KBSH-DT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
KBSH-DT
Semi-satellite of KWCH-DT,
Hutchinson/Wichita, Kansas
Kwch 2008 2.png
Hays/Great Bend/Salina, Kansas
United States
CityHays, Kansas
ChannelsDigital: 7 (VHF)
Virtual: 7
BrandingKBSH 7
Programming
Affiliations7.1: CBS
7.2: Always on Storm Team 12
7.3: Heroes & Icons
7.4: Circle (O&O)
Ownership
OwnerGray Television
(Gray Television Licensee, LLC)
KWCH-DT
KSCW-DT
History
First air date
September 2, 1958 (63 years ago) (1958-09-02)
Former call signs
KAYS-TV (1958–1989)
KBSH-TV (1989–2009)
Former channel number(s)
Analog:
7 (VHF, 1958–2009)
Digital:
20 (UHF, until 2009)
Former affiliations
ABC (1958–1962)
Call sign meaning
Kansas
Broadcasting
System
Hays
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID66415
ERP9.6 kW
HAAT216 m (709 ft)
Transmitter coordinates38°53′1″N 99°20′15″W / 38.88361°N 99.33750°W / 38.88361; -99.33750
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websitewww.kwch.com

KBSH-DT, virtual and VHF digital channel 7, is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Hays, Kansas, United States. The station is owned by Gray Television. KBSH-DT's news bureau, advertising sales office and transmitter are located on Hall Street in northwest Hays.

KBSH-DT is part of the Kansas Broadcasting System (KBS), a statewide network of four full-power stations that relay programming from Wichita CBS affiliate KWCH-DT (channel 12) across central and western Kansas; KBSH-DT incorporates local advertising and news inserts aimed at areas of central Kansas within the Wichita–Hutchinson Plus television market. KBSH-DT is also a sister station to Wichita-licensed CW affiliate KSCW-DT (channel 33).

History[]

Former KBSH logo until 2001.

The station first signed on the air on September 2, 1958, as KAYS-TV. The station was initially a primary affiliate of ABC. KAYS-TV was founded by Hays businessmen Ross Beach and Bob Schmidt, owners of radio station KAYS (1400 AM); the television station was housed in an expansion to the radio studio building.[1] KAYS faced stiff opposition from KCKT (channel 2, now KSNC), which signed on in November 1954 and was affiliated with NBC in concert with Garden City sister station KGLD (now KSNG). The construction of KAYS-TV was marred by tragedy when a pulley broke, causing 22-year-old Ronnie Barnett of Oklahoma City, employed by a tower crew, to fall 150 feet to his death; another person survived.[2]

After KAYS-TV went on the air, KAKE-TV and its two affiliated stations (KAYS-TV and KTVC in Ensign) began branding as the Golden K Network.[3] However, KTVC changed affiliations to CBS in 1961. On September 1, 1962, KAYS-TV followed suit and changed affiliations from ABC to CBS.[4] That same year, it purchased KWHT-TV in Goodland and changed its call letters to KLOE-TV. The three stations and KTVH in Hutchinson then formed the Kansas Broadcasting System, the CBS affiliate for central and western Kansas.[5]

In 1983, the Cowles family, which owned KTVH, began selling off its vast media holdings. KTVH was sold to the Kansas Broadcasting System Corporation, which was owned by Beach and Schmidt; the network also purchased KTVC in 1988, owning all four stations for the first time. The next year, the Kansas Broadcasting System Corporation was purchased by Smith Broadcasting; after the sale was completed, the station changed its call letters to KBSH-TV, as part of an effort that saw KWCH's three semi-satellites change their call letters to help viewers think of the stations as part of one large network. The sale effectively separated the station from KAYS radio, which continues to maintain studio facilities from channel 7's studios, along with the rest of Eagle Radio's Hays station cluster. Smith sold the station to Spartanburg, South Carolina-based Spartan Communications in 1994; Spartan merged with Media General in 2000.

Until the 2000s, Cox Communications carried both KBSH and KWCH on its system in Great Bend (KBSH was carried on channel 7, while KWCH was carried on channel 12); Cox eventually dropped KWCH and moved KBSH to its parent station's former channel 12 position. In 2005, KWCH began operating a digital automation system from its Wichita studio facility, which handled the scheduling of advertisements and master control operations for all four KBS stations.

On April 6, 2006, Media General announced that it would sell KWCH, its satellites, and four other stations as a result of its purchase of four former NBC owned-and-operated stations (WVTM-TV in Birmingham, WCMH in Columbus, Ohio, WNCN in Goldsboro, North Carolina and WJAR-TV in Providence). South Bend, Indiana-based Schurz eventually emerged as the winner and took ownership of the stations on September 25, at which time Schurz formed a new subsidiary known as "Sunflower Broadcasting, Inc.," which became the licensee for its Kansas broadcasting properties.[6][7][8]

Schurz announced on September 14, 2015 that it would exit broadcasting and sell its television and radio stations, including KWCH-DT and its satellites, to Gray Television for $442.5 million. Gray already owned KAKE and its satellites; however, it sold that station to Lockwood Broadcast Group and kept the KBS stations.[9][10][11] The sale was completed on February 16, 2016.[12]

Technical information[]

Subchannels[]

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[13]
7.1 1080i 16:9 KBSH-DT Main KBSH-DT programming / CBS
7.2 480i 4:3 KBSH-WX Always On Storm Team 12
7.3 Heroes Heroes & Icons
7.4 Circle Circle

Analog-to-digital conversion[]

KBSH shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 7, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 20 to VHF channel 7.[14] On June 24, 2009, the station's callsign was officially changed to KBSH-DT to reflect the transition.

Newscasts[]

KAYS/KBSH provided daily newscasts from its Hall Street studios until 1991, when the Kansas Broadcasting System began consolidating its operations; full-scale evening newscasts on KBSH were discontinued, and replaced by a short insert within simulcasts of KWCH's Wichita-based newscasts. The inserts were discontinued in 2001, with the Hall Street facility being reduced to a news bureau and sales office; the two reporter/photographers employed by the station began relaying content to Wichita to be incorporated into KWCH's Eyewitness News broadcasts seen simultaneously in Wichita, Hays, Goodland and Dodge City/Ensign.

References[]

  1. ^ "Work Starts On Hays TV Station". Salina Journal. April 28, 1958. p. 8. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  2. ^ "Dies In 150-Foot Fall". Kansas City Times. July 31, 1958. p. 10. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  3. ^ "First Televised Mass in State Scheduled". The Advance Register. February 13, 1959. p. 5. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  4. ^ "Hays Television Station To Become CBS Affiliate". Hays Daily News. August 23, 1962. p. 2. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  5. ^ "KBS, Kansas Broadcasting System" (PDF). Broadcasting. November 12, 1962. p. 55. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  6. ^ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Media General, April 6, 2006. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  7. ^ Schurz Snaps Up Kansas Affil, Broadcasting & Cable, July 28, 2006. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  8. ^ News Releases Archived 2013-01-03 at archive.today, Media General, September 25, 2006. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  9. ^ "Schurz Communications to sell WSBT and other TV, radio stations". South Bend Tribune. September 14, 2015. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
  10. ^ Kuperberg, Jonathan (September 14, 2015). "Gray Acquiring TV, Radio Stations from Schurz for $442.5 Million". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
  11. ^ "Gray Television Sells Some, Buys Some". TVNewsCheck. October 1, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
  12. ^ Gray Closes Schurz Acquisition, Related Transactions, And Incremental Term Loan Facility Press Release, Gray Television, Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  13. ^ RabbitEars TV Query for KBSH
  14. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""