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Worst Stations and Markets for Local TV

Re: Worst Texas TV stations in History

I have to throw in my two cents...

KTXS-TV in Sweetwater/Abilene has to gain at least an (dis?)honorable mention. Signing on in 1956, KTXS was a dual CBS/ABC affiliate with studios in Sweetwater. But sometime in the 1960s (I'm a bit foggy on the exact date) KTXS moved its studios to Abilene without FCC approval. There's some interesting information on Wikipedia, but no attribution. There's a lot of (apocryphal) stuff not included - including the time then-anchorman Bob Izzard allegedly fell off his stool during the 6pm newscast (a result of being a bit "tipsy" during the news - I heard about that from an old KRBC/KTAB employee). KTXS has a long and checkered history, which appeared to change when Lamco Communications purchased the station and made changes that turned it into a respectable operation (I know - I worked there for a couple of years in the late '80s). We won TAPB "Best Newscast" in 1990, which shows how far the station had come.

The Wikipedia entry is inaccurate, though (imagine that). There is no such market as "Abilene/Sweetwater/Brownwood". The DMA is listed as "Abilene/Sweetwater" (although it serves Brown County, of which Brownwood is the seat). And like I said before, there is no attribution for the history section - but the information about Grayson Enterprises and Prima, Inc. is correct.

I'd love to go inside the old studio building in Sweetwater and just poke around to see what's in there. I bet it's being used to store a bunch of old broadcasting junk that CE Leland Ohlhausen (who I worked with briefly at KTAB) doesn't want to get rid of.

One other thing - when I was working there, our former CE told me that WFAA in Dallas had been constantly hounding KTXS for its call letters, even offering up to a million dollars if they'd swap (or go back to the old KPAR calls). To this day, KTXS has refused. I think it's a good decision.
 
Re: Worst Texas TV stations in History

Dan Dennis said:
One other thing - when I was working there, our former CE told me that WFAA in Dallas had been constantly hounding KTXS for its call letters, even offering up to a million dollars if they'd swap (or go back to the old KPAR calls). To this day, KTXS has refused. I think it's a good decision.
Click to expand...

Uh.. no. Perhaps Belo wanted KTXS for its Austin station or something, but not for WFAA.
 
Re: Worst Texas TV stations in History

I don't think that anyone's mentioned the old KZTV down in Corpus? I remember an ex-employee there telling me of a time when Gene Looper got so ticked at the director that during a commercial break he leaned into the camera, shot the director the bird, and was promptly punched up on air.
 
Re: Worst Texas TV stations in History

I wouldn't call this so much of a TV station, just a local cable channel in the alte 1970s and early 1980s in Eagle Pass

Programming was provided via a desk with a couple of copy boards, a turntable, cart machine and homemade board. Kids would work for 50-75 cents an hour, play records, all with the camera on them. Commercials were $1 and the DJ flipped a camera to the copy board where a printed sheet (ie: big business card) for the business was shown while the audio played on cart. The guy that the station went out and did sales and gathered news, coming in to do a live local newscast each evening. It was top 40 hits and if a DJ wanted to play a song every 15 minutes he could. Don't know if they were on the air until afternoon except in summer.

This was back when Ladybird Johnson owned the local cable system.
 
Re: Worst Texas TV stations in History

tested said:
Dan Dennis said:
One other thing - when I was working there, our former CE told me that WFAA in Dallas had been constantly hounding KTXS for its call letters, even offering up to a million dollars if they'd swap (or go back to the old KPAR calls). To this day, KTXS has refused. I think it's a good decision.
Click to expand...

Uh.. no. Perhaps Belo wanted KTXS for its Austin station or something, but not for WFAA.
Click to expand...

Did you work there? Do you have a different recollection?
 
Re: Worst Texas TV stations in History

I recall WFAA calling itself "The Spirit of Texas" for a number of years so the K-Texas calls would have been a good fit. You never know what a GM will want to do.
 
Re: Worst Texas TV stations in History

Dan Dennis said:
tested said:
Dan Dennis said:
One other thing - when I was working there, our former CE told me that WFAA in Dallas had been constantly hounding KTXS for its call letters, even offering up to a million dollars if they'd swap (or go back to the old KPAR calls). To this day, KTXS has refused. I think it's a good decision.
Click to expand...

Uh.. no. Perhaps Belo wanted KTXS for its Austin station or something, but not for WFAA.
Click to expand...

Did you work there? Do you have a different recollection?
Click to expand...


I have no doubt that's what the CE said. I suspect there is some truth to the story.
I just simply do not believe Belo would want to change the heritage calls of its flagship station, particularly at a time when it was a dominant number 1 in the market. However, Belo bought KVUE and KHOU around that time. Those stations were in need of major makeovers. KHOU (and maybe KVUE) used the "Spirit of Texas" campaign in addition to WFAA. I could see Belo trying to buy the calls for one of those stations, but not WFAA.
 
Re: Worst Texas TV stations in History

It says "Brown County Television" at the end, but no call letters. Was it broadcast or local orgination cable?
 
Re: Worst Texas TV stations in History

I'm pretty sure that was cable. I give them credit for trying something. Places like Brownwood are kind of in a no-mans land of TV. They're not really close enough to any station to get coverage from anyone.
 
DID ANY STATIONS END, SIGN OFF THIS YEAR?

Did any stations close or sign-off this year? If so, what were the reason(s).

I know of TV 66 WLGA in Columbus Ga/Opelika Al. They had been affiliated with the CW
network, but that has since moved to a sub channel on WLTZ 38 (NBC). WLGA
was owned by Pappas Telecasting who filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and they
went off the air on June 4th. The station also had history with UPN and the WB.

Do you know of any others?
 
Re: DID ANY STATIONS END, SIGN OFF THIS YEAR?

I know of several:

KBEO 11 Jackson WY - 6/26. One of the PMCM stations that they tried to move to NJ and DE. They shut it down after being denied the move. Sister station KVNV 3 Ely NV was the other station PMCM tried to move. I wonder how long they'll hold out - Ely is a small town but the only town of any size for 100 miles around.
KCBU 3 Price UT - 7/6. One of the Equity stations that Daystar bought. They weren't able to move it into the SLC metro area.
KEGS 7 Goldfield NV - 7/6. A station serving about 10,000 residents total. Equity couldn't sell the station and shut it down.
KWNV 7 Winnemucca NV - 4/22. Likely financial. Like KEGS, KWNV served a small population.
KYES 5 Anchorage AK - 10/15. This perpetually-strapped station finally gave up the ghost last month after being denied an extension of a CP to build final digital facilities.

There were also several in 2009, mostly due to finances also:

KBAO 13 Lewistown MT (June) - station served a very small population.
KBBJ 9 Havre MT (June) - ditto
KBTZ 24 Butte MT (June) - Equity station that never sold.
KIDA 5 Sun Valley ID (June) - Another perpetually-strapped station.
KLMN 26 Great Falls MT (June) - Another Equity station.
KMMF 17 Missoula MT (June) - Another Equity station.
KTUW 16 Scottsbluff NE (June) - And still another.
 
Re: DID ANY STATIONS END, SIGN OFF THIS YEAR?

gregg75 said:
Did any stations close or sign-off this year? If so, what were the reason(s).

I know of TV 66 WLGA in Columbus Ga/Opelika Al. They had been affiliated with the CW
network, but that has since moved to a sub channel on WLTZ 38 (NBC). WLGA
was owned by Pappas Telecasting who filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and they
went off the air on June 4th. The station also had history with UPN and the WB.

Do you know of any others?
Click to expand...

Since I'm in graduate school at Auburn University, that arrangement has sucked everyday since that day in 2009 when the affiliation when to WLTZ-DT2. Charter only offers WLTZ-DT2 on digital cable thus leaving out anyone that wants to watch the CW in the Columbus, GA-Auburn/Opelika market. Since they are only 4 over the air TV stations in the market these days, there is practically no real variety of syndicated programming as in other similar-sized markets.
 
Re: DID ANY STATIONS END, SIGN OFF THIS YEAR?

My folks in Columbus do get the CW sub-channel on their cable.

Getting back to the closures........it looks like a lot are due to bad decisions from the
owners. Investing in too many small towns, putting MY TV or the CW on all 8 stations
that you own. Expanding too fast. Diversity is always a good thing. Of course the
economy hasn't helped either.

Somehow I was thinking WLGA 66's failure had something to do with their antenna falling
to the ground........they probably had insurance, but I'm sure being off-the-air for awhile
didn't help their case much.
 
Re: DID ANY STATIONS END, SIGN OFF THIS YEAR?

KBEO was not the station they tried to move to New York, that was KJWY. KBEO is a different station in the same location.

KYES apparently made some legal mistakes in their filings with the FCC and thus the FCC canceled the license. The story may not be over for them, and SiliconDust still shows channel 5 as being on the air.

- Trip
 
Re: DID ANY STATIONS END, SIGN OFF THIS YEAR?

WDRL, licensed to Danville, VA but broadcasting to the Roanoke/Lynchburg area, went into receivership and off the air. Theywill be back in some form or fashion once their legal troubles are resolved.

Later . . . .
 
Re: DID ANY STATIONS END, SIGN OFF THIS YEAR?

dhett said:
KYES 5 Anchorage AK - 10/15. This perpetually-strapped station finally gave up the ghost last month after being denied an extension of a CP to build final digital facilities.
Click to expand...

tripinva said:
KYES apparently made some legal mistakes in their filings with the FCC and thus the FCC canceled the license. The story may not be over for them, and SiliconDust still shows channel 5 as being on the air.
Click to expand...

According to its Wikipedia article, KYES has two in-town translators -- KYEX-LP, on channel 18, and a digital LPTV repeater, K22HN-D channel 22; FCC records on both stations show them still active.

KYES's website is still up to, but makes no mention of the main signal closed and cancelled.

Knowing that, is the station still on the air using the translators?

dhett said:
KIDA 5 Sun Valley ID (June) - Another perpetually-strapped station.
Click to expand...

In the same area is KBGH channel 19, which was used to broadcast telecourses to students of the College of Southern Idaho; that station closed down by the national digital conversion date, as they opted to use other means to broadcast telecourses. (Its Wikipedia article says that the KBGH was used only for telecourses, and the screen would go blank if no telecourses were scheduled.)
 
Re: DID ANY STATIONS END, SIGN OFF THIS YEAR?

gregg75 said:
My folks in Columbus do get the CW sub-channel on their cable.

Getting back to the closures........it looks like a lot are due to bad decisions from the
owners. Investing in too many small towns, putting MY TV or the CW on all 8 stations
that you own. Expanding too fast. Diversity is always a good thing. Of course the
economy hasn't helped either.

Somehow I was thinking WLGA 66's failure had something to do with their antenna falling
to the ground........they probably had insurance, but I'm sure being off-the-air for awhile
didn't help their case much.
Click to expand...

Not in Auburn with Charter is the CW sub-channel available on the basic cable at all. You must subscribe to Charter Digital to receive it on channel 109. I highly doubt they would leave out viewers in the "city-of-license" the ability to pick up the sub-channel on basic cable. However, it's mighty peculiar that only other "major city" in the market is the CW sub-channel unavailable to most basic cable subscribers?

It's kinda of stupid when you consider how large the youth population in Auburn is with a major university with a target demographic (18-21) available as well.
 
Re: DID ANY STATIONS END, SIGN OFF THIS YEAR?

Another station officially bit the dust last week: KEJB 43 of El Dorado AR. Apparently, the station never made the digital conversion. It had a CP to flash cut to DTV operations that expired June 12, 2009. The station never filed for an extension, and never filed for a license to cover construction. On 12/22, the FCC canceled its license.

FCC link: http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=23418

The station's owner, KM Communications, based in the Chicago suburb of Skokie, has been a financially-strapped organization for a long time and lost their license for full-service KBEO 11 Jackson WY last summer, due to failure to transmit for a year. KCFG 9/RF32 Flagstaff AZ, to the best of my knowledge, has never broadcast a digital signal, yet KM has filed regular silent and resumption of operations notifications as if they had, all the while trying to get the FCC to move the station's RF allocation from channel 32 to channel 9.

KM owns two other full-service operations, KWKB 20/RF25 Iowa City IA and KPIF 15 Pocatello ID, presumably still broadcasting, and many LPTV stations.
 
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