KATV

KATV, virtual channel 7 (UHF digital channel 22), is an ABC-affiliated television station located in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States. The station is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. KATV maintains studio facilities located on Main and East 4th Streets in Downtown Little Rock, and its transmitter facilities are located on Shinall Mountain, near the Chenal Valley neighborhood of Little Rock. On cable, KATV is available on Comcast Xfinity channel 8 in standard definition and digital channel 231 in high definition.

History

The station first signed on the air on December 19, 1953. Originally licensed to Pine Bluff, the station was a CBS affiliate with a secondary ABC affiliation. It became a full ABC affiliate in 1955 after KTHV signed on and took the CBS affiliation because of KTHS (now KAAY)'s long time relation with CBS Radio; during the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. KATV was founded by John T. Griffin and James C. Leake (who also founded sister station KTUL in Tulsa and original sister station KWTV in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the company founded by the former of the two founders would later become the present-day Griffin Communications). KATV is Little Rock's oldest continually operating television station, beating NBC affiliate KARK-TV (channel 4) by almost five months. On-air personalities at KATV during its early years of operation included the station's first announcer, Don Curran; the first news director, Bill Hadley; and news announcer, Oscar Alagood. News cameramen included Bob Donaldson and Lou Oberste. Donaldson would later lead the film department at the University of Arkansas Medical School for many years, and Oberste would work at the Arkansas Department of Tourism.