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KTSM-TV

KTSM-TV, also known as NewsChannel 9, is an NBC affiliated television station based in El Paso, Texas. It broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 9. KTSM-TV is currently owned by ComCorp of El Paso, Inc.

Contents

History

KTSM-TV signed on air on January 4, 1953 as the second oldest television station in the market, behind KDBC-TV. The station shares its call letters with its former sister AM and FM stations, which are now owned by Clear Channel Communications, separate from KTSM-TV. The "TSM" in the name stands for "Tri State Music", referring to KTSM-AM's original owner[1].

KTSM claims to have the tallest VHF transmission tower in Texas. It is located at Ranger Peak, one of the peaks of the Franklin Mountains. It is 2,000 feet above downtown El Paso, and 5,990 feet above sea level.

KTSM was owned and operated for 60 years by Karl O. Wyler, a philanthropist and broadcast pioneer in El Paso. Mr. Wyler built the El Paso Aerial Tramway in the early 1960's to allow his staff to maintain the transmitters at Ranger Peak. The tramway was open to the public until the 1980's, when insurance laws in Texas prohibited its use by the general public. When Mr. Wyler died in 1990, he left controlling interest in Tri-State Broadcasting, Inc. (the radio and television stations) to the El Paso Community Foundation as a charitable gift.

In 1991, the Foundation hired Richard E. Pearson, a dynamic station manager at KVIA TV at the time, to run the operations. Under Mr. Pearson's leadership, the station flourished, and became a dominant force in the market, until the stations were sold to Communications Corporation of America (Comcorp El Paso, Inc.), the current owners, in 1998.

Among KTSM's most famous personalities was Ted Bender. Bender hosted numerous programs on KTSM including the El Paso version of Dialing for Dollars, in which he gave four viewers a chance to win money, and halfway through the calls, Bender (who was a city councilman) would interview a key figure in the El Paso community. The program aired for 25 minutes, which followed a 5-minute newscast on KTSM at 10 AM.

Bender also was the lead weatherman for KTSM from its inception until his retirement in 1991, using weather symbols that the National Weather Service utilizes on their weather charts.

Dialing for Dollars and daytime soaps pre-empted NBC's regular daytime staple of game shows, later airing in the afternoon hours. Sesame Street, which normally airs on PBS, aired on KTSM, due to the lack of a public television station in the El Paso area, from 1969 until KCOS opened in 1978, and may have aired other PBS programs, besides.

On August 3, 2008, during its 5:00 p.m. newscast, KTSM became the first station in El Paso to produce their news in high definition.

KTSM will affiliate with the Spanish-language network Estrella TV on a digital subchannel in 2009.[2] On August 31, 2009, KTSM launched Estrella TV.

On October 19, 2009 ComCorp, the parent company of KTSM, announced that KTSM will provide sales and other services for Titan Broadcast Management's KDBC under a new agreement. Comcorp El Paso, which owns and operates KTSM, will provide advertising, sales, administrative services and some news programming for KDBC,While TTBC will continue to manage KDBC and both stations will retain separate newscasts for now. [3]

Digital television

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Subchannel Programming
9.1 main KTSM-TV/NBC programming
9.2 Estrella TV

Analog shutdown

On June 12, 2009, at 12:30 P.M. MDT, KTSM-TV completed the analog television shutdown and digital conversion.[4] Additionally, KTSM moved its digital broadcast tier from 16 to its former analog channel number, 9.[5][6]

on July 31, 2009 KTSM was given Special Temporary Authority by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to also operate on Digital Channel 16, because of reports of reception problems on digital channel 9.

On-air staff

News team

Sports team

Weather team

Former on-air staff

  • Adam Shadoff
  • Ann Bonfield
  • Barbara High
  • Barry Finn
  • Bianca Ferrare
  • Bill Armstrong
  • Bill Blair
  • Brad Montgomery
  • Christina Montoya
  • Christina Brown
  • Cynthia Weyand (Vega)
  • Dave Garcia
  • Dave Garlick
  • Denise LaFrance
  • Dia Wallace
  • Edward Egros
  • Eric Johnston
  • Erica Castillo
  • Erica Castillo-Ruiz
  • Felicia Garcia
  • Felipa Solis
  • Horst Longenecker
  • Jacque Kessler
  • Jeff Limburgh
  • Jeff Reynolds
  • Jeremy Jojola
  • Jessica Durrett
  • Jessie Chavez
  • Joan Zec
  • Joe DiGiovanni
  • Joyce Ohajah
  • Juana Hill
  • Louis Saenz
  • Mari Alvarez
  • Marty Cox
  • Micah Johnson (journalist)
  • Michelle Alegria
  • Michelle Dabney-Perez
  • Michelle Gielan (Now with CBS News in New York)
  • Mike Johnson
  • Mike Machak
  • Minerva Baumann
  • Neil Simon
  • Nick Miller
  • Raymond Mesa
  • Richard Cortez
  • Richard Wayman
  • Roy Ortega
  • Eric Pearson
  • Scott Ehret
  • Steve Jess
  • Suzanne Michaels
  • Talia Nye
  • Ted Bender
  • Tim Daly
  • Tom Downs
  • Tom Nelson
  • Tony Debo
  • Victor Venegas
  • Yvette Villarreal (now Yvette Martinez at WBIR in Knoxville,TN)

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

Station slogans

KTSM Music

External links

References

  1. ^ http://www.epcc.edu/nwlibrary/borderlands/12_el_paso_broadcasting.htm
  2. ^ "Coming, a new force in Hispanic TV". Media Life Magazine. March 20, 2009. http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Television_44/Coming_a_new_force_in_Hispanic_TV.asp. Retrieved 2009-04-11.
  3. ^ http://www.kvia.com/global/story.asp?s=11339223#
  4. ^ http://www.ktsm.com/local/digital-switch-complete
  5. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
  6. ^ CDBS Print
v • d • Television stations in the El Paso/Las Cruces/Juárez area
Local stations

KDBC (4.1 CBS, 4.2 MNTV) • KVIA 7 (7.1 ABC, 7.2 CW, 7.3 StormTRACK 24/7, 7.4 LATV) • KTSM (9.1 NBC, 9.2 Estrella TV) • KCOS (13.1 PBS) • KFOX (14.1 Fox, 14.2 RTV) • KINT (26.1 UNI) • KSCE 38 (Religious) • K40FW 40 (Multimedios) • KTFN (65.1 TFU)
Las Cruces Reception may vary by geographical location

KRWG (22.1 PBS main, 22.2 PBS secondary, 22.3 V-me) • KLCP 30 (GLC) • KTDO (48.1 TMD)
Ciudad Juárez

XEPM 2 (Televisa Local) • XEJ 5 (Televisa XEQ) • XHCJE 11 (Azteca 13) • XHCJH 20 (Azteca 7) • XHJCI 32 (Televisa XEW) • XHIJ 44 (C3) • XHJUB 56 (Televisa XHGC)
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

New Mexico Broadcast television areas by city: Albuquerque/Santa Fe • Amarillo, TX • El Paso, TX • Odessa/Midland, TX
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

Categories: NBC network affiliates | Channel 9 TV stations in the United States | Television channels and stations established in 1953 | Television stations in El Paso, Texas

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