KLAX-TV

Last updated

KLAX-TV
Channels
BrandingKLAX ABC 31; ABC 31 News
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
  • Deltavision Media
  • (Alexandria License LLC)
History
Founded1979 (1979)
First air date
March 3, 1983(42 years ago) (1983-03-03)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 31 (UHF, 1983–2009)
  • Digital: 32 (UHF, until 2009)
Technical information [1]
Licensing authority
 FCC
Facility ID 52907
ERP 200 kW
HAAT 333 m (1,093 ft)
Transmitter coordinates 31°33′55″N92°33′0″W / 31.56528°N 92.55000°W / 31.56528; -92.55000
Links
Public license information
Website klax-tv.com

KLAX-TV (channel 31) is a television station in Alexandria, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Deltavision Media. The station's studios are located on England Drive/LA 498 in Alexandria, and its transmitter is located in the Kisatchie National Forest southwest of Dry Prong.

Contents

KLAX-TV began broadcasting on March 3, 1983, as an independent station. It was built by Cypress Communications, a local firm, and featured a local newscast from its launch until August 1984. The station became an ABC affiliate in September 1985; after failing to pay its bills, it filed for bankruptcy protection in 1987 and was sold to Pollack-Belz Communications in 1988. Pollack-Belz revived a news department, which continued until 2001, but the station could not pass established KALB-TV in the news ratings. A local newscast, this time with outsourced production, returned in 2007. Pollack/Belz sold the station to Northwest Broadcasting in 2018, the first of four sales of KLAX-TV within seven years.

History

Construction and early years

Plans for KLAX began in September 1979 when Jim Richards, who had been the general manager of KSYL radio, formed Cypress Communications with the intent on launching a new television station on one of the two available commercial UHF channels (channel 31 or 41). [2] Two months later, Cypress filed for channel 31, [3] receiving a construction permit in July 1980. [4] The company planned for the station to be an ABC affiliate [5] and to start the station on August 1, 1981. [6] ABC rejected KLAX's proposal to become an affiliate, and the poor economy prompted Cypress to delay the station's startup. [7]

By late 1982, KLAX-TV was moving forward as an independent station. [8] The station began broadcasting on March 3, 1983, [9] with a 31-hour preview of programming followed by a marathon of 31 movies. The station at launch featured several local programs, including two programs (Great Day in the Morning and Midday) hosted by local radio personality Bill Day and 6 and 10 p.m. local newscasts. [10] Initially, it broadcast from a 250-foot (76 m) tower at its studios on England Drive, which was intended as a stopgap until its 1,290-foot (390 m) tower near Dry Prong could be completed. [11] The evening newscasts were reorganized into a single 9 p.m. edition that October [12] before being dropped and replaced with short hourly newsbreaks in September 1984. [13]

On September 23, 1985, KLAX-TV became an ABC affiliate after the network accepted a new proposal. [14] Prior to this, area cable companies had piped in either WBRZ from Baton Rouge, KATC from Lafayette, or KBMT of Beaumont, Texas, all with weak signals. [15] Great Day remained on the air until it was canceled in April 1986. [16]

In 1986, Cypress put KLAX-TV up for sale amid financial troubles. By August 1986, six creditors headlined by RCA had sued the station for failure to meet financial obligations. [17] [16] Three months later, an investor consortium consisting of two men affiliated with Rollins Inc. and Russ Chambers, former owner of KPLC in Lake Charles, agreed to buy the station for $7 million. [18] The transaction never closed and was abandoned by May 1987, when RCA seized the station's transmitter and studio equipment with a view to selling it at auction. RCA's attorney told The Town Talk that he was displeased with KLAX's continued use of the equipment. [19] In response, Cypress filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. [20]

Pollack-Belz ownership

The bankruptcy court received offers from Texas-based Delta Television and Pollack-Belz Communications of Memphis for the station. [21] [22] William Pollack, the principal in Pollack-Belz, had learned of the bankruptcy a day before the hearing but had previously attempted to build out channel 41 in Alexandria. [23] Finding that Delta was a shell corporation unable to finance the purchase, the bankruptcy judge selected the Pollack-Belz offer in February 1988. [24] The firm, consisting of William Pollack, his brother David, and his brother-in-law Marty Belz, promised to make the station competitive. [23] It built a new tower for the station in Dry Prong, improving coverage. [25]

William Pollack promised to restart local news on the station as part of the purchase. [23] A month after Pollack-Belz took over, KLAX hired a news director, Max Tooker, who in previous posts had been successful at lifting the ratings of poorly-rated stations. [26] The newscasts, titled Cenla 31 First News and Cenla 31 News Tonight, debuted at 5 and 10 p.m. in October 1988; Tooker departed three months later. [27] By 1991, the station had gone through four news directors in the span of three years. [28] Between 1994 and 1998, it was the ABC affiliate of record on cable systems in the Monroe area after that city's former ABC affiliate, KARD, became a Fox affiliate. [29] The addition of the Monroe market to KLAX's viewing area increased its potential audience by more than 50 percent. [30]

KLAX rebranded as 31LAX in 1996, including an overhaul of news presentation which included a more contemporary style oriented toward younger viewers and the replacement of three of the station's four evening news personalities. [31] During this time, news ratings and revenue increased, but the station continued to lag Alexandria's long-established KALB-TV (channel 5). Catamount Broadcasting agreed to buy the station in 1999 [32] but fell through. [33] Full-length newscasts were scrapped on March 1, 2001, and replaced with short Action News Updates on weekdays only. [34] [35] In 2002, Pollack/Belz acquired "KCLA"—a low-power station that aired programming from UPN, America One, and Urban America Television—from Woody Jenkins. The deal gave KCLA cable carriage for the first time in its history. [36] KLAX had previously been a secondary affiliate of UPN between 1995 and 2000. [37] [38]

On February 5, 2007, the Independent News Network (INN) of Davenport, Iowa, began to produce weeknight and Sunday evening newscasts for KLAX. Reporters in central Louisiana filed stories for the programs, which were presented by INN's anchors. Station management cited the outsourcing model as providing the cost-effectiveness necessary to restore a local news presence. [39]

Northwest, Cox, Imagicomm, and Deltavision ownership

Pollack-Belz Communications agreed to sell KLAX-TV to a subsidiary of Northwest Broadcasting, for $3.5 million in 2018. [40] This was the first of four sales of the station within seven years. Northwest's stations were acquired by Apollo Global Management in 2019 and combined with Cox Media Group; [41] In June 2019, it was announced that Terrier Media would instead operate as Cox Media Group, as Apollo had reached a deal to also acquire Cox's radio and advertising businesses. [42] Cox sold KLAX-TV and 17 other stations to Imagicomm Communications, an affiliate of the parent company of the INSP cable channel, for $488 million in 2022; [43] [44] and Imagicomm sold KLAX-TV and other stations to Webb Collums's Deltavision Media in 2025. [45] [46]

Subchannels

KLAX-TV is broadcast from a transmitter facility southwest of Dry Prong, Louisiana. [1] The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of KLAX-TV [47]
Channel Res. Aspect Short nameProgramming
31.1 720p 16:9 KLAX-DT ABC
31.2 480i METVLAX MeTV
31.3 4:3 ION Ion Television

References

  1. 1 2 "Facility Technical Data for KLAX-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ↑ "New Television Station Reported Planned Here". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. September 6, 1979. p. B-5. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "New TV Company Here Files Papers With FCC". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. November 7, 1979. p. B-7. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Permit for New TV Station Granted". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. July 21, 1980. p. A-15. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "KLAX-TV Progresses". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. October 14, 1980. p. A-11. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Public TV Station Plans Delayed Here". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. November 4, 1980. p. A-11. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "Economy Forced KLAX-TV To Postpone Its Air Date". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. September 22, 1981. p. D-5. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ Leggett, Jim (September 29, 1982). "Jury Rescinds Ward 7 Stock Law Exemption". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. A-2. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "KLAX Begins Broadcasting". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. March 3, 1983. p. A-4. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ Haywood, Tom (February 28, 1983). "New Alexandria TV Station Starts Broadcasting Thursday". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. A-2. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ Leggett, Jim (January 29, 1983). "Cenla Sees Media Explosion in '82". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. D-19. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "'83 a Good Year For TV Viewers". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. January 28, 1984. pp. D-17, D-18 . Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "KLAX Changing Format For More Entertainment". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. August 26, 1984. p. D-6. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ Bentley, Rick (September 4, 1985). "KLAX-TV, Channel 31, Joins ABC Network". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. D-1. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "KLAX Head: ABC Changeover Set Sept. 25". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. September 5, 1985. p. D-1. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  16. 1 2 Bentley, Rick; Ryman, Rich (August 14, 1986). "KLAX-TV Is for Sale: 4 Firms Make Offers". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. D-1. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ Burns, Michael J. (October 29, 1985). "RCA Corp. Files Lawsuit Against KLAX-TV Owners". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. D-1. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ Bentley, Rick (November 13, 1986). "KLAX-TV Sold To Three Men For $6 Million". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. D-1. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ Humphries, Jerry; Ryman, Richard L. (May 12, 1987). "Deputies seize KLAX equipment: Chapter 11 bankruptcy would prevent sheriff's auction". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. B-5. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ Ryman, Richard L. (May 16, 1987). "KLAX parent company files bankruptcy". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. B-7. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ Burns, Michael J. (December 10, 1987). "Texas firm files plan to take over KLAX". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. B-7. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  22. ↑ Burns, Michael J. (January 29, 1988). "Second KLAX offer made: Bankruptcy judge to render decision on Feb. 12". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. B-7. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  23. 1 2 3 Ryman, Richard L. (June 4, 1988). "KLAX sold to Pollack-Belz Communications". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. B-7. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  24. ↑ Leggett, Jim (February 13, 1988). "KLAX will have new owner". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. B-7. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  25. ↑ "KLAX begins work on new broadcast tower". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. July 28, 1988. p. 34. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  26. ↑ Bentley, Rick (July 14, 1988). "Something new in picture for KLAX: Station's news director bringing back nightly local broadcast". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. B-7. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  27. ↑ Bentley, Rick (January 4, 1989). "KLAX news director leaves". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. C-9. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  28. ↑ Ryman, Richard L. (June 9, 1991). "KLAX owner: station has established itself". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. D-1. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  29. ↑ "KLAX will remain on local cable systems". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. November 11, 1998. p. B-8. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  30. ↑ Flynn, Leigh (March 19, 1994). "KLAX-TV coverage area grows". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. D-1. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  31. ↑ Nicholas, Darrick F. (September 15, 1996). "Setting the course: 31LAX receives facelift both on and off camera". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. Channels 32. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  32. ↑ Pinnell, Gary (February 25, 1999). "KLAX sold for $6.5 million". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. C-1. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  33. ↑ Pinnell, Gary (May 14, 1999). "KLAX deal falls through". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. C-1. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  34. ↑ Pitchford, Roy (February 7, 2001). "KLAX to 'alter' its news format". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. A-1. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  35. ↑ Pitchford, Roy (March 1, 2001). "KLAX, Channel 31, trims news programs". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. A-3. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  36. ↑ Pitchford, Roy (January 18, 2002). "KLAX, KCLA will now be under same roof". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. C1. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  37. ↑ Davies, Jonathan (July 28, 1995). "11 new affiliates extend UPN reach to 88% of U.S.". The Hollywood Reporter. pp. 3, 46. ProQuest   2469272750.
  38. ↑ Pinnell, Gary (June 23, 2000). "New TV station coming to Cenla: Ex-Rep. Woody Jenkins is owner". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. pp. A-1, A-2 . Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  39. ↑ Bonnette, Tom (February 5, 2007). "KLAX to launch newscast tonight on Channel 31". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. p. A4. Retrieved August 30, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  40. ↑ "Station Trading Roundup: 2 Deals, $10.5M". TVNewsCheck. June 12, 2018.
  41. ↑ Jessell, Harry A. (March 6, 2019). "Cox TV Valued At $3.1 Billion In Apollo Acquisition". TVNewsCheck. Archived from the original on March 7, 2019. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  42. ↑ Jacobson, Adam (June 26, 2019). "It's Official: Cox Radio, Gamut, CoxReps Going To Apollo". Radio & Television Business Report. Archived from the original on June 26, 2019. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  43. ↑ Venta, Lance (March 30, 2022). "Cox Breaks Up Combined Radio/TV Cluster In Tulsa As Part Of Twelve Market Divestiture". RadioInsight. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
  44. ↑ Winslow, George (August 1, 2022). "Cox Media Group, INSP Close Deal for Sale of Cox TV Stations to Imagicomm". TVTechnology. Archived from the original on August 2, 2022. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
  45. ↑ Jacobson, Adam (April 8, 2025). "Imagicomm Finds A Buyer For Remaining Properties". Radio & Television Business Report. Archived from the original on April 17, 2025. Retrieved April 10, 2025.
  46. ↑ "Notification of Consummation". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. August 15, 2025. Retrieved August 16, 2025.
  47. ↑ "RabbitEars TV Query for KLAX". RabbitEars . Archived from the original on May 10, 2017. Retrieved April 10, 2025.
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