KFYR TV - Fifty years ago, on December 19, 1953, KFYR-TV became Bismarck’s first television station; a beacon of broadcasting in the rural heartland and “A new medium”, in the words of Etta Hoskins Meyer, “in which so much can be done – things never before possible.”

By the early 1950’s, it was finally possible to think that soon, North Dakotans would be able to watch their own television stations. The Federal Communications Commission awarded television licenses by market size, so the smaller, usually rural markets had to wait their turn. In the major metropolitan areas, television broadcasts were beginning to take hold and threatening to elbow radio aside. For North Dakota, television’s arrival was just a matter of time.

By the early ‘50’s television wasn’t exactly new, but it was far from the widespread, pervasive influence it is today. NBC had even managed a crude television broadcast in 1939. The Federal Communications Commission actually approved commercial television broadcasts in 1940. The trouble was most Americans thought it might be a passing fancy. They certainly weren’t going to shell out good money for a “talking picture box” when radio worked just fine. And when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the predicted rapid growth of television came to a sudden halt. The nation geared up for war and television would just have to wait.

By 1945, the electronics industry that had been diverted by the war effort was ready to meet the future and that meant television. By the end of the 1940’s, over 30million American homes had a television. It wasn’t until live pictures with sound could be broadcast from “coast to coast” that television really took off. When viewers in New York and Los Angeles could see the same broadcast, networks were born. But networks needed outlets for their programs and local television stations were the key. As fast as they could be built, local stations were ready to sprout up in every major town in America.

KFYR-TV was one of three television stations to go on the air in 1953, and the first station to broadcast in Bismarck. In April of 1953, KCJB-TV went on the air in Minot followed almost immediately by WDAY-TV in Fargo. KFYR-TV was the latest expansion of the Meyer family in the growing broadcasting industry. Starting with KFYR-AM radio in 1925, the Meyer family: P.J. Meyer and his wife Etta Hoskins Meyer and, later Etta’s daughter Marietta and her husband William Ekberg, had the expertise and the foresight to forge into television. It was not an easy task.

In the fall of 1953, if your family was fortunate enough to own a television set and if you were, as it is polite to say, “Of a certain age”, you might have watched The Milton Berle Show, sponsored by Buick on NBC every Tuesday night at 8 PM. It was the most watched show of its time. Did you know that This is Your Life, a game show staple for decades, was a popular draw, right after The Kraft Television Theater on Wednesday nights? As for weekend fare, perhaps you watched The Goodyear/Philco Television Playhouse, which was followed by a show called Letter to Loretta every Sunday night. All these programs were available on the NBC network in late 1953. KFYR-TV signed on the air December 19 th of that year – a Saturday. On subsequent Saturdays, viewers could sing a long with Your Hit Parade. But in the beginning days of KFYR-TV, the programming was produced live or on film.

Before any of those shows could be seen on a ghostly, flickering black-and-white set (color didn’t come to network television until 1954 and as late as 1956, Time magazine was calling color television “a flop”), KFYR-TV had to erect a tower, acquire a transmitter and antennae, purchase equipment and train a staff in the demands of broadcasting a television signal. It was a daunting task. The Meyer family’s expertise with radio proved invaluable. Ivar Nelson was the Chief Engineer when the transmitter crackled and hummed to life seven days before Christmas in 1953.

KFYR-TV kept up with the times. In 1955, the station established a microwave system and in 1964 the giant 1,101 foot tower at St. Anthony became operational, vastly improving KFYR-TV’s signal to hundreds of viewers in the outlying areas. By then, towns large and small in western North Dakota could watch news director Jack Swenson, sports director Doug Anderson and I.E. Solberg, forever known as “Esky the Weather Wizard” deliver the day’s news-live-twice a day.

The KFYR-TV anchor team quickly became welcome guests in our homes. Fifty years later, viewers still rely on KFYR-TV for vital local news, weather and sports. KFYR-TV and its satellite stations KMOT-TV in Minot, KQCD-TV in Dickinson and KUMV-TV in Williston combined to make Meyer Broadcasting a powerhouse group of stations. The strength and reach of the Meyer Television Network made it number one in the ratings in western North Dakota since the beginning of local ratings. The stations have remained number one in local news ever since. Our experienced news staff ensures that we live up to the slogan “The News Leader” with more than three and a half hours of live local news each day, more local news than is available anywhere else. We remain the only broadcasting company to employ local news reporters at all of our western North Dakota stations. The Emmy Award for Best Local Newscast presented to KFYR-TV by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2002 was just the latest in a series of competitive awards recognizing the station’s commitment to its community.

KFYR-TV is proud to serve the Bismarck area and all of western North Dakota. With a sense of history and a profound respect for the broadcast pioneers who built the station, we know the first fifty years have provided a roadmap to even greater success in the future for our station and our talented staff.