KNIN-TV

KNIN-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Caldwell, Idaho, United States, serving as the Fox affiliate for the Boise area. The station is owned by Marquee Broadcasting. KNIN-TV's transmitter is located at the Bogus Basin ski area summit in unincorporated Boise County, with its technical and news operations based out of the studios of Sinclair Broadcast Group–owned KBOI-TV (channel 2) on North 16th Street in Boise under a facilities and services agreement.

The station signed on at the end of 1992 as KHDT-TV. Originally airing home shopping programming, the station raised its profile by affiliating with UPN in 1995. It then became a full-time general-entertainment station the next year under new KNIN-TV call letters. Journal Broadcast Group, then-owner of ABC affiliate KIVI-TV, acquired KNIN-TV in 2009 after appealing an FCC decision denying the purchase. Two years later, in the wake of a dispute between Fox and its then-affiliate, KTRV-TV, KNIN-TV replaced it as Boise's Fox affiliate. When the E. W. Scripps Company merged with Journal in 2015, it could not acquire the KNIN-TV license, which was transferred to

History

Early years

The station signed on December 28, 1992, as KHDT-TV, airing an analog signal on VHF channel 9.[2] The launch allowed KHDT-TV to beat a year-end deadline to get on the air.[3] It was originally owned by William Schuyler, who had put several television stations on the air in California, and was affiliated with the Home Shopping Network (HSN). On January 16, 1995, it became a charter UPN affiliate while continuing to air HSN from midnight to 6 p.m.[4]

Schuyler sold KHDT-TV in 1996 to Boise Broadcasting, a division of Las Vegas-based Lambert Television. On September 2, 1996, the station dropped most of its home shopping programming for a general-entertainment independent lineup and became an affiliate of UPN and The WB.[5] In commercials, the station's mascot was Boise DJ Brad Rowen under the alias "Rot Wyler", fitting with the "canine" pronunciation of the call sign;[6] the station's website called him "Idaho's most misunderstood no news anchor" and promised, "If there's news in the Treasure Valley, be assured K9-TV will miss it!"[7] The station was operated by Banks Broadcasting by 2000;[8] Banks then purchased the station in 2001.[9]

In the wake of the 2006 merger of UPN and The WB into The CW, KNIN-TV became the network's Boise affiliate.[10]

Journal ownership and Fox affiliation

On July 1, 2008, Banks Broadcasting announced that it had agreed to sell KNIN to Journal Communications (owner of KIVI and four FM and two AM radio stations), creating Boise's first television duopoly and marking Banks's exit from the television business. However, it was unclear how Journal was going to justify the purchase to the FCC because Boise had too few unique station owners to permit a duopoly.[11] While the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) initially rejected the application on November 10, 2008, stating Journal had not successfully shown that KNIN-TV was a "failing station" that could be rolled into a duopoly,[12] shortly afterward, Banks Broadcasting filed an appeal, and on January 16, 2009, the FCC reversed its decision, allowing the deal to go through.[13] The purchase closed on April 24;[14] some KNIN-TV employees were laid off after the sale.[15]

Sale to Marquee Broadcasting

Gray Television announced on February 15, 2023, that it would trade KNIN-TV to Marquee Broadcasting in exchange for Marquee's WPGA-TV serving the Macon, Georgia, market. The station swap would complete a key objective for Gray by giving it a full-service station in every market in Georgia, the company's home state.[29] The swap was completed on May 1, 2023.[30]

callsign	KNIN-TV
city	Caldwell, Idaho
branding	Fox 9, Fox 9 News
digital	10 (VHF)
virtual	9
translators	K18NG-D McDermitt, NV
affiliations	9.1: Fox for others, see
country	United States
airdate	December 28, 1992
location	Caldwell–Boise, Idaho
callsign meaning	Channel 9, or calls pronounced as "canine"
former callsigns	KHDT-TV (1992–1996)
former channel numbers	Analog: 9 (VHF, 1992–2009)
owner	Marquee Broadcasting
licensee	Marquee Broadcasting West, Inc.
former affiliations	HSN (primary 1992–1995, secondary 1995–1996) UPN (1995–2006) The WB (secondary, 1996–1998) The CW (2006–2011)
erp	25 kW
haat	818 m
facility id	59363
coordinates	43.755°N, -116.09861°W
licensing authority	FCC
website	http://fox9now.revrocket.us/

History

Early years

Journal ownership and Fox affiliation

Sale to Marquee Broadcasting

Newscasts

Technical information

Subchannels

Analog-to-digital conversion

External links

References