KXMB-TV
Encyclopedia
KXMB-TV, channel 12, is the CBS
affiliated television station for Bismarck, North Dakota
. The station serves the southern half of the Western North Dakota television market.
The station is owned by Reiten Television of Minot
, and is one of two full-fledged stations in the KX Television network of CBS affiliates in western North Dakota. Though identifying as a station in its own right, KXMB is considered a semi-satellite of KXMC-TV
of Minot, North Dakota
. It produces its own newscasts, and airs its own commercials. However, it rebroadcasts most of KXMC-TV's syndicated programming, and the two stations share news stories. Master control and some internal operations of KXMA and KXMB are based at the facilities of KXMC in Minot.
KXMB also operates a semi-satellite, KXMA-TV, channel 2 in Dickinson
. KXMA also identifies itself as a station in its own right, but airs a time-shifted feed of KXMB-TV in Mountain Time
most of the day. It airs separate commercials and places inserts into KXMB's newscasts. KXMA's programming is repeated on low-powered translator K09FG in Lemmon, South Dakota
.
KXMB is the largest station in the KX group, and the group's president, Tim Reiten, is based there. However, KXMC is considered the flagship station.
KXMB's broadcasts became digital-only at 10am, May 28, 2009.
KXMB and KXMA, along with sister stations KXMC-TV in Minot, North Dakota and KXMD-TV in Williston, North Dakota signs off every night at 1:05 am/12:05 am Mountain Tuesday to Saturday Morning and at 1:35 am/12:35 am Mountain Sunday and Monday Morning, during the sign-offs are the national anthem and the national feed of CBS News Up To The Minute with Public Service Announcements, while weekends simulcast the local weather conditions of North Dakota.
businessman John Boler and his North Dakota Broadcasting Company. The station had a primary affiliation with CBS
, but carried other networks as well. During the late 1950s, the station was briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network
. In 1958, it moved to its current location. In 1960, it changed its call sign
to the current KXMB-TV.
In 1959, Boler sold a part-interest in the North Dakota Broadcasting Company to Chester Reiten of Minot. The two men teamed up to buy that city's CBS station, KCJB-TV, and changed the calls to KXMC-TV. They would put KXMD-TV in Williston
on in 1969.
KXJB-TV
in Fargo was co-owned with the KX stations (though programmed separately) until Boler sold his interest in the partnership to Reiten in 1971. Reiten retained the western North Dakota stations. His son Tim owns the stations today.
The KX stations formerly had a secondary affiliation with ABC
shared with KFYR-TV
before full-time ABC affiliate KBMY
signed on.
KXMA signed on in 1956 as KDIX-TV, and was owned by the Dickinson Radio and TV Corporation along with KDIX radio
. Although the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) had combined all of western and central North Dakota into a single market in the mid-1950s, this wouldn't be fully realized for another three decades, mainly because Dickinson is in the Mountain Time Zone. For most of its first decade on the air, KDIX-TV picked up what CBS programs it could under CBS' Extended Market Plan, which served as a go-between for non-interconnected stations. It also aired a few ABC and NBC
shows out of pattern.
Then, in 1966, KOTA-TV
in Rapid City
planned to sign on KHSD-TV (channel 11), a satellite station in Lead, South Dakota
; to extend its coverage into northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana. At the time, KOTA-TV held a joint affiliation with CBS and ABC, but slightly favored CBS. Stanley Deck, KDIX's general manager at the time, discovered that Dickinson was close enough to Lead that his engineers could easily get an acceptable signal from KHSD whenever CBS and ABC programming aired. He arranged with the Duhamel family, owners of KOTA, to provide network programming for KHSD. In addition, Deck purchased virtually all the stock in the Dickinson Radio and TV Corporation. The deal took effect when KHSD opened on November 2, 1966. Thus, for nearly a decade, KDIX was practically a separately-owned satellite of KOTA. Then on July 11, 1976; KEVN-TV
opened in Rapid City and took the CBS affiliation away from KOTA. KDIX-TV still picked up ABC programming from KOTA, and was also able to pick up NBC as well since KOTA took on a secondary NBC affiliation when KEVN opened. However, its engineers now had to switch to KXMB's signal for CBS shows.
In 1983, Deck sold KDIX-TV to the Northern Prairies Broadcasting Company, which owned KOUS-TV (now KHMT) in Billings
, and the calls were changed to KNDX. The new owners severed the station's ties with KOTA. Northern Prairies paid so little attention to KNDX that the station's signal quickly deteriorated to the point of unacceptability. With the station on the verge of closing down, the Reitens had to come to KNDX's rescue; they bought the station early in 1985 and changed the calls to KXMA-TV. (It would have been KXME, but Prairie Public Television
objected.) Since then, KXMA has been a semi-satellite of KXMB.
After an ice storm on April 6, 1997 caused the KXJB-TV mast
to collapse, some cable systems replaced KXJB with KXMB, either temporarily or permanently, to maintain CBS service.
KXMB was the first commercial digital television
station in North Dakota as when it went on the air in 2002.
In July 2008, Reiten Television began a joint agreement to sell television commercial slots on both KXMB and KBMY, Bismarck's ABC affiliate owned by Forum Communications Company. KXMB houses sales and engineering personnel solely for KBMY's operations. A consequence of this agreement has enabled KBMY-DT to begin broadcasting in July 2008 directly from KXMB's station, bringing a digital ABC television signal to Bismarck.
In March 2009, KXMB requested that it go digital two weeks before the transition date of June 12 in order to repurpose existing transmitter equipment for KX satellite stations.
On Monday, January 31, 2011, KXMB and KXMA started broadcasting local news in high-definition
, becoming the first stations with HD local news in the Bismarck-Minot-Dickinson market and the entire states of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana.
-like website called KX Net, with each station's website displaying a localized front page. The stations continue to be branded as "KX Television" and as "KX News" on the air, but also use the "KX Net" monkier on the air also.
KXNet.com combined the previous domains kxma.com, kxmb.com, kxmc.com and kxmd.com under one umbrella. The original domains are still active. KXNet.com won the 2007 Teddy Award for Best Website and the 2007 Eric Severaid Award for best website small market television in a 6 state region.
In 2008 KXNet.com became the first web site in North Dakota to deliver a live news broadcast over the Internet when they streamed a 1-hour special coverage of the 2008 Presidential Caucuses from Bismarck.
In October 2007, KXNet.com along with Midkota Solutions launched DakotaPolitics.com, a web site focusing on North Dakota political news coverage. DakotaPolitics featured profile information, voting records and some analysis. DakotaPolitics also launched weekly tracking polls for the 2008 elections.
As a whole, KX Television has long trailed NBC North Dakota
in the ratings by a significant margin; the main stations and their satellites are counted as one station for ratings and regulatory purposes. However, KX News Morning has recently surged well ahead of NBC North Dakota's Country Morning Today -- the first time in recent memory that NBC North Dakota has lost a time slot for two ratings books in a row.
The North Dakota State Fair
parade in Minot is aired live every July as well as a July 4 Parade in Mandan.
Reporters
Weather Team
Sports Team
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
affiliated television station for Bismarck, North Dakota
Bismarck, North Dakota
Bismarck is the capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Burleigh County. It is the second most populous city in North Dakota after Fargo. The city's population was 61,272 at the 2010 census, while its metropolitan population was 108,779...
. The station serves the southern half of the Western North Dakota television market.
The station is owned by Reiten Television of Minot
Minot, North Dakota
Minot is a city located in north central North Dakota in the United States. It is most widely known for the Air Force base located approximately 15 miles north of the city. With a population of 40,888 at the 2010 census, Minot is the fourth largest city in the state...
, and is one of two full-fledged stations in the KX Television network of CBS affiliates in western North Dakota. Though identifying as a station in its own right, KXMB is considered a semi-satellite of KXMC-TV
KXMC-TV
KXMC-TV, channel 13, is the CBS affiliated television station for Minot, North Dakota. The station serves the northern half of the Western North Dakota television market...
of Minot, North Dakota
Minot, North Dakota
Minot is a city located in north central North Dakota in the United States. It is most widely known for the Air Force base located approximately 15 miles north of the city. With a population of 40,888 at the 2010 census, Minot is the fourth largest city in the state...
. It produces its own newscasts, and airs its own commercials. However, it rebroadcasts most of KXMC-TV's syndicated programming, and the two stations share news stories. Master control and some internal operations of KXMA and KXMB are based at the facilities of KXMC in Minot.
KXMB also operates a semi-satellite, KXMA-TV, channel 2 in Dickinson
Dickinson, North Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 16,010 people, 6,517 households, and 4,020 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,690.7 inhabitants per square mile . There were 7,033 housing units at an average density of 742.7 per square mile...
. KXMA also identifies itself as a station in its own right, but airs a time-shifted feed of KXMB-TV in Mountain Time
Mountain Time Zone
The Mountain Time Zone of North America keeps time by subtracting seven hours from Coordinated Universal Time, also known as Greenwich Mean Time, during the shortest days of autumn and winter , and by subtracting six hours during daylight saving time in the spring, summer, and early autumn...
most of the day. It airs separate commercials and places inserts into KXMB's newscasts. KXMA's programming is repeated on low-powered translator K09FG in Lemmon, South Dakota
Lemmon, South Dakota
Lemmon is a city in Perkins County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 1,227 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Lemmon is located at ....
.
KXMB is the largest station in the KX group, and the group's president, Tim Reiten, is based there. However, KXMC is considered the flagship station.
KXMB's broadcasts became digital-only at 10am, May 28, 2009.
KXMB and KXMA, along with sister stations KXMC-TV in Minot, North Dakota and KXMD-TV in Williston, North Dakota signs off every night at 1:05 am/12:05 am Mountain Tuesday to Saturday Morning and at 1:35 am/12:35 am Mountain Sunday and Monday Morning, during the sign-offs are the national anthem and the national feed of CBS News Up To The Minute with Public Service Announcements, while weekends simulcast the local weather conditions of North Dakota.
History
KXMB first went on the air on November 19, 1955 as KBMB-TV, owned by FargoFargo, North Dakota
Fargo is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Cass County. In 2010, its population was 105,549, and it had an estimated metropolitan population of 208,777...
businessman John Boler and his North Dakota Broadcasting Company. The station had a primary affiliation with CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, but carried other networks as well. During the late 1950s, the station was briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network
NTA Film Network
The NTA Film Network was an early American television network founded by Ely Landau in 1956. The network was not a full-time television network like CBS, NBC, or ABC. Rather, it operated on a part-time basis, broadcasting films and several first-run television programs from major Hollywood studios...
. In 1958, it moved to its current location. In 1960, it changed its call sign
Call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations...
to the current KXMB-TV.
In 1959, Boler sold a part-interest in the North Dakota Broadcasting Company to Chester Reiten of Minot. The two men teamed up to buy that city's CBS station, KCJB-TV, and changed the calls to KXMC-TV. They would put KXMD-TV in Williston
Williston, North Dakota
-Demographics:Preliminary data from a 2010 housing study indicates that population has grown by nearly 22 percent over the past decade; the actual increase might be much higher. Williston is in western North Dakota's booming oil patch, and adequate, affordable housing has become a concern. The...
on in 1969.
KXJB-TV
KXJB-TV
KXJB-TV is a CBS affiliated television station in Fargo, North Dakota, USA, serving Eastern North Dakota and Northwestern Minnesota. It broadcasts on ATSC channel 38, which redirects to former NTSC channel 4 via PSIP. It is licensed to nearby Valley City...
in Fargo was co-owned with the KX stations (though programmed separately) until Boler sold his interest in the partnership to Reiten in 1971. Reiten retained the western North Dakota stations. His son Tim owns the stations today.
The KX stations formerly had a secondary affiliation with ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
shared with KFYR-TV
KFYR-TV
KFYR-TV, ATSC channel 31 , is the NBC affiliated television station for Bismarck, North Dakota. KFYR-TV is the flagship station of NBC North Dakota, a network of four stations that serve most of central and western North Dakota, along with parts of South Dakota and Montana.The station serves the...
before full-time ABC affiliate KBMY
ABC West
KBMY digital channel 17 is the ABC affiliate for western North Dakota. It is owned by Forum Communications, owners of eastern North Dakota's ABC affiliates, WDAY-TV in Fargo and WDAZ-TV in Grand Forks. However, it is operated by Reiten Television, owners of the KX Television network of CBS...
signed on.
KXMA signed on in 1956 as KDIX-TV, and was owned by the Dickinson Radio and TV Corporation along with KDIX radio
KDIX
KDIX is a radio station licensed to serve Dickinson, North Dakota. The station is owned by Starrdak, Inc. It airs a music format featuring a mix of adult contemporary, oldies, and country music...
. Although the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) had combined all of western and central North Dakota into a single market in the mid-1950s, this wouldn't be fully realized for another three decades, mainly because Dickinson is in the Mountain Time Zone. For most of its first decade on the air, KDIX-TV picked up what CBS programs it could under CBS' Extended Market Plan, which served as a go-between for non-interconnected stations. It also aired a few ABC and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
shows out of pattern.
Then, in 1966, KOTA-TV
KOTA-TV
KOTA-TV, channel 3, is an ABC television affiliate based in Rapid City, South Dakota, USA. The station is owned by the Duhamel family of Rapid City...
in Rapid City
Rapid City, South Dakota
Rapid City is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of South Dakota, and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek on which the city is established, it is set against the eastern slope of the Black Hills mountain range. The population was 67,956 as of the 2010 Census. Rapid...
planned to sign on KHSD-TV (channel 11), a satellite station in Lead, South Dakota
Lead, South Dakota
Lead is a city in Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 3,124 at the 2010 census. Lead is located in western South Dakota, in the Black Hills near the Wyoming state line.-History:...
; to extend its coverage into northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana. At the time, KOTA-TV held a joint affiliation with CBS and ABC, but slightly favored CBS. Stanley Deck, KDIX's general manager at the time, discovered that Dickinson was close enough to Lead that his engineers could easily get an acceptable signal from KHSD whenever CBS and ABC programming aired. He arranged with the Duhamel family, owners of KOTA, to provide network programming for KHSD. In addition, Deck purchased virtually all the stock in the Dickinson Radio and TV Corporation. The deal took effect when KHSD opened on November 2, 1966. Thus, for nearly a decade, KDIX was practically a separately-owned satellite of KOTA. Then on July 11, 1976; KEVN-TV
KEVN-TV
KEVN-TV, channel 7, is a Fox television station affiliate based in Rapid City, South Dakota. It also operates a satellite in Lead, South Dakota, KIVV-TV , which can also be seen over the air in Rapid City...
opened in Rapid City and took the CBS affiliation away from KOTA. KDIX-TV still picked up ABC programming from KOTA, and was also able to pick up NBC as well since KOTA took on a secondary NBC affiliation when KEVN opened. However, its engineers now had to switch to KXMB's signal for CBS shows.
In 1983, Deck sold KDIX-TV to the Northern Prairies Broadcasting Company, which owned KOUS-TV (now KHMT) in Billings
Billings, Montana
Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, and is the principal city of the Billings Metropolitan Area, the largest metropolitan area in over...
, and the calls were changed to KNDX. The new owners severed the station's ties with KOTA. Northern Prairies paid so little attention to KNDX that the station's signal quickly deteriorated to the point of unacceptability. With the station on the verge of closing down, the Reitens had to come to KNDX's rescue; they bought the station early in 1985 and changed the calls to KXMA-TV. (It would have been KXME, but Prairie Public Television
Prairie Public Television
Prairie Public Television is the Public Broadcasting Service member state network for the U.S. state of North Dakota. Along with its state radio network Prairie Public, the state network currently has nine digital stations covering all of North Dakota, plus portions of Minnesota, Montana, South...
objected.) Since then, KXMA has been a semi-satellite of KXMB.
After an ice storm on April 6, 1997 caused the KXJB-TV mast
KXJB-TV mast
The KXJB-TV mast is a television transmitting tower in Traill County, North Dakota, United States. At 2060 ft , it is the fourth-tallest artificial structure in the world, shorter by 3 ft than the KVLY-TV mast which stands a few miles away.Located 3.5 miles northeast of Galesburg,...
to collapse, some cable systems replaced KXJB with KXMB, either temporarily or permanently, to maintain CBS service.
KXMB was the first commercial digital television
Digital television
Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...
station in North Dakota as when it went on the air in 2002.
In July 2008, Reiten Television began a joint agreement to sell television commercial slots on both KXMB and KBMY, Bismarck's ABC affiliate owned by Forum Communications Company. KXMB houses sales and engineering personnel solely for KBMY's operations. A consequence of this agreement has enabled KBMY-DT to begin broadcasting in July 2008 directly from KXMB's station, bringing a digital ABC television signal to Bismarck.
In March 2009, KXMB requested that it go digital two weeks before the transition date of June 12 in order to repurpose existing transmitter equipment for KX satellite stations.
On Monday, January 31, 2011, KXMB and KXMA started broadcasting local news in high-definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
, becoming the first stations with HD local news in the Bismarck-Minot-Dickinson market and the entire states of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana.
Website
In 2006, the stations began a web portalWeb portal
A web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....
-like website called KX Net, with each station's website displaying a localized front page. The stations continue to be branded as "KX Television" and as "KX News" on the air, but also use the "KX Net" monkier on the air also.
KXNet.com combined the previous domains kxma.com, kxmb.com, kxmc.com and kxmd.com under one umbrella. The original domains are still active. KXNet.com won the 2007 Teddy Award for Best Website and the 2007 Eric Severaid Award for best website small market television in a 6 state region.
In 2008 KXNet.com became the first web site in North Dakota to deliver a live news broadcast over the Internet when they streamed a 1-hour special coverage of the 2008 Presidential Caucuses from Bismarck.
In October 2007, KXNet.com along with Midkota Solutions launched DakotaPolitics.com, a web site focusing on North Dakota political news coverage. DakotaPolitics featured profile information, voting records and some analysis. DakotaPolitics also launched weekly tracking polls for the 2008 elections.
Programming
KXMB produces local newscasts on weekdays at noon, 6 p.m. and 10 pm.. Weekend newscasts are produced at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Saturdays, and 10 p.m. on Sundays. KXMA places local inserts into KXMB's newscasts. KXMC produces a morning show at 6 a.m. and co-produces a 5 p.m. newscast with KXMB, broadcast on all four stations. All of the local newscasts are broadcast in high definition.As a whole, KX Television has long trailed NBC North Dakota
KFYR-TV
KFYR-TV, ATSC channel 31 , is the NBC affiliated television station for Bismarck, North Dakota. KFYR-TV is the flagship station of NBC North Dakota, a network of four stations that serve most of central and western North Dakota, along with parts of South Dakota and Montana.The station serves the...
in the ratings by a significant margin; the main stations and their satellites are counted as one station for ratings and regulatory purposes. However, KX News Morning has recently surged well ahead of NBC North Dakota's Country Morning Today -- the first time in recent memory that NBC North Dakota has lost a time slot for two ratings books in a row.
The North Dakota State Fair
North Dakota State Fair
The North Dakota State Fair is an annual state fair held each July in Minot, North Dakota. The fair features carnival rides, agricultural expositions, government and commercial exhibitions, and a variety of musical and performance entertainment....
parade in Minot is aired live every July as well as a July 4 Parade in Mandan.
Current on-air staff
Anchors- Tom Gerhardt - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
- Lauren Kalberer - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
- Marci Narum - weekday mornings and noon
- Perry Olson - weekday mornings and noon
- Amber Schatz - Saturdays at 6 and weekends at 10 p.m.
Reporters
- Sarah Gustin - Ag. reporter
- Donnell Preskey - general assignment reporter
- Kate Schell - general assignment reporter
Weather Team
- Tom Szymanski - Chief Meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
- Joe Goldade - Meteorologist; weekday mornings and noon
- Ryan Davidson - Meteorologist; Saturdays at 6 and weekends at 10 p.m.
Sports Team
- Dan WilliamsonDan WilliamsonDan Williamson is an American Sportscaster, currently based out of Bismarck, North Dakota where he holds the title of Sports Anchor/Director at KXMB-TV....
- Sports Director; weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m. - Tia Streeter - Weekend Sports Anchor/Reporter; Saturdays at 6 and weekends at 10 p.m.