Slogan Keeping it Local Affiliations Fox | Subchannels (see article) | |
Branding KCIT Fox 14 (general)
KCIT Fox 14 News (newscasts) Channels Digital: 15 (UHF)
Virtual: 14 (PSIP) Owner Mission Broadcasting
(Mission Broadcasting, Inc.) | ||
KCIT, virtual channel 14 (digital channel 15), is the Fox-affiliated television station in Amarillo, Texas, USA. The station is owned by Mission Broadcasting, and operated by Nexstar Media Group alongside NBC affiliate KAMR-TV (channel 4).
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KCIT's transmitter is located north of Amarillo in rural unincorporated Potter County. Its studios are located downtown (across the street from KVII-TV); KCIT itself has always occupied this studio since its inception as it later shared the studios with KCPN-LP and KAMR (since 2002).
History
The station signed on the air on October 24, 1982 as KJTV, a general Independent with movies (under the "Star Movie" umbrella, aired Mondays-Thursdays), dramas, westerns, cartoons (under the "(insert sponsor) Western Theater" umbrella, aired on Friday nights), sitcoms, and a half-hour newscast known as "Channel 14 News". It was originally owned by Ray Moran. Moran sold the station to Detroit, Michigan businessman Ralph Wilson in 1984. In 1985, KJTV changed its call letters to the current KCIT. The station also had a secondary affiliation with the Financial News Network that also lasted until 1985. (The KJTV call letters are now used by the Fox affiliate in nearby Lubbock.) In October 1986, the station became a charter Fox affiliate. Around that time, the station also unveiled a "TV-14 KCIT" logo that they used for the remainder of the decade and into the early 1990s. By continuing an independent-station airing schedule, they also relied on local sponsorship for their programming (e.g., Don Judd Dodge, which is a now-defunct Amarillo car dealership; John Chandler Ford (now Tri-State Ford), an Amarillo Ford dealership; and Heath Furniture, later bought by Heilig-Meyers.) Wilson sold the station to Epic Broadcasting Corporation of Wichita Falls in 1991. Concurrently, the station retired the aforementioned logo and replaced it with one that was also used at sister station KJTL, Epic's flagship station. They used it until 1994. KCIT maintained a secondary affiliation with the Prime Time Entertainment Network in 1993 to 1995. Epic Broadcasting sold both KCIT and KJTL in Wichita Falls, Texas to the Wicks Broadcast Group in August 1995. KCIT was acquired by current owner Mission Broadcasting along with KJTL and KCPN-LP from Wicks Broadcast Group in 1999. This station has been operated through a shared services agreement with Nexstar Broadcasting's station, KAMR-TV since Nexstar acquired the latter in December 2003 as part of its purchase of Quorum Broadcasting. In 2010, KCIT added This TV to digital subchannel 14.2, the affiliation lasted until August 25, 2016 when it was replaced with Grit, along with signing on two other digital subchannels affiliated with Escape and Bounce TV (Bounce TV can also be seen on KAUO-LD).
Programming
Syndicated programming seen on KCIT includes: Two and a Half Men, Mike & Molly, T.D. Jakes, The Middle, and The Big Bang Theory among others.
Newscasts
The station originally had its own newscast and news capsules during the 1980s and 1990s before dropping them in 1999. On March 11, 2001, the station reopened a nightly 9 p.m. newscast titled Fox14 News @ 9, produced by KAMR. As an Independent station, KCIT (as KJTV) carried a local newscast called Channel 14 News which would air before the Independent Network News and then becoming the current KCIT in 1985 then it became known as TV-14 News. When the station flipped to Fox in 1986, it became known as Fox News which was carried until 1995 when it became Fox 14 News until 1999. For a time, the station also carried a weekday morning newscast. On January 15, 2008 KCIT replaced the KAMR-produced newscast with its own one-hour newscast at 9 p.m.