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CBS 42, more commonly known as KEYE-TV, launched in 1982 as KBVO, an independent, before becoming an inaugural Fox affiliate. In 1995, Channel 42 switched networks with KTBC, becoming KEYE, a CBS affiliate. CBS bought the station in 1999; KEYE is currently being sold off to Cerebrus Capital Management, the company which also recently bought the Chrysler automobile company.

Whatever Happened To...

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Kristine Kahanek has been working the radars in Dallas recently, first at WFAA 8 and now as Chief Met at KTVT CBS 11. She was named Best Meteorologist 2005 by D Magazine. (Image: cbs11tv.com)

It's nice to be first, and KTBC boasts a lot of them in its over 50-year history. From being the first television station in Austin to having the first mobile news unit in the city, Channel 7 definitely has made its mark on the capital city. Heck, it's more often than not the first channel your cable or satellite provider has on its listings.

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KTBC signed on the air Thanksgiving Day 1952, with a UT football game. As the first television station in the city, Channel 7 was able to pick and choose programming offered by all three of the broadcast networks at the time--NBC, CBS, and DuMont. When the latter eventually shut down and ABC took to the air, KTBC was able to program from their schedules too.

KTBC finally settled on the CBS network when a newcomer, KHFI-TV, entered the market and signed up to carry NBC exclusively. 7 was arguably still the leader even with this new competition, thanks in no small part to their local productions, including 'The Uncle Jay Show,' a weekday afternoon mix of cartoons and in-studio games for area children presented by namesake Jay Hodgson.

KTBC also had the money to invest in then-state of the art newsgathering equipment, but not necessarily the space to put it. In a tour of the studios given by Cactus Pryor (which can now be seen on MyFoxAustin.com) viewers can see a range of AP and Teletype wire service printers, meticulously placed and monitored by a staff of one... in a space about the size of a modern day walk-in closet.

Also used by both KTBC Television and Radio was Red Rover, a station wagon-esque vehicle equipped to handle any breaking news story and transport the reporter to the scene as quickly as possible. No other story made Red Rover so vital to Austin television than on August 1, 1966. Neal Spelce reported from the UT campus as sniper Charles Whitman fired randomly at innocent people from the top of the university clock tower. At times, he crouched behind the doors of Red Rover to give eyewitness accounts of the shootings and subsequent police efforts to take Whitman down. After the firing stopped and Whitman killed by Austin police, Neal Spelce returned to KTBC studios to deliver a special report, seen that night across the country.

Channel 7 had been founded by Lady Bird Johnson, and the Johnson family continued to own the station for some time, but eventually sold KTBC off. Several ownership changes down the line, a merger would cause Austin TV to change forever.

Argyle Television, owners of KTBC in 1994, announced plans to merge with New World Television, and as a result, KTBC would drop CBS and switch to the younger and 'hipper' Fox network. The switch date was set to July 1, 1995. At midnight that summer's day, KTBC aired a Fox-branded episode of "Tales From the Crypt." The change was official. Austin TV history had been rewritten.

New World eventually sold off KTBC and a large portion of its other television stations to the Fox network directly, making Fox 7 a network O&O, fully owned and operated by Fox. Today, that ownership is made clear with their website, MyFoxAustin, a cookie-cutter style website all Fox owned stations now use.

Currently on plan for KTBC is a change of logo and possibly a new studio, as all Fox stations now use a graphics and set package made specifically to unify their look.