KMIZ

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Television station in Columbia, Missouri

title: "KMIZ" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1971-establishments-in-missouri", "american-broadcasting-company-affiliates", "bounce-tv-affiliates", "metv-affiliates", "mynetworktv-affiliates", "news-press-&-gazette-company", "television-channels-and-stations-established-in-1971", "television-stations-in-mid-missouri"] description: "Television station in Columbia, Missouri" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KMIZ" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Television station in Columbia, Missouri ::

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

Field	Value
callsign	KMIZ
city	Columbia, Missouri
logo	ABC_17_KMIZ_logo_2022.png
logo_size	200px
logo_alt	The ABC network logo next to a silver 17 with black trim on a red oval. Beneath the base of the 17 is a red parallelogram with white letters K M I Z. Nestled in the lower right corner near the 7 is a gray parallelogram with silver letters "HD".
image	MyZouTV logo.png
image_size	140px
image_alt	A rounded rectangle divided into blue and gray parts with the word "my" in white in the upper left, a gold "z o u" italicized in the upper right, and a black "T V" in the lower right.
branding
digital	17 (UHF)
virtual	17
affiliations
owner	News-Press & Gazette Company
licensee	NPG of Missouri, LLC
location	Columbia–Jefferson City, Missouri
country	United States
airdate
callsign_meaning	Mizzou
sister_stations	KQFX-LD
former_callsigns	KCBJ-TV (1971–1985)
former_channel_numbers
former_affiliations
erp
haat	352 m
facility_id	63164
coordinates
licensing_authority	FCC
website
::

KMIZ (channel 17) is a television station licensed to Columbia, Missouri, United States, serving the Columbia–Jefferson City market as an affiliate of ABC and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company alongside Fox affiliate KQFX-LD (channel 22, also licensed to Columbia); the stations together are branded as the "Networks of Mid-Missouri". The two stations share studios on the East Business Loop 70 in Columbia; KMIZ's transmitter is located west of Jamestown.

Channel 17 in Columbia began broadcasting as KCBJ-TV on December 5, 1971. It brought a full-time ABC affiliate to Mid-Missouri; the network's programming had previously been split between the market's two other major commercial stations. KCBJ-TV was built by Richard Koenig, a St. Louis–based engineer. It struggled in its early years with its ultra high frequency (UHF) signal, the first in the market; entrenched and established competition; and lack of financial resources to invest in local programming and technical improvements. In 1979, Koenig agreed to sell the station to the Wooster Republican Printing Company, but the deal turned sour, and the prospective buyers sued for breach of contract. Litigation in that case was still pending when an ascendant ABC switched its affiliation to KOMU-TV (channel 8) in 1982, leaving KCBJ-TV to take over KOMU's former NBC affiliation.

Koenig sold KCBJ-TV to Stauffer Communications, which took control in January 1985. With NBC rising in the ratings, it poached KOMU-TV from ABC, leading to a switch of network affiliations again that December. To coincide with the new affiliation and Stauffer's investment in a new image and improved news coverage, the station changed its call sign to KMIZ. Under Benedek Broadcasting ownership, KMIZ purchased two low-power stations to start the area's Fox affiliate, a predecessor of KQFX-LD. News-Press & Gazette Company acquired the stations from JW Broadcasting in 2012.

History

KCBJ-TV: Early years

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Tiger_Hotel_-_2013.jpg" caption="The [[Tiger Hotel]] in downtown Columbia housed KCBJ-TV's studios from 1971 to 1978." alt="Refer to caption"] ::

In September 1969, Jeffco Television Corporation, associated with station WJJY-TV in Jacksonville, Illinois, applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for permission to build a station on ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 17 in Columbia. At the time, Mid-Missouri had no full-time affiliate of ABC; its programs were split between primary NBC affiliate KOMU-TV (channel 8) and primary CBS affiliate KRCG (channel 13). In November, Channel Seventeen, Inc., headed by St. Louis engineer Richard Koenig, also applied for the channel. The two applications were designated by the commission for comparative hearing, but Jeffco dropped out due to problems at its station in Illinois, allowing Channel Seventeen to receive the construction permit on August 28, 1970.

KCBJ-TV began broadcasting on December 5, 1971, as a full-time ABC affiliate. It broadcast from a tower at Jamestown, Missouri, 17 mi southwest of Columbia. The station's early months were pocked with technical issues; it was the only local station with a studio and transmitter at separate sites. Moreover, many older television sets still in use were not UHF-capable. Unable to afford a direct microwave feed, Koenig had his engineers switch to and from the signal of KMTC-TV in Springfield—which, in turn, picked up the signal off-air from KODE-TV in Joplin. If a network program was preempted in either of those cities, KCBJ-TV could not show it; occasionally, weather warnings and other material from the Springfield area appeared on channel 17 as well. In its first three and a half years of operation, the station never once made a profit and, as a result, could not afford the expenditures necessary to improve the quality of its incoming network feed. In the ratings, KCBJ-TV struggled against KOMU and KRCG, which had been in the market nearly 20 years when channel 17 signed on and were better-funded stations with stronger local news presences. Koenig became aggressive in his efforts to defend channel 17 from competition. He unsuccessfully argued that KOMU-TV, a commercial station owned by the University of Missouri (MU) and the more successful of Columbia's two local stations, should be forced to become non-commercial and a new private commercial station on the UHF band opened to provide NBC programming. He successfully led the FCC to deny a tower upgrade for KTVO, an ABC affiliate in Kirksville, that threatened to take viewers away from his station in such cities as Moberly, Mexico, and Centralia. He fought the introduction of cable television to Columbia, winning network non-duplication protection so that channel 17 was the only source for ABC network programs on the system—even though the CBS and NBC affiliates did not receive the same perk. As the decade went on, channel 17 became more reliable and obtained its own microwave link to improve signal quality for ABC programming. In 1978, it acquired its present studio facilities from Columbia College, which had used the site to house its extended studies program; this enabled channel 17 to triple its office space and vacate its site in the Tiger Hotel downtown, where it had utilized a portion of the hotel's parking garage.

Koenig agreed in August 1979 to sell KCBJ-TV to the Wooster Republican Printing Company of Wooster, Ohio, controlled by the Dix family. The acquisition of channel 17 would have marked the return of the Dix family to television after their sale years prior of WTRF-TV in Wheeling, West Virginia. Two months later, the Dix family sued, claiming Koenig had breached the sale contract; Koenig replied by declaring that there never was a valid contract. In 1981, the Dix family won the initial lawsuit and a court order forcing Koenig to sell the station to them. Koenig appealed the ruling; federal judge Scott Olin Wright, a former lawyer in Columbia, ordered the station to be transferred to a receiver during the process, but Koenig refused, claiming Wright held a grudge against KCBJ-TV from an earlier legal contact when the station started and that a short-form transfer of control was not appropriate for the process.

As the appeals continued in the breach of contract case, ABC sought to move to the higher-rated KOMU-TV. In the late 1970s, ABC became the number-one network and began seeking upgrades in its affiliate base, primarily at the expense of NBC. It contacted KOMU-TV, the number-one station in Mid-Missouri, in 1979; that was the year NBC hired Fred Silverman, and KOMU instead renewed with NBC in hopes that Silverman could turn around the network's low ratings. This did not materialize, and the station instead agreed to switch in 1982. While it was logical that KCBJ-TV, the local station without a network affiliation, and NBC, the network needing a station, would connect, the ongoing ownership dispute complicated matters because the network received affiliation pitches from the Koenigs and the Dix family. The switch was set for July 12, but Wright issued a temporary restraining order to prevent ABC from moving. KOMU's ABC switch was then set for August 8, though no NBC deal was in place for channel 17 until late July. The sale to Wooster Republican Printing Company fell through by February 1983.

Stauffer ownership

In October 1984, Stauffer Communications agreed to purchase KCBJ-TV from the Koenig family, assuming control in January 1985. The company's first priority was to revamp the station's neglected and little-watched news operation, described by the Columbia Daily Tribune as "laughable at best" and by station manager Rush Evans as a "cursory programming service". It was a distant third behind KOMU and KRCG in the ratings, only attracting three percent of the audience. The newscasts finally had two cameras instead of one, and the news staff was increased from five employees to thirteen. At the same time, the fortunes of NBC turned; the network was in the lead nationally, and KCBJ was the number-one station in prime time. Citing its disappointment with revenues under ABC, KOMU announced it would return to NBC. It was not alone; other recent converts from NBC to ABC were beginning to return to the network, including stations in Temple, Texas, and Savannah, Georgia.

Stauffer affiliated channel 17 with ABC and used the opportunity to change the station's call letters, which it had already been considering. It discovered that KMIZ was assigned to an inactive U.S. Coast Guard vessel and had the call sign released for use. The switch and new name took effect on December 30, 1985; at a party for employees, Evans blew up a large plaster and Styrofoam block bearing the KCBJ-TV call letters after the playing of "Taps". The improved newscast increased ratings from a three percent share to 12 percent in 1986. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Studio_building_of_KMIZ_and_KQFX-LD_in_Columbia,_Missouri_off_East_Business_Loop_70.jpg" caption="East Business Loop 70]]" alt="A small office building outside of which is a sign reading "The Networks of Mid Missouri" with the logos of KMIZ, KQFX, KZOU, and Me-TV Mid-Missouri"] ::

In 1995, Stauffer sold its holdings to Morris Communications. Morris kept the company's newspapers and spun off most of the television stations to Benedek Broadcasting of Rockford, Illinois, for $60 million (equivalent to $ million in ). After being sold to Benedek, the station expanded its offerings. In April 1997, it acquired two low-power TV stations, K11TB in Jefferson City and K02NQ in Columbia. In September in Columbia and on cable and in October in Jefferson City, it launched them as the first over-the-air Fox affiliate for the market; in 1996, KMIZ had carried Fox's coverage of the NFL and the World Series. The next year, Benedek agreed to sell advertising for the local WB 100+ cable channel. The partnership for the cable channel, "KJWB", transferred to KOMU-TV in January 2002.

Chelsey and JW Broadcasting ownership

Financial problems developed at Benedek in the new millennium. The early 2000s recession reduced ad sales and caused the company to miss interest payments on a set of bonds issued in 1996, prompting a filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Benedek's financial issues hurt investment in KMIZ and led to staff cuts and the station canceling its 5 p.m. newscast in 2001.

While most of Benedek's stations were sold out of bankruptcy to Gray Television, some—including KMIZ—went to Chelsey Broadcasting, an affiliate of the Chelsey Capital hedge fund which was a major investor in Benedek. Chelsey owned KMIZ for a year before selling it to JosephWood (JW) Broadcasting, a partnership formed by David J. Joseph and James Wood. JosephWood sought to turn around the station, which had been among Benedek's worst ratings performers, by investing in staff and capital improvements. Among the upgrades was the 2004 switch of Fox from its existing low-power transmitters to channel 38 from a tower near Ashland, Missouri, which doubled Fox's reach; the addition of a 9 p.m. local newscast on the Fox channel; and the launch of two new services, UPN-affiliated "KZOU" and the Show Me Weather Channel, available on cable and from KMIZ's new digital transmitter. The station improved its ratings in morning and late news but remained very far behind KRCG and KOMU in the early evening newscast race. "KZOU" affiliated with MyNetworkTV when UPN merged with The WB to form The CW in 2006.

In JW Broadcasting's final years, the station expanded its local news department. In 2011, it converted its newscasts to high-definition production, introduced the market's first local newscast at 6:30 p.m., and opened a newsroom in Jefferson City.

News-Press & Gazette Company ownership

On July 26, 2012, JW Broadcasting announced the sale of KMIZ and KQFX-LD to the News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) for $16 million (equivalent to $ million in ). The sale marked NPG's entry into a second Missouri TV market after starting a low-power station, KNPN-LD, in its home city of St. Joseph. At the time, NPG CEO David Bradley served as chairman of the University of Missouri system's board of curators. Since the university owns KOMU, this raised concern that NPG's purchase of KMIZ would effectively give Bradley control of two local stations in contravention of FCC ownership limits. NPG argued that Bradley had no personal involvement in KOMU's operations. The sale was consummated on November 1.

NPG has expanded the news department several times. In 2013, KMIZ debuted weekday newscasts at 9 a.m. and noon. The station debuted weekend morning newscasts for KMIZ and KQFX in 2016; by 2023, the station produced hours a week of local news programming on its main channel.

Notable former on-air staff

Savannah Guthrie – weekend anchor, 1993–1995

Technical information

Subchannels

KMIZ's transmitter is located west of Jamestown. The station's signal is multiplexed: ::data[format=table title="Subchannels of KMIZ{{Cite web|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=KMIZ#station|website=[[RabbitEars]]|title=TV Query for KMIZ|access-date=May 30, 2014|archive-date=May 31, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140531105039/http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=KMIZ#station|url-status=live}}"]

Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name
720p	16:9	KMIZ-DT	ABC
480i	Me-TV	MeTV
KZOU-TV	MyNetworkTV
720p	KQFX	Fox (KQFX-LD)
480i	Bounce	Bounce TV
Nosey	Nosey
Confess	Confess
::

When JW Broadcasting began broadcasting KMIZ's digital signal, the station multiplexed KMIZ as well as "Fox 38", KZOU, and the Show Me Weather channel. In 2012, the weather channel, since rebranded StormTrack 24/7, was replaced by MeTV, with station management citing the increasing availability of weather information on smartphones and other devices.

Analog-to-digital conversion

KMIZ shut down its analog signal over UHF channel 17, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 22 to channel 17 for post-transition operations. Days after, KQFX was converted to digital and switched from channel 38 to channel 22.

References

Putney, Mike. (September 16, 1969). "Ask FCC approval to build TV station". Columbia Daily Tribune.
"FCC History Cards for KMIZ". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
(March 15, 1970). "UHF applications are still pending". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Felts, Cynthia. (July 20, 1975). "Sea of red ink marks Koenig's TV venture". Columbia Daily Tribune.
(December 6, 1971). "Columbia gets full network TV". Columbia Daily Tribune.
(November 28, 1971). "Weather delays new TV tower". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Burks, Norma. (December 24, 1971). "Starting-out problems 'bug' new TV station". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Germond, Al. (June 30, 1977). "KCBJ given CATV concessions". Columbia Daily Tribune.
(October 24, 1978). "KCBJ-TV to move into former college building". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Germond, Al. (October 15, 1978). "Airwaves". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Fuson, Ken. (August 8, 1979). "KCBJ sold to Ohio media chain pending FCC approval". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Germond, Al. (August 19, 1979). "Airwaves". Columbia Daily Tribune.
(October 11, 1979). "Suit claims KCBJ-TV owners breached contract to sell station". Columbia Daily Tribune.
(June 5, 1981). "Court orders KCBJ sold in breach of contract suit". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Rose, Forrest. (May 5, 1982). "Federal judge puts KCBJ in hands of third party". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Rose, Forrest. (March 31, 1982). "ABC wooing KOMU away from NBC". Columbia Daily Tribune.
(April 7, 1982). "ABC Sniffs Out NBC Affiliate KOMU Missouri". Variety.
Butcher, Lola. (June 30, 1982). "As the channels turn: affiliate drama ensnares NBC". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Reilly, Mike. (July 6, 1982). "Judge halts KOMU's ABC switch". Columbia Daily Tribune.
(July 14, 1982). "TV swap delayed". Columbia Daily Tribune.
(July 27, 1982). "KCBJ-TV will become local NBC affiliate". Columbia Daily Tribune.
(February 23, 1983). "Action Line". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Anderson, Scott. (October 16, 1984). "KCBJ-TV sold to Kansas firm". Columbia Daily Tribune.
(January 18, 1985). "Business In Brief". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Whiskeyman, Dolores. (October 10, 1985). "New View: KCBJ expands, readies to run for the money with better broadcast". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Hirsch, Mark. (October 2, 1985). "KOMU to rejoin NBC; 'bottom line' cited". Columbia Daily Tribune.
(October 16, 1985). "Rejoining NBC-TV Fold". Variety.
Brown, Nate. (December 4, 1985). "KOMU and KCBJ prepare for network switch". Columbia Daily Tribune.
(December 30, 1985). "TV networks' switch has explosive start". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Brown, Nate. (September 4, 1986). "Rivals for Ratings". Columbia Daily Tribune.
(December 6, 1995). "KGWC-TV sold to Illinois company". Casper Star-Tribune.
(April 16, 1997). "Notice". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Schuckman, Matt. (August 29, 1997). "Fox station a boon for sports fans". Columbia Daily Tribune.
(August 28, 1997). "Boonville takes boom to the bank". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Coleman, Kevin. (July 16, 1998). "KMIZ-TV teams with The WB on local cable". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Friedman, Steve. (December 20, 2001). "KMIZ not mourning loss of WB". Columbia Daily Tribune.
(April 1, 2002). "Benedek couldn't hang on". Broadcasting & Cable.
Friedman, Steve. (May 24, 2003). "Wright tickled by new chance to lead: Meteorologist gets chance to manage hometown station". Columbia Daily Tribune Business Magazine.
Friedman, Steve. (July 3, 2002). "KMIZ dealt to investors in New York". Columbia Daily Tribune.
(May 3, 2003). "KMIZ-ABC, KQFX-FOX sold to JosephWood Broadcasting". [[Jefferson City News-Tribune]].
Friedman, Steve. (May 1, 2003). "New owners take over KMIZ". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Weeks, Katie. (April 8, 2004). "Fox sneaking into area broadcast households". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Harmon, Arcenia. (September 23, 2003). "KQFX picks St. Joseph anchor for local newscast". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Norfleet, Don. (July 10, 2004). "New Mid-Missouri Fox TV station broadcasts from tower in Ashland". Jefferson City News-Tribune.
Coleman, Kevin. (December 29, 2005). "KOMU surges ahead in key timespots, ages". Columbia Daily Tribune.
Coleman, Kevin. (June 10, 2006). "Technology pushes stations into new era". Columbia Daily Tribune Business Magazine.
(October 11, 2011). "KMIZ Adds 6:30 P.M., Goes HD". TVNewsCheck.
(July 26, 2012). "JW Sells KMIZ-KQFX Columbia (Mo.) to NP&G". Broadcasting & Cable.
(July 25, 2012). "NPG Buys ABC Affil In Columbia, Mo.". TVNewsCheck.
(November 1, 2012). "Consummation Notice". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
(August 21, 2013). "KMIZ Columbia Adding 9:00 a.m., Noon News". TVNewsCheck.
(January 8, 2016). "KMIZ Launches Weekend Morning Newscast". TVNewsCheck.
(October 9, 2023}}{{Dead link). "3rd Quarter Issues and Programming Report".
Abramovitch, Seth. (June 26, 2012). "Savannah Guthrie: 10 Things to Know About Ann Curry's Replacement". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
"TV Query for KMIZ".
(January 3, 2012). "KMIZ Columbia, Mo., Adds Me-TV". TVNewsCheck.
(May 23, 2006). "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds". Federal Communications Commission.
Wright, Randy. (May 30, 2009). "Only two weeks left to ready for end of analog". Columbia Daily Tribune.

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