KTAL-TV, virtual channel 6, is the NBC-affiliated television station serving the Shreveport, Louisiana/Texarkana, Arkansas-Texas market. It is licensed to the Texas side of Texarkana and is the only station in its market licensed outside of Louisiana. Its main studio is located in Shreveport with a satellite studio in Texarkana. KTAL-TV broadcasts its digital signal on channel 15, which redirects to its former analog channel 6 via PSIP. KTAL is owned by Nexstar Broadcasting. Its transmitter is located in Vivian, Louisiana, north of Shreveport.

Digital programming [link]

The station's digital signal is broadcast on UHF channel 15:

History [link]

KTAL was launched on August 16, 1953, as KCMC-TV by Clyde E. Palmer (1876–1957), owner of the Texarkana Gazette and several other newspapers and radio stations across Arkansas and Texas. It took its call letters from KCMC radio (AM 740 and FM 98.1, now KTAL-FM). The station originally carried programming from CBS with some selections also from ABC and the defunct Dumont network. In May 1954, the station's power output was expanded from 25,000 to 100,000 watts.^[1]

However, in 1960, CBS announced that it was dropping its affiliation with KCMC-TV because the signal of KSLA-TV in Shreveport decently covered Texarkana. This would have forced KCMC-TV to fall back on its secondary affiliation with the then-weak ABC or go independent—neither of which was a viable option for such a small market. By this time, the Palmer properties had been taken over by Palmer's son-in-law, Walter E. Hussman, Sr. He persuaded the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to collapse Texarkana and Shreveport into a single television market. Hussman then built a new tower in Vivian—the second-tallest in the South at the time.

KTAL studios in north Shreveport.

In late 1960, the call letters changed to the current "KTAL-TV" and it became the NBC affiliate for the enlarged Shreveport/Texarkana market. Shreveport's original NBC affiliate, KTBS-TV, switched to ABC. The call letters not only stand for Channel 6's three-state service area, but also refer to the tower, which brought its signal into parts of four states. For many years, the station was known as "K-Tal." In 1961, KTAL moved most of its operations to a new studio in Shreveport. KTAL is the only station in the market with a newsroom bureau and studios in Texarkana as well.

Palmer Newspapers was renamed WEHCO Media, Inc. in 1973. The company is now run by Hussman's son, Walter E. Hussman, Jr.. In 1975, the FCC ruled that WEHCO couldn't own both KTAL-TV and the Texarkana Gazette, but it won an appellate court decision in 1979 that said the FCC had misinterpreted its own rules. In July 2000, WEHCO sold the station to Nexstar.

Programming [link]

Syndicated programming on KTAL includes Rachael Ray, The Dr. Oz Show, Judge Joe Brown, Judge Judy, and Wheel of Fortune.

News operation [link]

The station rebranded from NewsChannel 6 to KTAL: The News Station in 2006, dropping its channel number, as have several of Nexstar's stations. In 2009, the station once again rebranded from KTAL: The News Station to the current NBC 6 News; thus, reincorporating its original analog (now virtual) channel number into its branding after a three-year hiatus.

KTAL began broadcasting its local newscasts in partial widescreen standard definition on October 27, 2010. The news cameras still shoot in 4:3 SD, with the resulting video being enlarged and cropped in the control room to match the aspect ratio of high-definition television screens.

On April 2, 2012, KTAL debuted a half-hour weekday noon newscast titled Arkansas Today, produced by Little Rock sister station KARK-TV (anchor Mallory Hardin and meteorologist/co-host Greg Dee also appear on KARK's weekday morning newscast); the statewide newscast features news stories filed by reporters from all four Nexstar-owned NBC stations serving Arkansas as well as a sports segment produced by Fayetteville sister station KNWA-TV, focusing on University of Arkansas athletics, called Razorback Nation. KTAL also provides a weather insert for southwest Arkansas during the broadcast. In addition to airing on KARK, KNWA and KTAL, the program is also simulcast on KTVE/Monroe-El Dorado (the coverage areas of KTVE and KTAL include several counties in southern Arkansas (ten in KTAL's viewing area, fourteen in KTVE's), though both stations primarily serve parts of northern Louisiana and KTAL also serves parts of northeast Texas).^[2]

News/station presentation [link]

Newscast titles [link]

• The News of the Night (1953–1958)
• The Tri-State Report (1958–1960)
• The Television 6 Report (1960–1964)
• The TV-6 News (1964–1974)
• Newscope (early 1970s–1974)
• NewsCenter 6 (1974–2001)
• NewsChannel 6 (2001–2006)
• KTAL News (2006–2009)
• NBC 6 News (2009–present)^[3]

Station slogans [link]

• "NBC for the Ark-La-Tex" (1996–2002)
• "The News Station" (2002–2009)
• "Making A Difference" (2008–2009)
• "Your Weather Authority" (2009–present)

Newscast music [link]

• WTLV 1972 News Theme by unknkown composer (1972-1974)
• NBC TV-Radio Newspulse by Fred Weinberg Productions, Inc. (1974-1978)
• KTAL 1978 News Theme by unknown composer (1978-19??)
• Red Rain by Peter Gabriel (19??-19??)
• KTAL 1988 News Theme by unknown composer (19??-19??)
• The Mission from NBC Nightly News by John Williams (19??-19??)
• NBC: The Place To Be by unknown composer (1991-1996)
• Image News by Gari Communications, Inc. (2001-2006)
• The NBC Collection by Gari Communications, Inc. (2006-2010)
• The Rock by Stephen Arnold Music (2010-present)

News team [link]

[edit] Current on-air staff^[4]

+ denotes personnel from KARK-TV in Little Rock
Anchors

• Leslie Draffin - weekday mornings NBC 6 News Today; also reporter
• + Mallory Hardin - weekdays at noon (Arkansas Today)
• Nick LaFave - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
• Marquel Sennet - Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5 and weekends at 10 p.m.; also weeknight reporter
• Michelle White - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.

NBC 6 Weather Authority

• Todd Warren (AMS Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
• Patrick Dennis - meteorologist; weekday mornings NBC 6 News Today and weekdays at noon (Arkansas Today)
• + Greg Dee - meteorologist/host; weekdays at noon (Arkansas Today)
• Josh Marcisz - meteorologist; Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5 and weekends at 10 p.m., also reporter

Sports team

• Brandon Dunn - sports director; weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
• Gavin Moberg - sports anchor; Saturdays at 6 and weekends at 10 p.m.
• Aaron Peters - Razorback Nation sports anchor; weekdays at noon (Arkansas Today); based out of KNWA in Fort Smith

Reporters

• Alex Cerda - general assignment reporter
• Nancy Cook - general assignment reporter
• Morgan Thomas - general assignment reporter
• ShaVonne Herndon - general assignment reporter
• Brian Kushida - Texarkana bureau reporter
• Crystal Whitman - general assignment reporter

Former on-air staff [link]

• Sammy Anthony Fulco (ca. 1927-2010) - announcer; later helped to establish KDOG-TV in Houston^[5]

Cable carriage [link]

KTAL is seen on cable in Shreveport via Comcast. The station is also carried on 85+ other cable systems in the Ark-La-Tex region. In 2005, Texarkana's Cable One and Bossier City's Cox Communications pulled KTAL's signal over compensation disputes. In accordance with FCC regulation, KTAL and its owner Nexstar tried to make an agreement with both cable systems to continue carrying KTAL's programming. The disagreement began with KTAL/Nexstar requesting 10 cents per subscriber for KTAL to be carried on CableOne and Cox. The basic argument was that satellite providers pay for the right to rebroadcast local affiliates' signals, and that cable operators should, as well. Due to the dispute, Cox and CableOne eventually dropped KTAL-TV from their systems. However, viewers in areas served by CableOne and Cox could still watch the station over-the-air or by Satellite from Dish Network and on DirecTV.

KTAL has since returned to CableOne and Cox, after reaching confidential agreements with both companies. Cox in Bossier City has since been replaced by Suddenlink Communications.

References [link]

1. ^ Minden Herald, Minden, Louisiana, May 28, 1954, p. 6
2. ^ Nexstar Launches Statewide Ark. Newscast, TVNewsCheck, April 2, 2012.
3. ^ KTAL 5pm 2010 Evening News Open
4. ^ Our KTAL News, Sports, and Weather Team
5. ^ "Sammy Anthony Fulco obituary". Shreveport Times, May 5, 2010. https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?n=sammy-anthony-fulco&pid=142501672. Retrieved May 5, 2010. 

• "Arkansas paper owner welcomes FCC changes but swears off TV," Associated Press, June 2, 2003...

KTAL TV-6

External links [link]

• ArkLaTexHomepage.com (Official Website)
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KTAL
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KTAL-TV