The station call letters, KPFA, stood for The Peoples Forum of the Air.  Barclay Craighead was President of the Corporation, other members included Ed Craney of Butte, Vice President and S. C. Ford of Helena, Treasurer.   Kenneth O. “KO” Mcpherson of Butte became Manager.

    Mr. Craney owned station  KGIR Radio in Butte.  In 1939 station KRBM in Bozeman was added.  It was run by Ernest Neath.  The three stations, all affiliated with NBC,  were known as the Z-Bar Network.  They were linked together by telephone circuits, and received national programming from the flagship station in Butte.  Two more stations, KXLK Great Falls, and KXLL in Missoula joined the group.

     In 1945 Craney received permission from the FCC to change all the station call letters to the“XL” designation.  KPFA in Helena became KXLJ.  Butte’s KGIR became KXLF.  In Bozeman, KRBM became KXLQ.  They, along with KXLY-Spokane, KXLE-Ellensburg snd KXL in Portland became the "XL" Network.

    That same year, Craney formed the Pacific Northwest Broadcasters (PNB) with the assistance of James Manning who handled Regional advertising campaigns.

Control Room of KXLJ -

1946

Note the NBC Chimes under

the turntable.

      KXLJ-TV came on the air Wednesday January 1, 1958.  Barclay Craighead, a

stockholder and manager of KXLJ Radio was President of the newly incorporated

Capital City Television.    

     That was a day one announcer would likely never forget.  As the story goes, he was hosting the first live broadcast on KXLJ-TV.  Understandably, the man was a bit nervous. When it came time for him to introduce Station Manager Barclay Craighead to the viewers, he accidentally referred to his boss as “Craigley Barkhead”.  Although we’ve not been able to verify this story, it has been told often enough that it has become a part of the station legend.  It was our first (of many) Bloopers.

"I also remember when they'd open the big doors of the KXLJ Quonset, and televise a parade of used cars driving through the studio, while Ralph Anderson of Capital Ford gave out with glowing descriptions and low low prices. They'd even do it when it was snowing,and the cars would be all wet and slushy.

     I can recall some of the early Helena TV personalites: Bob Ruby, Blair Morrison, Bob Norris ("Breakfast With Bob & Blair"), Al Johnson, Doug Sutherland, Terry Bass, Wally Peel...

     It was quite an era."

TEST PATTERN

     WHEN TELEVISION WAS NEW, IT WAS NOT UNUSUAL FOR PEOPLE TO GATHER IN FRONT OF A TV SET AND ACTUALLY WATCH THE TEST PATTERN.

     It should be noted here that in 1950, KXLJ Radio was awarded the Prestigious Peabody Award, the highest award in radio, for its program Legislative Highlights, coverage of Montana’s 31st Legislative Assembly.  It was the first time any station in the Rocky Mountain region had won such an award.

  The Federal Communications Commission authorized and licensed microwave channels which allowed cable television to grow rapidly in the 1950’s.  These CATV (Community Antenna Television) systems went unchecked by the FCC.  Commissioners felt that the developing Cable industry was out of its jurisdiction. 

   The Helena station had been on the air for a little more than a year when the competing cable company brought in signals from two Spokane Stations, KHQ and KREM. 

   Up to that point KXLJ TV had been showing some improvement in revenue through the sale of advertising. 

    The Spokane stations duplicated some of the programming on KXLJ.  Some shows aired on the Spokane stations before they aired in Helena.  Other shows that aired first in Helena were shown later on the Spokane stations.  Local businesses became reluctant to spend their advertising dollars on KXLJ when many of the same programs were on the cable system.  With the duplication of programming, they had no guarantee that local residents would see their ads. 

    It was difficult for the local station to compete with the multi-channel cable system.  Capital City Television (KXLJ) asked the FCC for a hearing on the matter.  That request was refused, and the case, Capital City Television Inc. v Federal Communications Commission went to the Court of Appeals in Washington DC.

     The Federal Communications Commission had also closed all new VHF booster stations and directed all existing VHF Boosters to shut down by June 30, 1959.  That prevented KXLJ-TV from expanding its coverage area.

    On January 30th of 1959, KXLJ-TV requested permission from the FCC to suspend operation.  Permission was granted, and on January 31, 1959, the station went off the air.

     In a letter to the FCC, Craighead stated that the Z-Bar Network was willing to loan more money to KXLJ-TV if the case against the Commission was decided in the stations favor.  He further stated that it would be foolish for a small market station like Helena to pump more money into a losing proposition created by a change in rules that allowed microwave channels to feed CATV systems.  He advised them that if and when there was a return to the same rules that existed when the Helena station was granted a Construction Permit, KXLJ-TV would borrow internally and resume operation immediately.

  In July of 1959 a Federal Court injunction blocked the FCC order that would have removed the Spokane channels from the cable system. 

  The U. S.  9th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a temporary injunction that allowed the cable company to continue relaying signals from Spokane until at least August 4th.  KXLJ said it would return to the air when the out of state channels were removed,  

  The Spokane signals were stopped when The Court of Appeals vacated their temporary injunction on August 6, 1959.  KXLJ returned to the air that evening at 6:57PM.

  In 1961 Craney sold the Z-Bar Network to   Joseph Sample.  The sale   included KXLF Radio and TV in Butte,  and  KXLJ- AM and KXLJ-TV in Helena.   

   Sample  then sold the Helena stations to the local   Cable

Company, Helena TV Incorporated  for $300,000.

   The new owners were Bob Magness, Paul B. McAdam and J. L. McLaughlin of Great Falls and W. L. Piehl of Helena.  Other major stockholders were E. E. Palmquist and E. J. Palmquist.  Magness owned and operated the Cable system in Bozeman, and later created TC I Cable.  McAdam owned the Park Theatre and KPRK Radio in Livingston.  At one time he owned and operated the Rio Theatre in Helena.  Magness and McAdam were major stockholders in Western Microwave, the company that brought television signals from Salt Lake City to Helena.  Piehl owned an appliance business, Polar Refridgeration in Helena.

  Piehl said “The purchase reflects the confidence of the owners of the cable company in the future growth and prosperity of Helena, and reflects their desire to make the television and radio service more responsive to the needs of the community.  It will also enable the residents of Helena and the vicinity to exercise a choice of live television network programs similar to that enjoyed by people in other parts of the country.  We intend to provide for cable subscribers not only the Spokane signals formerly received on the cable, but also the programs broadcast by CBS television station KXLY-TV, Spokane and the local station KXLJ-TV.”

   Change of ownership brought a change in call letters. The stations became KBLL Radio and KBLL–TV.   

   Why K-B-L-L??? 

  On the air, announcers pronounced KBLL as Cable.  Listeners would hear the phrase “Cable Radio” many times throughout the broadcast day. 

     In 1962 an application was filed with the FCC for the sale of KBLL Radio and TV to Capital City Television, Incorporated, a new corporation headed by McAdam, Magness, and W. L. Piehl.  . 

  In April of 1968 the FCC approved the sale of KBLL Radio and TV to Governor Tim Babcock and W. L. Holter of Glasgow.  That deal fell through when Holter decided not to buy.       

         In September of that year Babcock filed an amended application to purchase a majority of stock from Paul NcAdam and A. W. Scribner.

    In December of 1969, Tim and Betty Babcock announced plans to build the Colonial Motor Hotel and Supper Club on the east edge of town.  Upon completion, KBLL Radio was moved to the mezzanine of the Colonial.    It was thought that the TV station would relocate to the Colonial as well, but that didn't’ happen.

      The Radio Station was sold to Holter Broadcasting in 1973.

   In the beginning, all our broadcasts were in black

and white.  Big cities had Color TV, but we did not.   In those early days there was a device that simulated a color picture.  It was a blue, red and green plastic film that attached to the TV screen.

   The blue field represented the sky, the red tinted the area where people were most likely to appear,  and the green band colored the bottom of the screen where one might expect to see grass.  As you can imagine, there were limitations but they actually did enhance TV viewing. 

     We had one color camera in the studio.

     It was an RCA TK 42.  The camera itself weighed 300 pounds.

    The very large pedestal it was mounted on is still being used in our studio today. 

    Above, Nancy Goodspeed at the weather board.  In the shadows, a cameraman

operates the massive RCA Camera.

     In August of 1975 KTCM received permission from the FCC to increase its power from 970 watts to 251,000 watts.  The station transmitter at the Montana Avenue location was replaced with a new one that was located on top of Hogback Mountain north of town.  It was estimated there would be 350,000 people in the coverage area that would encompass 22,000 square miles.  At the time it was the largest coverage area in Montana.  This was a huge step forward.

   To the left, our Transmitter site high atop Hogback Mountain  North of Helena.