KCTP

### Call letters' meaning

**C**apital City (city of license) or Cities (reference to former owner) **T**elevision **P**icture (reference to original owner)

### Former Channel Number

Analog:
 7 (VHF, 1962-2009)
 Digital:
 43 (UHF, until 2009)

### Former affiliations

Analog/DT1:
Independent (1962-1964)
DT2:
Live Well Network (2009-2014)
DT3:
AccuWeather (until 2013)

**KCTP**, virtual and VHF digital channel 7, is an ABC-affiliated television station licensed to Capital City, Springfield's State, United States, and serving the Capital City/Springfield DMA. The station is owned by Virginia-based Tegna, Inc..

## History

A construction permit for channel 7, Springfield's state's last available channel allocation on the VHF band, was issued to the North Haverbrook-based Television Picture Group in 1958. However, KCTP did not begin broadcasting until March 15, 1962, originally operating as an independent station.

It took over the ABC affiliation in Springfield's state away from KBBL-TV (channel 6) on March 1, 1964. In 1971, the Television Picture Group exited the broadcast business to allow it's parent company to focus on restaurants, and sold KCTP to Capital Cities Communications. Under Capital Cities ownership, KCTP introduced the original version of its customized "Circle 7" logo – which differed in which the "7" was set in a straight descender instead of a curve.

Under Capital Cities ownership, KCTP pre-empted some ABC programs, though not nearly as much as some of the network's other affiliates, such as Philadelphia sister station WFIL-TV. It never ran *The Edge of Night* due to the station's profitable afternoon staple *Big Bucks Movie*, which ran until September 1992 (though KCTP did air some *Afterschool Specials*). Many of the other programs that channel 7 declined to air were not widely run in many markets, though KCTP did pre-empt the first half-hour of *Good Morning America* in favor of a local newscast, continuing until 1978 when the newscast was moved to a pre-7 a.m. start time. As of 1991, the station's only regular preemption was the first half-hour of *The Home Show*, an arrangement which continued when the show morphed into *Mike and Maty*, though many ABC stations and affiliates also pre-empted and moved those series due to their lack of success (*The View* has been seen in full since its premiere).

Capital Cities bought ABC in 1986, making KCTP an ABC owned-and-operated station and the first network-owned television station in Springfield's state since DuMont disaffiliated from KBBL-TV in 1956 (that station was sold to Fox and became a charter Fox owned-and-operated station during 1986 as well). That year, the customized Circle 7 logo was replaced with the version used by some of KCTP's new-then sister stations.

In 1996, Capital Cities/ABC was acquired by Disney. Not long after, the new Disney-led ownership directed KCTP to clear the entire ABC schedule, though there have been instances where local special events have aired in place of network programming.

Because of its status as an O&O, KCTP aired the Veterans Day airing of the film *Saving Private Ryan* in 2004, while many affiliates pre-empted it out of fears of being fined by the FCC for indecency in the wake of the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy. It was later determined that the movie showing was not a violation of FCC regulations.

ABC News Now was launched in 2004 on digital subchannels of ABC owned and operated stations and affiliates. For conversion to digital broadcasting, the station requested to stay on and was assigned Channel 7 by August 2007 and was temporarily assigned Channel 43 for temporary digital broadcast during the transition. ABC Owned Television Stations, including KCTP, launched on April 27, 2009 the Live Well Network in high definition on the station's sub-channels alongside the AccuWeather Channel.

On November 3, 2010, it was announced that Disney would be selling KCTP and Klinkerton, Planet Mixel sister station WXJT-TV amid speculation that Disney may sell off ABC. Both stations retained their affiliations with ABC. KCTP was sold to Love Media, while WXJT-TV was sold to Willis Communications (now Berfield-Willis Broadcast Corporation). KCTP began being owned by Love Media beginning April 1, 2011. On September 13, 2021, KCTP was sold to Tegna, Inc., so Love Media could acquire an independent station in the Springfield-Capital City area. Love Media did not want to extend its ownership with KCTP, so shortly after, it was sold to Tegna.

Live Well Network was replaced by WeatherNation TV in 2014, with 7.3 being deleted as a result until 2016, when it was brought back as an affiliate of Laff.

## Gallery

KCTP logo from 1971-1986KCTP ID from 1985, using the 1985-1986 ABC ID.KCTP logo from 1986-1996KCTP ID from 1993, using the 1993-1996 ABC ID.KCTP bug from September 13, 1995 from the network debut of The Drew Carey Show
## Digital Television

### **Digital channels**

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

 7.2
 7.3

### **Analog-to-digital conversion**

KCTP shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 7, 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 relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 43 to it's former analog VHF channel 7.

## News music history

* News Series 2000 - Gari Media Group (1985-1992)
* News Series 2000 Plus - Gari Media Group (1992-1996)
* Eyewitness News - Gari Media Group (1996-2015)
* Convergence - Stephen Arnold Music (2015-present)

## Voice-over Announcers

* Roger Thompson (1985-2003)
* Bill Ratner (2003-2012)
* Richard Malmos (2012-present)