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KTVQ (channel 2) 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 ...
in
Billings, Montana Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metrop ...
, United States, affiliated with
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 ...
and
The CW Plus The CW Plus is a secondary national programming service feed of The CW that is fully controlled and 75% owned by Nexstar Media Group, with Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery each owning a 12.5% stake in the network. It is intended primar ...
. Owned by the
E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...
, it is part of the
Montana Television Network The Montana Television Network (MTN) is a statewide network of CBS affiliates in the U.S. state of Montana. It also includes one NBC station. All but one of these stations are owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. Five of the full-powered MTN stati ...
, a statewide network of CBS-affiliated stations. KTVQ's studios are located on Third Avenue North in Billings, and its transmitter is located on Sacrifice Cliff southeast of downtown.


History

The Montana Network, owner of radio station KOOK (970 AM), applied on December 13, 1952, for a construction permit to build a new TV station on channel 2 in Billings, which was granted by 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) on February 4, 1953. The turnaround time was short considering that Robert S. Howard, who owned Scripps-associated radio and newspaper holdings in Utah and Idaho, had also applied for channel 2, but his firm dropped its bid and cleared the way for The Montana Network. KOOK had already revealed it had held an option for two years to build a transmitter site on
Coburn Hill Coburn Hill is located southeast of Billings, Montana in Yellowstone County. Its most predominant feature is Sacrifice Cliffs, part of the Rimrocks surrounding the city. Another feature is several radio and television broadcast towers located on ...
. Ground was broken on the studio and transmitter facilities there in early June, and programming from KOOK-TV began on November 9, 1953. It was the third station in the state:
Butte __NOTOC__ In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word mea ...
's
KXLF-TV KXLF-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Butte, Montana, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, it is part of the Montana Television Network, a statewide network of CBS-affiliated station ...
had begun in August, and a second station, KOPR-TV, had started there at about the same time. KOOK-TV was affiliated with CBS,
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
and the
DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being ...
at launch. In December 1956, Joseph Sample acquired majority control of KOOK radio and television from its previous ownership, headed by
Charles L. Crist Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...
, a state representative. A year later, KOOK broke ground on a new radio and television center in downtown Billings, which was completed in 1959; three homes were moved off the property before construction began. By the time the building was completed, a second television station, KGHL-TV (channel 8, now
KULR-TV KULR-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Billings, Montana, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by the Cowles Company. The station's studios are located on Overland Avenue in the Homestead Business Park section of Billings, and it ...
), had begun in 1958. Sample later expanded his holdings across the state. In 1961, he acquired KXLF in Butte; in 1969, he purchased
KRTV KRTV (channel 3) is a television station in Great Falls, Montana, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside KTVH-DT, KTGF-LD (channel 50), the local NBC affiliate, and is part of the Mo ...
in
Great Falls Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...
, giving his Garryowen Broadcasting coverage of half the state's population. The Montana Television Network was formed that same year from these stations and
KPAX-TV KPAX-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Missoula, Montana, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, it is part of the Montana Television Network, a statewide network of CBS-affiliated stati ...
in
Missoula Missoula ( ; fla, label=Salish language, Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula Cou ...
, which was built in 1970. In 1972, seeking to get ahead of a proposed FCC rule that would have barred radio-television cross-ownership, Sample sold KOOK radio; the call letters were retained by the radio station, and the television station changed its call sign to KTVQ on September 5, 1972. The new designation was chosen because the station had exhausted its preferred options, it was available, "Q2" (which became the station's moniker) was a branding option, and due to a since-repealed FCC regulation prohibiting TV and radio stations in the same market, but different ownership, from sharing the same call signs. In 1968, channel 2 picked up a secondary affiliation with NBC after KULR opted to take a primary affiliation with ABC. This was unusual for a two-station market, especially one as small as Billings. In 1979, for instance, KTVQ aired 17 CBS prime time shows and 10 from NBC, the networks with which it had first call on their programs; ABC shows were all seen on KULR, which rounded out its schedule with five additional shows not cleared by KTVQ. It shared NBC with KULR; in 1980, KTVQ became a primary CBS affiliate. KOUS (channel 4) launched late that year and immediately took all NBC programming that KTVQ did not clear; NBC fare aired by KTVQ at the time included ''
The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...
'', ''
The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...
'', and several prime time shows, and some of these programs lasted on channel 2 until KTVQ's NBC affiliation contract ended in 1982. After nearly 27 years owning KTVQ and feeling "burned out" with television, Sample sold the Montana Television Network in 1983 to SJL Broadcasting.
Evening Post Industries Evening Post Industries is a privately held American media company, based in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. It has been led by four generations of the Manigault family. On August 6, 2013, the company changed its name from the Evening ...
(through its
Cordillera Communications Evening Post Industries is a privately held American media company, based in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. It has been led by four generations of the Manigault family. On August 6, 2013, the company changed its name from the Evening ...
subsidiary) bought it in 1994 for $8.5 million; this reunited KTVQ with the rest of MTN, which it had purchased in 1986. Scripps closed on its purchase of the Cordillera broadcast properties, including MTN, in 2019.


News operation

In 1971, MTN instituted a hybrid local-regional newscast format. The network news was presented from Great Falls, as that was the only place that could receive feeds from all of the MTN stations at the same time; the Billings, Butte, and (from 1977) Missoula stations presented local news inserts into the statewide program. However, in Billings, KTVQ had long been the second-place news finisher behind KULR-TV. One of Sample's last acts as owner of MTN, at the same time he sold the network to Lilly, was to move production of MTN News from Great Falls to Billings in hopes that it would improve MTN's laggard position in the Billings news ratings. Ed Coghlan, who had been the lead anchor from Great Falls, was replaced by Dean Phillips. The order of the newscast was changed to put the local inserts first, and MTN's long-running ''Today in Montana''—which also originated in Great Falls—added news and weather segments aired from Billings. Despite the use of longer interview segments and in-depth reports, Phillips's style was often seen as too big-city for Montanans; Vic Bracht of ''
The Billings Gazette The ''Billings Gazette'' is a daily newspaper based in Billings, Montana that primarily covers issues in southeast Montana and parts of northern Wyoming. Historically it has been known as the largest newspaper in Montana and is geographically one ...
'' cited an "arrogance factor" that became known even to people who did not watch MTN. Phillips was replaced by Gus Koernig, and the station's ratings immediately improved. In February 1987, both Arbitron and Nielsen found KTVQ to be beating KULR-TV in all time slots. By 1997, KTVQ enjoyed a two-to-one ratings advantage over its competitor for its early evening newscast. In 1995, President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
visited Billings and KTVQ, where he conducted a televised town hall meeting. In 1990, KTVQ's newscasts began to be seen on
KXGN-TV KXGN-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Glendive, Montana, United States, affiliated with CBS and NBC. It is owned by Marks Radio Group alongside radio stations KXGN (1400 AM) and KDZN (96.5 FM). The three stations share studios on ...
channel 5 in
Glendive Glendive is a city in and the county seat of Dawson County, Montana, United States, and home to Dawson Community College. Glendive was established by the Northern Pacific Railway when they built the transcontinental railroad across the northern ...
when that station joined MTN.


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's digital signal is
multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...
: In February 2009, the four major commercial stations in the Billings market were refused
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 ...
permission to end analog broadcasts and operate as digital-only effective on the originally-scheduled February 17, 2009 date.


Translators


References


External links


KTVQ.com
- Official KTVQ-TV website
CWBillings.com
- Official CW Billings website {{EWS CORP CBS network affiliates Grit (TV network) affiliates Defy TV affiliates Scripps News affiliates Montana Television Network Television channels and stations established in 1953 1953 establishments in Montana
TVQ TVQ is the Brisbane television station of Network 10 in Australia. History In April 1964, the Postmaster-General's Department granted Universal Telecasters a broadcasting licence. The channel was allocated channel 0 (the 0 was pronounced as ...
E. W. Scripps Company television stations