 At the same time, KSWS now faced major competition from KAVE and KBIM, new radio stations, and an expanding cable television system that gave viewers access to TV stations from surrounding areas of New Mexico and west Texas.Following the death of KSWS founder John Barnett in 1968, the station was sold to Lubbock, Texas businessman Joe Bryant and his company, Caprock Broadcasting, for $490,000.Bryant turned KSWS into a full-time satellite of Lubbock's KCBD-TV.