KREX-TV
Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is a sister station to low-power, Class A MyNetworkTV affiliate KGJT-CD, channel 27 (which KREX-TV simulcasts on its third digital subchannel); Nexstar also operates Fox affiliate KFQX (channel 4) under a shared services agreement (SSA) with owner Mission Broadcasting.Howell had built the Art Deco and block glass structure in 1931 for the radio station, but expanded it to two stories to accommodate television.[3] In 1956, Howell moved the KFXJ calls to a newly opened satellite station on channel 10 in Montrose, some 65 miles (105 km) south of Grand Junction.In 1965, Howell acquired then-shuttered KJFL-TV (channel 6) in Durango, Colorado, and changed its call letters to KREZ-TV, becoming the second satellite station for KREX-TV.In 1984, his heirs sold off his broadcasting empire, earning a handsome return on Rex's original investment of 58 years prior.Additionally, for the early part of its history, KJCT was a semi-satellite of fellow ABC affiliate KRDO-TV in Colorado Springs.KREX-TV relocated its analog transmitter to the Black Ridge electronics site at the Colorado National Monument west of Grand Junction in 2002.It is now KNZZ, the top-rated radio station in the market, and transmits from Whitewater, a desert community 12 miles (19 km) south of Grand Junction.In addition to the losses of equipment and infrastructure, decades of file tapes were lost in the fire, as well as irreplaceable photographs and other archival material, wiping out a comprehensive catalog of the Grand Valley's history.[9] The KREX news division moved into temporary quarters at the PBS broadcasting studio at Western Colorado Community College, and staff also worked directly from their homes.As of mid-March, KREX and KFQX both began carrying a full slate of network and syndicated programming, and local news.[16] KREG was sold to Weigel Broadcasting in the winter of 2020, and has been repositioned via its cable and satellite carriage as a Denver-area station for its various popular subchannel networks.Eventually, the cost of supplying a 270-mile (430 km) microwave link to Durango plus the relatively small revenue base led to the sale of KREZ in 1995.KREG had previously operated as standalone independent station KCWS for five months in 1984; after going dark for two years, it returned to the air as a satellite of KREX in 1987.