News operation
KYTV presently broadcasts 26 1/2 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 4 1/2 hours on weekdays and two hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); in addition, the station produces the half-hour sports highlight program O-Zone Sports, which airs Sundays at 10:30 p.m. The station operates its own Doppler radar system, called "Storm Tracker 3", near its transmitter in Fordland. All news anchors may also serve as reporters. For many years, channel 3's newscasts have been in first place in the market, and as of 2013, its news programs have ranked #1 in all timeslots according to Nielsen Media Research.
Since its sign-on, the station has been airing nightly 6 and 10 o'clock broadcasts. A satellite news gathering truck was purchased in 1986. In November 2006, KYTV debuted a new set for its newscasts, which integrated the weather center into the main studio; it also included a background that could be lowered over the set used for sports segments to convert it into an interview area, which changed with the time of day (such as the morning featuring a picture of a sunrise over Springfield). The former weather area was turned into the "Virtual Newsroom", which was later renamed the "KY3 Web Center", where Internet-related news topics are discussed.
Although KSPR moved into KYTV's studio facilities on November 1, 2009, the two stations continued to maintain separate news departments for nearly eight years, occasionally sharing footage for certain news stories. On January 28, 2010, beginning with the 5:00 p.m. newscast, KYTV began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition; with the upgrade, came the introduction of a new logo and an updated graphics package. In-studio cameras record in HD, however video from field cameras continued to be broadcast in standard definition and upconverted to a 16:9 widescreen format in the control room until June 28, 2011, when the station began transmitting field video in high definition. On August 22, 2011, KYTV began producing an hour-long extension of Ozarks Today on weekday mornings from 7:00 to 8:00 a.m., and a half-hour 9:00 p.m. newscast (which expanded to one hour in June 2013) for CW affiliate KYCW-LD; this is despite the fact that the station is simulcast on the second digital subchannel of ABC-affiliated sister station KSPR-LD.[8]
In 2017, KSPR's news operation was folded into KYTV's. KSPR retains unique local news broadcasts at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., while at most other times, the stations air combined newscasts. Additionally, Ozarks Today expanded to a fourth hour, airing from 8 to 9, and the KYTV noon news was extended to a full hour.[9] On September 6, 2021, KY3 added an 11 a.m. newscast replacing The Andy Griffith Show (since that show is already airing on KSPR-LD3, which is affiliated with MeTV).[10]
- Norma Champion – former children's show host (1957–1986)[11]
- Slim Wilson – country music host (1964–1975)[12]
