KHGI-TV - History

History

KHGI signed on December 24, 1953 as KHOL-TV, a CBS and DuMont affiliate based in Holdrege. DuMont would end network operations in 1956, and KHOL-TV briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.

A little more than two years after its sign-on, KHOL added a satellite in Hayes Center, KHPL-TV on February 9, 1956. After KGIN signed on from Grand Island as a satellite of Lincoln's KOLN in 1961, KHOL and KHPL became full ABC affiliates. In 1964, another satellite joined the network, KHQL-TV in Albion. KHTL-TV in Superior followed in 1965.

The station featured local programming, including The Bobby Mills Show on Saturday evenings from 9:30 until 10 p.m. The Bobby Mills Orchestra was the "house band" and hosted guest artists, though the bulk of the show was dedicated to the band and its soloists, similar to Lawrence Welk, who was on a syndicated network. Bobby's sons, Bobby Mills Jr. and Ron, were featured extensively on the program. Taping of the show was done once a month on a Friday night, after the station had signed off at Midnight. An average of 5 shows were done per taping, which typically ended at 4 a.m. The show ran during the late 1960s into the early 1970s.

On June 3, 1974, the call letters of all the stations were changed: KHOL became KHGI-TV, KHPL became KWNB-TV, KHQL became KCNA-TV and KHTL became KSNB-TV. The on-air name changed from "NTN" to "NTV" in the early 1980s. KCNA was spun off from NTV on November 1, 1983 and became an independent station under the call letters KBGT-TV; it was sold in 1986 to Citadel Communications and became a satellite of Sioux City, Iowa station KCAU-TV. Citadel later moved the station to Lincoln, Nebraska as a stand-alone station, KLKN. KSNB became a Fox network affiliate in September 1996 as a satellite of Grand Island's KTVG.

KHGI-CD in North Platte, Nebraska signed on in 1989 as translator station K13VO, becoming WSWS-CA on July 4, 2005 and KHGI-CA on June 12, 2009. The WSWS-CA call sign was unique, as it made it a station with a "W" call sign prefix was west of the Mississippi River. This was allowed due to the fact that "WSWS" was the former callsign of current Pappas station WLGA, and the calls were grandfathered to the former K13VO. In 2010, KHGI-CA switched to digital and became KHGI-LD. KHGI-LD is not a true repeater of KHGI-TV in that its digital television broadcast is identified as "KHGI-LD Digital Television" on compatible television receivers and appears as channel 27.1 rather than 13.1. KHGI-LD also does not rebroadcast KFXL on a digital subchannel as North Platte already receives Fox on K11TW. ABC programming on KHGI-LD is carried in high definition. When the analog KHGI-CA license was surrendered on September 1, 2011, KHGI-LD became KHGI-CD, inheriting the analog station's class A status.