KTVC-6 Ensign Then and Now

K-23 north of US-56

If you grew up in Southwest Kansas, you probably roll your eyes every time you hear Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer.” Not just because it’s been overplayed in historical reenactments, but it was also the open for KTVC’s noon news program, “Southwest Kansas Today” with Bill Bailey.

In the current news climate, it’s difficult to imagine a full crew operating in our neck of the woods. However, there was a time when a real, live television station operated just a few miles from Dodge City.

Southwest Kansas Television Company, Inc. was formed on July 12, 1954.

Federal Communications Commission rules prevented the company from building a station wherever was convenient. And back then, reception was tricky so SKTC had to be very careful about maximizing the location.

Selling all of the stock required to begin construction took longer than expected. In August, the company was able to hand the construction permit application off to an attorney in Washington, D. C. The application was finally sent on November 1, 1955 and it was granted on January 25, 1956. Here is the Broadcasting Station License Record for SKTC:

The call letters KTVC were announced in April of 1956.

At that time, KTVC would be the only television station in Kansas west of Hutchinson. It was to have a 600-foot tower with an 85-foot antenna, which was designed to give it about a 53-mile range.

The company planned to broadcast by December of 1956, which was incredibly ambitious, considering there was no building, no tower, no… anything. Relay repeater stations were placed on top of grain elevators to boost the signal. Once there was a signal to boost, that is.

Inevitable delays meant bricklaying was underway at the end of November. A mother station wasn’t selected until January of 1957. KTVC initially signed up with KAKE, the Wichita ABC affiliate.

The transmitter was installed in March of 1957 but they still didn’t have a tower.

KTVC even sold advertising on their test pattern! But still no tower.

The tower was finally completed in June of 1957 followed by the antenna and transmission lines. But then the station experienced another setback when burglars got away with some equipment and the only copy of a film documenting the construction of the station.

Garnand Furniture had been running ads for TVs with the first payment due once Channel 6 was on the air. That turned out to be a very good deal for their customers! The first test pattern aired July 1, 1957.

KTVC finally began broadcasting on August 1, 1957 with the “Mickey Mouse Show” scheduled to be the debut program. Unfortunately, audio issues caused programming to begin at 7:00 pm rather than 5:00.

Channel 6 maintained a sales office in Dodge City located above the Dodge City Daily Globe on Second Avenue prior to moving to a larger space on West Wyatt Earp Boulevard. I’m assuming Miss KTVC, an Ensign native, worked at the station.

The HR Manager in me breaks out in hives every time I see employment ads from this era.

KTVC televised the first live opera originated in Southwest Kansas on March 13, 1960.

The station signed with KTVH (later KWCH) in May of 1961 to begin airing CBS programming effective June 4.

In 1962, the FCC ruled that Western Kansas was part of the Wichita market. Meanwhile, KTVC was navigating new frontiers in medicine.

Bob Dole appeared on Channel 6 during his campaign for reelection to the US House of Representatives.

This 1963 factsheet explains why reception was so spotty in Dodge, depending on your location.

KTVC applied to increase its signal power to 100,000 watts in November of 1964. This increased power was expected to increase viewership by 12 1/2 percent.

Who were these wealthy people watching color televisions in 1965?

The 1968 presidential election was a wild ride. It was no surprise that Nixon won Kansas. Bob Dole was also elected to replace retiring Senator Frank Carlson.

Leigh Warner of Cimarron bought KTVC in 1969. His new station manager/anchor/coffee addict relieved stress with target practice behind the station.

Wearing multiple hats was the norm in Ensign. Remember anchor Bill Bailey? He was also the station manager later on.

Speaking of Bob Dole, remember the Fairness Doctrine?

Let’s not and just call it a day, Hildred…if that is your real name.

There was a time when people thought the news was serious business!

Cecil Carrier had TWO live weather reports. And people were glued to those analog circular sweeps.

The folks at KTVC celebrated the station’s 20th Anniversary in 1977. At that time, it was still locally owned.

A critical weather band transmitter was added to the roof in 1978.

And who could forget the Dale Northern Telethons? Northern did a lot of good for Southwest Kansas and he did it in a very entertaining fashion.

The struggle to get local news! You know how no one in Wichita cares about what’s going on in Dodge City? Well, no one in Dodge City cares about what’s going on in Wichita!

This sports reel featuring Leon Liebl is solid gold. I will never forget his voice as long as I live.

Leigh Warner died in 1985. His estate sold KTVC to Nuco TV, which officially made the station part of the Kansas Broadcasting System.

This short video pretty accurately represents what it was like to watch television in Southwest Kansas before we had cable. We were supposed to have three channels but it was more like one-and-a-half every other Tuesday. I always thought Merril Teller was such a vast improvement over Weatherman Bowman.

How many of you had a flashback when you heard that familiar “KTVC, Channel 6” at the end?

The station was sold again in July of 1988 along with KAYS, KLOE, and KWCH.

Don’t even get me started on the accuracy of this prediction about local news.

KTVC was changed to KBSD-TV in 1989 to standardize the callsigns of the Kansas Broadcasting System stations. Southwest Kansas Television Co, Inc. was formally dissolved on December 6, 1989. New owner, Smith Broadcasting, sold KBSD-TV to Spartan Communications in 1994 and they merged with Media General in 2000.

KWCH started automating its control rooms in 2005 so that KBSD-TV and their other satellite stations could be run from the Wichita studio. This meant the reporter in the Dodge City bureau may have never seen the station at Ensign. For quite a while, the bureau was located at the airport in Dodge.

Sunflower Broadcasting, Inc. was formed on July 20, 2006 and bought KBSD-TV that September. In the next few years, everything would become digital.

The switch to digital in 2009 killed the radio feed which had been broadcast on 87.7 FM for ages. That radio broadcast was critical during power outages and was responsible for keeping people in and around Greensburg informed during the horrendous 2007 tornado and its aftermath. The station changed its callsign again to KBSD-DT on June 25, 2009 to reflect the change.

Gray Television bought KBSD-DT in February of 2016. It remains a satellite station for KWCH in Wichita as well as an FM and weather band transmitter. For those of you who grew up watching Merril Teller, here’s a page with archival footage as well as interviews leading up to his retirement.

Here’s how the station looks now:

Thank you to KWCH for granting permission to photograph the station exterior. I prefer to avoid doing the trespassing.

There’s a lot of competition among people working in local news who are trying to get to the national level. Many end up hopscotching across the country to move up from market 184 to market 133 and so on, barely earning enough money to pay rent, and sacrificing any chance of a normal life. KTVC/KBSD aired a lot of coverage from reporters just starting out who may have been embarrassed to have footage from Southwest Kansas on their reels. I get it! And I appreciate the work you did while you were here. Major props to those who decided to stick around.

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