KODE-TV

KODE-TV (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Joplin, Missouri, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for the Joplin, Missouri–Pittsburg, Kansas television market. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with Nexstar Media Group, owner of NBC affiliate KSNF (channel 16, also licensed to Joplin), for the provision of certain services. The two stations share studios on South Cleveland Avenue in Joplin, where KODE-TV's transmitter is also located.

History

The station began broadcasting on September 26, 1954, as KSWM-TV (for Southwestern Missouri) and was a primary CBS affiliate, but shared ABC with then-NBC affiliate KOAM-TV. It was locally founded by Austin Harrison who also owned radio station KSWM (1230 AM; now KZYM). It originally operated from studios and transmitter located on West 13th Street in Joplin. Harrison sold his stations to Friendly Broadcasting, owners of WSTV (now WTOV-TV) in Steubenville, Ohio, in 1956. In 1957, the call letters were changed to KODE-AM-TV. Friendly then sold both KODE and WRGP (now WRCB) in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Massachusetts-based United Printers & Publishers in 1961. Gilmore Broadcasting of Kalamazoo, Michigan, bought the KODE stations in 1962.

KODE became a sole ABC affiliate on January 1, 1968, and three days later KUHI-TV (now NBC-affiliated KSNF) started and took over the CBS affiliation.

On March 15, 1970, KODE weatherman Lee George made his famous flurries forecast. He predicted only light flurries for the next day and it ended up snowing over 20 inches (51 cm) at the Joplin Regional Airport.^{[citation needed]}

KODE was acquired by Mission Broadcasting in 2002. Subsequently, KODE then entered into a shared services agreement with Nexstar Broadcasting, which owns NBC affiliate KSNF. The same year, it was announced KSNF and KODE would merge, with KSN's studios expanded to accommodate the combined operation.

On May 8, 2009, a powerful storm system slammed Joplin, knocking out power to KODE and knocking down the tower of sister station KSNF. KODE-TV returned to the air early on the morning of May 9, while KSNF did not return to the air until June 17. Both stations moved to a rebuilt KSNF building in April 2010 making it the next-to-last Nexstar duopoly to do so (as Nexstar formed a virtual duopoly in Evansville, Indiana, in December 2011 with the purchase of that market's ABC affiliate WEHT and transfer of its existing Evansville independent station (now CW affiliate) WTVW to Mission Broadcasting, and Nexstar almost immediately moved WTVW's operations to the WEHT facility).

On December 19, 2012, KODE began broadcasting its local newscasts in High Definition.

On June 15, 2016, Nexstar announced that it has entered into an affiliation agreement with Katz Broadcasting for the Escape, Laff, Grit, and Bounce TV networks (the last one of which is owned by Bounce Media LLC, whose COO Jonathan Katz is president/CEO of Katz Broadcasting), bringing the four networks to 81 stations owned and/or operated by Nexstar, including KODE-TV and KSNF.^[2]

News operation

KODE-TV presently broadcasts 17 hours of local newscasts each week (with three hours each weekday and an hour each on Saturdays and Sundays).

Notable former on-air staff

• Jonathan Elias – reporter (now anchor at WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C.)
• Robb Hanrahan (formerly with WHP-TV, deceased)^[3]
• Evan Rosen (author of The Culture of Collaboration and The Bounty Effect)
• Marny Stanier (later with The Weather Channel, now working as a real estate agent in Georgia)

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:

References

External links

• Official website
• KSNF Storm Damage