KBMY


KBMY, virtual and UHF digital channel 17, is an ABC-affiliated television station licensed to Bismarck, North Dakota, United States. The station's transmitter is located near St. Anthony, North Dakota. On cable, KBMY can be seen on Midcontinent Communications channel 8 in the Bismarck–Mandan area, Midco channel 17 in Dickinson, Consolidated Telcom channel 3 in Dickinson and varied channels in surrounding areas. There is a high definition feed provided on Midco digital channel 608 in Bismarck–Mandan, Midco digital channel 617 in Dickinson and Consolidated Telcom digital channel 303 in Dickinson.
KMCY in Minot, North Dakota operates as a semi-satellite of KBMY extending the ABC signal into the northern half of the Bismarck–Minot market; this station's transmitter is located southwest of Minot. On cable, KMCY can be seen on Midco channel 9 in Minot and surrounding areas, Midco channel 7 in Williston, SRT channel 11 and varied channels in surrounding areas. There is a high definition feed provided on Midco digital channel 609 and SRT digital channel 511. KMCY simulcasts all network and syndicated programming as provided from its parent but airs separate local commercial inserts and legal identifications.
KBMY and KMCY are owned by Forum Communications of Fargo, and maintain a news bureau and sales office on North 15th Street in Bismarck. Master control and most internal operations for the two stations are based at the facilities of company flagship and fellow ABC affiliate WDAY-TV in Fargo. Forum owns all four ABC stations in North Dakota—WDAY-TV, WDAZ-TV in Devils Lake/Grand Forks, KBMY and KMCY.

History

KBMY signed on for the first time on March 31, 1985; bringing the full ABC schedule to central and western North Dakota and eastern Montana for the first time ever. Before 1985, this area had been one of the last in the United States without full network service. ABC was limited to off-hours clearances on KX Television and Meyer Television. From the 1970s onward, some cable subscribers in western North Dakota received ABC programming from KULR-TV from Billings, KFBB-TV from Great Falls, KOTA-TV from Rapid City or KUSA in Denver. The eastern half of the market was served by WDAY-TV and its Grand Forks semi-satellite, WDAZ-TV. Cable systems in Bismarck piped in WDAY-TV, while cable systems in Minot piped in WDAZ.
On paper, western North Dakota had been large enough to support three full network affiliates since at least the late 1960s. However, this region is one of the largest geographic markets in the nation, spilling across large slices of North Dakota, Montana, and South Dakota. It is so vast that KX Television and Meyer Television both need four full-power stations to adequately cover it. On paper, the FCC collapsed central and western North Dakota into one giant market in 1957. However, the market was not fully realized until 1980, when Meyer upgraded its low-powered translator in Dickinson to a full-powered station, prompting Dickinson's original station, KDIX-TV to become a separately-owned satellite of KX Television. Additionally, the only available commercial allocations were on the UHF band; UHF stations have never covered large areas very well. By the early 1980s, cable television—a must for acceptable television in much of this vast market—had gained enough penetration for a third network affiliate to be viable.
In the early 2000s, KBMY signed on two low-powered translators to serve the smaller cities in the market, K44HR in Williston and K42FY in Dickinson. Prior to K44HR's inception, cable systems in Williston, Dickinson and the western half of the market piped in Denver's ABC affiliate—KUSA prior to 1995 and KMGH-TV after 1995. The Dickinson station directly repeated KBMY, while the Williston station repeated KMCY.
From the 1990s until 2007, KBMY and KMCY were known collectively as ABC West. That year, the stations changed their monikers in favor of the station identities for their area. From 2002 until 2008, KBMY/KMCY was operated by Prime Cities Broadcasting, owner of western North Dakota's Fox affiliate, KNDX/KXND, in a local marketing agreement. The LMA allowed KBMY/KMCY to share the facilities, staff, and some equipment of KNDX/KXND.
The LMA with KNDX/KXND ended in 2008, with Forum opting to partner with Reiten Television in KBMY/KMCY's local operations via a joint sales agreement. While some local advertising staffers were based at KXMB-TV in Bismarck and KXMC-TV in Minot, most operations have been consolidated at WDAY-TV's studios in Fargo. KBMY and KMCY's programming is transported from WDAY-TV's studios to Bismarck via leased microwave relay bandwidth furnished by Prairie Public Broadcasting's statewide digital terrestrial microwave network. The signal is then sent to KXMB from Prairie Public via fiberoptic line, where it then is exported via a studio to transmitter link from KXMB's studios to KBMY and KMCY's transmitters.
As part of the JSA with Reiten, KBMY/KMCY were picked up on the digital subchannels of KX Television satellites KXMA-TV in Dickinson and KXMD-TV in Williston starting in May 2009, and the translators serving Dickinson and Williston were shut down. The JSA was terminated following the acquisition of the KX stations by Nexstar Broadcasting Group on February 2, 2016. At the same time, the ABC subchannels of KXMA and KXMD were replaced with The CW Plus. Due to the high penetration of cable and satellite in this market, however, few viewers in the western part of the market lost access to ABC programming.

Digital television

Digital channels

The stations' digital signals are multiplexed:

WDAY'Z Xtra (Per The KBMY/KMCY-DT3 Feed)

WDAY'Z Xtra is a digital subchannel carried on WDAY 6.3, WDAZ 8.3, KBMY 17.3, and KMCY 14.3, airing as a secondary affiliation to MyNetworkTV on KBMY and KMCY but without interruption on WDAY-TV and WDAZ-TV. This subchannel airs syndicated programming, North Dakota and Minnesota high school sports, North Dakota high school state tournaments, Minnesota State University Moorhead Athletics, ACC football and basketball and select University of North Dakota athletic events. It airs Doppler weather radar and "Storm Tracker" weather loop with easy listening music during overnights. It is offered on Midco cable channel 596.
WDAY'Z Xtra became available in HD in 2014, and in 2016 MyNetworkTV programming began airing, although on KBMY and KMCY only but not on WDAY-TV in Fargo or WDAZ-TV in Devils Lake/Grand Forks.
Starting on August 29, 2016, WDAY'Z Xtra and the Justice Network aired WDAY'Z Xtra News during weekdays at 9:00 p.m. It is offered on Midco cable channel 594. KBMY and KMCY began carrying this subchannel in 2013.

Analog-to-digital conversion

KBMY shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 17, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station "flash-cut" its digital signal into operation on UHF channel 17.
KMCY shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 14, on February 10, 2009, and "flash-cut" its digital signal into operation on UHF channel 14.

News and programming

When KBMY/KMCY signed on in 1985, the stations originated and aired a local newscast with on-location ENG and studio news coverage for the Bismarck and Minot areas. However, despite Forum's resources and legacy in North Dakota, KBMY/KMCY made almost no headway against Meyer Television and KX Television. This first attempt at a local newscast was canceled in 1988, with the nationally syndicated occupying the 6:00 p.m. newscast's former timeslot in KBMY/KMCY's schedule.
For the next quarter-century, the stations were among the few Big Three affiliates in the nation with no long form newscasts. From the mid-1990s to 2014, the closest thing to a newscast on the stations was Good Morning West Dakota, a 30-minute morning show produced by Bismarck radio station KBMR. Even then, there were no local cut-ins during Good Morning America.
Starting in 2014, WDAY-TV began reorienting its newscasts to a statewide focus, and gradually began simulcasting them on KBMY/KMCY. The Sunday 5:30 p.m. newscast was the first rolled out to Bismarck, in February 2014. First News broadcasts during weekday mornings from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. debuted in April 2014, and the stations began airing WDAY's 5:00 p.m. weekday newscast in August 2014. Local cut-ins during Good Morning America are broadcast from WDAY-TV's studios. WDAY's 6 p.m. newscast debuted on September 14, 2015 with the 10 p.m. news starting on December 5, 2016.
The stations do not produce much local content, mostly serving as "pass-throughs" for automated programming from ABC and WDAY/WDAZ.
KBMY and KMCY sign off on Sunday nights at 4:30 a.m., returning to the air just minutes later.
Syndicated programming on KBMY/KMCY includes Judge Judy among others.