| Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas | |
|---|---|
| City of license | Dallas, Texas |
| Branding | Telemundo 39 (read as "Telemundo Treinta y Nueve") |
| Channels | Digital: 40 (UHF) Virtual: 39.1 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | (See article) |
| Affiliations | Telemundo (2002-present) |
| Owner | NBCUniversal (NBC Telemundo License Company) |
| First air date | February 5, 1968 |
| Call letters' meaning | X = Christ, or Cross (reflecting past CBN ownership) TX = Texas |
| Sister station(s) | KXAS-TV |
| Former callsigns | KDTV (1968-1973) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 39 (UHF, 1968-2009) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1968-1995, 1995-2001) The WB (January-July 1995) |
| Transmitter power | 1000 kW |
| Height | 494 m |
| Facility ID | 35994 |
| Website | www.telemundodallas.com |
KXTX-TV, digital channel 40 (virtual channel 39.1), is the Telemundo owned-and-operated station in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas Designated Market Area. Its transmitter is located in Cedar Hill, Texas.
Contents |
| Channel | Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 39.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | Main KFWD programming / Telemundo |
| 39.2 | 480i | 4:3 | Inmigrante TV |
| 39.3 | 480i | 4:3 | Soi |
KXTX-TV also has plans for a Mobile DTV feed of subchannel 39.1.[1][2]
On June 12, 2009,[3] KXTX shut down its analog channel 39 transmitter (to make way for KLDT to transmit its channel 39 digital signal) at 10:35 p.m. and continues digital TV broadcasting on channel 40 [4] using PSIP to display KXTX-DT's virtual channel as "39.1" on digital television receivers.
The station signed on March 2, 1968 [1] as a business news/general entertainment independent station under the call sign KDTV. Its original owner, Doubleday, decided to exit the market in late 1973, and donated its programming and broadcast license to CBN, which already owned KXTX, channel 33. CBN returned the license for channel 33 to the FCC and combined its existing assets with channel 39, moving the KXTX call letters in the process (The KDTV calls now reside on a TV station in San Francisco, which is unrelated to KXTX; Interestingly, that station is currently an O&O of Telemundo's chief rival, Univision). KDTV offered Japanese cartoons dubbed into English including Speed Racer and Johnny Cypher in Dimension Zero.
As an independent station, KXTX ranked behind KTVT in the ratings. Initially, the station ran cartoons, off-network classic sitcoms, family dramas, old movies, and westerns about twelve hours a day. The programming included The Little Rascals, Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, The Brady Bunch, McHale's Navy, The Andy Griffith Show, Star Trek, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., The Munsters, Tom and Jerry, Scooby-Doo, The Jetsons, Heckle & Jeckle, Mighty Mouse, Deputy Dawg, Magilla Gorilla, Jonny Quest, The Flintstones (by the late 1970s), westerns listed below, among others. It also ran religious shows about five hours a day, and all day on Sundays. The 700 Club, which is produced by CBN, was broadcast three times a day during the week on the station. The station also ran a variety of older movies from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. By the end of the 1970s, KXTX was on the air about 20 hours a day and running secular programming about 15 hours a day except on Sundays.
In 1980, KXTX reduced Sunday religious shows from the entire day to 6-10 a.m. and 7 p.m.-Midnight and therefore began broadcasting secular shows in the afternoon on Sundays.
By 1983, competitors began overextending themselves to get strong programming. Channel 21 (KTXA) was converted into a full time entertainment station. Channel 33 (now KDAF) began to run a strong lineup by 1986. KDFI also became a full time entertainment station in 1984. As a result, KXTX moved away from cartoons sucha s Tom & Jerry and classic sitcoms such as the Brady Bunch (which both fell off KXTX's schedule by the mid to late 1980s) and more toward westerns, family dramas, and more movies. In 1986, the station was put up for sale along with other CBN stations, but there were no buyers for KXTX.
The station began broadcasting infomercials by 1990. By the early 1990s, KXTX was broadcasting mostly paid programming, a few drama shows, westerns, and low budget movies along with some religious programming. In 1993, LIN Broadcasting, which owned KXAS, began managing the station and added some first-run syndicated shows, with Channel 5's newscasts rebroadcast later in the day. WB programming aired on KXTX from January 1995 until July 1995, when KDAF affiliated with the WB network. On October 12, 1996, tragedy struck when an accident by a tower crew (gin pole high centered) caused the collapse of the 1535 ft. tall tower in Cedar Hill, putting the station, as well as 3 radio stations in the area on temporary and lashed together facilities for many months. KXTX improvised facilities at the nearby tower of KXAS. The FM stations built on one tower or another.
For years KXTX was known for its "Western weekends," broadcasting a lineup of classic westerns in the afternoons and early evenings on Saturdays and Sundays. Shows included in the lineup through the years included The Lone Ranger, The Rifleman, Bonanza, Rawhide, Alias Smith and Jones, The Virginian, Little House on the Prairie, Gunsmoke, The Big Valley, and Have Gun, Will Travel. Movies based on these shows often occupied the weekend evening timeslots. The film and television writer and director, and former Dallas resident, Mike Judge added several references to the "Channel 39" weekend Kung Fu programming in his 1999 movie Office Space.
The local marketing agreement between KXTX and KXAS ended in the late 1990s when NBC bought KXAS. The network later bought KXTX in 2001. NBC, which owned Telemundo, made KXTX the market's Telemundo affiliate, while longtime Dallas Telemundo affiliate KFWD-TV became an English speaking independent station. For the last weeks of its English broadcasts, KXTX broadcast a handful of episodes of even older Westerns, such as Jim Bowie, over and over again as well as movie marathons from Off Beat Cinema. After the demise of English broadcasting on KXTX, Westerns in the DFW market found a home for a time on the local Pax TV (now Ion Television) affiliate. The rest of the meager programming inventory from KXTX moved over to KFWD along with some programming from another station, Channel 49 KSTR, which also converted to a Spanish format at the same time as KXTX.
On November 19, 2009 a fire at the Fort Worth studios of KXTX and sister station KXAS knocked both stations off the air. The fire was located in the electrical room of the studio. Fire alarms went off at 9:30 p.m., which lead to the studio to be evacuated when a fire alarm went off, but then again were evacuated when the fire disrupted the 10:00 newscast on KXTX.[5]
The 1995-2001 KXTX 39 logo was briefly shown on a scene of Miss Congeniality on a news station microphone.
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