NBC Montana is a regional network of three
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 ...
s in western
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
, United States,
affiliated with
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 ...
and owned by the
Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...
. Cities served include
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 ...
,
Kalispell,
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 ...
, and
Bozeman. Most station operations, including news production, are based at the Missoula studios of KECI-TV (channel 13); the other main stations are KCFW-TV (channel 9) in Kalispell, KTVM-TV (channel 6) in Butte, and KDBZ-CD (channel 6) in Bozeman. The stations air the same programming, but KCFW and KTVM/KDBZ-CD air their own commercials and
legal identifications, and NBC Montana maintains offices in Kalispell and Bozeman. NBC Montana's reach is further extended by 25
translator
Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...
s in western Montana and Idaho.
NBC Montana grew out of the Missoula station, which began broadcasting in 1954 as KGVO-TV. Regional coverage became a reality in the 1960s with the installation of transmitters in Butte and Kalispell. The stations have been sole NBC affiliates since 1989. Sinclair purchased the group in 2017 as part of its acquisition of Bonten Media Group.
History
On March 11, 1953, 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) granted Mosby's, Incorporated, owner of
KGVO (1290 AM), a construction permit for a new television station on channel 13 in Missoula.
Construction began in November 1953 on the road to the mountaintop facility, the first of its kind in the state and at the highest elevation of any television transmitter of the period in the northwestern United States; while two stations had gone on the air in Butte and a third in
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 ...
, neither was located atop a mountain.
KGVO-TV began telecasting July 1, 1954. Originally, the station was a primary
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, owing to its radio sister's long affiliation with
CBS radio
CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...
, but also carried programming from
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
DuMont;
it would lose DuMont when the network shut down in 1956. While the studios were originally at the transmitter site, owner Arthur Mosby purchased an
American Legion
The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...
hall in downtown Missoula that had been gutted by fire and renovated it to serve as new studios. On December 1, 1956, the station's studios moved from its transmitter location to its radio sister's studios on West Main Street in downtown Missoula and concurrently changed its call letters to KMSO-TV, representing Missoula's airport code.
By 1957, KMSO had added a secondary affiliation with NBC.
Mosby sold KGVO radio to Dale Moore in 1959
but held on to KMSO-TV until 1964, when Moore bought channel 13 as well;
upon taking over, he changed its call letters back to KGVO-TV.
Under Moore's ownership, KGVO-TV switched its primary affiliation to NBC in 1965, though it still carried some CBS and ABC programming. The transmitter was destroyed by fire in November 1966; the FCC permitted the installation of two interim translators to get the station back on air until the TV Mountain facility could be reconstructed.
![KCFW Studios Kalispell MT](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/KCFW_Studios_Kalispell_MT.jpg)
Additionally, the station pursued a policy of regional expansion. In 1965, it built a translator on channel 9 in Kalispell—which had been without a local broadcast service for six years since the folding of
KGEZ-TV/KULR in 1959—that was the first authorized for 100 watts on the VHF band.
That December, the FCC simultaneously approved a channel 6 translator for KGVO-TV in Butte and a translator for Butte's local station, CBS affiliate
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 ...
, in Missoula. Both of these services were replaced with high-power, full-service repeaters of KGVO-TV. KCFW-TV began broadcasting on June 10, 1968,
while the Butte translator was replaced with KTVM in May 1970. In 1976, primary coverage of ABC programs shifted from KECI to KXLF and its Missoula satellite,
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 ...
.
Dale Moore's Western Broadcasting Company reached a deal to sell KGVO-TV, KCFW, and KTVM to Eagle Communications, Inc.—a company formed by former ''
The Ed Sullivan Show
''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...
'' producer Robert Precht and Advance Communications, owner of
KFBB-TV
KFBB-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Great Falls, Montana, United States, affiliated with ABC, Fox and MyNetworkTV. Owned by the Cowles Company, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities on Old Havre Highway in Black ...
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 ...
—in 1977. Despite a protest from a citizens' group, Montanans for Quality Television, the deal received FCC approval in September 1978, and on November 1, KGVO-TV became KECI-TV. The new owners pledged to improve news coverage, in part under a pact with the citizens' group, The Eagle stations also aired ''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...
'' for three years from 1978 to 1981, dropping the program due to a lack of underwriters.
Eagle demonstrated an increased commitment to the Butte area, which from the launch of KTVM in 1970 was not being served by any specific local programming. After expressing interest in establishing a Butte office in 1978, the station did so in 1982 and began producing local news reports for inclusion in KECI's newscasts. Precht Communications, a sister company to Sullivan Productions, acquired full control of Eagle Communications by 1981.
In 1984, KXLF and the other
Montana Television Network stations became full-time CBS outlets. As a result, most ABC programs moved to the Eagle network.
Between 1984 and 1989, KECI aired an 11 p.m. late local newscast—highly unusual in the Mountain Time Zone—which gave it more time to air ABC programs but created further scheduling headaches and put its late news at a disadvantage. Viewers cited confusion over the availability of programs, and returning the late news to 10 p.m. allowed Eagle to restore ''
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 ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'' to its lineup en route to becoming a sole NBC affiliate. A full-time ABC outlet for Missoula,
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 ...
(channel 23), was established in 1990.
The 1980s also saw Eagle seek to increase its presence in Bozeman. It first attempted to buy the construction permit for
KCTZ, a channel 7 station that had sought an ABC affiliation only to have its hopes dashed by Eagle's June 1984 acquisition of the ABC rights in the Missoula–Butte market. The opposition of two local residents and radio station owners caused the deal to languish for 16 months at the FCC until the green light was given in January 1986, and the deal fell apart. In 1989, Eagle purchased the construction permit for low-power K42BZ, which took to the air in 1993 as a separate station.
In 1997, Precht sold the Eagle system to Lamco Communications, which in turn sold its stations to Bluestone Television in 2004.
Bonten Media Group
Bonten Media Group was a New York City-based owner of television broadcast stations in the United States. It was formed by Randall D. Bongarten and Diamond Castle Holdings in November 2006. Its first acquisition was 14 stations from Bluestone T ...
acquired the BlueStone stations in 2007.
Under Bonten, K42BZ was upgraded to
Class A status as KDBZ-CD.
On April 21, 2017,
Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...
announced its intent to purchase the Bonten stations for $240 million.
The sale was completed September 1.
News operations
Historically, the stations aired a mix of local and regional news programming. From the outset in 1968, KCFW produced its own early evening newscast; it was not until the mid-1980s that one was established at KTVM in Butte. By 1993, the three Eagle network stations aired regional newscasts from Missoula at 5 and 10 p.m. and local news programs for their specific areas at 6 p.m. That year, the company underwent a major restructuring of its news operations, untangling the stations from each other to produce local 6 and 10 p.m. programs, and it announced the addition of a fourth local news service for Bozeman. The weekend newscasts for Bozeman were that city's first; the only other news operation in the city, at KCTZ, aired five days a week.
The Bozeman newscast debuted October 4, 1993. Just 25 days later, citing costs, Eagle opted to shutter the Butte operation and originate news for both areas from Bozeman, firing the 15 news and production staffers it had in the Mining City. At the same time, KECI anchor Jill Valley defected to crosstown competitor KPAX, causing the station to plunge in the ratings—especially in Missoula itself.
Notable former on-air staff
*
Dari Nowkhah
Darius Behzad "Dari" Nowkhah (born June 23, 1976) is the lead anchor at SEC Network, an American sports television network. On August 21, 2014, The SEC Network began airing, and Nowkhah was chosen to be the head anchor. Nowkhah hosts extensive coll ...
— former sports director for KCFW; later anchor of
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
''
SportsCenter
''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television show, television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of United States, American cable television, cable and satellite television television network, network ESPN. The show ...
''; currently lead anchor at the
SEC Network
The SEC Network is an American multinational sports network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Communications (which holds ...
*
Meg Oliver
Meg Oliver (born December 7, 1970) is an American television correspondent and anchor. She returned to CBS News in 2015. She currently reports for ''CBS This Morning'', the ''CBS Evening News'' weekend and fills in anchoring for their 24-hour digi ...
—
ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
reporter, former anchor of ''
Up to the Minute
''CBS Overnight News'' is an American overnight news broadcasting that is broadcast on CBS during the early morning hours each Monday through Friday. The program maintains a infotainment format, incorporating national, international and busines ...
'', worked as a reporter and anchor at KCFW
Stations
Main stations
Notes:
*1. KECI-TV used the call sign KGVO-TV from sign-on until December 1, 1956, KMSO-TV from December 1, 1956 to December 16, 1964, and back to KGVO-TV from December 16, 1964 to November 1, 1978.
*2. KTVM-TV used the call sign KTVM (without the -TV suffix) from sign-on until July 1, 2009.
*3. KDBZ-CD used the call sign K42BZ from sign-on until January 3, 2011, K42BZ-D from January 3 to August 10, 2011, back to K42BZ on August 10, 2011, and back to K42BZ-D from August 10, 2011 to October 14, 2014.
Translators
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 ...
:
Analog-to-digital conversion
All stations shut down their analog signals 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 channel allocations post-transition are as follows:
* KECI-TV shut down its analog signal, over
VHF channel 13; the station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition
UHF channel 40 to VHF channel 13.
* KCFW-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 9; the station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 38 to VHF channel 9.
* KTVM-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 6; the station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 33 to VHF channel 6.
References
External links
*
{{Missoula, Montana
Television stations in Missoula, Montana
NBC network affiliates
Comet (TV network) affiliates
Charge! (TV network) affiliates
Television channels and stations established in 1954
1954 establishments in Montana
Sinclair Broadcast Group