As KSWS became a sole NBC affiliate in the mid-to-late 1960s, economic problems were emerging in southeastern New Mexico. The potash mines near Carlsbad downscaled activity or closed, and the Walker Air Force Base at Roswell was deactivated in 1967. 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. Combined, the two stations served one of the largest coverage areas in the nation. Then two years later, Bryant died in 1970, and State Telecasting Company of Columbia, South Carolina became the new owner of both KSWS and KCBD in 1971.