KLRT-TV

KLRT-TV (channel 16) is a television station in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting alongside Pine Bluff–licensed ''de facto'' CW owned-and-operated station KASN (channel 38); Mission maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Nexstar Media Group, owner of NBC affiliate KARK-TV (channel 4) and MyNetworkTV affiliate KARZ-TV (channel 42), for the provision of certain services. The stations share studios at the Victory Building on West Capitol Avenue and South Victory Street (near the Arkansas State Capitol) in downtown Little Rock, while KLRT-TV's transmitter is located at the Shinall Mountain antenna farm, near the city's Chenal Valley neighborhood.

History

As an independent station

KLRT-TV (standing for "Little Rock Television") first signed on the air on June 26, 1983; it was the first independent station in Arkansas, and the first commercial television station to sign on in the Little Rock–Pine Bluff market since CBS affiliate KTHV (channel 11) debuted 28 years earlier on November 27, 1955. (On paper, the Little Rock–Pine Bluff market had a large enough population to support an independent station since the mid-1970s.) The station was originally owned by Little Rock Communications Associates (LRCA) and operated by Scollard Communications; both companies were majority owned by New York City-based media executive Garrett Scollard (who also served as the station's vice president and general manager from 1990 to 1991), who—through his advertising firm, MMT Sales Inc.—filed a construction permit application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to operate UHF channel 16 on July 2, 1980, which was later consolidated with those from five of the seven competing applicants— Washington, D.C.-based Grant Broadcasting, Detroit-based Teleco Inc., Shenandoah, Iowa-based May Broadcasting, and locally based firms Little Rock TV 16 Inc. (principally owned by journalist Deborah Mathis, then an assistant news director at NBC affiliate KARK-TV hannel 4 and Central Arkansas Television Inc. (principally owned by former U.S. House Representative and eventual Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker)—to be granted to the partnership on July 28, 1982. (Two other applicants—Christian Center Inc., owned by North Little Rock First Assembly of God pastor Gene Mullenax, and Gemini Broadcasting, owned by Atlanta media executive Anthony Kupris—earlier had their applications dismissed.) The station's original office and studio facilities were located on Markham Street and Bowman Road in southwestern Little Rock; it was the market's first television station not to be based out of downtown Little Rock; since sign-on, its transmitter has been located on a tower located at Shinall Mountain.

Channel 16 offered a general entertainment programming format that featured a mix of classic sitcoms, drama series and westerns, cartoons and live-action children's programs, selected collegiate and major league sporting events, and religious programs, along with an emphasis on feature films (usually showcasing one to two movie presentations each weeknight, and three or four films per day on Saturdays and Sundays). In its early years as an independent, the station marketed itself as "Prime All The Time" to emphasize its schedule of movies and popular syndicated programs, and regularly featured a mascot named Primetime, an anthropomorphic TV set (prominently displaying the station's original logo on its screen) who spoke in a robotic voice.

Two more independents would launch in Central Arkansas to compete with KLRT during 1986: Bell Equities, Inc. signed on KRZB-TV (channel 26, allocation now occupied by Victory Television Network satellite KVTH-DT) in Hot Springs on February 7, and TVX Broadcast Group signed on Pine Bluff-licensed KJTM-TV (channel 38, now CW affiliate KASN) on June 17, subsequently becoming the market's original Fox affiliate on October 6 of that year. (While licensed to the market, KZRB was hampered in its ability to directly compete with KLRT and KJTM by its low-power signal, which reached as close to Little Rock proper as suburban areas of Saline and Grant counties.) During the late 1980s, KLRT also maintained an innovative partnership with Storer Cable's Little Rock system (later integrated into Storer part-owner Comcast in 1994), in which the station occasionally leased airtime to Storer to offer free previews of programming from basic and premium cable networks carried by the system, in addition to co-sponsoring various community service projects.

As a Fox affiliate

In July 1988, LRCA negotiated a deal with MMC Television, which acquired channel 38 months prior, to acquire the non-license assets of KJTM. Under the deal, KLRT would acquire KJTM's rights to the Fox affiliation and selected syndicated programs, while KJTM would become a full-time Home Shopping Network affiliate; Scollard Communications (through its creditors) would have also allegedly handled KJTM's financial liabilities with programming distributors. Fox's programming first changed hands between the two stations on September 9, 1988, when the network shifted to the higher-rated KLRT. By October, however, KLRT management decided to pull out of the deal; Scollard reportedly notified KJTM/MMC that the asset sale would not be moving forward in a letter faxed to station management. Fox shifted back to the re-called KASN after 42 days under a separate contract that MMC and Fox struck during the asset negotiations, which reverted the affiliation rights to KASN if the proposed asset merger was not completed by October 21, 1988. Fox changed hands again on April 1, 1990, when the network moved its programming to KLRT full-time. After learning that KASN would end its Fox affiliation for good, MMC Television filed a lawsuit against LRCA/Scollard with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois over the failed merger, alleging civil conspiracy, misappropriation of trade secrets, interfering with business relationships, breach of contract and fraud. MMC Television claimed the asset merger was a deliberate effort by KLRT management to "dismantle" KASN, while LRCA/Scollard asserted that MMC misrepresented its actions and concealed KASN's financial difficulties in the suit. After rejoining Fox, KLRT continued to be programmed as a ''de facto'' independent station, with its programming remaining relatively unchanged; as the network began expanding beyond its initial weekend-only prime time lineup (starting with the addition of programs on Thursdays and Fridays in September 1990), KLRT continued to air a movie at 7:00 p.m. on nights without Fox prime time programs until the network implemented a seven-night-per-week schedule in January 1993. Channel 16's syndicated children's programming would also be supplemented by the Fox Kids block.

On March 6, 1991, San Antonio, Texas–based Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia) purchased KLRT from the LRCA/Scollard partnership for $6.6 million. The sale received FCC approval on June 19, and was finalized on August 16. Under Clear Channel, KLRT—which rebranded as "Fox 16"—significantly upgraded its programming, acquiring the rights to more recent sitcoms, higher-quality movies and some first-run talk shows for its schedule. After Fox launched the block in September 1990, Fox Kids began accounting for most of the station's children's program offerings; although, some syndicated children's shows continued to air on weekday and Sunday mornings. Movie presentations were also relegated to weekend afternoons (except at times when Fox offered sports programming starting in August 1994) and late nights following Fox's permanent adoption of a nightly prime time lineup (with the network's expansion to Tuesday and Wednesday evenings) in January 1993. KLRT—as one of the relatively few Fox stations to carry the syndication service—became a charter affiliate of the Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN) on January 24, 1993; due to its Fox commitments, PTEN's Wednesday night lineup was relegated to Sunday late nights until the service shut down in September 1997.

Following the settlement of their lawsuit, in September 1992, Clear Channel entered into a joint sales agreement with Mercury Broadcasting to handle advertising and promotional services for KASN. KLRT began providing programming and other administrative services for KASN under an amended local marketing agreement on January 1, 1995, with channel 38's operations moving from its prior facility along I-30 (between West 65th Street and South Baseline Road) into KLRT's Markham Street offices. (Following the elimination of radio-television cross-ownership restrictions under the 1996 Telecommunications Act, KLRT would gain additional sister stations on radio through Clear Channel's purchases of KDDK (100.3 FM, now KDJE) and KMJX (105.1 FM) via its March 1996 acquisition of US Radio, and of KOLL (94.9 FM, now KHKN), KSSN (95.7 FM) and KMVK (106.7 FM, now KBZU) from Triathlon Broadcasting in April 1997.) During the latter half of the 1990s, KLRT's syndication inventory gradually shifted from classic sitcoms and syndicated children's programs towards talk, reality and court shows in daytime and more recent sitcoms in early evening and late night slots. After the Fox Kids afternoon block was discontinued in December 2001 (relegating Fox's children's programming to Saturday mornings until the network's later time-lease agreement with 4Kids Entertainment ended in December 2008), additional talk shows and game shows were added in the block's former weekday mid-afternoon slots.

On December 15, 1999, four months after the FCC began permitting ownership of two television stations in markets with at least eight full-power commercial stations, Clear Channel purchased KASN outright from Mercury Broadcasting in a four-station deal worth $11.663 million. The sale was approved by the FCC on March 9, 2000, and was finalized on May 2; as a result, KLRT and KASN became the first legal television duopoly in the Little Rock market. In March 2001, Clear Channel consolidated the operations of its Central Arkansas television and radio properties, including KLRT and KASN, into the new Clear Channel Metroplex studio complex—a converted former retail development and Sam's Club store—on Colonel Glenn Road (east of I-430) in West Little Rock. (The National Bank of Arkansas purchased the former Markham Street facility in 2003, and demolished it to build a new commercial and retail complex; the former studio site is now occupied by an NBA branch and mortgage division office, and a David's Burgers restaurant.)

On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel entered into an agreement to sell its 35 television stations (including KLRT and KASN) to Newport Television, a holding company owned by private equity firm Providence Equity Partners, for $1.2 billion, in order to refocus the company around its radio, outdoor advertising and live event units. The sale received FCC approval on December 1, 2007; following the settlement of a lawsuit filed against Providence by new Clear Channel owners Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital to force its completion, the sale was finalized on March 14, 2008. Although the Providence/Newport purchase separated the duopoly from Clear Channel (since renamed iHeartMedia)'s Little Rock radio cluster, KLRT/KASN continued to operate from the Colonel Glenn Road complex alongside its former sister radio stations. (The special events portion of the site has since been renamed the Metroplex Events Center.)

On July 19, 2012, Irving, Texas-based Nexstar Broadcasting Group—owner of KARK-TV and MyNetworkTV affiliate KARZ-TV (channel 42)—purchased 12 of Newport's stations, including KLRT and KASN, for $285.5 million. Because of FCC regulations prohibiting companies from owning two of the four highest-rated stations and more than two stations overall in the same market, the licenses of KLRT and KASN were transferred to Westlake, Ohio–based Mission Broadcasting (which owns stations managed by Nexstar in markets where the latter cannot legally own multiple television properties) for $59.7 million. (Nexstar/Mission's acquisition of Fox-affiliated KLRT and Jackson, Tennessee sister station WJKT was ironic, given that Nexstar terminated the affiliations of several of its small-market Fox stations during 2011 and 2012 amid a reverse compensation dispute.) The sale of KLRT/KASN to Mission received FCC approval on December 10, 2012, and was completed on January 3, 2013; Nexstar took over the operations of KLRT and KASN, which were relocated to KARK/KARZ's Victory Building studios on West Capitol Avenue, under a local marketing agreement on February 2, 2013. As a result, Nexstar/Mission's Little Rock cluster became one of only two "virtual quadropolies"—four local full-power stations managed by one company—in existence in American television. (Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of WEAR-TV and WFGX in that market, concurrently acquired Newport's Mobile–Pensacola duopoly of WPMI and WJTC in a similar arrangement through Deerfield Media.) The consolidation resulted in the layoffs of around 20 KLRT/KASN employees, including longtime KLRT/KASN general manager Chuck Spohn (who was replaced by KARK/KARZ general manager Mike Vaughn), in addition to eight others from KARK/KARZ.

Subchannel history

KLRT-DT2

KLRT-DT2, which broadcasts in widescreen standard definition on channel 16.2, was launched on May 6, 2002 as a standard definition simulcast of sister station KASN. (A temporary DT3 subchannel was later utilized as a KASN simulcast from December 8, 2018 to October 14, 2019.) On January 5, 2009, it became an affiliate of outdoor sports network Untamed Sports TV. It was replaced by music video network TheCoolTV on April 15, 2011, through the network's groupwide agreement with then-owner Newport Television. KLRT-DT2 affiliated with This TV on July 30, 2012, only for the subchannel to be discontinued after the Nexstar JSA/SSA took effect on February 2, 2013. KLRT-DT2 was relaunched as an affiliate of mystery/true crime network Escape (renamed Ion Mystery in September 2019), through an agreement between Katz Broadcasting and Nexstar/Mission, on September 1, 2016.

Programming

KLRT-TV currently broadcasts the entire Fox network schedule, including the Steve Rotfeld-produced educational program block Xploration Station (which is distributed on a syndicated basis primarily to Fox stations). Channel 16 may occasionally preempt Fox programs to provide long-form breaking news or severe weather coverage (the latter in simulcast with sister station KARK-TV) when necessary, with the preempted programs usually being rebroadcast in place of scheduled late-night programs. Syndicated programs broadcast by KLRT-TV include '' The Kelly Clarkson Show'', '' Karamo'', '' The Steve Wilkos Show'', ''Rachael Ray'', ''Tamron Hall'', ''Family Feud'', '' TMZ'', ''Two and a Half Men'', ''Young Sheldon'' and ''The Big Bang Theory''.

News operation

, KLRT-TV broadcasts 17 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with three hours on weekdays and one hour each on weekends), which is well behind the local news programming output offered on a weekly basis by either of the Little Rock market's Big Three network affiliates. In addition, it produces the half-hour sports highlight program ''Final Score'', which is hosted by weekend sports anchor Wess Moore and airs Sundays at 10:00 p.m.

Newscast history

Starting from its October 1983 sign-on, news programming on Channel 16 initially consisted mainly of one-minute hourly newsbriefs that aired within select commercial breaks during daytime and evening programs (usually from 9:00 a.m. until sign-off). Branded as ''Newscap 16'' (later retitled ''Prime News Time''), the newsbriefs consisted of local, national and international Associated Press wire reports and a brief weather forecast read by the assigned anchor. Initially anchored by Bill Powell (formerly an anchor at KTHV) and Linda Gilliam, both of whom alternated solo anchoring duties, the newsbriefs were presented by Ron Breeding (now at NPR member station KUAR, 89.1 FM), then working primarily with KQLV (102.9, now KARN-FM) towards the late 1980s. By the latter part of the decade, news updates were presented by staff from Arkansas Radio Network flagship KARN (920 AM), while weather segments were presented by local radio DJ (and eventual KTHV sports director-turned-news anchor) Craig O'Neill, then with KKYK (103.7 FM, now KABZ), who often introduced segments as his radio character "Sherman Bonner, the World's Only Human Thermometer".

On September 4, 2000, KLRT premiered ''Fox First Weather'', a five-minute local weather segment produced by AccuWeather (airing Sunday through Fridays at 10:00 p.m. and presented mainly by then-AccuWeather meteorologist Jim Kosek) that led into the station's late-access syndicated programming. (Then-sister station KOKI-TV in Tulsa had been producing a similar nightly local forecast program since January 1997, which ran until December 2001, two months before its news department began operations.) The news updates and ''First Weather'' were discontinued in December 2003.

KLRT finally commenced development of a full-scale news department in September 2003, and hired Michael Fabac (who previously served in the same role at WNEM-TV in Flint–Bay City, Michigan) to serve as the new operation's news director; the Clear Channel Metroplex building (selected by Clear Channel primarily because it was of sufficient size to house a news operation) was also renovated for the new operation. The news department launched on March 28, 2004, with the premiere of the nightly hour-long ''Fox 16 News at 9:00''; it was the second local prime time news program ever attempted in the Little Rock market, following a prior effort by then- WB affiliate KKYK-TV (channel 49, now MeTV affiliate KMYA-DT) that ran from September 1997 to September 1999. The 9:00 p.m. newscast was originally anchored by Donna Terrell (previously weeknight anchor at WWJ-TV/WKBD-TV in Detroit until Viacom Television Stations shuttered the duopoly's news department in 2003) and Kevin Kelly (previously weekday morning anchor at KPNX-TV in Phoenix), chief weather anchor Troy Bridges (previously weekend morning weather anchor at KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City) and sports director David Raath (previously a sports reporter at WEYI-TV in Flint, Michigan). The weekend editions were initially anchored by Kim Betton (previously a reporter at then-Fox owned-and-operated station WHBQ-TV in Memphis, later joining KARK as a reporter in November 2006), meteorologist Nate Higgins (previously chief meteorologist at WREX-TV in Rockford, Illinois) and sports anchor Justin Holgate (previously sports reporter/photographer at then-Tulsa sister station KOKI-TV). Longtime KATV investigative reporter Dewayne Graham (who abruptly left KLRT in February 2005) was also hired to do regular consumer and government investigative reports similar to his former "7 On Your Side" segment at KATV.

KLRT began offering news programming outside of the established 9:00 slot on March 19, 2007, when it premiered an hour-long weeknight 5:00 p.m. newscast (formatted as two separate half-hour 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. broadcasts). A half-hour weeknight 10:00 p.m. newscast was added on January 18, 2010, which competed against the longer-established late newscasts on KARK, KATV and KTHV. On April 5, 2011, KLRT became the second television station in the Little Rock–Pine Bluff market (preceded only by KTHV) to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. With the HD conversion, KLRT adopted the "kitebox" logo (albeit absent the Fox searchlights incorporated into the standard design), music (OSI Music's "Fox Affiliate News Theme") and graphics package (a modified version of the Hothaus Creative Design package originally commissioned for fellow Fox affiliate KSWB-TV in San Diego, and used by several other Tribune- and Newport-owned Fox affiliates including KLRT's then-sister stations KOKI-TV and WAWS in Jacksonville) based on the standardized look of Fox's owned-and-operated stations at the time.

After Mission acquired KLRT, much of the station's news staff was laid off as the news department was to be consolidated with KARK, including news director Ed Trauschke (who replaced Fabac in 2007) and sports anchor David Raath. Weeknight anchors Donna Terrell and Kevin Kelly, and chief meteorologist Jeff Baskin were among those who remained with the station as Mission employees, while weekend anchor Kelly Dudzik left for an anchor/reporter role at WGRZ in Buffalo. Channel 16 merged its news department with KARK at the latter's Victory Building facility when the JSA/SSA with Nexstar went into effect on February 2, 2013. (The former news set used until the end of independent news operations would be repurposed by then-Memphis sister station WATN-TV when its new studio facility opened on June 1.) At that time, the station cancelled its weeknight 5:00 and 10:00 p.m. newscasts, but retained its weeknight 5:30 p.m. and nightly 9:00 p.m. broadcasts; additionally on February 4, the station premiered ''Good Day Arkansas'', a two-hour weekday morning newscast (from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m.) that shares some on-air staff with KARK's separate morning program. (As a result, KARK canceled the 7:00 a.m. newscast it had been producing for KARZ-TV since 2010.) KLRT utilizes a separate news set and on-air identity from KARK's newscasts and, through Mission, maintains separate additional news anchors, meteorologists and sports anchors for its evening newscasts; otherwise, KLRT and KARK share most on-air personnel and maintain the "Arkansas Storm Team" partnership comprising their respective meteorologists, which allows the stations to simulcast severe weather coverage.

Notable former on-air staff

* Roby Brock – host of ''Talk Business & Politics'' (2000–2014; now at KATV as host of the program)

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion

KLRT-TV signed on its digital signal on UHF channel 30 on May 6, 2002. The station shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 16, on February 17, 2009, the original deadline for American full-power television stations to transition exclusively to digital broadcasts (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 30. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 16.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Klrt-Tv
LRT-TV
Fox network affiliates
Ion Mystery affiliates
Television channels and stations established in 1983
Mass media in Little Rock, Arkansas
Nexstar Media Group
1983 establishments in Arkansas