KTBY

KTBY, virtual channel 4, is a Fox-affiliated television station serving Anchorage, Alaska. The station is owned by Coastal Television Broadcasting Company, LLC. and co-owned with KYUR, both of which use recording studios located on East Tudor Road in Anchorage, while KTBY uses a transmitter tower in historic downtown Anchorage on top of the Hilton Anchorage East Tower hotel.

The station is broadcast on digital over-the-air channel 20, and on the local cable TV system, GCI.

History

KTBY signed on the air on December 2, 1983 as a locally owned independent with Mike Parker President, Mike Buck General Manager and Dave Peters II Program Director before joining the then-fledgling Fox Network on its launch of October 9, 1986, and today is still one of the charter affiliates. It was the only Fox station in Alaska until 1992, when KFXF in Fairbanks went on the air; in the late 1980s, it also became the first station in Alaska to broadcast 24 hours a day.

During the 1980s, KTBY was the first Anchorage station to air professional wrestling with any regularity, largely in response to the increase in mainstream interest. Televised wrestling programs were largely absent from Anchorage television, as the programs were traditionally used to promote live events, which have been held only occasionally in Alaska dating back to the 1950s. The station originally aired AWA All-Star Wrestling (in conjunction with a short-lived attempt on their part to promote events in the market), and later World Class Championship Wrestling and WWF Superstars of Wrestling.