KPAX-TV

KPAX-TV

Missoula, Montana
United States
Branding KPAX 8 (KPAX general)
KAJ 18 (KAJJ general)
MTN News (newscasts)
Slogan Fair. Accurate. To the Point.
Channels Digital: 7 (VHF)
Virtual: 8 (PSIP)
Subchannels 8.1 CBS/MTN
8.2 The CW
Translators KAJJ-CD 39 Kalispell
Affiliations CBS (1970–1976, 1984–present)
Owner Cordillera Communications
(KPAX Communications, LLC)
First air date 1970 (1970)[1]
Former channel number(s) Analog:
8 (VHF, 1970–2009)
Former affiliations ABC (1976–1984; secondary 1970–1976, 1984–1991)
Transmitter power 22.5 kW
Height 653.5 m
Facility ID 35455
Transmitter coordinates 47°1′2.9″N 114°0′50.1″W / 47.017472°N 114.013917°W / 47.017472; -114.013917
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.kpax.com

KPAX-TV is a television station in Missoula, Montana, broadcasting locally on channel 8 as an affiliate of CBS, with programming from The CW on digital suchannel 8.2. The station is owned by Evening Post Industries. The station is part of the Evening Post's Montana Television Network, a network of Montana CBS stations. The CW digital subchannel is known as Western Montana CW.

KPAX also operates a Class-A low-powered station in Kalispell, Montana, KAJJ-CD channel 39; known on-air as KAJ, the station broadcasts the same schedule as KPAX, but with local ads and news segments. KAJJ also has its own weeknight 5:30 and 10 p.m. newscasts with a separate anchor, which was introduced in 2010.

History

Channel 8 signed on for the first time in 1970 as a semi-satellite of KXLF-TV in Butte. The station was originally owned by Garryowen Corporation, controlled by Joe Sample, as part of the Montana Television Network.[2] In 1977, KPAX opened a new studio on Regent Street in Missoula and severed the electronic umbilical cord with Butte.

For most of its existence, KPAX-TV has been a primary CBS affiliate.[3] However, it shared ABC with KGVO-TV (channel 13, now KECI-TV)[3] until 1976, when KPAX, along with KXLF-TV, upgraded ABC to a primary affiliation,[4] relegating CBS to a secondary affiliation shared with KGVO.[5] KPAX returned to CBS in 1984,[6] and continued to air ABC in off-hours (shared with KECI) until KTMF (channel 23) signed on in 1991.

In 1984, Sample sold the MTN stations to SJL, Inc. for $20 million.[7] SJL, in turn, sold KPAX-TV, KXLF-TV, and KRTV in Great Falls to Evening Post Publishing Company, through its Cordillera Communications subsidiary, for $24 million in 1986.[8]

KAJJ was established in 1984[9] as K18AJ. Its original owner, Telecrafter Broadcasting Corporation (whose principals, Thomas A. Curtis and Daniel W. Coon, were stockholders in KOUS-TV in Billings and KYUS-TV in Miles City[10]), sold K18AJ to Cordillera in 1988.[11] It became KAJJ-CA in 2011, and KAJJ-CD in 2012.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[12]
8.1 1080i 16:9 KPAX-DT Main KPAX-TV programming / CBS
8.2 720p KPAX-CW Western Montana CW

Analog-to-digital conversion

KPAX-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 8, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate.[13] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 7.[14] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 8.

Notable former on-air staff

Repeaters

References

  1. ↑ The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says June 5, while the Television and Cable Factbook says May 1.
  2. ↑ 1972 Broadcasting Yearbook (PDF). 1972. p. A-35. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
  3. 1 2 "Listing of channel lineups in TV Guide Montana Edition". matthewsittel.com. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
  4. ↑ "In Brief" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 7, 1976. p. 24. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
  5. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1977 (PDF). 1977. p. B-116. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
  6. ↑ Broadcasting/Cablecasting Yearbook 1985 (PDF). 1985. p. C-36. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. January 16, 1984. p. 138. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. September 29, 1986. p. 78. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Application Search Details (KAJJ-CD)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved January 17, 2011.
  10. ↑ "In re Applications … For Construction Permit for a New Television Station Billings, Montana". Federal Communications Commission. October 6, 1987. Retrieved October 4, 2015. Curtis and Coon each own a 50% in Telecrafter Broadcasting Corporation, licensee of LPTV station K18AJ, Kalispell, Montana.
  11. ↑ "Public Notice Content". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
  12. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KPAX
  13. ↑ Eggerton, John (2009-06-29). "Boise Station Gets Power Boost". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  14. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.

External links

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