KXAS-TV

Not to be confused with KSAX or KSAS-TV.

KXAS-TV

Fort Worth-Dallas, Texas
City of license	Fort Worth, Texas
Branding	NBC 5 (general) NBC 5 News (newscasts)
Slogan	Anytime. Everywhere.
Channels	Digital: 41 (UHF) Virtual: 5 (PSIP)
Subchannels	see below
Affiliations	NBC Cozi TV (DT2)
Owner	NBCUniversal (Station Venture Operations L.P.)
First air date	September 29, 1948
Call letters' meaning	K, TeXAS
Sister station(s)	KXTX-TV
Former callsigns	WBAP-TV (1948–1974)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 5 (VHF, 1948–2009)
Former affiliations	DT2: NBC Weather Plus (2004–2008)
Transmitter power	891 kW
Height	506 meters (1,660 ft)
Facility ID	49330
Transmitter coordinates	32°35′7″N 96°58′6″W
Licensing authority	FCC
Public license information:	Profile CDBS
Website	www.nbcdfw.com

KXAS-TV, virtual channel 5 (digital channel 41), is a television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, that serves as the NBC owned-and-operated station for the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The station is owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations subsidiary of NBCUniversal, and is a sister station to Telemundo station KXTX-TV (channel 39). The two stations share studios located on Broadcast Hill in the eastern portion of Fort Worth, and its transmitter is located in Cedar Hill.

History

The station signed on September 28, 1948, under the callsign WBAP-TV. It was the first television station in the state of Texas, and was owned by Amon G. Carter, publisher of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and owner of WBAP radio. The following year, the two stations were joined by WBAP-FM (96.3 FM, now KSCS). WBAP-TV originally transmitted its signal from a 400 foot tower (still at the studios, supporting microwave and remote antennas). In 1957, a taller tower was built at the west end of the property of the Broadcast Hill studios. Even though it was obvious that Dallas and Fort Worth would be a single television market, Carter did not care whether people in Dallas could see channel 5; he had long been a booster for the Fort Worth area. The station moved to the 1,500-foot candelabra tower owned by WFAA and KRLD-TV (channel 4, now KDFW) in Cedar Hill in 1964, along with its FM sister, reportedly only after NBC threatened to yank its affiliation. Before this, WFAA-TV served as the NBC affiliate for the eastern half of the market.

On November 24, 1963, a KTVT remote unit that was loaned to WBAP-TV and was set up at Dallas Police Headquarters, fed the live images of accused Presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald being gunned down by Jack Ruby to the NBC network. It was the first time a murder had been witnessed live on network television in the United States. It was also notable that, during NBC's network coverage of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, news reports from WBAP-TV's studios were transmitted in color, with NBC broadcasting the coverage in New York from a black and white studio (WBAP-TV was one of the earliest local stations to convert its local programming to color).

The station was owned by the Carter family trusts until 1974, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) barred common ownership of newspapers and television stations in the same market in all but a few cases. The FCC grandfathered the Metroplex's other newspaper/radio/television combination – Belo's Dallas Morning News and WFAA-AM-FM-TV – but would not do the same for the Star-Telegram and WBAP-AM-FM-TV. Accordingly, the Carters decided to break up their media empire. WBAP-TV was then sold to LIN Broadcasting for $35 million. LIN took control in the summer of 1974 and changed the station's callsign to the current KXAS-TV. The Star-Telegram, WBAP-AM and KSCS were sold to Capital Cities Communications at that time (the newspaper is now owned by the McClatchy Company, while the two radio stations are now owned by Cumulus Media).

On January 25, 1986 during live coverage on KXAS of a standoff at an area 7-Eleven store, Thomas Stephens, who had been served divorce papers from his wife the day before, shot and killed himself with .357-caliber pistol on-air during KXAS' coverage. Stephens, believing they encouraged her to seek the divorce, shot his wife's two co-workers, killing one and wounding another. His wife, Patricia, slipped away while he was talking to police over the phone. In 1987, the old Cedar Hill tower was severely damaged when an F-4 military aircraft on approach to Dallas Naval Air Station clipped several guy wires. WFAA, KDFW and KXAS were briefly knocked off the air. While the tower was severely damaged, the stations were only off air for a few seconds of the first few minutes. Auxiliary facilities were improvised at the nearby channel 39 tower (the 39 tower would collapse during tower work in 1996). KXAS opted to build its own tower to the east of the old tower, located in Cedar Hill, where the station had owned many acres of land since the sixties.

KXAS NBC 5 logo, 1999-2012.

When AT&T Corporation acquired LIN Broadcasting in 1994, its broadcasting assets were spun off into a separate company known as LIN Television Corporation. LIN Television wholly owned the station until March 1998, when it sold a 76% share of KXAS to NBC, in exchange for a 24% share of San Diego's KNSD (which NBC had recently purchased from New World Communications, who had also owned channel 5's rival KDFW until it and the other Fox affiliates owned by New World were sold to Fox) and cash. The jointly owned venture between NBC and LIN was named Station Venture Holdings, LLC. As part of the deal, NBC took control of KXAS' operations.

In 2002, KXTX-TV was purchased by NBC (which had purchased Telemundo that same year), creating a duopoly between KXTX and KXAS. On November 19, 2009, a fire located in the electrical room of the station's Fort Worth studios knocked both KXAS and KXTX off the air; fire alarms went off at 9:30 p.m., which led to the studio being evacuated, disrupting the 10 p.m. news broadcast.

Alternate on-air logo.

KXAS had been a longtime affiliate of the Muscular Dystrophy Association's "Love Network". The station had aired the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon for 38 years until 2011, when a major overhaul that relegated it to a six-hour primetime telecast on the Sunday night before Labor Day, resulted in the MDA Telethon being moved to KTXA to avoid interfering with NBC's Sunday primetime schedule. In recent years, substantial portions of the telethon had been preempted by commitments to NBC's entertainment and sports programming. In February 2013, LIN Media reached a deal with NBCUniversal to withdraw itself from the Station Venture Operations joint venture as part of a corporate reorganization. As a result, NBC gained full ownership of KXAS and regained full ownership in KNSD.

Digital television

Digital channels

Channel	Video	Aspect	PSIP Short Name	Programming
5.1	1080i	16:9	KXAS-HD	Main KXAS-TV programming / NBC
5.2	480i		NSTP	Cozi TV

KXAS also has a Mobile DTV feed of subchannel 5.1, broadcasting at 1.83 Mbit/s.

Logo for NBC DFW Nonstop.

NBC Weather Plus was previously offered on digital subchannel 5.2, until the network shut down on December 1, 2008. On December 23^{[citation needed]}, the channel was revamped as NBC Plus, an automated service featuring local weather informations, alongside audio from Fort Worth's NOAA Weather Radio station KEC55, and alternately from KEC56 in Dallas.^{[citation needed]} On May 4, 2011, programming on 5.2 switched to DFW Nonstop, a local news channel offering a mix of originally-produced news and lifestyle programming and rebroadcasts of KXAS newscasts; the channel is also available to Charter Communications, Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS and Grande Communications customers in the Metroplex.

In January 2009, channel 5.3 began carrying Universal Sports, a network primarily airing Olympic sporting events. On December 31, 2011, Universal Sports began airing exclusively on cable and satellite, dropping its over-the-air subchannel affiliations.

Analog-to-digital conversion

After the digital television transition period ended on June 12, 2009, KXAS-DT continued to broadcast its digital signal on UHF channel 41, PSIP is used to display KXAS-TV's virtual channel as 5 on digital television receivers. At noon that day, their analog signal transmitted a brief test pattern, followed by instructional programming about how to receive digital television signals until June 26, 2009, when KXAS-TV's analog signal ended nightlight programming.

News operation

KXAS presently broadcasts 32 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (5½ hours on weekdays and 3½ hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). In addition to the newscasts seen on KXAS, the station also produces 2½ hours of news on weekdays for its Cozi TV digital subchannel in the form of a half-hour 6:30 p.m. newscast.

In the late 1960s, Fort Worth native Bob Schieffer began his broadcast career at WBAP-TV as a reporter and anchor of the 10 p.m. newscast. Schieffer then went on to Washington, D.C. as a reporter for the now-defunct Metromedia news service and WTTG-TV, then embarked on a long career with CBS News. KXAS is locally known for its weather coverage; it claims to be the first station to have hired only full-time meteorologists. One of its first, Harold Taft, was employed with the station for over 40 years. On March 28, 2000, while an F3 tornado was ripping through downtown Fort Worth, a tower camera operated by the station caught the tornado on air live during the 6 p.m. newscast as KXAS chief meteorologist David Finfrock was warning viewers at home about the tornado warning for Tarrant County.

On September 7, 2007, KXAS-TV began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. On January 16, 2009, KXAS began sharing its news helicopter with Fox owned-and-operated KDFW (channel 4), under a Local News Service agreement.

Ratings

According to the local Nielsen ratings for the February 2011 sweeps period, KXAS placed second in the 6 a.m. time period with total viewers and adults age 25–54 years old; this in direct comparison to the same time period the year before, when it placed first in that timeslot, when it was aided by NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. In evening news, KXAS was in third place at 5 p.m. with total viewers and adults 25-54, in last place at 6 p.m. among both total viewers and with adults 25-54, and placed third at 10 p.m. with total viewers and last with 25-54 year olds.

According to the local Nielsen ratings for the May 2011 sweeps period, the 10 p.m. newscast placed last among 25 to 54-year-olds and in third with total viewers (overall, all four stations showed year-to-year gains in total viewers while only KXAS was down slightly among 25-to-54-year-olds); the station's morning newscast had placed third in both demographics. In total viewers, the 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts were also last place finishers among the Metroplex's late newscasts, though the 5 p.m. newscast was in third, behind KTVT, in the 25- to 54-year-old demographic (the 6 p.m. newscast placed last behind KTVT among adults 25-54). The morning newscast was the only KXAS newscast to rank above third place in total viewership (though it, along with KTVT and WFAA's morning newscasts all lost viewers in both key demos to KDFW, which ranked first).

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• The Texas News (1948–1971 and 1974–1979; simply known as Texas News, formerly used on KTRK-TV in Houston in the 1960s)
• News at Six/News at Ten (late 1960s)
• Area Five Texas News (1971–1974)
• Action News (1979–1985)
• Channel 5 News (1985–1989)
• Texas News 5 (1989–1998)
• NBC 5 Texas News (1998–2000)
• NBC 5 News (2000–present)

Station slogans

• "Five Keeps Bringing It Home To You" (1970–1980)
• "Channel 5 News, The Team to Watch for News" (1985–1989)
• "Building a Better Texas" (1989–1992)
• "The Texas News Channel" (1992–2003)
• "Not Just What Happens, What Matters" (general) / "Live. Local. Latebreaking." (news; 2003–2007)
• "Where You Matter" (2007–2008)
• "Anytime. Everywhere." (2008–present)
• "We'll Keep You Advised" (weather slogan)

News team

Current on-air staff

Anchors

• Kevin Cokely - weekend evenings; also weeknight reporter
• Brian Curtis - weekdays at 4:00 p.m. and weeknights at 6:30 p.m. (Cozi TV 5.2) and 10 p.m.
• Deanna Dewberry - weeknights at 5:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on (Cozi TV 5.2); also consumer investigative reporter
• Deborah Ferguson - weekday mornings (4:30-7 a.m.) and 7:00-10:00 a.m. on (Cozi TV 5.2)
• Marc Fein - weeknights at 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.
• Amanda Guerra - weekend evenings; also weeknight reporter
• Mark Hayes - weekday mornings (4:30-7 a.m.) and 7:00-10:00 a.m. on (Cozi TV 5.2)
• Meredith Land - weeknights at 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.
• Kristi Nelson - weekdays at 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.
• Lindsay Wilcox - weekend mornings; also weeknight reporter

NBC 5 Weather Plus

• David Finfrock (member, AMS) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5:00 and 6:00 p.m.
• Rick Mitchell (member, AMS) - meteorologist; weekdays at 4:00 p.m. and weeknights at 6:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.
• Samantha Davies (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval; member, NWA) - meteorologist; weekday mornings NBC5 First Weather (4:30 a.m.); also weekday morning traffic reporter (5-7 a.m.)
• Grant Johnston - meteorologist; weekday mornings (5-7 a.m.) and 7:00-10:00 a.m. on (Cozi TV 5.2)
• Lindsay Riley - meteorologist; Thursdays and Fridays at 11 a.m., and weekend mornings
• Remeisha Shade (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekend evenings, and Monday-Wednesdays at 11 a.m.
• Michael Hammer (member, AMS; member, NWA) - freelance meteorologist; occasional weekend mornings

Sports team

• Newy Scruggs - sports director; weeknights at 5:00, 6:00, and 10 p.m., also host of NBC 5 Sports Extra and Out of Bounds
• TBD - sports anchor; weekend evenings, also sports reporter and fill-in sports anchor
• David Watkins - sports reporter and fill-in sports anchor

Reporters

• Scott Friedman - investigative reporter; also fill-in anchor
• Keaton Fox - weekday morning multimedia reporter
• Ellen Goldberg - Dallas Police Department reporter
• Scott Gordon - general assignment reporter
• Ken Kalthoff - general assignment reporter
• Eric King - general assignment reporter
• Christine Lee - Irving/Grand Prairie reporter
• Mola Lenghi - Arlington reporter
• Kendra Lyn - general assignment reporter
• Randy McIlwain - general assignment reporter
• Ames Meyer - "Chopper 5" photojournalist
• Tammy Mutasa - Garland/Mesquite reporter
• Catherine Ross - Plano reporter
• Ben Russell - general assignment reporter
• Mark Schnyder - general assignment reporter
• Brian Scott - Denton reporter
• Jeff Smith - general assignment reporter
• Chris Van Horne - Fort Worth reporter
• Omar Villafranca - general assignment reporter
• Ray Villeda - general assignment reporter
• Bobbie Wygant - entertainment reporter

External links

• NBCDFW.com - Official website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KXAS-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KXAS-TV
• Program Information for KXAS at TitanTV.com

References

• Shannon, Mike (January, 2004). Dallas-Fort Worth TV Station History. The History of Dallas-Fort Worth Radio and Television.