KLBK is the CBS network affiliated television station, serving the Lubbock, Texas metropolitan area. KLBK is owned and operated by Nexstar Broadcasting Group and through a local sales agreement the station also provides services to ABC affiliate KAMC 28 (formerly KSEL), owned by Mission Broadcasting.

The station operates digitally on UHF channel 40 at 1,000 kilowatts.

History [link]

The station began its broadcasting operation as KDUB-TV, founded by the late television pioneer W.D. "Dub" Rogers, Jr, putting the station on the air for the very first time on November 13, 1952. It was the first commercially licensed television station in a medium to small-sized market. Over the next few years, Rogers signed on KPAR-TV in Abilene (now KTXS-TV), KEDY-TV in Big Spring (now KWAB, a satellite of KWES-TV in Midland) and KVER-TV in Clovis, New Mexico (now KVIH-TV, a satellite of KVII-TV in Amarillo). These stations made up the West Texas Television Network, the first regional television network in the United States.

Originally the station also carried ABC as a secondary affiliation until 1969 when KSEL-TV (now KAMC) became the local primary ABC affiliate. The station also carried an affiliation with DuMont during the early 1950s.^[1] The station later changed its call letters to KLBK in 1961.

Grayson Enterprises (named for Sidney Grayson but after 1964 not owned) assumed ownership of KDUB-TV in 1961 and renamed it KLBK-TV, for K-Lubbock. Grayson added other stations to his operation during the late 1960s and 1970s, including KCCN (now KKEA) in Honolulu, Hawaii, KLBK-TV in Lubbock, Texas, and KTXS-TV in Abilene/Sweetwater, Texas, among others.

Under Grayson's ownership, KLBK-TV added three sister stations: KWAB, KVKM-TV Monahans, Tx and KPAR-TV (now KTXS) in Sweetwater, Texas.

However, Grayson Enterprises ran into license renewal trouble in 1968, 1971, 1974, and 1977 for some of its stations. These stations were accused of fraudulent billing, program and transmitter log fabrication, main studio violations, failure to make required technical tests, and other issues. The stations had their renewals deferred and hearings ordered as a result.

The case was settled in what was then described as a "distress sale", in which Grayson's stations were broken up and sold to minority-controlled groups (nowadays known as historically-underutilized groups) at a reduced price. The parameters of such a sale were defined by this sell-off. As a result, KMOM and KWAB were transferred to a Hispanic-controlled group, while KLBK and KTXS went to Prima, Inc. (whose principals were African American).The other stations in the West Texas Network were sold to other owners.

KLBK was acquired in late 2003 as part of the Nexstar Broadcasting Group acquisition of Quorum Broadcasting. The station updated its logo and news set on February 1, 2007, dropping the channel number from its branding (since KLBK is carried on different channels on different television platforms).

On-air staff [link]

Current on-air staff [link]

Anchors:

• Terri Furman - Weeknight Anchor
• Bill Maddox - Morning & Noon Anchor
• Evan Onstot - Weeknight Anchor
• Brooke Thomas - Weekend Anchor (Friday-Saturday) & Weekday Reporter

Reporters:

• Carly Figueroa - General Assignment Reporter
• Melissa Mahadeo - General Assignment Reporter
• Brittany Escobar - General Assignment Reporter

KLBK Storm Track Weather:

• Nikki-Dee Ray - Chief Meteorologist (Sunday - Thursday).
• Lisa Meadows - Morning & Noon Meteorologist
• Chris Whited - Weekend Meteorologist (Friday-Saturday) & Weekday Weather Producer.

(Both Ray & Whited also serve as weekend meteorologists for KRBC-TV in Abilene and KSAN-TV in San Angelo)

KLBK Sports Team:

• Brandon Rawe - Weeknight Sports Director
• Chris Tavarez - Weekend Sports Anchor/Reporter

News/Station Presentation [link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Newscast Titles [link]

• Rath News & Weather (1952-1957)
• West Texas Television Network/Ten O' Clock News (1957-1964)
• The Lubbock News (1964-1969)
• Channel 13 News (1969-1974)
• NewsBeat 13 (1974-1976)
• NewsCenter 13 (1976-1986 & 1991-1998)
• TV-13 News (1986-1991)
• CBS 13 News (1998-2004)
• KLBK 13 News (2004-2007)
• KLBK News (2007-present)

Station Slogans [link]

• Lubbock's Number 1 CBS affiliate (1979-1994)
• Keeping An Eye on The South Plains (1994-1995)
• On Your Side (1995-2007)
• Best Coverage Of The Big Story (2007-present)

Logos [link]

• Klbk1384.jpg

  KLBK-TV's logo, taken from a 1984 edition of TV Guide.

• KLBK Pre-2000s.jpg

  KLBK-TV's logo used from 1997 to 2000.

• KLBK.jpg

  KLBK-TV's logo used from 2003 to 2007.

• KLBK2007.png

  KLBK-TV's current logo, used since 2007.

References [link]

External links [link]

• KLBK
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KLBK-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KLBK-TV