FORT WORTH/DALLAS, Texas—In the run-up to NBC 5/KXAS’s 75th anniversary celebration on Sept. 27, the station has released a long list of broadcasting and tech firsts that the station has been involved in since its launch on Sept. 27, 1948. 

Those firsts include being the first television station to go on the air in the state of Texas and the entire Southwest. In addition the new station was the first facility in the nation specifically designed for television production and broadcasting, the station reported. 

A detailed history of the station’s 75 years can be found at NBCDFW.com.

The station’s first broadcast featured a visit by President Harry S. Truman, who was campaigning in Fort Worth. Since that first broadcast, the station reported that NBC 5 has played a significant role in the development and evolution of television and local news coverage in North Texas. Notable firsts and milestones include:

• First television station to go on the air in the State of Texas and the Southwest
• First facility in the nation to be specifically designed for television production and broadcasting
• First live local news report in 1948
• First live local sports in 1948
• First local station weather center in the United States in 1949
• First color broadcast in Texas in 1954
• First color tape recorder in Texas in 1959
• First all-color news film in 1966
• First 30-minute local TV news magazine program “Texas ‘70s” in 1970
• First live intercontinental satellite report in 1977
• First Texas station to debut closed-captioning newscast for deaf and hearing-impaired viewers in 1989
• First commercial TV station to offer full online computer access in 1995
• First Southwest station to offer viewers news delivered via email in 1997
• First Texas station to air a live sporting event via High-Definition Television (HDTV) in 1997
• First TV station in Texas to have its own S-Band radar in 2016
• First TV station in Texas to use geographic overlay technology with the news helicopter in 2018

“NBC 5 continues to empower our audience using the highest journalistic ethics and standards,” said Tony Canales, president and GM of NBC 5 and Telemundo 39. “The station remains a broadcasting leader in delivering to our viewers the very best in programming and local, national and international news coverage, highlighted by an unwavering commitment to community service.”

Every Friday this month, NBC 5 News at 4 pm will air stories looking back at different aspects of the station’s history, including the evolution of news, news technology, weather forecasting, investigative journalism, community impact efforts, and a conversation with the first female general talk show host in the Southwest, Bobbie Wygant. These stories can also be found on the station’s streaming platforms. 

KXAS is now co-located in NBCUniversal Local’s state-of-the-art facility in Fort Worth alongside its sister station Telemundo 39/KXTX. As a leading multiplatform news provider for North Texans, KXAS and KXTX make up the largest dual-language television newsroom in DFW market, informing audiences in English and Spanish, the stations said. 

Together, the stations produce more hours of local daily news than any other station on the market. 

Both stations are owned by NBCUniversal. 

BELLEVUE, WASH.—T-Mobile, which is incentivizing broadcasters to exit their spectrum early in the post-incentive auction repack, has incentivized NBC-owned KXAS-TV Dallas-Forth Worth to vacate its spectrum by the end of May, a year earlier than its repack transition deadline for moving to new spectrum.

T-Mobile said the early exit will allow it to advance LTE coverage and capacity in Paris, Sulphur Springs, Tyler, Waco and Wichita Falls, Texas, as well as surrounding areas.

“We are pleased to work with T-Mobile and transition to our new frequency assignment one year ahead of schedule,” added KXAS president and GM Tom Ehlmann. “We will be informing viewers about the transition on-air, on our website, and through social media in the coming months.”

T-Mobile was the biggest winner in the broadcast incentive auction, bidding $8 billion for 1,525 licenses. But in addition to ponying up that money to broadcasters, it has been sweetening the pot for stations willing to give up those licenses earlier than they have to by covering the "reasonable costs" of early moves.

[T-Mobile to Foot Repack Cost for Displaced Public LPTVs]

For example, last October, T-Mobile struck a deal with Fox to speed the post-incentive auction repack for Fox TV stations, cutting 16 months off the Fox stations' repack timetable and reducing Fox's take from the FCC's $1.75 billion repack fund, which will run out of money unless Congress ups the fund, as it has signaled it will do.

As part of that deal, WWOR-TV New York (Secaucus, N.J.) is transitioning more than a year ahead of the FCC's August 2019 deadline for its repack.

T-Mobile has also volunteered to pay for affected low-power stations to move to temporary channels and struck a deal last year with noncommercial stations to pay to move their translators.

Combining the lower band 600-MHz spectrum reclaimed from broadcasters with high-band millimeter spectrum is part of a Jack Spratt approach to 5G, with 600 MHz covering a wide range and higher frequencies handling short range in high-density areas.

Jeff Baumgartner contributed to this report.

This story first appeared on TVT's sister publication B&C.

For more information on the repack, visit TV Technology's repack silo.