KFDX-TV (channel 3) is a
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...
licensed to
Wichita Falls, Texas
Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the seat of government of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita counties. Accordin ...
, United States, serving as the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
affiliate for the
western Texoma area. It is owned by
Nexstar Media Group
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...
alongside
low-power MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...
affiliate
KJBO-LD
KJBO-LD (channel 35) is a low-power television station in Wichita Falls, Texas, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside NBC affiliate KFDX-TV (channel 3); Nexstar also provides certain services ...
(channel 35); Nexstar also provides certain services to
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
affiliate
KJTL
KJTL (channel 18) is a television station licensed to Wichita Falls, Texas, United States, serving as the Fox for the western Texoma area. It is owned by locally based Mission Broadcasting as its flagship station; Mission maintains joint sal ...
(channel 18) under
joint sales and
shared services
Shared services is the provision of a service by one part of an organization or group, where that service had previously been found, in more than one part of the organization or group. Thus the funding and resourcing of the service is shared and th ...
agreements (JSA/SSA) with
Mission Broadcasting
Mission Broadcasting, Inc. is a television station group that owns 20 television stations in 17 markets in the United States. The group's Chair is Nancie Smith, the widow of David S. Smith, who founded the company in 1996 and died in 2011. All but ...
. The three stations share studios near
Seymour Highway (US 277) and Turtle Creek Road in Wichita Falls, where KFDX-TV's transmitter is also located.
The station also operates four UHF digital
translators
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...
—K27HM-D and K41HQ-D in
Quanah, Texas
Quanah is a city in and the county seat of Hardeman County, Texas, Hardeman County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census the population was 2,641, down from 3,022 at the 2000 United States Census, 2000 census.
Q ...
, and K25JO-D and K29LJ-D in
Altus, Oklahoma
Altus () is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 19,813 at the 2010 census, a loss of 7.7 percent compared to 21,454 in 2000.
Altus is home to Altus Air Force Base, the United States Air F ...
—which relay KFDX's signal to portions of southwestern Oklahoma and western north Texas that are not covered by the main channel 3 signal.
History
Early history
On June 27, 1952, Wichitex Radio and Television – a locally based company managed under the direction of Darrold A. Cannan, Sr. and Howard Fry – submitted an application to the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) for a
construction permit
Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...
to build and
license
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
to operate a broadcast television station in the Wichita Falls–Lawton market that would transmit on
VHF channel 3. The FCC awarded the license and permit for channel 3 to the Cannan ownership group on December 19, 1952. Wichtex Radio and Television requested and received approval to assign KFDX-TV as the call letters for their television station, after the local radio station that Wichitex had signed on in November 1947, KFDX (990 AM, now
Farmersville-licensed
KFCD
KFCD (990 AM) is a commercial radio station in Farmersville, Texas. It is owned by Linda Hammond, through licensee Farmersville Investments, LLC, and airs a Spanish-language Christian radio format. Blocks of time are sold to hosts who may u ...
), itself a disambiguation of the calls used by the company's radio station in
Beaumont
Beaumont may refer to:
Places Canada
* Beaumont, Alberta
* Beaumont, Quebec
England
* Beaumont, Cumbria
* Beaumont, Essex
** Beaumont Cut, a canal closed in the 1930s
* Beaumont Street, Oxford
France (communes)
* Beaumont, Ardèche
* ...
, KFDM (now
KLVI
KLVI (560 AM, "News Talk 560") is a commercial radio station in Beaumont, Texas. It broadcasts a talk radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The radio studios and offices are on Dowlen Road in Beaumont, near U.S. Route 69.
By day, K ...
).
KFDX-TV first signed on the air at 6:00 p.m. on April 12, 1953; the first program ever broadcast on Channel 3 that evening was the local program ''People from Here and There''.
KFDX was the third television station to sign on in the Wichita Falls–Lawton
market
Market is a term used to describe concepts such as:
*Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand
*Market economy
*Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market
Geography
*Märket, an ...
, launching one month after the sign-ons of its two principal competitors:
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
affiliate KWFT-TV (channel 6, now
KAUZ-TV
KAUZ-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Wichita Falls, Texas, United States, serving the western Texoma area as an affiliate of CBS and The CW Plus. It is owned by American Spirit Media, which maintains a shared services agree ...
), which debuted on March 1, and Lawton-based
KSWO-TV
KSWO-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Lawton, Oklahoma, United States, serving the western Texoma area as an affiliate of ABC and Telemundo. It is owned by Gray Television, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) wit ...
(channel 7), which had signed on March 8. Although KFDX radio had been an affiliate of the
ABC Radio Network
Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which w ...
since 1947, channel 3 has operated as an NBC affiliate since its sign-on; this was essentially by default, as
ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to:
*ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or
*ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia
ABC Television or ABC ...
had already maintained a primary affiliation with KSWO-TV at the time of KFDX-TV's sign-on. The station originally employed a staff of 30 people, which at the time, was the largest staff of any broadcast television and radio station in west Texas; the majority of stock held in Wichitex was owned by members of the station's staff.
In addition to founding channel 3 and serving as the station's original
general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
, Howard Fry was best known by children in the
Texoma
Texoma is an interstate region in the United States, split between Oklahoma and Texas. The name is a portmanteau of Texas and Oklahoma. Businesses use the term in their names to describe their intended service area. This includes 8 counties with ...
region for his daily program ''Uncle Howdy's House Party'', which originated on KFDX radio and launched a television broadcast that aired concurrently with the radio program. In 1955, Wichitex sold KFDX radio in order to concentrate on the television portion of the business. Among the personalities who worked at KFDX-TV during the station's early years was Don Alexander—lead singer of
rock-and-roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
group Alexander and the Greats, and composer of the 1964 hit single "Hot Dang Mustang," which topped songs from such musicians as
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
,
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm ...
,
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
and
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
to peak at #6 on the
Billboard Top 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming in ...
—who came to the television station in 1964. For several years until he transitioned away from program hosting duties in 1966, Alexander served as host of ''Stage Coach Three'', a weekday afternoon
children's program
Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...
featuring a mix of
cartoon
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
shorts and educational features; as the character of "Pinto Bean", a marshal who appeared alongside his horse sidekick Swayback, he also donned cowboy garb to host afternoon
western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
and
horror movies
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoc ...
. After filing live reports on the
Watts riots, which began as he was starting a planned trip to visit his mother in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
in August 1965, Alexander was promoted to main news anchor and occasionally headed KFDX's news department as its
news director
A news director is an individual at a broadcast station or network or a newspaper who is in charge of the news department. In local news, the news director is typically in charge of the entire news staff, including journalists, news presenters, ...
from 1966 until he departed from the station in 1980.
Nat Fleming, a local country and western bandleader, served as host of the self-titled, half-hour afternoon
variety program
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp ...
''The Nat Fleming Show'' on channel 3 from the station's inception in 1953 until the early 1960s, which featured a blend of musical performances (performed alongside bandmates Pee Wee Stewart, Elmer Lawrence, Buck White, Pappy Stapp and Tommy Bruce) and comedy skits. Fleming was also the longtime owner of The Cow Lot, a Wichita Falls-based western wear store which shuttered operations in 2006, and typically signed off television commercials for his store with the locally known tagline "You can tell by looking if it came from the Cow Lot" (the store also served as the homebase for the ''Horn Honkin' Show'', a Saturday morning variety program that Fleming hosted for radio station
KNIN-FM
KNIN-FM (92.9 Hertz, MHz), "Wichita Falls' #1 Hit Music Station," is a radio station broadcasting a Contemporary hit radio, Top 40 (CHR) format. The station serves the Wichita Falls, Texas area. The station is currently owned by Townsquare Media ...
2.9. Fleming would be honored with the North Texas Legend Award by The Museum of North Texas History in May 2012.
Clay, Price and U.S. Broadcast Group ownership
On July 30, 1970, Wichitex Radio and Television, then managed by Fry and Darrold A. Cannan Jr., sold KFDX to
Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston is the capital and List of cities in West Virginia, most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk River (West Virginia), Elk and Kanawha River, Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 20 ...
-based Clay Communications for $5.05 million; the sale was approved on January 28, 1971. During the latter years under Wichitex ownership and its early years under the stewardship of Clay, the station uniquely identified its channel 3 position with the
Roman numeral
Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...
"III" starting in 1967; the station's on-air brand was further stylized with the "TV" suffix in the callsign rendered in lowercase preceding the numerals, as "KFDX-tv III", with the Roman numeral idenfier being used for its local newscasts (initially as ''TV-III News'', and later as ''News III'' and ''Newscenter III'', with the title of its agricultural news program stylized as ''RFD-III'') and film presentations (as ''Matinee III'' and ''TV-III Golden Movies''). The station reverted to using a conventional numerical logo in 1978, at which point the station modified its newscast branding as ''Newscenter 3''.
As part of the divestiture of the company's newspaper and television properties, on April 30, 1987, Clay sold its KFDX and its four sister television stations—NBC affiliate KJAC-TV (now Fox affiliate
KBTV-TV
KBTV-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Port Arthur, Texas, United States, serving the Beaumont area as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Dabl. It is owned by Deerfield Media, which maintains joint sales and share ...
) in Beaumont–
Port Arthur, and ABC affiliates
WAPT
WAPT (channel 16) is a television station in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, affiliated with ABC. The station is owned by Hearst Television, and maintains studios and transmitter facilities on Channel 16 Way (off MS 18) in southwest Jackso ...
in
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...
and
WWAY
WWAY (channel 3) is a television station in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with ABC, CBS, and The CW Plus. Owned by Morris Multimedia, the station has studios on Magnolia Village Way in Leland, and its transmitter is loca ...
in
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States.
With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is the ...
—to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
-based Price Communications Corporation for $60 million; the sale was approved by the FCC on June 23.
In August 1992, KFDX became the first television station in the Wichita Falls–Lawton market to adopt a 24-hour-a-day programming schedule, initially filling overnight time periods following the NBC late night lineup with a mix of syndicated programs, a nightly encore of the station's 10:00 p.m. newscast, and a feed loop of NBC's now-defunct overnight newscast, ''
NBC Nightside''. (Eventual sister station KJTL would follow in adopting a 24-hour schedule in September 1994.) On August 23, 1995, Price sold KFDX and fellow NBC affiliates KJAC-TV and
KSNF-TV
KSNF, virtual channel 16 (UHF digital channel 17), is an NBC- affiliated television station licensed to Joplin, Missouri, United States, and also serving Pittsburg, Kansas. The station is owned by Irving, Texas–based Nexstar Media Group, which ...
in
Joplin, Missouri
Joplin is a city in Jasper County, Missouri, Jasper and Newton County, Missouri, Newton counties in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bulk of the city is in Jasper County, while the southern portion is in Newton County. J ...
to
Wakefield, Rhode Island
Wakefield is a village in the town of South Kingstown, Rhode Island, United States, and the commercial center of South Kingstown. Together with the village of Peace Dale, it is treated by the U.S. Census as a component of the census-designated ...
-based upstart USA Broadcast Group for $42 million, retaining ABC affiliate
WHTM-TV
WHTM-TV (channel 27) is a television station licensed to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States, serving the Susquehanna Valley region as an affiliate of ABC. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on North 6th Street in ...
in
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...
as its sole television property (USA soon renamed itself to U.S. Broadcast Group after
USA Network
USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
filed a copyright infringement complaint against the broadcasting company).
Nexstar ownership
On January 12, 1998,
Irving-based
Nexstar Broadcasting Group
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...
acquired KFDX-TV, KBTV-TV and KSNF from U.S. Broadcast Group for $64.3 million.
Channel 3 subsequently gained two sister stations on June 1, 1999, when Nexstar took over the operations of Fox affiliate
KJTL
KJTL (channel 18) is a television station licensed to Wichita Falls, Texas, United States, serving as the Fox for the western Texoma area. It is owned by locally based Mission Broadcasting as its flagship station; Mission maintains joint sal ...
(channel 18) and
UPN
The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...
affiliate
KJBO-LP (channel 35, now a MyNetworkTV affiliate)—which were acquired by Nexstar partner company
Mission Broadcasting
Mission Broadcasting, Inc. is a television station group that owns 20 television stations in 17 markets in the United States. The group's Chair is Nancie Smith, the widow of David S. Smith, who founded the company in 1996 and died in 2011. All but ...
, which originated as an arm of its creditor Bastet Broadcasting, earlier that year for $15.5 million—under
joint sales and
shared services
Shared services is the provision of a service by one part of an organization or group, where that service had previously been found, in more than one part of the organization or group. Thus the funding and resourcing of the service is shared and th ...
agreements, under which KFDX would handle news production, engineering, security and certain other services as well as handling advertising sales for the two stations. KJTL and KJBO subsequently vacated their shared facility on Call Field Road and relocated its operations southeast to KFDX's studio facility on Seymour Highway and Turtle Creek Road.
In January 2006, KFDX launched Texoma's Weather Channel, a 24-hour weather forecast service—with content selected by the on-duty meteorologist—that features loops of
weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly puls ...
and
satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...
imagery, current conditions (including maps detailing actual and apparent temperatures, sustained wind speeds and gusts within the KFDX viewing area), and local and regional forecasts, along with an audio feed of Wichita Falls-based
NOAA Weather Radio
NOAA Weather Radio NWR; also known as NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is an automated 24-hour network of VHF FM weather radio stations in the United States (U.S.) that broadcast weather information directly from a nearby National Weather Serv ...
station
WXK31; Texoma's Weather Channel is carried on Charter Spectrum channel 17 and
digital channel 1234 in Wichita Falls (the service is not carried on cable providers on the Oklahoma side of the market, including Fidelity Communications in Lawton).
In December 2020, the studio building was evacuated after vandals cut a couple of guy wires to the nearby tower. The tower did not collapse, and repairs are being done to shore it back up.
Subchannel history
KFDX-DT2
As the
low-power station's
broadcasting radius is limited to the immediate Wichita Falls area, KFDX carries a simulcast of MyNetworkTV-affiliated sister station KJBO-LD on channel 3.2 in order to relay channel 35's programming throughout the entire Lawton–Wichita Falls market. Ever since its inception, the KJBO simulcast had been presented in
480i
480i is the video mode used for standard-definition digital television in the Caribbean, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Laos, Western Sahara, and most of the Americas (with the exception of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay). The ''480 ...
standard definition
Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...
, with most programs (including the MyNetworkTV prime time schedule) airing in
letterboxed
Letterboxing is the practice of transferring film shot in a widescreen aspect ratio to standard-width video formats while preserving the film's original aspect ratio. The resulting videographic image has mattes (black bars) above and below ...
4:3; however, sometime in 2020, it had been upgraded into
1080i
1080i (also known as Full HD or BT.709) is a combination of frame resolution and scan type. 1080i is used in high-definition television (HDTV) and high-definition video. The number "1080" refers to the number of horizontal lines on the screen. ...
full high definition.
On cable, KJBO-LD (via the KFDX-DT2 feed) is carried on Charter Spectrum channel 7 in Wichita Falls. (The subchannel/station is not currently carried by Fidelity Communications in Lawton.)
KFDX-DT3
KFDX-DT3 is the
Laff
Laff (legal name: Laff Media, LLC) is an American digital multicast television network headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and is owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network specializes in comedy programmi ...
-affiliated third
digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
of KFDX-TV, broadcasting in standard definition on channel 3.3.
On June 15, 2016, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced that it had entered into an agreement with
Katz Broadcasting
Katz Broadcasting, LLC, doing business as Scripps Networks, is an American specialized digital multicasting network media company and a subsidiary of E. W. Scripps Company. The company owns (as of 2022) nine television networks that each carry ...
to affiliate 81 stations owned and/or operated by the group—including KJTL and KFDX-TV—with one or more of Katz's four digital multicast networks, Escape (now
Ion Mystery
Ion Mystery (formerly Escape and Court TV Mystery, stylized as ESCAPE and MYSTERY; formerly branded on-air as Mystery) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. It focus ...
), Laff,
Grit and
Bounce TV
Bounce TV is an American digital multicast television network owned by Katz Broadcasting, a subsidiary of E. W. Scripps Company. Promoted as "the first 24/7 digital multicast broadcast network created to target African Americans", the channel fe ...
(the latter of which is owned by Bounce Media LLC, whose
COO
COO or coo may refer to:
Business
* Certificate of origin, used in international trade
* Chief operating officer or chief operations officer, high-ranking corporate official
* Concept of operations, used in Systems Engineering Management Process
...
Jonathan Katz serves as president/CEO of Katz Broadcasting). As part of the agreement, on September 1 of that year, KFDX launched a digital subchannel on virtual channel 3.3 to serve as an affiliate of Laff (the affiliation rights to the three other Katz networks were given to sister station KJTL, which launched three subchannels that affiliated respectively with Grit, Bounce TV and Escape on that same date).
KFDX-DT4
KFDX-DT4 is the
Antenna TV
Antenna TV is an American digital television network owned by Nexstar Media Group. The network's programming consists of classic television series, primarily sitcoms, from the 1950s to the 1990s. Antenna TV's programming and advertising operati ...
–
owned-and-operated fourth digital subchannel of KFDX-TV, broadcasting in standard definition on channel 3.4. On January 23, 2018, KFDX launched a digital subchannel on virtual channel 3.4 to serve as an affiliate of the classic television multicast network
Cozi TV
Cozi TV (stylized on-air as COZI TV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. The network airs classic television series from the 1960s to the 2000s.
The network origina ...
. On February 1, 2021, KFDX-DT4 became the new home for Antenna TV, replacing Cozi TV.
Programming
KFDX-TV currently broadcasts the majority of the NBC schedule, although the station currently does not clear most of NBC's overnight programming (preempting its weekend lifestyle lineup outright and carrying ''
Early Today
''Early Today'' is an American early morning news broadcasting, television news program that is broadcast on NBC on weekday mornings. The program features general national and international news stories, financial and entertainment news, off-bea ...
'' as a single half-hour broadcast instead of offering most of its customary overnight loop), preferring to carry an encore of the station's 10:00 p.m. newscast,
infomercial
An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...
s and some syndicated programming in the designated time period (particularly on early Tuesday through Saturday mornings after ''
Late Night with Seth Meyers
''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' is an American late-night news and political satire talk show hosted by Seth Meyers on NBC. The show premiered on February 24, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. Airing weeknights a ...
'').
Syndicated programs broadcast by KFDX include ''
Dr. Phil'', ''
Judge Judy
''Judge Judy'' is an American Court show#Arbitration-based reality court show, arbitration-based reality court show presided over by former Manhattan Family Court Judge Judy Sheindlin, Judith Sheindlin. The show featured Sheindlin as she adjudi ...
'', ''
The 700 Club
''The 700 Club'' is the flagship television program of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing each weekday in syndication in the United States and available worldwide on CBN.com. The news magazine program features live guests, daily news, co ...
'', ''
Inside Edition
''Inside Edition'' is an American news broadcasting newsmagazine program that is distributed in first-run syndication by CBS Media Ventures. Having premiered on January 9, 1989, it is the longest-running syndicated-newsmagazine program that is no ...
'' and ''
Entertainment Tonight
''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Para ...
''.
News operation
, KFDX-TV presently broadcasts 22 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with four hours each weekday and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays). Channel 3 also produces the half-hour sports highlight/analysis program ''KFDX 3 Sports Sunday'', which airs after the Sunday edition of the 10:00 p.m. newscast.
In addition, KFDX produces five hours of locally produced newscasts each week for Fox-affiliated sister station KJTL (with one hour on weekdays). Through the shared services agreement with KJTL, the station may also simulcast long-form severe weather coverage on channel 18 in the event that a
tornado warning
A tornado warning ( SAME code: TOR) is a severe weather warning product issued by regional offices of weather forecasting agencies throughout the world to alert the public when a tornado has been reported or indicated by weather radar within the ...
is issued for any county in its viewing area of southwestern Oklahoma and western north Texas. KFDX primarily competes for the Texas audience with KAUZ, while KSWO has a stronghold on the Oklahoma side of the market; overall, this puts KFDX at second place among the market's local newscasts.
News department history
A staple of channel 3's schedule was ''RFD-3'', a long-running early morning agriculture and
public affairs program which premiered in 1964. Originally airing weekdays at 6:30 a.m., before the launch of a conventional morning newscast in the early 1990s eventually led to the program moving to a 5:00 a.m. slot as the latter program expanded, it was hosted for the majority of its existence by Joe Brown, who served as the station's farm director beginning in the early 1960s and also worked as farm editor for the ''
Wichita Falls Times Record News''. ''RFD-3'' ended its 47-year run in August 2011, following Brown's retirement from broadcasting. The station launched a similar program, ''Texoma Country'', which originated as a 15-minute segment that aired during ''KFDX 3 News Today'' before expanding to a separate half-hour program serving as a lead-in to the morning newscast — as ''Texoma Country Morning'' — in 2014 (the program is co-hosted by Mike Campbell and Joe Tom White, who had previously co-hosted a morning news/talk show on
KWFS 290 AM
9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding .
Evolution of the Arabic digit
In the Brahmi numerals, beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshat ...
White joined the program in 2014, after announcing his departure from KWFS).
For many years, Warren Silver – who originally joined KFDX as a member of its production staff when it signed on in March 1953 — served as the station's chief weathercaster and
continuity announcer
In broadcasting, continuity or presentation (or station break in the U.S. and Canada) is announcements, messages and graphics played by the broadcaster between specific programmes. It typically includes programme schedules, announcement of the ...
as well as acting as the original host of ''RFD-3''. After the station's sale to Clay Communications, Silver was promoted to a management position as the station's general manager, and headed channel 3's operations from 1971 to 1988. After his retirement, Silver continued to serve as a contributor for the station's newscasts, hosting "The Silver Report", a weekly feature segment reporting on issues affecting
senior citizens
Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human biological life cycle, life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage ...
that aired during the 6:00 p.m. edition of ''Newscenter 3'' until his death in 2001. Another longtime weathercaster who appeared on channel 3's newscasts from 1954 to 1971 was Tom Crane, who was known by his nickname, "Tom Crane, the Weathervane." After he left KFDX, Crane worked as
vice president
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
of City National Bank in Wichita Falls, and later operated local advertising agency Crane & Company from 1980 until his death on July 6, 2009.
During the late morning of April 3, 1964, a destructive tornado ripped through the City View section of northwestern Wichita Falls and neighboring
Sheppard Air Force Base
Sheppard Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located north of the central business district of Wichita Falls, in Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the largest training base and most diversified in Air Educati ...
. The event made history as it would become one of the first tornadoes ever to be shown on live television. As rival KAUZ-TV interrupted regular programming that morning to show live footage of the tornado through a studio camera brought outside of channel 6's Seymour Highway studios, KFDX also moved one of its studio cameras outside its facility and pointed it toward the tornado—which initially appeared as a large, rotating dust cloud—as it approached the northwest portion of Wichita Falls, with Shaw and reporter Dee Fletcher providing commentary (sometimes interfered by line voltage and wind noise severe enough that cameramen positioned outside could not hear instructions warning viewers of the approaching tornado over their headphones). The tornado (later retroactively rated as an F5 on the
Fujita Scale
The Fujita scale (F-Scale; ), or Fujita–Pearson scale (FPP scale), is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation. The official Fujita scale category is determ ...
) killed seven people, injured 111 others, and produced damage estimated at $15 million (with around 225 homes and businesses on the north side of town and at Sheppard AFB being reported destroyed).
During the afternoon and evening of April 10, 1979, about 15 years after the City View twister, KFDX-TV provided complete coverage of an
outbreak of tornadic thunderstorms that spawned several strong to violent tornadoes across northwest Texas and southwestern Oklahoma. That evening's coverage culminated with the opening segment of the 6:00 p.m. edition of ''Newscenter 3'', as chief meteorologist Bill Warren was relaying reports of a multiple-vortex tornado that was beginning its path of destruction across southern sections of Wichita Falls. Four minutes into the newscast, electricity to the KFDX studio and transmitter facilities went down as the storm knocked sections of the city's
electrical grid
An electrical grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents. It consists of:Kaplan, S. M. (2009). Smart Grid. Electrical Power ...
offline. (KAUZ, KSWO and five of the six radio stations operating in the Wichita Falls area at the time also lost power in the storm, although local radio station KTRN
02.3,_now_KWFS-FM.html"_;"title="KWFS-FM.html"_;"title="02.3,_now_KWFS-FM">02.3,_now_KWFS-FM">KWFS-FM.html"_;"title="02.3,_now_KWFS-FM">02.3,_now_KWFS-FMwas_able_to_remain_on-air_as_it_had_an_auxiliary_power_supply)._Along_its_,__path,_the_F4_tornado_killed_42_and_injured_more_than_1,700_people,_and_produced_damage_estimated_at_around_$400_million;_among_the_20,000_residents_estimated_to_have_been_left_homeless_because_of_the_twister,_sixteen_of_them_were_part_of_KFDX-TV's_39-person_staff_at_the_time._When_the_station_came_back_on_the_air_at_6:56 p.m._the_following_evening_(April_11),_KFDX_provided_3½_hours_of_continuous_live_coverage_of_the_aftermath_of_the_tornado._One_week_later,_Channel_3_broadcast_a_half-hour_documentary_about_the_1979_tornado,_''Terrible_Tuesday'',_chronicling_the_Wichita_Falls_tornado_and_its_aftermath_by_way_of_news_footage_taken_by_the_station_after_the_storm.
Former_KFDX_chief_meteorologist_Skip_McBride,_a_retired_airman_who_joined_the_station_as_its_weekday_evening_meteorologist_on_January_29,_1983,_was_the_area's_longest-running_local_television_weathercaster._McBride's_31-year_tenure—which_lasted_until_his_retirement_on_November_20,_2014—was_surpassed_only_by_that_of_Joe_Brown_for_the_longest-tenured_television_personality_in_the_Wichita_Falls-Lawton_market;_McBride_was_replaced_as_chief_meteorologist_by_Kevin_Selle_(who_joined_KFDX/KJTL_from_
02.3,_now_KWFS-FM.html"_;"title="KWFS-FM.html"_;"title="02.3,_now_KWFS-FM">02.3,_now_KWFS-FM">KWFS-FM.html"_;"title="02.3,_now_KWFS-FM">02.3,_now_KWFS-FMwas_able_to_remain_on-air_as_it_had_an_auxiliary_power_supply)._Along_its_,__path,_the_F4_tornado_killed_42_and_injured_more_than_1,700_people,_and_produced_damage_estimated_at_around_$400_million;_among_the_20,000_residents_estimated_to_have_been_left_homeless_because_of_the_twister,_sixteen_of_them_were_part_of_KFDX-TV's_39-person_staff_at_the_time._When_the_station_came_back_on_the_air_at_6:56 p.m._the_following_evening_(April_11),_KFDX_provided_3½_hours_of_continuous_live_coverage_of_the_aftermath_of_the_tornado._One_week_later,_Channel_3_broadcast_a_half-hour_documentary_about_the_1979_tornado,_''Terrible_Tuesday'',_chronicling_the_Wichita_Falls_tornado_and_its_aftermath_by_way_of_news_footage_taken_by_the_station_after_the_storm.
Former_KFDX_chief_meteorologist_Skip_McBride,_a_retired_airman_who_joined_the_station_as_its_weekday_evening_meteorologist_on_January_29,_1983,_was_the_area's_longest-running_local_television_weathercaster._McBride's_31-year_tenure—which_lasted_until_his_retirement_on_November_20,_2014—was_surpassed_only_by_that_of_Joe_Brown_for_the_longest-tenured_television_personality_in_the_Wichita_Falls-Lawton_market;_McBride_was_replaced_as_chief_meteorologist_by_Kevin_Selle_(who_joined_KFDX/KJTL_from_TXCN">Texas_Cable_News,_where_he_previously_served_as_chief_meteorologist_since_the_regional_news_channel's_launch_in_1998).
In_August_1992,_KFDX_also_implemented_the_"24-Hour_News_Source"_concept_(which_was_enforced_in_the_promotional_slogan_used_by_the_station_until_2005,_"Texoma's_24-Hour_News_Team")._Providing_news_headlines_to_viewers_at_times_when_the_station_was_not_carrying_regularly_scheduled,_long-form_newscasts,_the_concept_involved_both_the_production_of_30-second_news_updates_that_aired_at_or_near_the_top_of_each_hour_and_brief_weather_updates_every_half-hour_during_local_commercial_break_inserts_within_syndicated_and_NBC_network_programs_–_even_during_prime_time_network_and_overnight_programming_–_in_addition_to_the_existing_half-hourly_updates_it_aired_during_''
02.3,_now_KWFS-FM.html"_;"title="KWFS-FM.html"_;"title="02.3,_now_KWFS-FM">02.3,_now_KWFS-FM">KWFS-FM.html"_;"title="02.3,_now_KWFS-FM">02.3,_now_KWFS-FMwas_able_to_remain_on-air_as_it_had_an_auxiliary_power_supply)._Along_its_,__path,_the_F4_tornado_killed_42_and_injured_more_than_1,700_people,_and_produced_damage_estimated_at_around_$400_million;_among_the_20,000_residents_estimated_to_have_been_left_homeless_because_of_the_twister,_sixteen_of_them_were_part_of_KFDX-TV's_39-person_staff_at_the_time._When_the_station_came_back_on_the_air_at_6:56 p.m._the_following_evening_(April_11),_KFDX_provided_3½_hours_of_continuous_live_coverage_of_the_aftermath_of_the_tornado._One_week_later,_Channel_3_broadcast_a_half-hour_documentary_about_the_1979_tornado,_''Terrible_Tuesday'',_chronicling_the_Wichita_Falls_tornado_and_its_aftermath_by_way_of_news_footage_taken_by_the_station_after_the_storm.
Former_KFDX_chief_meteorologist_Skip_McBride,_a_retired_airman_who_joined_the_station_as_its_weekday_evening_meteorologist_on_January_29,_1983,_was_the_area's_longest-running_local_television_weathercaster._McBride's_31-year_tenure—which_lasted_until_his_retirement_on_November_20,_2014—was_surpassed_only_by_that_of_Joe_Brown_for_the_longest-tenured_television_personality_in_the_Wichita_Falls-Lawton_market;_McBride_was_replaced_as_chief_meteorologist_by_Kevin_Selle_(who_joined_KFDX/KJTL_from_TXCN">Texas_Cable_News,_where_he_previously_served_as_chief_meteorologist_since_the_regional_news_channel's_launch_in_1998).
In_August_1992,_KFDX_also_implemented_the_"24-Hour_News_Source"_concept_(which_was_enforced_in_the_promotional_slogan_used_by_the_station_until_2005,_"Texoma's_24-Hour_News_Team")._Providing_news_headlines_to_viewers_at_times_when_the_station_was_not_carrying_regularly_scheduled,_long-form_newscasts,_the_concept_involved_both_the_production_of_30-second_news_updates_that_aired_at_or_near_the_top_of_each_hour_and_brief_weather_updates_every_half-hour_during_local_commercial_break_inserts_within_syndicated_and_NBC_network_programs_–_even_during_prime_time_network_and_overnight_programming_–_in_addition_to_the_existing_half-hourly_updates_it_aired_during_''Today_(NBC_program)">Today
_
Today_(archaically_to-day)_may_refer_to:
*_Day_of_the_present,_the_time_that_is_perceived_directly,_often_called_''now''
*_Current_era,_present
*_The_current_calendar_date
_Arts,_entertainment,_and_media_Films
*__''Today''_(1930_film),_a_1930_A_...
''._(Producers_and_other_newsroom_personnel_anchored_the_segments_for_several_years_during_the_1990s.)_KFDX_discontinued_production_of_these_hourly_updates_in_2005.
Following_its_sale_to_Mission_Broadcasting_and_the_formation_of_the_SSA_between_the_two_stations,_on_September_20,_1999,_KFDX_began_producing_a_half-hour_newscast_at_9:00 p.m._through_a_news_share_agreement_with_Fox_affiliate_KJTL;_the_program,_titled_''Fox_18_News_at_9:00'',_was_the_first_local_prime_time_newscast_to_debut_in_the_market_and_originated_from_a_secondary_set_at_the_KFDX/KJTL/KJBO_studios_on_Seymour_Highway_in_Wichita_Falls._The_newscast_was_eventually_cancelled_after_the_
02.3,_now_KWFS-FM.html"_;"title="KWFS-FM.html"_;"title="02.3,_now_KWFS-FM">02.3,_now_KWFS-FM">KWFS-FM.html"_;"title="02.3,_now_KWFS-FM">02.3,_now_KWFS-FMwas_able_to_remain_on-air_as_it_had_an_auxiliary_power_supply)._Along_its_,__path,_the_F4_tornado_killed_42_and_injured_more_than_1,700_people,_and_produced_damage_estimated_at_around_$400_million;_among_the_20,000_residents_estimated_to_have_been_left_homeless_because_of_the_twister,_sixteen_of_them_were_part_of_KFDX-TV's_39-person_staff_at_the_time._When_the_station_came_back_on_the_air_at_6:56 p.m._the_following_evening_(April_11),_KFDX_provided_3½_hours_of_continuous_live_coverage_of_the_aftermath_of_the_tornado._One_week_later,_Channel_3_broadcast_a_half-hour_documentary_about_the_1979_tornado,_''Terrible_Tuesday'',_chronicling_the_Wichita_Falls_tornado_and_its_aftermath_by_way_of_news_footage_taken_by_the_station_after_the_storm.
Former_KFDX_chief_meteorologist_Skip_McBride,_a_retired_airman_who_joined_the_station_as_its_weekday_evening_meteorologist_on_January_29,_1983,_was_the_area's_longest-running_local_television_weathercaster._McBride's_31-year_tenure—which_lasted_until_his_retirement_on_November_20,_2014—was_surpassed_only_by_that_of_Joe_Brown_for_the_longest-tenured_television_personality_in_the_Wichita_Falls-Lawton_market;_McBride_was_replaced_as_chief_meteorologist_by_Kevin_Selle_(who_joined_KFDX/KJTL_from_TXCN">Texas_Cable_News,_where_he_previously_served_as_chief_meteorologist_since_the_regional_news_channel's_launch_in_1998).
In_August_1992,_KFDX_also_implemented_the_"24-Hour_News_Source"_concept_(which_was_enforced_in_the_promotional_slogan_used_by_the_station_until_2005,_"Texoma's_24-Hour_News_Team")._Providing_news_headlines_to_viewers_at_times_when_the_station_was_not_carrying_regularly_scheduled,_long-form_newscasts,_the_concept_involved_both_the_production_of_30-second_news_updates_that_aired_at_or_near_the_top_of_each_hour_and_brief_weather_updates_every_half-hour_during_local_commercial_break_inserts_within_syndicated_and_NBC_network_programs_–_even_during_prime_time_network_and_overnight_programming_–_in_addition_to_the_existing_half-hourly_updates_it_aired_during_''Today_(NBC_program)">Today
_
Today_(archaically_to-day)_may_refer_to:
*_Day_of_the_present,_the_time_that_is_perceived_directly,_often_called_''now''
*_Current_era,_present
*_The_current_calendar_date
_Arts,_entertainment,_and_media_Films
*__''Today''_(1930_film),_a_1930_A_...
''._(Producers_and_other_newsroom_personnel_anchored_the_segments_for_several_years_during_the_1990s.)_KFDX_discontinued_production_of_these_hourly_updates_in_2005.
Following_its_sale_to_Mission_Broadcasting_and_the_formation_of_the_SSA_between_the_two_stations,_on_September_20,_1999,_KFDX_began_producing_a_half-hour_newscast_at_9:00 p.m._through_a_news_share_agreement_with_Fox_affiliate_KJTL;_the_program,_titled_''Fox_18_News_at_9:00'',_was_the_first_local_prime_time_newscast_to_debut_in_the_market_and_originated_from_a_secondary_set_at_the_KFDX/KJTL/KJBO_studios_on_Seymour_Highway_in_Wichita_Falls._The_newscast_was_eventually_cancelled_after_the_New_Year's_Eve">December_31
_
_It_is_known_by_a_collection_of_names_including:__Saint_Sylvester's_Day,_New_Year's_Eve_or_Old_Years_Day/Night,_as_the_following_day_is_New_Year's_Day._It_is_the_last_day_of_the_year;_the_following_day_is_January_1,_the_first_day_of_the_following_...
,_2001_edition,_due_to_poor_ratings._After_a_four-year_sabbatical,_KFDX_launched_a_second_venture_at_a_prime_time_newscast_for_channel_18_on_September_17,_2007._Originally_titled_''Fox:_Texoma's_News_at_9:00''_(later_retitled_''Texoma's_Fox_News_at_Nine''_in_September_2011)._The_program_competed_against_an_existing_9:00_newscast_on_The_CW.html" ;"title="New_Year's_Eve.html" "title="Today_(NBC_program).html" "title="TXCN.html" ;"title="KWFS-FM">02.3,_now_KWFS-FM.html" ;"title="KWFS-FM.html" ;"title="02.3, now KWFS-FM">02.3, now KWFS-FM">KWFS-FM.html" ;"title="02.3, now KWFS-FM">02.3, now KWFS-FMwas able to remain on-air as it had an auxiliary power supply). Along its , path, the F4 tornado killed 42 and injured more than 1,700 people, and produced damage estimated at around $400 million; among the 20,000 residents estimated to have been left homeless because of the twister, sixteen of them were part of KFDX-TV's 39-person staff at the time. When the station came back on the air at 6:56 p.m. the following evening (April 11), KFDX provided 3½ hours of continuous live coverage of the aftermath of the tornado. One week later, Channel 3 broadcast a half-hour documentary about the 1979 tornado, ''Terrible Tuesday'', chronicling the Wichita Falls tornado and its aftermath by way of news footage taken by the station after the storm.
Former KFDX chief meteorologist Skip McBride, a retired airman who joined the station as its weekday evening meteorologist on January 29, 1983, was the area's longest-running local television weathercaster. McBride's 31-year tenure—which lasted until his retirement on November 20, 2014—was surpassed only by that of Joe Brown for the longest-tenured television personality in the Wichita Falls-Lawton market; McBride was replaced as chief meteorologist by Kevin Selle (who joined KFDX/KJTL from TXCN">Texas Cable News, where he previously served as chief meteorologist since the regional news channel's launch in 1998).
In August 1992, KFDX also implemented the "24-Hour News Source" concept (which was enforced in the promotional slogan used by the station until 2005, "Texoma's 24-Hour News Team"). Providing news headlines to viewers at times when the station was not carrying regularly scheduled, long-form newscasts, the concept involved both the production of 30-second news updates that aired at or near the top of each hour and brief weather updates every half-hour during local commercial break inserts within syndicated and NBC network programs – even during prime time network and overnight programming – in addition to the existing half-hourly updates it aired during ''Today (NBC program)">Today