KTEN - History

History

KTEN signed on-the-air in 1954 as the first local television station to serve Texoma. Originally, it was a primary ABC affiliate with a secondary NBC affiliation. This was very unusual for a two-station market, especially one as small as Sherman/Ada. During the late 1950s, it was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. By 1977, as arch-rival KXII was switching its primary network affiliation from NBC to CBS, KTEN began adding a larger proportion of NBC programming to its schedule. Gradually, it aired most of both networks' daytime and primetime schedules. At one point, it aired both networks' evening newscasts (ABC's at 5 p.m. and NBC's at 5:30) in the hour preceding the local newscast at 6 p.m. from 1977 to 1980. The station even got national attention in 1983 when on NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Doc Severinsen (sitting in for Carson's sidekick Ed McMahon) welcomed KTEN as the newest station to broadcast The Tonight Show. This move was made after KXII, by this time down to just two NBC programs in its schedule, had switched to CBS's late night schedule in a move that eventually led that station toward an exclusive CBS affiliation starting with the 1985-86 season.

By that time, KTEN was on its way to becoming a primary NBC affiliate, but still carried a large proportion of ABC's schedule, incorporating both networks' promotional campaigns. Although KTEN's program schedule appeared to be headed toward an exclusive NBC affiliation by the early-to-mid 1990s, another network move was made along the way. In 1994, KTEN added Fox as another secondary affiliation just after that network had won the rights to broadcast NFL football previously seen on CBS (KXII-TV) for many years. The station was in bankruptcy at the time and gained additional network compensation (cash payments) from Fox. It also allowed KTEN the unique ability to show every single Dallas Cowboys game that was not on cable. However, the downside was that the station was becoming even more of a hybrid with three network affiliations (NBC, ABC, and Fox) and even more confusing to viewers.

By 1998, KTEN was out of bankruptcy and the new owners dropped the secondary affiliations with ABC and Fox to make it the area's exclusive NBC affiliate. KTEN was originally based in Ada and is still licensed to that city though the main studios have been located in Denison since 1986. Although this station and arch-rival KXII had theoretically been direct competitors for many years, the 75 mile difference in location between the two stations' transmitters created unequal over-the-air reception conditions with KTEN's picture fair to poor in locations close to KXII's transmitter such as Ardmore, Madill, and Durant as well as almost non-existent in some adjoining areas of Texas. Meanwhile, KXII's over-the-air reception in Ada and surrounding areas was poor due to the northern fringe location of that station's coverage. To become more equally competitive reception-wise, KTEN moved its transmitter from Ada to Milburn in 1984 to provide better over-the-air reception to far Southern Oklahoma near the Red River and to reach across the river to the Sherman/Denison area and adjoining areas of North Texas including Gainesville, Bonham, and Paris.

In Fall 2006, its second digital subchannel began airing programming from The CW. KTEN also carries a third digital subchannel which has been broadcasting audio from the National Weather Service while displaying various weather maps of parts of Oklahoma and Texas using four of the nearest weather radars. These radars overlap the Sherman/Ada/Lake Texoma area which KTEN meteorologists use in their forecast presentations. The station does not have access to any radars that are nearer to the location of its studios. Although it airs The CW on a digital subchannel and KXII broadcasts Fox and MyNetworkTV on both of its digital subchannels, the Ada/Sherman television market lacked a local ABC affiliate until May 9, 2010, when KTEN brought local ABC programming back to Texoma on its third digital subchannel called ABC Texoma. Prior to that time, ABC programming to the area had been sourced from WFAA in Dallas-Ft. Worth and KOCO in Oklahoma City depending on the geographic location in the DMA.