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KMTV Channel 3 (branded "Your Action 3 News Station") is the CBS television station in Omaha, Nebraska. Emmis Communications currently holds the license, but the station is operated by Journal Broadcast Group through a local marketing agreement (LMA). KMTV is the second oldest station in Nebraska; it began broadcasting on September 1, 1949 as a CBS affiliate, but it also carried ABC and DuMont programming *. The station was supposed to have the call letters KMA-TV, reflecting its first owner, May Broadcasting of Shenandoah, Iowa. There was already a KMA-AM in Shenandoah (also owned by May), but the FCC would not allow the TV station to use those call letters since Shenandoah was not considered part of the Omaha market at the time. May sold KMTV to Lee Enterprises in December 1986 after over 37 years of ownership. Lee sold all of its stations to Emmis Communications in October 2000. In 1956, KMTV switched affiliations with WOW-TV (now WOWT-TV) and became an NBC affiliate. It also stopped carrying the DuMont programming the same year when DuMont ceased operations. In 1986, KMTV and WOWT entered into an agreement which allowed them to return to their original affiliations. As a result, KMTV rejoined CBS after 30 years with NBC on June 29, 1986. Over the years, channel 3 underwent many identity changes to keep up with broadcasting trends as well to keep up in the local ratings race. The station's newscasts were once known as KMTV News; NewsCenter 3; Channel 3 News; KMTV News 3; and most recently KM3 NEWS; today it is known as ACTION 3 NEWS. (See below for some of KMTV's slogans.) Among its famous alumni, Floyd Kalber worked at the station in the 1950's and early '60's and was mentor to former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw who also worked at KMTV as a reporter then an anchor from 1962 to 1965, and current CNN Headline News anchor Chuck Roberts was a main anchor from the late 1970s until 1982. In 2002, KMTV dropped its 6pm local news timeslot and replaced it with syndication tabloid shows. That same year, sports was dropped from its 10pm newscasts and was replaced with a nightly commentary segment called "For What It's Worth" hosted by KMTV sports director Travis Justice. In late 2005, after Emmis sold some of the assets of the station to Journal Broadcast Group, KMTV retired "For What It's Worth," returning to the traditional sports segment. KMTV re-launched a 6pm edition of Action 3 News on September 5, 2006, the same day as Katie Couric's debut as anchor of the CBS Evening News. KMTV's studios are located near 108th and Mockingbird Drive in southwest Omaha. KMTV is the only Omaha station to have moved its studios from the downtown area. From 1949 to 1978 the station was located at 27th & Farnam Streets, just south of KETV channel 7 (at 27th & Douglas), and 7 blocks east of WOWT channel 6 (at 35th & Farnam). The station's auxiliary transmitter still stands at their former location. The main transmitter tower is located on a "tower farm" near North 72nd & Crown Point in north central Omaha.
Current Newscast Schedule Monday-Friday Action 3 News Live This Morning '5:00-7:00am' Action 3 News Live at Midday '12:00-12:30pm' Action 3 News Live at 5 '5:00-5:30pm' Action 3 News Live at 6 '6:00-6:30pm' Action 3 News Live at 10 '10:00-10:35pm' Weekends Action 3 News Weekend 5:30 (Sunday) & 10:00pm (Saturday, Sunday) Newscast Slogans Channel 3 News, The Midland's NewsChannel (1990s) KMTV News 3, In Your Corner (2000-2002) KM3 News, Clearly to the Point(2002-2003) KM3 News, Clear, Accurate, to the point (2003-2006) Your Action 3 News Station (2006-present) ACTION 3 NEWSTEAM Weeknights at 5, 6, & 10pm Greg Peterson (lead anchor) Deborah Ward (lead anchor) Ryan McPike (chief meteorologist) Travis Justice (sports director) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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