KTBS, LLC

KTBS, LLC
Company type	Private
Industry	Broadcasting
Founded	1955
Founder	George D. Wray Sr. and associates
Headquarters	Shreveport, United States
Area served	Shreveport–Texarkana area
Key people	Betty Wray Anderson, John D. Wray, Edwin N. Wray, Jr.
Products	Television broadcasting
Owner	Wray Properties Trust

Adapted from the English Wikipedia article KTBS, LLC, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 25 July 2025

KTBS-TV (channel 3) is a television broadcaster located in Shreveport, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with the ABC network. It is owned by KTBS, LLC, a locally based company managed by Wray Properties Trust, which is overseen by Betty Wray Anderson, John D. Wray, and Edwin N. Wray, Jr. KTBS-TV operates in conjunction with CW affiliate KPXJ (channel 21), licensed to Minden. Both stations share their production facilities on East Kings Highway in Shreveport, while KTBS-TV’s transmitter is situated near St. Johns Baptist Church Road in northern Caddo Parish. Notably, KTBS-TV remains among the few American television stations retaining local ownership.

Initial period; main NBC and secondary ABC affiliations

The allocation of VHF channel 3 in Shreveport attracted three competing applicants seeking FCC authorization to build a station. On June 27, 1952, KTBS Inc., a family-operated company led by George D. Wray Sr. and associates from Shreveport, submitted the first application. Shortly thereafter, International Broadcasting Corp., owner of the local radio outlet KWKH, also applied.

A significant concern during the licensing process involved a proposed consolidation between Shreveport’s two principal newspapers—the Shreveport Times and the Shreveport Journal. The FCC mandated disclosure of this merger due to potential media concentration issues. On June 16, 1954, an FCC hearing examiner ruled in favor of KTBS Inc., highlighting its local ownership and community involvement as key advantages.

The FCC awarded exclusive broadcasting rights to KTBS Inc. on February 16, 1955, rejecting KWKH’s bid over concerns about media ownership concentration across radio and print outlets spanning multiple states. Subsequent appeals by KWKH were dismissed both by the FCC and federal courts. The station adopted the callsign KTBS-TV, which stands either for "Tri-State Broadcasting System" or references the cities Texarkana, Bossier City, and Shreveport—continuing branding previously used by the Wray family’s radio stations.

KTBS-TV commenced operations on September 3, 1955, becoming the third television station serving the Shreveport–Texarkana area and the second licensed directly to Shreveport after KSLA (channel 12) and KCMC-TV (now KTAL-TV). Initially aligned primarily with NBC due to KTBS radio’s NBC affiliation, it also held a secondary affiliation with ABC shared alongside KSLA-TV. From its inception, KTBS-TV has operated from its studios on East Kings Highway. Although the Wray family divested their radio properties in the late 1950s, they have continuously maintained ownership of channel 3 and operate other businesses including a car dealership franchise in Shreveport.

Transition to exclusive ABC affiliation

In March 1961, NBC reached an agreement with KCMC-TV to become the primary network affiliate for the expanded Shreveport–Texarkana market. Camden News Publishing Co., which owned KCMC-TV, relocated its transmitter near Vivian, Louisiana to unify Shreveport and Texarkana into a single television market while expanding its presence in Shreveport. Despite KTBS’s NBC contract extending through September 1962, speculation about network affiliation changes emerged. On September 3, 1961, KTAL assumed exclusive NBC affiliation for the market; concurrently, KTBS-TV became solely affiliated with ABC—marking it as Louisiana’s second full-time ABC station after WVUE-TV in New Orleans. Over time, KTBS built a reputation as one of the nation’s leading ABC affiliates while remaining under local ownership amid widespread industry consolidation. It was also the first local station among the "Big Three" networks in Shreveport and became the second in the market to introduce stereo sound broadcasting in May 1987.

In January 1999, KTBS, LLC entered into a joint sales agreement with Paxson Communications (now Ion Media Networks), gaining partial operational control over KPXJ (channel 21), a Pax TV owned-and-operated station. Under this arrangement, KTBS rebroadcast its primary newscasts on KPXJ. In June 2003, Paxson announced plans to sell KPXJ to KTBS, LLC for $10 million; however, FCC regulations prevented common ownership due to market size restrictions. Consequently, KPXJ was sold instead to Minden Television Company LLC—an indirect subsidiary of Wray Properties Trust (which partially owns KTBS)—for $10 million and was converted into the market’s UPN affiliate.

On December 30, 2008, KTBS, LLC (through Wray Properties Trust) submitted an application to the FCC seeking approval to purchase KPXJ for $10.3 million—establishing Shreveport–Texarkana’s first authorized television duopoly. With only eight full-power stations in the market—the minimum number required for duopoly approval—the company requested a "failing station waiver," citing KPXJ’s financial difficulties and low ratings over three consecutive years as justification for relaxed ownership limits. The FCC approved this acquisition on August 3, 2009, officially designating KTBS-TV and KPXJ as sister stations under unified ownership.

Programming

Since April 2018, KTBS-TV has offered the entire ABC network lineup without interruption, reinstating ABC World News Tonight at 5 p.m. on Sundays after having preempted it since the mid-1990s by shortening its newscast.

KTBS occasionally interrupts ABC programming to cover urgent news events, severe weather, or special reports produced by its own news team. When such preemptions occur, the affected shows are usually rescheduled for later broadcast on KTBS's primary channel. Viewers without access to KTBS-DT2 through their providers can still watch these programs via ABC’s online streaming services or video-on-demand platforms.

A notable weekly feature is The First Word, which has aired Sunday morning worship services from First Baptist Church of Bossier City continuously since June 1983. The station aired Louisiana Lottery drawings from their launch in 1993 until 2009 and regained the rights in 2012. These drawings now air on sister station KPXJ at 9:59 p.m., with replays during KTBS 3 News at 10:00.

For many years, KTBS served as the Ark-La-Tex affiliate for the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon, a major fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, until the telethon concluded in 2015. KTBS broadcast the final two editions as part of ABC’s schedule. Other significant charitable events include the KTBS M*A*S*H B*A*S*H Blood Drive and the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway, where KTBS was the first U.S. television partner involved.

News operation

By September 2018, KTBS-TV was producing a total of 33½ hours of local news weekly—5½ hours each weekday and three hours on weekends—the largest local news output in the Shreveport–Texarkana market. The station also creates 17 hours of local newscasts every week for KPXJ (three hours on weekdays and one hour on weekend days), along with the seasonal high school football program Friday Football Fever airing Friday evenings. Altogether, this amounts to 50½ hours of local news content weekly across both channels.

KTBS’s main production facilities are located on Kings Highway, supplemented by a news bureau in Texarkana, Arkansas, which focuses on East Texas coverage during its 6 and 10 p.m. broadcasts. During tornado warnings affecting the Ark-La-Tex region, severe weather reports are simulcast on KTBS-DT2 and/or KPXJ.

News department history

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, KTBS and CBS affiliate KSLA frequently vied for top viewership in various news time slots. Currently, KTBS typically ranks second to KSLA in early and late evening ratings but led multiple time periods in May 2008.

From September 2000 until September 2003, KPXJ aired tape-delayed replays of KTBS’s 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts before switching to UPN affiliation under new ownership. Following this change, KTBS introduced a groundbreaking half-hour prime time newscast at 9 p.m. on KPXJ—the first local prime time news offering in the market—which expanded to a full hour by August 2009. A weekday morning newscast at 7 a.m. launched on KPXJ in September 2005, ahead of similar competitor initiatives; it extended to an hour in February 2012 and shifted to a 9 a.m. slot by September 2013.

In October 2008, KTBS transitioned its broadcasts to widescreen standard definition (16:9) and became the first station in the Shreveport–Texarkana area to deliver local news in high definition starting October 2010. The station lengthened its 6 p.m. newscast to a full hour in June 2010—the first such expansion in the market—and expanded weekend 10 p.m. newscasts to one hour by July that year. Weekday morning newscasts grew to two and a half hours beginning at 4:30 a.m. in August 2010—an unusually early start time for a market outside Nielsen’s Top 50.

In December 2012, KTBS encountered controversy when meteorologist Rhonda Lee was dismissed following enforcement of social media policies after she responded to racist and sexist remarks online.

On August 22, 2016, KTBS debuted an hour-long weekday afternoon newscast at 4 p.m. on KPXJ—a first for the market—which prompted competitor KSLA to launch a rival program soon thereafter.

Digital subchannels

The broadcast signal of KTBS-TV is divided into multiple subchannels as outlined below:

KTBS-TV Subchannel Information
Channel	Resolution	Aspect Ratio	Identifier	Content
3.1	720p	16:9	KTBS	ABC
3.2	480i	16:9	KTBS-WX	KTBS Weather 24/7
3.3	480i	16:9	KTBS-24	KTBS News Around the Clock
3.4	480i	16:9	KTBS-MO	Movies!
21.1	720p	16:9	KPXJ-HD	The CW (KPXJ)
21.2	480i	16:9	KPXJ-ME	MeTV (KPXJ)
21.3	480i	16:9	KPXJ-ST	Start TV (KPXJ)
21.4	480i	16:9	KPXJ-AN	Antenna TV (KPXJ)

With the launch of the ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) standard in Shreveport on June 28, KPXJ transitioned to ATSC 3.0 service, carrying subchannels 3.1 through 3.3 as well as 21.1. Consequently, KPXJ’s four subchannels were relocated to KTBS-TV’s multiplex to maintain their presence on the ATSC 1.0 platform, resulting in a total of eight subchannels being broadcast.

Transition from analog to digital

KTBS-TV discontinued analog transmissions on VHF channel 3 on June 12, 2009, in accordance with the federally mandated digital television transition in the United States. Its digital broadcasts continued on UHF channel 28 while retaining virtual channel number 3 for viewer convenience.

In compliance with the provisions of the SAFER Act, KTBS-TV kept its analog signal active until June 26, during which it aired public service messages produced by the National Association of Broadcasters to educate audiences about the switch to digital broadcasting.

Cable availability outside primary market

KTBS’s broadcast footprint extends beyond the Shreveport–Texarkana region, accessible via cable systems in areas such as Longview, Texas, Mount Pleasant, Texas, El Dorado, Arkansas, Jonesboro, Louisiana, and Carthage, Texas. After Monroe–El Dorado’s ABC affiliate, KARD-TV, switched to Fox in 1994, KTBS functioned as the default ABC station for that market until the debut of KAQY in December 1998. KAQY halted operations in 2014 before reemerging as a station affiliated with MeTV. Presently, ABC programming in Monroe–El Dorado is broadcast on KNOE’s subchannel 8.2 under the KAQY branding.

External links

– Official website for KTBS/KPXJ-TV