KGNS-TV

KGNS-TV


Laredo, Texas
United States
Branding
  • KGNS 8
  • KGNS News
  • .2: NGNS (ABC Laredo)
  • .3: Telemundo Laredo
Channels Digital: 8 (VHF)
Virtual: 8 (PSIP)
Affiliations
Owner Gray Television
(Gray Television Licensee, LLC)
First air date January 7, 1956
Call letters' meaning Good Neighbor Station[1]
Sister station(s) KYLX-LD
Former callsigns KHAD-TV (1956-1958)
Former channel number(s) Analog:
8 (VHF, 1956–2009)
Digital:
15 (UHF, 2004–2009)
Former affiliations
  • Secondary:
  • CBS (1956–1973)
  • ABC (1956–1984)
  • UPN
  • .2:
  • The CW (2008–2014)
Transmitter power 20 kW
Height 312 m
Facility ID 10061
Transmitter coordinates 27°40′21″N 99°39′51″W / 27.67250°N 99.66417°W / 27.67250; -99.66417
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website kgns.tv

KGNS-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Laredo, Texas and the Mexican city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 8 from a transmitter northwest of Laredo. Owned by Gray Television as a sister station to low-powered CBS affiliate KYLX-LD, it maintains studios located on Del Mar Boulevard (near I-35) in northern Laredo. KGNS can be seen on Time Warner Cable Laredo channel 10 and in high definition on digital channel 860 as well as on Dish Network and DirecTV.

History

KGNS studios on Del Mar Boulevard, near the intersection of Interstate 35.

KGNS originally went on air January 7, 1956 as KHAD-TV, it has been a primary NBC affiliate since its sign on, but the station initially held secondary affiliations with CBS and ABC.[2] CBS programming moved to KVTV in December 1973 and ABC programming moved to present-day Univision affiliate KLDO-TV in December 1984, effectively making KGNS an exclusive NBC affiliate.

Donrey Media Group (now Stephens Media Group) bought the station on September 1, 1958. One of its first moves under Donrey ownership was to change the station's call letters, Donrey management held a contest in which elementary and middle school students from both the United States and Mexico sides of the Rio Grande region to choose a new callsign; the winning entry resulted in the station changing its callsign to the current KGNS-TV (standing for "Good Neighbor Station").[1]

In 1985, KGNS was purchased by Century Development Corporation. In 1990 the station began a Spanish language newscast.[3]

By 1998, KGNS gained a secondary affiliation with United Paramount Network lasting at least until 2000[4][5] while definitively off the station by 2004.[6] then move to cable only on Time Warner Cable Channel 16.[7] While in 2000, the WB affiliate was a cable only KTXW,[5] which by 2010 was on a subchannel of the station.[8]

In April 2002, the Spanish news staff resigned their jobs forcing the station to initial run a sitcom then replacing it with English language news.[3]

In 2004, the station was purchased by SagamoreHill Broadcasting.[1] The sale to SagamoreHill was approved by the Federal Communications Commission on December 1, 2005.

On January 24, 2006, The WB and CBS Corporation-owned UPN announced that the two networks would cease broadcasting and merge into a new broadcast network called The CW. On September 18, 2006, KGNS-TV rebranded "KTXW" Time Warner Cable channel 19 as The CW Laredo starting its CW programming.[9] With the subsequent sign-on of digital subchannel 8.2, the subchannel began broadcasting "KTXW" bringing the channel over-the-air coverage throughout the market.[2] In 2010, local Spanish language news returned to the station on Telemundo affiliated subchannel 3.[10]


In May 2013, SagamoreHill Broadcasting reached a deal to sell KGNS, along with KGWN-TV in Cheyenne, Wyoming and KSTF in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, to Yellowstone Holdings, a subsidiary of Frontier Radio Management.[11][12] On November 4, 2013, Gray Television announced a deal to acquire Yellowstone Holdings for $23 million.[13] The sale was competed on December 31.[14]

On November 6, 2013, KGNS-TV reached an agreement with the ABC Television Network to add the ABC affiliation, originally slated to launch February 2014 on channel 8.2.[15] The ABC affiliation began on July 1, 2014, making The CW available in Laredo exclusively on Time Warner Cable via the national feed of The CW Plus.[2] The CW programming wouldn't be seen over the air in Laredo area until October 2015, as KYLX-LP picked up the affiliation.

Digital television

The station's digital signal is multiplexed. It broadcasts its main programming NBC on channel 8.1 in 1080i HD, ABC programming on subchannel 8.2 in 720p HD and Telemundo programming in 480i SD on subchannel 8.3. KGNS was one of the last American television stations that continued to sign off during the overnight hours, doing so nightly from 1:35 to 5:30 a.m.; as of 2014, the station now operates 24 hours a day. However, in later years, its second and third digital subchannels remained on the air during the overnight hours even when the main channel did not.

Channel Video Aspect Programming
8.1 1080i 16:9 Main KGNS-TV programming / NBC HD
8.2 720p ABC HD
8.3 480i 4:3 Telemundo
Former .2 Subchannel logos
Laredo CW
Former CW branding (2006-2014)
Logo as "NGNS 12" in 2014

On April 8, 2004, KGNS-TV launched its digital signal on UHF channel 15, becoming the first television station in the Laredo market to operate a digital broadcast television signal. KGNS-TV discontinued Its analog signal and began broadcasting exclusively on a digital-only signal on June 12, 2009.[16] The station vacated its pre-transition digital channel 15, and moved its digital channel allocation to its former analog VHF channel 8. KGNS-TV began broadcasting high-definition programming on its digital signal in October 2008.[17] KGNS-TV previously operated the area's CW affiliate on digital subchannel 8.2, branded as Laredo CW 19. On November 6, 2013, KGNS-TV reached an agreement with the ABC Television Network to add the ABC affiliation, originally slated to launch February 2014 on channel 8.2.[18] The ABC affiliation began on July 1, 2014, leaving Laredo without a CW affiliate.[2]

News operation

KGNS studios on Del Mar Boulevard near the intersection with Interstate 35

Since CBS affiliate KVTV shut down its news department in 2006, KGNS has operated the only English-language news department in the market. It currently airs three hours of newscasts every weekday and one hour per day on weekends. The station employs a number of recent college graduates. According to Nielsen Media Research, KGNS competes closely with Spanish-language station KLDO.

In 1990 the station began a Spanish language newscast at 5 PM called "Noticias en Español" with news anchor Hector Lerma. On April 29, 2002, the Spanish news staff resigned their jobs forcing the station to initial run a sitcom then replacing it with English language news on March 1. The staff had filed wage complaints with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission six month earlier which according to the staff a hostile work environment.[3] In 2010, local Spanish language news returned to the station on Telemundo affiliated subchannel 3. Initially, there was a Sunday morning show, “Telemundo Laredo … En tu Casa” then expanded on November 18, 2010 with a week night 10 PM show.[10]

On June 21, 2008, KGNS-TV began producing a weeknight 9 o'clock newscast on its CW-affiliated second digital subchannel]] titled "Laredo's First News at 9". This program was the only primetime newscast in the Laredo-Nuevo Laredo market until Fox affiliate KXOF-CA launched a competing 9 p.m. newscast on April 9, 2012. The half-hour newscast is anchored by Brenda Medina and Ryan Bailey, who also serves as weather anchor for the newscast, it is targeted at young adults between the ages of 21 and 34 years old.[19]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 RABAGO III, EMILIO (July 31, 2004). "Local television station sold to Georgia group". Laredo Morning Times. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Station adds ABC; will drop The CW". Laredo Morning Times. July 1, 2014. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Garcia, Robert (March 1, 2002). "Spanish newscast no mas". Laredo Morning Times. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  4. ↑ "United Paramount Network Affiliates". cmu.edu. Aaron Greenhouse. May 1, 1998. Retrieved November 13, 2015. From information on upn.com.
  5. 1 2 "CHANNELS LISTED IN THE SOUTH TEXAS EDITION" (PDF). TV Guide Fan. TV Guide. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Affiliates: Texas". UPN.com. United Paramount Network. December 12, 2004. Archived from the original on December 12, 2004. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Affiliates: Texas". UPN.com. United Paramount Network. October 18, 2005. Archived from the original on October 18, 2005. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  8. ↑ Henson, Robert (January 22, 2013). Weather on the Air: A History of Broadcast Meteorology (revised ed.). Springer Science & Business Media. p. 30. ISBN 1935704001. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  9. ↑ "CW Laredo will hit area TVs on Monday". Laredo Morning Times. September 17, 2006. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  10. 1 2 Sanchez, Mary Nell (November 19, 2010). "Spanish newscast debuts". Laredo Morning Times. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  11. ↑ Malone, Michael (May 31, 2013). "Yellowstone Buys Laredo, Cheyenne Stations For $20.5 Million". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  12. ↑ "APPLICATION FOR CONSENT TO ASSIGNMENT OF BROADCAST STATION CONSTRUCTION PERMIT OR LICENSE". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. May 30, 2013. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Gray Buying Yellowstone Stations". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
  14. ↑ Consummation Notice, CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved 2 January 2014
  15. ↑ Gray to Air ABC on KGNS Subchannel TVNewsCheck, November 6, 2013.
  16. ↑
  17. ↑ KGNS | About Us
  18. ↑ Gray to Air ABC on KGNS Subchannel TVNewsCheck, November 6, 2013.
  19. ↑ New news show begins Monday on CW, ch. 19, Laredo Morning Times
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