Early years
Very high frequency (VHF) channel 7 was originally allocated as the educational channel for Butte. However, plans for educational broadcasting in Montana had failed to get off the ground; the 1975 Montana Legislature scuttled a proposed educational network using the Butte channel 7 allotment. When Robert L. Cooper, a Bozeman native, decided to pursue a television station for the city, he filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to have channel 7 moved from Butte to Bozeman for commercial use, rejecting the use of a channel on the ultra high frequency (UHF) band as unsuitable. PBS agreed to the idea of adding channel 2 to Butte for educational use there, making it feasible for channel 7 to be reallocated to Bozeman. Several groups objected to the proposal, including Butte station KXLF-TV; Rocky Mountain Public Television; and Governor Thomas Judge, who continued his objection even after learning that plans would keep an educational channel in Butte.[3] KXLF had objected as part of the Montana Television Network (MTN) as a whole; it feared that putting channel 2 at Butte would cause eventual interference issues with KTVQ in Billings on the same channel. The FCC, however, found that a growing Bozeman merited a commercial VHF station and granted Cooper's request in November 1980.[4]
Cooper was among four applicants for the channel once applications closed in September 1981, joined by Edward Johnson, an attorney from Knoxville, Tennessee; Tri-B Broadcasting of Plentywood; and Bee Broadcasting, owned by Benny Bee, a radio DJ from Whitefish.[5] However, a comparative hearing among the four applicants, scheduled for August 1982, was forestalled when merger negotiations began among the group; by this time, Johnson had all but dropped out.[6] Bee Broadcasting owned 90 percent and Tri-B the remainder of the merged entity; Cooper's company, New West Broadcasting, dropped out in exchange for reimbursement of its expenses.[7] The construction permit was issued by the FCC on December 22, 1982.[8]
Bee approached the three major networks seeking affiliation. However, he was denied, first by CBS[9] and later by ABC and NBC. At the time, in the Missoula–Butte market, the existing two stations each had their own network affiliations. The Eagle Communications network (KECI-TV in Missoula and KTVM-TV in Butte) was an NBC–CBS affiliate, while KXLF-TV and KPAX-TV in Missoula had held first call rights to ABC programs while also airing some CBS shows.[10] The networks believed Bozeman was adequately covered. With no network affiliation and no building permits locally for studios, Bee declared in July 1983 that he had "had his fill" of television and wanted to sell the construction permit.[11] However, he reactivated plans for the station in February 1984, this time proposing to operate it as an independent station without network affiliation.[12]
At that time, however, a brief opening appeared in western Montana television affiliations. Later in 1984, KXLF and KPAX, along with the other stations in MTN, became sole CBS affiliates. The Missoula-based Eagle Communications network—which also had a station in Butte—then obtained the ABC affiliation, which precluded it from being available to Bee's proposed Bozeman outlet.[13] In September 1984, Eagle Communications then filed to buy the KCTZ construction permit for $179,000, with a third of the purchase price to be paid in advertising credits with Eagle.[14][15] However, the application—contingent on the FCC reversing a decision to delete the permit for failure to build—languished at the commission for more than a year. The reason why was that the Reier family, which owned KBOZ-AM-FM, had objected to the sale at the start of 1985. It felt that local interests should have the opportunity to file for the channel and propose their own service.[16][17] The commission granted the necessary extension in January 1986.[18]
The Eagle acquisition never panned out; in January 1987, the FCC denied the proposed sale, claiming that KTVM-TV was already seen in Bozeman and that a new satellite station would be duplicative.[19] Bee then set out to build the station itself, only to find yet more opposition from the Reiers. Bee claimed that Karen Reier had telephoned him in March 1987 and inquired as to whether Bee would sell the permit; in July, Bee then sued the Reiers for $10 million in damage, claiming their actions had caused potential deals with Eagle and KOUS-TV in Billings to fall through.[20] Meanwhile, construction of the station took place.[21]
At last, KCTZ began broadcasting on August 31, 1987. On its fourth day of operation, the station had to go off the air for five hours because its broadcasts interfered with medical telemetry equipment at Bozeman Deaconess Hospital that also used channel 7 spectrum.[22] Having fought years of battles, however, Bee was thinly capitalized. When Bozeman Cable TV could not include the station on its lineup until after the start of 1988, starving it of much-needed advertising revenue, Bee decided he could hold out no longer and decided to put the station up for sale. He reached a deal with Big Horn Communications, owner of KOUS-TV, though he first had to offer Cooper the ability to buy KCTZ under the terms of his 1982 buyout.[23] The transfer to Big Horn was approved in July 1988[24][25] and consummated that November,[26] though the Reiers alleged that Big Horn had taken control without a formal application, leading to proceedings that did not end until 1991.
