KULR-TV
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KULR-TV is an NBC affiliate broadcasting on channel 8 in Billings, Montana. KULR is currently owned by Max Media.
KULR's programming and schedule is also seen on KYUS-TV in Miles City, Montana; that station is owned and operated by the Marks Radio Group, who also owns several radio stations in Montana, among other broadcasting properties. KULR programs and operates the station on Marks' behalf. Previously, KYUS was notorious for being the smallest network affiliate in America, which, at one time, featured a man who did the news, sports, weather and reporting himself -- he was also featured in the late-1970s on NBC's Real People and in TV Guide for his career. During the 1980s, KYUS became mainly a satellite station in the 1980s, first with KOUS (channel 4), then with KULR, after KOUS flipped to Fox as KHMT.
In Miles City, KULR can also be seen on K06FE channel 6; this translator is owned by Max Media, and not the Marks Radio Group.
History
Channel 8's first broadcast was in March 15, 1958 as KGHL-TV, owned by Midland Empire Broadcasting Company along with KGHL radio (AM 790). The station was originally a NBC affiliate with a secondary ABC affiliation. The callsign was changed to KULR in 1963. The call letters were a play on the word "color" as most programs in the mid-1960s started changing from being televised in black and white to color. "Color 8" was how the TV station was promoted on-air in promos for KULR. On September 1, 1975, unfortunately, the station became a primary ABC affiliate[1]--the fourth in Montana--while relegating NBC to secondary status. NBC wouldn't return to Billings on a full-time basis until KOUS signed on in 1980. In spring 1981, KULR dumped "Color 8" and became known as Straight 8 and its local newscast as Straight 8 Newsservice anchored by Dave Rye, sports director Larry Gebert, and weather forecaster Kit Carson. Other on-air reporters and weekend anchors at the time included Joni Earl, Monica Gayle, Kyle Safely, and David Smock.
In 1984, NBC wanted a stronger affiliate in the market, and quickly negotiated a return to KULR.
From 1970 until Montana PBS signed on in 1984, KULR aired some PBS programming, as Montana was one of the few states at the time that didn't have a PBS station of its own.
In February 2009, KULR, KTVQ and two other stations in the Billings market were refused Federal Communications Commission permission[2] to end analogue broadcasts and operate as digital-only effective on the originally-scheduled February 17, 2009 date.[3]
Notable staff
- Patty Souza, meteorologist at KXTV Channel 10, the ABC affiliate in Sacramento, California.
- Conrad Burns, former United States Senator from Montana, worked as a farm reporter.
- Roger Lohse 1995-1996. Works at WPLG-TV Channel 10, the ABC affiliate in Miami, Florida.
- Monica Gayle, former weekend anchor/news reporter and former CBS News corresponsdent, is the weeknight news co-anchor at WJBK, Channel 2, the FOX affiliate in Detroit, Michigan.
- Kyle Safely, former weekend anchor/general assignment news reporter, lives in Boise, Idaho.
- Dave Rye, former news director, elected Montana state senator in 1990, and is currently a conservative radio talk show host on the Northern News Network.
- Larry Gebert, former sports director, has been with KTVB Newschannel 7 in Boise, Idaho since 1992 working as an on-air meteorologist and the system administrator for the computer networks at the NBC affiliate.
- David Smock, former weekend sports/weather anchor and weekday noon news producer/news reporter, is the coordinating producer and play-by-play announcer for the Toro Sports Network, an Internet TV channel featuring California State University, Dominguez Hills NCAA Division II college sports live from Carson, California near Los Angeles.