KOPR-TV

KOPR-TV was a television station on channel 4 in Butte, Montana, United States, which operated from 1953 to 1954. It was owned by the Copper Broadcasting Company alongside KOPR (550 AM) and was the second outlet in Butte and the state, broadcasting from studios and a transmitter at the Hotel Finlen.

KOPR-TV

Butte, Montana United States
Channels	Analog: 4 (VHF)^[1]
Ownership
Owner	Copper Broadcasting Company^[2]
Sister stations	KOPR (550 AM)^[2]
History
First air date	August 23, 1953 (1953-08-23)^[1]
Last air date	September 19, 1954 (1954-09-19)^[3]
Technical information
ERP	600 watts^[1]
HAAT	350 ft (110 m)^[1]
Transmitter coordinates	46°00′49″N 112°32′00″W / 46.0137°N 112.5333°W / 46.0137; -112.5333^[1]

History

 

The Hotel Finlen housed KOPR-TV's studio and transmitter

KOPR's parent company, Copper Broadcasting Company, filed the first television station application in the state on November 30, 1951.^[4] It was awarded in January 1953, after the lifting of the Federal Communications Commission freeze on new TV stations and on the same day as KFBB-TV in Great Falls and a proposed but never-built channel 8 outlet in Billings.^[2]

KOPR-TV first planned to launch in the spring of 1954, but it accelerated its target date to August 15—not coincidentally, when the other television station in Butte, KXLF-TV (channel 6), was projecting to start.^[5] KOPR-TV set up in the Hotel Finlen,^[6] where the radio station had been based since it began in 1948.^[7] The first signal went out August 23, 1953, just nine days after KXLF-TV.^[1] The facilities used in operation reflected the haste to get to air: while an effective radiated power of 14,500 watts was authorized, KOPR-TV used just 600.^[1] The station had network affiliations with CBS and ABC,^[6] while local shows included news, sports, weather, and a music program, Copper Bandstand.^[8]

The starting up of two stations at once in a small market—Butte had two operating stations before Billings had one—proved to have financial consequences. KOPR-TV announced it would cease telecasting at the end of the broadcast day on September 19, 1954. An advertisement taken out by the station in that day's edition of The Montana Standard explained that Copper Broadcasting would instead focus on expanding the operations of the radio station and retain the channel 4 permit.^[3] In asking for authority to go silent, the station pointed to economic reasons. It was just the fourth full-time VHF station (and sixth total, including two shared-time outlets) to fold.^[9] The FCC deleted the KOPR-TV construction permit for lack of interest in April 1955;^[10] in 1956, KXLF-TV was granted use of channel 4 over co-channel interference concerns to channel 6 at Pocatello, Idaho.^[11]

Copper Broadcasting obtained a construction permit for a second KOPR-TV on channel 6 in 1957, which would have broadcast from Mount Fleecer beginning in 1958.^[12] No station ever materialized, and Butte viewers would not have a choice of television programs again until the FCC simultaneously approved KGVO-TV in Missoula and Butte's KXLF-TV to build translators in each other's service areas in late 1965.^[13] The KGVO-TV translator was replaced in 1970 by KTVM, a high-power station.^[14]

References

1. "KOPR-TV" (PDF). Telecasting Yearbook. 1954. p. 187. (PDF) from the original on 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2021-10-30 – via World Radio History.
2. "FCC Grants 11 New TV Stations; June May End Uncontested List" (PDF). Broadcasting. January 19, 1953. p. 42. (PDF) from the original on 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2021-10-30.
3. "KOPR-TV Channel 4 Suspends Operations After Tonight's Telecasting, September 19th". The Montana Standard. September 19, 1954. p. 16. from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
4. "First Montana Application for TV Is Filed". The Montana Standard. December 2, 1951. p. 6. from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
5. "In our continuing survey of upcoming new stations..." (PDF). Television Digest. August 1, 1953. p. 7. (PDF) from the original on March 7, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
6. "KOPR-TV Preparing to Offer Some Outstanding Commercial Programs: Station Has Been Working Out 'Bugs' in Operation". The Montana Standard. September 10, 1953. p. Fall Festival 12. from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
7. "KOPR, Butte's New Radio Station, to Be Formally Opened Tonight". The Montana Standard. June 9, 1948. p. 8.
8. "KOPR-TV Channel 4". The Montana Standard. June 14, 1954. p. 6.
9. "VHF Quits—From Hunger; 4 More Start" (PDF). Television Digest. September 18, 1954. p. 2. (PDF) from the original on March 7, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
10. "Stations Deleted" (PDF). Broadcasting. May 9, 1955. p. 106.
11. "KXLF-TV Moved to Ch. 4" (PDF). Broadcasting. July 23, 1956. p. 56. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 27, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
12. "Construction Permit Granted for New Television Station". The Montana Standard. September 12, 1957. p. 16. from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
13. "New television translator at Butte okayed". Montana Standard-Post. December 3, 1965. p. 8. from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
14. "April 26 targeted for new TV tower". The Montana Standard. April 19, 1970. p. 10B. from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.