History
KBTX was the first television station in the Brazos Valley, first going on air on May 22, 1957. It has broadcast from the same studio for its entire history, though the building has been renovated multiple times. Originally a primary CBS affiliate with a secondary ABC affiliation, KBTX became a primary affiliate of ABC in September 1977 along with its parent station. Both stations reverted to CBS in September 1983.
On October 14, 1983, KBTX opened a new transmitter in the Grimes County community of Carlos. The 1,700 ft tower nearly doubled the number of homes the station reached.
Perhaps the most noteworthy coverage from KBTX was on November 18, 1999. Early that morning, the Aggie Bonfire stack collapsed, killing 12 and injuring 27. The station provided non-stop coverage of the event, and served as a major source of information locally and nationally in the hours that followed.
KBTX celebrated its 50th anniversary in May 2007. Many former on-air staff returned for the celebration, including some who guest-anchored newscasts.[1]
In accordance with the original February 2009 date mandated by the federal government, KBTX permanently shut down its analog signal on January 20, 2009, as it made the transition to digital television.[2] On February 28, 2009, KBTX began broadcasting digitally at full power from the enhanced Carlos tower, again expanding its signal dramatically.[3] The station had been broadcasting on low power digital between its analog signal shutdown and the full power activation, in addition to being carried on cable systems and DirecTV.
KBTX and KWTX experimented with a jointly-run noon newscast in early 2009. News stories for both viewing areas were read from the KWTX studios in Waco for the first half of the show, with KBTX running live weather and additional local content from its studios for the remainder of the show airing in the Brazos Valley. KWTX aired its own live weather and content in its part of the market during that time. However, in late March 2009, the two stations returned to running separate newscasts, with KBTX citing "an overwhelming request from viewers for the show to be based out of the Twin Cities again."[4]
In 2009, KBTX reached agreements with Dish and DirecTV. For years, Dish Network had refused to offer KBTX to the Bryan–College Station area and had simply carried KWTX. However, in 2009, Dish relented.[5] On April 23 of that year, KBTX was made available in the Waco–Temple–Bryan market area.[6] In May 2009, after years of carrying KBTX to the market, DirecTV announced it would be dropping KBTX from its service. In June 2009, an agreement was reached to keep the station available to DirecTV customers.[7]
On September 12, 2011, KBTX launched a 4 p.m. newscast, titled First News at Four, replacing The Oprah Winfrey Show alongside Inside Edition at 4:30.
On October 10, 2011, KBTX began broadcasting its newscasts in high definition, making it the first live and local broadcaster in the Brazos Valley with HD news.[8]
