KXRM-TV


KXRM-TV, virtual channel 21, is a Fox-affiliated television station licensed to Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States and also serving Pueblo. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is a sister station to low-powered CW affiliate KXTU-LD, channel 57. The two stations share studios on Wooten Road in Colorado Springs; KXRM's transmitter is located on Cheyenne Mountain.

History

KXRM-TV first signed on the air as an independent station on January 22, 1985. Its call letters were chosen in part to reflect the region in which it operates; the last two letters stand for "Rocky Mountains." The station tried to sign on Christmas Eve 1984, but technical glitches prevented that from happening. KXRM was Southern Colorado's first independent station, and the region's first new independent station since KRDO-TV signed on 31 years earlier. It became a charter Fox affiliate on October 6, 1986.
The station was locally owned until 2000 when it was bought by Raycom Media. After Raycom merged with the Liberty Corporation, KXRM was one of several stations that were spun off to Barrington Broadcasting.
On October 11, 2007, the station began airing programming from the Retro Television Network on its second digital subchannel. Previously, this aired The Tube until the network suspended operations October 1. On September 15, 2008, KXRM replaced RTV programming on 21.2 with a simulcast of KXTU. This signal increases KXTU's broadcasting radius; KXTU did not convert to digital until 2010, and even in digital, its coverage area is effectively limited to El Paso and Pueblo counties.
On February 28, 2013, Barrington Broadcasting announced the sale of its entire group, including KXRM-TV, to Sinclair Broadcast Group. The sale was completed on November 25. On August 20, 2014, Sinclair announced that it would sell KXRM-TV and KXTU-LD, along with WTTA in Tampa Bay, to Media General in a swap for WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island, WLUK-TV and WCWF in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and WTGS in Savannah, Georgia. The swap is part of Media General's merger with LIN Media. The sale was completed on December 19. On January 27, 2016, it was announced that the Nexstar Broadcasting Group would buy Media General for $4.6 billion. KXRM became part of "Nexstar Media Group" as Nexstar's second station in Colorado, joining Grand Junction's CBS affiliate KREX-TV. The deal was approved by the FCC on January 11, 2017, and it was completed on January 17.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
21.1720pKXRM-DTMain KXRM-TV programming / Fox
21.21080iSOCO CWSimulcast of KXTU-LD / The CW
21.3480iIONIon Television
21.4480iMysteryCourt TV Mystery

Analog-to-digital conversion

KXRM-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 21, 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's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 22. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 21.

News operation

The station began airing a prime time newscast at 9 p.m. on March 11, 2001. KXRM established its own in-house news department in 2006 after previously having aired newscasts produced by KKTV. KXRM-TV became one of the initial group of independent television stations to agree to affiliate in 1987. The station hosts a four-hour morning show from 5–9 a.m. that has been recognized by the Colorado Broadcasters Association as one of the best morning shows in the market. Its weeknight prime time broadcast starts at 9:00 p.m. On January 20, 2016, a 10:00 p.m. newscast was added.
In late September 2010, KXRM became the fourth station in Colorado Springs–Pueblo to start broadcasting its local newscasts in widescreen.
In 2013, the Radio Television Digital News Association recognized KXRM with a for Continuing Coverage of the Waldo Canyon Fire.