KOPR-TV

Last updated
KOPR-TV
Channels
Ownership
OwnerCopper Broadcasting Company [2]
KOPR (550 AM) [2]
History
First air date
August 23, 1953 (1953-08-23) [1]
Last air date
September 19, 1954 (1954-09-19) [3]
Technical information
ERP 600 watts [1]
HAAT 350 ft (110 m) [1]
Transmitter coordinates 46°00′49″N112°32′00″W / 46.0137°N 112.5333°W / 46.0137; -112.5333 [1]

KOPR-TV was a television station on channel 4 in Butte, Montana, United States, which operated from 1953 to 1954. It was owned by the Copper Broadcasting Company alongside KOPR (550 AM) and was the second outlet in Butte and the state, broadcasting from studios and a transmitter at the Hotel Finlen.

History

The Hotel Finlen housed KOPR-TV's studio and transmitter Butte MT Finlen Hotel.jpg
The Hotel Finlen housed KOPR-TV's studio and transmitter

KOPR's parent company, Copper Broadcasting Company, filed the first television station application in the state on November 30, 1951. [4] It was awarded in January 1953, after the lifting of the Federal Communications Commission freeze on new TV stations and on the same day as KFBB-TV in Great Falls and a proposed but never-built channel 8 outlet in Billings. [2]

KOPR-TV first planned to launch in the spring of 1954, but it accelerated its target date to August 15—not coincidentally, when the other television station in Butte, KXLF-TV (channel 6), was projecting to start. [5] KOPR-TV set up in the Hotel Finlen, [6] where the radio station had been based since it began in 1948. [7] The first signal went out August 23, 1953, just nine days after KXLF-TV. [1] The facilities used in operation reflected the haste to get to air: while an effective radiated power of 14,500 watts was authorized, KOPR-TV used just 600. [1] The station had network affiliations with CBS and ABC, [6] while local shows included news, sports, weather, and a music program, Copper Bandstand. [8]

The starting up of two stations at once in a small market—Butte had two operating stations before Billings had one—proved to have financial consequences. KOPR-TV announced it would cease telecasting at the end of the broadcast day on September 19, 1954. An advertisement taken out by the station in that day's edition of The Montana Standard explained that Copper Broadcasting would instead focus on expanding the operations of the radio station and retain the channel 4 permit. [3] In asking for authority to go silent, the station pointed to economic reasons. It was just the fourth full-time VHF station (and sixth total, including two shared-time outlets) to fold. [9] The FCC deleted the KOPR-TV construction permit for lack of interest in April 1955; [10] in 1956, KXLF-TV was granted use of channel 4 over co-channel interference concerns to channel 6 at Pocatello, Idaho. [11]

Copper Broadcasting obtained a construction permit for a second KOPR-TV on channel 6 in 1957, which would have broadcast from Mount Fleecer beginning in 1958. [12] No station ever materialized, and Butte viewers would not have a choice of television programs again until the FCC simultaneously approved KGVO-TV in Missoula and Butte's KXLF-TV to build translators in each other's service areas in late 1965. [13] The KGVO-TV translator was replaced in 1970 by KTVM, a high-power station. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KTVQ</span> CBS/CW affiliate in Billings, Montana

KTVQ is a television station in Billings, Montana, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, it is part of the Montana Television Network, a statewide network of CBS-affiliated stations. KTVQ's studios are located on Third Avenue North in Billings, and its transmitter is located on Sacrifice Cliff southeast of downtown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KSLA</span> CBS affiliate in Shreveport, Louisiana

KSLA is a television station in Shreveport, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power, Class A Telemundo affiliate KTSH-CD. The two stations share studios on Fairfield Avenue and Dashiel Street in central Shreveport; KSLA's transmitter is located near St. Johns Baptist Church Road in rural northern Caddo Parish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montana Television Network</span> Regional television network

The Montana Television Network (MTN) is a statewide network of CBS affiliates in the U.S. state of Montana. It also includes one NBC station. All but one of these stations are owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. Five of the full-powered MTN stations—KTVQ, KXLF, KRTV, KPAX, and KTVH—carry programming from The CW Plus on their digital subchannels. In addition, MTN owns the Montana Ag Network, which provides farm and ranch reports on television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KSVI</span> ABC affiliate in Billings, Montana

KSVI is a television station in Billings, Montana, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to Hardin-licensed Fox affiliate KHMT under joint sales and shared services agreements with Mission Broadcasting. Both stations share studios on South 24th Street West in Billings, while KSVI's transmitter is located on Old Hardin Road east-northeast of the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NBC Montana</span> Network of western Montana NBC affiliates

NBC Montana is a regional network of three television stations in western Montana, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. It is headquartered in Missoula, and serves as the NBC affiliate for the Missoula and Butte markets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KXLF-TV</span> CBS/CW affiliate in Butte, Montana

KXLF-TV is a television station in Butte, Montana, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, it is part of the Montana Television Network, a statewide network of CBS-affiliated stations. KXLF-TV's studios are located on South Montana Street in downtown Butte, and its transmitter is located on XL Heights east of the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KBZK</span> CBS/CW affiliate in Bozeman, Montana

KBZK is a television station in Bozeman, Montana, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, it is part of the Montana Television Network (MTN), a statewide network of CBS-affiliated stations. KBZK has its studios on Television Way in Bozeman; its primary transmitter is located atop High Flat, southwest of Four Corners.

KPAX-TV is a television station in Missoula, Montana, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, it is part of the Montana Television Network, a statewide network of CBS-affiliated stations. KPAX-TV's studios are located on West Central Avenue in Missoula, and its transmitter is located on TV Mountain north of the city.

KRTV is a television station in Great Falls, Montana, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside KTGF-LD, the local NBC affiliate, and is part of the Montana Television Network (MTN), a statewide network of CBS-affiliated stations. KRTV's studios and transmitter are located on Old Havre Highway in Black Eagle, just outside Great Falls.

KFBB-TV is a television station in Great Falls, Montana, United States, affiliated with ABC, Fox and MyNetworkTV. Owned by the Cowles Company, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities on Old Havre Highway in Black Eagle.

KTMF is a television station in Missoula, Montana, United States, affiliated with ABC and Fox. Owned by the Cowles Company, the station has studios on Stephens Avenue in Missoula, and its transmitter is located on TV Mountain north of the city.

KWYB is a television station in Butte, Montana, United States, affiliated with ABC and Fox. Owned by the Cowles Company, the station has studios on Dewey Boulevard in Butte, and its transmitter is located on XL Heights east of the city.

KMSM-FM is a radio station licensed to serve Butte, Montana. The station is owned and operated by the Associated Students of Montana Tech and airs a variety format.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KTVQ (Oklahoma City)</span> Defunct TV station in Oklahoma City

KTVQ, UHF analog channel 25, was an ABC-affiliated television station licensed to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, which operated from November 1, 1953, to December 15, 1955. The station was owned by the Republic Television and Radio Company. KTVQ's studios were located on Northwest 19th Street and North Classen Boulevard in northwest Oklahoma City's Mesta Park neighborhood, and its transmitter was located atop the First National Bank Building on North Robinson and Park Avenues in downtown Oklahoma City.

Edmund Blodgette Craney was an American radio and television executive. He brought the first radio station to Butte, Montana, in 1929, KGIR, which eventually became a part of his chain of unparalleled radio stations dubbed "The Z-Bar Network." Craney also had a hand in starting Montana's first local television station in 1953, which was also located in Butte. Craney founded the Montana Broadcasters Association, while KGIR was the first station to join the National Broadcasters Association.

KNUZ-TV, UHF analog channel 39, was a DuMont-affiliated television station licensed to Houston, Texas, United States. It signed on the air on October 22, 1953, as Houston's third television station and first UHF outlet; it closed on June 25, 1954, after having lost money its entire existence and competing with two existing commercial VHF outlets. KNUZ-TV's studios and transmitter were located at 4343 Cullen Boulevard in the Texas Television Center on the University of Houston campus.

KMPT, UHF analog channel 19, was a dual ABC/DuMont-affiliated television station licensed to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, which operated from November 22, 1953 to February 4, 1955. Owned by KLPR Television, Inc., it was a sister outlet to radio station KLPR. KMPT's studios were located on Southwest 28th and West Commerce Streets in southwest Oklahoma City's Capitol Hill neighborhood, and its transmitter was located on East Britton Road and North Lincoln Boulevard in northeast Oklahoma City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KTVE (Texas)</span> Former TV station in Longview, Texas

KTVE, UHF analog channel 32, was an independent television station licensed to Longview, Texas, United States that operated from 1953 to 1955. KTVE was one of the first television stations in east Texas. However, its use of the quickly outmoded UHF, and the arrival of a VHF station in the form of KLTV, made continued operation unviable, and the station closed on Christmas Day 1955.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WRTV (New Jersey)</span> Television station in Asbury Park, New Jersey

WRTV was a television station that broadcast on channel 58 in Asbury Park, New Jersey, United States. It was owned by the Walter Reade Organization and broadcast as an independent station between January 22, 1954, and April 1, 1955, in hopes of securing a VHF channel for the station that never came. In the 1960s, Reade attempted to move the unbuilt station from channel 58 in Asbury Park to channel 68 in Newark, which was treated as an application for a new station; granted in 1970, Reade sold the permit before it went on air.

WECT was a television station on channel 18 in Elmira, New York, United States. Owned by El-Cor Television, Inc., it was Elmira's second station, broadcasting from September 1953 to May 1954, but shut down for financial reasons after seven months of telecasting.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "KOPR-TV" (PDF). Telecasting Yearbook. 1954. p. 187. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2021-10-30– via World Radio History.
  2. 1 2 3 "FCC Grants 11 New TV Stations; June May End Uncontested List" (PDF). Broadcasting. January 19, 1953. p. 42. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2021-10-30.
  3. 1 2 "KOPR-TV Channel 4 Suspends Operations After Tonight's Telecasting, September 19th". The Montana Standard. September 19, 1954. p. 16. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  4. ↑ "First Montana Application for TV Is Filed". The Montana Standard. December 2, 1951. p. 6. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  5. ↑ "In our continuing survey of upcoming new stations..." (PDF). Television Digest. August 1, 1953. p. 7. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 7, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  6. 1 2 "KOPR-TV Preparing to Offer Some Outstanding Commercial Programs: Station Has Been Working Out 'Bugs' in Operation". The Montana Standard. September 10, 1953. p. Fall Festival 12. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  7. ↑ "KOPR, Butte's New Radio Station, to Be Formally Opened Tonight". The Montana Standard. June 9, 1948. p. 8.
  8. ↑ "KOPR-TV Channel 4". The Montana Standard. June 14, 1954. p. 6.
  9. ↑ "VHF Quits—From Hunger; 4 More Start" (PDF). Television Digest. September 18, 1954. p. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 7, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Stations Deleted" (PDF). Broadcasting. May 9, 1955. p. 106.
  11. ↑ "KXLF-TV Moved to Ch. 4" (PDF). Broadcasting. July 23, 1956. p. 56. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 27, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Construction Permit Granted for New Television Station". The Montana Standard. September 12, 1957. p. 16. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  13. ↑ "New television translator at Butte okayed". Montana Standard-Post. December 3, 1965. p. 8. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  14. ↑ "April 26 targeted for new TV tower". The Montana Standard. April 19, 1970. p. 10B. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.