City Pittsburg, Kansas Subchannels (see article) | Channels Digital: 7 (VHF) Affiliations CBS | |
Branding KOAM-TV (general)
KOAM News (news) Slogan The Four States' Most Watched News | ||
KOAM-TV, channel 7, is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Four State Area region of Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri, serving the cities of Pittsburg, Kansas and Joplin, Missouri. Owned by Saga Communications, the station is operated in a virtual duopoly with Surtsey Media-owned Fox affiliate KFJX (channel 14). Both stations share studio and transmitter facilities on U.S. 69 south of Pittsburg, Kansas, with a secondary facility located on South Range Line Road in Joplin. The station utilizes VHF channel 7 for both their digital broadcasts and PSIP virtual channel. The call sign (KOAM) is derived from the 4-state service area: Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri.
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History
KOAM-TV first signed on at 5:22 p.m. on December 13, 1953 under the ownership of MidContinent Broadcasting Company, a joint venture of The Joplin Globe newspaper and KOAM radio (860 AM, the current KKOW). The Globe would eventually sell its minority stake in the station to KOAM radio owners E. Victor Baxter and Lester Cox.
KOAM-TV launched as a primary affiliate of NBC, owing to KOAM radio's long affiliation with NBC Radio, though it also had secondary affiliations with CBS (until KSWM-TV launched in 1954), DuMont (until that network's 1955 closure) and ABC (until January 1968, when KODE became a full-time ABC affiliate and KUHI-TV signed on with CBS). In 1982, KOAM swapped affiliations with KTVJ (the former KUHI-TV) and became a CBS affiliate.
KOAM's digital signal on channel 13 signed on in 2001 and remained there until KOAM turned off its analog signal at 12:38 a.m. February 17, 2009 (following The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson), at which time KOAM ceased analog broadcasting and its digital broadcast returned to channel 7. Sister station KFJX, the market's Fox affiliate, moved onto KOAM's former digital channel 13 (KFJX continued to broadcast on analog Channel 14 until May 2009 when a line of severe thunderstorms damaged the broadcast tower, forcing the removal of the antenna). KFJX's signal is simulcast on KOAM's digital subchannel 7.2 in standard definition.
Wheel of Fortune is currently on KOAM. Jeopardy!, however, airs on KODE (at 4 p.m.) and KSNF at (at 5 p.m.), making Joplin/Pittsburg one of only a few markets where the programs are carried on separate stations (usually, both shows air on the same channel).
In June 2010, the DirecTV satellite system added Joplin locals to its channel line-up. Initially, KOAM and sister station KFJX refused to allow DirecTV to carry their stations. In February 2012, KOAM and KFJX began airing on DirecTV.
News operation
KOAM presently broadcasts 21½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 4 hours on weekdays, 1 hour on Saturdays and a half-hour on Sundays).