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City | Sweetwater, Texas |
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KTES-LD | |
History | |
First air date | January 30, 1956 |
Former call signs | KPAR-TV (1956–1966) |
Former channel number(s) | Analog: 12 (VHF, 1956–2009) |
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Call sign meaning | Texas |
Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Facility ID | 308 |
ERP | 710 kW |
HAAT | 439.3 m (1,441 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 32°24′48.4″N 100°6′26.3″W / 32.413444°N 100.107306°W |
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Public license information | |
Website | ktxs |
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KTXE-LD | |
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First air date | July 19, 1971 |
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Call sign meaning | Disambiguation of KTXS |
Technical information[2] | |
Facility ID | 309 |
Class | LD |
ERP | 15 kW |
HAAT | 108.2 m (355 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 31°29′6″N 100°27′27″W / 31.48500°N 100.45750°W |
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Public license information | LMS |
KTXS-TV (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Sweetwater, Texas, United States, serving the Abilene area as an affiliate of ABC and The CW Plus. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside KTES-LD (channel 40), broadcasting TBD, and KTXE-LD, which rebroadcasts KTXS-TV in the San Angelo area. The stations share studios on North Clack Street in Abilene; KTXS-TV's transmitter is located near Trent, Texas, and KTXE-LD is broadcast from a site on West 26th Street in San Angelo.
Channel 12 began broadcasting on January 30, 1956, as KPAR-TV, which was owned by and rebroadcast most of the programming of KDUB-TV, the CBS affiliate in Lubbock. Texas Key Broadcasting assumed operational control in 1960; the station added ABC affiliation and broke away from the Lubbock station, and the station moved its transmitter to Trent to increase coverage.
Grayson Enterprises bought KPAR-TV in 1966 and immediately changed the call sign to KTXS-TV. It built the present Abilene-area studios, which replaced facilities in Sweetwater and led to fines and a hearing by the Federal Communications Commission; the station also built the San Angelo translator at this time. As a result of multiple indiscretions, Grayson divested itself of KTXS-TV and other stations in "distress sales" to minority-controlled broadcasters in 1980. KTXS had four owners in a six-year period, all of whom tried to raise the station from a distant last place in news ratings.
Lamco Communications purchased KTXS in 1986 and raised its news department to a more competitive second place in the Abilene market. KTXS provided the local outlet of Telemundo from 2000 to 2010 and added The CW in 2006. It was purchased by Sinclair as part of its 2017 acquisition of Bonten Media Group.