History
KEPR-TV went on the air for the first time December 30, 1954, as a satellite of KIMA-TV.[1] It was owned by Cascade Broadcasting Company, which also owned 40 percent of KWIE (610 AM) in Kennewick. Cascade bought the remaining 60 percent of KWIE in November 1956[2] and changed its call letters to KEPR, matching the television station, the following year.[3]
A few years earlier, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) collapsed all of central Washington into one giant television market. However, this market was designated a "UHF island" due to being sandwiched between Seattle to the west, Spokane to the east and Portland to the south. It soon became apparent that one full-power UHF station would not nearly be enough for adequate coverage of this vast and mountainous area. KEPR-TV thus signed on as the first station in the United States to be a satellite of another.
Original plans called for it to be a straight repeater of KIMA-TV, apart from station identifications. However, it soon became apparent that Tri-Cities residents wanted a more local station. Monte Strohl, who until then had been a radio salesman at KIMA, was installed as the first manager-salesman of KEPR-TV. The station also added a separate news department.
Like its parent station, KEPR-TV carried programming from all three networks, but was a primary CBS affiliate. It lost ABC in 1961 when KNDU (channel 25) signed on following the lead of parent station KNDO (channel 23), lost NBC but regained ABC in 1965 when KNDU and KNDO became full-time NBC affiliates, and lost ABC again when KVEW (channel 42) signed on along with parent KAPP (channel 35) in 1970. During the 1970s, KEPR and KIMA co-branded as "Cascade TV".
Filmways agreed to purchase Cascade Broadcasting for $3 million in 1968;[4] the sale was approved the following year.[5] Cascade's previous owners retained the company's radio stations, which by this point also included KEPR-FM (105.3 FM), under the name Yakima Valley Communications; the KEPR radio stations then changed their call letters to KONA and KONA-FM.[4][5] Filmways sold KEPR-TV, KIMA-TV, and KLEW-TV to NWG Broadcasting for $1 million in 1972.[6] Retlaw Enterprises acquired the NWG stations for $17 million in 1986;[7] the stations were operated as part of the Retlaw Broadcasting division.[8]
In 2000, KEPR became the first station in the Tri-Cities to broadcast a digital signal with the activation of a low-power, standard-definition signal on channel 18; this was upgraded to a full-power, high-definition signal in 2007. The digital signal remained on channel 18 following the end of analog broadcasting in 2009, using virtual channel 19.
On March 30, 2009, KEPR launched a digital subchannel affiliated with The CW, filling the void left by KCWK (channel 9) going dark at the end of May 2008 due to the Pappas Telecasting bankruptcy.[10] The subchannel subsequently took KCWK's former channel 9 position on local cable systems. As had been the case with KCWK, programming is primarily sourced from the network's CW+ feed, along with a local 10 p.m. newscast.
On April 11, 2013, Fisher announced that it would sell its properties, including KEPR-TV, to the Sinclair Broadcast Group.[11] The deal was completed on August 8, 2013.[12]
