Tri-State Broadcasting ownership
The Tri-State Broadcasting Company, owner of radio station KTSM (1380 AM), filed with the Federal Communications Commission on June 13, 1952, for a construction permit to build a television station on channel 9 in El Paso.[1] The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted the application on August 14.[2] KTSM-TV broadcast its first test patterns on December 31, 1952, and began broadcasting programs on January 4, 1953. It was El Paso's second television station, after KROD-TV (channel 4, now KDBC-TV).[3] The station shared studios at 801 Oregon Street with KTSM radio; the building had been designed in 1946 with an eye to future television use, with space for a TV control room, wiring, and a film room.[4] Network cables reached KTSM-TV in time for the 1953 World Series.[5] Local programming included a children's program, Uncle Roy's House.[6] When KTSM-TV began telecasting, its transmitter site was located on unused land at the El Paso Electric Company's power plant on Santa Fe Street.[7] KROD-TV, from the outset, was located on Franklin Mountains.[8] In 1958, the station applied to move to Ranger Peak in the Franklins.[9] Part of the project included constructing a tramway to transport construction supplies and passengers up the mountain.[10] After the tramway was completed, construction on the new transmitter facility began in May 1959,[11] and the new facility went into use in December.[12] The tramway opened to tourist passenger service two months later.[13] In December 1970, KTSM-TV began carrying the public television program Sesame Street, as El Paso lacked a public station at the time.[15] In 1973, channel 9 was boosted to the maximum effective radiated power of 316,000 watts.[16]
KTSM spent much of its history under Wyler as a third- or second-place station in news, trading places with KVIA-TV (channel 7) while KDBC was the consistent ratings leader.[17][18][19] By 1985, the station was in a competitive three-way ratings race, but it had lower audience shares among Hispanics than its competition.[20]
For its first 37 years of existence, KTSM-TV had one controlling owner and one general manager. Karl O. Wyler had put KTSM radio on the air in 1929[21] and became the majority owner of the Tri-State Broadcasting Company in 1951. It was his idea to build a tramway in lieu of a road to serve Ranger Peak—inspired by those in Estes Park, Colorado, and Cannon Mountain, New Hampshire.[22] Wyler continued to run the KTSM stations until he died of a heart attack on December 20, 1990, aged 84. Wyler, who was recognized at his passing for his philanthropic and civic involvement,[23] willed his 55-percent ownership in the Tri-State Broadcasting Company—as well as the tramway[24]—to the Glyn Wyler and Karl O. Wyler Foundation, a supporting organization of the El Paso Community Foundation. Foundation management expected that the addition of these properties would triple its asset base to $75 million.[25]
The foundation bought out the other owners of Tri-State Broadcasting in 1991. It hired KVIA-TV general manager Richard Pearson to run KTSM-TV; under Pearson, KVIA-TV had been the top-rated station in El Paso.[26] Several KVIA employees followed Pearson to KTSM-TV, including its news director, program director, and local sales manager. The group faced a station that rated poorly in news and lacked stability in personnel.[27] In August 1992, KTSM-TV rebranded as TSM and the operating company began doing business as Tri-State Media.[28]
