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AFTER YEARS OF STRUGGLING TO COMPETE head-on with the VHF Goliaths of Springfield, Mo., ABC affiliate KSPR-TV is trying to make the best of its stature as the David of the market-a small UHF-and has begun to chip away at the giants' market share. "We realized that before we got big, we had to get small-to fit our signal," explained KSPR general manager Gary Whitaker of the Gocom-owned station.
KSPR has been remolding itself for over a year now in the 79th largest market. It all started last year with a new, more local name: "Springfield 33." The outlet then redirected ad sales and programming to target the fivecounty metro area, rather than stretching resources into areas its signal couldn't reach. (The metro consists of 130, 960 households, 36 percent of the market population.)
KSPR's...