states branding newschannel 9 slogan first live local channels digital 16 uhf virtual 9 psip subchannels 9.1 nbc 9.2 estrella tv 9.3 escape 9.4 laff affiliations nbc dt1 estrella tv dt2 owner nexstar broadcasting group nexstar broadcasting inc. first air date january 4 1953 ; 63 years ago 1953 01 04 call letters meaning tri state music or tri state media former channel number s analog 9 vhf 1953 2009 digital 16 uhf 2005 2009 9 vhf 2009 2015 transmitter power 250 kw height 577 m facility id 67760 transmitter coordinates 31 48 18.5 n 106 28 58.7 w 31.805139 n 106.482972 w 31.805139 ; 106.482972 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.elpasoproud.com ktsm tv virtual 9 and uhf digital channel 16 is an nbc affiliated television station located in el paso texas united states . the station is owned by nexstar broadcasting group . ktsm tv maintains studio facilities located on oregon street near el paso community college in northwest el paso and its transmitter is located atop the franklin mountains on the el paso city limits . on cable the station is available on time warner cable channel 10 and in high definition on digital channel 860 . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit the station first signed on the air on january 4 1953 ; ktsm was the second television station to sign on in the el paso market behind krod tv channel 4 now kdbc tv which debuted in december 1952 . it was owned by tri state broadcasting a nod to the us states of texas and new mexico and the mexican state of chihuahua 1 along with ktsm radio 1380 am now at 690 am and 99.9 fm which are both now owned by clear channel communications . the call letters stood for the company s original name tri state music the meaning has since changed to tri state media . ktsm s broadcast tower at ranger peak located within the franklin mountains claims to be the tallest vhf transmission tower in texas standing at 2 000 feet 610 m above downtown el paso and 5 990 feet 1 830 m above sea level . tri state broadcasting was controlled by el paso broadcast pioneer karl o. wyler 1906 1990 who signed on ktsm am in 1930 . wyler built the el paso aerial tramway in the early 1960s to allow his staff to maintain the transmitters at ranger peak . the tramway was open to the public until the 1980s when insurance laws in texas prohibited its use by the general public . wyler owned the station until his death in 1990 and donated his controlling stake in tri state broadcasting to the el paso community foundation . in 1991 the foundation hired richard e. pearson who served as station manager at abc affiliate kvia tv channel 7 at the time to run the operations of the radio and television stations . under pearson s leadership ktsm tv flourished and became a dominant force in the market until the stations were sold to communications corporation of america in 1998 . among ktsm s most famous personalities was ted bender 1925 2013 who hosted numerous programs on the station including the local version of the dialing for dollars franchise which aired weekdays at 10 05 a.m. following a five minute mid morning newscast at 10 00 a.m. in which he gave four viewers a chance to win money ; halfway through the calls bender who was a city councilman would interview a key figure in the el paso community . bender also served as ktsm s lead weather forecaster from the station s inception until his retirement in 1991 using weather symbols that used in national weather service weather charts . for many years the station pre empted nbc s daytime game shows which later aired in the afternoon hours with dialing for dollars and daytime soaps . the net pbs shows sesame street and mister rogers neighborhood were also broadcast due to the lack of a full market public television station in the area at the time . las cruces based krwg tv channel 22 was an net pbs member but its reception was spotty within el paso proper due to the franklin mountains cutting across western el paso net pbs arranged for channel 9 to carry select programs including sesame street ; in particular the children s program aired on the station from its debut in 1969 until kcos signed on in august 1978 . on october 19 2009 communications corporation of america entered into a shared services agreement with titan broadcast management in which ktsm would provide advertising sales and administrative services as well as some news resources for cbs affiliate kdbc tv ; titan retained kdbc s license and both stations retain separate news departments . 2 on april 24 2013 comcorp announced that it would sell all of its television stations including ktsm tv to the nexstar broadcasting group . 3 the sale was completed on january 1 2015 . 4 the acquisition as well as the sale of kdbc to the sinclair broadcast group which originally planned to transfer that station s license to partner company cunningham broadcasting placed some uncertainty on the future status of the ssa between ktsm and kdbc particularly as kdbc is now co owned with fox affiliate kfox tv channel 14 and the ssa was indeed terminated on october 16 2014 at which point kdbc began its new newscasts in association with kfox . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 5 9.1 1080i 16 9 ktsm dt main ktsm tv programming nbc 9.2 480i 4 3 ktsm d2 estrella tv 9.3 escape escape 9.4 laff laff ktsm began to carry the spanish language network estrella tv on its second digital subchannel in 2009 . 6 analog to digital conversion edit ktsm tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 9 at 12 30 p.m. 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 . 7 the station s digital relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 16 to vhf channel 9 . 8 9 due to reports of reception issues with its signal on digital channel 9 ktsm tv was granted permission by the federal communications commission to operate a secondary signal on its former uhf digital channel 16 under special temporary authorization on july 23 2009 mapped to virtual channel 9.1 . ktsm had filed a petition to the fcc to permanently operate its digital signal exclusively on uhf channel 16 10 and was issued a license for that channel on june 5 2015 . programming edit ktsm tv clears most of the nbc network schedule ; however the station pre empts the cnbc program mad money which airs as part of the network s overnight block although it clears the rebroadcast of the fourth hour of today which precedes it nationally the station airs infomercials in place of mad money . syndicated programs broadcast by ktsm tv include the ellen degeneres show rachael ray dr. phil the doctors and hot bench . news operation edit ktsm tv presently broadcasts 22 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with four hours on weekdays and one hour each on saturdays and sundays ; unlike most nbc affiliates the station does not produce newscasts in the midday time period on weekdays or on weekend mornings . kvia tv shares news resources with cadenatres station xhij tv channel 44 and azteca trece station xhcje tv channel 11 in ciudad ju rez and las cruces based telemundo affiliate ktdo channel 48 particularly in regards to coverage of crime in the mexico border town . sports anchor is currently beau bagley . on august 3 2008 starting with its 5 00 p.m. newscast ktsm became the first television station in the el paso market to begin broadcasting its local newscast in high definition . notable former on air staff edit micah johnson ben swann now at wgcl tv in atlanta georgia mark mathis now at kusi tv in san diego references edit el paso broadcasting the stories behind the call letters 12 1994 http www.kvia.com global story.asp s 11339223 https licensing.fcc.gov cdbs cdbs attachment getattachment.jsp appn 101552312 & qnum 5040 & copynum 1 & exhcnum 1 consummation notice cdbs public access federal communications commission retrieved 6 january 2015 . rabbitears tv query for ktsm coming a new force in hispanic tv . media life magazine . march 20 2009 . retrieved 2009 04 11 . digital switch complete ktsm tv june 12 2009 . dtv tentative channel designations for the first and the second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . cdbs print notice of proposed rulemaking pdf . federal communications commission . january 11 2011 . retrieved may 19 2014 . external links edit official website query the fcc s tv station database for ktsm biafn s media web database information on ktsm tv v t e television stations in the el paso las cruces ju rez area local stations kdbc 4.1 cbs 4.2 mntv this tv 4.3 me tv kvia 7.1 abc 7.2 cw 7.3 stormtrack 24 7 7.4 k42dj aza ktsm 9.1 nbc 9.2 estrella tv 9.3 escape 9.4 laff kcos 13.1 pbs 13.2 epcc tv 13.3 create kfox 14.1 fox 14.2 comet 14.3 grit k26kj d 25.1 multimedios televisi n hd 25.2 teleritmo kint 26.1 uni 26.2 unim s sd 26.3 latv ksce 38.1 religious ind 38.2 spanish religious ind 38.3 unknown 38.4 scriptures ktfn 65.1 unim s hd las cruces kcwf ca 4.1 cbs 4.2 mntv 4.3 me tv k41ky d 7.1 abc 7.2 cw 7.3 stormtrack 24 7 7.4 k42dj aza k54gr 9.1 nbc 9.2 estrella tv 9.3 escape 9.4 laff krwg 22.1 pbs 22.2 world 22.3 v me klcp 30.1 glc k42dj 42.1 aza ktdo 48.1 tmd 48.2 inmi ciudad ju rez xhjci 2.1 televisa regional hd xhctcj 3.1 imagen xej 5.1 gala tv 5.2 spanish independent hd xhcje 11.1 azteca 13 hd 11.2 proyecto 40 hd xhcjh 20.1 azteca 7 hd xepm 32.1 canal de las estrellas hd 32.2 canal de las estrellas sd xhij 44.1 canal 44 44.2 alternativo 44 44.3 una voz con todos 44.4 milenio televisi n xhjub 56.1 canal 5 hd texas broadcast television areas by city abilene sweetwater amarillo texas panhandle austin hill country beaumont port arthur corpus christi dallas fort worth north texas ciudad acu a del rio eagle pass el paso west texas houston laredo lubbock south plains midland odessa permian basin rio grande valley san angelo san antonio sherman ada ok texarkana shreveport la tyler longview east texas victoria waco bryan brazos valley wichita falls lawton ok new mexico broadcast television areas by city albuquerque santa fe amarillo tx el paso tx odessa midland tx chihuahua broadcast television areas by city camargo cuauhtemoc chihuahua city ciudad ju rez delicias v t e nbc network affiliates in the state of texas kprc 2 houston kfdx 3 wichita falls lawton ksan 3 san angelo kamr 4 amarillo woai 4 san antonio kxas 5 dfw kcen 6 kags ld 23 temple bryan kris 6 corpus christi ktal 6 texarkana kgns 8 laredo krbc 9 abilene ktsm 9 el paso kwes 9 kwab 4 midland big spring kcbd 11 lubbock kbmt dt2 12.2 beaumont kmol ld 17 victoria kveo 23 brownsville kxan 36 austin ketk 56 tyler jacksonville see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in texas v t e other spanish language television stations in the state of texas multimedios televisi n k24fw 24 lubbock k26kj d 25.1 el paso khlm 43.1 houston xhnat 45.1 laredo k51jf