History
As the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) neared the end of its multiple-year freeze on TV station awards, Austin radio station KAUS announced in February 1952 that it had filed for a construction permit and acquired an antenna and tower, which were shipped from St. Paul.[1] KAUS's application remained pending when the South Central Minnesota Television Company, associated with stations KATE in Albert Lea and KOBK in Owatonna, filed a competing application for channel 6 in January 1953.[2] Facing the prospect of a lengthy comparative hearing to determine who should be allocated the channel, KAUS and the South Central Minnesota Television Company combined their applications in March 1953, joining as the Minnesota-Iowa Television Company and winning the channel 6 permit.[3] The station took the call sign KMMT, the only proposed call sign that was available of a list submitted by the company to the FCC;[4] the KAUS-TV call sign was not available because of the separate ownership.[5]
From studios south of Austin on MN 105, shared with KAUS radio, KMMT signed on the air on August 17, 1953.[6] The station was originally an affiliate of CBS,[7] ABC,[8] and the DuMont Television Network. It also broadcast local news and sports coverage; one early program, Circle 6 Ranch, featured country music artist Johnny Western singing songs and presenting films.[9] The CBS and DuMont affiliations in the area moved to KGLO-TV in Mason City, Iowa, when that station began in May 1954.[10] The station also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network, which began in 1956.[11]
Black Hawk Broadcasting of Waterloo, Iowa, assumed management control of KAUS and KMMT on October 1, 1954;[12] the deal included an option to buy the stations, which Black Hawk exercised in 1957.[13] During this time, the station began airing the long-running Family Hour, a Christian program hosted by pastor Joe Matt; the 15-minute show remained on the air on channel 6 until 2001, ending its run as the longest-running local TV show in the United States.[14] In 1959, KMMT increased its power to the maximum of 100,000 watts; this expanded the station's coverage area as well as that of ABC, which had no nearby affiliates.[15][16]
Its call letters became KAUS-TV (for Austin) on June 1, 1967, to match its radio sisters;[17] at that time, the station built a new, 1000 ft tower west of Austin for KMMT and to support a new FM station, KAUS-FM 99.9, which launched on May 30, 1968.[18][19] The old tower was purchased by KTCA-TV and reassembled in the Rushford area for use as part of a translator setup for that station.[20] That same year, KAUS-TV discontinued its translators in La Crosse and Winona after the FCC approved a new La Crosse station, WXOW, which would become an ABC affiliate;[21] KMMT had been transmitting to La Crosse since January 1967.[22] The Winona transmitter was sold to KROC-TV
Black Hawk Broadcasting sold its Austin radio stations to Withers Broadcasting in 1974. As KAUS-TV and KAUS AM could not share a call sign under separate owners, an exchange was developed. KAUS-TV became KAAL-TV, adopting a call sign which for two years had been used on KAUS-FM.[24][25] Withers retained the radio studio facility, and KAAL moved the next year to a new site in Austin, a former Volkswagen dealership located on 10th Place NE.[26]
The News-Press & Gazette Company of St. Joseph, Missouri, acquired KAAL for $11.25 million in 1980. The sale was a required divestiture to allow Black Hawk Broadcasting to merge into American Family Corporation; to meet FCC ownership regulations, Black Hawk needed to spin off more than half of the seven broadcast properties it owned.[27][28] During this time, KAAL originated the telecast of the Miss Minnesota pageant, seen statewide.[29] NPG owned the station for five years, selling for $13.5 million to the Wooster Republican Printing Company of Wooster, Ohio—the Dix family—in 1985.[30] During Dix ownership, KAAL signed a secondary affiliation agreement with Fox.[31] It was also among the first ABC affiliates to agree to carry the NFL on Fox when football left CBS for Fox in 1994.[32]
Eastern Broadcasting acquired KAAL and KTWO-TV in Casper, Wyoming, from the Dix family in 1995; the owner of Eastern, Roger Neuhoff, came out of retirement to run the two stations.[33] In 1997, Eastern sold its four stations—KAAL, KTWO-TV and repeater KKTU, and KODE-TV in Joplin, Missouri—for $40 million to Atlanta-based Grapevine Communications;[34] two years later, Grapevine acquired GOCOM,[35] though the GOCOM name and corporate offices in Charlotte, North Carolina, were retained.[36]
Hubbard Broadcasting agreed to purchase KAAL from GOCOM in October 2000; it was the last ABC affiliate in Minnesota that Hubbard did not already own.[37] The station began digital broadcasting on February 20, 2002;[38] the analog signal was turned off on June 12, 2009.[39]
Under Hubbard, KAAL has invested resources and shifted the bulk of its operation from Austin to Rochester in an effort to increase news ratings against market-leading KTTC and shed its reputation as a station solely focused on the Austin area. In 2008, the station opened a new Rochester office on Superior Drive NW, which included equipment allowing for a newscast to be presented from both cities.[40] In 2015, it moved to a new and larger southwest Rochester facility, which became the main studio.[41][42]
- Butch Stearns – sports director, early 1990s[43][44]
- Bill Weir – reporter and weekend sports anchor, 1991–1992[45][46]
