KFXK-TV

KFXK-TV (digital channel 31) is the Fox affiliate station of Longview, Texas. Its East Texas coverage area includes Tyler and Longview. The station is owned by White Knight Broadcasting, and controlled by Communications Corporation of America. Its transmitter is located near New London, Texas. The station's programming can also be seen on KFXL-LP channel 30 in Lufkin, which serves the Lufkin-Nacogdoches area; this helps spread the Fox signal further south, as KFXK's signal is not strong enough on its own to cover the whole East Texas TV market.

History

The station began life as CBS affiliate KLMG-TV on September 9, 1984. It made national news because the owner, Clara McLaughlin, was the first black woman to own a TV station in US history. ([1]) She bought a school building on I-20 in Longview and turned it into the station's studios. KLMG was intended to be part of a network of stations in East Texas entitled the East Texas Television Network. To this end, McLaughlin also held construction permits for KLNL on channel 19 in Nacogdoches, KLPH-TV on channel 42 in Paris, and KLDS on channel 20 in Denison. However, this plan did not pan out and none of the other stations ever came on the air. KLMG wound up in bankruptcy just a few years after it opened and the news department was closed.

KLMG switched its call letters to KFXK and affiliation to Fox in April 1991, leaving the market without a CBS affiliate for 13 years - until 2004 when KLSB, a satellite of NBC affiliate KETK, moved to low-power channel 53 in order for a new CBS affiliate, KYTX, to sign on. By 1998, KFXK had signed on the KFXL signal, giving the Lufkin-Nacogdoches area its first Fox affiliate.

Digital television

KFXK launched a full power digital television feed on UHF channel 31 on July 30, 2006. The digital signal carries KLPN, a co-owned MyNetworkTV affiliate, as a digital subchannel (31.2). KFXK began testing an HDTV signal on October 20, 2006, with a full HDTV signal going live on October 25. The signal is carried on Suddenlink Digital Cable systems on channel 705. On February 1, 2008, Longview Cable Television added KFXK-DT and KLPN on digital cable channels 250 and 252. KFXK ceased analog broadcasting on channel 51 on June 12, 2009.

Newscasts

As KLMG, the station made two attempts at newscasts; both were subsequently canceled.

In 1998, KFXK launched a 9:00 newscast, the first in the market. Produced by KETK-TV, it focused on stories across the East Texas region. The newscast initially achieved unexpectedly strong ratings, garnering a 3 share in only a month and a half, and continuing to rise while the initial anchor team and producer were in place; however, the ratings began to drop after both left for larger markets. In addition, the newscast was plagued with logistical problems when sports delays would push back the newscast's slated 9:00 airtime; when this happened, KFXK was forced to air it on a tape delay to allow KETK to produce its own 10 p.m. newscast on schedule. This occasionally led to the same meteorologist being seen on both KFXK and KETK simultaneously, causing some viewer confusion and thus letting them in on the secret that KFXK's news was not always live every night, despite the impression that it was. This, coupled with the declining ratings, eventually caused station management to cancel the newscast.

On January 28, 2008, KFXK launched yet another newscast, Fox News East Texas, which airs at 9:00 for a half-hour. Despite early reports of a two-hour morning newscast, Good Day East Texas, debuting at the same time, the station does not air one.

Fox News East Texas (Weeknights 9 to 9:30 P.M.)

• Anchor:
  • Kris Betts
• Weather:
  • Scott Chesner
• Sports:
  • Danny Elzner
• Reporters
  • KETK STAFF

KFXK features news personnel from KETK. See that article for a complete listing.

External links

• KFXK-TV station website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KFXK
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KFXL-LP
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KFXK-TV