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KBTV Channel 4 Beaumont to Drop NBC, Join FOX

Well actually...........KBTV was a DuMont affiliate.... didn't know that did ya? OK OK, KBTV were the old calls for WFAA 8 in Dallas until 1950. ;D Sorry, I had some time on my hands.
 
I'm not sure where KBTV ranks in that market, but this should be a pretty good move for them. More ad avails, more news and Cowboys games.
 
My geography might not be spot on, but doesn't part of the Beaumont market get signal overlap from KPLC, the NBC affiliate over in Lake Charles, LA? OTA viewers might have that to fall back on if anything else (then again, you've got KPRC out of Houston).

The ariticle didn't mention the fate of current LPTV Fox affiliate KUIL-LP, which is a semi-satellite of KVHP in Lake Charles.
 
I heard that KUIL is attempting to get the NBC affiliation in the market, but nobody knows for sure what's happening yet.

- Trip
 
It seems pretty logical that the current Fox affil in the market would go after the NBC affiliation. This could be a win-win for both sets of stations.
 
tested said:
It seems pretty logical that the current Fox affil in the market would go after the NBC affiliation. This could be a win-win for both sets of stations.
Click to expand...

The current Fox affiliate in the market is a LPTV.

Doesn't mean it won't end up with NBC, but it's not as much of a no-brainer as it would be if Fox was on a full-power station.

If I had to guess, I'd guess NBC will end up on a -2 subchannel of one of the other stations. (KBTV, except I'd imagine they've burned their bridges with 30 Rock! I guess that leaves KFDM and KBMT...)
 
w9wi said:
The current Fox affiliate in the market is a LPTV.

Doesn't mean it won't end up with NBC, but it's not as much of a no-brainer as it would be if Fox was on a full-power station.

If I had to guess, I'd guess NBC will end up on a -2 subchannel of one of the other stations. (KBTV, except I'd imagine they've burned their bridges with 30 Rock! I guess that leaves KFDM and KBMT...)
Click to expand...

KFDM is already running the CW on a subchannel.

I wonder if KPLC would be willing to buy KUIL-LP from KVHP and put NBC on the low-power signal in Beaumont...
 
There's also the possibility Beaumont might not get a new NBC affiliate. Just look a bit up I-10, where Lafayette lacks an NBC station. They get KPLC piped in from Lake Charles. So, Beaumont could wind up getting its Must-See TV from either KPLC or KPRC out of Houston. The folks at KUIL will probably try pretty hard to get NBC ... otherwise their revenues will dry up fast. Not much room in the market for an indy. But, as a low-power station and with no local news presence, it's not exactly a very desireable station.
 
Keep in mind that LPTV and Class A TV stations do NOT have to go digital on 17 Feb 2009. This means that they could be one of the few TV signals seen in that area by the folks who rely on OTA signals and do not have ATSC tuners or televisions or who live in areas where ATSC coverage is limited. Being an indie or having NBC could put them in an enviable position.
 
If I remember correctly, NBC will require its affiliates to have local news. This is why WVLA in Baton Rouge added newscasts. The owners at KVHP and KUIL will likely not find it viable to operate a news division alongside the established stations in BPT.
 
This is what I would like to see happen... KBTV to continue to broadcast NBC programming, or KBMT pick it up for a sub channel. Actually, the Beaumont Enterprise article never said that KBTV would drop NBC. It just said that KBTV would become the FOX affiliate on Jan. 1, 2009. KALB in Alexandria, Louisiana simulcasts NBC on virtual 5.1 and CBS on virtual 5.2.
Could this be their way of getting news coverage by creating a "panic"?
The KPLC, channel 7 analog signal has good penetration into the Beaumont/Port Arthur area, but the digital signal is not as readily available toward the western part of the area. Orange, Texas is well within the coverage area.
I would like for KUIL-LP channel 64 and the digital channel K36ID-LD which broadcasts a 720 HD signal get re-classified as an educational channel and become a translator for KUHT, channel 8 out of Houston. KUHT has been trying to find a way for years to initiate a presence in southeast Texas. I would like to see a PBS broadcast station in our area. Both KUIL-LP and K36ID-LD are carried on the Time Warner cable system.
KUIL at one time had a news department which was shared by KVHP in Lake Charles, Louisiana. It was short lived, however.
If indeed KBTV is going to drop NBC, I can tell you that I didn't see that one coming.
I don't beleive that KBTV was ever a Dumont Network affiliate. The first station in the Beaumont/Port Arthur channel KBMT channel 31 was a Dumont Network affiliate as well as the first TV station in Lake Charles, KTAG, channel 25.. KBTV was an NBC affiliate from the get-go, although thgey may have had a minor secondary affiliation with Dumont in the beginning.
 
As a writer posted earlier, the ORIGINAL KBTV signed on in Dallas and is now WFAA-TV. And it did indeed begin as a DuMont affiliate.

The KBTV call letters then showed up at Denver's Channel 9 for many years. When KBTV-Denver dropped their call lertters for KUSA-TV, KJAC-TV picked up the KBTV call letters when they moved most of their daily operations from the old Port Arthur studios on Woodworth Boulevard to Parkdale Mall in Beaumont.

BTW, KBTV-Beaumont (formerly KPAC-TV, then KJAC-TV) was an NBC affiliate from the first day it signed on in October 1957. But -- like KFDM-TV -- they did air a few ABC programs until the current KBMT-TV entered the scene in 1961 as the area's full time ABC afilliate.
 
Does anyone remember KBMT, channel 31 in Beaumont? Any info on ERP, transmitter location, branding, etc. would really be appreciated. I ran into a co-worker the other day who remembered KTAG, channel 25 in Lake Charles. I would like to pick the brain of anyone who remembers the original KBMT, channel 31.
 
Here ya' go, Mary --

KBMT Channel 31 first signed-on in 1954 as a Dumont, ABC AND NBC affiliate according to the Radio-TV Annual Yearbook published in 1956.

It had 224 kw visual power, 117 kw audio. It was on the air 8 hours a day.

The studio address is listed only as PO Box 1192, so I don't know the actual street address.

Randolph C. Reed is listed as President, John Rosslier was GM and a fellow named Roy Grimso was its news director. Reed, I recall, also owned some appliance stores in the area.

I was just a very young kid in Beaumont in the mid-50s, but I vaguely remember watching Channel 31 -- don't recall any programs, but I do remember its "Indian Head" test pattern and for some reason I remember the commercials they played for a product called "Pink Ice", some kind of facial product. Weird, the kind of things we remember.
 
Oh, Thank yolu so much dX7!!!!
You will never know how much I appreciate your information about KBMT channl 31. I did not even know the call sign until just a while back. I ran across an ad in an old Beaumont Enterprise or Journal several years ago while researching when radio stations came on the air. I was, at that time, not even aware of a television station before KFDM. The ad, which very well may have been for a store owned by Reed. It was for an antenna that was "guaranteed to recieve channel 31", and that was the gist of it. I never did find anything else in the paper refering to the station. But then, newpapers and television stations were competing against each other for advertisement dollars. Except for WGN and others owned by newsapapers.
224 KW is decent power. I am impressed. So, the question begs to be asked... Did you have a "UHF converter box" to watch channel 31?
I sure would like to find out where the studio and transmitter were located. Thank you soi much again, and happy dxing!
 
I looked up the physical site of Lake Charles' tower and its way to east of Lake Charles in an obvious attempt to reach Lafayette, which doesn't have an NBC station. So, it appears the Beamont market doesn't even receive the Lake Charles signal.
 
Somebody mentioned that KALB carries
NBC on 5-1 and CBS on 5-2. I know of
a couple of other stations that do something
similar: WNKY Bowling Green, KY is NBC on 40-1
and CBS on 40-2 (Bowling Green no longer gets
CBS from Louisville or Nashville as a result);
WNEM Flint, MI is CBS on 5-1 and the CW on 5-2.
So it would seem like a no-brainer for KBTV to
carry NBC on 4-1 and Fox on 4-2, then Beaumont
viewers wouldn't have to worry about getting NBC
from Houston or Lake Charles; KPRC and KPLC aren't
likely to cover Beaumont news, either.

And slightly off-topic: why have Lafayette and Lake
Charles never been combined into one market?
 
bpatrick said:
And slightly off-topic: why have Lafayette and Lake
Charles never been combined into one market?
Click to expand...

Lafayette and Lake Charles are 70 miles apart as the TV signal flies. Houston and Beaumont are 70 miles apart. San Antonio and Austin are 70 miles apart. Baton Rouge and New Orleans are only 65 miles apart. Does that answer your question?
 
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