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KWTX-TV

KWTX-TV
CityWaco, Texas
Channels
Branding
  • News 10
  • Telemundo Central Texas (on DT2)
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
KNCT, KBTX-TV
History
First air date
April 3, 1955 (69 years ago) (1955-04-03)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 10 (VHF, 1955–2009)
  • Digital: 53 (UHF, 2001–2009)
  • Independent (April–September 1955)
  • ABC (primary, September 1955–1956 and 1977–1983; secondary, 1956–1977)
  • CBS (1956–1977)
  • UPN (DT2, January–September 2006)
  • The CW (DT2, September 2006–2019)
Call sign meaning
Waco, Texas
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID35903
ERP39 kW
HAAT554.9 m (1,821 ft)
Transmitter coordinates31°19′19.2″N 97°19′3″W / 31.322000°N 97.31750°W / 31.322000; -97.31750
Links
Public license information
Website

KWTX-TV (channel 10) is a television station in Waco, Texas, United States, serving Central Texas as an affiliate of CBS and Telemundo. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Belton-licensed CW affiliate KNCT (channel 46). The two stations share studios on American Plaza in Waco; KWTX-TV's transmitter is located near Moody, Texas.

KWTX-TV offers Telemundo programming on its second digital subchannel. This subchannel started on January 23, 2006, as an UPN affiliate ("UPN Waco") and changed its branding to "CW 12 Central Texas" on September 15, 2006. The subchannel switched to Telemundo on January 2, 2019, after Gray Television moved its CW affiliation to former PBS member station KNCT, which it had just acquired from Central Texas College.[2]

KBTX-TV (channel 3) in Bryan–College Station operates as a semi-satellite of KWTX-TV. As such, it simulcasts all network and syndicated programming as provided through KWTX-TV but airs separate commercial inserts, legal identifications, local newscasts and Sunday morning religious programs, and has its own website. KWTX-TV serves the western half of the Waco–Temple–Bryan market while KBTX serves the eastern portion. The two stations are counted as a single unit for ratings purposes. Although KBTX-TV maintains its own studios on East 29th Street in Bryan, master control and some internal operations are based at KWTX-TV's facilities.

History

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Beginnings

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KWTX-TV first signed on the air as an independent station on April 3, 1955. It was originally owned by Texoma Broadcasting, a holding company owned by businessman Milford N. "Buddy" Bostick alongside KWTX radio (AM 1230 and FM 97.5). At the time, crosstown KANG-TV (channel 34) had the ABC, CBS and DuMont affiliations. KWTX picked up ABC in time for the fall 1955 TV season, and DuMont's closure left KANG as a full-time CBS station.

Long plagued by financial difficulties due to being the only UHF station in the market at a time when UHF tuners were rare, KANG, owned by Texas Broadcasting Company, shut down at the end of 1955. Texoma bought KANG's assets and sold a 29 percent stake in KWTX-TV to Texas Broadcasting.[3] KWTX-TV picked up the CBS affiliation as a result of the merger with KANG,[4] and has been a primary CBS affiliate ever since. It shared a secondary ABC affiliation with KCEN-TV (channel 6) until September 1, 1977, when KWTX-TV and KBTX-TV became primary ABC affiliates.[5] The two stations then returned to CBS in 1983.[6] KCEN became a primary ABC affiliate in 1984,[7] only to reaffiliate with NBC at the end of 1985.[8]

Texoma purchased KXII in Sherman in 1958. A year before, KBTX-TV in Bryan took to the air as semi-satellite of KWTX serving the Brazos Valley.

First live televised trial

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Beginning December 6, 1955, KWTX-TV televised the murder trial of Harry L. Washburn, marking the first live telecast of a courtroom trial in the United States. The telecast earned near universal praise from the legal community. District Judge D.W. Bartlett praised the station's crew for its unobtrusiveness: "I have not noticed anything that would in any way interfere with the administration of justice. I don't think anyone could object to the television being run while this is on. It is perfectly quiet, it's outside the jury, and there's been perfect decorum of all concerned, and I don't think there would be any reflection on any court to have this television carried on as it has been carried on in this court."[9]

Role during Branch Davidian raid

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Just before the Mount Carmel raid on February 28, 1993, Davidian learned that they were facing not a service of warrants, but a shootout. KWTX-TV cameraman James Peeler asked directions of Davidian David Jones, who was driving his postal truck. David Koresh's attorney Dick DeGuerin told reporters that Peeler told Jones, "Well, you better get out of here because there's a United States National Guard helicopter over at TSTC (Texas State Technical College) and they're going to have a big shootout with the religious nuts." Peeler was distressed to see Jones immediately drive to Mount Carmel Center and left the area to call his superiors.[10]

According to the Treasury report, Jones told DeGuerin that "Peeler warned him not to go near the Compound as there were going to be 60 to 70 TABC (Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission) guys in helicopters and a shoot-out would occur'." And Peeler himself confessed to the Treasury review team that he had told Jones there would be "some type of law enforcement action" and that "the action was likely to be a raid of some type and that there might be shooting."[11]

KWTX-TV cameraman Dan Mulloney testified that KWTX-TV's initial information came from law enforcement agents he refused to name—something the Treasury report failed to reveal—as well as from a private ambulance driver working with BATF. (Similarly, BATF agent Ballesteros admitted that it was non-BATF law enforcement that tipped off the Waco Tribune-Herald.) Therefore, BATF agents' expectations of a shootout were directly transmitted to the Davidians.[12]

Mulloney, Peeler, and reporter John McLemore, along with reporters from the Waco Tribune-Herald, were the only non-combatants at Mount Carmel that day. Mulloney shot the TV footage used around the world of agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms storming the Davidians' home. Mulloney and McLemore later used their vehicle to transport injured ATF agents away from the shootout.[13] McLemore received letter of commendation from the ATF Director for his bravery that day. However, KWTX reporters became easy targets for blame during the subsequent trials following the botched raid, particularly because Koresh learned about the approaching raid from Jones, the postal worker from which Peeler asked directions.[12] McLemore, Peeler and Mulloney were never charged with any crime.

Gray Television ownership

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On April 15, 1999, Atlanta-based Gray Communications Systems (now Gray Television) announced that it would acquire KWTX-TV, KBTX-TV, and KXII from Texoma Broadcasting for $139 million. Texoma had long owned the stations through three Bostick-controlled holding companies—KWTX Broadcasting, Inc., Brazos Broadcasting, Inc., and KXII Broadcasters, Inc., respectively. The decision to sell the stations stemmed from recommendations by shareholders of the companies because of the costs that the Bostick companies would incur in launching and operating digital television signals for the three stations, with Gray CEO Hilton H. Howell Jr. (a Waco native and shareholder in KWTX) inquiring about purchasing the stations after Bostick was initially unsuccessful in reaching sale agreements with prospective buyers. Through the transaction, which was finalized on October 1, 1999, Gray paid $41.5 million in cash as well as additional cash payments for certain accounts receivable to purchase channel 12 from Bostick-owned KXII Broadcasters Inc.[14][15][16][17][18][19]

On August 28, 2018, it was reported that the Central Texas College Board of Trustees had voted to assign the broadcast license of PBS member station KNCT to Gray, which would create a duopoly with KWTX-TV.[20] This was possible because KNCT broadcasts on a channel not reserved for non-commercial broadcasting.[21] The sale was approved by the FCC on December 12, and it was completed on December 17.[22][23] KNCT returned to the air on January 2, 2019, taking CW programming from KWTX-TV.[2][24]

Technical information

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Subchannels

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The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of KWTX-TV[25][2]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
10.1 1080i 16:9 KWTX-DT CBS
10.2 720p TELMDO Telemundo
10.3 480i MeTV MeTV
10.4 ION MYS Ion Mystery
10.5 Oxygen Oxygen

Analog-to-digital conversion

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KWTX-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 10, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 53, which was among the high band UHF channels (52–69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to its analog-era VHF channel 10 for post-transition operations.[26]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KWTX-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ a b c "Time to Rescan! New KWTX Channels Coming in 2019". KWTX.com. Gray Television. December 27, 2018. Archived from the original on January 1, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  3. ^ "Closed Circuit". Broadcasting/Telecasting. 50 (3): 5. January 16, 1956.
  4. ^ "Four More UHF Stations Call it Quits". Broadcasting/Telecasting. 50 (2): 63. January 2, 1956.
  5. ^ "WSOC-TV ships on with ABC-TV" (PDF). Broadcasting. August 1, 1977. pp. 32, 33.
  6. ^ "Texas switch" (PDF). Broadcasting. August 8, 1983. p. 74.
  7. ^ "KCEN-TV Switched To ABC; Still NBC". The Waco Citizen. Waco, Texas. August 31, 1984. p. 33. Retrieved January 14, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "In Brief" (PDF). Broadcasting. September 30, 1985. p. 136.
  9. ^ "KWTX-TV Covers Murder Trial Live, Sets Precedent in Courtroom Access". Broadcasting/Telecasting. 49 (24): 79–80. December 12, 1955.
  10. ^ "What Really Happened at Waco «". Moorethink.com. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  11. ^ "Report to the Justice and Treasury Departments by Nancy T. Ammerman". Hirr.hartsem.edu. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  12. ^ a b Bryce, Robert (June 23, 2000). "Killing the Messenger: Who's Really to Blame for the Botched Raid in Waco? – News". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  13. ^ Robert Bryce, Jim Moore and Joe Ellis (April 19, 2000). "Who tipped off the media about the Waco raid? - Salon.com". Archive.salon.com. Archived from the original on January 20, 2005. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  14. ^ "COMPANY NEWS; GRAY COMMUNICATIONS ADDING 3 CBS TV AFFILIATES". The New York Times. Associated Press. April 15, 1999. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  15. ^ "Dobson Communications expands ties with AT&T". Tulsa World. World Publishing Company. April 16, 1999. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  16. ^ Alisa Holmes (April 19, 1999). "Changing Hands. (television station sales)". Broadcasting & Cable. Cahners Business Information. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  17. ^ "New Stock Paves Way for Gray to Buy TV Stations". NewsInc. October 11, 1999. Archived from the original on August 21, 2017. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  18. ^ "BIG DEALS OF 1999.(broadcast industry)". Broadcasting & Cable. Cahners Business Information. February 14, 2000. Archived from the original on August 21, 2017. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  19. ^ "SEC Filing on Gray Communications Systems' Acquisitions". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. August 16, 1999. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  20. ^ Carroll, John (August 28, 2018). "CTC Approves sale of KNCT-TV to Gray Television and KWTX-TV". KWTX.com. Gray Television. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  21. ^ "47 CFR 73.622 – Digital television table of allotments". Code of Federal Regulations. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  22. ^ "Broadcast Actions" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. December 18, 2018. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  23. ^ "Consummation Notice". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. December 19, 2018. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  24. ^ "New year sees shift in some local TV channel positions", Waco Tribune-Herald, January 5, 2019, Retrieved February 18, 2019.
  25. ^ RabbitEars TV Query for KWTX
  26. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
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