KATC (TV)

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title: "KATC (TV)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1962-establishments-in-louisiana", "acadia-parish,-louisiana", "american-broadcasting-company-affiliates", "bounce-tv-affiliates", "court-tv-affiliates", "e.-w.-scripps-company-television-stations", "grit-(tv-network)-affiliates", "laff-(tv-network)-affiliates", "television-channels-and-stations-established-in-1962", "television-stations-in-lafayette,-louisiana"] description: "Television station in Lafayette, Louisiana" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KATC_(TV)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Television station in Lafayette, Louisiana ::

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

Field	Value
callsign	KATC
logo	KATC TV3 (2021).svg
logo_alt	A black rectangle trimmed in silver, with white condensed sans serif letters "KATC", extending down to meet a red circle with silver trim containing a large white numeral 3. The ABC network logo is attached on the upper right side.
logo_size	180px
branding	KATC TV 3
digital	28 (UHF)
virtual	3
affiliations
airdate
location	Lafayette, Louisiana
country	United States
callsign_meaning	Acadian Television Corporation, founding owner
former_channel_numbers	Analog: 3 (VHF, 1962–2009)
owner
licensee	Scripps Broadcasting Holdings LLC
erp	1,000 kW
haat	537 m
facility_id	33471
coordinates
licensing_authority	FCC
website
::

| callsign = KATC | logo = KATC TV3 (2021).svg | logo_alt = A black rectangle trimmed in silver, with white condensed sans serif letters "KATC", extending down to meet a red circle with silver trim containing a large white numeral 3. The ABC network logo is attached on the upper right side. | logo_size = 180px | image = | image_size = | branding = KATC TV 3 | digital = 28 (UHF) | virtual = 3 | translators = | subchannels = | affiliations = | airdate = | last_airdate = | location = Lafayette, Louisiana | country = United States | callsign_meaning = Acadian Television Corporation, founding owner | former_callsigns = | former_channel_numbers = Analog: 3 (VHF, 1962–2009) | owner = | licensee = Scripps Broadcasting Holdings LLC | former_affiliations = | erp = 1,000 kW | haat = 537 m | facility_id = 33471 | coordinates = | licensing_authority = FCC | website =

KATC (channel 3) is a television station in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by the E.W. Scripps Company, the station has studios on Eraste Landry Road in Lafayette, and its transmitter is located near Branch, Louisiana.

KATC began broadcasting on September 19, 1962, and has been an ABC affiliate since its inception. It was Lafayette's second TV station after KLFY-TV (channel 10) and for decades was a distant second-place outlet in local news under several owners, including Loyola University. A typo in a letter to the station's founding owner and namesake, Acadian Television Corporation, is claimed to have resulted in the coining of the term Acadiana for southern Louisiana. The station produces local newscasts covering the region.

History

In 1957, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorized the insertion of channel 3 at either Lafayette or Lake Charles as one of three new television channels assigned to the state. With the channel approved, applicants filed seeking authority to build a station to use it. The Acadian Television Corporation was formed on April 8, 1957, and had two primary stockholders: Paul Kurzweg Jr. a Lafayette doctor, and Edward E. Wilson, son of U.S. defense secretary Charles Erwin Wilson. Evangeline Broadcasting Company, owner of Lafayette radio station KVOL, applied in June. Also seeking the channel were Lake Charles TV station KTAG-TV, seeking approval to move to channel 3 from UHF channel 25, and two consulting engineers from Los Angeles, whose bid was dismissed twice on technical grounds. Additionally, Lafayette's existing television station, KLFY-TV (channel 10), was in the contest until February 1960 because it wanted to change transmitter sites and therefore cause possible interference to the proposed channel 3.

On June 7, 1961, FCC hearing examiner Millard French handed down an initial decision favoring Acadian Television Corporation for channel 3. KTAG-TV's proposal was rejected because of concerns over signal strength in Lake Charles. French turned down Evangeline in most comparative criteria, most notably diversity of business interests and diversification of media ownership. The decision to award the channel to Acadian prompted KTAG-TV to leave the air two months later. With final technical approval granted in January 1962, Acadian began construction and obtained primary affiliation with ABC. KATC began broadcasting on September 19, 1962. Kurzweg died in 1964, and his widow Frances became company president the following year.

KATC claims to have coined the term "Acadiana" for its coverage area. In 1963, a New York typist sent a letter to Acadian Television and inadvertently addressed it as "Acadiana Television". Bob Hamm and Bill Patton claimed to have adopted the term, which then stuck and displaced Evangeline as the primary regional identifier.

In 1981, Acadian Television Corporation sold KATC to Loyola University, owners of WWL radio and WWL-TV in New Orleans. The $20 million purchase was handled through Abellor Corporation, a Loyola subsidiary. Five years later, in spite of KATC being what president James C. Carter called a "marvelous investment", Loyola's trustees elected to focus on their New Orleans properties and put the Lafayette station on the market. Adams Communications was selected as the buyer for $31 million, but the offer fell through, and ML Media Partners acquired KATC for $28 million. ML was one of several ventures involving former ABC executives Elton Rule and I. Martin Pompadur, in this case with New York investment firm Merrill Lynch.

ML Media Partners put KATC up for sale in January 1995 as the company sought to divest itself of nearly all its television station properties. Cordillera Communications, a subsidiary of the Evening Post Publishing Company, acquired the station from ML, citing its then-recent improvements in local news ratings.

In 2007, KATC built its high-power digital transmission facility; previously, it had broadcast a low-power signal serving the immediate Lafayette area. KATC opted not to use its existing tower located near Kaplan, Louisiana, because of its proximity to the Gulf Coast, hurricane risk, and higher insurance premiums south of Interstate 10. Instead, the station constructed a new, 1800 ft mast capable of providing high-power service to the Lafayette and Lake Charles area. At the time, KATC was the closest ABC affiliate to Lake Charles; in 2017, a subchannel of KVHP became that market's ABC affiliate. The original tower remained standing and in use by KAJN-FM and Louisiana Public Broadcasting until 2018, when an airplane crashed into it, killing the pilot. A subchannel of KATC served as Lafayette's affiliate of The CW beginning in June 2010.

Cordillera announced on October 29, 2018, that it would sell most of its stations, including KATC, to the E. W. Scripps Company. The sale was completed on May 1, 2019. The CW—by this time majority-owned by Nexstar Media Group, owner of KLFY-TV—dropped its remaining affiliations with Scripps in 2024, and the network moved to a subchannel of KLFY.

On July 7, 2025, it was announced that, as part of an exchange of several stations between Scripps and Gray Media, KATC would be traded to Gray, giving that company a presence in every media market in Louisiana. The following month, Gray announced its intent to purchase KADN-TV and KLAF-LD from Allen Media Group, which would bring the ABC, NBC, and Fox affiliations in the region under common ownership.

News operation

Historically, KATC was a distant runner-up to KLFY in news ratings, with stronger performance in the immediate Lafayette metro area than in the full media market. In the 2000s, KATC recruited talent from KLFY's news staff, including anchors Hoyt Harris and Darla Montgomery and meteorologist Rob Perillo.

In 2023, Scripps implemented a new model of evening newscast production that utilizes live and pre-recorded segments. After the announcement, main evening anchors Marcelle Fontenot and Jim Hummel departed at the same time after over 10 years together on KATC's evening news. Station management emphasized that the reformatting would free up resources for reporting and increased local content. Fontenot and Hummel then joined the staff of Lafayette NBC and Fox affiliate KADN-TV. , KATC produces 25 hours a week of local news programming.

Notable former on-air staff

• Bill Elder – reporter, –1966

Technical information

Subchannels

KATC's transmitter is located in Branch, Louisiana. The station's signal is multiplexed: ::data[format=table title="Subchannels of KATC{{Cite web|url=https://rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=KATC|title=RabbitEars TV Query for KATC|website=[[RabbitEars]]|accessdate=August 9, 2025}}"]

Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name	Programming	3.1	3.2	3.3	3.4	3.5	3.6
720p	16:9	KATC-HD	ABC
Laff	Laff
480i	4:3	Grit	Grit
16:9	CourtTV	Court TV
Bounce	Bounce TV
QVC	QVC
::

Analog-to-digital conversion

KATC shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 3, on June 12, 2009,, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 28, using virtual channel 3.

References

References

1. (February 27, 1957). "TV Station For Area Is Studied by FCC". The Daily Advertiser.
2. (March 8, 1957). "FCC Assigns TV Channel 3 to Area". The Daily Advertiser.
3. (April 9, 1957). "Group Seeks TV Channel 3 For Lafayette". The Daily Advertiser.
4. (June 2, 1957). "TV Channel 3 Sought by Group In Lafayette". The Daily Advertiser.
5. (October 24, 1957). "California Pair's Lafayette TV Bid Dismissed by FCC". The Daily Advertiser.
6. (February 18, 1960). "Dispute Over New Lafayette Channel Dropped by KLFY". The Daily Advertiser.
7. (June 7, 1961). "FCC Examiner Makes Choice In New Lafayette TV Channel". The Daily Advertiser.
8. (August 3, 1961). "Final Telecast Slated Tonight By KTAG-TV". Lake Charles American-Press.
9. (February 14, 1962). "TV Station Will Open In September". The Daily Advertiser.
10. (April 5, 1962). "New Lafayette TV Station Will Be Affiliate of ABC". The Daily Advertiser.
11. (September 18, 1962). "Watch for KATC". The Daily Advertiser.
12. (March 17, 1964). "Dr. Paul Kurzweg, Civic Leader, Dies". The Daily Advertiser.
13. (May 23, 1965). "Local Television Concern Names Officers, Board". The Daily Advertiser.
14. Bradshaw, Jim. (November 29, 1990). "Acadiana: A place and an idea still set apart". The Daily Advertiser.
15. Bradshaw, Jim. (October 14, 1998). "'Acadiana' replaced 'Evangeline' in describing south Louisiana". The Daily Advertiser.
16. (June 8, 1981). "Changing Hands". Broadcasting.
17. (May 27, 1981). "KATC Television Station Is Sold". The Daily Advertiser.
18. (April 5, 1986). "Local station may be sold". The Daily Advertiser.
19. (May 13, 1986). "Adams signs agreement to purchase KATC-TV3". The Daily Advertiser.
20. (October 6, 1986). "Changing Hands". Broadcasting.
21. (June 27, 1988). "Pompadur, Rule: making media money make more". Broadcasting.
22. Brocato, Bill. (March 10, 1995). "Media firm agrees to purchase Channel 3". The Daily Advertiser.
23. Wolf, Robert S.. (October 7, 1995). "Evening Post buys KATC". The Daily Advertiser.
24. McAdams, Deborah D.. (November 2007). "KATC Completes Conversion on New 1,800-foot Tower". Television Broadcast.
25. Miller, Mark. (August 23, 2017). "KVHP Launching ABC Feed On Subchannel". TVNewsCheck.
26. (August 31, 2018). "Plane crashes into tower in Vermilion Parish; pilot killed". Acadia Parish Today.
27. Lewis, Connie. (March 17, 2011). "Local TV station receives honor: KATC-TV 3 recognized as top in state". The Daily Advertiser.
28. (October 29, 2018). "The E.W. Scripps Company buys more television stations, bringing total to 51". [[WCPO-TV]].
29. Miller, Mark K.. (May 1, 2019). "Scripps Closes On Cordillera Stations Purchase". NewsCheckMedia.
30. (April 19, 2024). "Nexstar Dropping Scripps-Owned The CW Affiliates in 7 Markets". [[Broadcasting & Cable]].
31. (July 7, 2025). "Gray Media and Scripps Agree to Swap Television Stations". [[E. W. Scripps Company]].
32. Miller, Mark K.. (August 8, 2025). "Gray Media To Purchase Allen Media Stations In 10 Markets".
33. Bradshaw, Jim. (January 9, 1983). "KLFY Finds Most Good News In Latest Ratings". The Daily Advertiser.
34. Billiot, Todd. (December 8, 2003). "KATC gets another veteran newsman: Hoyt Harris back in co-anchor chair after 3-year hiatus". The Daily Advertiser.
35. Daigle, Adam. (September 25, 2023). "Longtime anchors to leave KATC as station will mostly end live evening broadcasts".
36. Wirtz, Tracy. (September 27, 2023). "KATC General Manager: 'Lafayette Will See a Dramatic Increase in Local Content'".
37. (October 16, 2023). "The Switch Is On: The New Year will bring a New Station for 2 familiar faces".
38. (June 30, 2025). "Q2 2025 Local Issues & Programming". Federal Communications Commission.
39. Walker, Dave. (September 18, 2003). "Bill Elder, longtime television newsman". The Times-Picayune.
40. "RabbitEars TV Query for KATC".
41. Taylor, Claire. (June 13, 2009). "Analog, over and out: TV service switches to all-digital". The Daily Advertiser.
42. (May 23, 2006). "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds". Federal Communications Commission.

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