KGBT-DT

:For the real-life Antenna TV/MyNetworkTV affiliate, see on Wikipedia. 
KGBT-DT (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Harlingen, Texas, United States, serving as the Spanish-language Univision network outlet for the Lower Rio Grande Valley. It is owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision alongside low-power, Class A UniMás outlet KGBF-LD (channel 64). Both stations share studios on West Expressway (I-2/US 83) in Harlingen, while KGBT-TV's transmitter is located in La Feria, Texas.
KGBT-TV was the first television station established on the American side of the Rio Grande Valley and is the oldest still in operation.
==History==
KGBT-TV's history goes back to the 1941 establishment of KGBS radio, an independent radio station with a staff of eleven people. The station was owned by the Harbenito Broadcasting Company, controlled by former Valley Morning Star publisher McHenry Tichenor, and became an affiliate of the NBC Radio Network in 1943.
The first television station in the market was XELD-TV (channel 7); founded in 1951, it served as an end-run around the Federal Communications Commission's freeze on television license grants. Once this was lifted in 1952, the radio stations on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande got their opportunity to pursue television stations of their own. On May 20, 1953, Magic Triangle Televisors, Inc., an affiliate of KGBS, was granted a construction permit for channel 4.
On October 4, 1953, KGBS-TV made its debut with NBC television programming. The call letters were changed to KGBT-TV on December 9, though the new designation was not used until the start of 1954, when the radio station also became KGBT. In 1957, channel 2 started and picked up the NBC affiliation from KGBT, resulting in them becoming the primary ABC affiliate, which lasted for over 20 years
Channel 4 remained under Tichenor ownership for more than 50 years and was the traditional ratings leader in the Rio Grande Valley for news. However, as Tichenor's broadcasting empire became specialized in Spanish-language radio, KGBT-TV became an outlier, which eventually became a burden for Tichenor as KRVJ and XELD-TV were catching up to them in the ratings. 
===Network affiliation switch===
In 1977, KGBT-TV's status as an outlier all changed when the Rio Grande Valley market went through a major affiliation switch following ABC's push to attract stronger affiliates throughout the United States. ABC had become the highest-rated broadcast television network in the United States for the first time; the network wanted a stronger affiliate in the Rio Grande Valley than KGBT, a station they believed weren't fully committed to the network long-term. They managed to lure KRVJ, then a NBC affiliate, to be the Rio Grande Valley's new ABC affiliate, forcing NBC to look for other stations to affiliate with. 
There were rumors KGBT would be affiliated with NBC, but Tichenor declined their offer, leaving them going to KLEY-TV (now KGN-TV), a bilingual independent at the time, to offer them a NBC affiliation, which they accepted. The three-way affiliation switch occurred on May 1, 1978, the affiliation switch took place, with KGBT switching from an ABC affiliate to a full-fledged affiliate of the Spanish International Network. Meanwhile, KRVJ switched from NBC to ABC and KLEY switched from being a bilingual independent to NBC as well as changing their call letters to KGN-TV. This affiliation switch effectively put KGBT-TV in line with its radio sister stations by airing Spanish-language programming as well as marking Tichenor's entrance in the Spanish-language television industry, accompanying their already-existing radio business.
===First years as a Spanish-language station===
During the stations first years as a SIN affiliate, KGBT-TV quickly returned to their position as the highest-rated station in the market, even beating out then-market leader KRVJ. This made them become one of SIN's (later Univision) strongest affiliates outside of their owned-and-operated stations. the strongest In 1981, the Harbenito Broadcasting Company rebranded as Tichenor Media System. A few years later, in 1987, SIN relaunched as Univision.
===Univision ownership===
The Tichenor family's media holdings, later renamed the Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation, were acquired by Univision in 2003 in a $3 billion merger, ending 50 years of Tichenor ownership of KGBT-TV.
==Local programming==
===News operation===
KGBT presently broadcasts 14½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week. In September 2010, KGBT started broadcasting local news in high definition.
On March 27, 2015, the station axed its morning newscast for a regionalized morning newscast titled Noticias Texas Primera Edición that would air on Univision stations in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Central Texas, and the Rio Grande Valley. Univision restored separate morning newscasts to the six Texas stations in 2019.
On December 24, 2023, Univision announced it will launch 5 new local Sunday morning political affairs talk shows incorporating the Al Punto name in Texas, expanding upon their pre-existing public affairs show on KUND, Al Punto DFW. Al Punto Texas Sur will air on Univision's affiliates in San Antonio, Corpus Christi, the Rio Grande Valley, and Laredo, Al Punto Houston will air on KUNH, Al Punto Texas Central will air on Univision's affiliates in Austin, Waco-Killeen-Temple, and the Brazos Valley, Al Punto Texas Oeste will air on Univision's affiliates in El Paso, the Permian Basin, Abilene, and San Angelo, and Al Punto Mango de Texas will air on Univision's affiliates in Amarillo and Lubbock. All 6 of these programs premiered on January 14, 2024.
==News/Station presentation==
===Newscast titles===
*Eyewitness News (1967–1973)
*Four Star News (1973–1976)
*NewsCenter 4 (1976–1978)
*NotiCentro 4 (1978–2003)
*Noticias 4 (2003–present)
===News themes===
*Turning Point - Mark Haffner Music (2003–2006)
*Univision 2006 (2006–2012)
*Univision - GrooveWorx (2012–2021)
*Univision 2021 News Theme (2021–present)
== Gallery ==
File:KGBT-TV 4 1990.png|KGBT-TV logo from 1990 to 2000
File:KGBT-TV 4 2000 with Univision Logo.png|KGBT-TV logo from 2000 to 2003 with the Univision logo
File:KGBT-TV 4 2000 Newscast.png|KGBT-TV "NotiCentro 4" newscast logo from 2000-2003
Category:TelevisaUnivision
Category:Rio Grande Valley
Category:Harlingen, Texas
Category:Brownsville, Texas
Category:McAllen, Texas
Category:Texas
Category:Television channels and stations established in 1953
Category:Channel 4
Category:Univision network affiliates
Category:Univision owned and operated stations
Category:True Crime Network subchannel-only affiliated stations
Category:Ion Mystery subchannel-only affiliated stations
Category:Former NBC affiliates
Category:Former ABC affiliates