KTVB

• 1. Introduction

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  KTVB, channel 7 in Boise, Idaho, has been on the air since the 12th of July 1953 - longer than any other television station in the state. But the story of how it got there begins with a woman named Georgia Davidson, a radio station called KIDO, and a moment in 1953 when a television pioneer named Philo Farnsworth showed up as a guest of honor at its launch. From a city that had barely seen a television signal, Davidson built something that would outlast her ownership, outlast several corporate empires, and outlast every competitor for the top spot in local news ratings. How does a station born in the early days of broadcasting hold its ground for more than seven decades? And what role did a near-bankruptcy, a satellite studio in Oregon, and a son-in-law's 40-year career play in that story?

• 2. Georgia Davidson and KIDO-TV

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  Georgia Davidson filed with the Federal Communications Commission in March 1952 to build a television station on Boise's allotted channel 7. She was the owner of radio station KIDO, which had held NBC affiliation since 1937. The construction permit was granted on December 23, and the following February workers broke ground on the transmitter site.

  When KIDO-TV signed on from studios at 700 Crestline Drive on the 12th of July 1953, the event drew Philo Farnsworth, a pioneering figure in the development of television, as one of the honored guests. A month before the launch, a competitor had technically beaten KIDO-TV to air. Channel 6, KFXD-TV in Nampa, put out Idaho's first television test pattern on June 18 and started limited programming under special temporary authority not long after. But KFXD-TV had no studios and no network deals; its schedule was old movies, and it folded after less than two months on air.

  KIDO-TV arrived fully formed: studios, network affiliations with CBS, NBC, and DuMont, and actual staff. It was the first station in Idaho to receive a full license. By December of its first year, ABC had also affiliated with KIDO-TV after CBS moved to the newly launched KBOI-TV on channel 2.

  The early years were not easy. Davidson later recalled that she "lived with the spectre of bankruptcy, a very embarrassing bankruptcy, day or night." Financial pressure deepened once Boise became a two-station market. In November 1958, Davidson agreed to sell KIDO radio to the Mesabi Western Corp., using the proceeds to stabilize the television operation. On the 1st of February 1959, channel 7 became KTVB.

• 3. Davidson at NBC Meetings

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  Davidson was for years the only woman sitting at NBC affiliate meetings - surrounded, at one point, by 125 men. She did not let that position stop her from building a station that led the market. Under her ownership, KTVB established itself through the 1960s and into the 1970s as the dominant news outlet in Boise.

  When she sold KTVB to King Broadcasting of Seattle in 1979, Davidson was explicit about her reasoning. She believed the sale was necessary to keep the station operating at a competitive level. Without it, she worried about saddling her family with a large estate tax burden at her death - a burden that would have eaten into KTVB's profits and its ability to reinvest. King Broadcasting formally took over in April 1980. The new owners kept senior management in place but dropped paid religious programming on Sunday mornings, a longstanding policy of the company. Davidson's tenure had spanned the full arc from a tentative FCC application in 1952 to a financially stable, market-leading television station.

• 4. Robert Krueger and News Dominance

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  Robert Krueger, Georgia Davidson's son-in-law, joined what was then still KIDO-TV in 1956. He liked to joke at the time that the station "ranked fifth in a two-station town." He would go on to serve in management for 40 years, long enough to see the station become what one description called the "undisputed ratings king" in the Boise market by 1978, well ahead of rivals KBCI and KIVI.

  KTVB was the first Boise station to offer an hour of local early evening news when it launched Idaho at Five in 1984 at 5 p.m. In 1992, it was first in the market with weekend morning news. By November 2010, each of KTVB's local newscasts drew more viewers than all competing newscasts combined.

  The station's dominance was tied partly to the loyalty of its on-air staff. Dee Sarton anchored Idaho at Five and other early evening programs for nearly 42 years. Her co-anchor Carolyn Holly spent close to 34 years at channel 7. Mark Johnson anchored for 30 years before retiring in 2021. Meteorologist Larry Gebert served the station for 30 years until his death in 2022.

  First on air with news in Idaho was Vern Moore, a KIDO announcer who became the first voice heard on KIDO-TV and the first TV news anchor in the state. The newsroom grew considerably from those origins; as of 2024, KTVB aired 30 hours a week of news and public affairs programming.

• 5. Reaching Beyond Boise

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  On the 18th of December 1963, KTVB received a construction permit to build a satellite station on channel 13 in La Grande, Oregon, northwest of Boise. KTVR went on air on the 6th of December 1964, and initially offered local news for Eastern Oregon from a studio in La Grande. By 1967, KTVB had closed that local operation and turned KTVR into a full-time rebroadcaster.

  In 1974, the Oregon Educational and Public Broadcasting Service made an offer to acquire KTVR for its statewide public television network. KTVB cited a lack of local viewership in La Grande and the availability of NBC signals already coming in from Spokane and Portland. The station took KTVR off the air on the 7th of March 1975, while the deal was pending. The station did not return under new public ownership until February 1977.

  The La Grande move was not KTVB's first contribution to public broadcasting. When Sesame Street debuted in 1969, Idaho had no public television station. KTVB aired the program because there was simply nowhere else to see it in the state. Then in 1971, KTVB provided its transmitter site and engineering resources to help launch KAID-TV on channel 4 in Boise.

  Extending coverage to Twin Falls had been a goal almost from the beginning. Plans dating to 1955 involved a potential channel 13 outlet there, and in 1974 the station considered building a translator in the city. Renewed efforts under King Broadcasting led to the debut of K38AS on the 1st of July 1986 - the first low-power station in the United States to affiliate with NBC. KTFT-LD, as it is now known, inserts local advertising for the Magic Valley area and maintains a local sales office on Nielsen Point Place in Twin Falls.

• 6. Corporate Ownership and the Digital Era

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  King Broadcasting put itself up for sale in 1990. Its majority owners, Patsy Bullitt Collins and Harriet Stimson Bullitt, daughters of company founder Dorothy Bullitt, had reached the age where succession became the pressing concern. The Providence Journal Company made an offer that was accepted in 1991, with the transaction closing in 1992.

  Under Providence Journal, KTVB joined the new Northwest Cable News regional channel when it launched in 1995, with a dedicated reporter based in Boise. The Belo Corporation then purchased Providence Journal in 1996. Gannett acquired Belo on the 23rd of December 2013, after an announcement the previous June. Gannett's television stations separated from its newspapers in 2015 under the Tegna name. Nexstar Media Group announced its acquisition of Tegna in August 2025 and completed the transaction in March 2026.

  At the end of October 2003, KTVB launched 24/7 NewsChannel on its second digital subchannel, one of the first digital secondary subchannels in the country. The service began with time-shifted newscasts and feature programs, and later aired a dedicated 6:30 p.m. newscast and 7 a.m. morning news extension. More recently the subchannel has carried local sports, including for the 2023-24 season a package of Boise State Broncos men's basketball games and Idaho Steelheads minor league hockey.

  KTVB began broadcasting a digital signal on UHF channel 26 on the 1st of November 2002. When the federal mandate brought full-power stations off analog on the 12th of June 2009, KTVB shut down its VHF channel 7 analog signal and subsequently moved its digital signal back to channel 7 for post-transition operations. In 2020, the station debuted the midday lifestyle program Idaho Today and reformatted its 5 p.m. news as the interactive The 208.