KCCS

**KCCS**, virtual channel 2 (UHF digital channel 40), is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Capital City, Springfield's State, United States, and serving the Capital City/Springfield DMA. The station is owned by Gray Television. KCCS' studios are located in downtown Capital City.

## History

KCCS-TV began broadcasting on August 13, 1952, as Springfield's state's second television station. It took on an affiliation with the CBS Television Network, which until that point had held a secondary affiliation with then-DuMont owned-and-operated station KBBL-TV (channel 2 has always been a primary CBS affiliate). At the time, it was owned by the *Capital City Daily News*. Field Enterprises purchased KCCS-TV in April 1967. KCCS' first color television broadcast was made on August 14, 1954.

On February 27, 1971, both transmitter towers used by KCCS-FM and KCCS-TV—the 1,000-foot (300 m) main tower and the 700-foot (210 m) auxiliary tower—collapsed during an ice and wind storm. The two KCCS (AM) towers, located on the same property, were not damaged. Nine days later, on March 9, 1971, KCCS-FM and KCCS-TV returned to the air when a temporary tower was erected on the site of the collapsed auxiliary tower. During those nine days off the air, CBS programming was provided to Springfield's State by KBBL-TV, which at that point had been an independent station.

Field Enterprises sold controlling interest in KCCS to Kaiser Broadcasting in May 1972. When the deal was completed in July 1973, the two companies' new partnership resulted in KCCS joining Kaiser's stable of UHF independent stations in larger markets, along with another network affiliate, WKBN (now WCON) in Cleveland, which was affiliated with the then-fledgling New Line Network. In June 1977, Kaiser ended the partnership when it sold its share of the stations back to Field Enterprises.

During the 1970s, KCCS had a few locally produced programs on the air, including *RFD 2*, *Meet Your Neighbors*, the cooking show *Two Kitchen*, and public affairs programs such as *News Conference Two.*

During KCCS-TV's 30th anniversary week in 1982, the station aired classic CBS programming from the 1950s and 1960s. By this time, the station had moved into its new location. In 1983, KCCS-TV was sold to Cleveland-based Malrite Communications Group as part of a liquidation of Field's television assets, simultaneously the call letters were shortened to KCCS. On April 6, 1998, Raycom Media announced that it would acquire Malrite Communications.

Due to a dispute over fees, Comcast did not offer KCCS' high definition feed for over two years after it started offering other Springfield's state stations in HD. Comcast eventually started carrying KCCS in high definition on February 28, 2006. KCCS was also in a dispute with DirecTV over transmission of its HD feed, as both sides claimed the other to be the problem. In August 2008, KCCS' HD feed began to be carried on DirecTV.

On December 30, 2008, one of the 15 guy wires on the main transmitter tower snapped, putting the tower in danger of collapsing (as with the 1971 tower collapse, this incident followed a prolonged snow and ice storm). The Capital City Police Department evacuated about 500 local residents and closed several roads around the tower. At first, officials feared that the wire itself—which is over 1,000 feet (300 m) long and weighs several tons—had snapped, which would have taken several weeks to manufacture and install a replacement. Upon inspection, it was revealed that one of the high frequency insulators incorporated into the guy wire assembly had shattered. Repair crews replaced the insulator by 4:00 p.m. the next day and the surrounding neighborhood was reopened to residents and car traffic. KCCS had to pay $1,500 to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

On June 25, 2018, Atlanta-based Gray Television announced it had reached an agreement with Raycom to merge their respective broadcasting assets, including KCCS, under Gray's corporate umbrella, in a cash-and-stock merger transaction valued at $3.6 billion. The sale was approved on December 20, and was completed on January 2, 2019.

## Gallery

KCCS-TV's logo from 1973-1977 under Kaiser ownership.KCCS-TV's logo from 1977-1987 under Field and early Malrite ownership.KCCS' logo from 1987-1994 under Malrite ownership.KCCS' logo from 1994-1999 under Malrite and early Raycom ownership, as seen in a 1994 ID.KCCS' logo from 1999-2011 under Raycom ownership.Screencap of KCCS news from 2018
## Digital television

### Digital channels

On January 30, 2012, KCCS replaced its "KCCS WeatherView" radar loop on 2.2 with MeTV. On November 18, 2014, Grit was added to 2.3 on KCCS. On March 10, 2016, KCCS activated digital subchannel 2.4 and began carrying Decades programming.

 2.2
 2.3
 2.4

### Analog-to-digital conversion

KCCS shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 40, using PSIP to display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 2.

As part of the SAFER Act, KCCS kept its analog signal on the air from 7:28 a.m. on June 12 until June 27 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements in English and Spanish from the National Association of Broadcasters. On June 27, 2009, at 7:00 a.m., KCCS broke from the nightlight PSA loop to air the station's 25th-anniversary special (originally broadcast in 1977, and including original commercials from the original 1977 broadcast) for the station's final half-hour of analog broadcasting; the analog signal permanently shut down at 7:30 that morning.

## Programming

KCCS' syndicated offerings include *The Doctors*, *Dr. Phil*, *Wheel of Fortune*, and *Jeopardy!*. KCCS has aired both Sony Pictures Television-produced game shows since 1999.

Quite unusually for a "Big Four" network affiliate, KCCS has a long history of close ties to the anime fandom. From the early 1990s on until 2006, on Saturday nights/early Sunday mornings beginning at 11:35 PM, viewers were treated to a selection of anime. Anime that have aired on KCCS include, but were not limited to, *Bubblegum Crisis*, *Key the Metal Idol*, subtitled versions of *Dirty Pair Flash*, *All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku*, *Urusei Yatsura*, *Sakura Wars* and *Corrector Yui*, and dubbed versions of *Serial Experiments Lain*, *City Hunter*, *Please Save My Earth*, *Ranma ½*, *Sailor Moon*, *Full Metal Panic!*, *Magic Knight Rayearth*, *Martian Successor Nadesico*, *Betterman*, *Robotech*, *Mobile Suit Gundam*, *Cardcaptor Sakura*, *Astro Boy*, *Gatchaman*, and *Samurai Pizza Cats*. Some of these shows were later shown on Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block.

## News operation

KCCS presently broadcasts 35.5 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with six hours on weekdays and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays). On February 1, 2007, KCCS became the first television station in Springfield's state to being broadcasting its local newscasts in 16:9 widescreen standard definition.

KCCS is the only major station whose news department equally covers all of the vast Capital City-Springfield market, whose territory includes the entire state, KBBL-TV has historically focused on the southern portion of the market (being based in Springfield), while the other stations focus mostly on the northern portion. Despite this, for several years, KCCS finished no higher than second place in local ratings.

For the first time in ten years, KCCS finished in first position in the 11 p.m. news in the May 2008 NSI sweeps. *KCCS News 2 at 11*—unlike a year earlier when it lost over 20 percent of its CBS lead-in share—held its prime time share throughout its 11 p.m. newscast in the May 2008 NSI sweeps.

Under a new news director, KCCS' 11 p.m. newscast increased its household ratings from May 2007 to May 2008 by 12 percent and its household share by 19 percent. It increased its household ratings by 30% from February 2008 to May 2008 and its household share by 33%. This was the first time in a decade that KCCS' newscasts has won any timeslots.

On September 9, 2009, KCCS launched a new local program airing weekdays at 4 p.m., called *Across The State*. The show explored local towns and highlighted events taking place across Springfield's state. In 2010, *Across The State* was reformatted into *Studio 2*, a product and lifestyles magazine.

On July 26, 2010, KCCS became the last television station in Springfield's state to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. It is also the second in the market, after KBBL-TV, to broadcast all aspects of its news programming, including field reporting, studio and weather segments completely in the format.

### News music history

* Catch 5 - Gari Media Group (1977-1985)
* KCCS (KOIN) 1985 News Theme - Unknown (1985-1986)
* KCCS (KOIN) 1986 News Theme - Unknown (1986-1987)
* Turn To News - Gari Media Group (1987-1990)
* The Great News Package - Gari Media Group (1990-1994)
* The One and Only - Gari Media Group (1994-1999)
* Image News - Gari Media Group (1999-2005)
* The CBS Enforcer Music Collection - Gari Media Group (2005-2011)
* Heart of the City - inthegroovemusic (2011-2015)
* Inergy - Stephen Arnold Music (2015-present)