KMID-TV went on the air on December 18, 1953,[2] making it the longest-running station in the Midland–Odessa market. It carried programming from all four networks, but was a primary NBC affiliate. It lost CBS to KOSA-TV (channel 7) in 1956 and lost ABC to KWES-TV (channel 9, then known as KVKM) in 1958. On September 5, 1982, KMID became an ABC affiliate when it swapped its NBC affiliation with channel 9 (by then known as KMOM, which became KTPX simultaneous with the switch). Lorimar-Telepictures sold KMID and two of its sister stations, KSPR in Springfield, Missouri, and KCPM-TV (now KNVN) in Chico–Redding, California, to Goltrin Communications in 1987.[citation needed][clarification needed] In 1988, Goltrin sold all three stations to Davis Goldfarb Communications.[citation needed] Cottonwood Communications bought the station in 1995.[citation needed][clarification needed] KMID, along with KSPR and KCPM, was purchased by GOCOM Communications in 1997.[citation needed] KMID was acquired by current owner Nexstar Broadcasting in 2000.[2]
Since 1974, KMID was known as "Big 2", but adopted the "ABC2" moniker in early 2004. In part because many Permian Basin residents still called the station "Big 2", though, that nickname was revived in 2009, only to be scrapped once more on December 12, 2015, in favor of "Local 2". The "Big 2" branding returned again in June 2018.
In 2003, KMID dropped weekend evening newscasts, which were the lowest-rated newscasts in the Permian Basin. In late 2006, the Sunday night news broadcasts were reinstated.
On April 24, 2013, Communications Corporation of America announced the sale of its entire group to Nexstar. KPEJ was to be sold to Mission Broadcasting,[3] but on June 6, 2014, Nexstar announced that it would instead sell KPEJ-TV to a new minority-owned company, Marshall Broadcasting Group (marking the company's first television station acquisitions), for $58.5 million. Nexstar would operate KPEJ under a shared services agreement, forming a virtual duopoly with KMID.[4] The sale was completed on January 1, 2015.[5]
KMID shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 26,[7] using virtual channel 2.
.svg){kind=logo}