KXJB-TV

KXJB-TV is a CBS affiliated television station in Fargo, North Dakota, USA, serving Eastern North Dakota and Northwestern Minnesota. It broadcasts on ATSC channel 38, which redirects to former NTSC channel 4 via PSIP. It is licensed to nearby Valley City. It is owned by Parker Broadcasting, but is operated by Hoak Media Corporation of Dallas, Texas through a local marketing agreement with Fargo's NBC affiliate, KVLY-TV. KXJB shares a studio in Fargo with KVLY. It broadcasts over a large area of eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.

History
KXJB signed on July 1, 1954, owned by John Boler. It was co-owned with the KX Television network in western North Dakota until 1971. The station has always been a CBS affiliate, and is the only major station in Fargo that has never changed its affiliation.

Cable TV Systems
From 1968 until the mid 1980s, KXJB was carried by cable systems across neighboring Manitoba and Ontario. This included Winnipeg, 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 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, KXMC, KDLO, KCNC, KCCO, and KDLH either temporarily or permanently, to maintain CBS service.[2]

KXJC-LP
In 2001, KXJB signed on KXJC-LP, a semi-satellite in Grand Forks It was intended to create competition for WDAZ-TV, which is the only TV station in Grand Forks producing newscasts. Most KXJC programs were simulcasted from KXJB with local commercial inserts, though it aired its own local newscasts, The Jerry Springer Show, and Jenny Jones. KXJC signed off the air in 2003 due to low ratings on its local newscasts and also because Wicks Television (owner of KVLY-TV of Fargo) took over the operations of both KXJB and KXJC.

High Definition
In November 2005, KXJB became the second major network affiliate in Fargo (after KVLY-TV) to broadcast in high-definition.

KXJB and KVLY will broadcast in digital format only, effective February 16, 2009.[3]

The Late Show with David Letterman
KXJB was one of only two CBS stations not to air The Late Show with David Letterman when it premiered, though Fox affiliate KVRR aired The Late Show until KXJB began airing it in 1994. Sioux City, Iowa affiliate KMEG also declined to alter its syndicated lineup.[4] This led Sioux City to become known as the "home office" on The Late Show. KMEG began airing the show in 1994.[5]

Ownership change
In 2006, KXJB and KVLY were each sold to different owners: KXJB to Parker Broadcasting and KVLY-TV to Hoak Media. The LMA with KVLY (Hoak Media) will continue. Hoak's acquisition of KVLY was approved by the FCC on November 17, 2006. The sale of KXJB was approved in January 2007.

As part of the agreement, KXJB televised the North Dakota state high school hockey tournaments in 2006 since KVLY, the normal broadcaster, was carrying Olympic coverage.

Feud with Cable One
On January 4, 2008 the HD (digital) signals of KXJB and KVLY were pulled from Cable One.[6] The dispute over retransmission payments lasted until November 21, 2008. KVLY and KXJB HD signals were restored on Cable One on November 21, 2008. The analog versions of the two stations remained on Cable One throughout the dispute.[7]

Feud with DirecTV
In January 2009, negotiations between KXJB and DirecTV for a retransmission agreement broke down and KXJB asked DirecTV to cease carrying its programming starting at 5pm on January 8, 2009. This left approximately 25,000 DirecTV subscribers in the Fargo-Moorhead area without a CBS affiliate.[8] [9] An agreement was finally reached March 19, 2009 to allow broadcasting to begin 8am March 20, 2009- just in time to air NDSU's first ever trip to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.

Sign-Off
KXJB has operated 24-hours a day, six days a week, since November 2007. The station signs off at 2:05 a.m. on Sundays. The station does not show a test pattern; instead, a skycam of downtown Fargo is seen along with the broadcast of NOAA Weather Radio's Fargo Office.

Tower Information
The KXJB-TV mast, located near Galesburg, North Dakota, was the second tallest man-made structure on Earth; at the time, only the KVLY-TV mast in Blanchard was taller. KVLY is located just 6 miles from the KXJB tower.

Translators
KXJB is available on the following rebroadcasting translators:
 * K50AM Channel 50 Roseau, MN
 * K53BL Channel 53 Baudette, MN
 * W59AX Channel 59 Williams, MN

Newscasts
Main article: Valley News Live

KXJB has struggled in newscast ratings in the past several years. It usually was third or fourth after KVLY, WDAY, and sometimes KVRR. KXJB does not have a 5:00pm newscast unlike its competitors, and Jeopardy! has aired for many decades at 5:00, but it is the only station with a newscast at noon. Since KVLY began operating KXJB in August 2003, the evening newscast was moved from 6:00pm to 5:30pm (Central Time) and The CBS Evening News moved from 5:30pm to 6:00pm to help make KXJB more competitive. It's very rare for a network television station in the Central Time Zone to have a newscast at 5:30pm (6:30pm Eastern Time) instead of 6:00pm (7:00pm Eastern Time). The station had called itself "CBS 4" for many years, but recently began calling itself "KX4," which had been its nickname for a time in the 1970s and 1980s.

In April 2007, KVLY-TV and KXJB-TV began simulcasting weekend newscasts, and in November, the stations began simulcasting news during weekdays along with rebranding as Valley News Live. KXJB uses its "4" bug, while KVLY uses the "11" bug during newscasts.

Newscast titles

 * KX-4 Eyewitness News (1980s)
 * News 4 (1990s)
 * KX-4, Your NewsChannel 
 * KX-4 News (1990s-2000 and 2004–2007)
 * CBS 4 News (2000–2004)
 * Valley News Live (2007–present)

Station slogans
This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.==[edit] See also==
 * Your News for the '90s (1990–1997)
 * Your News Channel (1997–2002)
 * Connected to Your World (2007–present)
 * KXJB-TV mast
 * Valley News Live