On July 16, Gray Television broke ground on a new 30,000 square foot facility that will house the CBS, NBC, MyNetworkTV, The CW Network and Antenna TV stations serving the Augusta, Ga., market.
While that facility is expected to be completed in late 2019, Gray has just celebrated the opening of a brand-new facility housing its two stations in a South Dakota market.
The newly remodeled building, originally built in 1976, will house Fox affiliate KEVN-TV and ABC affiliate KOTA-TV, based in Rapid City, S.D.
On hand to attend the event was Gray President/CEO Hilton Howell III and Sen. John Thune, Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee.
“We’re incredibly excited to have a new space for both KEVN and KOTA to call home,” Howell said. “Having these two stations together in a space where they can share best practices and use our cutting-edge technology will not only benefit both stations, but the Rapid City community as a whole.”
The renovation doubled the space in size, with a complete makeover of the existing 10,000 square feet as well as the addition of another 10,000 square feet in newly constructed space. The facility’s grand opening included a ribbon cutting ceremony, an open house and tours of the new station for attendees.
“Previously the two television stations were located at two different facilities in Rapid City,” said Chris Gross, KEVN & KOTA’s VP/GM. “Bringing the two under one roof and sharing resources has enabled both local news operations to provide more content and news coverage to the Black Hills community. With the construction of the new facility we launched new sets giving a state of the art look to the newscasts as well as a new automation system.”
Legacy station KOTA-TV and its “KOTA Territory News” franchise has served the Black Hills area since 1955. KEVN, marketed as “Black Hills Fox,” has also enjoyed a long and distinguished history as the market’s Fox affiliate, and, previously, its NBC affiliate.
The stations were acquired in recent years by Gray Television, which seeks to merge with Raycom Media. The deal would give the company the third-largest portfolio of local network affiliated news stations and markets in the nation.
