Establishment as KLSB
On September 1, 1991, local NBC affiliate KETK-TV (channel 56) launched KLSB-TV as a satellite station for the Nacogdoches area. It had its own studios in Nacogdoches, employing 40 people and producing separate evening newscasts.[10][11] In January 1994, separate Nacogdoches newscasts were discontinued, resulting in a net loss of about nine jobs with a continuing presence there.[12]
Launch of KYTX
Max Media (a successor in name only to a previous company known as Max Media, which had owned KETK-TV in the late 1990s) acquired KLSB from KLSB Television LLC, a company which had leased its air time to KETK-TV, in 2003. It announced it would move its transmitter to cover Tyler and Longview and become the region's first CBS affiliate in more than a decade.[13] Max Media hired Phil Hurley, who had run KETK-TV from 1986 to 1987 and KLTV from 1983 to 1986, to establish the new outlet.[14]
On April 12, 2004, channel 19 relaunched with its new CBS programming. It became KYTX the next day. The new local affiliate immediately displaced KTVT and KSLA on many of the region's cable systems; however, it continued to air some of KTVT's newscasts until it could establish its own local news operation from studios in Tyler.[15] The station switched from the KLSB-TV transmitter facility to a new plant in Cherokee County on June 21, giving it more efficient coverage in the Tyler–Longview market; it also began broadcasting a digital signal for the first time.[16]
The station began producing local newscasts, known as Eyewitness News, on September 12, 2004.[17] A 5 p.m. newscast launched in 2005,[18] followed by a 6:30 p.m. newscast in 2006; the latter program focused on stories from the Longview portion of the market.[19] The station found itself slightly trailing KETK in the ratings with 9,000 viewers to KETK's 12,000, though both stations struggled against KLTV, which commanded 70,000 viewers in the 10 p.m. time slot.[20]
KYTX acquired the UPN affiliation for the Tyler–Longview market, which it added to a digital subchannel on January 1, 2006.[21] However, when UPN merged with The WB to form The CW that September, KCEB (channel 54) was selected as the original affiliate.[22]
Anchorwoman reality show
KYTX was the center of a reality series on Fox titled Anchorwoman, which filmed at the station's Tyler studios during the spring of 2007. The series starred Lauren Jones, a former beauty pageant winner, The Price Is Right model, and featured WWE Diva who trained to become an anchor at the station. KYTX was selected from some 100 stations across the U.S. to be the setting for the program;[23] Hurley was interested because he wanted to attract local viewers' attention to his station's newscasts. However, the show was controversial. The news director of KLTV told Good Morning America that KYTX had sold its credibility, while others feared the show would negatively portray East Texas.[24] Ultimately, the program aired two episodes on its premiere and was canceled the following day due to poor ratings.[25]
London, Gannett/Tegna and Nexstar ownership
On October 18, 2007, the station was sold to the Addison-based London Broadcasting Company (owned by former Gaylord Entertainment Company CEO Terry E. London, in association with private equity firm Sun TX Capital Partners) for $25 million.[26][27]
2009 saw changes in transmission and news production. KYTX shut down its analog signal on February 17, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was pushed back to June 12, 2009).[28] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 18, using virtual channel 19.[29] In April, the station became the first in the Tyler-Longview market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. At the time, the station produced 19 1/2 hours of newscasts a week.[30]
