KZTV

KZTV
Channels
Branding
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
OperatorE. W. Scripps Company via SSA
KRIS-TV, K22JA-D
History
First air date
September 30, 1956 (68 years ago) (1956-09-30)
Former call signs
KSIX-TV (1956–1957)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 10 (VHF, 1956–2009)
  • Digital: 18 (UHF, 2000–2009)
ABC (secondary, 1956–1964)
Call sign meaning
K Z Television
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID33079
ERP39 kW
HAAT289.8 m (951 ft)
Transmitter coordinates27°42′29″N 97°38′0″W / 27.70806°N 97.63333°W / 27.70806; -97.63333
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.kztv10.com

KZTV (channel 10) is a television station in Corpus Christi, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with the E. W. Scripps Company, owner of NBC affiliate KRIS-TV (channel 6) and low-power dual Telemundo affiliate/independent station K22JA-D (channel 47), for the provision of certain services. The three stations share studios on Artesian Street in downtown Corpus Christi; KZTV's transmitter is located between Petronila and Robstown.

After one of the longest hearing processes for a TV station to that time, channel 10 was founded as KSIX-TV in September 1956 and changed its call sign to KZTV at the end of 1957. For its first 46 years of operation, it was owned by Corpus Christi businessman Vann Kennedy alongside KSIX radio. The station ran as a comparatively bare-bones effort: for 30 years, the newsroom and studio were in separate buildings, and Kennedy consistently underinvested in technology and appearance. It operated as a "teaching affiliate", with many reporters in their first or second job out of college. The station began broadcasting from its present studios on Artesian Street in 1986, though by that time, it was already a distant third in local news coverage.

Kennedy put KSIX, KZTV, and KVTV in Laredo up for sale in 2001, at the age of 95. The stations were purchased by Eagle Creek Broadcasting, a Michigan-based firm related to the Northwest Broadcasting group. Eagle Creek led a top-to-bottom overhaul of the news department, including new equipment, a news set, and personnel. In 2008, Eagle Creek reached a deal to sell the KZTV physical plant to Cordillera Communications, owner of KRIS-TV, while transferring the license to SagamoreHill. The deal was delayed by objections, but Cordillera began operating KZTV under contract for Eagle Creek in 2009; SagamoreHill became the licensee the next year. Scripps acquired Cordillera in 2018 and continues to provide services to KZTV.

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KZTV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.