Channel 10, Scottsbluff

Through the Years

• 1955

  August 7, 1955- Sign on.  Owner-Frontier Broadcasting Co (KFBC TV, 2923 Lincoln Way, Cheyenne WY, semi-satellite of KFBC TV) Cheyenne.  Transmitter: 9.5 miles north of Scottsbluff along Nebraska Hwy 71.
  Main Studios- 10.25 miles south of Scottsbluff.

• 1958

  Power change to 239kW Visual, 119 kW Aural, antenna raised from 240 feet to 840 feet.  Application was granted after Frontier’s application for a new TV station in Alliance was dismissed with prejudice.

• 1960

  Studio move from transmitter site to 1402 First Avenue, Scottsbluff.  Dual city ID permitted for both Scottsbluff and Gering.

• 1962

  Translator Construction Permit granted for translator Channel 3, Chappel, NE.

• 1963

  Construction Permit granted for translator Channel 4, Douglas, WY.
  Applications filed for four new UHF translator stations on channels 70 and 72 at Borie, WY., and channels 81 and 83 at Albin, WY, and two new VHF translator stations on channels 2 and 6 at Scottsbluff; subject to non-duplication condition.

• 1966

  Translator for KDUH TV, Hay Springs for Scottsbluff is sought by the Scottsbluff Chamber of Commerce.  KSTF objects, noting both stations carry CBS, creating lots of duplication.  Also, FCC is abandoning its non-duplication for translators.

• 1968

  April 30, 1968- Frontier Broadcasting stations KSTF along with KFBC AM/FM/TV Cheyenne, KTVS Sterling, CO and KVRW Rawlins, WY–positive control to the McCracken Family through the sale of stock by Raymond and Marguerita List to Cheyenne Newspaper Inc. (stockholders of licensee) for $76,469.94.  McCracken ownership goes from 47.5% before to 53.1% after.

• 1969

  January, 1969- In an action sparked by a squabble over CATV franchise in Cheyenne, the Justice Department opens a new front in its war on concentrations of control of mass media: it asked the FCC to break up an existing “mass media communications monopoly” by requiring the licensee involved to sell off its television station.  Target for the department’s unprecedented petition was Frontier Broadcasting Co. and its broadcasting, newspaper and CATV interests in Cheyenne.

  Frontier in reply, acknowledges that these inquiries might later lead to rule changes that would affect its multimedia holdings, but said that such changes should be effected by “comprehensive rulemaking, “not by ad hoc reversal of long-standing policy.”

• 1971

  Responding to an FCC ultimatum that the company either sell or face a hearing on the license renewal of its KFBC TV Cheyenne, on antitrust grounds, Frontier notifies the FCC that it would sell KFBC TV and KSTF TV and its station in Sterling, CO, and the construction permit it holds for a television station in Rawlins, WY.  Frontier will be required to submit progress reports on sale negotiations in four months and each 60 days thereafter.  The Commission assured Frontier that these reports will be kept in confidence.

   

   

   

   

   

• 1972

  Frontier Broadcasting Co, Cheyenne, WY sells to group owner Lamb Communications Corporation of Toledo, OH for $3 million.  Lamb assumes control of the stations through a new, wholly owned subsidiary, Weyneco Communications, Inc.  Granted in July.

• 1973

  July, 1973-Teepee Vision Corporation-Broadcast Bureau is granted a construction permit for a new VHF translator to serve Pine Ridge, SD on channel 2 for rebroadcasting programs of KSTF TV.

  August, 1973- Construction Permit is sold to Weyneco Communications from Herbert Millere Jr and Herbert Schulkind.

   

• 1978

  Name change;  From Lamb Communications Inc. (parent corporation of licensee) to Lamb Enterprises, Inc.

• 1981

  Lamb assumes control of the stations through a new, wholly owned subsidiary, Wyneco Communications Inc.

• 1983

  November, 1983-  Multi-station sale.  KSTF TV Scottsbluff, NE (240kW visual, 24 kW aural; HAAT, 840 ft), KTVS TV Sterling, CO and KYCU TV Cheyenne, Wy.  Sold by Wyneco Communications Inc to Burke Broadcasting Co for $9.7 million.  Seller is owned by Lamb Enterprises Inc., Toledo, Ohio-based company, headed by Edward Lamb, Chairman.  Buyer is owned by Alfred T. Burke, Longview, Texas-based president of bottling company. (A.T. Burke, President 97.9% and K. Dillon Schickli 2.1%.

• 1986

  March, 1986- Multi-station sale.  KSTF TV  Scottsbluff, NE along with KYCU-TV Cheyenne, WY and KTVS-TV Sterling, CO sold by Burke Broadcasting to Stauffer Communications for approximately $13 million.  Seller is Longview, Texas-based group of one AM, two FM’s and four TV’s owned by Alfred T. Burke.  Buyer is publicly traded Topeka, Kansas-based newspaper publisher, cable operator and station group of four AM’s, three FM’s and three TV’s headed by Stanley H. Stauffer.  KSTF TV is affiliated with CBS and NBC.

• 1995

  October, 1995- Stauffer Communications Corporation sells KSTF in a multi-station deal that included 12 other stations for $275 million.  Seller:  Stauffer Communications.  Buyer: Morris Communications Corporation.  Morris, headquartered in Augusta, GA, is a privately held media company with diversified holdings that include publishing, outdoor advertising and online services.

  (The other 12 stations are KCOY Santa Maria, CA; KMIZ Columbia MO; WIBW Topeka, KS; KGWN Cheyenne, KGWR Rock Springs, KWWL Lander/Riverton and KGWC Casper, all Wyoming; KTVS Sterling CO; KGNC AM/FM Amarillo, TX; and WIBW AM/FM Topeka KS.)

• 1996

  Morris keeps the publishing interests and spins of KSTF as part of a package of television stations to Benedek Broadcasting, Rockford, IL (A. Richard Benedek, sole owner), for $60 million.

• 2000

  March, 2000- A construction permit is issued for KSTF-DT, channel 29.

• 2002

  September, 2002- FCC approves the transfer of Benedek Broadcasting’s stations (Benedek declared bankruptcy in 2001) to Gray Television and Chelsea Broadcasting.   Among the 11 stations going to Chelsea is KSTF.  15 stations are going to Gray, including WOWT channel 6 in Omaha.  Gray already owns stations in Grand Island, Lincoln in Nebraska and Eau Claire , WI.

• 2003

  October, 2003- KSTF channel 10 and CBS affiliate KWGN channel 5 Cheyenne, are sold by Chelsea Broadcasting to Sagamore Hill Broadcasting, a privately held  American holding company, for $6.5 million.

• 2013

  May, 2013- Sagamore Hill Broadcasting reaches a deal to sell KSTF and KGWN, along with KGNS TV in Laredo, TX, to Yellowstone Holdings, a subsidiary of Frontier Radio Management for $20.5 million.

  November, 2013- Gray Television announces a deal to acquire Yellowstone Holdings for $23 million.  The announcement comes just one business day after Yellowstone completed its purchase of the stations from Sagamore Hill Broadcasting.  KGWN TV was operated under a local marketing agreement by Gray until the closure of the deal on December 31.   (Besides KSTF and KGWN, Yellowstone’s purchase includes NBC affiliate KCLP 13, Cheyenne WY, NBC affiliate KCWY 13 Casper, WY, and a station in Texas.)

  (KSTF’s sale comes as Duhamel Broadcasting sells its “KOTA Territory” ABC affiliates, including KDUH 4.1 Scottsbluff to Schurz Communications.  KSTF and KDUH are the only full-power commercial stations on the Nebraska side of the Cheyenne market.)

• 2013

  Gray Television constructs new  500-foot tower for KSTF at the same site.  KSTF maintains studios on 10th Street in Gering, while its transmitter is located along the Scottsbluff-Sioux county line, 12 miles north of Scottsbluff along Nebraska Hwy 71.

• 2024

  February 1, 2024-Gray Television is swapping several TV stations in the Cheyenne-Scottsbluff and Casper markets including KSTF in exchange for the construction permit for KCBU Price, Utah.  There will be no additional cash or consideration.

  (The Gray stations in the affected markets include CBS affiliate KGWN 5.1 Cheyenne, WY and its satellite KSTF 10.1 Scottsbluff, KNBC affiliate KNEP 4.2 Sidney-Scottsbluff, NE, and KNBC affiliate KCWY 13.1 Casper, WY.)

  The Scottsbluff operations have been closed, with all programming to be generated from Marquee’s Cheyenne, WY studios.