Moore ownership (1957–1989)
KXGN-TV was founded by Lewis W. Moore, who had moved from Havre to Glendive in 1945 and owned the Rose Theater. In 1948, he started KXGN radio as a hedge against the possible decline of the movie theater business and to reach rural consumers with advertisements for his picture house in Glendive. Because of the radio station, Moore was well positioned to start a television station. On December 21, 1956, his Glendive Broadcasting Corporation filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build a new TV station on channel 5 in Glendive,[2][3] having previously asked for the channel to be authorized in addition to UHF channel 18.[4] The FCC approved on March 13, 1957, and KXGN-TV began broadcasting on November 1.
From the beginning, it was clear that KXGN-TV would be a small station. In a 1959 United States Senate hearing in Helena which focused on the issue of cable television putting some small stations in the Mountain West out of business, Moore noted that KXGN's population served was the smallest "of any TV station in America, perhaps in the world".[5] It initially had no network affiliation at all, struggling to produce five hours of live and filmed programming a day with a staff of nine. In 1962, salvation came when a receiving facility and microwave hookup were built east of Glendive at Wibaux to receive and send on programs from CBS affiliate KDIX-TV in Dickinson, North Dakota. The hookup allowed Moore to raise enough money to relocate the station to its present studio facilities, a former implement dealership,[6] and a higher tower site in 1963.
Moore was also able to get ahead of the cable problem by purchasing a 50 percent stake in the cable system built to serve Glendive with television in 1968, and even after local viewers could subscribe to a choice in programming, KXGN remained popular because of its extensive community service orientation and unduplicated coverage of eastern Montana. By that time, ABC programs were off the schedule; the station had settled into its pattern for the next 40 years of being a primary CBS affiliate with selected NBC programs. CBS would later grant the station permission to air CBS programming from 6 to 9 p.m. to improve ratings; this also allowed it to air NBC or other programming in the 9 p.m. hour and NBC Nightly News and the CBS Evening News back-to-back.[7] Local programming included live bingo five days a week during the winter months and local news specials as needed.
Stephen Marks ownership (1989–2025)
In 1988, Moore put KXGN radio and television on the market in order to complete his retirement. The move came at a tough time for the stations and the market they served. The Burlington Northern railroad had stopped operating through Glendive years prior; low oil prices depressed the region's energy sector; the worst drought since the 1930s negatively impacted the livestock and feed industries; and after Black Monday in 1987, national spot advertising sales dropped precipitously. To cut costs, KXGN dropped the Associated Press newswire, laid off staff, and canceled its public affairs show, the weekly Let's Talk About It.[8] General manager "Dapper Dan" Frenzel, who had worked at the station since 1964, attempted to build a coalition of local buyers to take over the station, but they could not meet Moore's $1 million asking price. Instead, a Michigan man with a penchant for small-town TV struck a deal to purchase the KXGN stations in 1989. Stephen Marks owned WBKB-TV in Alpena, Michigan, also a single-station market, and said he liked one-station areas because they could command all of the available TV revenue in the area.[9]
The sale took longer than Moore had expected because the FCC at the time had a rule that normally barred cross-ownership of radio and television stations. It was not until May 1990 that the FCC granted a waiver, noting the economic conditions inherent in the small-market stations, their extensively integrated operation, and the fact they had been co-owned for the television station's entire history.
Digital television transition
Sturlaugson's most pressing challenge in the 2000s was leading the station through its costly upgrade to digital television. If not for the DTV Delay Act pushing the final cutoff date back by four months from February to June 2009, KXGN-TV would not have converted in a timely manner, as the equipment had not arrived by February.[15] While many stations had a May 1, 2002, deadline to start a digital signal, KXGN-TV requested and received multiple extensions due to financial hardship.[16] In 2008, the FCC had permitted it to convert to digital on VHF channel 5 instead of the originally allocated channel 10,[17] a process that saved money but delayed installation of the facility.[18] After the successful digital conversion,[19] in September 2009, KXGN added a dedicated NBC subchannel, an idea Sturlaugson had discussed prior to the transition; Marks had previously signed KXGN up to carry the never-launched
Sale to Montana PBS
Marks died on May 11, 2022; his company The Marks Group had 14 radio stations and five TV stations (including KXGN-TV) at the time of his death.[23] In early 2024, Marks sold its Montana and North Dakota radio stations, including KXGN and KDZN, to operations manager Andrew Sturlaugson's P&A Media, while retaining KXGN-TV and KYUS-TV in Miles City.[24] That December, KXGN-TV announced that it would drop NBC at 11:59 p.m. on December 31, ahead of other changes at the station that included the planned sale of its Douglas Street studios.[25] The decision to discontinue NBC programming, made for profitability reasons, coincided with the end of local studio production. In March 2025, the station began preparing to vacate the building; staff readied a garage sale of props, unused equipment, and other broadcasting ephemera.[26]
On July 8, 2025, the Marks Group filed to sell KXGN-TV and KYUS-TV to Montana State University—owner of Montana PBS, the state's public television broadcaster—for $375,000;
