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KFDX-TV

KFDX or KFDX 3 is the NBC affiliated television station located in Wichita Falls, Texas. It also serves Lawton, Oklahoma. Its transmitter is located at the studio in Wichita Falls. The KFDX antenna is 1047 feet (319 m) tall.

In addition to over-the-air reception on digital channel 28, KFDX is also carried by more than 60 cable TV systems in Texas and Oklahoma and UHF translators at Quanah, Texas and Altus, Oklahoma.

KFDX-TV also runs a weather channel on Time Warner cable channel 17. The programming, selected by the on-duty meteorologist, switches between two different radar sources and a temperature and forecast display.

Contents

History

KFDX-TV Channel 3 went on the air on April 12, 1953 as the third television station to serve the North Texas/Southern Oklahoma region. The station was originally owned by Wichitex Radio and Television under the direction of Darrold Cannan,Sr. and Howard Fry, which also owned KFDX Radio, an AM station with a frequency of 990 that went on the air in 1947. In addition to being a founder and general manager, Fry was best known by children in Texoma for his Uncle Howdy's House Party on both radio and television. In 1955, Wichitex sold the radio station, which continues to operate to this day, to concentrate on the television portion of the business until the firm sold KFDX-TV 3 to Clay Communications of Texas in 1971.

For many years Warren Silver, who originally joined KFDX when it signed on 1953, served as the station's chief weathercaster and announcer, as well as the original host of the station's longtime early morning farm and ranch broadcast, RFD-3. Silver became the station's general manager from 1971 to 1988. After his retirement, Silver continued as a contributor to the station until his death in 2001 with weekly reports on senior citizens' issues during Newscenter 3's 6 p.m. broadcast entitled "The Silver Report".

Another longtime KFDX weathercaster who appeared on Channel 3's newscast from 1954 to 1971 was dubbed "Tom Crane the Weathervane". Crane was later the vice-president of City National Bank in Wichita Falls bank and operated local advertising agency Crane & Company from 1980 until his death July 6, 2009.

KFDX Chief Meteorologist Skip McBride, a retired airman who has worked at KFDX since January 1983, is the area's longest running weathercaster in local television still on the air today. Among station on-air staff still at KFDX, McBride's tenure of more than 35 years has only been surpassed by Joe Brown, who has continually served as anchor of RFD-3 since the early 1960s.

Don Alexander, leader of rock-and-roll band "Alexander & the Greats" and composer of the 1964 hit single "Hot Dang Mustang," came to KFDX in the late 1950s. For several years he hosted an afternoon children's program, Stage Coach Three. Alexander later served as anchorman and occasional news director at KFDX from 1963 to 1980.

Nat Fleming, a local country and western band leader, hosted his own afternoon variety program The Nat Fleming Show on Channel 3 from its inception in 1953 until the early 1960s. Fleming was also the longtime owner of a Wichita Falls western wear store, The Cow Lot, which closed its doors in 2006. In his TV ads Fleming was most popular for the tagline "You can tell by looking if it came from the Cow Lot."

The current Channel 3 logo has been in use since the mid-1990s, both with and without the NBC Peacock. Several other Channel 3 logos have been used by KFDX throughout the station's history, most notably a Roman numeral 3 or "III" from 1967 to 1978 which was spelled out with the call sign KFDX capitalized and the letters TV in small lettering ahead of the numerals as "KFDX-tv III." During the Roman numeral era, Channel 3 programs were spelled out according to that logo including TV-III News, RFD-III, Matinee III, TV-III Golden Movies, News III and Newscenter III (became Newscenter 3 with 1978 logo change).

Newscasts and local programming

The long-running agriculture/public affairs program RFD-3 airs at 5:00 a.m. weekdays and 6:30 am Saturdays, and has been a staple of area television for decades. It is hosted by Joe Brown, the station's farm director and also farm editor of the Wichita Falls Times Record News.

News programming on weekdays includes KFDX 3 News Today at 5:30 a.m., KFDX 3 News at Noon at 12 p.m., KFDX 3 News at 5 at 5 p.m., KFDX 3 News at 6 at 6 p.m. and KFDX 3 News at 10 at 10 p.m. On weekends, KFDX 3 News is broadcast at 6 p.m. Saturday, 5 p.m. Sunday and 10 p.m. both nights.

KFDX produces 22 hours of news programming a week.

Ratings

KAUZ and KFDX primarily compete for the Texas audience, while KSWO has a stronghold on the Oklahoma market.

For the May 2009 ratings period, KFDX ranked second for the morning time period, according to Nielsen Media Research. KFDX ties for first at 5 p.m. and ranks second at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.

For the November 2008 rating period, KFDX's weekend evening newscasts were beaten out by KAUZ.

Staff

Current on-air staff

(as of December 9, 2009)

Anchors

Reporters

Meteorologists/weather anchors

Sports team

Station management

Former on-air staff

@ Mike Hignite' - news/sports anchor/reporter (1986 - 1990)

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

NOTE: The noon newscast was also called the Noon Report for many years until 1980s in conjunction with the main newscast title. The 10 p.m. broadcast also had an exclusive title of Newscenter 3 Nightcast during the 1980s and 1990s.

Station slogans

External links

v • d • Broadcast television in Wichita Falls, Texas and Lawton, Oklahoma

KFDX (3.1 NBC, 3.2 KJBO-LP) • KAUZ 6 (CBS, 6.2 CW) • KSWO (7.1 ABC, 7.2 TMD) • K17FB 17 / K48HU (Ind) • KJTL (18.1 Fox) • K28AC 28 / K36AB 36 / K54BB (PBS/OETA) • KJBO-LP 35 (MNTV) • K44GS 44 (PBS)
Texas Broadcast television areas by city:

Abilene/Sweetwater • Amarillo (Texas Panhandle) • Austin • Beaumont/Port Arthur • Corpus Christi • Dallas-Fort Worth • Del Rio, TX • El Paso • Houston • Laredo • Lubbock • Midland-Odessa (Permian Basin) • Rio Grande Valley • San Angelo • San Antonio • Sherman/Ada, OK • Texarkana/Shreveport, LA • Tyler/Longview (East Texas) • Victoria • Waco/Bryan (Brazos Valley) • Wichita Falls/Lawton, OK

Oklahoma Broadcast television areas by city: Ada/Sherman, TX • Amarillo, TX • Fort Smith, AR (Eastern OK) • Joplin, MO (Northeast OK) • Lawton/Wichita Falls, TX • Oklahoma City Metro • Texarkana, TX-AR/Shreveport, LA • Tulsa (East Central OK)
v • d • NBC Network Affiliates in the state of Texas

KPRC 2 (Houston) • KFDX 3 (Lawton / Wichita Falls) • KSAN 3 (San Angelo) • KAMR 4 (Amarillo) • WOAI 4 (San Antonio) • KXAS 5 (Fort Worth / Dallas) • KCEN 6 / KMAY-LP 23 (Temple / Bryan) • KRIS 6 (Corpus Christi) • KTAL 6 (Texarkana) • KGNS 8 (Laredo) • KRBC 9 (Abilene) • KTSM 9 (El Paso) • KWES 9 / KWAB 4 (Midland / Big Spring) • KCBD 11 (Lubbock) • KBMT-DT 12.2 (Beaumont) • KMOL-LP 17 (Victoria) • KVEO 23 (Brownsville) • KXAN 36 (Austin) • KETK 56 / KETK-LP 53 (Tyler / Jacksonville)
See also: ABC, CBS, CW, Fox, ION, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS and Other stations in Texas
v Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc.
Corporate Staff Perry A. Sook (President & CEO) • Tim Busch (Exec. VP & Co-COO) • Brian Jones (Exec. VP & Co-COO) • Tom Carter (Chief Financial Officer) • Rick Rogala (Sr. VP, Regional Mgr.) • Adrian Giuhat (Sr. VP, CTO) • Blake Russell (Sr. VP, Station Operations) • Marc Montoya (Sr. VP, eMedia Sales & Operations) • Shirley E. Green (VP, Controller) • Elizabeth Hammond (VP & General Counsel) • Rick Stolpe (Vp, Director of Engineering)
ABC Network Affiliates KAMC1 • KMID • KODE1 • KQTV • KSVI • WDHN • WJET • WTVO1 • WUTR1
Azteca América Network Affiliates WWHB4
CBS Network Affiliates KEYE4 • KLBK • KLST • KOLR1 • KTAB • KUTV4 • WCIA • WMBD • WROC • WTAJ • WYOU1
The CW Network Affiliates WCWJ • WLWC4 • WLYH5 • WTVX4
Fox Network Affiliates KARD • KBTV • KCIT1 • KHMT1 • KFTA2 • KJTL1 • KSFX • WFFT • WFXP1 • WFXV • WFXW1 • WQRF • WTVW • WUHF3 • WYZZ3
MyNetworkTV Affiliates KARZ • KCPN1 • KJBO1 • WCFN • WPNY • WTCN4 • WTVO1 • WTVX4
NBC Network Affiliates KAMR • KARK • KFDX • KNWA • KRBC1 • KSAN1 • KSNF • KTAL • KTVE1 • WBRE • WHAG • WTWO
Retro Television Network Affiliate WTVX4
Telemundo Affiliate KEYE4
This TV Network Affiliates KCIT1 • KUSG4 • KUTV4 • WROC

1Nexstar operates these stations owned by Mission Broadcasting. 2Sale of the station to Mission Broadcasting is awaiting FCC approval. Nexstar will continue to operate the station. 3Nexstar operates these stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. 4Nexstar operates these stations owned by Four Points Media Group.

5Nexstar holds the license to this station, but management capabilities belong to Newport Television.
Annual Revenue: $226.1 million USD (2005) • Employees: Unknown at this time. • Stock Symbol: NASDAQ: NXST • Website: www.nexstarbroadcasting.com

Categories: NBC network affiliates | Nexstar Broadcasting Group | Television stations in Texas | Television channels and stations established in 1953 | Channel 28 digital TV stations in the United States

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