KSPR-TV (channel 6) was 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 earth's s ...

Casper, Wyoming Casper is a city in and the county seat of Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. Casper is the List of municipalities in Wyoming, second-most populous city in the state after Cheyenne, Wyoming, Cheyenne, with the population at 59,038 as of th ...

, United States, which operated from 1957 to 1959. The station was owned by radio station KSPR (1470 AM). The station closed as a result of competition from a local cable system; it would be more than 20 years before a second commercial station opened in Casper.

History

The station went on the air August 12, 1957 as a

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

affiliate, matching the radio station, the only CBS radio outlet in the state of Wyoming. Coinciding with the launch of the television station, KSPR radio and TV moved into new quarters on East Second Street. By July 1959, reports were circulating that KSPR-TV would close before year's end, and the fuel on the fire only accelerated when Rocky Mountain Tele Stations, owner of

KTWO-TV KTWO-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Casper, Wyoming, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Vision Alaska LLC, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with Coastal Television Broadcasting Company LLC, owner of F ...

(channel 2), announced it would buy KSPR radio from their common owner, Don Hathaway, for $150,000. The rumors were true, and KSPR-TV ceased broadcasting July 21, 1959, despite a well-regarded slate of programming. Owner Hathaway would blame cable television for the demise of KSPR-TV. Within less than a year of going on air, the station stated to 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 ...

that cable had made it harder to get programs and the station might have been off the air even then without the financial support of KSPR radio. In December 1959, the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

subcommittee on communications held a hearing in Casper, at which Hathaway testified that the local cable firm, Able Cable (Community Television, Inc.), had made the sale of advertising difficult by importing Denver stations; this prompted national advertisers, including the

Campbell Soup Company The Campbell's Company (doing business as Campbell's and formerly known as the Campbell Soup Company) is an American company, most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products. The classic red-and-white can design used by many Campbe ...

, to avoid buying air time on channel 6, which the cable did not carry. In his testimony, Hathaway noted that the cable system, which had 6,000 subscribers prior to the launch of KTWO-TV, had dropped to 3,500 when KSPR-TV took to the air and was growing again with Casper back to one local outlet. KTWO purchased the KSPR building and moved the television station in; Hathaway sold additional equipment to Community Television, whose owner, Bill Daniels, planned to use it to start a television station at

Farmington, New Mexico Farmington (Navajo language, Navajo: Tóta') is a city in San Juan County, New Mexico, San Juan County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 46,624 people. Farmington (and ...

. After KSPR-TV ceased broadcasting, KTWO-TV proposed the removal of channel 6 to Lander for use as a satellite station. This did not take place, though KTWO made a second and even more daring proposal. It proposed the creation of the first commercial television

duopoly A duopoly (from Greek , ; and , ) is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market, and most (if not all) of the competition within that market occurs directly between them. Duopoly is the most commonly ...

in the United States by activating channel 6, saying a second independent station was not viable and that it could air more network programs on a second channel. The Natrona County school board voted in 1961 to seek use of the channel for educational use. A further commercial application was made in 1964 by Duhamel Broadcasting Enterprises, owner of

KOTA-TV KOTA-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Rapid City, South Dakota, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Gray Media alongside MeTV affiliate KHME (channel 23) and low-power broadcasting#Televisi ...

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City is the county seat of Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. It is located on the eastern slope of the Black Hills in western South Dakota and was named after Rapid Creek (South Dakota), Rapid Creek, where the settlement deve ...

. In 1965, the channel was officially allocated noncommercial and the state launched a bid to put it and channel 8 at Laramie on the air. No facility materialized on channel 6 until December 1981, when

Casper College Casper College is a Public college, public community college in Casper, Wyoming. It is one of the largest and most comprehensive community colleges in the region. Established in 1945 as Wyoming's first junior college and initially located on the ...

activated a translator for public station

KRMA Krma is an alpine valley in the Julian Alps in the Upper Carniola region of northwestern Slovenia. The entire valley lies in Triglav National Park. Name The name ''Krma'' is of uncertain origin, possibly derived from a substrate root such as *' ...

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

on channel 6. In 1987, the translator switched from airing KRMA to KCWC, the new public station in Riverton that had signed on in 1983. It was replaced with a full-service license as KPTW in 2007.

References

{{Casper/Riverton TV SPR-TV 1957 establishments in Wyoming Television channels and stations established in 1957 1959 disestablishments in Wyoming Television channels and stations disestablished in 1959