The latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Heartland

KTVO TV 3 first signed on the air November 21, 1955. Many experts in broadcasting said the Kirksville/Ottumwa market was too small and a TV station would never survive. But Mr. Jim Conroy refused to listen and set out to refute that charge. He had a "dream" that the people in SE Iowa and NE Missouri would be proud to support a local TV station. On November 21, 1955, the switch was thrown and the massive transmitter began to hum. KTVO Television WAS on the air! The first program was the 6pm news and thus began a saga unique in the annals of broadcasting and the great tradition of American Business enterprise. Our primary network was CBS, although being a single station market allowed KTVO to include programming from NBC and ABC.

The early years were a struggle financially because many local advertisers were new to the benefits of television and therefore income was small, yet expenses were large. In 1961, equipment was installed to provide network color programming, and on January 7, 1964 a new chapter began when KTVO was sold to Post Corporation. They set out to remodel the Old Broadcast Center Building in Ottumwa, adding new equipment and spending over $75,000 on a new microwave system. In 1965, KTVO was equipped to originate color with the addition of 3 color studio cameras, and in 1968, we changed our network affiliate to ABC. With support of area extension services, KTVO-TV became the agricultural station in the Heartland in 1969. In 1973 we filed with the FCC to build a 2000 ft. tower and in 1976, KTVO-TV relocated our main studio to beautiful television park outside Kirksville Missouri. This move enabled us to design and construct a new building and to add new equipment such as the RCA TCR-100 video cartridge machine at a cost of $157,000, and to start receiving our signals via satellite with now 6 satellite dishes at our current location. After 15 years of hearings and re-applications, KTVO-TV went on the air with our new transmitter in the fall of 1987.

On June 2, 1988, disaster struck when the new 2000 ft. tower collapsed taking the lives of three technicians with it. At this time KTVO-TV was owned by Federal Broadcasting and a decision was made to return to the original transmitter site by Lancaster Missouri. We were back on the air in record time within 30 hours after the disaster. Since this disaster we have built a new tower with a Digital broadcast antenna and added a Digital Transmitter broadcasting on Digital Channel 33.

We have a crew of almost 40 people who include an award winning news team. In addition to our on air commitments, KTVO serves our communities focusing on the needs of area youth and  targeting literacy and educational issues.

We also participate in public events such as parades, home shows, community leader forums, health and safety fairs and various other community celebrations. Most importantly, the support of our loyal clients and viewers from Ottumwa, Kirksville, Centerville, Bloomfield, Oskaloosa, Brookfield, Fairfield, and many other communities in our viewing area have helped to shape KTVO into the TV station that "could" and has become the primary source for news, information and entertainment in the Heartland. Now after 50 years of broadcasting, KTVO-TV can proudly say, the "dream" of 1955 has become a "reality".

We were purchased in August 2006 by Barrington Broadcasting Group and are happy to be part of the Barrington family of television stations.

In May of 2010, we added CBS programming to our 3.2 digital channel and are excited to be able to provide great ABC and CBS shows to our viewers in the Heartland!