KVRR
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| Fargo, North Dakota | |
|---|---|
| Branding | Fox TV (general) Your Fox Station (localized) Fox News (newscasts) |
| Channels | Digital: 19 (UHF) Virtual: 15 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 15.1 Fox (HDTV) |
| Translators | (see article) |
| Affiliations | Fox |
| Owner | Red River Broadcasting (Red River Broadcast Company, LLC) |
| First air date | February 14, 1983 |
| Call letters' meaning | Valley of the Red River (coverage area) |
| Former callsigns |
KVRR: KVNJ-TV (1983-1985) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 15 (UHF, 1983-2009) |
| Former affiliations | independent (1983-1986) |
| Transmitter power | 1000 kW |
| Height | 379 m |
| Facility ID | 55372 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 46°40′29″N 96°13′40″W / 46.67472°N 96.22778°W |
| Website | www.kvrr.com |
KVRR is a Fox-affiliated television station in Fargo, North Dakota. It serves eastern North Dakota, northwestern Minnesota, and southern Manitoba. The station is owned by Red River Broadcasting and has studios at the intersection of South 40th Street and South 9th Avenue in Fargo.
KVRR broadcasts a high-definition digital signal on UHF channel 19 (virtual channel 15.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter near Rollag, Minnesota. It is also accessible through cable channel 10 in most areas of the market, and a high definition signal is offered on Midcontinent Communications digital channel 610 and CableOne digital channel 475.
Syndicated programming on KVRR includes America's Funniest Home Videos, The Big Bang Theory, Everybody Loves Raymond, Frasier, How I Met Your Mother, King of the Hill, The People's Court, Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Two and a Half Men, among others.
KVRR is simulcast on three full-powered satellite stations: KJRR in Jamestown, on VHF channel 7 (virtual channel 7.1), KBRR in Thief River Falls, MN (Grand Forks), on VHF channel 10 (virtual channel 10.1) and KNRR in Pembina, on VHF channel 12 (virtual channel 12.1).
Digital television
| Channel | Video | Aspect | Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15.1 | 720p | 16:9 | KVRR-DT | Main KVRR programming / FOX |
KVRR has broadcasted exclusively in digital since February 1, 2009.
Satellite stations and translators
Satellite stations
KVRR also operates three full-power satellite stations outside of the Fargo-Moorhead area. The stations fully simulcast KVRR, although KBRR (which is fully simulcasted on KNRR) airs separate commercials for the Grand Forks area.
| Station | City of license (Other Locations Served) |
Channel | First air date | Callsign meaning | ERP | HAAT | Facility ID | Transmitter Coordinates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KJRR | Jamestown, North Dakota | Digital: 7 (VHF) Virtual: 7 (PSIP) |
February 8, 1988 | Jamestown-Red River | 21.3 kW | 135 m | 55364 | 46°55′25.5″N 98°46′20.2″W / 46.923750°N 98.772278°W |
| KBRR | Thief River Falls, Minnesota (Grand Forks, North Dakota) |
Digital: 10 (VHF) Virtual: 10 (PSIP) |
September 1985 | By Red River Broadcast Company, or onomatopoeia for BRR based on station's northern location |
9.3 kW | 198.1 m | 55370 | 47°58′38″N 96°36′18″W / 47.97722°N 96.60500°W |
| KNRR | Pembina, North Dakota (Southern Manitoba/Winnipeg) |
Digital: 12 (VHF) Virtual: 12 (PSIP) |
September 19, 1986 | Northern Red River Valley | 4.4 kW | 427 m | 55362 | 48°59′44″N 97°24′28″W / 48.99556°N 97.40778°W |
Translators
KVRR serves its large coverage area with four translators. Repeaters in bold are owned by Red River Broadcasting; all others are owned by local municipalities.
| Active translators | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City | Callsign | City | Callsign | City | Callsign | City | Callsign | |||
| Baudette | K16KE-D 36.2 (via KBRR) |
Park Rapids | K05IV 5 | Roseau | K46BV-D 17.1 (via KBRR) |
Williams | K36LW-D 36.2 (via KBRR) |
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| Defunct translators | ||||||||||
| Alexandria | K34AF | Bemidji | K26AC | Brainerd | K54AT | Devils Lake | K33HB (via KNRR) | |||
| Donnelly (Morris) | K61BJ | Grand Rapids | K18AI | Red Lake | K61CM (via KBRR) | Walker | K65DT | |||
KVRR originally aired its programming on a large network of translators throughout eastern North Dakota and west-central Minnesota. However, only two remain and two more in Lake of the Woods County were added as multiplexed digital subchannels after their digital transition in 2011. K05IV Park Rapids is owned by Red River; K46BV Roseau is owned by Roseau County and K16KE Baudette and K36LW Williams are owned by Lake of the Woods County. Park Rapids is in the northwestern portion of the Minneapolis-St. Paul market.
K61BJ in Donnelly, Minnesota, K54AT in Brainerd, Minnesota and K33HB in Devils Lake, North Dakota are no longer active translator sites for KVRR. K61BJ was thought to be in operation by KVRR but due to lack of communication it was found that the translator was damaged beyond repair by a lightning strike in 2005. K54AT was taken off the air in mid-April 2008, never to return. This was due to several reasons, the most significant being that the Brainerd was already served by a translator of Twin Cities Fox affiliate KMSP-TV. K33HB is off-air due to tower collapse.[1]
KVRR originally had translators in north-central Alexandria, Bemidji, Grand Rapids, Red Lake, and Walker, Minnesota. However, the Bemidji translator was forced off the air by the sign-on of WFTC satellite station KFTC, which was affiliated by Fox at the time. The Grand Rapids translator now carries sister station KQDS-TV in Duluth, but non-news programming originates from Fargo. The Alexandria, Red Lake and Walker translators, owned by private groups, now carry stations from the Twin Cities.
History
KVRR signed on in 1983 as independent station KVNJ-TV. It was the first independent station in the Dakotas, as well as the first new full-fledged commercial station in the Fargo-Moorhead market in 29 years (WDAZ-TV in Grand Forks had signed on in 1967, but is reckoned as a semi-satellite of WDAY-TV). KVNJ attempted to create the Minnesota Independent Network (MIN) along with KTMA in Minneapolis, KXLI in St. Cloud and KXLT-TV in Rochester. After a significant amount of planning and initial work, the plan fell through. KVNJ adopted its KVRR current call sign in 1985, the same year KBRR signed on. KNRR followed in 1986. Shortly afterward, the three-station network became a charter affiliate of the new Fox network. KJRR joined the group in 1988.
The stations also carried UPN programming at a recorded delay when UPN signed on in 1995 until 1998, since KMSP-TV in Minneapolis was available on cable television in most of the KVRR viewing area. (When KMSP switched to Fox in 2002, KCPM in Grand Forks signed on as a full-time UPN station in 2003.)
KVRR became the first commercial station (Prairie Public was the first station) in eastern North Dakota to broadcast in digital. On February 1, 2009, KVRR and KNRR ceased analog transmissions, and broadcast only in digital. KJRR and KBRR flash-cut to digital on the same day. KVRR and KJRR only broadcasted in high-definition until March 2011, when KBRR and KNRR upgraded to HD. On March 18, 2011, cable provider Midcontinent Communications added the KBRR HD signal to the Grand Forks and Devils Lake areas as it became available.[2]
Since the late 1990s, KVRR has not included any on-air regional, channel, or call letter branding outside of FCC-required station identifications, a rarity among American television stations. From the late 1990s to 2010, it was known as simply "Your Fox Station" or "Fox." This was modified somewhat in 2010 to the current "Fox TV."
KNRR and the old KCND
KNRR operates on a channel formerly occupied by KCND-TV, a station formerly owned by Gordon McLendon. In September 1975, Izzy Asper acquired the station and relocated it to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where it relaunched as CKND-TV channel 9, a Global O&O today. Ten years later, in 1986, channel 12 returned to the air, as KVRR satellite, KNRR.
KNRR's analog coverage area included Winnipeg, which has almost double the population of KVRR's entire American coverage area. However, the CRTC barred Winnipeg-area cable systems from carrying KNRR due to concerns that Winnipeg advertisers would purchase time from KNRR rather than Winnipeg television stations.[3][4] As a result, Shaw's Winnipeg-area systems carry WUHF from Rochester, New York, while MTS TV carries the Twin Cities' KMSP-TV.
Even during the analog TV era, when the northern fringe of KNRR's grade B contour crossed through Winnipeg, KNRR was all but impossible to receive in River Heights and the North End, and was also subject to interference from hydro lines and telephone relay stations.[5] Over time KNRR's transmitter degraded and was not replaced, further reducing signal quality.[6]
On June 12, 2009, the day of the digital television transition KNRR went off-air. KNRR had not installed a digital transmitter for channel 12, and its digital transition allotment on channel 15 had already been given up to KGFE for permanent operations.[7] Though it easily could have left the air permanently, the station returned with digital broadcasts in late October 2009, though at very low power.[8][9]
Though it can be received in several rural counties in North Dakota and Minnesota, the station's largest potential audience lies in the urban centers of southern Manitoba, including Altona, Morden, and Winkler.[10] Although Winnipeg is only 62 miles (100 km) from KNRR's transmitter, since the digital conversion only the best-equipped viewers with rooftop antennas are able to tune the signal.[11]
Newscasts
In July 2000, KVRR began the first primetime newscast in the market with Fox News at 9. It later added a weeknight newscast at 6 p.m. On September 19, 2011, the station expanded its 9 p.m. newscast from 35 minutes to a full hour. As with most programming, the station simulcasts the newscasts on KJRR, KBRR, and KNRR, with separate commercials occasionally inserted on some of the stations. KVRR launched a website on September 15, 2011.
On-camera staff
News anchors
- Austen Schauer - weeknights at 6 and 9 p.m., and 6 p.m. producer
- Candace Thornberg - weeknights at 6 and 9 p.m., and 9 p.m. producer
- Eric Crouch - weekends at 9 p.m., and weekday general assignment reporter
Meteorologists
- Rob Kupec - chief meteorologist, weeknights at 6 and 9 p.m.
- Greg Master - meteorologist, weekends at 9 p.m.
Sportscasters
- Jim Nelson - sports director, weeknights at 6 and 9 p.m.
- Evan Closky - sports anchor, weekends at 9 p.m., and weekday sports reporter and photographer
- Beth Hoole - sports reporter and photographer
Producers
- Alison Voorhees - weeknights at 6 and 9 p.m., and general assignment reporter
Reporters
- Lezlie Johnson - general assignment reporter
- Aaron Boerner - general assignment reporter
- Hibah Samad - general assignment reporter
Off-camera staff
- Jim Shaw - news director and assignment editor
- James Crawford - news production director
- Matt Grenz - assistant news production director
- Patrick Conteh - chief news photographer
- John Hanson - news photographer
- Brandon King - news photographer and reporter
References
- ^ http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=14864190&postcount=1255
- ^ http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/197301/group/homepage/
- ^ http://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/1986/DB86-1006.htm
- ^ http://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/1994%5CDB94-793.htm
- ^ Prokosh, Kevin (January 10, 1986). "KNRR reception depends on where viewers live". Winnipeg Free Press.
- ^ http://data.fcc.gov/mediabureau/v01/tv/application/1286412.html
- ^ http://data.fcc.gov/mediabureau/v01/tv/application/1326392.html
- ^ https://theviewfromseven.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/resurrected-pembina-station-to-provide-winnipegs-first-over-the-air-digital-signal/
- ^ http://www.northpine.com/broadcast/index.html
- ^ http://www.rabbitears.info/contour.php?appid=1338208&map=Y&contour=Y&pop=N&incpop=&excpop=&lprw=N&head=Y&asrn=&extras=&cir=&circen=48.9955303403503%2C-97.4081663257613
- ^ http://digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=1232610&postcount=379
External links
- KVRR.com - Official Website
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KVRR
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KJRR
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KBRR
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KNRR
- Query the FCC's TV station database for K05IV
- Query the FCC's TV station database for K46BV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KVRR-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KJRR-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KBRR-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KNRR-TV
- northpine.com Screengrabs of the KVRR family
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