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Jonesboro, Arkansas United States |
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Branding | KAIT 8 (general) Region 8 News (newscasts) |
Slogan | We are Region 8! |
Channels |
Digital: 8 (VHF) Virtual: 8 (PSIP) |
Subchannels | 8.1 ABC 8.2 NBC |
Affiliations | ABC (since 1965) |
Owner |
Raycom Media (KAIT License Subsidiary, LLC) |
First air date | July 15, 1963 |
Call letters' meaning |
Arkansas Independent Television (AIT also sounds like eight) |
Sister station(s) |
WMC-TV, KFVS-TV, WQWQ-LP/WQTV-LP |
Former channel number(s) |
Analog: 8 (VHF, 1963–2009) Digital: 9 (VHF, 2003–2009) |
Former affiliations | Independent (1963–1965) |
Transmitter power | 28.2 kW |
Height | 531 m |
Facility ID | 13988 |
Transmitter coordinates | 35°53′22″N 90°56′7.5″W / 35.88944°N 90.935417°W |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
Website | www.kait8.com |
KAIT, virtual and VHF digital channel 8, is an ABC and NBC-affiliated television station located in Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States. Owned by Raycom Media, the station maintains transmitter facilities in Egypt. KAIT maintains studios on County Road 766 in Jonesboro.
KAIT first signed on July 15, 1963 as an independent station, a venture of Fort Smith businessman George Hernreich. It has been affiliated with ABC since 1965. The Hernreich family sold the station to Channel Communications in 1984. That company, in turn, sold KAIT to Cosmos Broadcasting, the broadcasting arm of South Carolina-based insurer Liberty Corporation, in 1986. Liberty exited the insurance business in 2000, bringing the Cosmos stations directly under the Liberty banner. Current owner Raycom Media obtained the station in 2005 through its purchase of Liberty. For many years, KAIT also operated a low-powered translator station K11JW operating on Channel 11 in nearby Blytheville, Arkansas.
KATV (channel 7) and KARK (channel 4) in Little Rock and the signals of other Little Rock area VHF stations adequately covered parts of the KAIT viewing area before the digital transition. Several cable systems in the KAIT viewing area, including Jonesboro and Blytheville, have carried KATV for decades. In compliance with syndex and must-carry regulations, some systems may blackout KATV and KARK when both channels are carrying the same program, usually during the daytime and primetime hours, except for breaking news, weather bulletins, and newscasts. Other cable systems in parts of the KAIT viewing area that are within in the Little Rock television market that also carry KATV, such as in Searcy and Heber Springs, carry both stations without restrictions.