mix of syndicated reruns and movies. It also aired a Sunday night public affairs program, Canyon Forum. Jones sold the station to Idaho Independent Television, a subsidiary of The Toledo Blade Company (Block Communications), in 1985 for $4.9 million. It was the Blade Company's first television station outside the midwest, with its existing broadcast holdings in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. It became a charter affiliate of Fox when the network launched on October 9, 1986. With the growth of the Fox network, KTRV launched a half-hour 9 p.m. local newscast, Fox 12 News, on May 31, 1999, hiring a news staff of 29. The format took inspiration from Block-owned WDRB in Louisville, Kentucky, and from KSTU in Salt Lake City, both Fox affiliates that had started local newscasts earlier in the decade. An earlier newscast at 4:30 p.m. was also offered but cut back at the start of 2002. By 2007, the weeknight editions of Fox 12 News at 9 had grown to an hour in length; that April, a two-hour morning show, Fox 12 This Morning, premiered. Loss of Fox affiliation In May 2011, Fox unexpectedly announced that it would move its affiliation in the Boise market effective September 1 to KNIN-TV (channel 9), then an affiliate of The CW owned by the Journal Broadcast Group. The affiliation switch was one of two announced the same day; both were part of disputes with the network involving affiliation fees. The CW bypassed KTRV-TV, switching to a subchannel of local CBS affiliate KBOI-TV. In response, KTRV-TV management initially doubled down on local programming. Recalling the name of the station licensee from 1985, general manager Ricky Joseph told Broadcasting & Cable, "We really have the opportunity to be what's on our license: Idaho Independent Television." Prime time was initially filled with a double run of 30 Rock at 7 p.m. and Law & Order: Criminal Intent at 8 p.m. The news department would be expanded with six new employees. However, in early December, the station abandoned its news expansion plans and shut down the entire newsroom. Bill Lamb, vice president of Block Communications, informed the media in a written statement, "A network affiliate requires a different business model than does an independent station." Program changes followed in January 2012, with MyNetworkTV programs moving from the second subchannel to the main channel, freeing up 24-hour carriage of diginet MeTV. Ion affiliation and sale