KTXA, virtual channel 21 (digital channel 29), is an independent television station based in Fort Worth, Texas, and serving the Dallas/Fort Worth designated market area. With its transmitter in Cedar Hill, KTXA is owned by CBS Corporation and is the sister station of CBS outlet KTVT (channel 11).

KTXA was originally an independent station until late 1994. From January 1995 to September 2006, KTXA was an affiliate of the United Paramount Network (UPN). On September 16, 2006, following the shut down of UPN, KTXA returned as an independent station, using the branding tagline TXA 21.

History[link]

KTXA began broadcasting on October 6, 1980, and was owned by Grant Broadcasting, with its original studios based in Arlington, Texas (though Fort Worth was always the city of license) near the new Rangers Ballpark. The station ran a general entertainment format of cartoons and sitcoms during the day, while at night it broadcast ON-TV, a subscription TV service. By 1983, KTXA became a full-time general entertainment station which also included old movies and off network dramas. The channel 21 frequency had previously been occupied by KFWT, an independent station which went on the air in 1967, but went dark three years later.

Grant Broadcasting signed on a similarly formatted station, KTXH in Houston, in 1982. In 1984, both KTXA and KTXH were sold to Gulf Broadcasting, which itself was purchased by the Taft Television and Radio Company that same year.

Channel 21 was a money loser throughout the 1980s, but Taft kept strong programming on the station (including Hanna-Barbera cartoons and other programs owned by Taft and distributed by Worldvision Enterprises). In February 1987 Taft sold its independent stations, including KTXA, to the TVX Broadcast Group. In 1989, Paramount Pictures purchased a minority stake in TVX; two years later, Paramount acquired the remainder of TVX and renamed the company Paramount Stations Group, and KTXA adopted the on-air branding Paramount 21 during this period. Viacom bought the stations in 1994 as part of its purchase of Paramount Pictures. In January 1995, the station became a founding affiliate of the United Paramount Network, changing its branding to UPN 21. KTXA later picked up various syndicated programs from KTVT when that station, a former independent, joined CBS in July 1995.

From 1985 to 1989, KTXA operated the "Channel 21 Kids' Club." Kids were encouraged in short spots between cartoons to send off for a membership card which would entitle them to discounts at various local businesses and enable them to participate in on-air prize giveaways. The membership cards were made of a thin plastic, blue on the front side and white on the back. A "KTXA Channel 21 Kids' Club" Logo appeared on the front in red and white along with the line "I turned 21." The hostess of these shorts, K.D. Fox, was later featured in many other local promotions for various businesses in the DFW area.

In the late 1990s, more first run syndicated talk and reality shows, such as Forgive or Forget and Ricki Lake began moving onto KTXA while the amount of sitcoms, such as Family Matters, The Jeffersons, Good Times, All in the Family, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., The Beverly Hillbillies, Amen, Step by Step, Sister, Sister, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Living Single, Mad About You, Coach, Martin, and cartoons, such as Street Sharks, Mighty Max, Monster Rancher, Brand Spanking New Doug, The Wacky World of Tex Avery, Mummies Alive!, Pocket Dragon Adventures, Extreme Ghostbusters, Jumanji, Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles, Pokémon, DuckTales, and Hercules were reduced. Viacom purchased CBS in 2000, making channel 21 a sister station to its former rival KTVT. KTXA was then moved from the Paramount Building in downtown Dallas to share studios with KTVT in Fort Worth (both are two of three stations licensed to Fort Worth, the other being NBC-owned KXAS-TV).

For a brief period in the early 2000's, KTXA served as the de-facto UPN affiliate for the Waco/Killeen/Temple television market when former affiliate KAKW became a Univision station for that market and Austin market as well.

In September 2006, the UPN and WB networks were merged into The CW, and former WB affiliate KDAF and Fox-owned KDFI became the CW and MyNetworkTV affiliates in Dallas/Fort Worth, respectively. Having been reverted to independent status, KTXA joined KCAL-TV in Los Angeles and WSBK-TV in Boston (another former UPN outlet) as CBS-owned independents at the time. WSBK joined MyNetworkTV in September 2011 while CBS purchased independent station WLNY-TV in Riverhead, New York in 2012.

Channel 21's new branding was announced in two parts, starting with the introduction of the TXA 21 slogan on May 5, 2006. KTXA then launched a promotional ad campaign called "What Could it Mean?" in which a distinctive star-shaped logo showed up on buildings, sidewalks, and billboards around the Metroplex. The new KTXA logo (seen above) was unveiled on July 4. The station's website also revealed that the station plans to begin covering high school football games in the fall.

KTXA is the only station among the six originally owned by Paramount Stations Group to be owned by CBS today. The others were sold off between 1994 and 2001, now owned either by News Corporation or Sinclair Broadcast Group.

Analog-to-digital conversion[link]

On June 12, 2009 KTXA shut down its analog signal and moved its digital station from channel 18 to channel 19 to complete its analog to digital conversion ^[1] using PSIP to display KTXA's virtual channel as "21". Their analog send-off that day was their new sign-off video playing the "Star-Spangled Banner". KTXA was granted permission to move its digital station from channel 18 to channel 19 in response to its 2008 application. However, to accommodate co-owned KTVT's move back to channel 19 on August 4, 2009, KTXA moved back to channel 18. Prior to August 4, KTXA simulcast KTVT's programming on 21.2.

On September 10, 2009, the FCC issued a Report & Order approving KTXA's channel change from channel 18 to channel 29.^[2][3] On October 21, 2009, KTXA filed a minor change application for their new channel 29 allotment, which the FCC granted them a construction permit on November 19, 2009. ^[4] On January 20, 2011, KTXA commenced operations on channel 29, and it ceased operations on channel 18 the following day.^[5]

Programming[link]

Today, KTXA broadcasts a lineup of off-network sitcoms, talk shows and sports. Additionally, the station shows reality shows, court shows, and a one-hour block of news during early primetime called TXA 21 News: First in Prime, which was launched on September 18, 2006, and was split into a news program during the first half-hour and a sports talk program during the second half-hour in September 2011; the program draws on resources from KTVT's news department. ^[6] The station will pre-empt its programming for news coverage from either KTVT or CBS News when situations warrant. In other situations, KTXA airs CBS programming when KTVT cannot do so, such as during the National Football League preseason during which KTVT airs Dallas Cowboys preseason games.

Until September 2011, KTXA also carried The Daily Buzz, a syndicated morning program which airs weekdays. KTXA previously had its own local anchor, Christina McLarty, now with The Insider, who appeared during local cut-ins during the show that featured local news, weather, and entertainment highlights; the local cut-ins were branded as Buzzed into DFW. The Daily Buzz has now been replaced by a simulcast of KLUV's "Jody Dean and the Morning Team". KTXA may also air CBS programming on occasions when KTVT cannot, such as emergencies or coverage of sporting events.

The station is one of the few television stations in the United States that continues signing off during the overnight hours. The station signs off the air on Sunday night/early Monday mornings from 2 to 5 a.m. Central Time.

As of 2011, KTXA is the current Dallas-area Love Network station for the annual MDA Labor Day Telethon, an annual event to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (KTXA replaces NBC station KXAS-TV as the area's Love Network station, which dropped the telethon in 2011, citing issues regarding the new scheduling format for the telethon that had it air during primetime). The station's first broadcast of the telethon aired on September 4, 2011, from 5 p.m. to midnight, which was also the first year of the telethon in its shorter six-hour format.^[7]

Sports programming[link]

The station is the over-the-air broadcast outlet for the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and as of 2010, the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars. KTXA will broadcast 25 Rangers games a season (usually Friday games) through the 2014 season. Rangers games shown on KTXA are produced by Fox Sports Southwest. KTXA has been the over-the-air home for Dallas Cowboys football team when they are broadcast on ESPN and NFL Network during the regular season. This satisfies the NFL's requirement of making games available on an over-the-air television station to each team's local market for people who don't have access to the aforementioned networks. KTXA also carried the 2010 NCAA Tournament game between Baylor and Sam Houston State while KTVT aired North Texas and Kansas State (such arrangements are no longer possible due to new TV contracts). The station will air 17 Dallas Stars games starting with the 2010–11 NHL season. The station also airs football games from the SEC Network and men's basketball games from the Big 12 Network.

Sports broadcasters[link]

Current

• Mark Followill - Dallas Mavericks play-by-play
• Jeff "Skin" Wade - Dallas Mavericks analyst
• Laura Greene - Dallas Mavericks sideline reporter
• Emily Jones - Dallas Mavericks sideline reporter
• Dave Barnett - Texas Rangers play-by-play
• Tom Grieve - Texas Rangers analyst
• Jim Knox - Texas Rangers sideline reporter
• Ralph Strangis - Dallas Stars play-by-play
• Daryl Reaugh - Dallas Stars analyst
• Bobby Rhine - FC Dallas play-by-play
• Steve Jolley - FC Dallas color commentator
• Aaron Goldsmith - Frisco RoughRiders play-by-play
• Jason Cole - Frisco RoughRiders color commentator

News programming[link]

On September 18, 2006, KTXA began producing a nightly primetime newscast, "TXA 21 News: First In Prime", airing from 7-9 p.m. On September 24, 2007, KTXA was the fourth station in Dallas-Fort Worth area to start broadcasting local news in high definition with sister station KTVT being third respectively. On September 12, 2011, KTXA cut back their newscasts to just one half-hour with local news at 7 p.m. and a half-hour sports program at 7:30 p.m., followed by America's Funniest Home Videos at 8 p.m. ^[8] On October 31, 2011, KTXA cancelled their newscasts entirely and expanded their sports program which was renamed The Fan Sports Show, still hosted by Gina Miller.

News/station presentation[link]

Newscast titles[link]

• TXA 21 News: First In Prime (2006–2010 and 2011)^[9]
• TXA 21 News: Local Edition (7 and 8 p.m. newscasts; 2010–2011)
• TXA 21 News: Texas & U.S. Edition (7:30 p.m. newscast; 2010–2011)
• TXA 21 News: The FAN (7:30 p.m. sportscast; 2010–2011)
• The Fan Sports Show (sportscast; October 2011-present)

Station slogans[link]

• "Texas Turns Us On" (mid-late 1980s)^[10]
• "21 and Only KTXA" (early 1990s)
• "TV With Attitude" (2000–2002)
• "Turn It Up" (2002–2004; also a UPN network slogan during the same time period)
• "Made You Look" (2004–2006)
• "As Independent As Texas" (2006–2009; general slogan)
• "First In Prime" (2006-2011; newscast slogan)
• "Must Be 21" (2009–present; a reference to the phrase "Must be 21 or Older")
• "It's On 21" (2011–2012; first seen with promos relating to the upcoming signal boost)

References[link]

• Shannon, Mike (January, 2004). Dallas-Fort Worth TV Station History. The History of Dallas-Fort Worth Radio and Television.

External links[link]

Dallas-Fort Worth portal

• Official website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KTXA
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KTXA-TV
• Program Information for KTXA at TitanTV.com