KTVK-TV
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Phoenix, Arizona United States |
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| Branding | 3TV (general) 3TV News (newscasts) |
| Slogan |
The Best Gets Better (general) News that Matters to You (newscasts) Everywhere, Always There (breaking news) |
| Channels |
Digital: 24 (UHF) Virtual: 3 () |
| Subchannels | (see article) |
| Translators | (see below) |
| Affiliations | Independent |
| Owner |
Meredith Corporation (KPHO Broadcasting Corporation) |
| First air date | February 28, 1955 |
| Call letters' meaning | KTVK - "Because TV will be our middle name" (quote by Ernest McFarland) |
| Sister station(s) | KPHO-TV |
| Former channel number(s) |
Analog: 3 (VHF, 1955–2009) |
| Former affiliations |
Primary: ABC (1955–1995) The WB (January–September 1995) Secondary: Fox Kids (1994–1995) This TV (2009–2015) |
| Transmitter power | 1,000 kW |
| Height | 501 m (1,644 ft) |
| Facility ID | 40993 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 33°20′0.9″N 112°3′47.9″W / 33.333583°N 112.063306°WCoordinates: 33°20′0.9″N 112°3′47.9″W / 33.333583°N 112.063306°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
| Website | www.azfamily.com |
KTVK, virtual channel 3 (UHF digital channel 24), is an independent television station located in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. The station is owned by Meredith Corporation, as part of a duopoly with CBS affiliate KPHO-TV (channel 5). Its studio facilities are located on the northwest end of the Central Avenue Corridor in Phoenix; KTVK's transmitter is located on South Mountain. Its signal is relayed across northern Arizona on a network of translator stations.
Former U.S. Senator Ernest McFarland, author of the GI Bill, was awed by the new medium of television. With a few friends, he formed the Arizona Television Company and applied for a television station license with the Federal Communications Commission. KTVK signed on the air as Phoenix's fourth television station on February 28, 1955 – shortly after McFarland was elected governor of Arizona – immediately becoming an ABC affiliate. McFarland quoted that he chose the KTVK call letters "because TV will be our middle name."
KTVK cleared most of ABC's network schedule with the exception of some lower-rated daytime shows, as well as an occasional program during prime time hours. It soon built a translator network stretching across the entire state of Arizona, including Tucson. Occasionally, the station preempted ABC programming so as not to interfere with Tucson's local ABC affiliate, KGUN-TV. Despite the preemptions, ABC was generally satisfied with KTVK, as the station was one of the network's strongest affiliates. Even so, KTVK's news programming was a very distant second to longtime leader KOOL-TV (channel 10, now KSAZ-TV) for many years, even when KTAR-TV (channel 12)'s 1979 sale to the Gannett Company (and subsequent call sign change to KPNX) made KTVK the only locally owned network affiliate in the market. McFarland died in 1985. His daughter, Jewell McFarland Lewis, inherited the station, and ran it alongside her husband Delbert.
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Wikipedia