KMEG

KMEG (channel 14) is a television station in Sioux City, Iowa, United States, airing programming from the digital multicast network Roar. It is owned and operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Fox/CBS affiliate KPTH (channel 44). The two stations share studios along I-29 (postal address says Gold Circle) in Dakota Dunes, South Dakota; KMEG's transmitter is located northeast of Sioux City in Plymouth County, Iowa.

From its sign-on in 1967 to 2021, KMEG was the CBS affiliate in Sioux City. It was put on the air to provide the area with full three-network service for the first time. The station largely spent decades in third place under a succession of owners; it had no full-length local news programming from 1976 to 1999. KMEG briefly had the national spotlight in 1993 when its decision not to air the Late Show with David Letterman left Sioux City the only market where the show was not aired.

Waitt Broadcasting, the previous owner, acquired KMEG in 1998. New studios were built in Dakota Dunes and a new news operation was started. In 2005, Waitt outsourced most station operations to KPTH owner Pappas Telecasting; that station changed hands in 2009 and again in 2013. CBS programming moved to a "CBS 14" subchannel of Sinclair-owned KPTH in 2021, leaving KMEG to broadcast national digital multicast television networks

History

Early years

Medallion Broadcasters, Inc., applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in November 1966 seeking authority to build a television station on ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 14 in Sioux City. Medallion, a group of northwest Iowa residents, sought to bring the missing ABC network to Sioux City.[1] The group was headed by Robert Donovan, longtime sales manager of one of the two existing stations in Sioux City, KVTV (channel 9, now KCAU-TV).[2] The commission granted the application on February 15, 1967.[3] Construction then began, with Medallion taking up space in a building at Seventh Street and Floyd Boulevard previously used by a coffee company.[4] The call letters KMEG were selected to reflect that the station would broadcast with a megawatt, the first station in the region to do so.[5]

While the station was in the construction phase, KVTV announced it would change network affiliations from CBS to ABC.[6] Medallion then announced its intention to pursue the CBS affiliation for KMEG and signed an affiliation agreement.[7]

KMEG began broadcasting on September 5, 1967, from a transmitter site on high ground east of Sioux City.[8] Eighteen months after going on air, Medallion announced the sale of KMEG to John Fetzer;[9] the FCC approved the deal and noted that Medallion had sustained heavy losses in starting up and running channel 14.[10] However, much carried over from the station's founding ownership. Donovan remained with KMEG as station manager until 1983, while KMEG had still never turned a profit by 1976. Fetzer sold off all of his broadcasting properties in the mid-1980s. KMEG was sold along with WKZO-TV in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Nebraska's KOLN/KGIN to Gillett Holdings in 1985.[11]

Maine Radio and Television ownership

Gillett only owned KMEG for a year before selling it to the Maine Radio and Television Company, the owner of WCSH-TV in Portland, Maine, and WLBZ-TV in Bangor, Maine. President Fred Thompson noted that the family-owned broadcaster chose KMEG for its first expansion outside New England because it was "small, controllable and affordable".[12] KMEG was a secondary affiliate of Fox beginning in 1989[13] and was also a secondary affiliate of the United Paramount Network (UPN) for the first eight months of 1995, dropping UPN when it refused to carry programming beyond Star Trek: Voyager.[14] It also had a local kids club with local host Tim Poppen, who had previously hosted the children's show Puppen's Place on the station.[15] The return of the NFL to CBS in 1998 after four years without caused KMEG to drop its coverage of the NFL on Fox.[16]

Waitt Broadcasting ownership; sale to Sinclair

After decades of broadcasting, the Rines-Thompson family that owned Maine Radio and Television Company made the decision in the late 1990s to exit the business. The two Maine television stations were sold to Gannett in 1997;[24] the next year, a deal was reached to sell KMEG to Waitt Broadcasting, a company owned by Norm Waitt Jr. Waitt had co-founded computing company Gateway, Inc.[25] and was making an entry into broadcasting by buying KOTD-FM serving Omaha and KMEG as his first media properties.[26] The company then acquired additional television and radio stations in Iowa, Alabama, and Florida between 1998 and 1999.[27]

Waitt made significant investments in its first years of owning KMEG. It moved its antenna to a tower being built by a new Siouxland television station, KPTH (channel 44), to improve its signal quality.

callsign	KMEG
digital	32 (UHF)
virtual	14
translators	K18KG-D Spencer, IA K23PU-D Norfolk, NE
affiliations	14.1: Roar for others, see
country	United States
airdate	September 5, 1967
location	Sioux City, Iowa
callsign meaning	Station broadcast with 1 megawatt when it went on air
former channel numbers	Analog: 14 (UHF, 1967–2009) Digital: 39 (UHF, until 2018)
owner	Sinclair Broadcast Group
licensee	KPTH Licensee, LLC
sister stations	KPTH
former affiliations	CBS (1967–2021) Fox (secondary, 1988–1998) UPN (secondary, 1995 and 2004–2006) Dabl (2021–2025)
erp	1,000 kW
haat	611 m
facility id	39665
coordinates	42.58667°N, -96.22194°W
licensing authority	FCC
website	https://siouxlandnews.com/

History

Early years

Maine Radio and Television ownership

Waitt Broadcasting ownership; sale to Sinclair

News operation

Technical information and subchannels

Analog-to-digital conversion

Translators

External links

References