KFVS-TV

KFVS-TV
Cape Girardeau, Missouri Paducah, Kentucky Harrisburg, Illinois
Branding	KFVS 12 (general) Heartland News (newscasts) The Heartland's CW (on DT2)
Slogan	Live. Local. Late Breaking.
Channels	Digital: 12 (VHF)
Subchannels	12.1 CBS 12.2 The CW 12.3 Local Weather
Affiliations	CBS Television Network
Owner	Raycom Media (KFVS License Subsidiary, LLC)
First air date	October 3, 1954
Call letters’ meaning	FiVe States
Sister station(s)	WQWQ-LP / WQTV-LP
Former callsigns	none
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 12 (1954-2009) Digital: 57 (?-2009)
Transmitter Power	6.8 kW (digital)
Height	609 m (digital)
Facility ID	592
Transmitter Coordinates	37°25′44.4″N 89°30′14″W / 37.429°N 89.50389°W / 37.429; -89.50389
Website	kfvs12.com

KFVS-TV, channel 12, is the CBS-affiliated television station for southeast Missouri, western Kentucky, and southern Illinois that is licensed to Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Its transmitter is located north of the city in rural Cape Girardeau County. Owned by Raycom Media, the station is sister to low-powered CW affiliates WQWQ-LP / WQTV-LP. The three stations share studios in the Hirsch Tower on Broadway Avenue in downtown Cape Girardeau. Syndicated programming on KFVS includes: Everybody Loves Raymond, Oprah, Ellen, and Live with Regis and Kelly.

Digital television

The station's digital signal is multiplexed.

History

Hirsch Tower home of KFVS.

KFVS-TV began broadcasting on October 3, 1954. It was owned by Oscar C. Hirsch, a radio shop operator. Hirsch had signed on the area's first radio station, KFVS-AM 960 (now KZIM) in 1925. At the start, channel 12 did not have any video cameras. Instead, the station's first broadcast showed slides of its new transmitter tower that was under construction at the time. In 1968, Hirsch moved KFVS from the radio station studios to its present location on Broadway Avenue. Its owner sold the station to Aflac in 1979. In 1997, that company sold their broadcast group of television stations, including KFVS, to a group headed by Retirement Systems of Alabama. They, in turn, merged with Ellis Communications a few months later to form what is now Raycom Media.

KFVS offered The Tube Music Network (a 24-hour digital music video channel) on its third digital subchannel, which ceased operations on October 1, 2007.

KFVS will cease analog broadcasting and move its digital signal to its original VHF 12 channel position on June 12, 2009. The station serves more than fifty counties in four states including all of southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois, western Kentucky, and western Tennessee. The KFVS calls, which date back to its radio counterpart, mean "Five States" with the addition of northeastern Arkansas. However, KFVS has very little coverage in that state since the area is served by sister station and ABC affiliate KAIT. A portion of channel 12's signal into the Missouri Bootheel overlaps with sister station and NBC affiliate WMC-TV in Memphis, Tennessee. KFVS refers to its viewing area as "The Heartland". Its over-the-air signal carries into the St. Louis eastern suburb of Belleville, Illinois. Taller hills between the transmitter and metropolitan St. Louis prevent the signal from reaching into the city proper. KFVS's coverage area overlaps with KMOV, that market's CBS affiliate. Cable outlets in several southern KMOV counties and northern KFVS counties carry both stations.

Newscasts

In partnership with Southeast Missouri State University, KFVS operates a 24-hour local weather channel (known as the "Storm Team Weather Network") on its third digital subchannel. Programming consists of local weather conditions and severe weather bulletins when issued. There is also current news and information about Southeast Missouri State University and their activities. The university provides two minute updates that air, along with longer programming, on the channel during the day. KFVS-DT3 can also be seen on digital cable including Charter channel 113 (in southeastern Missouri) and Comcast channel 249 (in Paducah). At one point, KFVS produced a nightly 9 o'clock newscast on WQTV and WQWQ. Known as Heartland News at 9, it had a southeastern Missouri focus in news coverage. The broadcast was dropped after the July 29, 2007 edition and was replaced with a rebroadcast of Oprah. Currently, WQTV and WQWQ rebroadcast three weekday newscasts from KFVS. This includes The Breakfast Show (at 7 in the morning), Heartland News at Noon (at 1 in the afternoon), and Heartland News at 10 (at 10:30 P.M.). In addition to their main studios, KFVS operates a Southern Illinois Newsroom on East Plaza Drive in Carterville. During weather segments, the station uses live NOAA National Weather Service radar data from several regional sites. This system is known on-air as "Storm Team Digital Doppler". The station has their own live radar that is located on top of the Hirsch building. It is an a Collins radar sold by ADC out of Bloomington, Indiana. This system is known on-air as "Live StormTeam Radar". This is the only live radar in the television market.

Anchors

• Jim Burns - weekday mornings
  • weekday morning associate producer
• Lauren Keith - weekday mornings and Noon
  • "Does it Work Wednesday" segment producer
• Jeff Cunningham - weeknights
• Kathy Sweeney - anchor and reporter weeknights at 5 and 6
• Mary-Ann Maloney - weeknights at 10
• Crystal Britt - weekends and reporter

Heartland News Storm Team

• Bob Reeves - weeknights
• Brian Alworth (Certified Broadcast Meteorologist) - weekday mornings and Noon
• John Dissauer (NWA Seal of Approval) - weekends and Director of Internet Development
• Laura Wibbenmeyer - fill-in

Sports

• Todd Richards - Director seen weeknights at 6 and 10
• Chad Fryman - weekends and reporter

Reporters

• Stephanie Byars - health and weeknight 5 o'clock producer
• Carly O'Keefe - Southern Illinois Newsroom
• Arnold Wyrick - Southern Illinois Newsroom
• Julia Bruck - Southern Illinois Newsroom
• C.J. Cassidy - reporter

External links

• KFVS-TV/DT
• KFVS wireless
• WQWQ-LP / WQTV-LP "The Heartland's CW"
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KFVS-TV