KBMT

KBMT is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Golden Triangle area Southeast Texas that is licensed to Beaumont. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 12 from a transmitter in Mauriceville. The station can also be seen on Time Warner channel 5 and in high definition on digital channel 875. Owned by the London Broadcasting Company, KBMT has studios along I-10/U.S. 69/U.S. 96/U.S. 287 in Beaumont. Syndicated programming on this station includes: Two and a Half Men, Everybody Loves Raymond, Judge Judy, and Dr. Oz.

Digital programming

It operates the area's NBC affiliate on a second digital subchannel which uses the fictional calls "NBMT". Known on-air as K-JAC: Your NBC (a nod to the former call letters of ex-NBC now Fox affiliate KBTV-TV), this can also be seen on Time Warner channel 11 and in high definition on digital channel 860. Syndicated programming on KBMT-DT2 includes: The Dr. Oz Show, The Doctors, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, and Seinfeld.

Low-powered television stations KUIL-LD and K36ID-D broadcast MyNetworkTV programming on virtual channel 12.3.^[1][2] It can also be seen on Time Warner channel 15 and in high definition on digital channel 870. KUIL also airs Azteca América on virtual channel 12.4. Azteca is not currently seen on Time Warner.

History

Unrelated to the current channel 12 license, the KBMT call sign was originally used on UHF channel 31 when it was launched May 9, 1954 as the first television station to broadcast in the Golden Triangle.^[3] It carried ABC, CBS and NBC, but lost CBS when KFDM-TV went on the air in 1955. Since the FCC did not mandate television sets to use converters until 1964, this KBMT went off the air on August 1, 1956.^[4]

The current KBMT began broadcasting on June 18, 1961 as an ABC affiliate. Before 1961, ABC had been relegated to limited clearances on KPAC-TV (now KBTV-TV) and KFDM-TV. The original owners were N.D. Williams and Randolph Reed. The station was later sold to Cowles Broadcasting in 1965, H&C Communications in 1980, McKinnon Broadcasting in 1991, and present owner London Broadcasting in 2009. On January 1, 2009, KBMT added NBC programming on a new digital subchannel. This comes after KBTV, which previously held the affiliation, switched to Fox. This in turn caused former affiliate KUIL-LP (now KUIL-LD) to go Independent. In a ten year deal with London Broadcasting, KBMT began to manage the programming of that station.^[5] On July 6, 2010, the station launched Azteca América on a new 4th digital subchannel becoming the first Spanish-language television station offered in the Golden Triangle.

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.^[6] 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.^[7]

Station slogans

• "Hello Southeast Texas, Channel 12 and You" (1980s-1991, used when station featured Frank Gari's "Hello News")
• "The News Station of Southeast Texas" (1991–1998)
• "More Local News for Southeast Texas" (1998–2001)
• "Southeast Texas' First Choice for More Local News" (2001–2007, primary slogan)
• "Live. Local. Latebreaking." (2001–2007, secondary slogan)
• "We Believe in More Local News" (2007–present)

News team

Anchors

• Tracy Kennick - weekday mornings
• Brian Burns - weekday mornings and noon
• Greg Picazo - weeknights at 5 and 6:30
• Mary Sturgill - weeknights at 5 and 6:30
• Kevin Steele - weeknights at 6 and 10
• Jackie Simien - weeknights at 6 and 10
• Erika Harris - weekends

Meteorologists

• Patrick Vaughn - Chief seen weeknights
• Jeff Gerber- weekday mornings and noon
• Bert Charan - weekends

Sports

• Dave Hofferth - Director seen weeknights at 6, 6:30, and 10
  • Sports Blitz host
• Ashly Elam - weekends

Reporters

• Courtney Francisco
• Molly O'Brien
• Lamar Holliday
• Pilar Arias

Notable former staff

• John Hambrick
• Bill Macatee - now CBS sportscaster for tennis and golf
• Ben McCain Actor, Producer, Reporter Time Warner Cable Los Angeles
• Van Earl Wright - weekend sports anchor
• John Ireland - co-host of "Mason and Ireland" on KSPN Los Angeles

References

External links

• KBMT channel 12
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KBMT
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KVHP-LD