KBTX-TV - History

History

KBTX was the first television station in the Brazos Valley. It has broadcasted from the same building on East 29th Street in Bryan since it went on the air on May 22, 1957, though that building has been added on to multiple times. Originally airing both CBS and ABC programming, KBTX became an exclusive CBS affiliate in 1984.

On October 14, 1983, KBTX flipped the switch on a new transmitter in the Grimes County community of Carlos. The 1,700-foot tower nearly doubled the number of homes the station reached.

Perhaps the most noteworthy coverage from KBTX was on November 18, 1999. Early that morning, the Aggie Bonfire stack collapsed, killing 12 and injuring 27. The station provided non-stop coverage of the event, and served as a major source of information locally and nationally in the hours that followed.

KBTX began celebrating its 50th anniversary in May 2007. Many former on-air staff returned for the celebration, including some who guest-anchored newscasts.

In accordance with the original February 2009 date mandated by the federal government, KBTX permanently shut down its analog signal effective January 20, 2009 as it made the transition to digital television. On February 28, 2009, KBTX began broadcasting at full power digital from the enhanced Carlos tower, again expanding its signal dramatically. The station had been broadcasting on low power digital between its analog signal shutdown and the full power activation, in addition to being carried on cable systems and DirecTV.

KBTX and KWTX experimented with a jointly-run noon show in early 2009. News stories for both viewing areas were read from KWTX's Waco studios for the first half of the show, with KBTX running live weather and additional local content from its studios for the remainder of the show airing in the Brazos Valley. KWTX aired its own live weather and content in its part of the market during that time. However, in late March 2009, the two stations returned to running separate shows, with KBTX citing "an overwhelming request from viewers for the show to be based out of the Twin Cities again."

In 2009, KBTX reached agreements with the nation's two major satellite providers. For years, Dish Network had refused to offer KBTX to the Bryan/College Station area and had simply carried KWTX. However, in 2015, Dish relented. On April 23 of that year, KBTX was made available in the Waco/Temple/Bryan market area. In May 2009, after years of carrying KBTX to the market, DirecTV announced it would be dropping KBTX from its service. In June 2009, an agreement was reached to keep the station available to customers of the satellite provider.

On September 12, 2011, KBTX launched a 4 p.m. newscast, titled First News at Four. It and Inside Edition at 4:30 replaced The Oprah Winfrey Show.

On October 10, 2011, KBTX began broadcasting its newscasts in high definition, making it the first live and local broadcaster in the Brazos Valley to have HD news.