KRBC-TV
Encyclopedia
KRBC-TV is the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 Television Network affiliate for the Abilene
Abilene, Texas
Abilene is a city in Taylor and Jones counties in west central Texas. The population was 117,063 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Abilene Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2006 estimated population of 158,063. It is the county seat of Taylor County...

-Sweetwater
Sweetwater, Texas
Sweetwater is the county seat of Nolan County, Texas, United States. The population was 11,415 at the 2000 census.-History:Sweetwater received a U.S. post office in 1879. The Texas and Pacific Railway started service in 1881, with the first train arriving on March 12 of that year, beginning...

-Brownwood
Brownwood, Texas
Brownwood is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, Texas, United States. The population was 18,813 at the 2000 census.-History:The original site of the Brown County seat of Brownwood was on the east of Pecan Bayou. A dispute arose over land and water rights, and the settlers were forced...

 market area of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. KRBC is Abilene's first television station and airs on digital channel 29.

While the station is owned by Mission Broadcasting
Mission Broadcasting
Mission Broadcasting, Inc. is a television station group that owns 15 television stations operated by Nexstar Broadcasting. The group's president is David S. Smith, who founded the company in 1998. In most areas where Mission owns a station, its arrangements allow Nexstar to control two of the top...

, KRBC has entered into various service agreements with Nexstar Broadcasting station KTAB-TV
KTAB-TV
KTAB-TV is the CBS affiliate television station serving Abilene, Texas. It is owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group and broadcasts on digital channel 24. KTAB is licensed in Abilene and broadcasts on a High Definition digital signal on UHF Channel 24....

 which provides various services for the station including news, production, traffic and business operations. In July 2004, the stations began operating under a joint sales agreement. In addition, after consolidation construction, the Abilene facility now provides various office and master control functions for Nexstar and Mission stations KLST-TV and KSAN-TV
KSAN-TV
KSAN-TV is a television station that is broadcast on digital channel 16. It is the NBC affiliate for the San Angelo, Texas, USA market, owned and operated by Mission Broadcasting....

 in San Angelo
San Angelo, Texas
San Angelo is a city in the state of Texas. Located in West Central Texas it is the county seat of Tom Green County. As of 2010 according to the United States Census Bureau, the city had a total population of 93,200...

.

Technical information

KRBC is licensed to Abilene on the station on a digital signal on UHF channel 29—operating with an effective radiated power
Effective radiated power
In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains...

 of only 2.5 kilowatts under a Special Temporary Authority, but has filed a construction permit to increase power to about 1000 kilowatts. The full power digital master control build out with high definition was completed in October 2007.

History

KRBC first began its broadcasting operation on August 30, 1953. The station was owned by the Ackers family, who had bought the construction permit from Harte-Hanks Communications
Harte-Hanks
Harte-Hanks is an advertising and direct marketing company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is particularly associated with the publication of weekly shopper publications, with 13 million circulation weekly in 1100 separate editions of the PennySaver and Flyer each week in California and...

 a few months earlier along with KRBC-AM 1470 (now KYYW
KYYW
KYYW is a News/Talk radio station that serves the Abilene, Texas, area. The station is under ownership of Townsquare Media.KYYW changed formats from Classic County to News/Talk on Monday, March 1, 2010...

). The call letters stand for Reporter Broadcasting Company. The tower was originally located atop Rattlesnake Mountain in Cedar Gap. KRBC originally carried a mixture of programming from all four networks of the time--NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

, ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 and DuMont
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...

  However, it was a primary NBC affiliate. It lost CBS in 1956 when KPAR-TV (now KTXS-TV
KTXS-TV
KTXS-TV is the ABC television affiliate for the Abilene/Sweetwater/Brownwood market. The station is licensed to Sweetwater, and broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 20 from a broadcasting tower near Trent, Texas....

) signed on. The two stations shared ABC until KTAB-TV
KTAB-TV
KTAB-TV is the CBS affiliate television station serving Abilene, Texas. It is owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group and broadcasts on digital channel 24. KTAB is licensed in Abilene and broadcasts on a High Definition digital signal on UHF Channel 24....

 signed on and took CBS, leaving KRBC as an NBC affiliate.

In 1962, KACB-TV signed on from San Angelo as a semi-satellite of KRBC.

The Ackers family owned the station for 44 years until selling it to Sunrise Television in 1997. Two years later, Sunrise severed the electronic umbilical cord between KRBC and KACB, and KACB became a full-fledged station; it is now KSAN-TV
KSAN-TV
KSAN-TV is a television station that is broadcast on digital channel 16. It is the NBC affiliate for the San Angelo, Texas, USA market, owned and operated by Mission Broadcasting....

.

Sunrise merged with LIN Television in 2001. In 2004 LIN Television sold KRBC to Mission Broadcasting. Mission Broadcasting in turn contracted with the Nexstar Broadcasting Group
Nexstar Broadcasting Group
Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc., is an entity of broadcast television stations headquartered in Irving, Texas. The company consists of 50 television stations across the U.S., ranging from market sizes 9 to 201 . 43 of the stations are broadcasting at full power, with the other 4 broadcasting at...

, owner of KTAB, to provide news, traffic, sales, engineering, and business operations.

In 2005 Nexstar moved the entire KTAB operation from 5410 South 14th Street into the KRBC building at 4510 South 14th Street in Abilene. However, KTAB is still the senior partner. The master control room now operates KTAB and KRBC, as well as KLST-TV and KSAN-TV
KSAN-TV
KSAN-TV is a television station that is broadcast on digital channel 16. It is the NBC affiliate for the San Angelo, Texas, USA market, owned and operated by Mission Broadcasting....

 in San Angelo. Business and traffic operations for both stations are handled here.

In a January 14, 2007 ice storm the KRBC main transmission tower collapsed, taking the station's analog signal off the air for 13 hours. The collapse not only destroyed the tower and the analog antenna but also the station's low power digital transmission antenna. Luckily, the falling tower missed the transmitter building and an adjacent auxiliary antenna. The collapse also destroyed the National Weather Service NOAA Weather Radio antenna leaving the NOAA radio station off air until a new antenna was installed. Station engineers were able to get KRBC analog back on the air using that auxiliary antenna, which it continue to broadcast on analog channel 9.

A microwave link on the tower which helped provide programming to KLST and KSAN in San Angelo also was also destroyed in the collapse. In October 2007 the San Angelo link was replaced with a dual channel fiber-optic cable.

The station's digital signal went off the air until October 2007 when it returned to the air on digital channel 29 with all NBC programming presented in HD. The new digital transmitter is based in a new transmitter building at the KTAB TV tower site near Potosi, Texas. The station also shares a digital broadcast antenna with KTAB.

Digital television

The station's current digital signal:
Channel Programming
9.1 Main KRBC Programming / NBC
9.2 Bounce TV
Bounce TV
Bounce TV is a United States television network airing on digital terrestrial television stations. Promoted as "the first 24/7 digital multicast broadcast network created exclusively for African Americans," Bounce TV launched on September 26, 2011 and features programming geared toward blacks in...


(Coming 9/26/2011)

Coverage area

  • KRBC-TV serves as the NBC affiliate for 16 counties in West Central Texas that form the Abilene-Sweetwater television market as defined by Nielsen.
    • (Taylor
      Taylor County, Texas
      As of the census of 2000, there were 126,555 people, 47,274 households, and 32,524 families residing in the county. The population density was 138 people per square mile . There were 52,056 housing units at an average density of 57 per square mile...

      , Nolan, Callahan
      Callahan County, Texas
      *Baird*Belle Plain*Callahan City*Clyde*Cottonwood*Cross Plains*Eula*Putnam-See also:*National Register of Historic Places listings in Callahan County, Texas-External links:* at the University of Texas*...

      , Coleman, Brown
      Brown County, Texas
      Brown County is a county in West Central Texas. As of 2000, the population was 37,674. Its county seat is Brownwood. Brown is named for Henry Stevenson Brown, a commander at the Battle of Velasco...

      , Runnels, Stephens
      Stephens County, Texas
      As of the census of 2000, there were 9,674 people, 3,661 households, and 2,591 families residing in the county. The population density was 11 people per square mile . There were 4,893 housing units at an average density of 6 per square mile...

      , Shackelford
      Shackelford County, Texas
      As of the census of 2000, there were 3,302 people, 1,300 households, and 941 families residing in the county. The population density was 4 people per square mile . There were 1,613 housing units at an average density of 2 per square mile...

      , Jones
      Jones County, Texas
      As of the census of 2000, there were 20,785 people, 6,140 households, and 4,525 families residing in the county. The population density was 22 people per square mile . There were 7,236 housing units at an average density of 8 per square mile...

      , Eastland
      Eastland County, Texas
      *Carbon*Cisco*Desdemona, a ghost town*Eastland*Gorman*Mangum*Olden*Ranger*Rising Star*Romney-See also:*National Register of Historic Places listings in Eastland County, Texas*Santa Claus Bank Robbery-External links:** at the University of Texas*...

      , Fisher, Scurry, Mitchell, Haskell
      Haskell County, Texas
      As of the census of 2000, 6,093 people, 2,569 households, and 1,775 families resided in the county. The population density was 7 people per square mile . There were 3,555 housing units at an average density of 4 per square mile...

      , Stonewall, & Knox
      Knox County, Texas
      As of the census of 2000, there were 4,253 people, 1,690 households, and 1,166 families residing in the county. The population density was 5 people per square mile . There were 2,129 housing units at an average density of 2 per square mile...

      )

  • KRBC also provides coverage for 4 other counties that are on the fringe of the assigned market.

  • (Throckmorton
    Throckmorton County, Texas
    -2010 census:As of the census of 2010, there were 1,641 people. There were 1,079 housing units, 358 of which were vacant. The racial makeup of the county was 94.8% White , 0.1% Black or African American , 0.7% Native American , 0.4% Asian , 2.6% from other races , and 0.8% from two or more races...

     in the Wichita Falls
    Wichita Falls, Texas
    Wichita Falls is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States, United States. Wichita Falls is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay and Wichita counties. According to the U.S. Census estimate of 2010,...

    -Lawton
    Lawton, Oklahoma
    The city of Lawton is the county seat of Comanche County, in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Located in the southwestern region of Oklahoma approximately southwest of Oklahoma City, it is the principal city of the Lawton Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area...

     DMA, Coke in the San Angelo
    San Angelo, Texas
    San Angelo is a city in the state of Texas. Located in West Central Texas it is the county seat of Tom Green County. As of 2010 according to the United States Census Bureau, the city had a total population of 93,200...

     DMA, Comanche
    Comanche County, Texas
    Comanche County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in Central Texas. In 2000, its population was 14,026. Comanche was founded in 1856. Comanche is named for the Comanche Native American tribe...

     in the Dallas
    Dallas, Texas
    Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

    -Fort Worth
    Fort Worth, Texas
    Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...

     DMA, & Mills
    Mills County, Texas
    Mills County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in Central Texas. In 2000, its population was 5,151. Mills County is named for John T. Mills, a justice of the Texas Supreme Court...

     in the Waco
    Waco, Texas
    Waco is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas. Situated along the Brazos River and on the I-35 corridor, halfway between Dallas and Austin, it is the economic, cultural, and academic center of the 'Heart of Texas' region....

    -Temple
    Temple, Texas
    Temple is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. Located near the county seat of Belton, Temple lies in the region referred to as Central Texas. Located off Interstate 35, Temple is 65 miles north of Austin and 34 miles south of Waco. In the 2010 Census, Temple's population was 66,102, an...

    -Killeen
    Killeen, Texas
    Killeen is a city in Bell County, Texas, The United States. The population was 86,911 at the 2000 census. As of 2009, Killeen had 119,510 people. In 2010 Killeen's population shot to 127,921...

     DMA)

  • KRBC's news coverage primarily centers around Abilene and surrounding communities.
    • The station does provide news coverage outside the greater Abilene area. Weather coverage includes all the above mentioned counties but forecasts do center primarily for the general area near Abilene.

Weekday programs

  • Abilene Today - Anchored by Maxine Ridling with John Nolan providing the weather forecasts. [Airs from 6:00 - 7:00 AM]
  • Abilene Midday - Anchored by Katie Thompson with John Nolan providing the weather forecasts. [Airs at 11:30 AM]
  • KRBC News First at Five - Anchored by Maxine Ridling. Chief Meteorologist Mike Cole co-anchors and provides weather forecasts. [Alex Hayes covers the weather segments on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday during the 5:00 news]
  • KRBC News at 6:00 - Anchored by Megan Dobbs. Chief Meteorologist Mike Cole co-anchors and provides weather forecasts. David Robinett & Matt Roberts (or Alyssa Orange) provide the BigCountryHomepage.Com sports report.
  • KRBC News at 10:00 - Anchored by Megan Dobbs. Chief Meteorologist Mike Cole co-anchors and provides weather forecasts. David Robinett & Matt Roberts (or Alyssa Orange) provide the BigCountryHomepage.Com sports report.

Weekend programs

  • KRBC News Weekend (Saturday 6:00 & 10:00 PM) - Anchored by Gina Benitez. Meteorologist Chris Whited provides the weather forecasts. Matt Roberts & Alyssa Orange provide the BigCountryHomepage.Com sports report.
  • KRBC News Weekend (Sunday 10:00 PM) - Anchored by Gina Benitez. Meteorologist Nikki-Dee Ray provides the weather forecasts. Matt Roberts & Alyssa Orange provide the BigCountryHomepage.Com sports report.

Current On-Air Staff

KRBC News Team: (as of November 2011)

KRBC Weather Team: (as of November 2011)
  • Mike Cole - Chief Meteorologist
  • John Nolan - Abilene Today & Abilene Midday Weather Forecaster
  • Natalie Ferrari - Meteorologist & News Reporter
  • Chris Whited - Weekend Meteorologist (Saturday) [also a meteorologist at KLBK-TV
    KLBK-TV
    KLBK is the CBS network affiliated television station, serving the Lubbock, Texas metropolitan area. KLBK is owned and operated by Nexstar Broadcasting Group and through a local sales agreement the station also provides services to ABC affiliate KAMC 28 , owned by Mission Broadcasting.The station...

     in Lubbock]
  • Nikki-Dee Ray - Weekend Meteorologist (Sunday) [also a meteorologist at KLBK-TV
    KLBK-TV
    KLBK is the CBS network affiliated television station, serving the Lubbock, Texas metropolitan area. KLBK is owned and operated by Nexstar Broadcasting Group and through a local sales agreement the station also provides services to ABC affiliate KAMC 28 , owned by Mission Broadcasting.The station...

     in Lubbock]


BigCountryHomepage.Com Sports Team: (as of November 2011)

Newscast titles

  • Big Country News (1980s-early 1990s)
  • 9 News (approximately 1994-1998)
  • NBC 9 News (approximately 1998-2001)
  • KRBC 9 News (2001–2006)
  • KRBC News (2006–present)

Station slogans

  • Live, Local, Latebreaking News Coverage (late 1990s-2001)
  • Your Community Connection (2001–2006)
  • Abilene's First News (2006–2008)
  • Abilene's News Station (2008–2009)
  • Abilene's News (2009–present)


2005 cable dispute

On January 1, 2005 at midnight, KRBC was removed from the cable television lineup in the city of Abilene after months of dispute between the station owner(s) and Cox Communications
Cox Communications
Cox Communications is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises providing digital cable television, telecommunications and wireless services in the United States...

, now Suddenlink Communications
Suddenlink Communications
Suddenlink Communications, formerly Cebridge Connections, is a top-10 cable broadband services provider in the United States with approximately 1.4 million subscribers. Suddenlink operates in 18 states in primarily medium-sized communities. With its corporate headquarters in St. Louis, MO,...

. In accordance with Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...

 (FCC) regulation, KRBC station owner Mission Broadcasting
Mission Broadcasting
Mission Broadcasting, Inc. is a television station group that owns 15 television stations operated by Nexstar Broadcasting. The group's president is David S. Smith, who founded the company in 1998. In most areas where Mission owns a station, its arrangements allow Nexstar to control two of the top...

 (operated by Nexstar Broadcasting) tried to make an agreement with the cable system to continue carrying KRBC's NBC programming. Cox Communications
Cox Communications
Cox Communications is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises providing digital cable television, telecommunications and wireless services in the United States...

, now Suddenlink Communications
Suddenlink Communications
Suddenlink Communications, formerly Cebridge Connections, is a top-10 cable broadband services provider in the United States with approximately 1.4 million subscribers. Suddenlink operates in 18 states in primarily medium-sized communities. With its corporate headquarters in St. Louis, MO,...

 claimed KRBC wanted its cable system to pay for its transmission. The disagreement began with KRBC/Mission/Nexstar requesting 10 cents per subscriber for KRBC to be carried on the Cox Cable system in the Abilene area. The basic argument was that satellite providers pay for the right to rebroadcast local affiliates' signals, and that cable operators should, as well. Due to the dispute, Cox eventually dropped KRBC from its system, which caused many city residents to purchase an antenna for their homes to pick up the stations analog signal for NBC programming. Later in the year, KRBC and the other local television stations were picked up by Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...

in a local channel package, which was strongly supported and promoted by KRBC/Mission/Nexstar. During the time KRBC was off the cable system, Cox replaced what was the KRBC spot on cable channel 5 with family oriented cable stations from its digital line-up (such as HBO Family and Noggin). The cable system also added several temporary channels to its lineup off its digital cable lineup to preview and to give disgruntled customers several new channels. After nine and a half months of negotiations between Nexstar and Cox Communications, the KRBC signal was returned to the Cox lineup in Abilene on October 20, 2005.
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