Station Overview: Since 1985, KWCH has held the #1 position for 6pm and 10pm News in the Wichita Market. KWCH has remained dominant since that time and our Eyewitness News is the #1 news at Noon, 5pm, 6pm and 10pm in the Wichita market.
A big part of that dominance is weather coverage. Storm Team 12 and Chief Meteorologist Merril Teller lead the way in forecasting experience, advanced Doppler technology and media partners that strengthen the brand. KWCH is a partner with KFDI radio (Journal Broadcasting) and the Wichita Eagle newspaper.
Just as KWCH is the market leader in news and weather, it's also the leader in community involvement. Locally, KWCH works with Goodwill Industries, the Kansas Food Bank, the United Way and many other agencies to assist their efforts in the community.
On the air, local programming highlights include broadcasts of Wichita State basketball games, Kansas City Chiefs games, and the highest rated local sports talk show, "Sports Sunday."
KWCH Eyewitness News also produces the 9pm local newscast which airs seven days a week on Wichita Fox affiliate KSAS. KWCH also airs two hours of local news each weekday morning from 5-7am on KWCH - then from 7-9 on the Kansas CW.
Site: The KWCH studios sit on 26 acres on East 37th St. North in Wichita. The former KTVH studio in Hutchinson is now used by Hutchinson Community College, however KWCH maintains a sales office from that building. The KWCH broadcast tower is nine miles east of Hutchinson.
Building Expansion: With the addition of KSCW, its broadcast operations and additional employees, KWCH embarked on building expansion and renovation late in 2007. A 7,500 square foot addition has been completed late summer of 2008.
Broadcast Area: KWCH and its satellites are CBS affiliates and serve the western two thirds of Kansas. KWCH also operates a "virtual" station on Cox Cable in Salina, Kansas with the ability to locally insert news, weather and commercials. In addition to Kansas, KWCH and its satellites can be seen in Nebraska, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas.
KWCH broadcasts two signals in digital; KWCH 12.1, which mirrors the analog broadcast and KWCH 12.2, which is a 24-hour weather channel called "Always On Storm Team 12."
Population: The population of the Wichita metro area is 664,000.
Recent awards: KWCH received National Edward R. Murrow awards in 2003 and 2004. The award in 2003 was for continuing coverage of the Carr brothers' murder trial. In 2004, KWCH was recognized for continuing coverage of an investigation into City of Wichita financial practices. In 2007, KWCH received two regional Edward R. Murrow awards, one for a news special report on repeat drunk drivers and the other for photography on a story about demolition derby. KWCH also was honored in 2006 with two regional Murrow Awards for special coverage of the BTK serial killer story.
The City: Wichita was rated as the 2nd best city for jobs in 2008 by Forbes Magazine. And it was rated as the 9th best place to live in 2006 by Money Magazine. The city is known as the Air Capital of the World because of the local aircraft industry. Planes and aircraft parts built in Wichita include Boeing, Learjet, Cessna, Beech and Hawker. Wichita is also home to Koch Industries, the largest privately held company in the United States.
Key Executives: Joan Barrett is President and General Manager; Brian McDonough, General Sales Manager; Laverne E. Goering, Director of Programming and Operations; Joe Miller, Controller; Les Bach, Chief Engineer; Shawn Hilferty, Director of Marketing and Digital Media; Chad Cross, News Director; Dominic Gauna, Production Manager; and Melissa Lock, Human Resources Manager.
