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NBC Montana
NBC Montana is a regional network of three television stations in western Montana, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. It is headquartered in Missoula and serves as the NBC affiliate for the Missoula and Butte markets.
The network comprises flagship KECI-TV (channel 13) in Missoula; full-power satellites KTVM-TV (channel 6) in Butte and KCFW-TV (channel 9) in Kalispell; and low-power satellite KDBZ-CD (channel 6) in Bozeman. Most station operations, including news production, are based in Missoula, with bureaus in Bozeman and Kalispell. The stations air the same programming, but KTVM and KCFW air separate commercials and legal identifications. KDBZ is a straight simulcast of KTVM. NBC Montana's reach is further extended by 25 translators in western Montana and Idaho.
The main station, KECI, began broadcasting in 1954 as KGVO-TV. Regional coverage became a reality in the 1960s with the installation of transmitters in Butte and Kalispell. The stations have been sole NBC affiliates since 1989. Sinclair purchased the group in 2017 as part of its acquisition of Bonten Media Group.
On March 11, 1953, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted Mosby's Incorporated, owner of KGVO (1290 AM) in Missoula, a construction permit for a new television station on channel 13 in Missoula. Construction began in November 1953 on a road to the approved mountaintop transmitter facility, the first of its kind in the state and at the highest elevation of any television transmitter of the period in the northwestern United States; while two stations had gone on the air in Butte and a third in Billings, neither built their transmitters atop mountains.
KGVO-TV began telecasting on July 1, 1954. Originally, the station was a primary CBS affiliate, owing to its radio sister's long affiliation with CBS radio, but also carried programming from ABC and DuMont; DuMont ceased its existence as a network in 1955. While the studios were originally at the transmitter site, owner Arthur Mosby purchased an American Legion hall on West Main Street in downtown Missoula that had been gutted by fire and renovated it to serve as new studios. On December 1, 1956, KGVO moved to the new site and concurrently changed its call letters to KMSO-TV, representing Missoula's airport code. By 1957, KMSO had added a secondary affiliation with NBC. Mosby sold KGVO radio to Dale Moore in 1959 but held on to KMSO-TV until 1964, when Moore bought channel 13 as well; upon taking over, he changed its call letters back to KGVO-TV. Under Moore's ownership, KGVO-TV switched its primary affiliation to NBC in 1965, though it still carried some CBS and ABC programming. The transmitter was destroyed by fire in November 1966; the FCC permitted the installation of two interim translators to get the station back on air until the TV Mountain facility could be reconstructed.
Additionally, the station pursued a policy of regional expansion. In 1965, it built a 100-watt translator on channel 9 in Kalispell. The Flathead had been without a local station since the folding of KGEZ-TV/KULR in 1959. That December, the FCC simultaneously approved a channel 6 translator for KGVO-TV in Butte as well as a translator for Butte's local station, CBS affiliate KXLF-TV, in Missoula. On June 10, 1968, the Kalispell translator was upgraded to a full-power semi-satellite under the call letters KCFW-TV, while the Butte translator was replaced with full-power semi-satellite KTVM in May 1970. In 1976, primary coverage of ABC programs shifted from KGVO-TV to KXLF and its Missoula satellite, KPAX-TV.
Dale Moore's Western Broadcasting Company reached a deal to sell KGVO-TV, KCFW, and KTVM to Eagle Communications, Inc.—a company formed by former The Ed Sullivan Show producer Robert Precht and Advance Communications, owner of KFBB-TV in Great Falls—in 1977. Despite a protest from a citizens' group, Montanans for Quality Television, the deal received FCC approval in September 1978, and on November 1, KGVO-TV became KECI-TV. The new owners pledged to improve news coverage, in part under a pact with the citizens' group. The Eagle stations also aired Sesame Street for three years from 1978 to 1981, dropping the program due to a lack of underwriters.
Eagle demonstrated an increased commitment to the Butte area, which had never been served by any specific local programming, even after the launch of KTVM. After expressing interest in establishing a Butte office in 1978, the station did so in 1982 and began producing local news reports for inclusion in KECI's newscasts. Precht Communications acquired full control of Eagle Communications by 1981. NBC signed primary affiliation agreements with the Eagle stations in 1983; though they were dual NBC–CBS affiliates on paper, the best CBS shows aired on KXLF–KPAX, and CBS had turned down Eagle's bid for primary affiliation with that network to protect its relationship with the other stations in the Montana Television Network (MTN).
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NBC Montana
NBC Montana is a regional network of three television stations in western Montana, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. It is headquartered in Missoula and serves as the NBC affiliate for the Missoula and Butte markets.
The network comprises flagship KECI-TV (channel 13) in Missoula; full-power satellites KTVM-TV (channel 6) in Butte and KCFW-TV (channel 9) in Kalispell; and low-power satellite KDBZ-CD (channel 6) in Bozeman. Most station operations, including news production, are based in Missoula, with bureaus in Bozeman and Kalispell. The stations air the same programming, but KTVM and KCFW air separate commercials and legal identifications. KDBZ is a straight simulcast of KTVM. NBC Montana's reach is further extended by 25 translators in western Montana and Idaho.
The main station, KECI, began broadcasting in 1954 as KGVO-TV. Regional coverage became a reality in the 1960s with the installation of transmitters in Butte and Kalispell. The stations have been sole NBC affiliates since 1989. Sinclair purchased the group in 2017 as part of its acquisition of Bonten Media Group.
On March 11, 1953, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted Mosby's Incorporated, owner of KGVO (1290 AM) in Missoula, a construction permit for a new television station on channel 13 in Missoula. Construction began in November 1953 on a road to the approved mountaintop transmitter facility, the first of its kind in the state and at the highest elevation of any television transmitter of the period in the northwestern United States; while two stations had gone on the air in Butte and a third in Billings, neither built their transmitters atop mountains.
KGVO-TV began telecasting on July 1, 1954. Originally, the station was a primary CBS affiliate, owing to its radio sister's long affiliation with CBS radio, but also carried programming from ABC and DuMont; DuMont ceased its existence as a network in 1955. While the studios were originally at the transmitter site, owner Arthur Mosby purchased an American Legion hall on West Main Street in downtown Missoula that had been gutted by fire and renovated it to serve as new studios. On December 1, 1956, KGVO moved to the new site and concurrently changed its call letters to KMSO-TV, representing Missoula's airport code. By 1957, KMSO had added a secondary affiliation with NBC. Mosby sold KGVO radio to Dale Moore in 1959 but held on to KMSO-TV until 1964, when Moore bought channel 13 as well; upon taking over, he changed its call letters back to KGVO-TV. Under Moore's ownership, KGVO-TV switched its primary affiliation to NBC in 1965, though it still carried some CBS and ABC programming. The transmitter was destroyed by fire in November 1966; the FCC permitted the installation of two interim translators to get the station back on air until the TV Mountain facility could be reconstructed.
Additionally, the station pursued a policy of regional expansion. In 1965, it built a 100-watt translator on channel 9 in Kalispell. The Flathead had been without a local station since the folding of KGEZ-TV/KULR in 1959. That December, the FCC simultaneously approved a channel 6 translator for KGVO-TV in Butte as well as a translator for Butte's local station, CBS affiliate KXLF-TV, in Missoula. On June 10, 1968, the Kalispell translator was upgraded to a full-power semi-satellite under the call letters KCFW-TV, while the Butte translator was replaced with full-power semi-satellite KTVM in May 1970. In 1976, primary coverage of ABC programs shifted from KGVO-TV to KXLF and its Missoula satellite, KPAX-TV.
Dale Moore's Western Broadcasting Company reached a deal to sell KGVO-TV, KCFW, and KTVM to Eagle Communications, Inc.—a company formed by former The Ed Sullivan Show producer Robert Precht and Advance Communications, owner of KFBB-TV in Great Falls—in 1977. Despite a protest from a citizens' group, Montanans for Quality Television, the deal received FCC approval in September 1978, and on November 1, KGVO-TV became KECI-TV. The new owners pledged to improve news coverage, in part under a pact with the citizens' group. The Eagle stations also aired Sesame Street for three years from 1978 to 1981, dropping the program due to a lack of underwriters.
Eagle demonstrated an increased commitment to the Butte area, which had never been served by any specific local programming, even after the launch of KTVM. After expressing interest in establishing a Butte office in 1978, the station did so in 1982 and began producing local news reports for inclusion in KECI's newscasts. Precht Communications acquired full control of Eagle Communications by 1981. NBC signed primary affiliation agreements with the Eagle stations in 1983; though they were dual NBC–CBS affiliates on paper, the best CBS shows aired on KXLF–KPAX, and CBS had turned down Eagle's bid for primary affiliation with that network to protect its relationship with the other stations in the Montana Television Network (MTN).