View source for KOBF

{{Short description|Television station in Farmington, New Mexico}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox television station
| callsign = KOBF
| above = Satellite of [[KOB]], [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]]
| city = Farmington, New Mexico
| logo = KOBF Farmington logo.jpg
| logo_size = 200px
| branding = KOBF 12
| digital = 12 ([[VHF]])
| virtual = 12
| translators = ''see {{section link||Translators}}''
| affiliations = {{ubl|'''12.1:''' [[NBC]]|''for others, see {{section link||Subchannels}}''}}
| country = United States
| airdate = {{start date and age|1972|10|20|p=y}}
| location = {{ubl|[[Farmington, New Mexico]]|[[Durango, Colorado]]}}
| callsign_meaning = "KOB Farmington"
| former_callsigns = {{ubl|KIVA-TV (1972–1983)}}
| former_channel_numbers = {{ubl|'''Analog:''' 12 (VHF, 1953–2009)|'''Digital:''' 17 ([[UHF]], until 2009)}}
| owner = [[Hubbard Broadcasting]]
| licensee = KOB-TV, [[LLC]]
| erp = 30 [[kW]]
| haat = {{convert|125|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| facility_id = 35321
| coordinates = {{Coord|36|41|43|N|108|13|16|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|name=KOBF}}
| licensing_authority = [[FCC]]
| website = {{URL|https://www.kob.com/}}
}}

'''KOBF''' (channel 12) is a [[television station]] licensed to [[Farmington, New Mexico]], United States, affiliated with [[NBC]]. It is a [[broadcast relay station#Satellite stations|satellite]] of [[Albuquerque]]-based [[KOB]] (channel 4) which is owned by [[Hubbard Broadcasting]]. KOBF's transmitter is located south of Farmington on [[NM 371]].

[[KOBR]] (channel 8) in [[Roswell, New Mexico|Roswell]] also serves as a satellite of KOB. These satellite operations provide additional [[news bureau]]s for KOB and sell [[advertising]] time to local [[sponsor (commercial)|sponsors]].

KOBF has repeated KOB since 1983, when Hubbard acquired it from the last of several owners of KIVA-TV, a small local station that was also an NBC affiliate.

==History==
===KIVA-TV===
The [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) allocated channel 12 to Farmington in 1957 at the request of Farmington Broadcasting Company, a corporation affiliated with the local cable firm which proposed to build a station that would attempt to seek affiliation with all three major networks.<ref>{{cite news|title=Seek Basin TV Station: Cable Operators File For Permit|work=Farmington Daily Times|page=1|date=February 12, 1957|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-feb-12-1957-2861628/|access-date=December 5, 2021|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205065901/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-feb-12-1957-2861628/|url-status=live}}</ref> This application was then merged with another from Farmington radio station [[KENN (AM)|KVBC]].<ref>{{cite news|page=1|date=May 16, 1957|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-may-16-1957-2861631/|title=Firms Join To File For Television Outlet|work=Farmington Daily Times|access-date=December 5, 2021|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205065902/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-may-16-1957-2861631/|url-status=live}}</ref>

No station ever materialized, and it was not until 1970 that another bid on the channel was made, this time by Woodland Broadcasting, which owned radio station [[KUBC]] in [[Montrose, Colorado]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-feb-25-1970-2861641/|page=4B|title=Woodland Files Local TV Bid|work=Farmington Daily Times|date=February 25, 1970}}</ref> By this time, channel 12 was used by KOB-TV translator K12GK, which was located on Caviness Mountain near [[Mancos, Colorado]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-may-03-1970-2861643/|title=Notice|work=Farmington Daily Times|date=May 3, 1970|page=7B|access-date=December 5, 2021|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205065908/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-may-03-1970-2861643/|url-status=live}}</ref> Woodland's application for a construction permit was granted by the FCC on October 27, 1971.<ref name="hc">{{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=84892 |title= History Cards for KOBF|publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]]}} ([[Wikipedia:WikiProject Radio Stations/History Cards|Guide to reading History Cards]])<!--Converted from {{FCC letter}}--></ref>

Before the station was built, Woodland transferred the construction permit to Four States Television, Inc. The transmitter tower was built on the bluffs south of town, and KIVA-TV, an NBC affiliate,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-aug-09-1972-2861663/|date=August 9, 1972|work=Farmington Daily Times|page=3A|title=New TV Station Near Completion|access-date=December 5, 2021|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205065903/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-aug-09-1972-2861663/|url-status=live}}</ref> began broadcasting on the afternoon of October 20, 1972.<ref name="Albu721021">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90057866/new-farmington-tv/|date=October 21, 1972|page=A-16|agency=UPI|title=New Farmington TV|newspaper=Albuquerque Journal|location=Albuquerque, New Mexico|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=December 5, 2021|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205065903/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90057866/new-farmington-tv/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat --> It received network programs from [[KOA-TV]], then the NBC affiliate in [[Denver]], because KOB-TV did not grant permission for the new station to use its NBC feed.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-dec-13-1972-2861672/|date=December 13, 1972|page=1|first=Val|last=Cooper|title=Council Satisfied On KIVA Progress|work=Farmington Daily Times}}</ref> Originally broadcasting with 38,000 watts, KIVA-TV was approved to increase to an effective radiated power of 230,000 watts in 1974.{{r|hc}} That same year, sale of a minority interest in channel 12 to Allen Theatres and sales manager Marty Ball was announced;<ref>{{cite news|title=TV Station Announces Transaction|date=September 17, 1974|work=Farmington Daily Times|page=12|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-17-1974-2861676/|access-date=December 5, 2021|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205065903/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-17-1974-2861676/|url-status=live}}</ref> this fell through the next year, forcing general manager Jerry Proctor to postpone his plans to move to [[Houston]] and build a cable system there.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-dec-19-1975-2861690/|date=December 19, 1975|page=4A|title=TV Sale Falls Through|work=Farmington Daily Times}}</ref>

A group of five Houston investors led by John Catsis acquired KIVA-TV in 1976<ref>{{cite news|page=4A|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-aug-08-1976-2861698/|title=KIVA-TV Sold|work=Farmington Daily Times|date=August 8, 1976}}</ref> and closed on the deal in January 1977; they promised to add a local news department to the station with two full-time reporters.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-jan-27-1977-2861699/|date=January 27, 1977|title=Sale of Local TV Station OKd|page=20A|work=Farmington Daily Times|access-date=December 5, 2021|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205065904/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-jan-27-1977-2861699/|url-status=live}}</ref> In addition, they pledged to tackle "picture reliability" and network feed issues that plagued KIVA-TV's telecast of network programming.<ref>{{cite news|date=January 5, 1977|page=4|work=Farmington Daily Times|title=Cheer Up, TV Viewers|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-jan-06-1977-2861700/|access-date=December 5, 2021|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205065905/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-jan-06-1977-2861700/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Catsis group sold KIVA-TV in 1981 to Center Group Broadcasting, whose primary shareholder was Alfred Burke and which also counted Stephen Adams among its stockholders, for $1.2 million and the assumption of up to $700,000 in debt.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1981/1981-02-23-BC.pdf|date=February 23, 1981|page=81|title=Changing Hands|work=Broadcasting}}</ref> Center Group had its own plans for expanding the studio facilities and the news staff.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-mar-29-1981-2861708/|page=Off Hours 7|first=Andy|last=Porter|work=Farmington Daily Times|date=March 29, 1981|title=New TV Owners Plan Big Changes}}</ref> However, it had to deal with a balky and "very old" transmitter that was prone to failing and taking the station out for days at a time.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-jan-20-1982-2861711/|date=January 20, 1982|title=KIVA Blackout Awaits Repair|work=Farmington Daily Times|page=2A|access-date=December 5, 2021|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205065906/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-jan-20-1982-2861711/|url-status=live}}</ref> One of the failures was late in the fourth quarter of a [[American football|football]] game; with the game tied, the station's electronic equipment switched automatically to another game, resulting in angry phone calls and even a bomb threat.{{r|optimism|boost}}{{efn|One source claims this was the [[Super Bowl]], though no Super Bowl matches the description.}} Dale Palmer, who owned part of Center Group and was the second general manager under the company's ownership, noted that, while the company specialized in turning around broadcast properties, it had received "bad advice" about KIVA-TV, noting, "Essentially, all we got was a license and a building".<ref name="optimism">{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-apr-25-1982-2861713/|work=Farmington Daily Times|page=Off Hours 3|first=Rex|last=Graham|title=Optimism Reigns at Local Station|date=April 25, 1982}}</ref>

===KOBF===
In April 1983, an unexpected offer turned around KIVA-TV's hard luck. It came from KOB-TV, which was anxious to improve its circulation statewide and challenge [[KOAT-TV]] for first place in the New Mexico television news ratings. At the time, there were three NBC affiliates in New Mexico: KSWS-TV in Roswell, KIVA-TV, and KOB-TV; the former two stations prevented KOB-TV from broadcasting into southeastern and northwestern New Mexico. Hubbard Broadcasting reached a deal to buy the Roswell station and then offered $3.6 million for KIVA-TV, which Adams accepted within eight minutes.<ref name="boost">{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-may-14-1983-2861452/|date=May 14, 1983|title=KOB Buys KIVA for $3.6 Million To Boost Its 2nd-Place Rating|work=Farmington Daily Times|first=Rex|last=Graham|page=A3|access-date=December 5, 2021|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205070210/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-may-14-1983-2861452/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hubbard, like other buyers before it, was buying a fixer-upper, a station that had "[n]ever made a nickel" in its history.{{r|boost}} It promised to infuse as much money as needed to turn the station around technically and in its local productions; ground was broken in November 1983 on a new studio facility at Lake and Broadway streets.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-nov-19-1983-2861652/|page=A3|date=November 19, 1983|title=Briefs|work=Farmington Daily Times|access-date=December 5, 2021|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205070211/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-nov-19-1983-2861652/|url-status=live}}</ref> Bettie Sue Cleveland, appointed general manager by Hubbard, became the first woman to hold that post at a New Mexico television station; she died in 1990.<ref name="Albu900618">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90061090/farmington-tv-station-manager-bettie-sue/|date=June 18, 1990|page=C13|title=Farmington TV Station Manager Bettie Sue Cleveland Dies at 55|newspaper=Albuquerque Journal|location=Albuquerque, New Mexico|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=December 5, 2021|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205070211/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90061090/farmington-tv-station-manager-bettie/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Mon -->

Local news at the conversion to satellite operation in 1983 consisted of one-minute news updates in prime time and cut-ins during ''[[The Today Show]]''.<ref name="Albu830922">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90061170/new-series-top-rated-kiva-tv-becomes-sa/|date=September 22, 1983|page=A-17|first=Tom|last=Jacobs|title=New Series Top Rated; KIVA-TV Becomes Satellite|newspaper=Albuquerque Journal|location=Albuquerque, New Mexico|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=December 5, 2021|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205070213/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90061170/new-series-top-rated-kiva-tv-becomes/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu --> KOBF debuted an expanded news service in 1989,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-aug-25-1990-2861728/|date=August 25, 1990|title=Station marks anniversary|page=9|work=Farmington Daily Times|access-date=December 5, 2021|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205070013/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-aug-25-1990-2861728/|url-status=live}}</ref> which included news inserts into KOB's newscasts that covered the [[Four Corners]] region. By 1996, KOBF aired a 16-minute insert into KOB's 6 p.m. newscast and a 22-minute insert into its 10 p.m. program.<ref name="SanJ961009">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90060807/tv-stations-raising-level-of-regional-ne/|date=October 9, 1996|page=18, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90060842/ 19]|first=Bill|last=Papich|title=TV stations raising level of regional news competition|newspaper=Cross Currents|location=Durango, Colorado|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=December 5, 2021|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205070057/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90060807/tv-stations-raising-level-of-regional/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Wed --> Young reporters often learned the ropes of the television news business in Farmington, setting up, shooting and reporting their own stories.<ref>{{cite news|page=A4|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-feb-07-2005-2861737/|date=February 7, 2005|work=Farmington Daily Times|title=Local newscaster shares escapades|first=Valarie|last=Lee|access-date=December 5, 2021|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205070014/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-feb-07-2005-2861737/|url-status=live}}</ref>

On March 1, 2007, most of the extra news and all of the extra sports content was ended for viewers of KOBF. KOB management fired three of the four members of the news department, retaining one reporter/photographer. The decision was made due to stagnating national advertising revenue in the New Mexico television market.<ref name="Albu070303">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90061007/four-corners-loses-local-tv-news/|date=March 3, 2007|page=D2|title=Four Corners Loses Local TV News|newspaper=Albuquerque Journal|location=Albuquerque, New Mexico|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=December 5, 2021|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205070025/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90061007/four-corners-loses-local-tv-news/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat -->

==Technical information==
===Subchannels===
The station's signal is [[Multiplex (TV)|multiplexed]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Subchannels of KOBF<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=KOBF#station|title=RabbitEars TV Query for KOBF|access-date=December 4, 2021|website=rabbitears.info|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205070015/https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=KOBF#station|url-status=live}}</ref>
! scope="col" | [[Digital subchannel#United States|Channel]]
! scope="col" | [[Display resolution|Res.]]
! scope="col" | [[Aspect ratio (image)|Aspect]]
! scope="col" | Short name
! scope="col" | Programming
|-
!scope="row" | 12.1 
| [[1080i]] || rowspan=7|[[16:9]] || KOBF-DT || [[NBC]]
|-
!scope="row" | 12.2 
| rowspan=6| [[480i]] || KOBFDT2 ||[[Heroes & Icons]]
|-
!scope="row" | 12.3 
| KOBFDT3 || [[MeTV]]
|-
!scope="row" | 12.4 
| KOBFDT4 || [[Catchy Comedy]]
|-
!scope="row" | 12.5 
| KOBFDT5 || [[Ion Plus]]
|-
!scope="row" | 12.6 
| KOBFDT6 || [[Ion Television]]
|-
!scope="row" | 12.7 
| KOBFDT7 || [[Start TV]]
|}

===Analog-to-digital conversion===
KOBF ended regular programming on its analog signal, over [[VHF]] channel 12, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States [[Digital television transition in the United States|transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts]] under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition [[UHF]] channel 17 to VHF channel 12.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |title=DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds |access-date=March 24, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829004251/http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |archive-date=August 29, 2013 }}</ref>

===Translators===
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|52631|3=K21OG-D}} [[Bayfield, CO]]
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|61461|3=K11LP-D}} [[Cortez, CO]]
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|187968|3=K20OG-D}} Cortez, CO
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|35309|3=K36QB-D}} Cortez, CO
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|35324|3=K28GT-D}} [[Crownpoint]]
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|35302|3=K30EK-D}} [[Dulce, New Mexico|Dulce]]–[[Lumberton, New Mexico|Lumberton]]
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|35323|3=K25GE-D}} [[Durango, CO]]
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|11463|3=K36PV-D}} [[Gallup, New Mexico|Gallup]]
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|130884|3=K04PJ-D}} [[Hesperus, CO]]
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|35331|3=K20GT-D}} [[McKinley County, New Mexico|Indian Village]]
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|19110|3=K27OR-D}} [[Klagetoh, AZ]]
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|35317|3=K21OD-D}} [[Many Farms, AZ]]
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|51293|3=K36PY-D}} [[Pagosa Springs, CO]]
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|35319|3=K34PK-D}} [[Tohatchi]]
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|36360|3=K10AD-D}} [[Vallecito, Colorado|Vallecito, CO]]
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|74604|3=K16DL-D}} [[Zuni Pueblo]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.kob.com/ KOB website]

{{Albuquerque TV}}
{{English TV Stations New Mexico}}
{{Colorado TV}}
{{Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kobr}}
[[Category:1972 establishments in New Mexico]]
[[Category:Catchy Comedy affiliates]]
[[Category:Farmington, New Mexico]]
[[Category:Heroes & Icons affiliates]]
[[Category:Hubbard Broadcasting]]
[[Category:Ion Plus affiliates]]
[[Category:Ion Television affiliates]]
[[Category:MeTV affiliates]]
[[Category:NBC affiliates]]
[[Category:Start TV affiliates]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1972]]
[[Category:Television stations in New Mexico|OBF]]