KCEN-TV

KCEN-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Central Texas including the cities of Waco, Temple and Killeen. Licensed to Temple, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 9 (virtual channel 6.1 via PSIP) Owned by Tegna, Inc., KCEN maintains studios and transmitter facilities on I-35 south of Eddy. It also operates a news studio and sales office in Killeen.

This station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable and Grande Communications channel 3. There is a high definition feed offered on Time Warner Cable digital channel 1003 and Grande Communications channel. KCEN operates a semi-satellite for the eastern half of the market, KAGS-LD in Bryan, which produces separate local newscasts and runs advertisements targeted to the Brazos Valley region.

History

KCEN-TV signed on the air for the first time on November 1, 1953, originally owned by Frank W. Mayborn, publisher of the Temple Daily Telegram and owner of KTEM radio (1400 AM) in Temple. Early on, Mayborn realized that Temple-Killeen and Waco were going to be a single television market (although, then as now, they are separate radio markets). To signify that his new station would serve all of Central Texas, Mayborn decided on the call letters KCEN-TV (the calls standing for "CENtral Texas"), rather than KTEM-TV (for TEMple), after his radio station property. He also built his studio near Eddy, roughly halfway between Temple and Waco.