Fox affiliate KTRV will return to an independent station following a shake-up in the Boise market this fall, B&C reports. Fox announced last month it would give its affiliation to KNIN. The CW then announced a new affiliation with KBOI, a CBS affiliate, leaving KTRV with limited options in market #113.
KTRV launched as an independent station in 1981 and became affiliated with Fox in 1985. Ricky Joseph, who is the station’s president and general manager, called the move “a return to the grass roots at the very beginning, before Fox.”
KTRV executives will be tasked with the challenge of drawing viewers in without Fox’s signtature primetime shows. B&C reports that station managers have been in touch with other independent stations — like Jacksonville’s WJXT and Phoenix’s KTVK — for advice.
“We’re trying to follow the templates of a lot of successful independent stations,” Joseph told B&C. “We’re not looking to reinvent the wheel.”
KTRV will also add six new staffers to produce more news coverage — an extra hour of morning news and an early evening news broadcast. The station also plans to ramp up its sports coverage, taking advantage of the three minor-league franchises in the area and providing more coverage of Boise-area high school sports.