KIDR

KIDR is a television station that serves the Missoula, Montana broadcast area broadcasting on digital UHF channel 4. Although it is officially an Independent station, it is simulcasted via a national network featuring the same "KIDR Channel 4" name, programming, and format. As of June 2014, KIDR is available on cable, satellite, and terrestrial providers in all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories.

History
The station first signed on the air on January 31, 1986, operating as a religious independent station. Some of the shows that initially aired on the station were Catholic programs from the Irondale-based Eternal Word Television Network, as well as programming from the Southern Baptist Convention's ACTS Network. The station struggled at first against Fox affiliate KMSO (channel 9). Due to poor ratings, it began airing home shopping programming and infomercials with religious shows being relegated to part of the broadcast day.

In 1990, the station was sold to Krypton, who reformatted the station into a general entertainment format that features movies, cartoons, sitcoms, dramas, comedies, mysteries, and westerns. That format is still in place as of June 2014. In 1991, K42GE (now a CW affiliate) sold the rights to some classic sitcoms and cartoons that it would have no room for on its own schedule to KIDR.

Despite a strong format, KIDR trailed K42GE in the ratings. The station had a disadvantage when it came to signal coverage. K42GE covered Missoula as well as Kalispell and Butte with a city-grade signal. KIDR covered only Missoula with a city-grade signal, while Kalispell and Butte received a grade B signal. KIDR also suffered because Krypton was going through financial problems. Krypton sold KIDR's sister stations in West Palm Beach and Jacksonville, Florida; KIDR itself was sold in 1993, to the Skyline Television Network. Under the LMA, K42GE and KIDR began sharing certain programs (although both stations maintained separate schedules) and K42GE sold advertising time on KIDR.

Beginning in March 1994, KIDR was microwave-linked to many areas of the Western United States through cable companies that picked up the UHF channel 4 signal off-air and by microwaving the signal (sometimes several times) back to their headends. Early programming included movies from the 1930s and 1940s; sitcoms such as Father Knows Best, Green Acres, Hazel, I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show; and Japanese animated series such as Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion, Marine Boy, The Space Giants, Speed Racer and Ultraman. The station also carried sports, such as baseball, basketball, hockey, and wrestling.

KIDR also bid very low on programming, leaving the network-affiliated stations in the market to acquire the stronger shows. But, because of programming commitments that the affiliates had to their networks, those stations kept the shows for only a few years and rarely renewed them, after which KIDR bought syndicated shows second-hand at much lower prices. By the mid-1970s, The Andy Griffith Show, The Flintstones, Leave It to Beaver, The Jetsons, The Little Rascals, My Three Sons, Star Trek, The Three Stooges, and many others were added to the station's schedule.

In 1976, most U.S. cities below the top 20 media markets lacked independent stations running general entertainment programs, and generally had only stations affiliated with ABC, NBC and CBS, along with a non-commercial educational station. Cable providers in these areas carried stations from neighboring markets, and if possible, the independent station (often those located anywhere between 60 and 200 miles away). In some markets, however, this was not an option. This left cable providers with three markets lacking an independent station and two to three affiliates from each major network.

In October 1994, the Skyline Television Network decided to distribute KIDR through satellite, enabling KIDR to be received nationwide, especially in markets lacking even a distant independent station. At 8 p.m. Eastern Time on January 16, 1995, KIDR's signal was beamed via the Satcom K2 satellite to six cable and satellite systems in Grand Island, Nebraska; Newport News, Virginia; Troy, Alabama; Orlando, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona and Newton, Kansas. The first broadcast was the 1952 film Hans Christian Andersen, which had been in progress for 30 minutes on channel 4 in Missoula. Instantly, KIDR went from being a small independent television station that was available only in Missoula and neighboring states to a major coast-to-coast operation. By that time, KIDR added 24,000 more households to its viewing audience, which consisted of 675,000 households in metropolitan Missoula. That number would grow exponentially in the next several years, with the first heaviest concentrations in the Western United States (where KIDR's telecasts of baseball and professional wrestling were highly popular), with its cable coverage eventually encompassing the nation. KIDR became a so-called "superstation". By May 1996, KIDR was on cable and satellite providers in all 50 states.

KIDR still retains its own branding, programming, name, logo, branding, and identity on both local and national feeds as of June 2014.