KTGF

KTGF

Great Falls, Montana United States
Branding	Faith & Family TV
Channels	Digital: 45 (UHF) Virtual: 16 (PSIP)
Subchannels	16.1 MeTV 16.2 JUCE TV 16.3 TBN 16.4 Smile of A Child 16.5 Hillsong Channel
Affiliations	MeTV (2014–present)
Owner	PetroMedia Corporation (KTGF License Corporation)
First air date	September 21, 1986 (1986-09-21)
Call letters' meaning	Television Great Falls
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 16 (UHF, 1986-2009)
Former affiliations	NBC (1986–2005) Fox (2005–2007) Independent (2007–2009) JCTV (2009) Dark (2009–2012)
Transmitter power	175 kW
Height	289 m
Facility ID	13792
Transmitter coordinates	47°36′24.7″N 111°21′33.2″W / 47.606861°N 111.359222°W / 47.606861; -111.359222
Licensing authority	FCC
Public license information:	Profile CDBS
Website	www.ktgf.tv

KTGF, digital channel 45, is a television station in Great Falls, Montana. The station is owned by KTGF License Corporation which acquired the station in March 2012. KTGF is affiliated with MeTV, JUCEtv, TBN, Smile of A Child, and Hillsong Channel.

History

KTGF started broadcasting on September 21, 1986 under the ownership of Continental Television. The station immediately became the city's first full-time affiliate of the NBC television network. From its inception, the station was far behind KRTV and KFBB-TV in the ratings. In March 2001, Continental Television sold KTGF (along with KTMF in Missoula and KWYB in Butte) to Max Media.

In 2003, Max Media signed an agreement to purchase KFBB, as well as KULR-TV in Billings, from Dix Communications. Since the Great Falls television market is not large enough to own two television stations, Max immediately put KTGF up for sale. For more than a year, Max Media could not find a buyer for the station. Finally, Max Media sold KTGF in November 2004 to Destiny Communications of Wichita, Kansas.

In April 2005, Beartooth Communications, the owner of KTVH (the NBC affiliate in Helena), purchased a low power television permit in Great Falls for channel 50. It became obvious that Beartooth was positioning itself to take the NBC affiliation away from KTGF when the NBC affiliation agreement expired at the end of June. Destiny Communications filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to prevent NBC from removing the affiliation and giving it to Beartooth's station, now known as KBGF-LP. As the end of June approached, confusion reigned. Both parties claimed they would be the NBC affiliate on July 1 in Great Falls. On June 29, Destiny announced that it would affiliate with the Fox network beginning July 1. This created another confusing situation because another television station in Great Falls, KLMN, was already the Fox affiliate (although the local cable system did not carry the station). As a result, after the NBC affiliation moved from KTGF to KBGF on July 1, 2005, Fox programming was seen on both KTGF and KLMN for a time. Eventually, KLMN dropped Fox programming for UPN, and in September 2006 became an affiliate of MyNetworkTV.

KTGF logo from May 2007 to September 2009, while it operated as an independent station.

In May 2007, Destiny signed a joint sales agreement with KLMN's parent company, Equity Media Holdings. As a result, Fox programming moved back to KLMN, and KTGF became an independent station. After being offline for several weeks, KTGF unveiled an updated website with a revised logo.

After Destiny defaulted on its debt payments, the station filed to transfer the KTGF license to creditor RGW Investments LLC in September 2009.^[1] Shortly afterward, the station affiliated with JCTV.^[2]

KTGF went off the air December 19, 2009, citing problems with its microwave system.^[3] However, in February 2010, the station was noted as carrying a slide stating that it was no longer airing programming;^[4] that March, Max Media, which had retained the studio building and leased it to Destiny, sold the building to a local law firm.^[5] These events indicated that KTGF had ceased operations.

KTGF's license was formally transferred to RGW Investments on September 27, 2010.^[6] In December 2011, RGW Investments entered into an agreement to sell KTGF to KTGF License Corporation, a company owned by veteran radio and TV broadcaster Roger Lonnquist. The sale closed on March 7, 2012. Soon afterward, the station returned to the air, again as a JCTV affiliate. In September 2013, MeTV announced that KTGF would begin to carry its programming;^[7] as of 2014, MeTV programming is carried on its primary channel,^[8] with JUCE TV (the former JCTV) being moved to a second subchannel.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Newscasts

In KTGF's early years, the station produced a local newscast. However, due to weak ratings, the station ended its local news department in the mid 1990s.

Max Media brought "local" news back to KTGF in 2002 with Big Sky News. Max Media contracted with the Independent News Network to produce local news on Max Media's stations in Montana. The program actually originated in Davenport, Iowa. After a year, Big Sky News was cancelled.

As a Fox affiliate and as an independent station, KTGF broadcast short news updates anchored by Karen Wolf; the only other news programming on the station was the syndicated CBN NewsWatch.

Repeaters

• Loring — K65AH
• Toole — K42DD

Television tower

The KTGF television tower is a 244 meter high guyed TV mast at Great Falls, Montana, USA ( 47°36′24.7″N 111°21′33.2″W / 47.606861°N 111.359222°W / 47.606861; -111.359222 ). KTGF's tower was built in 1986 and is the tallest structure of Montana.

References

External links

• Official website
• KTGF Television Tower at Structurae
• "Listing 1051225". Antenna Structure Registration database. U.S. Federal Communications Commission. 
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KTGF
  • Query the FCC's TV station database for K65AH
  • Query the FCC's TV station database for K42DD
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KTGF-TV