KXGN-TV
The former studios of KXGN-TV on South Douglas Street in Glendive, Montana | |
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| Channels | |
|---|---|
| Programming | |
| Network | Montana PBS |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner | Montana State University |
| History | |
First air date | November 1, 1957 |
Former channel numbers | Analog: 5 (VHF, 1957–2009) |
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| Technical information | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 24287 |
| ERP | 1 kW |
| HAAT | 152.4 m (500 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 47°2′39″N 104°40′54.4″W / 47.04417°N 104.681778°W |
| Translator(s) | see § Translators |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
KXGN-TV (channel 5) is a PBS member television station in Glendive, Montana, United States. Owned by Montana State University (MSU), it is operated as part of the Montana PBS state network, a joint venture with the University of Montana (UM). KXGN-TV broadcasts from a transmitter site in Makoshika State Park; master control and internal operations are based at the network's headquarters in the Visual Communications Building on the MSU campus in Bozeman.
KXGN-TV is the only television station in Glendive, reckoned as the smallest television market in the United States: Nielsen Media Research ranks it last of the 210 designated market areas for television in the country with 3,900 households. From its 1957 launch until 2025, KXGN-TV was a commercial television station co-owned with KXGN (1400 AM) and KDZN (96.5 FM). Initially an independent, KXGN-TV became a primary CBS affiliate in 1962 and aired news and other programs from KTVQ in Billings and the Montana Television Network. The station's lone local program was a public affairs program covering issues in eastern Montana, though in the past it produced limited local newscasts. Its status as the smallest station in the United States earned it notoriety in the broadcasting industry; over its history, publications including the Los Angeles Times and Sports Illustrated profiled KXGN-TV.
The Marks Group purchased KXGN radio and TV in 1989 from the founding Moore family, and in the 2009 digital television conversion, added NBC on a subchannel. Following the 2022 death of president Stephen Marks, The Marks Group was broken up. KXGN radio and other Marks radio properties in Montana and North Dakota were sold separately from KXGN-TV in 2024, and at the end of that year, local programming and the NBC subchannel were discontinued. KXGN-TV and KYUS-TV in Miles City, the last broadcast properties owned by the Marks estate, were sold to MSU in 2025.