KVLY-TV

KVLY-TV, is an NBC affiliated television station in Fargo, North Dakota, USA, serving Eastern North Dakota and Northwestern Minnesota. It broadcasts on ATSC channel 44, which redirects to former NTSC channel 11 via PSIP. In addition to its main studio in Fargo, it operates a satellite studio in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The station shares its Fargo studio with CBS affiliate KXJB-TV, which it operates under a local marketing agreement. KVLY is offered on cable channel 11 in most areas of the market.

The station is most notable for using the third tallest above-ground structure in the world for broadcasting its signal. The KVLY-TV mast rises 2,063 feet (628.8 m) high. KVLY is owned by Gray Television.

History
The station signed on in 1959 as KXGO-TV (for FarGO), an ABC affiliate. From 1962 to 1963 it used the call letters KEND-TV.

In 1963, channel 11 moved to its current tower near Blanchard, North Dakota, and became known as KTHI-TV (which stands for Tower-HI). In 1983 KTHI became an NBC affiliate, swapping affiliations with longtime NBC affiliate WDAY-TV. The current call sign, adopted in 1995, represents the station's slogan, "The Valley's Choice for Local News," as it serves the communities along the Red River of the North and its tributaries.

From 1968 until the mid 1980s, KTHI-TV (as it was then still known) was carried by cable systems acrossManitoba and northwestern Ontario. When KTHI switched affiliation to NBC, it was replaced by ABC affiliateWDAZ-TV in Grand Forks, until Canadian cable companies were granted permission to replace most of the North Dakota stations with network affiliates from Detroit, Michigan.

In September 2005, ten years after changing its call sign from KTHI, KVLY became the first major network affiliate in Fargo to broadcast in high-definition. In May 2006, KVLY made its logo bolder to reflect the change to HDTV.

KVLY is the second most watched television station in the Red River Valley behind WDAY-TV/WDAZ-TV, which are owned by Forum Communications Company.

Meyer Broadcasting of Bismarck, North Dakota, owner of KFYR-TV in Bismarck and its network of satellites in western North Dakota, bought the station in 1995. It sold its television stations to Sunrise Television in 1997. In 2002, Sunrise sold its North Dakota stations to the Wicks Group of New York City. Hoak bought all of Wicks' television stations, including KVLY, in January 2007.

In April 2007, KVLY-TV and KXJB-TV began simulcasting weekend newscasts, and in November 2007, 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.

KXJB and KVLY have broadcast in only digital format since February 16, 2009.[1]

In January 2010, KVLY-TV began broadcasting the This TV network on subchannel 11.2.

Valley News Live
KVLY presently broadcasts ​21 1⁄2 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with four hours on weekdays, one hour on Saturdays and a half-hour on Sundays). In addition, it also presently broadcasts an additional ​13 1⁄2 hours of locally produced newscasts each week for KVLY-DT 11.2 and KXJB-LD 30.1 and 30.2, consisting of the noon and 5:30 p.m. newscasts, an hour-long extension of KVLY's morning newscast The Valley Today at 7:00 a.m. on weekdays and a half-hour nightly primetime newscast at 9:00 p.m. Combined across the four channels, KVLY produces a total of 35 hours of newscasts each week.

Valley News Live is the name of the news department shared by KVLY and KXJB. KVLY and KXJB started simulcasting weekend news in April 2007. The same news is broadcast on both channels. KXJB uses its "4" digital on-screen graphic, while KVLY uses the "11" bug during newscasts. Beginning on November 5, 2007, KVLY and KXJB expanded their simulcasting to weekdays.

Newscast titles

 * Channel 11 News (1960s–1970s)
 * The Scene (1970s)
 * Action News (1970s)
 * TV-11 Newswatch (1970s–1980s)
 * News 11 (1980s–1995)
 * KVLY News 11 (1995–2007)
 * Valley News Live (2007–present)

Station slogans

 * Hello North Dakota, Hello TV-11 (1974–75; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * Let Us Be The One on TV-11 (1976–77; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * You're Still Having Fun, TV-11's The One (1977–78, 1979–80; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * TV-11's The One You Can Turn To (1978–79; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * You and Me and TV-11 (1980–81; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * Now is the Time, TV-11 is the Place (1981–82; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * Come on Along with TV-11 (1982–83; final localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * TV-11, Be There (1983–84; first localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * TV-11, Let's All Be There (1984–86; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Come Home to the Best, Only On TV-11 (1988–90; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * TV-11, is The Place to Be! (1990–92; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * The Stars Are Back on TV-11 (1993–94; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * The Valley's New Choice for News (1995–1997)
 * The Valley's Choice for Local News! (1997–2010)
 * People You Know, News You Trust (2011–present)

News team
Main article: Valley News Live

Former on-air staff
Dennis Bounds, anchor 1976-1978 (now evening anchor KING-TV, Seattle)
 * Charley Johnson, news anchor/news director/general manager (now at WDAZ-TV in Grand Forks)
 * Jim Lounsbury, anchor/reporter (late 1970s-early 1980s)
 * Andrea Larson (now at KVRR-TV, Fargo, ND)
 * Tom Szymanski, Chief Meteorologist - evenings 1992-2007 (now at KXMB in Bismarck)
 * Steve Anderson, weather anchor (1978-1979)
 * Tom Erickson, sports anchor
 * Stacey Deffenbaugh, morning news anchor (now at WZVN, Fort Myers, FL [1])
 * Dan Hammer, sports anchor (Returned in Jan. 2011 as Sports Director)
 * Amy Hockert, news anchor (now radio reporter with bring me the news.com in Minneapolis)
 * Bob Kartheiser, reporter, talk show host
 * Mary Ellen Miller, reporter (1978-1979)
 * Larry Richards, reporter
 * Bob Scott, news anchor
 * Mary Kay Simon, reporter, talk show host
 * Jerilyn Donovan, anchor (1979-1981)
 * Rob Thorson, weather anchor (1979-1991)
 * Ed Schultz, sports anchor (1982, now Fargo-based syndicated radio host)
 * Steve Sedahl, news reporter, weekend anchor. (1980 - 1982)
 * Pat Kelly, news reporter
 * Pat Telle, sports
 * Robert Ivers, news, talk show host
 * Gordon Dexheimer, news, talk show host
 * Norm Robinson, news reporter
 * Peggy Brunelle, weather reporter
 * Terry Shannon, (Terry Cunningham) talk host, weather, reporter ( Real Estate Broker, Buy Florida Properties, Inc.)
 * Dick Wilson, news
 * Sarah McCurdy, news reporter
 * Kerry Davis, news reporter
 * Tracy Frank, news reporter (now Fargo Forum reporter)
 * Cherlene Richards (reporter)
 * Matt Granite (reporter/producer) (now syndicated consumer savings reporter)
 * Nick Johnson (sports reporter/sports anchor)
 * Donn Robertson (weekend anchor)
 * Doug Hamilton, anchor
 * Brian Shawn (weekend sports anchor)
 * Scott Peters (sports director)

Translators
KVLY is also available on the following translators (low-powered rebroadcasters):


 * K55BH Channel 55 Baudette, MN
 * K52AM Channel 52 Roseau, MN
 * K63AS Channel 63 Williams, MN

Some of the translators are actually in the western part of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:MSP_TV Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN] broadcast television market.