History
The station debuted on September 27, 1953 as KCMO-TV (for Kansas City, MissOuri). The station was owned by the KCMO Broadcasting Corporation along with KCMO-AM (then at 810 kHz now at 710 kHz). It was originally an ABC affiliate with DuMont programming. A week after its launch, Meredith Broadcasting bought KCMO-AM-TV and this merger was completed less than two months later. In 1955, it took the CBS affiliation from KMBC-TV (channel 9). Its call letters were changed to the current KCTV in 1983 when Meredith sold off KCMO-AM-FM. At the same time, the station moved from it original studios (now occupied by KCPT) next to its landmark tower (see below) to its current facilities in Fairway.
When New World Communications announced its purchase of then-NBC affiliate WDAF-TV (channel 4) in 1994 with its intention to switch that station's affiliation to Fox, NBC briefly wooed KCTV. However, CBS persuaded Meredith to switch two of its stations—KPHO-TV (channel 5) in Phoenix, Arizona and WNEM-TV (channel 5) in Bay City, Michigan—to that network as a condition of keeping CBS on channel 5. NBC was thus forced to affiliate with the E. W. Scripps Company-owned KSHB-TV (channel 41, the soon-to-be-former Fox affiliate) since KMBC-TV was in the middle of a long-term affiliation agreement with ABC. In 2005, Meredith purchased the area's WB (now myNetworkTV) affiliate KSMO-TV from the Sinclair Broadcast Group, creating Kansas City's third duopoly operation.
Read more about this topic: KCTV
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