KREX-TV

KREX-TV, virtual channel 5 (digital channel 2), is the CBS-affiliated television station for most of western Colorado, based in Grand Junction. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it operates its digital signal on VHF channel 2.Satellite stationsKREX-TV also operates a satellite station in Montrose, Colorado, KREY-TV (virtual channel 10, digital channel 13). KREY transmits from Flattop Mesa, a hill northeast of Montrose. Due to its relatively weak signal and the area's very uneven terrain, the station uses six translators to relay its signal to the Uncompaghre Valley and surrounding San Miguel mountain communities. Local studios are located on North 1st Street in Montrose. In its earliest days, local programs including "Letters To Santa," in which area children were invited to sit on Santa's lap on live television, were made in cramped quarters at the transmitter building, which doubled as KREY's studio through the 1970s. KREY previously produced short news inserts during KREX's weeknight newscasts, though this has since ended.Formerly, KREX-TV operated two additional satellite stations, KREZ-TV channel 6 in Durango, Colorado and KREG-TV channel 3 in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. KREZ had made several attempts at regional news programs over its 30 years as a semi-satellite of KREX. Eventually, the cost of supplying a 270-mile (435-kilometer) microwave link to Durango plus the relatively small revenue base led to the sale of KREZ in 1995. It is now a satellite of Albuquerque's KRQE. KREG had previously operated as standalone independent station KCWS from 1984 to 1985; after going dark for two years, it returned to the air as a satellite of KREX in 1987. In 2017, following the merger of Nexstar Broadcasting Group and Media General, KREG, which is considered to be within the Denver television market, was spun off to Marquee Broadcasting.