please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . february 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message ktxa fort worth dallas texas united states city fort worth texas branding txa 21 slogan courts cash comedy channels digital 29 uhf virtual 21 psip subchannels 21.1 main programming 21.2 metv affiliations independent 1980 1995 and since 2006 cbs alternate metv dt2 owner cbs corporation television station ktxa inc. first air date october 6 1980 call letters meaning texas arlington texas texas america sister station s ktvt former channel number s analog 21 uhf 1980 2009 digital 18 uhf 2000 june 2009 and august 2009 2011 19 uhf june august 2009 former affiliations upn 1995 2006 transmitter power 1000 kw height 534 meters 1 752 ft facility id 51517 transmitter coordinates 32 34 43.00 n 96 57 12.00 w 32.5786111 n 96.9533333 w 32.5786111 ; 96.9533333 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website dfw.cbslocal.com ktxa virtual channel 21 uhf digital channel 29 is an independent television station serving the dallas fort worth metroplex that is licensed to fort worth texas united states . the station is owned by the cbs television stations subsidiary of cbs corporation as part of a duopoly with cbs owned and operated station ktvt channel 11 . the two stations share primary studio facilities located on bridge street off of i 30 east of downtown fort worth ; ktxa s advertising sales offices are located at cbs tower on north central expressway north of northpark mall in dallas ; ktxa maintains transmitter facilities located south of belt line road in cedar hill . contents 1 history 1.1 prior history of uhf channel 21 in dallas fort worth 1.2 ktxa station history 1.2.1 upn affiliation 1.2.2 return to independence 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 3.1 sports programming 4 newscasts 5 references 6 external links history edit prior history of uhf channel 21 in dallas fort worth edit the uhf channel 21 allocation in the dallas fort worth market was originally occupied by kfwt an independent station licensed to fort worth that signed on the air on september 19 1967 ; the station was owned by w. c. windson owner of radio station once sister station kjim 870 am now kfjz had been sold to tracy locke advertising in 1966 and kfwt fm 102.1 now kdge . kfwt 102.1 fm featured an easy listening format . it was the first uhf television station to sign on in the dallas fort worth market . broadcasting nightly from 6 00 to 10 00 the station s programming consisted mostly of public domain movies . kfwt operated from studios located on broadcast hill at 3900 barnett street in fort worth adjacent to the studios of wbap tv channel 5 now kxas tv in a transmitter building that was later used as the studios for radio station wbap 820 am . kfwt s call letters stood for fort worth texas . some of the television station s programming included the oscar argumedo show tv 21 country style and green valley raceway . notables included oscar argumedo durline dunham don shook jim shootin newton bob hart gm and bob weatherford later gm . cameramen and production staff included harold hardgrave tony mieczynski and ed hullum . with the station s quiet remote location and rolling hills for dune buggy sponsor sandman sales programs were occasionally shot outdoors with the distant d fw turnpike and ft. worth skyline as a scenic backdrop . ironically on his way home from the station in may 1969 program director gary windsor died shortly after his vehicle was struck in a head on collision by a drunk driver who was driving on the turnpike in the wrong direction . the station was in financial trouble by 1969 windson then sought a buyer for kfwt . in august of that year the station went dark for one week due to a power failure . windson asked the federal communications commission s permission to sign off for three months a request that the commission initially denied . kfwt resumed broadcasting for one week before permanently ceasing operations on september 5 ; when the station failed to find a buyer afterward that would bring the station back on kfwt s broadcast equipment was repossessed and the license was turned over to the fcc to be cancelled . the station filed for bankruptcy on march 27 1970 . the fm radio station was retained and the call letters were changed to kfwd . ktxa station history edit ktxa first signed on the air on october 6 1980 ; originally operating as an independent station it was founded by grant broadcasting . the station s original studio facilities were located on randol mill road adjacent to six flags over texas and arlington stadium in arlington although fort worth has always been the station s city of license . it ran a general entertainment format of cartoons and sitcoms during the daytime hours while at night it broadcast the over the air subscription television service ontv which required a set top decoder and a subscription fee in order to receive the ontv signal during programming hours . by 1983 it became a general entertainment station full time and added classic movies and off network drama series . grant broadcasting signed on a similarly formatted station ktxh in houston in 1982 . in 1984 both ktxa and ktxh were sold to gulf broadcasting which itself was subsequently purchased by the taft television and radio company that same year . ktxa logo in 1987 . from 1985 to 1989 ktxa operated the channel 21 kids club ; in short promos that aired between cartoons area children were encouraged to send off for a membership card that would entitle them to discounts at various local businesses and enable them to participate in on air prize giveaways . they were blue on the front side and white on the back with a ktxa channel 21 kids club logo appearing on the front in red and white along with the line i turned 21 . the hostess of these shorts k.d. fox was later featured in many other local promotions for various businesses in the dallas fort worth area . the station was unprofitable throughout the 1980s but taft kept strong programming on the station including hanna barbera cartoons and other programs owned by taft and distributed by worldvision enterprises . in february 1987 taft sold its independent stations including ktxa to the tvx broadcast group ; the purchase was finalized on april 1 1987 . in 1989 paramount pictures purchased a minority stake in tvx ; two years later on february 28 1991 paramount acquired the remaining interest in tvx and renamed the company paramount stations group ; ktxa adopted the on air branding paramount 21 during this period . viacom acquired the stations in 1994 as part of its purchase of paramount pictures . around this time the station moved its operations to the paramount building in the west end district of downtown dallas . upn affiliation edit upn 21 logo used until the shutdown of the network and became independent again in 2006 on january 16 1995 ktxa became a charter affiliate of the united paramount network upn ; correspondingly it changed its branding to upn 21 . after independent station ktvt channel 11 affiliated with cbs in july 1995 it acquired various syndicated programs that it could not air due to its new network heavy schedule . it became a upn owned and operated station when viacom acquired a 50 % stake in the network from chris craft industries in 1996 up to that point paramount maintained only a programming partnership with upn with chris craft serving as upn s sole owner . ktxa logo used from january 1995 to september 2002 . in the late 1990s ktxa acquired more first run syndicated talk and reality shows such as forgive or forget and ricki lake while reducing the amount of sitcoms and cartoons on its schedule . viacom purchased cbs in 2000 making channel 21 a sister station to its former rival ktvt which cbs had purchased from gaylord broadcasting the previous year . ktxa s operations moved from the paramount building and were integrated with ktvt at its bridge street studios in fort worth both are two of three stations licensed to fort worth the other being nbc owned kxas tv channel 5 . for a brief period in the early 2000s ktxa served as the de facto upn affiliate for the waco killeen temple television market when former affiliate kakw became a univision owned and operated station for both that market and the nearby austin market . ktxa ktvt and the other viacom television stations group properties were spun off to cbs corporation after national amusements decided to split viacom and cbs into separate companies in december 2005 . 1 return to independence edit txa 21 logo used from 2006 to 2012 ; this variant was used since 2009 . it is still in use on the station s promotions . on january 24 2006 the warner bros. unit of time warner and cbs corporation announced that the two companies would shut down the wb and upn and combine the networks respective programming to create a new fifth network called the cw . 2 3 former wb affiliate kdaf channel 33 was named as the market s cw affiliate by way of owner tribune broadcasting s multi station deal with the network and independent station kdfi channel 27 was named as dallas s mynetworktv station through its ownership by that network s original co parent fox television stations . by default cbs opted to run ktxa as an independent station . the station s new branding was announced in two phases starting with the introduction of the txa 21 name on may 5 2006 . ktxa then launched a promotional ad campaign called what could it mean in which a distinctive star shaped logo appeared on buildings sidewalks and billboards around the metroplex . the new ktxa logo seen above was unveiled on july 4 . the station s website also revealed that the station planned to begin carrying high school football games from north texas area teams that fall . ktxa became an independent station on september 16 2006 the day after upn ceased operations ; this made it the third independent station to be owned by cbs alongside kcal tv in los angeles and another former upn outlet wsbk tv in boston wsbk later joined mynetworktv in september 2011 while cbs purchased independent station wlny tv in riverhead new york in 2012 . ktxa is the only station among the six that were originally owned by paramount stations group that remains owned by cbs ; the others were sold off between 1994 and 2001 and are now owned either by 21st century fox or the sinclair broadcast group . with ktxa reverting to independent status the station had automatically gained a competitor in kfwd channel 52 which had become an english language independent in january 2002 after losing its telemundo affiliation to newfound o & o kxtx tv channel 39 ; this lasted until august 1 2012 when channel 52 became an affiliate of the spanish language network mundofox now mundomax . it remained the only general entertainment independent station in the dallas fort worth market until october 31 2013 when greenville licensed ktxd tv channel 47 became a full time independent after dropping its secondary affiliation with classic television network metv . in the fall of 2016 the station began showing the go time syndication i e block . 4 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 5 21.1 1080i 16 9 ktxa dt main ktxa