KMID

KMID
Midland–Odessa, Texas
United States
City Midland, Texas
Branding Big 2 (general)
Big 2 News (newscasts)
Slogan Basin Trusted, Basin Proud
Channels Digital: 26 (UHF)
Virtual: 2 (PSIP)
Subchannels 2.1 ABC
2.2 Laff
2.3 Escape
2.4 Grit
Affiliations ABC (secondary 1953–1958; primary since 1981)
Owner Nexstar Media Group
(Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.)
First air date December 18, 1953 (1953-12-18)
Call letters' meaning MIDland
Sister station(s) KPEJ-TV
Former callsigns KMID-TV (1953–1992)
Former channel number(s) Analog:
2 (VHF, 1953–2009)
Former affiliations Primary:
NBC (1953–1981)
Secondary:
DuMont (1953–1955)
CBS (1953–1955)
Transmitter power 1000 kW
Height 275 m (902 ft)
Facility ID 35131
Transmitter coordinates 32°5′51.4″N 102°17′22.5″W / 32.097611°N 102.289583°W / 32.097611; -102.289583
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.yourbasin.com

KMID, virtual channel 2 (UHF digital channel 26), is an ABC-affiliated television station licensed to Midland, Texas, United States and serving the Permian Basin area. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also operates Odessa-licensed Fox affiliate KPEJ-TV (channel 24) through a shared services agreement with owner Marshall Broadcasting. The two stations share studios on Windview Street (along I-20) in southwestern Odessa and transmitter facilities on FM 1788 in rural southeastern Andrews County.

On cable, KMID is carried on Grande Communications and Reach Broadband channel 3, and on channel 2 on other cable systems in the market.

History

Former logo as Big 2, used until 2015

KMID-TV went on the air on December 18, 1953; making it the longest running station in the Midland/Odessa market. It carried programming from all four networks, but was a primary NBC affiliate. It lost CBS to KOSA-TV (channel 7) in 1956 and lost ABC to KWES-TV (channel 9, then known as KVKM) in 1958. In 1981, KMID became an ABC affiliate when it swapped its NBC affiliation with channel 9 (KTPX at the time). Lorimar-Telepictures sold KMID plus two of its sister stations, KSPR in Springfield, Missouri and KCPM-TV (now KNVN) in Chico/Redding, California, to Goltrin Communications in 1987. In 1988, Goltrin sold all three stations to Davis Goldfarb Communications. Cottonwood Communications bought the station in 1995. KMID including KSPR and KCPM (KNVN) was purchased by GOCOM Communications in 1997. KMID was acquired by current owner Nexstar Broadcasting in 2000.

For many years, KMID was known as "Big 2", but adopted the "ABC2" moniker in early 2004. However, in part because many Permian Basin residents still called the station "Big 2," that nickname was revived in 2009, only to be scrapped once more on December 12, 2015, in favor of "Local 2." The "Big 2" branding returned again in June 2018.

In 2003, KMID dropped weekend evening newscasts, which were the lowest-rated newscasts in the Permian Basin. In late 2006, the Sunday night news broadcasts were reinstated.

On April 24, 2013, Communications Corporation of America announced the sale of its entire group to Nexstar. KPEJ was to be sold to Mission Broadcasting.[1] However on June 6, 2014, Nexstar announced that it would instead sell KPEJ-TV to a new minority-owned company, Marshall Broadcasting (marking the company's first television station acquisitions), for $58.5 million. Nexstar would operate KPEJ under a shared services agreement, forming a virtual duopoly with KMID.[2] The sale was completed on January 1, 2015.[3]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[4]
2.1720p16:9KMID-DTMain KMID programming / ABC
2.2480i4:3Laff
2.3Escape
2.4Grit

Analog-to-digital conversion

KMID shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, 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. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 26.[5] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 2.

Programming

Syndicated programming on KMID includes The Rachael Ray Show, Judge Judy, AgDay, Jeopardy!, and Wheel of Fortune, among others.

Notable former on-air staff

See also

References

  1. ↑ https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS_Attachment/getattachment.jsp?appn=101552312&qnum=5040&copynum=1&exhcnum=1
  2. ↑ Nexstar Selling 3 Fox Affils For $58.5 Million, TVNewsCheck, June 6, 2014.
  3. ↑ Consummation Notice, CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  4. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KMID
  5. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
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