KXLY-TV
KXLY-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Spokane, Washington, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Morgan Murphy Media. Its studios are located on West Boone Avenue in Spokane, and its transmitter is located on Mount Spokane. The station's MeTV-affiliated second digital subchannel is also seen in the Yakima–Tri-Cities market on sister stations and fellow ABC affiliates KAPP (channel 35.2) and KVEW (channel 42.2).
KXLY-TV is also carried on cable systems in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, both of which are double the size of the station's American coverage area. One result of this is that stations in Calgary and Edmonton air American shows on Pacific Time, even though Calgary and Edmonton are both on Mountain Time. KXLY-TV is one of five local Spokane area television stations seen in Canada on the Shaw Direct satellite service. It can also been seen on local cable systems in eastern British Columbia.
Although KHQ and KXLY were both granted authorization by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build television stations on July 11, 1952,[3] KXLY was the second to sign on, going on the air with broadcast tests on January 16, 1953,[4] with regular programming beginning on February 22.[5] KXLY had initially hoped to have its television station on the air by Christmas of 1952,[6] but adverse weather conditions on Mount Spokane delayed the launch.[7] It was owned by northwestern broadcast pioneer Ed Craney along with Spokane's oldest radio station, KXLY (AM 920). Just a few months after signing on, Craney sold KXLY-AM-TV to Northern Pacific Radio and Television Corporation.
KXLY-TV was a primary CBS affiliate owing to its sister radio station's long affiliation with CBS Radio[8] sharing ABC with KHQ-TV. Channel 4 also carried some programming from DuMont[9] until as late as April 1955.[2] ABC programming,[10] along with partial DuMont shows that KXLY-TV did not carry, moved to KREM when it signed on in 1954.
At first, channel 4 enjoyed a good partnership with CBS. The network worked well with early KXLY executives Dick Jones, Bob Struble, and James Agostino to help the station become a dominant player in the Spokane television market in the 1950s and 1960s. Morgan Murphy bought the station in 1961.[11]
However, the station's relationship with CBS faltered in later years when it started airing several network shows out of pattern. On February 19, 1976, CBS sent KXLY-TV a "notice of termination",[12] with CBS spokesman Barry Richardson stating that the network was ending its 23-year association with KXLY-TV "because we made a business judgment that we could get wider exposure for our programs with another station". This would become a rare first in which a major television network would strip a station of its affiliation without first announcing a new affiliate.[13] On August 8, the affiliation switch went into full effect,[14] with CBS programming moving to KREM (KREM wanted to wait until ABC finished airing the network's coverage of the 1976 Summer Olympics to make the switch).[15] KXLY then picked up KREM's old ABC affiliation,[16] although it began the transition in February 1976 when it began airing the then-new Good Morning America while airing CBS shows throughout the day. Ironically at this time, ABC jumped to number one in the ratings for the next several years. This meant KXLY ended up broadcasting the highest-rated networks (first CBS, then ABC) throughout the 1970s. Its radio sister remained with CBS for another 22 years until September 1998, at which time it became an ABC Radio Network affiliate, like its TV cousin.
