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Coordinates: 38°58′42″N 94°32′1.8″W / 38.97833°N 94.533833°W / 38.97833; -94.533833
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==History==
==History==
The station first signed on the air on February 1, 1988.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70626079/|work=Kansas City Star|first=Barry|last=Garron|accessdate=February 14, 2021|date=February 5, 1988|title=Mini-series month for networks|page=2C}}</ref> Founded by Miller Television, it originally served as an affiliate of the [[Home Shopping Network]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70623818/|title=Channel 38 set to shop over the air|work=Kansas City Star|first=Barry|last=Garron|accessdate=February 14, 2021|date=November 19, 1987|page=2D}}</ref>
The station first signed on the air on February 1, 1988.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70626079/|work=Kansas City Star|first=Barry|last=Garron|accessdate=February 14, 2021|date=February 5, 1988|title=Mini-series month for networks|page=2C}}</ref> Founded by Miller Broadcasting, it originally served as an affiliate of the [[Home Shopping Network]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70623818/|title=Channel 38 set to shop over the air|work=Kansas City Star|first=Barry|last=Garron|accessdate=February 14, 2021|date=November 19, 1987|page=2D}}</ref>


In March 1996, KSHB owner [[E. W. Scripps Company|Scripps Howard Broadcasting]] reached a deal to manage KMCI under a [[local marketing agreement]];<ref name="future">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70624088/|accessdate=February 14, 2021|title=Miller Broadcasting Signs Agreement With Scripps For Future Programming|page=8A|work=The Belleville Telescope|date=April 18, 1996}}</ref> That August,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70629526/|title=Channel 38: So long, home shopping; hello, reruns|work=Kansas City Star|first=Howard W.|last=Triplett III|date=August 12, 1996|accessdate=February 14, 2021|page=D-6}}</ref> KMCI then dropped much of its home shopping programming and rebranded as "38 Family Greats", with a family-oriented general entertainment format from 6:00&nbsp;a.m. to midnight, with HSN programming being relegated to the overnight hours. The new KMCI lineup included an inventory of programs that KSHB owned but had not had time to air after it switched to NBC in 1994.<ref>{{cite news|pages=C-1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70627290/ C-4]|work=Kansas City Star|date=May 13, 1996|title=Royals need more TV time|first=Randy|last=Covitz|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70627590/|accessdate=February 14, 2021}}</ref> More recent programs also airing regularly on KSHB were integrated onto KMCI's schedule. HSN programming was subsequently dropped from the station in 1999. That fall, KMCI began carrying weekday afternoon and Saturday morning programming from [[Fox Kids]], after the block was dropped by [[UPN]] affiliate [[KCWE]] (channel 29, now a [[The CW|CW]] affiliate); WDAF chose to decline [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]]'s children's programming lineup after affiliating with the network. The weekday afternoon Fox Kids block was discontinued nationwide by Fox in January 2002, leaving only the Saturday morning block.
In March 1996, KSHB owner [[E. W. Scripps Company|Scripps Howard Broadcasting]] reached a deal to manage KMCI under a [[local marketing agreement]];<ref name="future">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70624088/|accessdate=February 14, 2021|title=Miller Broadcasting Signs Agreement With Scripps For Future Programming|page=8A|work=The Belleville Telescope|date=April 18, 1996}}</ref> That August,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70629526/|title=Channel 38: So long, home shopping; hello, reruns|work=Kansas City Star|first=Howard W.|last=Triplett III|date=August 12, 1996|accessdate=February 14, 2021|page=D-6}}</ref> KMCI then dropped much of its home shopping programming and rebranded as "38 Family Greats", with a family-oriented general entertainment format from 6:00&nbsp;a.m. to midnight, with HSN programming being relegated to the overnight hours. The new KMCI lineup included an inventory of programs that KSHB owned but had not had time to air after it switched to NBC in 1994.<ref>{{cite news|pages=C-1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70627290/ C-4]|work=Kansas City Star|date=May 13, 1996|title=Royals need more TV time|first=Randy|last=Covitz|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70627590/|accessdate=February 14, 2021}}</ref> More recent programs also airing regularly on KSHB were integrated onto KMCI's schedule. HSN programming was subsequently dropped from the station in 1999. That fall, KMCI began carrying weekday afternoon and Saturday morning programming from [[Fox Kids]], after the block was dropped by [[UPN]] affiliate [[KCWE]] (channel 29, now a [[The CW|CW]] affiliate); WDAF chose to decline [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]]'s children's programming lineup after affiliating with the network. The weekday afternoon Fox Kids block was discontinued nationwide by Fox in January 2002, leaving only the Saturday morning block.

Revision as of 19:16, 14 February 2021

For the airport serving Kansas City, Missouri assigned the ICAO code KMCI, see Kansas City International Airport.

KMCI-TV
CityLawrence, Kansas
Channels
Branding38 The Spot (general)
41 Action News on 38 The Spot (newscast)
Programming
Affiliations38.1: Independent / NBC (alternate)
38.2: Bounce TV (O&O)
38.3: Court TV Mystery (O&O)
38.4: Court TV (O&O)
Ownership
Owner
KSHB-TV
History
FoundedMay 16, 1985
First air date
February 1, 1988 (36 years ago) (1988-02-01)
Former call signs
KMCI (1988–2010)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 38 (UHF, 1988–2009)
  • Digital:
  • 36 (UHF, 2001–2009)
  • 41 (UHF, 2009–2019)
  • HSN (1988–1995, secondary until 1999)
  • Fox Kids/4Kids TV (secondary, 1999–2008)
  • LWN (DT2, 2011–2013)
  • Grit (DT4, 2015-2020)
Call sign meaning
ICAO-assigned code for Kansas City International Airport
-or-
Miller
Communications
Incorporated
(former owner)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID42636
ERP1,000 kW
HAAT306 m (1,004 ft)
Transmitter coordinates38°58′42″N 94°32′1.8″W / 38.97833°N 94.533833°W / 38.97833; -94.533833
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.kshb.com/entertainment/38-the-spot-kmci

KMCI-TV, virtual channel 38 (UHF digital channel 25), is an independent television station licensed to Lawrence, Kansas, United States and serving the Kansas City metropolitan area. The station is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, as part of a duopoly with Kansas City, Missouri-licensed NBC affiliate KSHB-TV (channel 41). The two stations share studios on Oak Street in Kansas City, Missouri; KMCI-TV's transmitter is located at the Blue River Greenway in the city's Hillcrest section. There is no separate website for KMCI-TV; instead, it is integrated with that of sister station KSHB-TV.

On cable, KMCI-TV is available on Charter Spectrum and Consolidated Communications channel 8, Comcast Xfinity channel 2 in Kansas and channel 5 in Missouri, and AT&T U-verse and Google Fiber channel 38. There is a high definition feed provided on Spectrum digital channel 1230, Xfinity channel 807, Consolidated channel 632 and U-verse channel 1038.

History

The station first signed on the air on February 1, 1988.[2] Founded by Miller Broadcasting, it originally served as an affiliate of the Home Shopping Network.[3]

In March 1996, KSHB owner Scripps Howard Broadcasting reached a deal to manage KMCI under a local marketing agreement;[4] That August,[5] KMCI then dropped much of its home shopping programming and rebranded as "38 Family Greats", with a family-oriented general entertainment format from 6:00 a.m. to midnight, with HSN programming being relegated to the overnight hours. The new KMCI lineup included an inventory of programs that KSHB owned but had not had time to air after it switched to NBC in 1994.[6] More recent programs also airing regularly on KSHB were integrated onto KMCI's schedule. HSN programming was subsequently dropped from the station in 1999. That fall, KMCI began carrying weekday afternoon and Saturday morning programming from Fox Kids, after the block was dropped by UPN affiliate KCWE (channel 29, now a CW affiliate); WDAF chose to decline Fox's children's programming lineup after affiliating with the network. The weekday afternoon Fox Kids block was discontinued nationwide by Fox in January 2002, leaving only the Saturday morning block.

Exercising an option from the 1996 pact with Miller,[4] Scripps bought KMCI outright in 2002, forming a legal duopoly with KSHB.[7] That same year, KMCI dropped the "Family Greats" branding and simply branded by its channel number. In July 2003, coinciding with the move of its transmitter site from Lawrence toward Kansas City, the station officially became known as "38 the Spot".[8] The station continued to run children's programming from Fox after it was relaunched under the "Fox Box" banner in September 2002 and again under the "4Kids TV" banner from January 2005 until Fox discontinued its children's programming in December 2008, following a dispute with 4Kids Entertainment, which subsequently began programming The CW's Saturday morning children's programming that same year. Neither WDAF nor KMCI opted to air Weekend Marketplace, the infomercial block that replaced the 4Kids TV block, which ended up not airing at all in the Kansas City market.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[9]
38.1 720p 16:9 KMCI-TV Main KMCI-TV programming
38.2 480i KMCI-B Bounce TV
38.3 KMCI-CM Court TV Mystery
38.4 KMCI-CT Court TV

Live Well Network was originally intended to be carried on KSHB digital subchannel 41.3, but was added to KMCI 38.2 on September 1, 2011 instead to even out the bandwidth between both stations. KMCI replaced the Live Well Network with Bounce TV on digital subchannel 38.2 on October 21, 2013. KMCI also added Escape to 38.3 and Grit on 38.4 on April 15, 2015. Escape was rebranded as Court TV Mystery on digital subchannel 38.3 on September 30, 2019. Grit was replaced with Court TV on digital subchannel 38.4 by the end of January 2020.

Analog-to-digital conversion

KMCI-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 38, 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 moved from its pre-transition UHF channel 36 to channel 41 (the former analog-era assignment and current virtual channel of sister station KSHB-TV) for post-transition operations.[10][11] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 38. As part of the FCC's repack, KMCI-TV moved to channel 25 on February 11, 2019.

Programming

Syndicated programs broadcast on KMCI as of September 2020 include The Simpsons, Last Man Standing, Family Guy, Divorce Court and 2 Broke Girls.[12] KMCI features hosts that promote the station's programming, as well as local events during commercial breaks. Taunia Hottman was the first spokesperson for KMCI as "38 the Spot".[13] Meredith Hoenes (who became a traffic reporter for KSHB-TV around this time) replaced Hottman after she left in 2004 to join KUSA in Denver. Holly Starr took over after Hoenes left in February 2008 to become a weekday anchor/reporter for WDAF-TV; Starr remained with KMCI as its program host until 2011, replaced by Crystle Lampitt in 2012.

Sports programming

On November 6, 2013, KSHB-TV/KMCI-TV announced a deal with Sporting Kansas City to broadcast up to 26 regular season games from the Major League Soccer club on KMCI, as well as several specials throughout the season (some of which will air on KSHB-TV) and pre-game and post-game shows beginning with the 2014 season.[14]

In 2018, KMCI and the University of Kansas struck a deal where KMCI would broadcast several early season Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball games, women's basketball home games, and other select sporting events from the university.[citation needed]

The Kansas City Chiefs announced in 2019 that KMCI and KSHB would replace KCTV as the team's official broadcast partners, allowing access to team programming, including preseason contests, plus marketing opportunities.[15]

Newscasts

In 2000, KSHB-TV began producing a half-hour 9:00 p.m. newscast on KMCI to compete with the in-house newscast in that timeslot on WDAF-TV (which debuted in September 1994, when that station switched from NBC to Fox). The program was canceled in 2003, one week after KMCI's rebranding as "38 The Spot"; by this point, the newscast was called 38 News Now and had completely differentiated itself from KSHB's newscasts, using different graphics, a different – and drastically smaller – set, and a different all-percussion theme ("Third Coast" by Stephen Arnold, which KSHB used as its news theme from 1999 until it rebranded as NBC Action News in 2003, and was used on the KMCI newscast from its launch).

On August 1, 2011, KMCI began airing a rebroadcast of KSHB's 11:00 a.m. newscast at noon on weekdays. In addition to airing rebroadcasts of local news programming from KSHB-TV, KMCI will take on the responsibility of preempting regular programming and running NBC network shows in the event of extended breaking news or severe weather coverage on KSHB.

On April 6, 2015, KMCI began airing a 3rd hour of 41 Action News Today from 7 to 8 a.m., after KSHB begins airing NBC's Today show.[16][17]

References

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KMCI-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ Garron, Barry (February 5, 1988). "Mini-series month for networks". Kansas City Star. p. 2C. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
  3. ^ Garron, Barry (November 19, 1987). "Channel 38 set to shop over the air". Kansas City Star. p. 2D. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Miller Broadcasting Signs Agreement With Scripps For Future Programming". The Belleville Telescope. April 18, 1996. p. 8A. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
  5. ^ Triplett III, Howard W. (August 12, 1996). "Channel 38: So long, home shopping; hello, reruns". Kansas City Star. p. D-6. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
  6. ^ Covitz, Randy (May 13, 1996). "Royals need more TV time". Kansas City Star. pp. C-1, C-4. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
  7. ^ Scripps Plans to Buy KMCI-TV in Lawrence, Kansas[dead link‍], PR Newswire (via HighBeam Research), December 6, 1999.
  8. ^ Barnhart, Aaron (July 24, 2003). "New sports show to hit the Spot". p. E8. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
  9. ^ RabbitEars TV Query for KMCI
  10. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
  11. ^ KC TV stations will delay digital-only switch, Kansas City Business Journal, February 6, 2009.
  12. ^ "KMCI - TV Listings". Zap2It. Gracenote. Archived from the original on September 28, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  13. ^ [1] Archived September 15, 2009, at archive.today
  14. ^ MorningSky, Autumn (November 6, 2013). "KSHB, KMCI will begin broadcasting Sporting KC games". Kansas City Business Journal. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
  15. ^ Goldman, Charles (September 17, 2019). "Chiefs drop KCTV-5, announce new broadcast partnership with KSHB-TV". USA Today. Gannett Company.
  16. ^ 41 Action News Today is now on 38 The Spot! Find local news, weather and traffic at 7 a.m. - 41 Action News Archived January 12, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ 41 Action News Today on 38 The Spot - YouTube
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