KOBI (channel 5) is a television station in Medford, Oregon, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is the flagship television property of locally based California Oregon Broadcasting, Inc. KOBI's studios are located on South Fir Street in downtown Medford, and its transmitter is located atop Kings Mountain, northwest of the city. KOBI also operates a satellite station in Klamath Falls, KOTI (channel 2). Together, the two stations serve 12 mostly rural counties in southern Oregon and northern California. History The station was founded on August 1, 1953, by Bill Smullin, a 20-year veteran of the television industry. Its call letters were originally KBES-TV ("Best TV"), and it carried programming from all four major networks. However, for its first 25 years, it was primarily a CBS affiliate. Smullin soon realized that KBES' signal was not strong enough to cover all of southern Oregon, which the FCC had ruled was part of the Medford market, so he bought the license for channel 2 in Klamath Falls, and KOTI debuted on August 12, 1956. In 1962, Smullin changed the call letters to KTVM. When channel 10 was allocated to Medford, Smullin helped the owners of KMED get the license, as well as space on his transmitter on Blackwell Hill. Partly because of his help, KMED-TV (channel 10, now KTVL) signed on in 1961. In 1968, KTVM moved to a powerful transmitter on King Mountain and changed its calls to the current KOBI. By 1978, KOBI had become a primary ABC affiliate, which by then had become the top network. However, they continued to carry some CBS programs (such as the CBS Evening News and several daytime shows). In 1983, KOBI picked up NBC from KTVL, which switched to CBS. It carried a few ABC programs for another year until KDRV (channel 12) signed on. For many years, KOBI branded itself as "Channel 5M," for its channel bullet designation within the Oregon State/Southern Oregon State edition of TV Guide, with a logo showing a "5" on an interstate highway sign, reflecting the interstate that goes through the Medford area, Interstate 5. The interstate sign motif was later extended to KOTI and KRCR. KOBI rebranded itself as "The News Channel" in 1998 and as "NBC 5" in 2004, but the highway sign remains today. The station has a UHF translator, K32DY-D, to serve non-antenna-rotator-equipped households between Medford and Ashland. It is located on Mt. Baldy,