KFDX-TV
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| KFDX-TV | |
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| Wichita Falls, Texas/Lawton, Oklahoma | |
| Branding | KFDX 3 |
| Slogan | The Spirit of Texoma |
| Channels | Analog: 3 (VHF) |
| Affiliations | NBC |
| Owner | Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc. (Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.) |
| First air date | April 12, 1953 |
| Sister station(s) | KJTL |
| Transmitter Power | 100 kW (analog) 1000 kW (digital) |
| Height | 305 m (analog) 274.3 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 65370 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | www.texomashomepage.com |
KFDX or KFDX 3 is the NBC affiliate located in Wichita Falls, Texas but also serves Lawton, Oklahoma. Its transmitter is located at the studio in Wichita Falls. The KFDX antenna is 1047 feet (319 m) tall.
In addition to over-the-air reception on analog channel 3 and on digital channel 28, KFDX is also carried by more than 60 cable TV systems in Texas and Oklahoma and UHF translators at Quanah, Texas and Altus, Oklahoma.
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[edit] History
KFDX-TV Channel 3 went on the air on April 12, 1953 as the third television station to serve the North Texas/Southern Oklahoma region. The station was originally owned by Wichitex Radio and Television under the direction of Darrell Cannan and Howard Fry, which also owned KFDX Radio, an AM station with a frequency of 990 that went on the air in 1947. In 1955, Wichitex sold the radio station, which continues to operate to this day, to concentrate on the television portion of the business until the firm sold KFDX-TV 3 to Clay Communications of Texas in 1971.
For many years Warren Silver, who originally joined KFDX when it signed on 1953, served as the station's chief weathercaster and announcer. Silver became the station's general manager from 1971 to 1988. After his retirement, Silver continued as a contributor to the station until his death in 2001 with weekly reports on senior citizens' issues during Newscenter 3's 6 p.m. broadcast entitled The Silver Report.
Another longtime KFDX weathercaster who appeared on Channel 3's 10 p.m. newscast from 1954 to 1971 was dubbed "Tom Crane the Weathervane." Crane was later the vice-president of a Wichita Falls bank and now operates local advertising agency Crane & Company.
Current KFDX Chief Meteorologist Skip McBride, a retired airman who has worked at KFDX since 1983, is the area's longest running weathercaster in local television still on the air today.
Don Alexander, leader of rock-and-roll band "Alexander & the Greats", and composer of the 1964 hit single "Hot Dang Mustang," came to KFDX in the late 1950s. For several years he hosted an afternoon children's program, "Stage Coach Three." Alexander later served as anchorman and occasional news director at KFDX from 1964 to 1980.
Nat Fleming, a local country and western band leader, hosted his own afternoon variety program "The Nat Fleming Show" on Channel 3 from its inception in 1953 until the early 1960s. Fleming was also the longtime owner of a Wichita Falls western wear store, The Cow Lot, which closed its doors in 2006. In his TV ads Fleming was most popular for the tagline "You Can Tell By Looking if It Came From The Cow Lot."
[edit] Newscasts and local programming
The long-running agriculture/public affairs program RFD-3 airs at 5:00am weekdays and 6:30 am Saturdays, and has been a staple of area television for decades. It is hosted by Joe Brown, the station's farm director and also farm editor of the Wichita Falls Times Record News.
News programming on weekdays includes KFDX 3 News Today at 5:30 a.m., KFDX 3 News at Noon at 12 p.m., KFDX 3 News at 5 at 5 p.m., KFDX 3 News at 6 at 6 p.m. and KFDX 3 News at 10 at 10 p.m. On weekends, KFDX 3 News is broadcast at 6 p.m. Saturday, 5 p.m. Sunday and 10 p.m. both nights.
KFDX produces 22 hours of news programming a week.
[edit] Station Management
- Julie Pruett, General Manager
- Wayne Reed, Director of Sales
- Phyllis Vaughn, Business Manager
- Terry Porter, Chief Engineer
- Chris Huston, News Director
- Chad Johnson, Creative Director
- Troy Short, Promotions Director
- Greg Collier, Operations Manager
- Carolyn Schrick, News Production Manager
[edit] Personalities
[edit] Current On-Air Talent
KFDX 3 NEWS ANCHORS
- Joe Brown, "RFD-3" Anchor
- Gwyn Bevel, Weekday Evening Anchor
- Doug Bilyeu, Weekday Evening Anchor
- Erin Shryock, Weekday Morning Anchor/Reporter
- Keaton Fox, Weekday Morning/Noon Anchor
- Mechell Dixon, Weekend Anchor/Reporter
- Jason Calder, Weekend Anchor/Reporter
KFDX 3 NEWS REPORTERS
- Darrell Franklin, General Assignment Reporter, Texoma's Fox Anchor
- Erica Rosales, General Assignment Reporter
- Victor Nguyen, General Assignment Reporter
- Katie Crosbie, General Assignment Reporter
- Sara DiMura, General Assignment Reporter
KFDX 3 METEOROLOGISTS
- Skip McBride Chief Meteorologist
- Matt Mahler, Weekday Morning Meteorologist
- David Morris, Weekend Meteorologist
- Rob Bellew, Weather Fill-In
SPORTS ANCHORS/REPORTERS
- Tobin McDuff, Sports Director
- Ricardo LeCompte, Weekend Sportscaster
- Ben Coker, Sports Reporter
[edit] Former On-Air Talent
- Jerry Adams, news anchor (1965-69)
- Don Alexander, anchorman/news director (1964-1980, deceased)
- Andy Austin, sports director (1986-90)
- Shelby Baker, morning anchor/reporter (Late '90s-Early 00's)
- John Basham, staff meteorologist(1993-1994)
- Cindy Bradford, news anchor (1979-90)
- Mark Clegg, weekend anchor/reporter (1988-1989)
- Scott Coppenbarger, reporter, anchor, news director
- Heidi Collins, anchor/reporter
- Tom Crane, 10PM weathercaster (1954-1971)
- Bryce Daniels, news anchor/reporter (currently anchoring in FL)
- Dan Dickens, staff meteorlogist
- Nelson Duffle, news anchor/producer/reporter (1979-82)
- Norman Duncan, news anchor (1959-64)
- Tim Elbertson, meteorologist (2001; currently in Colorado Springs, CO)
- Brad Fanning, sports (currently sports director in Toledo, OH)
- Nat Fleming, host of The Nat Fleming Show 1953-early 1960s
- Mark Fox, staff meteorologist (1990-1993 and 1995-1998)
- Megan Henderson, news anchor/reporter (currently anchoring in Dallas)
- Kerry Hinkle, news anchor (currently anchoring in Salt Lake City, UT)
- Steve Holland, sports anchor (1968-76)
- Tres Hood, news reporter and sports anchor (1987-89, deceased)
- Ken Hughes, news director/reporter (1967-82, deceased)
- Jerry Johnson, sports anchor (currently owns Jerry's Scoreboard in Wichita Falls)
- Sam Armstrong Lopez, news producer/reporter (1978-80)
- Sheryl Lewis, anchor
- Emily Luxen, anchor (??-2007)
- Lynn Marshall, news director/anchor/reporter and staff announcer (1980-96)
- Bill Martin, sports director (1990-1996)
- Gerry May, reporter/anchor (1986-89)
- Tina Patel, news reporter
- Dick Pryor, sports director (1979-82)
- Frances Rivera, news anchor/reporter (currently anchoring in Boston, MA)
- Warren Silver, chief meteorologist/staff announcer (1953-1971); general manager (1971-1988); feature reporter (1998-2001; deceased)
- Ben Strickland, weathercaster and sports anchor (1957-79)
- Don Teague, news reporter (currently reporting for NBC News)
- Dale Terry, reporter (1957-70)
- Bill Warren, weathercaster and news anchor (1968-92, now at KOSA-TV in Odessa)
- Rachel Wheat, morning anchor/reporter (Early '00s-2005)
- Danny Wright, weathercaster and staff announcer (1974-91)
[edit] News/Station Presentation
[edit] Newscast Titles
- Texoma Newsreel (1953-1960)
- Channel 3 News (1960-1964)
- TV-3 News or TV-III News (1964-1976)
- News III and subtitles 6 O'Clock Report and 10 O'Clock Report (1976-1977)
- Newscenter 3 (1977-2006)
- KFDX 3 News (2006-present)
- Noon broadcast was also called the Noon Report for many years until 1980s in conjunction with the main newscast title. The 10 p.m. broadcast also had an exclusive title of Newscenter 3 Nightcast during the 1980s and 1990s.
[edit] Station Slogans
- Texoma's Television is KFDX, TV-III (1966-1970)
- TV-III News, Watch Us First (1970-1972)
- Count on the TV-III News - Always One Step Ahead (1972-1975)
- If It's News, It's On TV-III News (1975-1976)
- It's Happening on TV-3 (1976-1979)
- 3 People Do It Better (1979-1980)
- Newscenter 3, Texoma's #1 News Team (1980-1981)
- The Difference Between Fact and Fiction is Newscenter 3 (1981-1982)
- We're TV-3, Just Watch Us Now! (1982-1983; local version of NBC campaign)
- We're TV-3, Texoma's Very Own (1983-1986)
- If It Happens In Texoma, It Happens On Newscenter 3 (1986-1988)
- Come Home to the Best, Only on Channel 3! (1988-1990; local version of NBC campaign)
- Texoma's 24 Hour News Team (1989-present)
- The Spirit of Texoma (1991-present)
[edit] External links
- KFDX's Homepage
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KFDX
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KFDX-TV
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