KCND-TV
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- For the existing public radio station in Bismarck, North Dakota, please see KCND.
| KCND-TV | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Pembina, North Dakota | |
| Branding | KCND 12 |
| Slogan | "Your Good Neighbor Station" ("Serving Manitoba, Minnesota and North Dakota") |
| Channels | Analog: 12 |
| Affiliations | ABC NBC (secondary) |
| Owner | Gordon McLendon |
| Founded | 1959-1975 (as KCND) 1975-present (as CKND) |
| Call letters’ meaning | K Canada North Dakota (Pembina is located near the United States–Canada border) |
| Former callsigns | currently CKND in Winnipeg and used for KCND-FM in Bismarck |
KCND was the call letters of a television station in Pembina, North Dakota, announced on February 20, 1959[1], and signed on November 7, 1960[2] on channel 12. The station was established by Gordon McLendon, a Texas broadcaster who was in the habit of writing editorials which were read on-air by personalities at his station.
The FCC approved construction of the station, in March 1959, which the spokesman (Community Radio Corporation's) Robert Lukkason said would cost $150,000 to build. It would be a "branch" of currently defunct KNOX-TV in Grand Forks, but would have its own studios.[3]
At the original announcement of the station in 1959, the plan was to errect the antenna atop a 300 foot mast. However, this plan changed and one of the tallest broadcast transmitters in North America would be constructed — 1450 feet — 100' short of the height of the Empire State Building in New York.
KCND operated as a semi-independent station. It was affiliated with both NBC and ABC for periods but never showed all of either network's schedule. It carried The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson until 1967 when Fargo NBC affiliate WDAY opened a satellite station, WDAZ, in Devils Lake-Grand Forks serving the northern part of the Red River Valley. KCND also had offices on Portage Avenue in Winnipeg.
In November 1963, KCND added an additional microwave relay path to Minneapolis (via Fargo), to help provide a good quality signal if the primary link was experiencing "network trouble".[4]
Soon after WDAZ went on air, in early 1967, KCND lost its NBC affiliation. Thereafter, it carried about half of the ABC primetime lineup (which was in those days the number 3 and usually ignominious network) and showed very low budget syndicated programming (e.g., series like "Felony Squad" that had run for one or two seasons years earlier) and movies the rest of the time.
KCND was purchased by Winnipeg, Manitoba lawyer Israel Asper in 1974 with plans to relocate to Winnipeg. The Canadian government was displeased with the existence of "border stations" which, while nominally American, existed primarily to broadcast U.S. content into major Canadian markets in competition with local broadcasters (and without the Canadian content that Canadian TV stations were and are required by law to provide). Accordingly, the government amended the Income Tax Act to curtail the tax deductability of advertising expenditures incurred by Canadian businesses in the U.S. media. In the case of KCND, this measure threatened to eliminate the significant portion of its advertising revenue that originated in Winnipeg and brought about the demise of the station.
KCND's signal in Winnipeg went off for the final time on Sunday August 31st, 1975 at 8:30 p.m., and CKND signed on for the first time at 9:00 p.m. on over-the-air channel 9 and cable channel 12 with the program "Introducing CKND." KCND stayed on the air to televise the "Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon" in its entirety, but the signal stayed only in the Pembina area. KCND signed off permanently after the telethon on Monday September 1st at 5:30 p.m.[citation needed]
This was the beginning of Asper's career as a media mogul, which culminated in his owning most of the large daily newspapers in Canada and TV stations in nearly every province.
The first official broadcast on CKND was the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, which began at 9:30 p.m. on August 31st and was shown until Monday September 1st at 5:30 p.m.[5]
Ten years after CKND replaced KCND, another channel 12 station from Pembina, KNRR 12 announced its intention to broadcast, signed on in 1986 and became affiliated with the Fox television network and a satellite of KVRR 15 in Fargo.[6]
[edit] Logos
 KCND-TV logo early 1960s |
 KCND logo early 1970s |
[edit] KCND-TV personalities
- Dick Vincent - on-air host during the whole history of the station. He would later move to CKND along with the station. Previously worked as an announcer on CJOB.
[edit] References
- ^ "Outside aerial needed", Winnipeg Tribune, February 20, 1959.
- ^ "Pembina on the air", Winnipeg Tribune, November 7, 1960.
- ^ "TV Shows Soon From Across Border", Winnipeg Tribune, March 13, 1959, p. 1.
- ^ Noble, Bob. "KCND Trouble Shooting", Winnipeg Free Press - TV-Radio, November 16, 1963.
- ^ Dulmage, Bill (January 2007). Television Station History:CKND. Canadian Communications Foundation. Retrieved on 2007-09-02.
- ^ "New U.S. station riles CKND", Winnipeg Free Press, July 20, 1985.
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