KTVB

KTVB
Channels
BrandingNewsChannel 7
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
KTFT-LD
History
First air date
July 12, 1953 (71 years ago) (1953-07-12)
Former call signs
KIDO-TV (1953–1959)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 7 (VHF, 1953–2009)
  • Digital: 26 (UHF, 2002–2009)
  • All secondary:
  • DuMont (1953–1955)
  • ABC (1953–1974)
  • PBS (per program, 1970–1971)
Call sign meaning
Television Boise
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID34858
ERP
  • 42.1 kW
  • 1,000 kW (application)
HAAT806 m (2,644 ft)
Transmitter coordinates43°45′15.6″N 116°5′59.4″W / 43.754333°N 116.099833°W / 43.754333; -116.099833
Translator(s)
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.ktvb.com
Translator
KTFT-LD
Channels
Programming
Affiliations
History
First air date
July 1, 1986 (38 years ago) (1986-07-01)
Former call signs
  • K38AS (1986–1994)
  • KTFT-LP (1994–2010)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 38 (UHF, 1986–2010)
  • Virtual: 7.7 (2010–2022)
Call sign meaning
Twin Falls Television
Technical information[2]
Facility ID167056
ERP15 kW
HAAT226.6 m (743 ft)
Transmitter coordinates42°43′47.7″N 114°25′9.1″W / 42.729917°N 114.419194°W / 42.729917; -114.419194
Translator(s)K18NF-D Hagerman
Links
Public license information
LMS

KTVB (channel 7) is a television station in Boise, Idaho, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on West Fairview Avenue (off I-184) in Boise, and its transmitter is located on Deer Point in unincorporated Boise County. It is rebroadcast by KTFT-LD (channel 7) in Twin Falls, which airs KTVB programming with local advertising for the Magic Valley area from its transmitter on Flat Top Butte near Jerome, Idaho, and maintains a local sales office in Twin Falls.

Channel 7 was the second television station to be built in Idaho, debuting on July 12, 1953, as KIDO-TV. Though KFXD-TV (channel 6) in Nampa beat KIDO-TV to the air by a month, KIDO-TV was by far the more organized operation with network and local programming, neither of which KFXD-TV featured in its brief two-month tenure on air. It was owned by Georgia Davidson alongside Boise radio station KIDO and a primary affiliate of NBC, though it also held affiliations with other networks in its early history. KIDO radio was separated from the TV station in 1958, and channel 7 changed its call sign to KTVB the next year. Davidson was for years the only female owner at NBC TV affiliate meetings. By the 1970s, KTVB had emerged as the news ratings leader in Boise, a position it has not yielded since.

King Broadcasting acquired KTVB in 1979. The station continued to lead local news ratings in the market with long-tenured personalities. In 1986, KTVB established K38AS (now KTFT-LD), the first low-power NBC affiliate. KTVB has been sold in larger transactions three times since 1990: to the Providence Journal Company, Belo Corporation, and Gannett, whose broadcast division split off as Tegna in 2015.

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KTVB". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KTFT-LD". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.