KYTX began broadcasting as KLSB-TV in 1991. It rebroadcast KETK-TV, initially with local news inserts for the Nacogdoches area. In 2003, it was sold to Max Media, former owners of KETK, and relaunched on a separate basis as the first in-market CBS affiliate for East Texas in 13 years. This included the move of the station's transmitter further north and the launch of a local news department. The station was the setting of the Fox network's shortlived series Anchorwoman in 2007, in part as a promotion gambit for the new station's local newscasts. It was sold in 2007 to London Broadcasting and in 2014 to Gannett, which split its broadcasting assets as Tegna the next year.
CBS in East Texas
The CBS network had bounced from affiliate to affiliate in the market over its history.
CBS's first local affiliate was KETX, a station on channel 19 in Tyler which began airing CBS programming in January 1954.[2] However, the station left the air on October 23 of that year.[3] Between 1969 and 1970, CBS was affiliated with KAEC-TV, also on channel 19 but in Nacogdoches. This station, owned by the Fredonia Broadcasting Corporation, left the air after eight months amid major technical issues;[4] it ultimately won damages against manufacturer RCA three separate times after suing over equipment it believed defective.[5]KLTV, the only full-service station in Tyler after KETX folded, continued to air select CBS programs, most notably NFL football. In September 1984, Longview-based KLMG-TV began broadcasting on channel 51 as the CBS affiliate for the area.[6] However, the station disaffiliated from the network in April 1991 to become the market's Fox affiliate as KFXK-TV.[7]
Cable television systems in the market generally carried KSLA from Shreveport, Louisiana, whose signal covered the Longview area, or KDFW-TV from Dallas in their lineups. KDFW was introduced to Longview in the late 1970s, first on a temporary basis after KSLA's tower collapsed in 1977 and then permanently beginning in December 1978.[8] In September 1990, these stations each had higher ratings in East Texas than KLMG.[9] In 1995, an affiliation switch in the Dallas–Fort Worth market saw KTVT of Fort Worth, previously an independent station, replace KDFW-TV as the CBS affiliate.[10]
History
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.[11][12] In January 1994, separate Nacogdoches newscasts were discontinued, resulting in a net loss of about nine jobs with a continuing presence there.[13]
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.[14] 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.[15]
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.[16] 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.[17]
The station began producing local newscasts, known as Eyewitness News, on September 12, 2004.[18] A 5 p.m. newscast launched in 2005,[19] followed by a 6:30 p.m. newscast in 2006; the latter program focused on stories from the Longview portion of the market.[20] 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.[21]
KYTX acquired the UPN affiliation for the Tyler–Longview market, which it added to a digital subchannel on January 1, 2006.[22] However, when UPN merged with The WB to form The CW that September, KCEB (channel 54) was selected as the original affiliate.[23]
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;[24] 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.[25] Ultimately, the program aired two episodes on its premiere and was canceled the following day due to poor ratings.[26]
London and Gannett/Tegna ownership
KYTX logo used from December 2015 to September 2018. A later version incorporated an umbrella.
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).[29] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 18, using virtual channel 19.[30] 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.[31] That December, London Broadcasting agreed to acquire KCEB;[32] the FCC approved the deal under a failing station waiver in 2010, citing that station's deteriorated financial condition.[33][a]
The Gannett Company acquired six London stations, including KYTX, in a $215 million all-cash transaction in 2014; the move came a year after Gannett acquired the Belo Corporation, which also owned a series of network affiliates in larger Texas markets.[35][36][37] In 2015, Gannett split into two companies: Gannett in publishing and Tegna Inc. in broadcast and digital media.[38]
^The FCC can issue a failing station waiver allowing for the creation of a duopoly in markets otherwise too small to permit one legally (as is the case in Tyler-Longview), or involving two stations rated in the top four, under certain circumstances relating to lack of other suitable buyers; low ratings; three years of negative cash flow; and public interest benefit of the merger.[34]
^"Tyler TV Station Returns To Air". Kilgore News Herald. December 28, 1953. p. 4. Archived from the original on February 23, 2020. Retrieved February 22, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
^Junek, Greg (October 21, 2003). "KLSB To Become Affiliate For CBS". Tyler Morning Telegraph. Tyler, Texas. p. 1B, 2B. Archived from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^Junek, Greg (April 7, 2004). "Local CBS Station Hits Air Monday". Tyler Morning Telegraph. p. 1B, 7B. Archived from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Familiarity and Experience..."Longview News-Journal (Advertising Section). Longview, Texas. September 12, 2004. p. Special 10. Retrieved November 7, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^"CBS 19 Adds 5 p.m. Newscast". Tyler Morning Telegraph. Tyler, Texas. September 16, 2005. p. 6E. Retrieved November 7, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^Junek, Greg (October 8, 2005). "CBS 19 To Become UPN Affiliate". Tyler Morning Telegraph. Tyler, Texas. p. 6B. Retrieved November 7, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
