Hutchinson/Wichita, Kansas United States |
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City | Hutchinson, Kansas |
Branding | KWCH 12 (general) KWCH 12 Eyewitness News HD (newscasts) |
Slogan | Expect More |
Channels |
Digital: 19 (UHF) Virtual: 12 () |
Subchannels | 12.1 CBS 12.2 Always on Storm Team 12 |
Translators | KSCW-LD 33 (UHF) Wichita |
Owner |
Gray Television (Gray Television Licensee, LLC) |
First air date | July 1, 1953 |
Call letters' meaning | Kansas WiCHita |
Sister station(s) |
KSCW-DT KBSD-DT KBSH-DT KBSL-DT KDCU-DT WIBW-TV |
Former callsigns | KTVH (1953–1983) KWCH-TV (1983–2009) |
Former channel number(s) |
Analog: 12 (VHF, 1953–2009) Digital: 19 (UHF, 2002–2009) 12 (VHF, 2009) |
Former affiliations |
All secondary: NBC (1953–1954) ABC (1953–1955) DuMont (1953–1955) |
Transmitter power | 1,000 kW (main signal) 15 kW (fill-in translator) |
Height | 421 m |
Facility ID | 66413 |
Transmitter coordinates | 37°48′0.7″N 97°31′30.2″W / 37.800194°N 97.525056°W |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
Website | www |
KWCH-DT, virtual channel 12 (UHF digital channel 19), is a CBS-affiliated television station serving Wichita, Kansas that is licensed to the city of Hutchinson. The station is owned by Gray Television, as part of a duopoly with CW affiliate KSCW-DT (channel 33); Gray also operates Univision affiliate KDCU-DT (channel 31) under a joint sales agreement with owner Entravision Communications Corporation. KWCH and KSCW share studio facilities and KDCU's master control operations are located on 37th Street in northeast Wichita; KWCH maintains transmitter facilities located in rural northeastern Reno County (south-southeast of Buhler).
KWCH-DT also serves as the flagship of the Kansas Broadcasting System, a statewide network of four full-power stations that relay CBS network programming and other programs provided by KWCH across central and western Kansas, as well as bordering counties in Colorado, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
The station first signed on the air on July 1, 1953 as KTVH. It is the oldest surviving television station in Kansas (the first station to sign on in the state was KCTY (channel 25) in Kansas City, which operated a transmitter in Overland Park, which signed on one month before channel 12 debuted, in June 1953 and shut down in 1954). Channel 12 originally operated from studio facilities located in Hutchinson. It has been a primary CBS affiliate since its sign-on, although the station originally also carried programming from the three other major networks of the time (NBC, ABC and the DuMont Television Network). Also in 1954, KTVH opened a satellite studio on 37th Street North in Wichita.