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KBJR-TV is the NBC-affiliated station serving the Duluth, Minnesota/Superior, Wisconsin television market. The station is licensed to Superior, and is owned by Granite Broadcasting It also controls the operations of the are's CBS affiliate, KDLH (channel 3, owned by Malara Broadcasting) through a local marketing agreement (LMA). KBJR broadcasts an analog signal on VHF channel 6 and a digital signal on UHF channel 19 from a transmitter located in Duluth. The station is known on-air as "NBC 6". KBJR shares a website with KDLH.

KBJR operates a full-time satellite, KRII, which is licensed to Chisholm, Minnesota and serves Hibbing and International Falls (also served by another KBJR outyling transmitter on channel 53). KRII broadcasts an analog signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter located west of Cook. Programming is virtually the same as KBJR, except for some local ads and news inserts. Also, there is a separate KRII news page on the shared KBJR / KDLH website. KRII is known on-air as "Range 11".

KRII does not broadcast a digital signal. The station was granted an original construction permit after the FCC finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997 and, as a result, did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. Instead, on or before February 18, 2009, which is the end of the digital television conversion period for full-service stations, KRII will be required to turn off its analog signal and turn on its digital signal (called a "flash-cut"). [1]

KBJR operates the area's MyNetworkTV affiliate on its DT2 digital subchannel and Charter cable channel 9. The station is known on-air as "My 9". The "My 9" moniker is based on the channel's location on Charter cable systems.

KBJR's digital signal, in addition to its own local and NBC programming on DT1, operates two other channels. On KBJR DT2 is "My 9" and on KBJR DT3 is NBC Weather Plus. Weather Plus is also offered on Charter digital cable channel 391.

Digital Programming

KBJR's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel Programming
6.1 / 19.1 main KBJR programming (NBC)
6.2 / 19.2 My 9 (MyNetworkTV)
6.3 / 19.3 NBC Weather Plus

Outlying Translators

Besides KRII, KBJR is also seen on several outyling translators in Northeastern Minnesota.

History

KBJR signed on March 1, 1954 known as WDSM-TV and affiliated with CBS. It was owned by Midwest Communications along with WDSM-AM. WDSM the first television station in Duluth, signing on days before KDAL-TV (now KDLH). In October 1955, the station switched affiliations with KDAL and became an NBC affiliate. The station began local color broadcasts in November of 1965. It also aired some ABC programs, sharing them with KDAL, until WDIO-TV signed on in 1966.

Midwest Communications sold channel 6 in 1974, and on December 6 the call letters were changed to the current KBJR-TV. It is one of the few stations in the country whose callsign begins with "K" despite being licensed to a city east of the Mississippi River. However, its studios have long been located in Duluth.

The style of the number 6 in the logo is the second oldest television logo in Duluth, being in existence since 1990 and second only to WDIO's Red 10 / 13, which has existed since the early to mid 1980s.

KBJR's full-time satellite station, KRII-TV, signed on in 2000. KRII was originally licensed to International Falls, but was changed to Chisholm, which is closer to Duluth, before signing on.

Christmas City of the North Parade

Each November, on the Friday before Thanksgiving, KBJR puts on a parade in Downtown Duluth called the "Christmas City of the North Parade". It is broadcasted live on KBJR and streamed live on the station's website. In recent years, the parade also has been replayed numerous times on KBJR, My 9, and KDLH in the weeks and days before Christmas.

The Christmas City of the North Parade dates back to 1958, when KBJR (then WDSM) started the event as a way to kick off the holiday shopping season in the Northland. It has been held every year since, except in 1963 when the event was cancelled following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

In the early 1960s, the station commissioned Merv Griffin to produce a song especially for the parade. The "Christmas City Song" has been used for the parade every year since and also has been the closing music for KBJR and KDLH's newscasts.

In 2006, KBJR's Mark Mallory, Michelle Lee, Barbara Reyelts, and Pat Kelly anchored the parade.

The 1997 Fire and 1999 Ice Storm

On December 14, 1997, KBJR's studios were destroyed in a fire late that evening. The station left the air temporarily, but managed to get back on the air the next morning, cobbling together a makeshift workspace at its transmitter building. Two days later, the news operation moved in with local pubcaster WDSE and sales and business operations moved to open office space at the US Bank building in downtown Duluth, while master control remained at the transmitter.

In April of 1999, a spring ice storm swept through Duluth. The heavy accumulation of ice severely damaged the station's transmitting tower and, as the melting ice started falling off of the tower, large ice chunks broke through the roof of the transmitter building, flooding it with water and damaging much of the equipment inside. Master Control operations were moved again, using a temporary transmitter on WDIO's tower while its own tower and transmitter were replaced.

In June 1999, KBJR relocated to its current location in Canal Park.

KBJR DT2 / "KWBD"

Originally, KBJR DT2 was a UPN affiliate, known as "Northland's UPN". The station was also available in the Ashland, Wisconsin area on WAST-LP channel 25, which was an over-the-air, low-powered semi-satellite of the digital subchannel. WAST-LP was owned by a separate entity from KBJR. KDLH also operated the market's cable-only WB station that used the fictional calls of "KWBD". KWBD was part of The WB 100+, a group of cable-only WB affiliates that shared programming outside of The WB's primetime schedule.

On January 24, 2006, the UPN and WB networks announced that they would cease broadcasting and merge to create a new broadcast television network. The new network would be called The CW, the letters representing the first initial of its corporate parents CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. On February 22, 2006, News Corporation announced that they would start up another new broadcast television network called MyNetworkTV. The new network, which is sister to FOX, is operated by FOX Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming independent.

Another announcement came in February that cable-only KWBD would become an affiliate of The CW, via The CW Plus (which is a similar arangement to The WB 100+). Also, it was announced that "Northland's UPN" would become an independent station known as "Northland's 9" with a new logo and graphics for the station. In March of 2006 it was announced that "Northland 9" would become the market's affiliate of MyNetworkTV.

In July, ahead of the launch of MyNetworkTV, "Northland 9" became known as "My 9". WAST ended its broadcasting in August. MyNetworkTV began broadcasting on September 5, 2006. The CW launched on September 18, 2006, and at that time KWBD became known as "Northland's CW" and began to be seen on KDLH's DT2 digital subchannel.

Ratings

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, KBJR was in third place behind competitors WDIO and KDLH. That all changed in the early 1990s when KDLH made the fateful decision to fire longtime anchor Michelle Lee in hopes of attracting a younger audience. KBJR quickly signed Lee, and by the next ratings cycle had surpassed KDLH in the ratings.

Now firmly in second place for the first time in decades, KBJR slowly built its audience during the 1990s to a point where it seriously challenged long-dominant WDIO for first place. They continue to compete against each other, and whoever is number one during specific newscasts usually fluctuates. However, both stations can frequently claim bragging rights for their evening newscasts (one station might have the most total viewers, while the other has the highest number of 18-49 viewers, which is the age group most attractive to advertisers).

While it was widely believed that the KDLH merger would drive viewers to WDIO, the change has not proved extraordinarily beneficial to either KBJR or WDIO. The weekday 5:30 PM newscast on KDLH attracts similar numbers to its pre-merger newscast at 6 PM.

Newscasts

The station produces three weekday newscasts for KBJR DT2 "My 9". Also, KBJR produces all of KDLH's newscasts, using some of KBJR's news personnel. There are no weekend morning newscasts on the weekends, excpet for local news and weather updates provided during the weeekend edition of The Today Show.

Weekdays

  • News Center Today on NBC 6 (5 to 7 AM)
    • with local news and weather updates during The Today Show 7 to 10 AM
  • News Center Today on My 9 (7 to 8 AM)
  • News Center at Noon on NBC 6 (12 to 12:30 PM)
  • News Center at Noon on My 9 (12:30 to 1 PM)
  • News Center at 5 on NBC 6 (5 to 5:30 PM)
  • News Center at 6 on NBC 6 (6 to 6:30 PM)
  • News Center Tonight on My 9 (9 to 9:30 PM)
  • News Center at 10 on NBC 6 (10 to 10:35 PM)

Weekends

  • News Center at 6 on NBC 6 (6 to 6:30 PM)
  • News Center at 10 on NBC 6 (10 to 10:35 PM)

News Team

Anchors

  • Michelle Lee - News Center at 5, 6, and 10
  • Mark Mallory - News Center at 5, 6, and 10
  • Edward Moody - News Center Today / News Center at Noon and updates during The Today Show
  • Rachel Slavik - News Center Weekend
  • Barbara Reyelts - News Center at Noon

Weather

  • Karl Spring - News Center at 5, 6, and 10
  • Dave Anderson - News Center Weekend
  • Ken Buhler - Fill-in Weathercaster

Sports

  • Tom Hansen - News Center at 5, 6, and 10
  • Joe Dufek - News Center Weekend

Reporters

  • Kellie LaVoie
  • Dan Hanger
  • Barbara Reyelts - I-Team 6

KBJR also uses personnel form KDLH

Past Personnel

  • Todd Nelson- Morning Weather (Now at KQDS-TV)
  • Dave Jensch Anchor until late 90's. Now Vice President and Station Manager .
  • Paul Heggen Weather- Now at KOKI-TV.
  • Sven Sundgaard Weather- now at KARE-TV in St. Paul/Minneapolis.
  • George Kessler Weather (Now at KBJR's Sister station KDLH)
  • Kim Kaiser Mornings
  • Keith Marler Morning weather. Now at KMSP in minneapolis.
  • Alex Walker Weekend Sports
  • Jason Rice Morning News
  • Eric Green Morning Weather
  • Stacy Eckes Weekends
  • Jason Pool Morning Weather
  • Molly McMillen Mornings+Noon
  • Toni Shockley - Weather
  • Jodi Grayson- Mornings
  • Rachael Burich- reporter
  • Adam Gahssemi- Reporter

Logos

Template:Northland's NewsCenter

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