KBMT

KBMT (channel 12) is a television station in Beaumont, Texas, United States, affiliated with ABC and NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside low-power MyNetworkTV affiliate KUIL-LD (channel 12.5). Both stations share studios along I-10/US 69/US 96/US 287 in Beaumont, while KBMT's transmitter is located in Mauriceville, Texas.

History

The callsign KBMT originally transmitted on UHF channel 31, beginning on May 9, 1954, as the first television station to broadcast in the Golden Triangle. The station was owned by Television Broadcasters, Inc. whose stockholders were H.D. Williams and R.C. Reed with Reed as president. It carried NBC, DuMont Television Network and ABC as of November 1955; the station also carried CBS programming before KFDM-TV went on the air in April 1955. Since the FCC did not mandate television sets to have UHF included until 1964, channel 31 went off the air on August 1, 1956. Its original tower still stands (though only instead of tall) west of Vidor south of US 90.

KBMT's owners subsequently applied for the later allocation on channel 12 and, after winning the allocation from the FCC, began broadcasting on its new assigned channel using the KBMT callsign on June 18, 1961. The new KBMT took over the ABC affiliation which it retains today, after being relegated to limited clearances on KPAC-TV (now KBTV-TV) and KFDM-TV. This gave the Golden Triangle full-time affiliations for all three networks on the VHF dial in six years. The original owners were N.D. "Doug" Williams and Randolph Reed. The original tower site for the transmitter and antenna was Sabine Pass, south of Port Arthur (this to prevent co-channel interference with KSLA-TV in Shreveport). The transmitter and antenna were later moved to its current site near Mauriceville in the early 1960s with the antenna modified for a " directional" signal to prevent interference to KSLA's coverage area. The station was later sold to Cowles Broadcasting in 1965, the Channel 2 Television Company in 1970 and McKinnon Broadcasting in 1977.

On January 1, 2009, KBMT added NBC programming on digital subchannel 12.2. This came after KBTV, which previously held the affiliation, switched to Fox. This in turn caused former Fox affiliate KUIL-LP (now KBMT-LD) to go independent, although they pursued the NBC affiliation. The NBC subchannel is branded as K-JAC NBC, a nod to channel 4's former calls from 1965 to 1999. In a ten-year deal with London Broadcasting, KBMT began to manage KUIL's programming as well.

KBMT shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 12, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 50 to VHF channel 12 for post-transition operations.

Texas Telecasting, Inc. sold the station to London Broadcasting in August 2009. That channel was dropped in early 2013 in favor of MundoFox (now MundoMax). Due to a realignment, four digital channels are carried on the main 12 signal while the other two (12.5 and 12.6) are carried via the low-power stations, KBMT-LD on 43 SW of Beaumont and K36ID-D on 36 in Orange. In Jasper, KVHP-LD on 34 and in Warren, K27JJ-D on 27 carries the main RF12 signal with ABC, NBC, COZI and MeTV.

In May 2010, London Broadcasting revealed that the company was developing a state network, MYTX, using subchannels like KUIL's .2 (now KBMT-LD2) operated by KBMT. MYTX would share Texas news and sports and productions from 41 Entertainment, which is owned by London.

On May 14, 2014, Gannett.

Newscasts

KBMT launched its news operation in 1962. On September 16, 2009, several changes occurred in the newscast lineup. The weekday morning show, ''Good Morning Southeast Texas'', began simulcasting on both the ABC and NBC channels while becoming a full two-hour broadcast. There began to be a half-hour newscast weekday mornings at 11:30 on KBMT-DT2. The NBC channel also launched a weeknight show at 6:30 and begin to simulcast the main channel's weeknight 10 o'clock news. Originally, there was only a separate short news and weather update at that time. KBMT-DT2 does not offer local newscasts on weekends unlike the main channel. On April 28, 2010, KBMT became the first in the market to air local news in high definition.http://www.tvnewscheck.com/articles/2010/04/26/daily.7/

Notable former staff

* John Hambrick
* Bill Macatee (now CBS sportscaster for the NFL and golf)
* Ben McCain (now an actor/producer and reporter for Spectrum in Los Angeles)
* Van Earl Wright – sports anchor
* John Ireland (now co-host of ''Mason and Ireland'' on KSPN Los Angeles)
* Tom Terry (now chief meteorologist at WFTV/WRDQ, Orlando, FL)

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Translator

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kbmt
Television channels and stations established in 1961
ABC network affiliates
MeTV affiliates
Cozi TV affiliates
True Crime Network affiliates
Quest (American TV network) affiliates
Twist (TV network) affiliates
Tegna Inc.
BMT
1961 establishments in Texas
Former Gannett subsidiaries