KAIT

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Television station in Jonesboro, Arkansas

title: "KAIT" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1963-establishments-in-arkansas", "american-broadcasting-company-affiliates", "the-cw-affiliates", "gray-media", "nbc-affiliates", "television-channels-and-stations-established-in-1963", "television-stations-in-jonesboro,-arkansas"] description: "Television station in Jonesboro, Arkansas" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KAIT" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Television station in Jonesboro, Arkansas ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox television station"]

Field	Value
callsign	KAIT
logo	KAIT 2023.svg
logo_alt	A blue K next to a red pentagon shape containing a white numeral 8
logo_size	200px
location	Jonesboro, Arkansas
country	US
branding
digital	27 (UHF)
virtual	8
affiliations
owner	Gray Media
licensee	Gray Television Licensee, LLC
airdate
sister_stations	KJTB-LD, KJBW-LD
former_callsigns	KAIT-TV (1963–2003)
former_channel_numbers
former_affiliations	Independent (1963–1965)
erp	1,000 kW
haat	527.4 m
facility_id	13988
coordinates
licensing_authority	FCC
website
::

::callout[type=note]

KAIT began broadcasting in 1963 as an independent station before becoming an ABC affiliate in 1965. It was built by George Hernreich, a Fort Smith businessman. Hernreich paid bribes to an ABC representative in 1969, resulting in a years-long legal challenge that almost saw KAIT lose its broadcast license. After the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reversed an earlier decision to revoke the KAIT license, the station was sold to Channel Communications in 1984, Cosmos Broadcasting in 1986, and Raycom Media in 2005. Under Raycom, KAIT added subchannels affiliated with NBC and The CW. Raycom merged with Gray Television in 2019. The station has traditionally dominated the Jonesboro media market in revenue and ratings, though its coverage area and viewership extends beyond the defined media market.

History

Construction and early years

Though channel 8 was assigned to Jonesboro in 1952, it went unused for a decade. Jonesboro radio station KBTM applied for channel 8 in 1954 and was granted a construction permit for KBTM-TV in 1955, only to seek to transfer it the next year to the owner of KATV in Pine Bluff. KATV intended to use KBTM-TV to broadcast its ABC programming and shows aired by the Pine Bluff station as well as local shows, which would be produced by KBTM radio staff. Construction never started, and the permit was surrendered in late October 1957. The surrender followed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issuing a letter to the station asking why it should not have its permit stripped.

Radio station KXJK in Forrest City, Arkansas, asked the FCC in May 1958 to move channel 8 there. The proposal was rebutted by George Hernreich, a Fort Smith businessman, who declared his intention to apply for channel 8 at Jonesboro. The FCC denied the KXJK move request in February 1959 and granted Hernreich's application for channel 8 on April 8, 1960, after KBTM (by this time under new ownership) withdrew a competing application.

Construction of KAIT-TV began in early 1963 at a site 4 mi north of Jonesboro. During erection of the 300 ft tower, the large antenna crashed to the ground. After weeks of test patterns and sporadic other broadcasts, KAIT-TV began regular programming on July 15, 1963. It was an independent station, airing local features including news and a children's show as well as movies.

ABC affiliation and FCC hearing

The station joined ABC on October 1, 1965, enabling it to present color network programming and lengthen its broadcast day. Network affiliation provided resources that KAIT had instead been obtaining without permission. The station had previously rebroadcast programs from other stations without authorization, including coverage of the Watts riots and two Project Gemini launches, as well as excerpts from NBC's Huntley-Brinkley Report. In 1966, the FCC fined Hernreich $1,000 for this and other violations. KAIT renewed its ABC affiliation in 1967, and Hernreich sought increases in the network compensation rate ABC paid it to air network programming. Hernreich was successful in seeking these increases after he made two bribes to Thomas G. Sullivan, a regional station relations manager for the network.

In March 1970, the FCC began a private investigation into allegations of station owners bribing ABC for network affiliation after ABC accused Sullivan of accepting a bribe from WKTR-TV serving Dayton, Ohio. After Sullivan was fired, ABC rescinded the compensation increases it had previously granted to KAIT-TV. The inquiry implicated Hernreich and indicated that he may have paid an ABC representative. As a result, in July 1971, the FCC designated KAIT-TV's broadcast license renewal for hearing. It allowed Hernreich to start broadcasting KFPW-TV at Fort Smith but conditioned a final license on the outcome of the hearing. In April 1973, FCC administrative law judge Forest L. McClenning ruled that Hernreich should lose the licenses for both stations. He found that Hernreich lacked the qualifications to be a broadcast licensee, putting his other holdings—two AM radio stations and an FM outlet in other Arkansas cities—in peril. McClenning rejected allegations from Hernreich that the payments were made on threat of losing the ABC affiliation for KAIT-TV. On appeal to the FCC in 1974, Hernreich won a license for KFPW-TV in Fort Smith and was found to be generally qualified, but the commission on a 3-2 vote denied a license renewal for KAIT-TV.

Hernreich petitioned the FCC to reconsider its split action on his television licenses, arguing that such a decision on his actions did not hold water and claiming that the profits from the Jonesboro station were necessary to run KFPW-TV in Fort Smith. His attorneys claimed that the decision was inconsistent and failed to account for ABC's role in the bribery scandal. The FCC ultimately agreed with Hernreich and reversed its 1974 decision in 1979, allowing KAIT-TV to remain on the air.

Channel and Cosmos/Liberty ownership

After KAIT-TV's license was renewed, George Hernreich stepped down as chairman of Hernreich Broadcasting Stations in 1980. In 1981, the station installed a new transmitter, increasing its coverage area. Three years later, his son Bob—citing the distance between Jonesboro and Fort Smith and an interest to pursue other business ventures—sold KAIT for $22 million to Channel Communications, Inc. of Nashville, Tennessee. Channel was a subsidiary of NASCO, Inc., a maker of licensed goods for the National Football League diversifying into the broadcasting business. KAIT was the second of three stations Channel purchased between August 1983 and May 1984, after KPLC in Lake Charles, Louisiana, but before WCLQ-TV in Cleveland.

After two years, Channel Communications exited broadcasting. It agreed to sell KAIT and KPLC to Cosmos Broadcasting Inc., the broadcasting arm of South Carolina–based insurer Liberty Corporation, for a combined $68 million. Cosmos included KAIT and two other stations in an attempted sale to Broad Street Companies of New Haven, Connecticut, in 1992; the deal never closed, as Broad Street failed to finance the transaction.

In January 2003, KAIT began broadcasting a digital signal. KAIT shut down its analog signal on June 12, 2009, and relocated its digital signal from its pre-transition VHF channel 9 to channel 8 for post-transition operations.

Raycom and Gray ownership

Liberty exited the insurance business in 2000 and merged with Raycom Media in 2006. Under Raycom, KAIT added two digital subchannels offering additional national networks. On January 26, 2015, it launched an NBC affiliate on its 8.2 subchannel, previously used to broadcast weather and occasional local sports coverage. KAIT, which had garnered nearly 97 percent of all television advertising revenue in Jonesboro in 2013, received competition later in 2015 when Waypoint Media launched in-market Fox and CBS affiliate KJNB-LD. In 2018, KAIT added The CW on subchannel 8.3.

Raycom merged with Gray Television in a deal announced in 2018 and finalized in 2019. In 2021, the station moved its transmissions from the VHF to the UHF band.

News operation

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Rick_Crawford_being_interviewed_by_Diana_Davis_on_KAIT-TV.jpg" caption="Rick Crawford]] being interviewed by Diana Davis on KAIT in 2016" alt="Refer to caption"] ::

, KAIT broadcasts hours of locally produced newscasts each week, including a -hour morning newscast on weekdays, Good Morning Region 8; weekday newscasts at 11 a.m. and 5, 6, and 10 p.m.; and two weekend newscasts daily.

KAIT has historically served a larger coverage area than its media market. This is because there are counties where KAIT was the most-viewed station but the stations in Little Rock or Memphis, Tennessee, collectively had higher audience share, causing them to be drawn into that market. Within that market, however, KAIT has traditionally dominated the Memphis stations as the only local news source.

Notable former on-air staff

Rodger Bumpass – announcer, film processor, cameraman, audio technician, and technical director, 1970s; became the voice of Squidward on SpongeBob SquarePants
Hogan Gidley – news/weather anchor

Technical information and subchannels

KAIT is broadcast from a tower north of Egypt, Arkansas. Its signal is multiplexed: ::data[format=table title="Subchannels of KAIT{{cite web|title=RabbitEars TV Query for KAIT|website=[[RabbitEars]]|access-date=October 22, 2022|url=https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=KAIT}}"]

Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name
720p	16:9	KAITAB	ABC
KAITNB	NBC
KAITCW	The CW Plus
::

References

(September 24, 1954). "Application For TV Channel 8 Filed By KBTM". Jonesboro Evening Sun.
(January 13, 1955). "TV Permit Is Granted KBTM". Jonesboro Evening Sun.
(May 16, 1956). "Transfer Of TV Permit Is Asked". Jonesboro Evening Sun.
(July 20, 1956). "TV Operation In City Is Planned By December 1st". Jonesboro Evening Sun.
(November 4, 1957). "KBTM-TV Surrenders Ch. 8 Cp". Broadcasting.
(October 21, 1957). "Tv Delays Evoke FCC Action". Broadcasting.
(July 14, 1958). "Station Absorption Fought by Hernreich". Broadcasting.
(February 4, 1959). "TV Channel To Stay In City". Jonesboro Evening Sun.
"History Cards for KAIT". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
(April 9, 1960). "Permit Issued For TV Station In Jonesboro". Jonesboro Evening Sun.
(January 21, 1963). "Television Station To Start Operation Here". Jonesboro Evening Sun.
(February 12, 1963). "Huge Antenna Falls 300 Feet". Jonesboro Evening Sun.
(July 8, 1963). "KAIT Slated To Go On Air Within Week". The Sun.
(July 15, 1963). "KAIT To Make Debut On Air This Afternoon". Jonesboro Evening Sun.
(September 9, 1965). "KAIT-TV Will Join ABC Net On October 1". Jonesboro Evening Sun.
(September 12, 1966). "FCC sends three to the woodshed". Broadcasting.
(April 30, 1973). "FCC judge rejects Hernreich's claim of being victimized: McClenning proposes lifting licenses for involvement in payoff to network official". Broadcasting.
(August 2, 1971). "FCC-network probe alleged ABC payoff: Hearings called to examine Arkansas broadcaster's applications for licenses". Broadcasting.
(July 22, 1974). "Hernreich loses KAIT-TV license, retains KFPW-TV's: Ark. broadcaster's renewal denied after FCC holds his payment of bribe for ABC affiliation favors beyond pale of Chairman Wiley's 'new ethic'". Broadcasting.
(August 26, 1974). "Hernreich: One denial, one renewal doesn't add: Arkansas station owner says if he's qualified to run KFPW-TV he ought to be allowed to operate KAIT-TV; FCC asked to take another look".
(December 23, 1974). "FCC errors claimed in Hernreich denial: KAIT-TV counsel says role of ABC in alleged bribery wasn't considered, contends inconsistencies in decision". Broadcasting.
(May 14, 1979). "In Brief". Broadcasting.
(January 4, 1980). "Hernreich Broadcasting Announces Changes". The Jonesboro Sun.
Troutt, Bob. (February 14, 1984). "KAIT Television Station Sells For $22 Million". The Jonesboro Sun.
Cason, Albert. (May 6, 1984). "Nasco Acquires TV Station In Cleveland". The Tennessean.
(October 3, 1986). "NASCO to sell 3 TV stations for $83 million". The Tennessean.
(June 23, 1992). "Sale of KAIT is reported in the works". The Jonesboro Sun.
(October 30, 1992). "KAIT station sale will not be completed". The Sun.
Miller, Mark. (May 5, 2003). "One Station, Many Rivals". Broadcasting & Cable.
(2009-06-12). "Good Morning Region 8". KAIT.
"DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds".
Dykes, David. (December 7, 2005). "Liberty seals deal with Raycom: Shareholders vote to support merger". The Greenville News.
(February 1, 2006). "Liberty Corp. shares cease trading". The State.
Malone, Michael. (2014-12-31). "KAIT Jonesboro to Launch NBC As Multicast". Broadcasting & Cable.
(November 15, 2012). "Television Lineup For ASU Troy Game Includes ESPN3, KAIT, and KATV Digital Channels".
(June 7, 2015). "Jonesboro Gets New Fox TV Affiliate - Talk Business & Politics". Talk Business & Politics.
Wilkey, Michael. (July 31, 2015). "Jonesboro Market To Get CBS Affiliate". Talk Business & Politics.
(July 25, 2018). "KAIT launching new CW affiliate in Region 8".
(August 30, 2018). "A Better Region 8: Labor Day Weekend includes the new CW on 8.3".
Miller, Mark K.. (June 25, 2018). "Gray To Buy Raycom For $3.6 Billion". NewsCheckMedia.
(January 2, 2019). "Gray Closes On $3.6 Billion Raycom Merger". NewsCheckMedia.
(October 3, 2021). "Antenna Users - Tower work complete! Rescan your sets for best signal".
(November 27, 2020). "Channel Substitution/Community of License Change". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
(May 20, 2021). "Report & Order". Media Bureau, [[Federal Communications Commission]].
(March 31, 2025). "Quarterly List of Programming Providing Most Significant Treatment of Community Issues (First Quarter 2025)". Federal Communications Commission.
Turner, Lance. (May 15, 2000). "NBC Newscast in Fayetteville to Add Competition to Market". Arkansas Business.
"Rodger Bumpass (1951–)".
Lockwood, Frank E.. (2017-10-13). "Arkansan joins Trump team, will work in White House as deputy press secretary". Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
"RabbitEars TV Query for KAIT".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::