KARD (TV)

{{Short description|Television station in West Monroe, Louisiana}} {{About|the television station in West Monroe, Louisiana|the television station in Wichita, Kansas, that formerly used the KARD call sign|KSNW}} {{other uses|Kard (disambiguation)}} {{distinguish|ARD (broadcaster){{!}}ARD|Das Erste}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}} {{Infobox television station | callsign = KARD | city = West Monroe, Louisiana | logo = KARD Fox 14 logo.webp | logo_size = 200px | image = KARD-DT2.svg | image_size = 200px | branding = {{ubl|KARD Fox 14; ''Fox 14 News''|ArkLaMiss CW (DT2)}} | digital = 19 (UHF) | virtual = 14 | affiliations = {{ubl|'''14.1:''' Fox|'''14.2:''' The CW Plus|''for others, see {{section link||Subchannels}}''}} | owner = Nexstar Media Group | licensee = Nexstar Media Inc. | location = {{ubl|West Monroe–Monroe, Louisiana|El Dorado, Arkansas}} | country = United States | airdate = {{start date|1967|8|19}} | callsign_meaning = Arkansas Delta, also alludes to "card" | sister_stations = KTVE | former_callsigns = {{ubl|KUZN-TV (1967–1969)|KYAY-TV (1969–1974)|KLAA (1974–1982)}} | former_channel_numbers = {{ubl|'''Analog:''' 39 (UHF, 1967–1974), 14 (UHF, 1974–2009)|'''Digital:''' 36 (UHF, 2003–2018)}} | former_affiliations = {{ubl|Independent (1967–1968, 1970–1971)|Dark (1968–1970, 1971–1974)|ABC, NBC, CBS (secondary, 1970–1971)|NBC (1974–1981)|ABC (1981–1994)|Fox (secondary, 1986–1994)}} | erp = 691 kW | haat = {{convert|523.5|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} | facility_id = 3658 | coordinates = {{coord|32|5|42.6|N|92|10|34.3|W|type:landmark_scale:2000}} | licensing_authority = FCC | website = {{URL|https://www.myarklamiss.com/}} }}

'''KARD''' (channel 14) is a television station licensed to West Monroe, Louisiana, United States, serving the Monroe, Louisiana–El Dorado, Arkansas market as an affiliate of the Fox network and an owned-and-operated station of The CW Plus. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which acquired the station in 2003 as part of its purchase of Quorum Broadcasting, and also holds a majority stake in The CW. Nexstar provides certain services to El Dorado–licensed NBC affiliate KTVE (channel 10) through a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Mission Broadcasting. The two stations share studios on Pavilion Road in West Monroe; KARD's transmitter is located in Columbia, Louisiana.

In addition to its own digital signal, KARD's primary channel is simulcast in high definition on KTVE's second digital subchannel (10.2) from a transmitter northwest of Huttig, Arkansas.

==History== 175px|thumb|left|KARD's logo 2012 – October 2014 The station that became KARD first signed on on August 19, 1967, as KUZN-TV on channel 39 and was owned by Howard E. Griffith as a television counterpart of KUZN radio.<ref>[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB-IDX/60s-OCR-YB/1967-YB/1967-BC-YB-for-OCR-Page-0053.pdf#search="kuzn americanradiohistory.com]{{dead link|date=May 2026|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} monroe"</ref> This was Griffith's second foray into television, as he was the co-owner of Monroe's first TV station, KFAZ, which signed on in 1953 but went off the air the next year. The station aired a local newscast, the BBC series ''Panorama,'' and old Western movies.<ref>Monroe News-Star, August 30, 1967</ref> The station ceased operations on January 12, 1968, but was sold to Northeast Louisiana Broadcasting Corporation.

It resumed operations on August 31, 1970, as KYAY-TV.<ref>[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB-IDX/70s-OCR-YB/1971-YB/1971-BC-YB-for-OCR-Page-0095.pdf#search="kyay" americanradiohistory.com]{{dead link|date=May 2026|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} </ref><ref>[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/69-OCR/BC-1969-02-10-Page-0078.pdf#search="kyay americanradiohistory.com]{{dead link|date=May 2026|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} monroe"</ref> During this incarnation, KYAY, again, aired news and off-network Westerns and movies, as well as ABC, NBC and CBS programming not carried on KNOE-TV and KTVE, such as ''That Girl'', ''The Mod Squad'', ''Hawaii Five-O'', ''The Courtship of Eddie's Father'', ''The Lawrence Welk Show'', ''Engelbert Humperdinck'', ''The NBC Tuesday Night Movie'', and ''The Merv Griffin Show''.<ref name="Ouac700904">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-ouachita-citizen-uhf-channel-39-now/183272336/|date=September 4, 1970|page=1|title=UHF channel 39 now on airwaves|newspaper=The Ouachita Citizen|location=West Monroe, Louisiana|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=October 19, 2025}}</ref> KYAY proved to be no more successful than KUZN had been, and it also went dark, on August 16, 1971.

In 1974, the station returned with a new call sign, KLAA, and a reallocation to channel 14. It was an NBC affiliate. Its owners operated the station under Monroe Television, Inc., with its largest owner being Kenneth Meyer of Springfield, who also owned and signed on then-ABC affiliate KMTC in that city.<ref name="News811124">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-star-abc-network-picks-up-klaa/183272307/|date=November 24, 1981|pages=1A, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-star-network/183272314/ 2A]|first=Kevin|last=Anderson|title=ABC network picks up KLAA|newspaper=The News-Star|location=Monroe, Louisiana|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=October 19, 2025}}</ref> Since 1972, when KTVE changed its affiliation to ABC, it and KNOE-TV carried selected NBC programs during the hours when their primary networks (CBS in KNOE's case) were not broadcasting (with some exceptions), but never the full NBC lineup. KLAA debuted on October 6, 1974, giving southern Arkansas and northeastern Louisiana full service from all "Big Three" networks for the first time ever.<ref>[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/74-OCR/BC-1974-08-05-Page-0053.pdf#search="klaa americanradiohistory.com]{{dead link|date=May 2026|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} kyay"</ref> Today, channel 39 is occupied by KMCT-TV, a religious station, and that station now occupies KUZN/KYAY/KLAA/KARD's former studios.

On December 6, 1981, KLAA became an ABC affiliate, while KTVE retook the NBC affiliation that it held in the 1950s and 1960s.<ref name="News811206">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-star-network-switch-effective/183272294/|date=December 6, 1981|page=TViewing 3|title=Network switch effective|newspaper=News-Star-World|location=Monroe, Louisiana|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=October 19, 2025}}</ref> Exactly a year later, the station changed its calls to KARD, with the station manager citing the call sign change a reflection on the station's progress at the time.<ref name="News821205">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-star-klaa-to-change-call-letter/183272395/|date=December 5, 1982|page=TViewing 7|title=KLAA to change call letters Monday|newspaper=News-Star-World|location=Monroe, Louisiana|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=October 19, 2025}}</ref> In 1984, Woods Communications, owned by Charles Woods of Alabama, purchased KARD and KMTC, from Meyer Communications.<ref name="News840919">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-star-san-diego-firm-buys-kard-t/183272410/|date=September 19, 1984|page=7A|first=Mark|last=Henderson|title=San Diego firm buys KARD-TV|newspaper=The News-Star|location=Monroe, Louisiana|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=October 19, 2025}}</ref> In 1986, Woods relocated the station's transmitter from its West Monroe studios to Caldwell Parish, Louisiana, and increased the station's power to 5 million watts. This change enabled KARD to have at least Grade B coverage in a region encompassing all of Northeast Louisiana including portions of the Alexandria and Shreveport markets.<ref name="Cald861203">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/caldwell-watchman-kard-14-has-new-transm/183272374/|date=December 3, 1986|page=7|title=KARD-14 Has New Transmission Tower in Caldwell|newspaper=Caldwell Watchman-Progress|location=Columbia, Louisiana|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=October 19, 2025}}</ref>

KARD began airing some Fox programming in late nights when that network started up in 1986 and in the same year became the first station in the Monroe area (and one of the first in Louisiana) to broadcast in stereo. Fox programs the station aired included ''The Simpsons'', ''In Living Color'', ''Married... with Children'', and ''America's Most Wanted''.<ref>{{cite news|title=KARD-TV Looks Into Affiliating with Fox|newspaper=The News Star|date=December 24, 1991|page=7A}}</ref> In addition to KARD's secondary Fox affiliation, starting in 1991, Foxnet was available for cable subscribers in Monroe. During 1991, KARD relocated from its original studios on Parkwood Avenue to the newly built Glenwood Mall, where they remained until moving into their current studios in West Monroe's Industrial Park in 2000.<ref>{{cite news|title=New Building Coming Along for KARD-TV|newspaper=The News Star|date=December 16, 1999|page=6C}}</ref> In its last months as an ABC affiliate, KARD preempted ''NYPD Blue'' due to concerns about that program's content. In 1993, Woods filed for bankruptcy, and Banam Broadcasting, a subsidiary of BankAmerica, assumed control of KARD. The next year, Banam dropped ABC to take Fox full-time, due to Fox picking up NFL football that season, and it was the first station in the nation to switch from a Big Three network to Fox during the U.S. television network affiliate switches of 1994, doing so April 17 that year, citing competition from the then-glut of stronger-rated ABC stations from outlying markets.<ref name="Cinc970402">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-cincinnati-post-crazy-like-a-fox-as/123555050/|date=April 2, 1997|pages=1B, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-cincinnati-post-fox/123555057/ 4B]|first=Greg|last=Paeth|title=Crazy like a Fox: As upstart turns 10, it's in the big leagues|newspaper=The Cincinnati Post|location=Cincinnati, Ohio|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=October 19, 2025}}</ref> Those surrounding ABC affiliates (mainly Alexandria's KLAX-TV and Shreveport's KTBS-TV) continued to be the main conduit for ABC in the market via antenna or cable carriage (KLAX even capitalized on its expanded footprint into the Monroe market during this time by branding itself on-air as "Louisiana's Superstation") until December 1998, when KAQY signed on. Banam sold KARD along with three of its stations (WTVW in Evansville, Indiana, KDEB in Springfield, Missouri, and KLBK-TV in Lubbock, Texas) to Petracom Broadcasting in 1995. In 1998, Petracom sold KARD to Quorum Broadcasting, which was absorbed by Nexstar in 2003.

In 2002, Piedmont Television, then-owner of KTVE, took over KARD's operations under a local marketing agreement (LMA). Despite KTVE being the senior partner, the two stations' operations were consolidated in KARD's newer facility in West Monroe, which opened in 2000. In addition to a common sales and promotions staff, the KTVE news department produces KARD's newscast. Piedmont's control of the duopoly officially came to an end on January 16, 2008, when KTVE was sold to Mission Broadcasting. This resulted in Nexstar, already the owner of KARD, taking over control of KTVE under a local sales agreement (LSA); the Internet presence of both stations were also merged into one website.

==Newscasts== KARD airs four hours of weekday newscasts—a two-hour morning newscast at 7 a.m., two half-hour weeknight newscasts at 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., and an hour-long newscast at 9 p.m. Its current generation of newscasts began in November 2001, shortly before it entered an SSA with KTVE.

==Technical information==

===Subchannels=== The station's digital signal is multiplexed: {| class="wikitable" |+Subchannels of KARD<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=KARD#station |title=RabbitEars TV Query for KARD |website=RabbitEars |access-date=February 4, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221235028/http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=KARD#station |archive-date=February 21, 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> ! scope = "col" | Channel ! scope = "col" | Res. ! scope = "col" | Aspect ! scope = "col" | Short name ! scope = "col" | Programming |- ! scope = "row" | 14.1 | rowspan=2|720p || rowspan="4" | 16:9 || KARD-DT || Fox |- ! scope = "row" | 14.2 | CW Plus || The CW Plus<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nexttv.com/news/nexstar-stations-become-cw-affiliates-in-five-markets |title=Nexstar Stations Become CW Affiliates in 5 Markets|first=Jon|last=Lafayette|website=Next TV|date=August 22, 2024|access-date=August 22, 2024}}</ref> |- ! scope = "row" | 14.3 | rowspan="2" | 480i ||Grit || Grit |- ! scope = "row" | 14.4 | Antenna || Antenna TV |}

In March 2009, KARD and KTVE informed the Federal Communications Commission that they needed to end analog operations sooner than June 12, 2009 (the earliest they could do so is April 16). KARD stated that a transmitter tube failed, bringing power down to 50%; KTVE claimed that its power was at 40%. Used parts were deemed unreliable, and staffers had to travel {{convert|50|mi|km}} to the transmitter from the studio; two to three visits per week were required to monitor the analog facilities, according to Nexstar.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/190618-Four_Stations_Waiting_For_FCC_Approval_On_Earlier_Analog_Cut_Off_Dates.php?rssid=20065 |title=Four Stations Waiting for FCC Approval on Earlier Analog Cut-Off Dates - 2009-03-24 19:19:19 | Broadcasting & Cable |access-date=March 24, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120926133728/http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/190618-Four_Stations_Waiting_For_FCC_Approval_On_Earlier_Analog_Cut_Off_Dates.php?rssid=20065 |archive-date=September 26, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> The FCC denied the request based on the fact that they are the last two analog channels in the market.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/196011-FCC_Denies_Nexstar_DTV_Hardship_Waivers.php?rssid=20065 |title=FCC Denies Nexstar DTV Hardship Waivers - 2009-04-10 20:02:44 | Broadcasting & Cable |access-date=April 11, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927033158/http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/196011-FCC_Denies_Nexstar_DTV_Hardship_Waivers.php?rssid=20065 |archive-date=September 27, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Analog-to-digital conversion=== KARD shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 14, on April 16, 2009. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 36, using virtual channel 14.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |title=DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds |access-date=March 24, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829004251/http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |archive-date=August 29, 2013 }}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{Official website|https://www.myarklamiss.com/}}

Category:1974 establishments in Louisiana Category:Antenna TV affiliates Category:The CW affiliates Category:Fox Broadcasting Company affiliates Category:Mass media in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana Category:Nexstar Media Group Category:Television channels and stations established in 1974 ARD Category:West Monroe, Louisiana