tower used by channel 5 at the Hillcrest location. KFXJ Montrose became KREY-TV in 1958. In 1965 Howell acquired then shuttered KJFL-TV Channel 6 in Durango, Colorado and changed its call letters to KREZ-TV, becoming the second satellite station for KREX-TV. This three-station network became known as "XYZ Television", with the calls of all three stations corresponding to the word 'king' ('Rex' coincidentally meaning king in Latin, with 'rey' the Spanish word for king). Howell sold his stations to a group of Cincinnati businessmen in 1966. However, they missed several payments, and Howell reclaimed control in 1969, running the stations until his death in 1978. In 1984, his heirs sold off his broadcasting empire, earning a handsome return on Rex's original investment of 58 years prior. Channel 5 and its satellites went to Russell Withers, who retained the stations until selling them to Hoak Media in 2003 (Withers however, sold KREZ-TV to Lee Enterprises in 1995). For 25 years, KREX-TV was the only television station in western Colorado. However, cable providers supplemented it with the Denver stations. Channel 5 has also long claimed a large slice of eastern Utah as part of its primary coverage area, even though it is part of the Salt Lake City market. Channel 5 finally got some local competition when KJCT signed on in 1979. KJCT took ABC full-time, leaving KREX-TV to shoehorn CBS and NBC onto its schedule. This was very unusual for a two-station market, especially one as small as Grand Junction. However, it made sense in light of the fact that ABC was the top-rated network at the time. Additionally, for the early part of its history, KJCT was a semi-satellite of fellow ABC affiliate KRDO-TV in Colorado Springs. Channel 5 finally lost NBC in 1996 when KKCO signed on. For a time in the 1990s, KREX also carried some Fox programming in the off-hours. KREX-TV relocated its analog transmitter to the Black Ridge electronics site at the Colorado National Monument west of Grand Junction in 2002. It increased power eightfold, from 12.9 kW to 100 kW visual. The digital transmitter remains at the studio location, operating at a licensed power of only 834 watts. KREX (AM) eventually moved its frequency to 1100 AM, and increased its power to 50,000 watts. It is now KNZZ, the top-rated radio station in the market, and transmits from Whitewater, a desert community south of Grand