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KFXB-TV (channel 40) is a
religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...
licensed to
Dubuque Dubuque (, ) is a city in Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. The population was 59,667 at the 2020 United States census. The city lies along the Mississippi River at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a region ...
, Iowa, United States, serving the Eastern Iowa
television market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...
as an
owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an network af ...
of the
Christian Television Network Christian Television Network, Inc. (CTN) is an American non-profit broadcast television network of small owned-and-operated stations (O&O) that broadcasts religious programming. It is based in Largo, Florida (with a mailing address of Clearwa ...
(CTN). The station's studios are located on Main Street in downtown Dubuque, and its transmitter is located in extreme southwestern
Grant County, Wisconsin Grant County is the most southwestern county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,938. Its county seat is Lancaster and its largest city is Platteville. The county is named after the Grant River, in t ...
(in the Madison television market).


History

The station signed on as KDUB-TV on June 1, 1970, on channel 40 as an
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
affiliate. Original owner Dubuque Communications Corporation, owned by Gerald J. Green, his brother Timothy, and their wives, had been established in May 1968, even after Green had been advised that Dubuque was too small to support a television station; the station was initially unable to obtain an affiliation with any of the three television networks before ABC finally agreed to affiliate with KDUB-TV. In 1972, Gerald Green, who also served as station president and general manager, was embroiled in a controversy with the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC) over whether $19,000 he paid to an ABC network representative was a bribe. Green testified that he thought the money was a legitimate expense in obtaining the network affiliation. Green was later exonerated, but the ABC executive was found guilty of extorting payoffs. After encountering financial difficulties, KDUB-TV ceased operations at 11:06p.m. on September 30, 1974, after that night's ''
Monday Night Football ''Monday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''MNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that air on Monday nights. It originally ran on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from 1970 NFL season, 1970 t ...
'' telecast; the shutdown was announced to viewers during halftime by news director Jim Esmoil, who said that the station would be leaving the air instead of producing a newscast that night. Much of KDUB-TV's equipment was repossessed by the station's largest creditor,
RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...
. The closure came after Green spent two years trying to sell the station, including unsuccessful negotiations with the Moline Television Corporation, owner of
Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of five cities (originally Tri-Cities, later four, see #History, History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport, Iowa, Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, Bettendorf (the fifth to be included) in southeaster ...
station
WQAD-TV WQAD-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Moline, Illinois, United States, serving the Quad Cities area as an affiliate of ABC. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on Park 16th Street in Moline, and its transmitter i ...
. In 1976, Dubuque Communications Corporation, which had become insolvent, sold the dormant station for $30,000 to Lloyd
Hearing Aid A hearing aid is a device designed to improve hearing by making sound audible to a person with hearing loss. Hearing aids are classified as medical devices in most countries, and regulated by the respective regulations. Small audio amplifiers ...
Corp of
Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, Winnebago and Ogle County, Illinois, Ogle counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located in far northern Illinois on the banks of the Rock River (Mississippi River tributary), Rock River, Rockfor ...
. The new owners returned KDUB-TV to the air on September 12, 1976, again as an ABC affiliate. Lloyd Hearing Aid Corp. would sell the station to the Commercial Dispatch Publishing Company in 1979; the $1.5 million sale to Birney Imes Jr. and his family added KDUB-TV to a broadcast group that included
WCBI-TV WCBI-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Columbus, Mississippi, United States, serving the Columbus–Tupelo market as an affiliate of CBS, Fox, and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Morris Multimedia, which provides certain services to ...
in
Columbus, Mississippi Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County, Mississippi, Lowndes County, on the eastern border of Mississippi, United States, located primarily east, but also north and northeast of the Tombigbee River, which is also part of the ...
,
WBOY-TV WBOY-TV (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Clarksburg, West Virginia, United States, serving North Central West Virginia as an affiliate of NBC and ABC. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on West Pike Stre ...
in
Clarksburg, West Virginia Clarksburg is a city in Harrison County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. The population was 16,039 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in West Virginia, tenth-most populous city ...
, and several Mississippi radio stations. Dubuque TV
Limited Partnership A limited partnership (LP) is a type of partnership with general partners, who have a right to manage the business, and limited partners, who have no right to manage the business but have only limited liability for its debts. Limited partnership ...
, led by general partner Thomas Bond, acquired the station in April 1985; Bond, whose group paid $3.25 million for KDUB-TV, had been a manager at WCBI-TV. The first and only television station to be based out of Dubuque, KDUB was originally based in an office building just south of Dubuque, near
Key West, Iowa Key West is an unincorporated community in Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, near the extreme southern end of the city of Dubuque. Parts of the community are now within the city of Dubuque, while others are unincorporated. Owing to the presenc ...
. The station eventually moved into offices on the ninth floor of the former Roshek's Department Store building in downtown Dubuque, and later moved to its current location on Main Street. For a number of years, KDUB and
KCRG-TV KCRG-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States, serving Eastern Iowa as an affiliate of American Broadcasting Company, ABC, MyNetworkTV, and The CW. Owned by Gray Media, the station has studios on Seco ...
(channel 9), the ABC affiliate in
Cedar Rapids Cedar Rapids is a city in Linn County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in u ...
, were in conflict with each other. In 1981, KDUB won a decision in which the Dubuque cable company was required to black out KCRG when the same shows were shown at the same time on both stations. In August 1987, KDUB's owners turned down a $2.4 million offer to sell channel 40 to KCRG; that December, Bond announced that KDUB would be sold to Sage Broadcasting, a
Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, outside of New York City. It is the sixth-most populous city in New England. Stamford is also the largest city in the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Weste ...
–based radio station group, for $4 million. The sale was challenged by KCRG in January 1988, claiming that KDUB had conspired with TCI Cablevision by using the blackouts to limit KCRG's ability to reach Dubuque viewers. While the sale would receive FCC approval in early 1989, a clause in the deal allowed for it to be canceled if it was not approved within 180 days; Sage would walk away from the deal in late 1988, and Bond announced on March 17, 1989, that KDUB would not be sold. In April 1990, KDUB's owners sued KCRG, claiming its objections led to the sale falling through. TCI would ultimately stop blacking out KCRG on April 1, 1988. In 1995, KDUB entered into a management agreement with Second Generation of Iowa, which was in the process of acquiring Cedar Rapids
Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...
affiliate KOCR-TV (channel 28). On August 13, KDUB discontinued the ABC affiliation and joined Fox as KFXB, a semi-satellite of channel 28 (which concurrently relaunched as
KFXA KFXA (channel 28) is a television station licensed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States, serving Eastern Iowa as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Dabl. It is owned by Second Generation of Iowa, Ltd., which maintains a local market ...
). Most programming was simulcast from KFXA, but KFXB would continue its news operation (at that time, KFXA had no newscast at all). Prior to this, KOCR served as the network's over-the air affiliate for most of the southern portion of the market while
Foxnet Foxnet was a national cable programming service of the Fox Broadcasting Company (known simply as Fox) that was owned by the Fox Entertainment Group division of News Corporation. The service, which operated (in its original form) from June 6, 1991 ...
(which had launched in 1991) served as the network's cable-only affiliate for the remainder of the market, including the cities of
Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces * Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Australia * Waterloo, New South Wale ...
and Dubuque (it was carried on cable channel 13 in Dubuque); between October 7, 1994, and August 12, 1995, Foxnet was carried on all cable systems in most of Eastern Iowa as KOCR was off the air during that time due to financial issues. The first season of the ''
NFL on Fox The ''NFL on Fox'' (also known as ''Fox NFL'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games produced by Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports and televised on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox broadcast network. ...
'' was carried by Cedar Rapids CBS affiliate
KGAN KGAN (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States, serving Eastern Iowa as an affiliate of CBS and Fox. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to Dabl affiliate KFXA (c ...
, which had a greater coverage area than KOCR; Foxnet was blacked out during the games. On October 14, 2002, KFXB announced that the Dubuque news operation would be closed after October 25; the cancellation of the local Dubuque newscasts at 5 and 10p.m. was a byproduct of an agreement between KFXA and KGAN to launch a regional 9p.m. newscast to air on both KFXA and KFXB. KFXB's eight news staffers were laid off in the transition, with its former reporters telling the ''
Telegraph Herald The ''Telegraph Herald'', locally referred to as the ''TH'', is a daily newspaper published in Dubuque, Iowa, for the population of Dubuque and surrounding areas in Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in ...
'' that the first indication of the planned change was a promo aired during Fox's baseball coverage. In September 2004, Dubuque TV Limited Partnership sold the station to the Christian Television Network, who switched the station to its primarily-
religious programming Religious broadcasting, sometimes referred to as faith-based broadcasts, is the dissemination of television and/or radio content that intentionally has religious ideas, religious experience, or religious practice as its core focus. In some coun ...
; general partner Tom Bond, who would stay with the relaunched KFXB as general manager, said that he felt that Christian programming was "the niche that the station could best fill in this market". Fox programming would continue to be transmitted on KFXA—which would operate as the sole Fox affiliate for northeast Iowa. At that time, KFXB lost its longstanding channel 4 assignment on
Mediacom Mediacom Communications Corporation is the United States' fifth-largest cable television provider based on the number of video subscribers, and among the leading cable operators focused on serving smaller cities and towns. The company has a sig ...
's Dubuque cable system to KFXA, with KFXB being moved to channel 14. Mediacom would add KFXB to its Cedar Rapids and
Iowa City Iowa City is the largest city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. At the time of the 2020 census the population was 74,828, making it the state's fifth-most populous city. The Iowa City metropolitan area, which enc ...
systems in 2005. KFXB has been digital-only since February 17, 2009.Iowa TV Stations Switching To Digital Broadcast On Feb. 17
All Headline News, February 5, 2009


Subchannels

The station's signal is
multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource— ...
:


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kfxb 1970 establishments in Iowa Buzzr affiliates Christian Television Network stations Television channels and stations established in 1970 FXB-TV