KRDK-TV (channel 4) is a
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 ear ...
licensed to
Valley City, North Dakota
Valley City is a city in Barnes County, North Dakota, United States. It is the county seat of Barnes County. The population was 6,575 during the 2020 census, making it the 12th largest city in North Dakota. Valley City was founded in 1874.
Vall ...
, United States, serving the
Fargo Fargo usually refers to:
* Fargo, North Dakota, United States
* ''Fargo'' (1996 film), a crime film by the Coen brothers
* ''Fargo'' (TV series), an American black comedy–crime drama anthology television series
Fargo may also refer to:
Othe ...
–
Grand Forks
Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city o ...
market. Owned by Major Market Broadcasting, it is affiliated with multiple networks on various
digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compressi ...
s, with
Cozi TV
Cozi TV (stylized on-air as COZI TV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. The network airs classic television series from the 1960s to the 2000s.
The network origina ...
,
NewsNet, BEK Prime, and
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...
on its main channel. KRDK-TV's offices are located on Winter Show Road in Valley City.
KRDK-TV's
transmitter tower, located near
Galesburg, North Dakota, stands at . It was the
second tallest man-made structure on Earth when it was built in 1966. It is currently the seventh tallest structure in the world. In the United States, it is second only to the
Petronius oil platform in the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United S ...
and is still the tallest broadcasting tower in the
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the antimeridian. The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Politically, th ...
.
The station launched in December 1954 as KXJB-TV, the
CBS affiliate for the market. KXJB consolidated with
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...
affiliate
KVLY-TV
KVLY-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Fargo, North Dakota, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Horace-licensed low-power dual CBS/ CW+ affiliate KXJB-LD (channel 30). Both stations share ...
in 2003 under a
local marketing agreement
In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...
. In 2014, the station's non-license assets were acquired by KVLY's new owner
Gray Television
Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United St ...
; due to increasing scrutiny by the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisd ...
(FCC) surrounding local marketing agreements and similar arrangements, Gray decided against having the station acquired by an affiliated third party to maintain the LMA. Its CBS programming was moved to KVLY's second digital subchannel in December 2014 and
KXJB-LD in 2016, and KXJB's license was sold to the minority-owned Major Market Broadcasting, who re-christened the station KRDK-TV. The station returned to the air during January 2015 carrying several digital television networks.
History
As KXJB-TV
Channel 4 signed on July 1, 1954 as KXJB-TV, owned by John Boler, with studios in Valley City and a tall transmitter tower near
Pillsbury ( northeast of Valley City). KXJB was co-owned with the
KX Television
KX Television, sometimes branded as KX Net or simply KX, is a group of four television stations in western North Dakota owned by the Nexstar Media Group and affiliated with CBS and The CW.
Stations
The network consists of four stations:
The gr ...
network in western North Dakota until 1971. KXJB moved its main studios to Fargo in 1963, and completed construction of its current tall
tower site
The Tower Site (or 33-Bl-15) is a prehistoric village site dating from 1000 to 1499 AD and is closely associated with the Monongahela culture. Located around north-west of Barnesville, Ohio, United States, the site was placed on the National ...
near Galesburg in 1966. The station was a CBS affiliate, and up until its sale in 2014 was the only major station in Fargo that has never changed its primary affiliation, although it shared
ABC programming with
WDAY-TV (channel 6) until KXGO-TV (channel 11, later KTHI-TV and now
KVLY-TV
KVLY-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Fargo, North Dakota, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Horace-licensed low-power dual CBS/ CW+ affiliate KXJB-LD (channel 30). Both stations share ...
) signed on in 1959. It was also an affiliate of the
NTA Film Network
The NTA Film Network was an early American television network founded by Ely Landau in 1956. The network was not a full-time television network like CBS, NBC, or ABC. Rather, it operated on a part-time basis, broadcasting films and several f ...
. When
West Acres Shopping Center
West Acres Shopping Center is a regional shopping mall located in Fargo, North Dakota near the intersection of Interstate 29 and Interstate 94, 94. It is the largest mall in North Dakota. The anchor stores are JCPenney, Macy's, and Best Buy. There ...
opened in 1972, KXJB-TV had a studio in the mall, located roughly where the food court is today. The station broadcast its daytime local-origination programs from the mall and also its early evening newscast. The West Acres studio was closed in less than two years.
KXJB was one of only four CBS stations not to carry the ''
Late Show with David Letterman
The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production c ...
'' when it premiered; the program aired instead on
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 (or ''brush'').
Twelv ...
affiliate
KVRR (channel 15).
Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County, ...
affiliate
KMEG also declined to alter its syndicated lineup, along with lame duck CBS affiliates
WITI in
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...
(which would switch to Fox a year after) and
WBAL-TV
WBAL-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is the Flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Hearst Television, which has owned the station since its inception, and i ...
in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
(which switched to NBC 1½ years later due to the deal between CBS and Group W). This led Sioux City to become known as the "home office" on ''Late Show''; both KXJB and KMEG began airing the show in 1994.
KXJC (CBS 35) Grand Forks
KXJB-TV's tower location (along with KVLY) was intended to provide a strong over-the-air signal to both the Fargo–
Moorhead and Grand Forks metro areas. All of eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota is considered one giant television market. The other three network affiliates (WDAY,
KFME, and KVRR) do not have the reach of KVLY or KXJB/KRDK, and use full-power
satellite stations to provide both their signal to the market and advertising specific to Grand Forks.
In July 2000, Catamount Broadcasting purchased the
construction permit
Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building per ...
for KXJC-
LP, channel 35, from
Central Plains Media. KXJC signed on for the first time on November 13, 2000 as a locally focused CBS affiliate for Grand Forks. The station was known as "CBS 35" and was carried on Midcontinent cable channel 21 in Grand Forks. KXJB was still carried on Midcontinent cable channel 4 in Grand Forks while KXJC was on the air. Although the main KXJB signal covered Grand Forks very well (city-grade), KXJC was launched to compete against Grand Forks ABC affiliate
WDAZ-TV (channel 8), a semi-satellite of WDAY-TV (channel 6) in
Fargo Fargo usually refers to:
* Fargo, North Dakota, United States
* ''Fargo'' (1996 film), a crime film by the Coen brothers
* ''Fargo'' (TV series), an American black comedy–crime drama anthology television series
Fargo may also refer to:
Othe ...
. WDAZ had long been the only station airing a full schedule of local news for the Grand Forks area. The combination of WDAY-TV and WDAZ had long been the market's ratings leader.
Although KXJC was considered a separate station in its own right, it was a
semi-satellite of KXJB. It simulcast most of KXJB's network and syndicated programming (although it had some shows not seen on KXJB such as ''
Jerry Springer
Gerald Norman Springer (born February 13, 1944) is a British-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, producer, former lawyer, and politician. He hosted the tabloid talk show '' Jerry Springer'' between September 30, 1991 and July 26, 2018, an ...
'' and ''
Jenny Jones Jenny Jones may refer to:
People
*Jenny Jones (presenter) (born 1946), United States television personality and host of ''The Jenny Jones Show''
* Jenny Jones, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (born 1949), British Green Party politician, member of the ...
''), but produced separate weeknight newscasts and aired its own commercials and station identifications. KXJC also had an FCC construction permit to increase power from 10,000 watts to 60,000 watts, which would have expanded the coverage area for its over-the-air signal to reach
Grafton, North Dakota and
Thief River Falls, Minnesota
Thief River Falls, sometimes referred to as Thief River or abbreviated as TRF, is a city in Pennington County in the northwest portion of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 8,749 at the 2020 census. Thief River Falls is the county ...
.
On April 30, 2003, KXJC went
silent; its license was canceled that July. The move came several months after an agreement for
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...
affiliate KVLY-TV to manage KXJB was announced.
KXJB's LMA with KVLY
In 2003, Catamount entered into a
local marketing agreement
In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...
with KVLY-TV's then owner, Wicks Group. In 2004, the station was consolidated into KVLY's facilities. In November 2005, KXJB became the second major network affiliate in Fargo (after KVLY-TV) to broadcast in
high definition
High definition or HD may refer to:
Visual technologies
*HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format
*HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format
*HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape
* HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...
. In 2006, KXJB and KVLY were each sold to different owners: KXJB to Parker Broadcasting and KVLY-TV to
Hoak Media. Hoak's acquisition of KVLY was approved by the FCC on November 17, 2006, while the sale of KXJB was approved in January 2007 In April 2007, KVLY-TV and KXJB-TV began
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simult ...
ing weekend newscasts, and in November, the stations began simulcasting news during weekdays under the name ''Valley News Live''.
Sale to Major Market Broadcasting and relaunch as KRDK
On November 20, 2013, Parker Broadcasting announced the sale of its stations, including KXJB-TV, to Excalibur Broadcasting. The deal was concurrent with the sale of most Hoak Media stations (including KVLY-TV) to
Gray Television
Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United St ...
; Excalibur's other stations are operated by Gray under local marketing agreements.
However, in response to heightened scrutiny by the FCC over LMAs and similar agreements, Gray announced that it would acquire the non-license assets of six stations from the Hoak and Parker deal, including KXJB, move their programming to digital subchannels of existing Gray stations in the affected markets (in this case, KVLY) and divest their licenses to minority-owned broadcasters who would operate them independently and not enter into any LMAs or similar agreements with Gray.
The station was eventually sold to Major Market Broadcasting (MMB), a minority-owned company whose operations include
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...
station
KAXT-CD and the
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...
n television network Diya TV.
On November 12, 2014, a simulcast of KXJB's programming was added to KVLY-DT2; on November 30, 2014, at 11:05 p.m.
CT during its 10 p.m. newscast (which was
delayed along with CBS' prime time schedule due to a long-running
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
game), KXJB went dark, with its CBS programming continuing on the KVLY subchannel.
[http://www.prairiebizmag.com/event/article/id/20672/] The purchase by Major Market Broadcasting was completed on December 18, 2014.
On December 24, MMB changed the station's call letters to KNDF-TV; a few weeks later, on January 13, 2015, the call letters became KRDK-TV.
The station began carrying
Cozi TV
Cozi TV (stylized on-air as COZI TV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. The network airs classic television series from the 1960s to the 2000s.
The network origina ...
,
Grit
Grit, Grits, or Gritty may refer to:
Food
* Grit (grain), bran, chaff, mill-dust or coarse oatmeal
* Grits, a corn-based food common in the Southern United States
Minerals
* Grit, winter pavement-treatment minerals deployed in grit bins
* ...
and
Escape networks upon returning to the air in January 2015.
The main channel carried
paid programming and required
public affairs and
E/I programming in the interim. KRDK rearranged its channel lineup and added
Movies!
Movies! (also known as simply M!) is an American free-to-air television network, owned by Popcorn Entertainment, LLC, a joint venture between Weigel Broadcasting and the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox Corporation. The network's pro ...
and
Decades
A decade () is a period of ten years. Decades may describe any ten-year period, such as those of a person's life, or refer to specific groupings of calendar years.
Usage
Any period of ten years is a "decade". For example, the statement that "d ...
networks to new subchannels in March 2015. In April 2015, KRDK-TV added
Heroes & Icons
Heroes & Icons (H&I) is an American digital broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Usually carried on the digital subchannels of its affiliated television station in most markets, the network airs classic television series fr ...
to subchannel 4.1 and the comedy-oriented
Laff to subchannel 4.8. The station officially launched on September 25, 2015, rearranged its channel lineup, and added Bek Sports (area high school sports in collaboration with
KNDB channel 26 in
Bismarck and
KNDM channel 24 in
Minot),
Comet
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma, and sometimes also a Comet ta ...
, and
Buzzr
Buzzr is an American digital terrestrial television, digital broadcast television network owned by Fremantle North America, a unit of the Fremantle (company), Fremantle subsidiary of RTL Group. The network serves as an outlet for the extensive li ...
to its channel lineup. H&I, Decades, and Movies! were removed in August 2016, and replaced by
Bounce TV
Bounce TV is an American digital multicast television network owned by Katz Broadcasting, a subsidiary of E. W. Scripps Company. Promoted as "the first 24/7 digital multicast broadcast network created to target African Americans", the channel ...
.
KRDK took the
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...
schedule as a late-night 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. offering in May 2021. In August of that year, the station picked up rights to preseason games of the
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the th ...
.
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's digital 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 - a ...
:
Analog-to-digital conversion
KRDK-TV (as KXJB-TV) shut down its analog signal, over
VHF
Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter.
Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
channel 4, on February 16, 2009, the day prior to the original date in which full-power television stations in the United States were set to
transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later rescheduled for June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition
UHF
Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...
channel 38. On August 15, 2020, the FCC licensed and approved the completion of the spectrum repack putting the station on digital channel 24. Through the use of
PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's
virtual channel
In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver' ...
as its former VHF analog channel 4.
Cable carriage
From 1968 until the mid-1980s, KXJB was carried by
cable systems
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broadc ...
across neighboring
Manitoba
, image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg
, map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada
, Label_map = yes
, coordinates =
, capital = Win ...
and northwest
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
. This included
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...
, which is several times larger than the station's entire American coverage area. These arrangements ended in 1986, when the Canadian cable companies were granted permission to replace most of the North Dakota stations with network affiliates from
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...
due to complaints about poor reception.
After an ice storm on April 6, 1997 caused the KXJB-TV mast to collapse, some cable systems replaced KXJB with
KXMB from Bismarck,
KXMC from Minot,
KDLO from
Watertown, South Dakota
Watertown is a city in and the county seat of Codington County, South Dakota, United States. Watertown is home to the Redlin Art Center which houses many of the original art works produced by Terry Redlin, one of America's most popular wildlife ...
,
KCNC from
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...
,
KCCO
WCCO-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, broadcasting the CBS network to the Twin Cities area. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios ...
from
Alexandria, Minnesota
Alexandria is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Minnesota, United States. First settled in 1858, it was named after brothers Alexander and William Kinkead from Maryland. The form of the name alludes to Alexandria, Egypt, a center ...
, KCCW from
Walker, Minnesota
Walker is a city in Cass County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 941 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Cass County.
Walker is part of the Brainerd Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Minnesota State Highways 34, 200, an ...
or
KDLH from
Duluth
, settlement_type = City
, nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City
, motto =
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...
(depending on location) either temporarily or permanently, to maintain CBS service.
[Carrington and New Rockford on the Midcontinent Cable system received KCNC and KXMC on May 15, 1997 through January 30, 1998 on Prevue Guide Listings.]
KRDK's 4.1 channel began being carried on most cable television systems starting in October 2016 due to
must-carry
In cable television, governments apply a must-carry regulation stating that locally licensed television stations must be carried on a cable provider's system.
North America Canada
Under current CRTC regulations, the lowest tier of service on ...
. This resulted in moving
KXJB (the previous occupant of the channel 4 license) to channel 9 on
Midco and
Sparklight to make room for KRDK on channel 4.
See also
*
Channel 4 virtual TV stations in the United States
*
Channel 24 digital TV stations in the United States
*
KRDK-TV mast
*
Valley News Live
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krdk-Tv
MyNetworkTV affiliates
Cozi TV affiliates
Grit (TV network) affiliates
Ion Mystery affiliates
Court TV affiliates
Laff (TV network) affiliates
Bounce TV affiliates
Comet (TV network) affiliates
Quest (American TV network) affiliates
GetTV affiliates
Television channels and stations established in 1954
1954 establishments in North Dakota
Television stations in North Dakota
Television stations in Minnesota
Scripps News affiliates