KSHV-TV (channel 45) is a television station in Shreveport, Louisiana, United States, serving the Ark-La-Tex region. It is programmed primarily as an independent station, but maintains a secondary affiliation with MyNetworkTV. KSHV-TV is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside NBC affiliate KTAL-TV (channel 6) and is co-managed with Fox affiliate KMSS-TV (channel 33). The stations share studios on North Market Street and Deer Park Road in northeast Shreveport; KSHV-TV's transmitter is located southeast of Mooringsport. Channel 45 began broadcasting as KWLB on April 15, 1994. It was built by the Word of Life Center, a Shreveport church, and featured a family-oriented format of religious programs and classic TV shows and movies. The church sold the station the next year to White Knight Broadcasting. The new owners changed the station to a UPN affiliate under the new call sign of KSHV and entered into a local marketing agreement with KMSS-TV. The station added programming from The WB in 1996, became a primary WB affiliate in 2001, and dropped UPN altogether in 2003. The station switched to MyNetworkTV upon the 2006 merger of The WB and UPN into The CW. Nexstar acquired KMSS-TV's owner, Communications Corporation of America, in 2014. The deal included the sale of KSHV-TV to Marshall Broadcasting Group, though Nexstar continued to provide services as well as a newscast produced by KTAL covering Texarkana-area news. Marshall sold its stations to Mission Broadcasting in 2020, and Nexstar acquired KSHV-TV outright from Mission the next year. KSHV is one of two ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) stations in the Shreveport area.
History
Construction and Word of Life ownership In 1986, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allocated UHF channel 45 to Shreveport, Louisiana. Two parties—businessman Wesley Godfrey and Word of Life Ministries—each had requested the channel be added. Word of Life envisioned a Christian station that offered ministry programming in prime viewing hours. It formally filed for the channel on October 29, 1986. Four other parties applied, and their applications were placed into comparative hearing status in May 1987. Word of Life Ministries reached settlement agreements with Media Communications, Inc., and Shreveport Community Television. On December 9, administrative law judge Joseph Chachkin dismissed the application of Godfrey for failure to prosecute. Even though Word of Life held the permit, there was no visible progress on the station for years. In 1990, Shreveport Community Television sued Word of Life for allegedly reneging on the financial component of their settlement; Word of Life, according to the complaint, had told the firm that station construction had been more expensive than anticipated. At the time, the construction permit held the call sign KCDN. In 1994, the new station, then designated KWLB, began hiring and leased office space on Interstate Drive. It began broadcasting on April 15, 1994. Programming included religious and children's shows as well as classic TV series and movies. Local programming included a sports talk show, Sports Roundtable, and games of the Shreveport Crawdads of the Continental Basketball Association. In 1995, it aired twelve games of the Shreveport Pirates of the Canadian Football League. Word of Life pastor Sam Carr hosted a daily program with his wife, Becky.
As a general-entertainment station After investing $500,000 to start KWLB, Word of Life put the station up for sale in April 1995. It wished to use the funds from the purchase to build a 2,000-seat auditorium at its West Shreveport location. It was sold that month to White Knight Broadcasting, a firm headed by Sheldon Galloway. Sheldon's father, Thomas Galloway, was a principal in Communications Corporation of America (ComCorp), owner of Shreveport Fox affiliate KMSS-TV (channel 33). White Knight's stations held sales agreements with the ComCorp stations in their markets. The $3.8 million earned from the sale went to expanding the sanctuary, a new building on the Word of Life campus, and donations to missions. Upon the closure of the sale, the station changed call signs to KSHV and became an affiliate of UPN on August 28, 1995; previously, UPN programming aired on a secondary basis on Shreveport CBS affiliate KSLA-TV (channel 12). Religious programming was confined to weekday and Sunday mornings. In July 1996, the station added programming from The WB, with its shows airing on Saturday and Sunday nights. The station continued as a primary UPN, secondary WB affiliate until January 2001, when it flipped to primary WB, secondary UPN and began branding as WB45; WB programming now aired at its regular times and UPN on a two-hour delay. KSHV dropped UPN in September 2003, with KPXJ (channel 21) becoming the new affiliate. In January 2006, The WB and UPN announced they would merge to form The CW. KPXJ was chosen as the network's new affiliate in March, and White Knight affiliated KSHV and WNTZ-TV serving Alexandria with MyNetworkTV later that month. On February 17, 2009, the station ceased analog broadcasting ahead of the digital television transition.
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