KWYB (channel 18) 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 ...

Butte, Montana Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the ...

, United States, affiliated with

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

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 ...

. Owned by the

Cowles Company The Cowles Company is a diversified media company in Spokane, Washington, in the US. The company owns and operates ''The Spokesman-Review'' in Spokane, founded in 1894, and owned the ''Spokane Daily Chronicle'' until it was shut down in 1992. B ...

, the station has studios on Dewey Boulevard in Butte, and its transmitter is located on XL Heights east of the city. KWYB-LD (channel 28) in

Bozeman, Montana Bozeman is a city and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. Located in southwest Montana, the 2020 census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it the fourth-largest city in Montana. It is the principal city of th ...

operates as a

semi-satellite A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

of KWYB. It simulcasts all network and syndicated programming provided by KWYB, but airs separate commercial inserts and legal identifications. KWYB-LD's transmitter is located southwest of

Four Corners, Montana Four Corners is a census-designated place (CDP) in Gallatin County, Montana, United States. The population was 3,146 at the 2010 census, up from 1,828 in 2000. It is part of the Bozeman, MT Micropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Four Corners ...

History

Channel 18 was allotted to Butte in 1983. 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 ...

for a station to be owned by Community Christian Television was issued in 1986, but failed to materialize. In 1991, Continental Television Network applied for channel 18 in Butte and was granted a construction permit 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 ...

on January 9, 1992. The launch of KWYB was delayed two years by transmitter site arrangements. To house its XL Heights transmitter, it reached a deal with local electric utility Montana Power Company to move into space formerly utilized by the company. However, Montana Power wound up moving out in 1996 instead of the previously planned 1994. This pushed back construction of the physical plant. Station studios offices were set up in a building on West Park Street. KWYB went on the air September 27, 1996. It assumed the ABC affiliation from two low-power stations operated by

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 ...

/ KCTZ, known as "KBZ", in the Butte and Bozeman areas. When it launched, the station also assumed a secondary affiliation with Fox for NFL football. A month later, K28FB—today's KWYB-LD—began broadcasting to Bozeman. In February 2001, CTN sold KWYB/KWYB-LP, along with

KTMF KTMF (channel 23) is a television station in Missoula, Montana, United States, affiliated with ABC and Fox. Owned by the Cowles Company, the station has studios on Stephens Avenue in Missoula, and its transmitter is located on TV Mountain north ...

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 ...

, KTMF-LP in Kalispell, and KTGF 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 ...

, to

Max Media Max Media is a company that owns radio stations throughout the United States. It is based in Virginia Beach, Virginia. History Max Media was founded in 2001. Prior to this, some of the company's management had run the TVX Broadcast Group from 1979 ...

of Montana. They were the first television station acquisitions in Montana for Max Media. Max Media provided operational support to the

Equity Broadcasting Equity Media Holdings Corporation was a broadcasting company based in Little Rock, Arkansas that owned and operated television stations across the United States. Prior to March 30, 2007, the company was known as Equity Broadcasting, a name later ...

-owned Fox affiliates in Butte/Bozeman, Missoula, and Great Falls from 2003 to 2008. This arrangement ended in 2008, when Equity assumed programming responsibilities directly. In 2009, after a bankrupt Equity was forced to shut down the stations (including

KBTZ KBTZ, UHF analog channel 24, was a Fox- affiliated television station licensed to Butte, Montana, United States. The station was owned by Equity Media Holdings. KBTZ was simulcast on translator station KBTZ-LP on UHF channel 32 in Bozeman. Acc ...

channel 24 in Butte and KBTZ-LP channel 32 in Bozeman) because it could not convert them to digital television, the Fox affiliation migrated to digital subchannels of KWYB/KWYB-LD, KTMF/KTMF-LD, and KFBB-TV. On September 30, 2013, the

acquired Max Media's Montana television stations for $18 million. The sale was completed on November 29.

News operation

KWYB's first local news service came under Max Media ownership in September 2002, when Max contracted

Independent News Network News HUB (formerly known as Independent News Network) is a production company based in Little Rock, Arkansas, which syndicates "localized" news programs for broadcast television stations in the United States, that have budgets limiting their ...

Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and a ...

, to produce a regional newscast for KWYB, KTMF, and KTGF, all third-to-air stations in their markets with no local news at the time. Six reporters, one each in the five areas serviced by the Max Montana stations and another in Helena, contributed reports to ''Big Sky News'' at 5 and 10 p.m., which was presented from Iowa. The early newscast was dropped at the start of 2004. In 2005, Max Media acquired KFBB-TV in Great Falls, selling KTGF. Unlike KTGF, KFBB-TV produced its own local news. At that time, Big Sky News was replaced with a 10 p.m. newscast branded ''Montana News Network'', produced from Great Falls and servicing all of the company's Montana stations except

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 ...

Billings 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 ...

. This newscast was subsequently discontinued, and for several years the only local newscast on the station was a ten-minute late newscast, ''10@10''. , KWYB airs the state-wide morning newscast ''Wake Up Montana'' (produced in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

KHQ-TV KHQ-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Spokane, Washington, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is the flagship (broadcasting), flagship and namesake of the Cowles Company#KHQ, Incorporated, KHQ Television Group, a subsidiary of the l ...

) and full early evening and late newscasts, as well as a prime time newscast on its Fox subchannel. In October 2022, the station rebranded its news output as ''NonStop Local'', as part of a rebranding by Cowles.

Technical information

Subchannels

The stations' digital signals are

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 ...

: On June 14, 2002, the FCC granted a construction permit to build KWYB-DT on UHF channel 19. The station received Special Temporary Authority (STA) on April 22, 2003 to broadcast at reduced power. In Butte, KWYB's analog signal went off the air on the original shutoff date on February 17, 2009. On August 11, 2006, the FCC granted "flash-cut" authorization to KWYB-LD, and on August 11, 2009, analog station KWYB-LP converted to digital station KWYB-LD on channel 28.

References

External links

Official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kwyb ABC network affiliates Fox network affiliates MyNetworkTV affiliates Cowles Company Television channels and stations established in 1996 1996 establishments in Montana Television stations in Butte, Montana