KXJB-TV

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KXJB-TV
KXJB Logo
Fargo, North Dakota
City of license Valley City, North Dakota
Branding KX4
Valley News Live
Slogan Connected to your world
Channels Analog: 4 (VHF)

Digital: 38 (UHF)

Affiliations CBS
Owner Parker Broadcasting of Dakota, LLC
(operated by Hoak Media Corporation through a LMA)
First air date 1954[1]
Call letters’ meaning KX Television
(former owner)
John Boler
(station founder)
Sister station(s) KVLY-TV
Transmitter Power 100 kW (analog)
382 kW (digital)
Height 591 m (analog)
573 m (digital)
Facility ID 49134
Transmitter Coordinates 47°16′44.9″N, 97°20′25.6″W
Website www.valleynewslive.com

Contents

KXJB-TV is a CBS affiliate based in Fargo, North Dakota and broadcasting on channel 4 (HD/digital channel 38). It is licensed to nearby Valley City. It is owned by Parker Broadcasting, but is operated by Hoak Media Corporation of Dallas, Texas through a local marketing agreement with Fargo's NBC affiliate, KVLY-TV. KXJB shares a studio in Fargo with KVLY. It broadcasts over a large area of eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.

[edit] History

KXJB signed on July 1, 1954, owned by John Boler. It was co-owned with the KX Television network in western North Dakota until 1971. The station has always been a CBS affiliate, and is the only major station in Fargo that has never changed its affiliation.

[edit] Cable TV Systems

From 1968 until the mid 1980s, KXJB was carried by cable systems across neighboring Manitoba and Ontario. This included Winnipeg, which is several times larger than the station's entire American coverage area. These arrangements ended in 1986, when the Canadian cable companies were granted permission to replace most of the North Dakota stations with network affiliates from Detroit due to complaints about poor reception.

[edit] KXJC-LP

In 2001, KXJB signed on a semi-satellite in Grand Forks.

KXJC-LP was a television station in Grand Forks, North Dakota, broadcasting locally on UHF channel 35 and cable channel 21 as a CBS affiliate. The station was a semi-satellite of KXJB-TV of Fargo, North Dakota. KXJC was started in 2000 and was intended to create competition for WDAZ-TV, which is the only TV station in Grand Forks producing newscasts. Most KXJC programs were simulcasted from KXJB with local commercial inserts, though it aired its own local newscasts, The Jerry Springer Show, and Jenny Jones. KXJC signed off the air in 2003 due to low ratings on its local newscasts and also because Wicks Television (owner of KVLY-TV of Fargo) took over the operations of both KXJB and KXJC.

[edit] High Definition

In November 2005, KXJB became the second major network affiliate in Fargo (after KVLY-TV) to broadcast in high-definition.

[edit] The Late Show with David Letterman

KXJB was one of only two CBS stations not to air The Late Show with David Letterman when it premiered, though Fox affiliate KVRR aired The Late Show until KXJB began airing it in 1994. Sioux City, Iowa affiliate KMEG also declined to alter its syndicated lineup.[2] This led Sioux City, Iowa to become known as the "home office" on The Late Show. KMEG began airing the show in 1994.[3]

[edit] Newscasts

In April 2007, KVLY-TV and KXJB-TV began simulcasting weekend newscasts, and in November, the stations began simulcasting news during weekdays along with rebranding as Valley News Live. KXJB uses its "4" bug, while KVLY uses the "11" bug during newscasts.


[edit] Ownership change

In 2006, KXJB and KVLY were each sold to different owners: KXJB to Parker Broadcasting and KVLY-TV to Hoak Media. The LMA with KVLY (Hoak Media) will continue. Hoak's acquisition of KVLY was approved by the FCC on November 17, 2006. The sale of KXJB was approved in January 2007.

As part of the agreement, KXJB televised the North Dakota state high school hockey tournaments in 2006 since KVLY, the normal broadcaster, was carrying Olympic coverage.

[edit] Former Logos

[edit] News

KXJB has struggled in newscast ratings in the past several years. It usually was third or fourth after KVLY, WDAY, and sometimes KVRR. KXJB does not have a morning or a 5:00pm newscasts unlike its competitors, and Jeopardy! has aired for many decades at 5:00, but it is the only station with a newscast at noon. Since KVLY began operating KXJB in 2003, the evening newscast was moved from 6:00pm to 5:30pm (Central Time) and CBS Evening News moved from 5:30pm to 6:00pm to help make KXJB more competitive. It's very rare for a network television station in the Central Time Zone to have a newscast at 5:30pm (6:30pm Eastern Time) instead of 6:00pm (7:00pm Eastern Time). The station had called itself "CBS 4" for many years, but recently began calling itself "KX4," which had been its nickname for a time in the 1970s and 1980s. Currently, meteorologist Mick Kjar is seen on both KX4's morning newscast, The Valley Today, and KXJB's noon newscast.

[edit] Sign-Off

KXJB signs off at 3:00 a.m. following Up to the Minute Tuesdays through Saturdays, 2:05 a.m. on Sundays, and 1:00 a.m. on Mondays. The station does not show a test pattern; instead, a skycam of downtown Fargo is seen along with the broadcast of NOAA Weather Radio's Fargo Office. In November 2007 the station began 24 hour operations with CBS's Up to the Minute and paid programing overnight.

[edit] Tower Information

The KXJB-TV mast, located near Galesburg, North Dakota, is the second tallest man-made structure on Earth. Only the KVLY-TV mast in Blanchard is taller, located just 6 miles from the KXJB tower.

[edit] Translators

KXJB is available on the following rebroadcasting translators:

[edit] Past Newscast Titles

  • KX 4 Eyewitness News (1980s)
  • KX 4 News (1990s & 2004-2007)
  • CBS 4 News (2000-2004)
  • Valley News Live (2007-present)

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says September 11, while the Television and Cable Factbook says July 12.
  2. ^ Briggs, Tracey Wong. "There's no stopping 'Letterman' in Fargo", USA Today, 1993-08-30, p. 3D. 
  3. ^ Hopkins, Tom. "Sioux City picks up Letterman", Dayton Daily News, 1994-08-29, p. 11B. 

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says September 11, while the Television and Cable Factbook says July 12.
  2. ^ Briggs, Tracey Wong. "There's no stopping 'Letterman' in Fargo", USA Today, 1993-08-30, p. 3D. 
  3. ^ Hopkins, Tom. "Sioux City picks up Letterman", Dayton Daily News, 1994-08-29, p. 11B.