Branding MeTV Mid-Missouri | Affiliations MeTV (since 2012) | |
Channels Digital: KMIZ-DT 17.2 (VHF/PSIP) Owner News-Press & Gazette Company First air date July 3, 1989 as K02NQ
circa 2008 as a digital subchannel Last air date September 3, 2010 as a translator station | ||
KMIZ-DT2 is the MeTV affiliate for the Columbia, Missouri media market. It is a digital subchannel of the area’s ABC affiliate, KMIZ. it is broadcast over the air on VHF channel 17.2 from a transmitter near the Cooper/Moniteau County line. KMIZ-DT2’s parent station’s studios are located on East Business Loop 70 in Columbia, sharing the facility with its Fox-affiliated sister station KQFX-LD.
History
The station began as independent analog translator station K02NQ, which was owned by JW Broadcasting, LLC, on July 3, 1989. From 1997 to 2003, K02NQ had shown Fox network programming along with K38II (later KZOU-LP). In 2004, JW Broadcasting flipped Fox programming exclusively to K38II. K02NQ then became the Show-Me Weather channel and K38II became Fox 38. K38II (later KZOU-LP) also carried UPN and later MyNetworkTV programming as secondary affiliations, with Fox as their primary programming until that station lost the Fox affiliation to current Fox affiliate KQFX-LD in 2009.
In 2007, the channel was rebranded as ABC 17 Stormtrack 24/7, and it began broadcasting on the second subchannel of ABC affiliate KMIZ, adopting the now-current call letters KMIZ-DT2. It aired local and regional weather information on a cycle, with an updated local weathercast, "Weather on the 7's," from the Stormtrack weather team every ten minutes. The station aired weather programming continuously, interrupted only by the three hours per week of children’s educational programming mandated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The station's license (as a separate station) was canceled on September 3, 2010, the same day that KZOU-LP’s license was canceled. That action made KMIZ-DT2 the sole legal identification for the ABC 17 Stormtrack 24/7 weather channel. The cancellation of the licenses for both KZOU-LP and K02NQ was due to the simulcasts on the digital subchannels of KMIZ. KZOU-LP was simulcast on KMIZ-DT3 until KZOU-LP went dark, and KMIZ-DT3 stayed on as the area’s MyNetworkTV affiliate. On January 9, 2012, the Stormtrack 24/7 weather channel was discontinued, and was replaced with classic television network MeTV. The News-Press & Gazette Company purchased both KMIZ and KQFX-LD in July 2012, with the sale being consummated on November 1, 2012.