KAMC

KAMC is the ABC network affiliated television station serving the Lubbock, Texas metropolitan area. Its transmitter is located in Lubbock.

KAMC is licensed to broadcast digitally on UHF channel 27. It is licensed to operate at less than one kilowatt under a Special Temporary Authority, but has filed a construction permit to increase power to 1,000 kilowatts as authorized by the Federal Communications Commission.

KAMC was acquired by Mission Broadcasting in late 2003 as part of Nexstar's acquisition of Quorum Broadcasting; most Mission stations have local marketing agreements with Nexstar stations in the same market; in this case, it is KLBK in Lubbock. KAMC’s syndicated programming includes Entertainment Tonight, Live With Regis and Kelly, and Rachael Ray.

History

KAMC first began broadcasting in the fall of 1968 as KSEL-TV. Originally an independent station, KSEL soon began broadcasting some ABC programming which was previously split between CBS affiliate KLBK and NBC affiliate KCBD. After a few months of sharing secondary affiliations with the local CBS and NBC affiliates, KSEL became the primary and exclusive ABC affiliate for the Lubbock market in the fall of 1969. A few years later the station changed its call letters to KMCC, then later to the current KAMC. From 1979 to 1986, KAMC applied the former KMCC call sign to a satellite station on Channel 12 in Clovis, New Mexico that is currently operating as KVIH-TV, now a satellite of Amarillo, Texas ABC affiliate KVII-TV. KMCC is now the callsign for the unrelated NTSC channel 34 and ATSC channel 32 in Laughlin, Nevada.

KSEL-TV entered as a competitor to established KLBK (as noted above, a full-time CBS and part-time ABC affiliate) and NBC affiliate KCBD, and recent sign-on (and, with regards to signal, weaker) channel 34, KKBC-TV (later KMXN-TV). KKBC operated from 1967 to 1973. A new channel 34, KJAA, signed on in 1981; it is now Fox affiliate KJTV-TV.

KSEL drew resources from sister stations KSEL-AM (now KJTV), 950 AM, and KSEL-FM (now KXTQ-FM), 93.7 FM. The stations had unified sales staffs (spots were sold on both radio and TV by one sales force, which often voiced spots or appeared in commercials or as on camera talent, i.e., Bill Maddox was sales manager and late news anchor). All stations were owned by R.B. Mac McAlister, his son Bill, and the department heads at the stations (A.C. Ace Wimberly, Bill Maddox, Lew Dee, Bill Baker, etc).

KSEL filled air time with many movies, each accompanied by an on camera host. Lew Dee, also known as Lewis T. D'Elia, hosted a movie show, in addition to co-hosting This, That and the Other on radio and KSEL-TV. The news department gathered and delivered news for all three stations.

The radio stations were sold to other interests in 1974-75, and moved out of the shared building at 1201 84th Street in south Lubbock (in picture), though the FM transmitter remains at this site. KSEL-TV changed its call sign to KMCC and invested in better equipment (RCA TCR-100 video cartridge player) and programming, including M*A*S*H reruns. Between growth of ABC's ratings in the late 1970s, an improving news operation, and the syndicated product, the station became a real player in the early 1980s.

A satellite station was added in 1979. KFDW-TV, channel 12 in Clovis, New Mexico, had been a satellite station of KFDA-TV in Amarillo for many years, under the same ownership (once the Bass Brothers) from 1966 to 1976 and under Mel Wheeler from 1976 to 1979. The McAlisters changed KFDW's call sign to KAMC, which triggered a complaint from NBC affiliate KAMR-TV, which was carried on cable systems in Clovis. The call signs were exchanged: the repeater in Clovis took the KMCC calls, while channel 28 in Lubbock became KAMC.

Former KAMC meteorologist Matt Laubhan shocked his girlfriend of two and a half years, KAMC morning anchor Emily Leonard, in an on-air proposition to wed, clips of which first surfacing on various websites in early October, 2008.

On-air staff

Current on-air staff

Anchors

• Emily Leonard - weekday mornings
• Karla Leslie - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
• Bryan Mudd - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
• Julie Musgrave - Saturdays at 6 and weekends at 10 p.m.

Reporters

• Kristen Kennedy - general assignment reporter
• Julie Musgrave - general assignment reporter

KAMC Weather Lab

• Ron "Mr. Game 7" Roberts (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
• Nick Kanczuzewski (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - Mmeteorologist; Saturdays at 6 and weekends at 10 p.m.
• Adam Young - meteorologist; weekday mornings

Red Raider Nation

• David Collier - Sports Director; weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
• Andy Scholes - Sports Anchor; Saturdays at 6 and weekends at 10 p.m.

Former on-air staff

• Kyle Meenan (1982) anchor/reporter (later host of ESPN's Outdoor Newsbreak, now at WTLV Jacksonville, FL)

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• KAMC Action News (1980s)
• News 28 (1990s-1999)
• ABC 28 News (1999-2004)
• KAMC 28 News (2004-present)

Station slogans

• Proud of West Texas (1990s)
• West Texas' News Leader (early 1990s-1999)
• Where News Comes First (1996-2004)
• First. Live. and Local. (2004-present)

References

1. ^ The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says November 12, while the Television and Cable Factbook says November 11.

External links

• KAMC ABC 28
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KAMC
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KAMC-TV
• "Weatherman's On-air proposal"

Categories: ABC network affiliates | Nexstar Broadcasting Group | Channel 28 TV stations in the United States | Television channels and stations established in 1968 | Television stations in Texas