KQTV

KQTV (channel 2) is a television station in St. Joseph, Missouri, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Heartland Media.

It was the only major network affiliate based in St. Joseph for 59 years and commanded news viewership in the small market, even as it had to compete with Kansas City stations for viewers during non-local programming.

He sold the KFEQ stations to the Midland Broadcasting Company, whose owners included actor Bing Crosby and John Fetzer, for $700,000.

[19] Women's talk show host Marge Miner received a national award from McCall's magazine in 1959 for her series of programs on cerebral palsy.

ISC—a diversified firm based in Kansas City with interests ranging from truck manufacturing to pen production and securities[26]—pledged to upgrade the station to allow it to broadcast local color programming.

[31] After three years, ISC opted to exit broadcasting entirely and sold KQTV, plus FM radio stations KGRV in St. Louis and KLYX in Houston, to Amaturo Group in a sale completed in 1973.

[42] In 1990, Elba sold KQTV, along with WRBL in Columbus, Georgia, and WTWO in Terre Haute, Indiana, to TCS Television Partners for $56 million.

At the time, Nexstar's only television property was WYOU in Scranton, Pennsylvania, but the firm had been founded by Perry Sook to acquire other mid-market TV stations.

[52] KTAJ posed minimal competition to KQTV, which by 2012 commanded 87 percent of television revenue in a market that had no other major network affiliates.

It sold a package of KQTV and four other stations to Heartland Media, through its USA Television MidAmerica Holdings joint venture with MSouth Equity Partners, for $115 million in a purchase that closed in January 2017.

[58] While the sale was technically permissible—NPG did not own a full-power television station in St. Joseph, broadcast-newspaper cross-ownership limits had just been repealed, and broadcast ownership limits do not take low-power stations into account—it did create potential antitrust issues because the purchase would give NPG control of the city's daily newspaper and all four major network affiliations (plus The CW and Telemundo).

[59] The deal never received final approval from federal authorities, and the sale agreement expired on September 30; NPG then suspended efforts to buy KQTV.

[60] KQTV historically commanded news viewership in the St. Joseph area, even as it effectively competed with the Kansas City stations for viewership during entertainment and network programming and in spite of its lesser production values than the major-market Kansas City stations widely available over-the-air and on cable, with frequent turnover of on-air personalities.

KQTV's studios and tower in St. Joseph. The station has broadcast from the same site for its entire history.
KQTV logo, used from 2000 to 2009