KRTV (Arkansas)
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Broadcasting |
| Founded | 1953 |
| Defunct | 1954 |
| Fate | Ceased operations and merged with KATV |
| Headquarters | Little Rock, Arkansas , United States |
Area served | Central Arkansas |
| Products | Television broadcasting |
KRTV (channel 17) was a pioneering television broadcaster in Little Rock, Arkansas, operating from April 1953 until March 1954 as the state's inaugural TV station. Its early shutdown was primarily due to financial difficulties competing against subsequently introduced very high frequency (VHF) channels. One notable rival, KATV (channel 7, originally based in Pine Bluff), acquired KRTV’s facilities and personnel before relocating to Little Rock in 1958.
History
In August 1952, Little Rock Telecasters—jointly owned by newspaper magnate Donald W. Reynolds and Texas investors E. H. Rowley and Kenyon Brown—submitted Arkansas's first application for a UHF television license, which was granted the following month. By December, the Prospect Theater on Beech Street had been transformed into KRTV’s production studio. Despite setbacks caused by weather conditions and local resistance to constructing the transmitter tower, KRTV commenced broadcasting on April 5, 1953. It held a primary affiliation with CBS but also aired programs from all four major networks of that era: CBS, NBC, ABC, and DuMont. The station supplemented network programming with locally produced shows such as Parker's Den, hosted by Bob Parker. In September 1953, KRTV boosted its transmission power tenfold to 21,000 watts, coinciding with a change in ownership as Rowley-Brown Broadcasting purchased Reynolds’s shares. The installation of coaxial cable facilitated live broadcasts like the 1953 World Series.
Central Arkansas welcomed a second broadcaster in December 1953 when Pine Bluff-based KATV (channel 7) expanded its coverage to include Little Rock with city-grade signals. Early in 1954, KRTV faced new competition from the soon-to-launch VHF station KARK-TV (channel 4), which secured the NBC affiliation previously associated with KRTV’s radio partner. On March 7, 1954, KRTV declared it would discontinue operations and merge with KATV—a deal later described as a $400,000 purchase of assets excluding the broadcast license and transmitter tower.
Beginning April 1, KATV started delivering daily news and various programs from the former KRTV studios. After a short interval without any locally licensed station on air, KARK-TV launched its service on April 15.
Following a severe fire that destroyed its Pine Bluff studios in November 1957, KATV rebuilt and obtained regulatory approval in July 1958 to transfer its city of license to Little Rock, completing this transition in October.