as ktbc see klbj am and klbj fm . not to be confused with kbtc tv . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2008 learn how and when to remove this template message ktbc austin texas united states branding fox 7 general fox 7 austin news newscasts slogan just you watch primary general we are fox 7 secondary general giving you the edge news channels digital 7 vhf virtual 7 psip subchannels 7.1 fox 7.2 movies 7.3 buzzr 7.4 metv 1 affiliations fox o & o since 1995 owner fox television stations nw communications of austin inc. first air date november 27 1952 1952 11 27 call letters meaning texas broadcasting company former channel number s analog 7 vhf 1952 2009 digital 56 uhf 1997 2009 former affiliations primary cbs 1952 1995 secondary dumont 1952 1956 nbc 1952 1966 abc 1952 1971 transmitter power 98.6 kw height 383 m 1 257 ft facility id 35649 transmitter coordinates 30 18 35 n 97 47 34 w 30.30972 n 97.79278 w 30.30972 ; 97.79278 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.fox7austin.com ktbc channel 7 is a fox owned and operated television station located in austin texas united states . the station is owned by the fox television stations subsidiary of 21st century fox . ktbc maintains studios located on east 10th street near the texas state capitol in downtown austin and its transmitter is based at the west austin antenna farm on mount larson . the station began in 1952 as the first station in austin . the station carried programming from the major networks with a large portion coming from cbs . it carried nbc programs until 1966 the year after what was then known as khfi signed on and abc programs until 1971 when kvue signed on . in 1995 it became part of the fox network . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 as a fox station 2 kvc 13 3 digital television 3.1 digital channels 3.2 analog to digital conversion 4 news operation 4.1 former on air news talent 5 references 6 external links history edit ktbc tv studios on east tenth street in downtown austin circa 1980 . ktbc studios circa 2008 . early history edit ktbc tv signed on the air on november 27 1952 becoming the first television station in austin and central texas . it was originally owned by the texas broadcasting company from whom the call letters are taken which was in turn owned by then senator lyndon johnson and his wife lady bird alongside ktbc radio 590 am and 93.7 fm . it carried all four major networks at the time abc cbs nbc and the now defunct dumont television network . however it was a primary cbs affiliate . in its early history it carried roughly 65 % of cbs s schedule ; nbc and abc roughly split the remaining coverage in half . 2 in 1960 the staff of channel 7 produced a film for the texas department of public safety entitled target austin . the 20 minute film presents the scenario of a nuclear missile strike on the outskirts of austin and follows the storylines of several characters from the conelrad broadcast to the announcement that it is safe to emerge from shelter . the film takes place in austin highlighting several iconic locations in the city and featured an austin based cast and crew including director gordon wilkison of ktbc narrator cactus pryor also of ktbc actress coleen hardin and el rancho restaurant owner matt martinez . 3 ktbc tv benefited from a quirk in the fcc s plan for allocating stations . in the early days of broadcast television there were twelve vhf channels available and 69 uhf channels later reduced to 55 in 1983 . the vhf bands were more desirable because they carried longer distances . since there were only twelve vhf channels available there were limitations as to how closely the stations could be spaced . after the fcc s sixth report and order ended the license freeze and opened the uhf band in 1952 it devised a plan for allocating vhf licenses . under this plan almost all of the country would be able to receive two commercial vhf channels plus one noncommercial channel . most of the rest of the country 1 2 would be able to receive a third vhf channel . other areas would be designated as uhf islands since they were too close to larger cities for vhf service . the 2 networks became cbs and nbc 1 represented non commercial educational stations and 1 2 became abc which was the weakest network usually winding up with the uhf allocation where no vhf was available . however austin is sandwiched between san antonio channels 4 5 and 12 to the south and waco temple bryan channels 6 and 10 to the north . this created a large doughnut in central texas where there could be only one vhf license which became ktbc tv . additionally uhf signals usually do not travel very far over long distances or over rugged terrain . even though austin was large enough on paper to support three full network affiliates as early as the 1950s the technical limitations made several potential owners skittish about the prospects for uhf in a market that stretched from mason in the west to la grange in the east and also included much of the hill country . as a result ktbc tv was the only station in austin until khfi tv channel 42 now kxan tv on channel 36 signed on in february 1965 . it logicnbc programming continued to be broadcast solely on ktbc tv for the next 18 months due to contractual obligations . channel 7 became an exclusive cbs affiliate when all of abc s programming moved to kvue channel 24 when that station first signed on in september 1971 . after lyndon johnson became president following the assassination of president john f. kennedy in 1963 the networks established direct feed lines between ktbc and the various network affiliates in new york city dallas and chicago . this facilitated news report relayed while the president was residing either in austin or at his ranch in johnson city . the johnsons maintained a penthouse apartment on the fifth floor of the station which was wired for camera and sound equipment and used on occasion for local programming on occasions when the johnsons were away . this multi network capability was first demonstrated live on august 1 1966 following the ut tower sniper incident . after charles whitman s sniper rampage had been stopped the primary newsman on the scene neal spelce presented a wrap up of the event that was carried on all three networks live later that evening . although the connections were later replaced by satellite uplink technology the lines were maintained for contingency usage for several years . the johnsons sold ktbc tv to the times mirror company in 1973 making it a sister station to kdfw tv in dallas . the johnsons kept the ktbc radio properties and under then fcc guidelines changed the stations call letters to klbj am fm . in 1994 times mirror sold ktbc tv to argyle television . 4 as a fox station edit in december 1993 fox outbid cbs to obtain the broadcast rights to football games from the national football conference of the nfl . 5 6 in 1994 new world communications signed a long term affiliation deal with fox which was establishing itself as a major network and was looking for more vhf stations . in late 1994 most new world owned stations except for two dropped their longtime big three affiliations and switched to fox . 7 8 on january 19 1995 new world took over operations of the argyle stations through time brokerage agreements . nearly three months later new world completed its merger with argyle . on july 1 1995 ktbc ended its 43 year affiliation with cbs and became a fox affiliate ; the cbs affiliation went to former fox station kbvo channel 42 which changed its call letters to keye tv . as the new fox affiliate channel 7 was able to continue as austin s unofficial home of the dallas cowboys because of fox s rights to the nfc . ktbc had carried most cowboys games since the team s inception in 1960 by virtue of cbs winning television rights to the nfl in 1956 . for many years it also carried cowboys preseason games though those telecasts moved to keye in 2006 . in its early years as a fox station ktbc filled its daytime lineup with talk shows and the nighttime schedule with off network sitcoms . the station came under ownership of fox when new world merged with fox television stations in 1996 ; 9 this made ktbc the first owned and operated network station in the austin market keye was subsequently purchased by cbs in 2000 ktbc became the only english language network o & o in the market after cbs sold keye to four points media group in 2007 . in the spring of 1997 a rumor that ktbc and phoenix s ksaz tv would be traded to the belo corporation in exchange for seattle s kiro tv circulated 10 but this deal never came to fruition . belo would acquire rival kvue and phoenix s ktvk two years later . in recent years the station s daytime lineup has leaned away from talk shows in favor of running mostly court shows . kvc 13 edit k13vc branded as kvc 13 was a low powered station that had broadcast on vhf channel 13 and was co owned alongside ktbc . the station signed on the air on july 1 1995 concurrent with ktbc s switch to fox as an independent station . k13vc maintained a general entertainment format featuring sitcoms drama series and cartoons along with several programs that also aired on ktbc . when ktbc joined fox it declined the fox kids weekday block although both channel 7 and kvc had simulcast fox kids saturday morning lineup ktbc would later drop the block in 1997 ; kvc continued to air the weekday children s block until fox discontinued it in 2002 leaving only the saturday lineup . in 1998 kvc became a upn affiliate inheriting the affiliation from the hill country paramount network operated by lin tv . when kvc became a upn affiliate it also picked up the upn kids lineup which later rebranded as disney s one too . the station continued to air upn programming until august 3 2000 when fredericksburg s kbej now kcwx signed on the air on channel 2 . at that time kvc reverted to independent status showing syndicated programming as well as university of texas and other college sporting events . k13vc was forced off the air on march 29 2003 11 in order to make room for the digital signal of killeen based univision station kakw tv . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 12 7.1 720p 16 9 ktbc hd main ktbc programming fox 7.2 480i movies movies 7.3 4 3 buzzr buzzr 7.4 16 9 metv metv 1 analog to digital conversion edit ktbc shut down its analog signal on june 12 2009 as part of the fcc mandated transition to digital television for full power stations . 13 the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 56 which was among the high band uhf channels 52 69 that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition to its analog era vhf channel 7 for post transition operations . news operation edit former