KTAL-TV
KTAL-TV, virtual channel 6 (UHF digital channel 15), is the NBC-affiliated television station serving Shreveport, Louisiana and the Ark-La-Tex. It is licensed to Texarkana, Texas; as such, it is the only major network affiliate in the market that is licensed outside Louisiana. The station is owned by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group; Nexstar also operates Fox affiliate KMSS-TV (channel 33) and MyNetworkTV affiliate KSHV-TV (channel 48) under a shared services agreement with owners Marshall Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting respectively. KTAL maintains studio facilities located on North Market Street north of Downtown Shreveport, with a secondary facility located at the Central Mall (off I-30) in downtown Texarkana. Its transmitter is located in Vivian, Louisiana.
History
The station first signed on the air on August 16, 1953 as KCMC-TV; it had a 390-foot tower and 28,200 watts of power. The station was founded by Clyde E. Palmer, owner of the Texarkana Gazette and several other newspapers and radio stations across Arkansas and Texas as well as KCMC radio (740 AM and 98.1 FM, now KTAL-FM). The station originally operated as a primary CBS affiliate, although it also carried select programs from NBC, ABC and DuMont. In May 1954, the station's transmitter power output was increased to 100,000 watts. The station lost the DuMont affiliation when that network shut down in 1956. It was left as a hybrid CBS/ABC/NBC affiliate.
