History
The signal of KXLF-TV in Butte had been received in Missoula since 1958, when a translator was set up in the Rattlesnake Valley, but KXLF-TV itself was approved to set up a translator station in Missoula in December 1965, at the same time that KMSO-TV of Missoula was allowed to build a translator in Butte, which began broadcasting in February 1966. Garryowen Butte TV, the licensee of KXLF-TV, applied to build a full-power satellite of the station for Missoula on October 15, 1969, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved on December 23. KPAX-TV went on the air in two phases: provisionally from a tower on May 9, 1970, and from its full, 257,000-watt facility on June 5. In January 1977, work was carried out to build a Missoula studio on Regent Street in a former television and appliance store to begin the production of local news and commercials in the city. The year before, KXLF-KPAX had become a primary ABC affiliate, with CBS being shared with KGVO-TV/KTVM-TV in the Missoula and Butte areas. In 1984, Sample sold the MTN stations to SJL, Inc. for $20 million. The network became exclusively affiliated with CBS that year; as a result, the airing of ABC programs in Missoula and Butte moved to the Eagle Communications network (KECI, KTVM, and KCFW), which signed an affiliation agreement with the network to air it alongside NBC. MTN was split two years later when the stations outside Billings, including KPAX-TV, were sold to Evening Post Publishing Company, through its Cordillera Communications subsidiary, for $24 million in 1986. The hybrid local-state news format that had been used at MTN since 1971 was abolished, with each station beginning to produce full-length local newscasts. While MTN was changing owners, a low-power TV station was going on the air at Kalispell. Owned by Thom Curtis and Daniel Coon of Billings, stockholders in KOUS-TV in Hardin, K18AJ made its debut on July 10, 1985, and primarily aired programming from the Satellite Program Network. It went silent in mid-1988 and was sold to KPAX-TV, returning to the air in November as a translator with local commercials. In addition, a news reporter was stationed full-time in the Kalispell area; separate evening newscasts have been produced since 2000 for Kalispell. The call sign was altered to KAJJ-CA in 2011 and KAJJ-CD in 2012. KECI-TV with KCFW in Kalispell generally had the lead in local news in the Missoula market until KPAX-TV surpassed it in 1993, aided by the defection of anchor Jill Valley from KECI. The station began producing a local morning newscast in 1996.Notable former on-air staff
*Technical information
Subchannels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:Translators
Analog-to-digital conversion
KPAX-TV shut down its analog signal, overReferences
External links