states branding freedom 43 tv general freedom 43 news newscasts produced by kfor channels digital 40 uhf virtual 43 psip subchannels 43.1 main programming 43.2 this tv 43.3 escape translators k14ny d sayre k20br d gage k22br d may k25lq d elk city k28jx d alva cherokee k29hy d strong city k29hz d woodward k41ks d seiling k47ls d hollis affiliations independent 1980 1986 and since 2012 nbc alternate this tv dt2 escape dt3 owner tribune broadcasting tribune broadcasting oklahoma city license llc first air date september 24 1980 1980 09 24 call letters meaning named for station founder gene autry sister station s kfor tv former callsigns kaut 1980 1992 ktlc 1992 1998 kpsg june november 1998 former channel number s analog 43 uhf 1980 2009 former affiliations fnn 1983 fox 1986 1991 pbs 1991 2001 ; secondary from 1998 upn 1998 2006 mynetworktv 2006 2012 transmitter power 1 000 kw height 436.9 m facility id 50182 transmitter coordinates 35 35 52.1 n 97 29 23.2 w 35.597806 n 97.489778 w 35.597806 ; 97.489778 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website freedom43tv.com kaut tv virtual channel 43 uhf digital channel 40 is an independent television station located in oklahoma city oklahoma united states . the station is owned by the tribune broadcasting subsidiary of the tribune media company as part of a duopoly with nbc affiliate kfor tv channel 4 . the two stations share studio and transmitter facilities located on east britton road u.s. 77 in the mccourry heights section of northeast oklahoma city . additionally kaut has an informal secondary affiliation with antenna tv select programs are simulcast with kfor tv digital subchannel 4.2 the network s full time oklahoma city affiliate . on cable the station is available on cox communications channel 16 and at & t u verse channel 43 in standard definition and in high definition on cox digital channel 716 and u verse channel 1043 . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 as a pbs member station 1.3 as a upn affiliate 1.4 as a mynetworktv affiliate 1.5 return to independence 2 digital television 2.1 digital channel 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 3.1 sports programming 4 local programming 4.1 newscasts 4.1.1 notable news team members 4.2 other locally produced programs 4.2.1 local program hosts 5 references 6 external links history edit early history edit the station first signed on the air on september 24 1980 ; it was the sixth commercial television station and fourth uhf outlet to sign on in the oklahoma city market after kgmc channel 34 now cw affiliate kocb ; kokh tv channel 25 now a fox affiliate ; and ktvq which originally occupied the channel 25 frequency from 1953 to 1956 . it was founded by golden west broadcasters owned by actor and oklahoma native gene autry which at the time also owned ktla in los angeles . the station s original studios were located at 11901 north eastern avenue north of oklahoma city s britton section . operating as an independent station kaut originally ran a local rolling news format branded as newswatch 43 daily from 9 00 a.m. to 5 00 p.m. nighttime hours were filled by golden west s over the air subscription service veu which initially signed on at 5 00 p.m. before having its start time moved to 7 00 p.m. after news programming was expanded by two hours a few months after kaut s debut . newswatch 43 was discontinued in late 1981 ; kaut temporarily replaced it with older feature film westerns most of which had starred autry during the daytime hours . in early 1982 the station debuted tmc 43 a local afternoon dance program that ran from 4 00 to 6 00 p.m. hosted by local personality boogie michaels the show s first episode only had 12 dancers increasing sharply to 117 by the end of the week and then to more than 300 kids were dancing in two large rooms by the following friday . shortly afterwards the show began issuing tickets to some of the more popular dancers such as marty melton tanya eli and robyn church with all dancers being required to bring a date . at the same time the station also debuted the country dance show oklahoma country live which was broadcast from a local bar and aired following tmc 43 . both shows were canceled by that fall after eight months . in the case of tmc 43 mothers picketed kaut to keep the show on the air with the spokeswoman for the picketers carolyn pierce pointing out the show s contribution to the local community by keeping teens off of the street . the final tmc 43 broadcast hosted around 250 teens as michaels read letters from heartbroken teens and parents . some drama series and sitcoms were also added to the schedule . vue was dropped in 1983 ; the station then began filling nighttime hours with programming from the financial news network which would merge with cnbc in 1989 and the syndicated newscast independent network news . fnn programming was dropped later that year and replaced by additional primetime movies and drama series . in 1984 cartoons joined the station s morning lineup and additional sitcoms were added during the evening . on june 11 1985 golden west sold kaut to rollins communications . the station became a charter affiliate of the fledgling fox broadcasting company on october 9 1986 ; it was still effectively programmed as an independent as fox s sole offering at launch was the late night talk show the late show starring joan rivers and did not carry primetime programming until april 1987 . more afternoon cartoons along with a locally produced weekend late night home shopping program midnight shopper were added to the lineup . 1 2 3 in 1986 rollins merged with heritage broadcasting to form heritage media . in 1987 pappas telecasting companies drafted a proposal to purchase kokh in which the programming inventories of both kaut and kgmc and the market s fox affiliation would migrate to channel 25 . the proposal would have had seraphim media owned kgmc affiliate with the home shopping network and acquire some religious programs while heritage would sell kaut to the oklahoma educational television authority which would convert it into an educational station . this deal would fall apart in 1988 . 4 due to uncertainty over the station s future 16 employees left kaut to work at other heritage owned stations and the station s sales department also saw a reduction in advertising purchases . 5 all three stations continued to compete against each other with their own general entertainment schedules . as a pbs member station edit in a deal similar to the aborted pappas proposal heritage media sold kaut to oeta and acquired kokh in 1991 . channel 43 then became a pbs member station on august 15 1991 the city s second non commercial educational station after oeta flagship keta tv channel 13 while the station s fox affiliation and syndicated programming migrated to channel 25 in addition to 30 employees and other equipment and intellectual property from channel 43 . 6 7 the following year the station s callsign was changed to ktlc to reflect its new branding as the literacy channel a relatively contradictory brand as the station s programming while educational in form was not entirely focused on literacy . as a pbs station it aired fitness programs such as body electric homestretch and sit and be fit on weekday mornings from 7 00 to 8 30 instructional programs and select pbs series including the newshour during late evenings and children s programs from the mid morning to early evening hours differing from other pbs stations that usually limit children s shows to daytime hours . much of ktlc s pbs programming during this period consisted of same day rebroadcasts from oeta . channel 43 scaled back its daily broadcasting hours under oeta ownership down to 6 00 a.m. to midnight mirroring the broadcast day that the oeta network itself programmed on sunday through thursdays at the time . in 1995 oeta substantially reduced ktlc s weekend schedule to 4 00 p.m. to midnight . local cable providers ran other networks over ktlc s designated channel slot during the station s off hours at this time such as qvc on cox cable channel 13 ; that slot suffered from interference due to the fact that keta s analog signal over the air had broadcast on the same frequency cox moved the station to channel 16 in 2007 as a result of this issue . the difficulty in running two stations in the oklahoma city market eventually resulted in oeta deciding to put channel 43 up for sale in the fall of 1997 . 8 9 as a upn affiliate edit in july 1997 the sinclair broadcast group signed an affiliation agreement to switch kocb and four other stations affiliated with the united paramount network to the wb ; 10 kocb switched to the wb on january 25 1998 leaving the oklahoma city market without a upn affiliate for the next six months . scrambling to find a new affiliate in the market the paramount stations group owned by upn co parent viacom agreed to purchase ktlc from oeta on january 8 1998 for 23.5 million ; oeta used the proceeds from the sale to fund the construction of its digital broadcast transmitter . 9 11 the sale was possible because channel 43 was still a commercial license . paramount reverted channel 43 back to a general entertainment station as the market s new upn affiliate at 5 00 a.m. on june 19 1998 ; its callsign was also changed to kpsg named after its new owner . 12 13 the station had intended to join upn on june 1 however the switch was postponed to june 13 and then again to june 19 due to technical difficulties unrelated to a tornado outbreak that hit central oklahoma on the evening of the 13th . 12 through viacom s ownership stake in upn channel 43 became the first owned and operated station of a major commercial broadcast network in oklahoma . oeta agreed to sell channel 43 to paramount on the condition that kpsg run eight hour weekend simulcast blocks of oeta s march and august pledge drives for five years and air pbs educational shows each weekday from 7 00 a.m. to 12 00 p.m. after joining upn ; the remainder of the schedule consisted of off network classic sitcoms cartoons and movies . that fall channel 43 became a general entertainment station full time . after founder gene autry died from lymphoma in october 1998 the station reverted to its former kaut call letters in his honor this time with a tv suffix added on november 18 . pbs programming stopped airing on the station in 2001 . classic sitcoms were gradually replaced with talk shows and court shows ; cartoons were phased out by the fall of 2003 after upn discontinued the disney s one too children s block . on june 14 2005 viacom decided to separate into two companies amid stagnation of the company s stock price ; cbs upn and their owned and operated stations showtime networks and other slow growth businesses owned by viacom became part of the new cbs corporation . in the meantime cbs chose to sell kaut to the new york times company creating a duopoly with nbc affiliate kfor tv channel 4 . 14 as a mynetworktv affiliate edit on january 24 2006 cbs corporation and time warner s warner bros. entertainment unit the division that operated the wb announced that they would dissolve upn and the wb and move some of their programming to a newly created network the cw . 15 16 nearly one month later on february 22 news corporation announced the