Fox affiliate in Waco, Texas
KWKT-TV
(channel 44) is a
television station
in
Waco, Texas
, United States, serving as the
Fox
affiliate for
Central Texas
. It is owned by
Nexstar Media Group
alongside
Bryan
-licensed
MyNetworkTV
affiliate
KYLE-TV
(channel 28).
[2]
The two stations share studios on Woodway Drive in
Woodway, Texas
(using a Waco address); KWKT-TV's transmitter is located near
Moody, Texas
.
History
[
edit
]
The station first signed on the air on March 13, 1988, and has been affiliated with Fox since the station's launch. Beginning with the launch of the block in 1990, KWKT aired
Fox Kids
programming one hour earlier than many affiliates on weekday afternoons from 1 to 4 p.m. until the weekday block was discontinued by the network in December 2001,
[3]
in addition to carrying its successor Saturday morning children's blocks known as
Fox Box
and later
4KidsTV
until the latter block ended nationally in December 2008, when
4Kids Entertainment
and Fox parted ways due to a contract dispute.
The station was purchased by
Lafayette, Louisiana
-based
Communications Corporation of America
in 1990. KWKT-TV's signal was unable to reach across
central Texas
because of interference issues experienced by UHF stations operating in rugged terrain; as a result, Comcorp purchased KYLE-TV (channel 28) in Bryan, at that time a
WB
affiliate, in 1996 and, after it was granted a satellite waiver by the
Federal Communications Commission
(FCC),
[4]
converted it to a
satellite station
in order to provide Fox programming to the entire market.
[5]
[6]
In July 2002, KWKT became a secondary affiliate of The WB;
[7]
with this, that network's primetime schedule aired on KWKT/KYLE on a six-hour delay from 1 to 3 a.m., with Fox network programming running in pattern from 7 to 9 p.m. At this time, the station also added The WB's children's program block
Kids' WB
in the time slot formerly occupied by Fox Kids?which KWKT/KYLE replaced with syndicated programs following the discontinuance of the Fox Kids weekday block, lasting until Kids' WB's weekday block was replaced in January 2006 by the
Daytime WB
rerun block; the station also carried the block's Saturday morning lineup airing a day behind on Sunday mornings.
On February 22, 2006,
News Corporation
announced the launch of a new programming service called
MyNetworkTV
, which would be operated by the Fox network's sister companies
Fox Television Stations
and
Twentieth Television
. MyNetworkTV was created to compete against another upstart network that would launch at the same time that September,
The CW
(an amalgamated network that originally consisted primarily of The WB and
UPN
's higher-rated programs) as well as to give UPN and WB stations that were not named as CW charter affiliates another option besides converting to
independent stations
.
[8]
[9]
When MyNetworkTV launched on September 5, 2006, the station carried the programming service as a secondary affiliation from 10 p.m. to midnight each weeknight. As the block became part of The CW's programming schedule with that network's launch on September 18, Kids' WB programming moved to a CW-affiliated digital subchannel of
CBS
affiliate
KWTX-TV
(channel 10).
On April 24, 2013, Communications Corporation of America announced the sale of its stations to
Irving
-based
Nexstar Broadcasting Group
for $270 million, in a deal that also included rights to the local marketing agreements involving stations owned by Comcorp partner company White Knight Broadcasting.
[10]
However, due to a later proposal by the FCC to restrict sharing agreements between two or more television stations within the same market, approval of the sale was delayed for 20 months?at which time Nexstar sold some of KWKT/KYLE's sister stations under Comcorp ownership to licensees run by female and
ethnic minority
owners (all
but one
of which would end up operated by Nexstar through outsourcing agreements)?before finally being completed on January 1, 2015.
[11]
The sale was completed on January 1, 2015.
[12]
On May 7, 2015, Nexstar announced that it would convert KYLE into a separate station that would serve as the market's MyNetworkTV affiliate. After becoming the market's sole Fox affiliate on July 1, KWKT replaced the time period previously occupied by MyNetworkTV programming with syndicated programs; it also began simulcasting KYLE on its second digital subchannel to provide its programming to the entire Waco?
Temple
?Bryan market. KWKT is simulcast on KYLE's second subchannel for the same reason.
[13]
Programming
[
edit
]
Prior to the conversion of KYLE into a standalone station, KWKT aired MyNetworkTV programming on a
three-hour delay
from 10 p.m. to midnight; the MyNetworkTV schedule began airing in pattern from 7 to 9 p.m. after KYLE became a primary MyNetworkTV affiliate on July 1, 2015.
Through
Fox
's primary rights to the
National Football Conference
(NFC), the station carries select Sunday afternoon
National Football League
games involving the
Dallas Cowboys
, as well as any flex-scheduled games involving the
Houston Texans
(which play in the
American Football Conference
) at times when either team plays a home game against an NFC opponent that airs in a Sunday afternoon timeslot.
News operation
[
edit
]
As of April 2021
[update]
, KWKT-TV broadcasts 12 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with two hours each weekday and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays).
News programming history
[
edit
]
On January 28, 2008, KWKT premiered a half-hour prime time newscast at 9 p.m. titled
Fox News Central Texas
. The pre-taped newscast was produced by
NBC
-affiliated sister station
KETK-TV
in
Longview, Texas
; similar to other outsourced newscasts by its sister Fox stations in Texas and Louisiana under Comcorp ownership, the program featured stories filed by reporters based in the Waco?Temple?Bryan area, with a local forecast segment compiled and presented by KETK's evening meteorologists. The program's debut broadcast was delayed by a half-hour due to Fox's coverage of that year's
State of the Union
address, before moving to its regular timeslot on January 29.
[14]
[15]
[16]
On April 27, 2009, as part of cost-cutting measures mandated by Comcorp, the program was reduced to a six-minute broadcast; KWKT also added 30-second hourly updates (known as "news blasts") interspersed within syndicated and network programming. The changes resulted in the layoffs of five employees, all of whom worked as reporters or
assignment editors
.
[17]
On September 20, 2010, it was expanded to a half-hour and was retitled to
Fox 44 News at Nine
.
On May 8, 2015, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced plans to expand local news programming on KWKT-TV in early 2016.
[18]
KWKT transferred production of its newscasts to Waco when it launched its news department on July 8, 2017, coinciding with its expansion of the Saturday editions of its 9 p.m. newscast to one hour; this was followed by the debut of a half-hour 5:30 p.m. newscast?which airs only on Monday through Friday evenings?on July 10. The station's initial anchor team includes Robert Burns (who previously served as a reporter at fellow Fox affiliate
KSWB-TV
and hosted
The Burns Report
podcast for
XEPRS-AM
in
San Diego
) and Leslie Rangel (who previously worked as a reporter at NBC affiliate and KSWB sister station,
KFOR-TV
in
Oklahoma City
) as weeknight anchors, and Renee Summerour (formerly an anchor and multimedia journalist at NBC affiliate
KYMA-TV
in
Yuma, Arizona
) anchoring the weekend edition of the 9 p.m. newscast.
[19]
Subsequently, on July 17, KWKT launched a two-hour-long simulcast of the weekday morning news program aired by
CW
-affiliated sister station
KNVA
in
Austin
(which was produced by NBC-affiliated sister
KXAN-TV
in that market) from 7 to 9 a.m., under the title
Fox 44 Capital News
; the simulcast replaced
religious programming
in that time period, some of which were shifted to lead into the program. The KNVA simulcast was discontinued after the August 24, 2018, broadcast as a consequence of KXAN's decision to cancel the extension of its weekday morning newscast due to insufficient viewership. (KWKT replaced the KNVA news simulcast with syndicated educational children's programs and infomercials in the timeslot.)
[19]
[20]
Technical information
[
edit
]
Subchannels
[
edit
]
The station's signal is
multiplexed
:
Simulcast of subchannels of another station
Analog-to-digital conversion
[
edit
]
KWKT-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 44, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States
transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts
under federal mandate. The station relocated its digital signal from its pre-transition UHF channel 57, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to its analog-era UHF channel 44 for post-transition operations.
[22]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Facility Technical Data for KWKT-TV"
.
Licensing and Management System
.
Federal Communications Commission
.
- ^
KYLE - Nexstar Broadcasting Group
- ^
Schneider, Michael (November 7, 2001).
"Fox outgrows kids programs"
.
Variety
.
Reed Business Information
. Retrieved
August 13,
2009
.
- ^
"Memorandum Opinion and Order"
(PDF)
.
Federal Communications Commission
. November 19, 1996
. Retrieved
September 28,
2018
.
- ^
Smith, Doug (October 1996).
"TV News"
(PDF)
.
VHF-UHF Digest
. p. 18
. Retrieved
September 28,
2018
.
- ^
Smith, Doug (November 1996).
"TV News"
(PDF)
.
VHF-UHF Digest
. p. 15
. Retrieved
September 28,
2018
.
- ^
"Waco/Temple/Killeen TV Directory"
.
100000 Watts
. Archived from
the original
on August 22, 2003
. Retrieved
September 28,
2018
.
- ^
"News Corp. to launch new mini-network for UPN stations"
.
USA Today
.
Gannett Company
. February 22, 2006
. Retrieved
January 21,
2013
.
- ^
Eggerton, John (February 22, 2006).
"News Corp. Unveils My Network TV"
.
Broadcasting & Cable
.
NewBay Media
.
- ^
"Nexstar, Mission Buy 19 Stations For $270M"
.
TVNewsCheck
. NewsCheck Media. April 24, 2013
. Retrieved
July 18,
2015
.
- ^
"Consummation Notice"
.
CDBS Public Access
.
U.S. Federal Communications Commission
. Retrieved
January 5,
2015
.
- ^
"Consummation Notice"
.
CDBS Public Access
. Federal Communications Commission
. Retrieved
January 6,
2015
.
- ^
Malone, Michael (May 7, 2015).
"Nexstar First Quarter Revenue Up 52%"
.
Broadcasting & Cable
.
NewBay Media
. Retrieved
May 8,
2015
.
- ^
Waco Tribune, 1/28/2008 (article 1)
- ^
Waco Tribune, 1/28/2008 (article 2)
Ali "the Tractor" Cerrato is a radio personality often utilized by KWKT-TV.
- ^
Malone, Michael (January 28, 2008).
"Fox News Comes to Waco"
.
Broadcasting & Cable
.
Reed Business Information
. Retrieved
July 18,
2015
.
- ^
Kaufman, Rachel (April 28, 2009).
"Waco Fox Affiliate Trims Newscast To Six Minutes"
.
FishbowlNY
.
Mediabistro Holdings
. Retrieved
July 18,
2015
.
- ^
"NEXSTAR BROADCASTING'S KYLE-TV TO LAUNCH AS MYNETWORKTV AFFILIATE"
.
KWKT-TV/
KYLE-TV
.
Nexstar Broadcasting Group
. May 8, 2015. Archived from
the original
on July 5, 2015
. Retrieved
July 18,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
Ortega, Roly (July 10, 2017).
"KWKT has launched its in-house news department"
.
The Changing Newscasts Blog
. Retrieved
July 14,
2017
.
- ^
Ortega, Roly (August 25, 2018).
"KXAN reduces its morning news footprint"
.
The Changing Newscasts Blog
. Retrieved
August 27,
2018
.
- ^
"RabbitEars TV Query for KWKT"
.
RabbitEars
. Retrieved
July 5,
2015
.
- ^
"DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds"
(PDF)
.
U.S. Federal Communications Commission
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on August 29, 2013
. Retrieved
March 24,
2012
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with
cable television
|
Waco
/
Temple
/
Killeen
|
- KCEN-TV
(6.1
NBC
, 6.2
Cozi
, 6.3
Quest
, 6.4
Crime
, 6.5
Get
, 6.6
Nest
[soon]
, 6.7
Defy
, 6.8
Comet
, 6.9
Shop LC
)
- KWTX-TV
(10.1
CBS
, 10.2
TMD
, 10.3
MeTV
, 10.4
Mystery
, 10.5
Oxygen
)
- KXXV
(25.1
ABC
, 25.2
Grit
, 25.3
Court
, 25.4
Ion
, 25.5
Scripps News
)
- KPLE-CD (31.1
TCT
, 31.2
Smile
/
Positiv
, 31.3 Legacy, 31.4
Enlace
)
- KAXW-LD
(35.1 Timeless, 35.2
Defy
, 35.3
LX Home
, 35.4
TXO
, 35.5
CBN News
, 35.6
beIn Sports XTRA en Espanol
)
- KWKT-TV
(44.1
Fox
,
44.2
MNTV
, 44.3
ANT
, 44.4
Bounce
)
- KNCT
(46.1
CW
, 46.2
Outlaw
, 46.3
Start
, 46.4
Dabl
, 46.5
H&I
, 46.6
This
)
|
---|
Bryan
/
College Station
|
- KBTX-TV
(3.1
CBS
, 3.2
CW
, 3.3
TMD
, 3.4
Grio
, 3.5 Weather)
- KAMU-TV
(12.1
PBS
, 12.2
Create
, 12.3
PBS Kids
)
- KRHD-CD
(15.1
ABC
, 15.2
Mystery
, 15.3
TrueReal
)
- KAGS-LD
(23.1
NBC
, 23.2
Cozi
, 23.3
Quest
, 23.4
Crime
)
- KYLE-TV
(28.1
MNTV
,
28.2
Fox
, 28.3
ANT
, 28.4
Laff
)
- KZCZ-LD
(34.1
Country
, 34.2
Comet
, 34.3
LC
, 34.4
QVC
, 34.5
Buzzr
, 34.6
SonLife
, 34.7
Get
)
|
---|
ATSC 3.0
| |
---|
Streaming
| |
---|
Cable
| |
---|
Adjacent locals
|
- Austin
- KLRU
(18.1
PBS
, 18.2
Create
, 18.3 KLRU Q, 18.4
PBS Kids
)
- KTFO-CD
(31.1
UniMas
,
31.2
UNI
, 31.3
Get
, 31.4
Mystery
, 31.5
Dabl
, 31.6
DIGI
)
- KAKW-DT
(62.1
UNI
,
62.2
UniMas
, 62.3
Get
, 62.4
Ion Mystery
, 62.5
Dabl
, 62.6
DIGI
, 62.11
UNI
)
- Houston
- KUHT
(8.1
PBS
, 8.2
Create
, 8.3
PBS Kids
, 8.4
World
)
- Dallas-Fort Worth
- WFAA
(8.1
ABC
, 8.2 WX, 8.3
Crime
, 8.4
Quest
, 8.5
LC
)
- KERA-TV
(13.1
PBS
, 13.2
PBS Kids
, 13.3
Create
)
|
---|
Defunct
| |
---|
|
Fox
network affiliates licensed to and serving the state of
Texas
|
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|
ABC
| | |
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CBS
| |
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The CW
(
O&O
)
| |
---|
Fox
| |
---|
MyNetworkTV
| |
---|
NBC
| |
---|
Other stations
| |
---|
TV channels
| |
---|
TV programs
| |
---|
Other assets
| |
---|
Acquisitions
| |
---|
- 1
Nexstar operates these stations under an
SSA
.
- 2
These stations broadcast these networks on their digital subchannels.
|