KPXM

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = KPXM
city = St. Cloud, Minnesota
station_
station_slogan =
station_branding = ION Television
analog = 41 (UHF)
digital = 40 (UHF)
subchannels = 41.1 ION
41.2 qubo
41.3 ION Life
41.4 The Worship Network| other_chs =
affiliations = ION Television
qubo on DT2
ION Life on DT3
Worship on DT4
network =
founded =
airdate = November 24, 1982
location = Minneapolis-St. Paul
callsign_meaning = PaX Minnesota
former_callsigns = KXLI (1982-1997)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = ION Media Networks
licensee = Paxson Minneapolis License, Inc.
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = independent (1982-1992, 1994-1996)
HSN (1992-1994)
inTV (1997-1998)
Pax TV (1998-2005)
i (2005-2007)
effective_radiated_power = 2750 kW (analog)
1000 kW (digital)
HAAT = 448 m (analog)
430 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 35907
coordinates = coord|45|22|59.7|N|93|42|31|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.ionline.tv/ www.ionline.tv]

KPXM channel 41 (40 digital) is a television station based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and owned and operated by ION Media Networks (the former Paxon Communications). The station is an affiliate of the ION Television network. While licensed to serve St. Cloud, Minnesota, the station's transmitter is located about halfway between that city and the core of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area and serves both regions. The KPXM Tower near the city of Big Lake is the tallest structure in the state, standing 1505 feet tall—nearly twice as high as the skyscrapers of downtown Minneapolis.

Aside from evening shows from ION Television, most content broadcast on the channel consists of infomercials and The Worship Network.

History

The station originally signed on the air in 1982 as KXLI ("XLI" is 41 in Roman numerals). The station identified themselves as TV Heaven 41 and showed syndicated fare and reruns of classic shows, airing them in themed nights (westerns would air on one night, detective/mystery shows on another). KXLI was also simulcast on KXLT-TV channel 47 in Rochester, and by the late 1980s, Minnesota North Stars hockey broadcasts would also air on the stations.

In the late 1980s, KXLI attempted to create the Minnesota Independent Network (MIN) along with Twin Cities station KTMA (now WUCW) and a broadcasting group in Fargo, North Dakota. After a significant amount of planning and initial work, the plan fell through. A financial crisis led KXLI and KXLT to go off the air at the end of 1988 (KTMA also teetered financially for a time). KXLI and KXLT resurfaced in 1990 with religious and infomercial programming, which continued through their purchase by Lowell "Bud" Paxson in the mid-1990s.

From 1991 to about 1995 KXLI/KXLT aired programming from the Home Shopping Network. On Sunday morning and evenings there were religious programming airing. Saturday afternoons during this time consisted of local and national hunting programs. Programming originated from the transmitter building during this time in Big Lake, MN.

Once it was decided to bring back the moniker of TV Heaven, money was spent on a new building near the tower. TV Heaven was brought back with programs from the 50's, 60', 70's, 80's and some new shows during the 90's. They also had agreements to air programming from an upstart conservative network NET (National Empowerment Television) run by Paul Weyrich. They would later nickname themselves the Political News Network. Late evenings were taken up by many different shopping networks.

In 1998, Paxson broke the KXLI/KXLT simulcast by selling the latter station (which became a Fox affiliate for the Rochester market). Paxson also changed KXLI's call letters to KPXM, and the station would join the Pax TV network (now ION Television) later in 1998. Upgrades to the equipment were made to make them more current then the 1970s La Kart tape switching equipment.

KPXM originally had a marketing agreement with KARE channel 11 where the station broadcasts KARE's evening newscasts tape-delayed by half an hour, and also transmits KARE's morning show again in the afternoon. This agreement ended in July 2005, when Paxson chose to end such agreements for all his stations.

External links

*TVQ|KPXM
*BIA|KPXM|TV|TV
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-X4h317Cyc&mode=user&search= From YouTube: A montage of "TV Heaven 41" promos]