KAGW-CD (channel 26) is a low-power, Class A television station in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

, United States, affiliated with several digital multicast networks, including

Cozi TV Cozi TV (stylized on-air as COZI TV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. The network airs classic television series from the 1950s to the 2000s. The network originat ...

on its main channel. The station is owned by the Great Plains Television Network,

LLC A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...

, which also operates low-power Heartland-affiliated station KSMI-LD (channel 30) through a

local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...

(LMA) with owner

Get After It Media Get After It Media LLC, formerly known as Luken Communications and Reach High Media Group, is a privately owned American broadcast holding company, based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which owns or operates around 80 television stations in the Unit ...

. The two stations share offices on South Greenwood Street in Wichita; KAGW-CD's

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is located in rural northwestern Sedgwick County (north-northeast of Colwich).

History

The station first signed on the air on June 6, 1998, as K53EO, broadcasting on UHF channel 53. It was originally an affiliate of both America's Voice and

ZDTV TechTV was an American cable television channel with a focus on technology. It was launched as ZDTV on May 11, 1998, by computer magazine publisher Ziff-Davis following two short-lived technology-based programs by the company. Initially target ...

. On November 16, 1998, the station's

call letters In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a Identifier, unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be fo ...

were changed to KTQW-LP, in reference to its slogan "Total Quality Wichita". At first, it was the sole broadcast

affiliate Affiliation or affiliate may refer to: * Affiliate (commerce), a legal form of entity relationship used in Business Law * Affiliation (family law), a legal form of family relationship * Affiliate marketing * Affiliate network or affiliation platfo ...

of the otherwise cable and satellite network that evolved into

TechTV TechTV was an American cable television channel with a focus on technology. It was launched as ZDTV on May 11, 1998, by computer magazine publisher Ziff Davis, Ziff-Davis following two short-lived technology-based programs by the company. Init ...

, carrying the network's programming 20 hours a day, with the remaining four hours allocated to locally produced programs. By 2003, The Sportsman Channel had replaced TechTV on weekends. The station relocated its signal to UHF channel 49 on June 10, 2004, and upgraded its license to Class A status, modifying its call sign to KTQW-CA. In 2006, Knowledge LC sold the station to Great Plains Television Network, LLC; the sale was approved by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) on December 14, 2006, and was completed one week later on December 21. On January 8, 2007, the station's call letters were officially changed to KGPT-CA to match the name of the company, Kansas Great Plains Television Network. The station has applied to increase its

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

from 4.8 to 13.91

kilowatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s. On August 6, 2013, at 1:30 p.m., the station moved its signal to UHF channel 26 and began operating its digital signal from a newly constructed transmission tower located north-northeast of Colwich; the station also increased its effective radiated power to 15 kilowatts, resulting in a significant increase in the station's coverage area. A Kansas court ordered the station into receivership in December 2020 after former owner Urban Investment Broadcasting sued, claiming GPTN had failed to meet the terms of the promissory note it had used to acquire the station; Tyler Brown was appointed as receiver. On July 1, 2021, the call sign changed to KAGW-CD. On July 4, the station rebranded to KAGW 26 (KAGW stands for Keep America Great Wichita, while their slogan is actually Keep America Great Kansas). The station slogan is a variation of the " Keep America Great" slogan used in

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's campaign during the 2020 presidential election.

Programming

Formerly, In addition to carrying programming from eight networks on its digital subchannels, the station also produced locally produced programs (such as ''WichitaLiberty.TV'' and ''Ascension Café'').

''Yellow Ribbons from Home''

KAGW also produced a special saluting

U.S. military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except th ...

personnel and their families titled ''Yellow Ribbons From Home'', which aired on

July 4 Events Pre-1600 * 362 BC – Battle of Mantinea: The Thebans, led by Epaminondas, defeated the Spartans. * 414 – Emperor Theodosius II, age 13, yields power to his older sister Aelia Pulcheria, who reigned as regent and procla ...

, 2007. The special included video greetings to the military members from their families, then-

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Kathleen Sebelius Kathleen Sebelius (; née Gilligan, born May 15, 1948) is an American politician who served as the 21st United States secretary of health and human services from 2009 until 2014. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sebelius was instrumenta ...

, Senators

Pat Roberts Charles Patrick Roberts (born April 20, 1936) is a retired American politician and journalist who served as a United States senator from Kansas from 1997 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Roberts served 8 terms in the U.S. House of R ...

and

Sam Brownback Samuel Dale Brownback (born September 12, 1956) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Kansas from 1996 to 2011 and as the List of governors of Kansas, 46th governor of K ...

and all four of Kansas'

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

ional representatives, as well as former Senator

Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Party leaders of the United States Senate, Republican Leader of th ...

and Wichita mayor Carl Brewer. Country musicians including

Darryl Worley Darryl Wade Worley (born October 31, 1964) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to DreamWorks Records Nashville in 1999, Worley released four albums for the label: ''Hard Rain Don't Last'' (2000), ''I Miss My Friend'' (200 ...

Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music, country singer, songwriter and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin (Blake Shelton song), Austin" from his Blake Shelton (album), self ...

, Emerson Drive,

Terri Clark Terri Lynn Sauson, known professionally as Terri Clark (born August 5, 1968) is a Canadian country music singer who has had success in both Canada and the United States. Signed to Mercury Records in 1995, she released her self-titled debut that ...

and Heartland also sent greetings and provided special performances. The special was also streamed and later offered on-demand on the station's website, allowing its viewing by members of the military stationed elsewhere around the world. On June 22, 2007, Governor Sebelius proclaimed July as Yellow Ribbons From Home Month, in commemoration of the special.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is

multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource— ...

References

External links

Official website
{{Other Kansas Stations 1998 establishments in Kansas Ace TV affiliates Buzzr affiliates Cozi TV affiliates Independent television stations in the United States Low-power television stations in Kansas Quest (American TV network) affiliates The Country Network affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1998 AGW-CD WeatherNation TV affiliates