History
On March 25, 1953, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted Western Slope Broadcasting Company—owned by Rex Howell, owner of Grand Junction radio station KFXJ—a construction permit to build a new television station on channel 5.[2][3] Howell, who had brought radio to Grand Junction when KFXJ moved from the Denver suburb of Edgewater to Grand Junction in 1930,[4] was getting into television earlier than he had anticipated. He told the Grand Junction Rotary Club shortly after the permit was authorized that he would rather have waited five years to build a TV station but felt it necessary to "move now".[5] To house the station, KFXJ's radio studios were expanded with a new television wing.[6] KFXJ-TV began broadcasting a test pattern on May 22 and regular programming on May 30, 1954. It held affiliations at its start with NBC and the DuMont Television Network.[7] CBS affiliated with the station in December 1954 as part of its Extended Market Plan, which provided CBS programs to small-market stations.[8]
Shortly after going on the air, in August 1955, Howell announced plans to build satellite stations for KFXJ-TV to expand its coverage to Montrose (65 mi south of Grand Junction) on channel 10 and Durango (130 mi south of Grand Junction) on channel 6.[9] The Grand Junction KFXJ stations became KREX and KREX-TV on May 1, 1956, with the KFXJ-TV call sign moved to the new Montrose station,[10] which became KREY-TV on July 21, 1958.[11] Later that year, KREX-TV obtained a live hookup to CBS;[12] other networks were not included. To broadcast the 1958 World Series from NBC live, the station had to set up a portable microwave transmission antenna at a home in Price, Utah, that could receive the network signal from Salt Lake City so it could be beamed back to Grand Junction.[13] In 1961, the station announced plans to obtain a permanent microwave link for NBC and ABC programs; by that time, KREX-TV was a primary CBS affiliate, and that network accounted for 80 percent of its national programming.[14]
The Durango channel was not originally built by Howell and instead went on the air as a separate station, KJFL-TV. That station burned to the ground in a February 1964 fire;[16] an affiliated company of KREX purchased the construction permit[17] and put the station back on the air as KREZ-TV.[18] The combination of KREX-TV, KREY-TV, and KREZ-TV was promoted as the XYZ network.[19] Further, "Rex" and "rey" meant "king" in Latin and Spanish, respectively.[20]
In 1966, Howell sold KREX-TV and its satellites for $2.092 million to XYZ Television, Inc., in which an 81-percent controlling stake was held by Cincinnati-based Forestville Realty Corporation including James and William Williams.[21] The buyers struggled to make payments on the transaction, and in 1970 Howell reassumed managerial control over the XYZ stations.[22] Howell—who also served as a state senator and was known as a pilot and for his activity in the community—died in 1978.[23] The Williams brothers and other out-of-state interests continued to hold minority shares in the stations.[24]
From the 1950s to 1979, KREX-TV was the only television station in Grand Junction and maintained affiliations with all three major networks: CBS, NBC, and ABC. The XYZ stations thus aired most of television's top programs.[25] A second Grand Junction station, KJCT (channel 8), arrived on October 22, 1979.[26] It was built by Pikes Peak Broadcasting, owners of KRDO-TV in Colorado Springs, and was an ABC affiliate.[27] KREX-TV continued as an affiliate of CBS and NBC with a primary emphasis on CBS. In 1981, when CBS extended its national morning program Morning from 60 to 90 minutes, KREX-TV ceased carrying Today from NBC.[28] KREX-TV tended to schedule selected NBC prime time programs for air in the 6 p.m. hour.[29]
Withers Broadcasting ownership
Howell's death prompted a number of inquiries as to the KREX stations from potential buyers, and under FCC rules of the time, any sale would have to separate KREX radio and television.[32] In 1984, the stock of XYZ, Inc., was redistributed to separate the radio and television entities. Russell Withers of Mount Vernon, Illinois, entered into negotiations to acquire XYZ Television in 1983[33] and agreed to buy the television stations in May 1985.[34] Under Withers, KREX began telecasting Fox programming in Grand Junction on low-power channel 27 on September 1, 1994;[35] Withers Broadcasting had obtained the primary affiliation the previous May for a planned full-service station, KJWA,[36] and Fox began full-power telecasting in Grand Junction as
