KDCU-DT (channel 46) is a

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ear ...

licensed to

Derby, Kansas Derby is a city in Sedgwick County, Kansas, United States and the largest suburb of Wichita. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 25,625. History For many millennia, the Great Plains of North America were inhabited by Nativ ...

, United States, serving the

Wichita Wichita ( ) may refer to: People *Wichita people, a Native American tribe *Wichita language, the language of the tribe Places in the United States * Wichita, Kansas, a city * Wichita County, Kansas, a county in western Kansas (city of Wichita i ...

– Hutchinson market as an affiliate of the Spanish-language network

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and inclu ...

. Owned by

Entravision Communications Entravision Communications Corporation is an American media company based in Santa Monica, California. Entravision primarily caters to the Spanish-speaking Hispanic community and owns television and radio stations and outdoor media, in several ...

, the station maintains offices on East Douglas Avenue in downtown Wichita, while newscasts are actually produced at the KCEC studios on Mile High Stadium West Circle in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

. KDCU-DT's transmitter is located in rural northwestern Sedgwick County (north-northeast of Colwich).

History

The station first signed on the air on August 20, 2009, becoming the first (and so far only) full-power

Spanish-language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Am ...

television station to sign on in the state of Kansas; because it signed on after the June 12 digital television transition that year, KDCU was also the first full-power television station in the Wichita–Hutchinson Plus market to sign-on without a companion

analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analo ...

signal. Prior to the station's sign-on, on February 15, 2008, Entravision entered into a

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

with

Schurz Communications Schurz Communications is a South Bend, Indiana-based broadband media group and cloud services provider. It owned newspapers. History The company was founded in 1872 by Alfred B. Miller and Elmer Crockett with the creation of the ''South Bend ...

(then-owner of

KWCH-DT KWCH-DT (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Hutchinson, Kansas, United States, serving the Wichita area as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Gray Television alongside CW affiliate KSCW-DT (channel 33), and maintains studios on ...

and

KSCW-DT KSCW-DT (channel 33) is a television station in Wichita, Kansas, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Hutchinson, Kansas, Hutchinson-licensed CBS affiliate KWCH-DT (channel 12). Both stations share s ...

), in which Schurz would provide advertising, production and promotional responsibilities as well as back office and master control services for KDCU. Schurz also leased a transmission tower located near Colwich to house the station's transmitter facilities; KSCW, which previously used the tower, moved its transmitter facilities to a tower east of Hutchinson in

Reno County Reno County (standard abbreviation: RN) is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 61,898. The largest city and county seat is Hutchinson. History Early history For many millennia, the G ...

, which is known as the

KWCH 12 Tower The KWCH 12 Tower is a 1,500 foot high guy-wired aerial mast for the transmission of TV programs and formerly FM in rural Reno County, Kansas, United States. It is almost centered between the cities of Hutchinson, Burrton, Buhler. (Geographi ...

. Since KDCU is licensed as a full-power station, it is able to mandate carriage on cable and

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...

providers in the Wichita–Hutchinson Plus market. KDCU31-012013

Schurz announced on September 14, 2015 that it would exit broadcasting and sell its television and radio stations, including KWCH-DT, KSCW-DT, and the JSA/SSA with KDCU-DT, to

Gray Television Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United St ...

for $442.5 million. The FCC approved the sale on February 12, 2016. As of 2021, Entravision now both owns and operates KDCU-DT, as Gray sold its operation stake in the station.

Newscasts

KDCU-DT presently broadcasts 2½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with a half-hour each weekday); the station does not air newscasts on Saturdays or Sundays. In April 2011, KWCH produced a half-hour nightly Spanish-language newscast for KDCU, ''Noticias Univision Kansas'', airing at 10:00 p.m. each weeknight (which competed against KWCH's own local newscast in that timeslot). Since Entravision acquired full shares of KDCU, the newscasts are now self-produced.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital 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 - a ...

References

External links

* {{Entravision Communications DCU-DT Television channels and stations established in 2009 2009 establishments in Kansas Univision network affiliates Spanish-language television stations in Kansas Entravision Communications stations Grit (TV network) affiliates Ion Mystery affiliates Laff (TV network) affiliates Court TV affiliates