KWES-TV

KWES-TV / KWAB-TV

KWES: Midland/Odessa, Texas
KWAB: Big Spring, Texas
United States
Branding NewsWest 9
Slogan The Star of West Texas
More News. More Often.
Channels Digital:
KWES: 9 (VHF)
Virtual: 9 (PSIP)
KWAB: 33 (UHF)
Virtual: 4 (PSIP)
Subchannels x.1 NBC
x.2 The CW
x.3 Telemundo
Affiliations NBC (since 1981)
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 channel number(s) Analog:
KWES:
9 (VHF, 1958-2009)
KWAB:
4 (VHF, 1956-2009)
Former affiliations ABC (1958-1981)
Transmitter power KWES: 25.7 kW
KWAB: 174 kW
Height KWES: 391 m
KWAB: 83.3 m
Facility ID KWES: 42007
KWAB: 42008
Transmitter coordinates KWES:
31°59′17.8″N 102°52′42.3″W / 31.988278°N 102.878417°W
KWAB:
32°16′54.5″N 101°29′34.8″W / 32.281806°N 101.493000°W
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: / KWAB-TV Profile
/ KWAB-TV CDBS
Website www.newswest9.com

KWES-TV, channel 9, commonly referred to as NewsWest 9, is the NBC affiliated television station in the Midland/Odessa area. The station is owned by the Drewry Communications Group. It also operates a satellite station, KWAB-TV (virtual channel 4), in Big Spring, Texas.

History

KWES began broadcasting in 1958 as KVKM-TV in Monahans, Texas, an ABC affiliate. It was originally co-owned with KVKM radio (1340 AM; now KCKM 1330). Initially broadcasting from a 777 ft (237 m) tower between Kermit and Monahans (shared with the radio station), KVKM-TV moved to a 1,080 ft (330 m) tower at the edge of the Caprock around 1962.

Grayson Enterprises (named for Sidney Grayson but after 1964 not owned) assumed ownership of KVKM-TV in 1969 and renamed it KMOM-TV, for Monahans-Odessa-Midland. Grayson added other stations to his operation during the late 1960s and 1970s, including KCCN (now KKEA) in Honolulu, Hawaii, KLBK-TV in Lubbock, Texas, and KTXS-TV in Abilene/Sweetwater, Texas, among others.

Under Grayson's ownership, KVKM added two satellite stations: KWAB, and KAVE-TV (channel 6) in Carlsbad, New Mexico. The latter station served as a KVKM/KMOM satellite from 1966 until 1969, when KVKM was sold to Grayson, and KAVE became a satellite of KELP-TV El Paso. KAVE later sold to Stanley Marsh 3 and continued as a satellite of KVIA-TV in El Paso, Texas. (KAVE is now KOCT, a satellite of KOAT-TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico.)

However, Grayson Enterprises ran into license renewal trouble in 1968, 1971, 1974, and 1977 for some of its stations. These stations were accused of fraudulent billing, program and transmitter log fabrication, main studio violations, failure to make required technical tests, and other issues. The stations had their renewals deferred and hearings ordered as a result.

The case was settled in what was then described as a "distress sale", in which Grayson's stations were broken up and sold to minority-controlled groups (nowadays known as historically-underutilized groups) at a reduced price. The parameters of such a sale were defined by this sell-off. As a result, KMOM and KWAB were transferred to a Hispanic-controlled group, while KLBK and KTXS went to Prima, Inc. (whose principals were African American).

The station swapped affiliations with KMID-TV (channel 2) in 1981 and joined NBC. Simultaneous with the affiliation swap, channel 9 changed its call letters to KTPX-TV and moved its studio operations from Monahans to Midland, at a location near Midland International Airport. It became KWES-TV on August 16, 1993. (KTPX-TV is now assigned to the Ion Television affiliate in Tulsa, Oklahoma.)

Current owner Drewry Communications Group had planned to sell its stations to London Broadcasting in 2008;[1] however, by January 2009, the deal fell through.[2]

In addition to NBC Programming, KWES became the home of Dallas Cowboys preseason television broadcasts in 2011, gaining the rights from Fox West Texas. The rights give the KWES ownership all Dallas Cowboys preseason rights in West Texas as they have held the Spanish rights since 2006 and have aired them on KTLE 9.3. KWES held Houston Texans preseason TV rights in 2002 and 2003 (during a period when NBC did not hold any NFL rights), but low ratings were produced due to tape delaying the broadcasts until Sunday afternoon. KWES chose to let go of the Texans preseason rights, and they weren't picked up again until 2010 when KPEJ picked them up. KWES lost the rights to the English broadcasts of Cowboys preseason games in 2013.

KWES lost rights to LATV on December 29, 2013, but they were able to gain the rights to The CW from KWWT. As a result, KWES now airs The CW programming on KWES DT2 with The CW Plus feed. On June 12, 2014, KWWT-DT2's CW feed was made available to local Dish Network subscribers on Channel 10.

KWAB

KWAB began operations in 1956 as KBST-TV, owned by the Big Spring Herald along with KBST radio (1490 AM). The station carried programming from all three networks; however, it was hampered by the presence of KMID-TV in Midland, which carried NBC and some ABC programming, and KOSA-TV (channel 7) in Odessa, which carried CBS, which limited KBST's network programming. Consequently, the station had little success. The radio station was eventually sold to the Snyder Corporation (co-owned by Ted Snyder, who later acquired KARN in Little Rock, Arkansas, and B. Winston Wrinkle), while a half interest in KBST-TV was transferred to Dub Rogers' Texas Telecasting, owner of KDUB-TV in Lubbock (now KLBK-TV) and part-owner of KVER-TV in Clovis, New Mexico (now KVIH-TV). Rogers then changed the call letters of the station to KEDY-TV.

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 1960s. Otherwise, KEDY largely became a semi-satellite of KDUB. In 1961, Rogers sold his stations to Grayson Enterprises. Soon afterward, the station took its current KWAB callsign (for Webb Air Force Base), and switched from simulcasting KDUB to KPAR-TV (now KTXS-TV) in Sweetwater. However, both KDUB and KPAR were primarily affiliated with CBS (though KPAR also had a secondary ABC affiliation), resulting at times in KWAB duplicating KOSA. Soon after Grayson's acquisition of KVKM-TV, KWAB began to simulcast that station, alleviating the duplication.

For many years, the stations did some Big Spring production, most of which aired on a delayed basis. Today in Big Spring was recorded in Big Spring and fed back to the Midland studios over the company microwave system. This microwave link proved pivotal for KWES during the February 2008 Alon USA refinery explosion, allowing the station to provide live skycam images and live pictures in the hours immediately after the blast.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[3][4]
x.1 1080i 16:9 KWES-DT
KWAB-DT 		Main programming / NBC
x.2 480i 4:3 KWES-D2
KWAB-D2 		The CW
x.3 KWES-D3
KWAB-D3 		Telemundo

Analog-to-digital conversion

KWES-TV & KWAB-TV shut down their analog signals, respectively over VHF channels 9 & 4, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. KWES-TV's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition VHF channel 13 to former VHF analog channel 9 for post-transition operations. KWAB-TV's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 33.[5] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 4.

References

  1. ↑ "London Broadcasting Acquires KWES-TV". KWES NewsWest 9. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
  2. ↑ "London adds a market, leaves a crater". Television Business Report. January 16, 2009. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
  3. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KWES
  4. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KWAB
  5. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.

External links