KLBK-TV


KLBK-TV, virtual channel 13, is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Lubbock, Texas, United States. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also operates ABC affiliate KAMC under a local marketing agreement with owner Mission Broadcasting. The two stations share studios and transmitter facilities on University Avenue in Lubbock, just two blocks south of Loop 289.
On cable, KLBK is available on Suddenlink channel 7, and channel 13 on other systems in outlying areas of the market.

History

The station began its broadcasting operation as KDUB-TV, founded by the late television pioneer W.D. "Dub" Rogers, Jr, putting the station on the air for the very first time on November 13, 1952. It was the first commercially licensed television station in a medium to small-sized market. Over the next few years, Rogers signed on KPAR-TV in Abilene, KEDY-TV in Big Spring and KVER-TV in Clovis, New Mexico. These stations made up the West Texas Television Network, the first regional television network in the United States.
Originally the station also carried ABC as a secondary affiliation until 1969 when KSEL-TV became the local primary ABC affiliate. The station also carried an affiliation with DuMont during the early 1950s.
Grayson Enterprises assumed ownership of KDUB-TV and KPAR-TV in 1961 and changed KDUB's call letters to the current KLBK-TV. The KDUB call letters was later used by KFXB-TV in Dubuque, Iowa from 1976 to 1995 when it was an ABC affiliate, now affiliated with the Christian Television Network.
Over the years, Grayson acquired several other stations, including KVKM-TV in Monahans. However, Grayson Enterprises ran into license renewal trouble in 1968, 1971, 1974, and 1977 for some of its stations. These stations were accused of fraudulent billing, program and transmitter log fabrication, main studio violations, failure to make required technical tests, and other issues. The stations had their renewals deferred and hearings ordered as a result.
The case was settled in what was then described as a "distress sale", in which Grayson's stations were broken up and sold to minority-controlled groups at a reduced price. The parameters of such a sale were defined by this sell-off. As a result, KMOM and KWAB were transferred to a Hispanic-controlled group, while KLBK and KTXS went to Prima, Inc.. The other stations in the West Texas Network were sold to other owners. Woods then sold KLBK plus three of its stations KARD in West Monroe, Louisiana, KDEB in Springfield, Missouri and WTVW in Evansville, Indiana to Banam Broadcasting, a subsidiary of BankAmerica in 1993. In 1995, Banam sold KLBK along with three of its stations in Springfield, Missouri to Petracom Broadcasting.
KLBK was acquired in late 2003 as part of the Nexstar Broadcasting Group acquisition of Quorum Broadcasting. The station updated its logo and news set on February 1, 2007, dropping the channel number from its branding.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
13.11080iKLBK-HDMain KLBK-TV programming / CBS
13.2480iCourtTVCourt TV
13.3480iAntenna TV

Analog-to-digital conversion

KLBK-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 13, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 40. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 13.

News operation

KLBK's news coverage centers around the city of Lubbock and across the South Plains region of West Texas. The station produces over 17 hours of news content each week. Newscasts air at 6:00 a.m., 12:00, 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. on weekdays. Saturday night newscasts air at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. Only one newscast airs on Sunday nights at 10:00 p.m. The station recently dropped the 5:00 p.m. weekday afternoon newscast in 2012 and expanded the 6:00 p.m. newscast to a full hour. On June 17, 2013 the station became the third news operation in Lubbock to begin broadcasting all newscasts in high definition. On that day the station debuted its newly constructed sets, updated branding and image and a new state of the art weather graphics system from WSI. In August 2013 KLBK debuted a new half hour lifestyle show called Trends & Friends, weeknights at 5:00 p.m.

Notable former on-air staff

From 1988 through 1990, Michael Sommermeyer served as evening news anchor at KLBK. After leaving KLBK, he moved across town to KCBD and served as that station's consumer reporter before leaving KCBD in 1992. However, Sommermeyer's claim to fame arguably came almost two decades after his stint at KLBK, as he served as the courts information officer for Clark County, Nevada during the robbery trial of former NFL star O.J. Simpson.