Beginnings
KWTX-TV first signed on the air as an independent station on April 3, 1955. It was originally owned by Texoma Broadcasting, a holding company owned by businessman Milford N. "Buddy" Bostick alongside KWTX radio (AM 1230 and FM 97.5). At the time, crosstown KANG-TV (channel 34) had the ABC, CBS and DuMont affiliations. KWTX picked up ABC in time for the fall 1955 TV season, and DuMont's closure left KANG as a full-time CBS station.
Long plagued by financial difficulties due to being the only UHF station in the market at a time when UHF tuners were rare, KANG, owned by Texas Broadcasting Company, shut down at the end of 1955. Texoma bought KANG's assets and sold a 29 percent stake in KWTX-TV to Texas Broadcasting.[2] KWTX-TV picked up the CBS affiliation as a result of the merger with KANG,[3] and has been a primary CBS affiliate ever since. It shared a secondary ABC affiliation with KCEN-TV (channel 6) until September 1, 1977, when KWTX-TV and KBTX-TV became primary ABC affiliates.[4] The two stations then returned to CBS in 1983.[5] KCEN became a primary ABC affiliate in 1984,[6] only to reaffiliate with NBC at the end of 1985.[7]
Texoma purchased KXII in Sherman in 1958. A year before, KBTX-TV in Bryan took to the air as semi-satellite of KWTX serving the Brazos Valley.
First live televised trial
Beginning December 6, 1955, KWTX-TV televised the murder trial of Harry L. Washburn, marking the first live telecast of a courtroom trial in the United States. The telecast earned near universal praise from the legal community. District Judge D.W. Bartlett praised the station's crew for its unobtrusiveness: "I have not noticed anything that would in any way interfere with the administration of justice. I don't think anyone could object to the television being run while this is on. It is perfectly quiet, it's outside the jury, and there's been perfect decorum of all concerned, and I don't think there would be any reflection on any court to have this television carried on as it has been carried on in this court."[8]
Role during Branch Davidian raid
Just before the Mount Carmel raid on February 28, 1993, Davidian learned that they were facing not a service of warrants, but a shootout. KWTX-TV cameraman James Peeler asked directions of Davidian David Jones, who was driving his postal truck. David Koresh's attorney Dick DeGuerin told reporters that Peeler told Jones, "Well, you better get out of here because there's a United States National Guard helicopter over at TSTC (Texas State Technical College) and they're going to have a big shootout with the religious nuts." Peeler was distressed to see Jones immediately drive to Mount Carmel Center and left the area to call his superiors.[9]
According to the Treasury report, Jones told DeGuerin that "Peeler warned him not to go near the Compound as there were going to be 60 to 70 TABC (Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission) guys in helicopters and a shoot-out would occur'." And Peeler himself confessed to the Treasury review team that he had told Jones there would be "some type of law enforcement action" and that "the action was likely to be a raid of some type and that there might be shooting."[10]
KWTX-TV cameraman Dan Mulloney testified that KWTX-TV's initial information came from law enforcement agents he refused to name—something the Treasury report failed to reveal—as well as from a private ambulance driver working with BATF. (Similarly, BATF agent Ballesteros admitted that it was non-BATF law enforcement that tipped off the Waco Tribune-Herald.) Therefore, BATF agents' expectations of a shootout were directly transmitted to the Davidians.
Gray Television ownership
On April 15, 1999, Atlanta-based Gray Communications Systems (now Gray Television) announced that it would acquire KWTX-TV, KBTX-TV, and KXII from Texoma Broadcasting for $139 million. Texoma had long owned the stations through three Bostick-controlled holding companies—KWTX Broadcasting, Inc., Brazos Broadcasting, Inc., and KXII Broadcasters, Inc., respectively. The decision to sell the stations stemmed from recommendations by shareholders of the companies because of the costs that the Bostick companies would incur in launching and operating digital television signals for the three stations, with Gray CEO Hilton H. Howell Jr. (a Waco native and shareholder in KWTX) inquiring about purchasing the stations after Bostick was initially unsuccessful in reaching sale agreements with prospective buyers. Through the transaction, which was finalized on October 1, 1999, Gray paid $41.5 million in cash as well as additional cash payments for certain accounts receivable to purchase channel 12 from Bostick-owned KXII Broadcasters Inc.[13][14][15][16][17]
