KWCH-DT

KWCH-DT

Hutchinson–Wichita, Kansas United States
City	Hutchinson, Kansas
Channels	Digital: 19 (UHF) Virtual: 12
Branding	KWCH; 12 News
Programming
Network	Kansas Broadcasting System
Affiliations	12.1: CBS for others, see § Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	Gray Media (Gray Television Licensee, LLC)
Sister stations	KSCW-DT KBSD-DT KBSH-DT KBSL-DT
History
First air date	July 1, 1953 (71 years ago) (1953-07-01)
Former call signs	KTVH (1952–1983) KWCH-TV (1983–2009)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 12 (VHF, 1953–2009) Digital: 12 (VHF, February−September 2009)
Former affiliations	All secondary: NBC (1953–1954) DuMont (1953–1955) ABC (1953–1956)
Call sign meaning	"Wichita"
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	66413
ERP	1,000 kW
HAAT	421 m (1,381 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	38°3′37.6″N 97°45′49.7″W / 38.060444°N 97.763806°W / 38.060444; -97.763806
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	www.kwch.com

KWCH-DT (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Hutchinson, Kansas, United States, serving the Wichita area as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Gray Media alongside CW affiliate KSCW-DT (channel 33) and maintains studios on 37th Street North in northeast Wichita and a transmitter facility located east of Hutchinson in rural northeastern Reno County. KWCH-DT serves as the flagship of the Kansas Broadcasting System (KBS), a network of four full-power stations that relay CBS network and other programming provided by KWCH across central and western Kansas, as well as bordering counties in Colorado, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.

The station was established as KTVH in Hutchinson on July 1, 1953, and was the first television station built within the state. Though based in Hutchinson until 1978, when the main studio was officially moved to Wichita, it has had a presence in that city since 1954. The KBS network took its present form in the early 1960s. KTVH was the third-rated news outlet in the area until the owners of two of the other three KBS stations purchased it, changed the call letters to KWCH in 1983, and successfully led it to first place in the local ratings.