Large Market Television News Research

KCSG Television

I chose to research about KCSG television, channel 8 in St George. KCSG programing is independently owned by West American Finance Company, which recently bought the channel on July of 2015.

KCSG started as KCCZ on June 11, 1984. After many owners and various changes in the channel, KCSG got its name on May 15 1998.

Based originally in Arkansas, KCSG feeds their content through their headquarters in Arkansas and they subsequently broadcast it for them. St. George News provides KCSG with content such as news and stories, and KCSG television programing rewrites it and broadcasts it. In addition, KCSG also has reporters that cover stories and actively search throughout the community for reports. This is a relatively new aspect of their programming, since it has only been a part of their content since July. Before West Finance Company bought the channel, KCSG would only air programs that the network would consider “classic” TV programs for that appeal to all kinds of audiences.The channel is FCC regulated, meaning that the content of the programs must not contain smoking, gambling and swearing. KCSG also features an EAS system which gives out an alert to the viewers in case of an emergency.

The channel receives funding primarily from advertising and ads in between programing. Local companies and websites pay KCSG for the commercials and air time. KCSG is fastly growing and is has experienced consistent economic and profitable success since their new ownership. The channel has been increasingly hiring local advertisers and content. Their primary goal is to focus on the Southern Utah community and provide affordable advertising for local businesses. Their secondary focus is access to classic TV programs.

Fortunately, I had the opportunity to visit the studio at KCSG and become familiar with their operations and staff. I was greeted by Mark Harmsen, the studio manager, and he gladly answered all of my questions about their station and how the channel first started. He was even kind enough to interview me personally for one of their ads. The ability to experience a broadcast studio in real life was a very positive experience, and I look forward to further exploring broadcast journalism in the future.



REFERENCES

Mark Harmsen, KCSG Studio Manager

mark.harmsen@kcsg.com
435 634 4592