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 CW+ 8.3 Grit TV |
Translators | KAJJ-CD 18 (18 UHF) Kalispell |
Affiliations | CBS (1970–1976, 1984–present) |
Owner |
Cordillera Communications (KPAX Communications, LLC) |
First air date | 1970[1] |
Former channel number(s) |
Analog: 8 (VHF, 1970–2009) |
Former affiliations | ABC (1970–1991; secondary from 1970–1976 and 1984–1991) |
Transmitter power | 22.5 kW |
Height | 653.5 m (2,144 ft) |
Facility ID | 35455 |
Transmitter coordinates | 47°1′2.1″N 114°0′50.5″W / 47.017250°N 114.014028°W |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
Website | www.kpax.com |
KPAX-TV, virtual channel 8 (VHF digital channel 7), is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Missoula, Montana, United States. The station is owned by the Cordillera Communications subsidiary of Evening Post Industries, and is part of the Montana Television Network, a statewide network of CBS-affiliated stations. KPAX's studios are located on West Central Avenue in Missoula, and its transmitter is located on TV Mountain north of the city.
KPAX also operates a Class A low-powered station in Kalispell, Montana, KAJJ-CD (virtual channel 18, UHF digital channel 18); known on-air as KAJ, the station broadcasts the same schedule as KPAX, but with local commercials and news segments. To comply with the requirements of its Class A license, KAJJ also produces its own weeknight 5:30 and 10 p.m. newscasts with a separate anchor, which were 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][13] |
---|---|---|---|---|
8.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | KPAX-DT | Main KPAX-TV programming / CBS |
8.2 | 720p | KPAX-CW | Western Montana CW | |
8.3 | 480i | 4:3 | Grit TV | |
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.[14] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 7.[15] 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
- Christine Clayburg - meteorologist
Repeaters
References
- ↑ The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says June 5, while the Television and Cable Factbook says May 1.
- ↑ 1972 Broadcasting Yearbook (PDF). 1972. p. A-35. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
- 1 2 "Listing of channel lineups in TV Guide Montana Edition". matthewsittel.com. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
- ↑ "In Brief" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 7, 1976. p. 24. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
- ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1977 (PDF). 1977. p. B-116. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
- ↑ Broadcasting/Cablecasting Yearbook 1985 (PDF). 1985. p. C-36. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
- ↑ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. January 16, 1984. p. 138. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
- ↑ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. September 29, 1986. p. 78. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
- ↑ "Application Search Details (KAJJ-CD)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved January 17, 2011.
- ↑ "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.
- ↑ "Public Notice Content". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
- ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KPAX
- ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KAJJ-CD
- ↑ Eggerton, John (2009-06-29). "Boise Station Gets Power Boost". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
- ↑ "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.