KWES-TV
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| KWES-TV / KWAB-TV | |
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| KWES: Midland/Odessa, Texas KWAB: Big Spring, Texas |
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| Branding | NewsWest 9 |
| Slogan | The Star of West Texas More News. More Often. |
| Channels | Analog: KWES: 9 (VHF) KWAB: 4 (VHF) |
| Affiliations | NBC |
| Owner | Drewry Communications Group (Midessa Television Company) |
| First air date | KWES: December 1, 1958 KWAB: January 15, 1956 |
| Call letters’ meaning | KWES: WESt Texas KWAB: Webb Air Force Base |
| Former callsigns | KWES: KVKM-TV (1958-1969?) KMOM-TV (1969?-1981) KTPX-TV (1981-1993) KWAB: KBST-TV (1956-1957) KEDY-TV (1957-1962?) |
| Former affiliations | ABC (1958-1981) |
| Transmitter Power | KWES: 316 kW (analog) 25.7 kW (digital) KWAB: 12.9 kW (analog) 174 kW (digital) |
| Height | KWES: 391 m (both) KWAB: 116 m (analog) 83.3 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | KWES: 42007 KWAB: 42008 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | KWES: KWAB: (analog) (digital) |
| Website | www.newswest9.com |
KWES-TV Channel 9, commonly referred to as NewsWest 9, is the NBC affiliate in the Midland / Odessa area. The station is owned by the Drewry Communications Group.
KWES operates a satellite station in Big Spring, KWAB-TV Channel 4, repeater station K13NG in Big Bend National Park, Texas, and owns and operates KTLE-LP Channel 20 and KTLD-LP Channel 49, the local Telemundo affiliates. They air LATV on Digital 9.2 and Telemundo on Digital 9.3.
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[edit] History
KWES began broadcasting in 1958 as KVKM-TV in Monahans, Texas and was originally an ABC affiliate, later becoming KMOM-TV (which signified "Monahans-Odessa-Midland"). The station changed its network affiliation to NBC in 1981; ABC moved down the dial to KMID-TV Channel 2. Simultaneous with the affilation swap, KMOM-TV changed its call letters to KTPX and moved its studio operations from Monahans to Midland. It adopted its current call sign KWES in 1993. (KTPX is now being used by the i network affiliate in Tulsa, Oklahoma.)
KWES operates satellite station KWAB-TV Channel 4 in Big Spring, Texas, and formerly operated satellite station KAVE-TV Channel 6 in Carlsbad, New Mexico from 1966 to 1976. The Carlsbad station then became a satellite of El Paso ABC affiliate KVIA-TV from 1976 to 1993 and is now a satellite of Albuquerque ABC affiliate KOAT-TV under the callsign KOCT.
KWES (as KVKM) began with a 777 foot (237 m) tower between Kermit and Monahans (shared with 1330 AM) and a 99.1 kW visual power. After 1962, the station moved to a 1,080 foot (330 m) at the edge of the Caprock.
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Grayson Enterprises, owned by Sidney Grayson, assumed ownership of KVKM-TV in the mid-1960s and renamed it KMOM-TV to signify the three aforementioned cities. Grayson then added other stations to his operation during the late 1960s and 1970s, including KCCN (AM) Honolulu, Hawaii, KLBK-TV, Lubbock, Texas and KTXS-TV, Abilene/Sweetwater, Texas, among others.
Grayson Enterprises company ran into license renewal trouble in 1968, 1971, 1974, and 1977 for some his stations. KLBK-TV in Lubbock eventually had its renewal deferred and a hearing ordered. KLBK and the other stations were accused of fraudulent billing, program and transmitter log fabrication, main studio violations, failure to make required technical tests, etc.
The case was settled in what was then described as a "distress sale" where the stations were sold to a minority controlled group (nowadays known as a historically underutilized group) at a reduced price. The company break up actually helped define the parameters of such a sale.
KLBK-TV and KTXS-TV were transferred to Prima, Inc. (African American Principals), and the Permian Basin stations (KMOM & KWAB) were sold to a Hispanic Controlled group.
[edit] KWES satellite station KWAB, Big Spring
KWAB-TV began in the 1950's as KBST-TV, an outgrowth of KBST (AM) and the local newspaper. The station was not an instant (or even eventual) success. KBST (AM) was sold to "The Snyder Corporation" owned by Ted Snyder (later of KARN Little Rock, AR fame) and B. Winston nkle. The TV station took on some new shareholders as a half interest was transferred to Dub Rogers' Texas Telecasting, owner of KDUB-TV Lubbock, Texas and part owner of KVER-TV in Clovis, NM.
The studios and tower were located at the edge of Howard College campus at 2500 Kentucky Way. Local shows were produced on and off until the late sixties. The local KBST-TV shows gave way to a rebroadcast of KDUB-TV, and channel 4 was renamed KEDY-TV. In 1961 Rogers sold his stations to Grayson Enterprises, Inc headed by Sid Grayson. In 1964, Grayson was bought out by his partners.
Network selection caused some conflicts over the years. KBST-TV got whatever shows it could get from whatever network would allow. Nearby Midland had channel 2, which was primarily an NBC affiliate in the 50's. Further away was Odessa's channel 7 KOSA-TV which was primarily a CBS affiliate. KEDY-TV became a satellite of KPAR-TV (later KTXS-TV) in Sweetwater which was a shared ABC and CBS affiliate. CBS programs from KDUB on KEDY or from KPAR to KEDY conflicted with KOSA.
The Big Spring station became an ABC affiliate and a satellite of KMOM-TV in the late 1960s after it was purchased by Grayson enterprises, and renamed KWAB-TV (for Webb Air Base). KWAB made the switch from ABC to NBC in 1981 at the same time as parent station KMOM-TV, which changed its callsign to KTPX.
[edit] KWES/KWAB today
After KMOM sold and became KTPX in the early 1980s, the studios were moved from Monahans to a location near Midland International Airport. For many years the stations did some Big Spring production, most of which aired on a delayed basis. "Today in Big Spring" with would be recorded in Big Spring and fed back to the Midland studios over the company microwave system.
That microwave link from Big Spring proved pivotal for the station during the February 2008 Alon USA refinery explosion. It allowed the station to provide live skycam images and live pictures in the hours immediately after the blast.
KWES and KWAB are currently licensed by Midessa Television, which is owned by Drewry Broadcasting Group, which also owns TV stations at Amarillo, Waco, Bryan in Texas, and Lawton, Oklahoma.
[edit] Personalities
[edit] Current
[edit] News
- Crystal Crews: 4, 5 and 10PM Anchor/Reporter
- Michael Stafford: 4, 6 and 10PM Anchor/Reporter
- Pamela Hamm: 5 and 6PM Anchor/Reporter
- Hema Mullur: Sunrise Anchor/Reporter
- Camaron Abundes: Weekend Anchor/Reporter
- Wyatt Goolsby: Weekend Anchor/Reporter
- Victor Lopez: Reporter
- Mary Lou Morga: Reporter
- Sarah Snyder: Reporter
[edit] Weather
- Tom Tefertiller: Chief Meteorologist
- Darrell Ward: Sunrise Forecaster
- Kurt Mueller: Weekend Meteorologist
[edit] Sports
- Scott Shields: Sports Director
- Stuart Webber: Weekend Sports Anchor
[edit] Former On-Air Talent
- Antoinette Antonio: Morning Anchor/Reporter (2003-2005; now at KOB-TV Albuquerque)
- Billy Churchwell: Weekend Anchor/Reporter (2003-2005; now at KIII-TV Corpus Christi)
- Ty Fernandes: Weekend Anchor/Reporter (2003-2006; now at WFTX-TV Ft. Myers)
- Jessica Garate: Morning Anchor/Reporter (2002-2004; now at KRQE-TV Albuquerque)
- Jay Hendricks: Sports Anchor, Evening Anchor/Reporter (1983-2006; now at KOSA-TV)
- Melissa Hendrix: Evening Anchor/Reporter (199?-2002)
- Sara Holland: Weekend Meteorologist (2004-2006)
- Toan Lam: Reporter (2002-2003; now at KRON-TV San Francisco)
- Jeff Maher: Weekend Anchor/Reporter (2004-2006; now at KOB-TV Albuquerque)
- David Marino: Reporter (2003-2005; now at KVOA-TV Tucson)
- Stephanie Rivas: Morning & Evening Anchor/Reporter (199?-2005; now at KABB-TV San Antonio)
- Jacqueline Sit: Reporter (2005-2007; now at KWTV-TV Oklahoma City)
- Jordan Williams: Morning & Evening Anchor/Reporter (2003-2006; now at KOCO-TV Oklahoma City)
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KWES
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KWAB
- Query the FCC's TV station database for K13NG
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KWES-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KWAB-TV
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