| |
|---|---|
| City | Wichita Falls, Texas |
| Channels | |
| Branding | KJBO |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | MyNetworkTV |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KFDX-TV,KJTL | |
| History | |
First air date | July 1, 1988; 37 years ago (1988-07-01) |
Former call signs |
|
Former channel number |
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| |
Call sign meaning | Derived from KJTL and former K35BO call sign |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 7670 |
| Class | LD |
| ERP | 10.5kW |
| HAAT | 125.4 m (411 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 33°53′51″N98°32′33″W / 33.89750°N 98.54250°W /33.89750; -98.54250 |
| Translator(s) | KFDX-TV 3.2 Wichita Falls |
| Links | |
Public license information | LMS |
| Website | www |
KJBO-LD (channel 35) is alow-power television station inWichita Falls, Texas, United States, affiliated withMyNetworkTV. It is owned byNexstar Media Group alongsideNBC affiliateKFDX-TV (channel 3); Nexstar also provides certain services toFox affiliateKJTL (channel 18) underjoint sales andshared services agreements (JSA/SSA) withMission Broadcasting. The three stations share studios nearSeymour Highway (US 277) and Turtle Creek Road in Wichita Falls; KJBO-LD's transmitter is located near Arrowhead Drive and Onaway Trail (near Seymour Highway) southwest of the city.
Although KJBO-LD broadcasts a digital signal of its own, due to its low-power status, the station's broadcasting radius does not reach the entire Wichita Falls–Lawtonmarket. Therefore, KJBO-LD issimulcast on KFDX-TV's seconddigital subchannel (3.2)—which also transmits from the Seymour Highway facility—in order to reach Lawton and surrounding areas of southwestern Oklahoma and northwest Texas not covered by the channel 35 signal. Ever since its inception, the KFDX-DT2 simulcast of KJBO-LP/LD had been presented in480istandard definition, with most programs (including the MyNetworkTV prime time schedule) airing inletterboxed4:3; however, sometime in 2020, it was upgraded to1080ihigh definition.[2]
The station first signed on the air on July 1, 1988, as K35BO, which originally operated as anindependent station. It was known as Sports 35 and broadcast sports programming includingHouston Astros andTexas Rangers games, also airing part-time on local cable.[3] It was the sister station to Fox affiliateKJTL (channel 18) and shared its sports inventory with that station.[4] By 1992, the channel was known as Fox Sports Net—years before theFox Sports Net name was used nationally.[5] In addition to local sports, it aired programming from thePrime Sports network.[6]
In May 1995, Epic announced it would sell KJTL and K35BO as well as theAmarillo duopoly of fellow Fox affiliateKCIT and low-powered K65GD (now MyNetworkTV affiliateKCPN-LD) toNew York City–based Wicks Broadcast Group—then a primarily radio-based broadcasting division ofprivate equity firm The Wicks Group, which intended the purchases to be a stepping stone to build a group of middle-market television stations complementary to its nine existing radio properties—for $14 million; the sale was finalized on August 31, 1995.[7][8][9]
On March 3, 1996, KJTL converted K35BO from a sports channel into aUPN affiliate, branded UPN 35, with a general-entertainment lineup. Previously, KJTL had been airing UPN programs under a secondary affiliation. The change was necessary after Fox acquired Prime Sports parentLiberty Media. As a result, Fox rescinded the approval previously given to the station to air Prime Sports programming, provided as a pay cable channel elsewhere in the U.S., on an over-the-air broadcast station.[10] Later in 1996, it became KJBO-LP.
Wicks began seeking buyers for its stations in 1998, citing an inability to compete in an increasingly consolidated landscape.[11]Mission Broadcasting acquired the Wichita Falls operation (for $15.5 million) andKCIT-TV inAmarillo (for $13 million).[12][13] Previously, a related company,Nexstar Broadcasting Group, had acquired Wichita Falls–basedNBC affiliateKFDX-TV.[14] Nexstar took over the operations of KJTL and KJBO on June 1, 1999, under joint sales and shared services agreements with Mission, under which KFDX would handle news production, engineering, security and certain other services as well as handling advertising sales for the two stations.[15][16] KJTL and KJBO subsequently vacated their shared facility on Call Field Road and relocated its operations two miles (3.2 km) southeast to KFDX's studio facility on Seymour Highway and Turtle Creek Road.

On January 24, 2006, the respective parent companies of UPN andThe WB,CBS Corporation and theWarner Bros. Entertainment division ofTime Warner, announced that they would dissolve the two networks to createThe CW Television Network, a joint venture between the two media companies that initially featured programs from its two predecessor networks as well as new series specifically produced for The CW.[17][18] Subsequently, on February 22, 2006,News Corporation announced the launch ofMyNetworkTV, a network operated byFox Television Stations and its syndication divisionTwentieth Television that was created to primarily to provide network programming to UPN and WB stations that The CW decided against affiliating based on their local viewership standing in comparison to the outlet that The CW ultimately chose as its charter outlets, giving these stations another option besides converting to a general entertainment independent format.[19][20] On March 30, in a joint announcement by the network and Nexstar Broadcasting Group/Mission Broadcasting, KJBO-LP was confirmed as MyNetworkTV's charter affiliate for the Wichita Falls-Lawton market.[21] KJBO remained a UPN affiliate until September 4, 2006, with the network's Sunday late-night repeat block as the final UPN offering to be carried on the station. Channel 35 officially joined MyNetworkTV upon that network's launch on September 5, at which point KJBO changed its branding to "MyTV KJBO".
As a result of the network changes, "KWB", a cable-only affiliate of The WB (through its small-market network feed,The WB 100+ Station Group) available in the market on systems such as Fidelity Cablevision in Lawton andTime Warner Cable in Wichita Falls, was expected to affiliate with The CW; however, as a result of a deal between the network andHoak Media that was announced on April 10, 2006, the CW affiliation instead went toCBS affiliateKAUZ-TV (channel 6)—which launched a digital subchannel affiliated with the network's small-market feed,The CW Plus, when the network debuted on September 17, assuming the operations of "KWB".[22]
On March 26, 2021, the stationflash-cut to digital and became KJBO-LD.[23]
In July 2021, Nexstar exercised its option to acquire KJBO-LD outright from Mission.[24] The transaction was completed on October 1.[25]