KXGN-TV channel 5 is a television station in Glendive, Montana, a primarily agricultural region in eastern Montana, which is the smallest of the 210 US Nielsen-designated broadcast television market areas in the United States^[1]; the market is also the smallest in North America.^[2] KXGN celebrated its 50th year on the air in November of 2007.

KXGN carries a portion of the CBS network feed, along with some NBC programming;^[3] it is currently the only station to do so.^{http://www.100000watts.com/SearchResult.asp?type=call&target=KXGN&x=0&y=0} KXGN also offers programming from The Sportsman Channel during the late-night hours on weekends. KXGN also carried UPN programming during the overnight hours until UPN closed on September 15, 2006 to combine with The WB to form The CW network; currently CW programming is seen on cable-only channel CW Glendive (formerly KWZB). The market serves a total potential home-market audience of a mere five thousand households.^[1]

KXGN-TV is owned by Glendive Broadcasting Corporation. Glendive Broadcasting also operates two of the three Glendive radio stations. KXGN (AM) 1400 and KDZN 96.5 FM have been owned by Glendive Broadcasting since the late 1970s and 1986 respectively. Maryland-native Stephan Marks owns Glendive Broadcasting along with KYUS-TV in Miles City, Montana, WBKB-TV in Alpena, Michigan, and WBKP and WBUP in Marquette, Michigan.

News Programming

KXGN airs a local newscast called Montana East weeknight evenings at 10:30PM. Emilie Boyles doubles as the station's sole reporter and editor. Former longtime personality Ed Agre was once profiled for his duties in this capacity.^[3] All other "local" newscasts on KXGN are simulcasts from Billings' KTVQ (with the exception of their morning newscast), as an affiliate of the Montana Television Network. The Early Show from CBS is the only news on KXGN in the morning.

News/Station Presentation

Newscast Titles

• KXGN-TV News (1957-1966)
• Eyewitness News (1966-1975)
• TV-5 News (1975-1982)
• NewsCenter 5 (1982-1989)
• Channel 5 News (1989-1994)
• NewsChannel 5 (1994-1999)
• KX-5 News (1999-present)

Station Slogans

• Count on the TV-5 News (late 1970s)
• Where You Belong (mid 1980s)
• People You Can Count On (1990s)
• The Choice Cut of Two States (1999-present)

KXGN-TV's studios along South Douglas Street in Downtown Glendive, MT.

Programming

Primetime

KXGN airs the entire CBS programming lineup from 6pm MT to 9pm MT. At 9pm MT, KXGN then airs NBC programming that is either airing at that time or recorded earlier that evening.

Daytime

Weekdays, KXGN carries The Early Show, The Price Is Right (at 9AM), and all CBS soaps, beginning at 10AM. NBC's one soap, Days of our Lives, airs at 2PM. KXGN's syndicated programming on weekdays consists of Judge Joe Brown at 8am, Judge Judy at 8:30am, Montel Williams at 3pm, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show at 4PM.

Weekends, KXGN carries CBS's The Early Show and KEWLopolis on Saturday mornings, with CBS News Sunday Morning and Face the Nation on Sunday mornings, mixed with syndicated programming.

Most of KXGN's sports, including NFL football, come from CBS. They currently do not carry any of NBC's sports coverage, including NBC Sunday Night Football.

Availability of NBC programming

Even though NBC programming on KXGN is represented only by a small selection of prime-time programming with no sports, viewers in the Glendive area have access to a full-time NBC affiliate, KUMV-TV from Williston, North Dakota, not only on cable, but also via a local 2630-watt repeater in Glendive, K13PL channel 13. This is one of very few situations where a commercial network has, in effect, two different affiliates in the same city.

Translators

Like many other Montana stations, KXGN relies heavily on a mix of broadcast translators and cable TV systems to extend its reach to more viewers.

All KXGN translators are in Montana.

• Baker: K10JP, K42GA
• Culbertson: K34GY
• Ekalaka: K09BE
• Plentywood: K44ID
• Plevna: K03HD, K09IV
• Poplar: K05KK
• Richey: K13JU
• Sidney: K13IG
• Terry Creek: K07EK

K13IG is the only translator owned by KXGN -- all others are either owned by local governments or television associations.

Transition to ATSC digital

KXGN was allocated ATSC TV channel 10 by the FCC in September, 2004^[4] after receiving multiple extensions of the original May 1, 2002 deadline to go digital due to financial hardship.^[5]

Obstacles to the digital transition included cost (estimated as of 2002 at slightly over $1 million for KXGN and two other stations owned by the same person), the limited number of households which would be able to receive the digital signal over-the-air (as many depend on repeaters or cable to receive TV at all) and the small number of ATSC TV sets in use at the time.

As of 2002 new analogue TVs outsold the then-expensive digital sets 50 to 1, leaving the possibility that few would be watching ATSC even where the signal is physically available. While this situation is beginning to improve, the exemption of LPTV operations from the 2009 DTV transition requirement will leave KXGN an analogue signal for viewers of numbered repeater stations long after the main signal becomes entirely digital.

The major obstacles which apply to the adoption of terrestrial digital TV elsewhere still apply, but are magnified by the small and widely geographically-distributed audience of a small-market station.

External links

• Official Site
• WikiMapia Link

References