1982 until its news operation was shut down in 1995) and originated from a secondary set at KAMR/KCIT/KCPN's South Fillmore Street studios. The program competes against an existing 9:00 newscast on CW affiliate KVII-DT2, which parent station KVII-TV premiered in September 2012. Originally co-anchored by Kelly James and Paige Smith (née Cook) on Sundays through Friday nights and Mel Hernandez on Saturdays, the newscast was structured to mix a conventional news format with the so-called "Fox attitude" in an effort to both court younger and appeal to traditional news viewers.[32]

Following the completion of Nexstar's purchase of KAMR in 2003, the news department saw the departures of several high-profile anchors. Weeknight anchors Jay Ricci and Paige Cook both quit after Nexstar management asked them to accept a reduction in their salaries in contract renewal negotiations. (Both subsequently joined KVII-TV; sports director Andy Justus shifted to news, taking over Ricci's seat on the evening newscasts.) Mary Allison-Parker (who rejoined the station in February of that year, following a previous run as anchor/reporter from 1987 to 1996) also resigned after she refused to shift from anchoring the KCIT 9:00 p.m. newscast to KAMR's weeknight broadcasts, citing that she was on a part-time contract that precluded her from working such an expanded shift.[33][34][35]

Notable former on-air staff[]

  • Dick Williams – weather anchor/children's program host (deceased)

Translators[]

KAMR-TV covers a large portion of northern Texas, the Oklahoma Panhandle and northeastern New Mexico through many translators that distribute its programming beyond the 65.6-mile-wide (105.6 km) range of its broadcast signal. All translators transmit on virtual channel 4, and (with the exception of K25CP-D and K27NL-D, which are owned by Nexstar directly) are owned by local translator cooperatives:

List of KAMR-TV translators

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Channel Lineup - Suddenlink Communications" (PDF). Suddenlink Communications. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  2. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. Broadcasting Publications, Inc. September 10, 1951. p. 107. Retrieved August 6, 2018 – via World Radio History.
  3. ^ "TV Applications Filed with the FCC" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting. Broadcasting Publications, Inc. June 30, 1952. p. 107. Retrieved August 6, 2018 – via World Radio History.
  4. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting. Broadcasting Publications, Inc. October 13, 1952. p. 72. Retrieved August 4, 2018 – via World Radio History.
  5. ^ Timothy R. White (1992). Hollywood's Attempt to Appropriate Television: The Case of Paramount Pictures. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. pp. 107–131.
  6. ^ "Closed Circuit" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting. Broadcasting Publications, Inc. October 11, 1965. p. 3. Retrieved August 7, 2018 – via World Radio History.
  7. ^ "Major sales total nearly $8 million" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting. Broadcasting Publications, Inc. October 18, 1965. p. 38. Retrieved August 7, 2018 – via World Radio History.
  8. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting. Broadcasting Publications, Inc. November 15, 1965. p. 99. Retrieved August 7, 2018 – via World Radio History.
    "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting. Broadcasting Publications, Inc. November 15, 1965. p. 100. Retrieved August 7, 2018 – via World Radio History.
  9. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting. Broadcasting Publications, Inc. January 17, 1966. p. 38. Retrieved August 7, 2018 – via World Radio History.
  10. ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. Broadcasting Publications, Inc. October 22, 1973. p. 23. Retrieved August 7, 2018 – via World Radio History.
  11. ^ "FCC okays Stauffer buying and selling" (PDF). Broadcasting. Broadcasting Publications, Inc. August 12, 1974. p. 22. Retrieved August 7, 2018 – via World Radio History.
    "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. Broadcasting Publications, Inc. August 12, 1952. p. 40. Retrieved August 7, 2018 – via World Radio History.
  12. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. Broadcasting Publications, Inc. September 9, 1974. p. 72. Retrieved August 7, 2018 – via World Radio History.
  13. ^ Greg Rohloff (January 7, 1999). "2 city TV stations sold". Amarillo Globe-News. Morris Communications. Archived from the original on August 21, 2017. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  14. ^ Alisa Homes (February 1, 1999). "CHANGING HANDS.(TV and radio station acquisitions)". Broadcasting & Cable. Cahners Business Information. Archived from the original on August 21, 2017. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  15. ^ "MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER FOR KCIT ACQUISITION COMPANY AND BSP BROADCASTING, INC". Federal Communications Commission. December 11, 1997. Retrieved August 6, 2018 – via University of North Texas.
  16. ^ "Mission Broadcasting of Wichita Falls, Inc. SEC Form S-4 filing". Nexstar Broadcasting Group/U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. December 31, 2001. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
  17. ^ "Mission Broadcasting of Wichita Falls, Inc. SEC Form S-4 filing". Nexstar Broadcasting Group/U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. March 27, 2002. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  18. ^ Chip Chandler (October 24, 2000). "Channel Surfer: KAMR gives peek at new sets, changes". Amarillo Globe-News. Morris Communications. Archived from the original on August 21, 2017. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  19. ^ Don Munsch (July 2, 2003). "Building home of new message - Former news station to be dedicated as church's new worship center". Amarillo Globe-News. Morris Communications. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  20. ^ "Nexstar to acquire Quorum Broadcasting". Dallas Business Journal. American City Business Journals. September 8, 2003. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  21. ^ "Nexstar completes $230M buy of Quorum Broadcast". Dallas Business Journal. American City Business Journals. December 31, 2003. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  22. ^ Steve McClellan (December 31, 2003). "Nexstar Closes Quorum Deal". Broadcasting & Cable. Reed Business Information. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  23. ^ "Nexstar Broadcasting Completes Acquisition of Quorum Broadcast Holdings" (Press release). Nexstar Broadcasting Group. December 31, 2003. Retrieved August 7, 2018 – via BusinessWire.
  24. ^ Chip Chandler (February 26, 2013). "Station GM: Power woes knock stations off-air during storm". Amarillo Globe-News. Morris Communications. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  25. ^ "Bounce TV, Grit, Escape, Laff Multicast Deal Covers 81 Stations, 54 Markets". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media. June 15, 2016. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  26. ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for KAMR". RabbitEars. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
  27. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
  28. ^ "Start here for a DTV Basic Overview for NewsChannel 10's Viewing area". KFDA-TV. Drewry Communications. January 30, 2009. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  29. ^ "TitanTV Programming Guide -- What's on TV, Movies, Reality Shows and Local News: KAMR-TV/KCIT/KCPN-LP schedule". TitanTV. Broadcast Interactive Media, LLC. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  30. ^ "Studio 4 Debuts Monday on KAMR NBC 4". KAMR-TV/KCIT/KCPN-LP. Nexstar Broadcasting Group/Mission Broadcasting. October 1, 2010. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  31. ^ Amarillo Daily News, especially their February 3–9, 1991 and late October and November 1990 issues.
  32. ^ "Channel Surfer: Fox 14 News @ 9 launches Sunday". Amarillo Globe-News. Morris Communications. March 6, 2001. Archived from the original on August 21, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  33. ^ Chip Chandler (October 3, 2003). "Personality shakeup hits Channel 4". Amarillo Globe-News. Morris Communications. Retrieved August 8, 2018 – via NewsBank.
  34. ^ "News anchor Paige Cook quits KAMR-TV". Amarillo Globe-News. Morris Communications. January 29, 2004. Retrieved August 8, 2018 – via NewsBank.
  35. ^ Chip Chandler (April 7, 2004). "KAMR terminates anchor's contract - Allison-Parker to leave at end of May". Amarillo Globe-News. Morris Communications. Retrieved August 8, 2018 – via NewsBank.

External links[]

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