View source for KPXM-TV

{{Short description|Television station in St. Cloud, Minnesota}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}}
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{{update|date=June 2021}}
{{more citations needed|date=September 2014}}
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{{Infobox television station
| callsign               = KPXM-TV
| city                   = St. Cloud, Minnesota
| branding               = Ion
| digital                = 16 ([[UHF]])
| virtual                = 41
| subchannels            =
| translators            = ''see {{section link||Translators}}''
| affiliations           = {{ubl|'''41.1:''' [[Ion Television]]|''for others, see {{section link||Subchannels}}''}}
| airdate                = {{start date and age|1982|11|24|p=y}}
| location               = [[St. Cloud, Minnesota|St. Cloud]]–[[Minneapolis]]–[[St. Paul, Minnesota]]
| country                = United States
| callsign_meaning       = Pax Minnesota
| former_callsigns       = KXLI (1982–1997)
| former_channel_numbers = {{ubl|'''Analog:''' 41 (UHF, 1982–2009)|'''Digital:''' 40 (UHF, until 2018)}}
| owner                  = [[Ion Media]]
| licensee               = Ion Television License, [[LLC]]
| former_affiliations    = {{ubl|[[Independent station|Independent]] (1982–1988)|[[Dark (broadcasting)|Dark]] (1988–1990)|[[Star Television Network]] (1990–1991)|Independent/HSN (1991–1996)|inTV (1996–1998)}}
| erp                    = 470 [[kW]]
| haat                   = {{convert|289.4|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| facility_id            = 35907
| coordinates            = {{coord|45|20|11.9|N|93|23|31.2|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|display=inline, title}}
| licensing_authority    = [[FCC]]
| website                = {{URL|https://iontelevision.com/}} 
}}

'''KPXM-TV''' (channel 41) is a [[television station]] licensed to [[St. Cloud, Minnesota]], United States, broadcasting the [[Ion Television]] network to the [[Minneapolis–Saint Paul]] area. The station is [[owned and operated]] by the [[Ion Media]] subsidiary of the [[E. W. Scripps Company]], and maintains a sales office on 176th Street NW near [[Big Lake, Minnesota|Big Lake]]; its transmitter is located in [[Nowthen, Minnesota]].

KPXM-TV also serves the [[Mankato]] market (via '''K20LP-D''' in nearby [[St. James, Minnesota|St. James]]<ref>[http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=K20LP-D#station RabbitEars - Digital TV Market Listing for K20LP-D]</ref> through the local [[municipal]]-operated Cooperative TV [CTV] network of translators<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://scea.cms.coopwebbuilder2.com/content/cooperative-tv-ctv |title=The Webpage of Cooperative TV (CTV) |access-date=August 16, 2019 |archive-date=October 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024142843/http://scea.cms.coopwebbuilder2.com/content/cooperative-tv-ctv |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://scea.cms.coopwebbuilder2.com/sites/scea/files/PDF/CTV%20CHANNELS%202019.pdf |title=CTV Channel Listing via the Cooperative TV (CTV) Website |access-date=August 16, 2019 |archive-date=October 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008142944/http://scea.cms.coopwebbuilder2.com/sites/scea/files/PDF/CTV%20CHANNELS%202019.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>), as that area does not have an Ion station of its own.

==History==
The station originally signed on the air in 1982 as KXLI ("XLI" is 41 in [[Roman numerals]]). The station branded as "K-41" and showed [[broadcast syndication|syndicated]] fare and [[animated cartoon|cartoons]]. KXLI was also [[simulcast]] on [[KXLT-TV]] channel 47 in [[Rochester, Minnesota|Rochester]], and by the late 1980s, [[Minnesota North Stars]] [[ice hockey|hockey]] broadcasts would also air on the stations.

KXLI and KXLT were owned by Halcomm Inc., whose majority stockholder and president was Dale W. Lang.<ref name=RochPB>{{cite web |url=http://www.postbulletin.com/kxlt-tv-to-return-to-the-airwaves-in-rochester-in/article_4f071f10-48f6-574d-8bac-44e8372f2fbb.html |title=KXLT-TV to return to the airwaves in Rochester in Sept.|publisher=PostBulletin.com |date=July 28, 1990 |access-date=November 22, 2015|quote=Lang and some partners previously tried to put together a Minnesota Independent Network with 11 stations strung from Rochester in the southeast to [[Bemidji]] in the north. However, that network never was organized.}}</ref> Lang was also the chairman of magazine publisher Lang Communications Inc.<ref name=os4>{{cite news|last1=Strother|first1=Susan G.|title=Tv Network Signs Off - Out Of Cash|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1991/01/17/tv-network-signs-off-out-of-cash/|access-date=January 20, 2015|work=Orlando Sentinel|date=January 17, 1991}}</ref> Lang and several partners attempted to create the "Minnesota Independent Network" (MIN) with 11 stations, but this was never realized.<ref name=RochPB />

Lang also made a $9.6 million loan to Halcomm. When KXLI and KXLT closed down in December 1988, Lang called the loan a year later and took possession of the stations.<ref name=RochPB />

In 1989, Lang became the primary investor in a new television network based in [[Orlando, Florida]], the [[Star Television Network]].<ref name=os4 /> KXLT returned on September 29, 1990, again simulcasting KXLI programming as an owned and operated Star station.<!-- weakly indicated at being O&O in "Star also holds a federal permit to build a station in Austin, but has not yet exercised it." --> Both stations were broadcasting 22 hours a day with 10 hours from Star, which consisted of at least four hours of infomercials and eight hours of classic shows under the ''TV Heaven'' banner.<ref name=RochPB/>

Following Star's closure in January 1991,<ref name=os4/> KXLI/KXLT replaced its schedule with [[religious broadcasting|religious]] and infomercial programming, as well as programming from the [[Home Shopping Network]], which continued through their purchase by [[Bud Paxson|Lowell "Bud" Paxson]] in the mid-1990s. Saturday afternoons during this time consisted of local and national hunting programs. Programming originated from the transmitter building during this time in Big Lake.

Once it was decided to bring back the moniker of TV Heaven, money was spent on a new building near the tower. TV Heaven was brought back with programs from the 1950s, '60s, '70s, '80s and some new shows during the '90s. It also had agreements to air programming from an upstart conservative network NET ([[National Empowerment Television]]) run by [[Paul Weyrich]]. To that end, the stations nicknamed themselves the Political News Network. Late evenings were taken up by many different shopping networks.

In 1998, Paxson broke the KXLI/KXLT simulcast by selling KXLT to Shockley Communications, who converted that station into a full-power [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] affiliate for the Rochester–[[Austin, Minnesota|Austin]]–[[Mason City, Iowa|Mason City]] market; that station would replace two Minneapolis-based stations, [[WFTC]] and [[KMSP-TV]], on cable and satellite providers in the Rochester market. Paxson also changed KXLI's callsign to KPXM, and the station would join the Pax TV network (later i: Independent Television and now Ion Television) later in 1998. The station also got a significant technical overhaul, replacing the 1970s-vintage La Kart tape switching equipment. It also moved to a new, much more powerful [[KPXM Tower|tower]] in Big Lake. It is the tallest structure in Minnesota, standing {{convert|1505|ft|m|0|}} tall&mdash;nearly twice as high as the skyscrapers of downtown Minneapolis. The new tower more than doubled the station's coverage area, which was now comparable to those of the major Twin Cities stations.

KPXM originally had a marketing agreement with [[KARE (TV)|KARE]] (channel 11) in which KPXM repeated KARE's evening newscasts [[tape-delayed]] by half an hour, and also repeated KARE's morning show again in the afternoon. Similar arrangements were in place between other Pax and [[NBC]] stations across the country. This agreement ended in June 2005, when Paxson chose to end such agreements for all its stations.

In 2009 and 2012, the FCC authorized the station to move to a tower closer to the Twin Cities tower farm in [[Shoreview]]. However, that facility was never built.

During late May 2018, the station simulcast on RF channel 16 from the Anoka tower shared with radio station [[KQQL]],<ref>[http://www.ubstudios.com/dx/tctv.html Twin Cities DX log]</ref><ref>[https://rabbitears.info/contour.php?appid=25076f9162bbeb9d0162f3b0148a2097&site=1 Rabbitears.Info]</ref> encouraging viewers to re-scan their TVs. This change only affected those who use an antenna to receive KPXM. The station permanently moved to channel 16 on June 1, 2018, as part of the [[Spectrum reallocation|digital television repack]].<ref>[http://northpine.com Upper Midwest Broadcasting]</ref> While both channels were still on the air, viewers saw two identical sets of channels.<ref>
[https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/8asjcg/chchchanges_kpxmtv_minneapolis_market_moving_to Ch-ch-changes. KPXM-TV (Minneapolis market) moving to ch 16 around June 1]</ref> This move forced K16HY-D off the air in the Twin Cities, as that station broadcast from the IDS Center in downtown Minneapolis, and the two stations would interfere with each other. After the repack is complete, [[T-Mobile US|T-Mobile]] will own the spectrum vacated by the station.

== Technical information ==
=== Subchannels ===
The station's signal is [[Multiplex (TV)|multiplexed]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Subchannels of KPXM-TV<ref name="RabbitEars KPXM">{{Cite web|title=RabbitEars TV Query for KPXM|url=https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=KPXM#station|website=[[RabbitEars.info]]|access-date=March 6, 2021}}</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" |41.1
| rowspan=2 |[[720p]]
| rowspan=8 |[[16:9]]
|ION
|[[Ion Television]]
|-
! scope = "row" |41.2
|Bounce
|[[Bounce TV]]
|-
! scope = "row" |41.3
| rowspan=6 |[[480i]]
|Grit
|[[Grit (TV network)|Grit]]
|-
! scope = "row" |41.4
|Mystery
|[[Ion Mystery]]
|-
! scope = "row" |41.5
|Laff
|[[Laff (TV network)|Laff]]
|-
! scope = "row" |41.6
|CourtTV
|[[Court TV]]
|-
! scope = "row" |41.7
|Busted
|[[Free TV Networks|Busted]]
|-
! scope = "row" |41.8
|QVC
|[[QVC]]
|}

===Analog-to-digital conversion===
KPXM-TV shut down its analog signal, over [[UHF]] channel 41, 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 remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 40,<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> using [[virtual channel]] 41.

On June 1, 2018, the station signed off its transmitter on channel 40, relocating to 16 permanently after moving towers.

===Translators===
The broadcast signal of KPXM is extended by way of five digital [[broadcast relay station|translators]] in central and southern Minnesota.

*'''{{FCC-LMS-Facility|59646|3=K34AF-D}}''' [[Alexandria, Minnesota|Alexandria]]
*'''{{FCC-LMS-Facility|182398|3=K30KQ-D}}''' [[Jackson, Minnesota|Jackson]]
*'''{{FCC-LMS-Facility|55447|3=K17BV-D}}''' [[Redwood Falls]]
*'''{{FCC-LMS-Facility|190114|3=K20LP-D}}''' [[St. James, Minnesota|St. James]] {{small|(in the [[Mankato]] market)}}
*'''{{FCC-LMS-Facility|68700|3=K26NU-D}}''' [[Willmar, Minnesota|Willmar]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{Official website|https://iontelevision.com/}}

{{MSP TV}}
{{ION Minnesota}}
{{ION Wisconsin}}
{{Other Wisconsin Stations}}
{{EWS CORP}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kpxm-Tv}}
[[Category:1982 establishments in Minnesota]]
[[Category:Bounce TV affiliates]]
[[Category:Court TV affiliates]]
[[Category:E. W. Scripps Company television stations]]
[[Category:Grit (TV network) affiliates]]
[[Category:Ion Mystery affiliates]]
[[Category:Ion Television affiliates]]
[[Category:Laff (TV network) affiliates]]
[[Category:St. Cloud, Minnesota]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1982]]
[[Category:Television stations in Minneapolis–Saint Paul]]