Hubbard Broadcasting

Hubbard Broadcasting
Corporation
Industry Television and radio broadcasting
Founded February 13, 1925 (1925-02-13) in Twin Cities, Minneapolis, USA
Founder Stanley E. Hubbard
Headquarters St Paul, Minnesota, USA
Area served
 USA
Brands KSTP radio, KSTP-FM and KSTP-TV

Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. is an American television and radio broadcasting corporation based in St. Paul, Minnesota that was started by Stanley E. Hubbard.

The corporation has broadcast outlets scattered across Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, and New Mexico, though the flagship stations are KSTP radio, KSTP-FM and KSTP-TV, which serve the Twin Cities region of Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

History

KSTP has its origins in the Twin Cities radio station WAMD ("Where All Minneapolis Dances"), which started broadcasting live dance music from a local ballroom on February 13, 1925. It was the first radio station to be completely supported by income generated by advertisements. Hubbard Broadcasting now operates four radio stations as well as several television stations.

In 1928, WAMD merged with KFOY (Kind Friends of Yours) radio (first broadcast: March 12, 1924) in St. Paul to become KSTP, which was advertised as being operated by the National Battery Broadcasting Co. Ten years later, in 1938, Hubbard bought the first television camera available from RCA. Following the television blackout brought on by World War II, KSTP started television broadcasts in 1948.

KSTP is still Hubbard's flagship, although there are now three different stations that carry that name. KSTP broadcasts a sports radio format, and KSTP-FM broadcasts adult contemporary music; KSTP-TV is affiliated with ABC.

After the Federal Communications Commission relaxed rules about television station ownership, Hubbard bought a second television station in the Twin Cities. Originally affiliated with the Home Shopping Network when it started operations in 1994, KVBM was bought by Hubbard and became general-entertainment independent station KSTC-TV in 2000. It has been used as an alternate outlet for ABC network programming when KSTP-TV is broadcasting coverage of Viking football games or other special shows, including severe-weather coverage.

Aside from terrestrial broadcast stations, other current ventures include the film network ReelzChannel (launched in 2006), arts network Ovation, and the Hubbard Radio Network, which is used to distribute KSTP's local talk shows to subscribing radio stations in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The cable channels are run through subsidiary company Hubbard Media Group.

In 1981, Hubbard Broadcasting started U.S. Satellite Broadcasting (USSB), and later was instrumental in the development and launching of the first digital satellite system for television in 1994. The new satellite could deliver 175 channels to a (at the time) tiny, 18 inch dish. USSB's development partner, Hughes Electronics (a General Motors subsidiary), launched their own subscription satellite service called DirecTV. The two services did not compete against each other (they carried different channels), and were often marketed together to subscribers by retailers and in advertisements until DirecTV's 1998 acquisition of USSB.

Hubbard Broadcasting also operated a 24 Hour News station titled All News Channel which featured longtime KSTP anchor Stan Turner. The news channel lasted from 1991 until it folded in September 2002.

Hubbard Broadcasting also owned the now-closed Bound to be Read bookstores in St. Paul, Albuquerque, and Key Largo.

As of October 2007, it is engaged in a fevered battle with NABET union repping employees of WNYT in Albany, New York.

On January 19, 2011, it was announced that Hubbard will purchase 17 radio stations in Cincinnati, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and St. Louis from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints subsidiary Bonneville International for $505 million.[1] The sale closed on April 29, 2011.[2]

On February 25, 2013, Hubbard announced that it would purchase MyNetworkTV station WNYA to form a duopoly with WNYT, pending FCC approval. No financial details were announced.[3]

On July 16, 2013, Hubbard announced that it had agreed to purchase 10 stations from Ohio-based Sandusky Radio for $85.5 million.[4]

Hubbard announced on November 13, 2014 that it would purchase the sixteen stations owned by Omni Broadcasting. The Omni stations are all located in central and northern Minnesota.[5]

Hubbard-owned stations

The Hubbard Broadcasting headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota, with the KSTP SkyMax 5 tower in the background.

Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license.

All of the assets are owned by the Stanley S. Hubbard Revocable Trust, and administered by Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc.[6][7]

Note: Two boldface asterisks appearing following a station's call letters (**) indicates a station that was built and signed-on by Hubbard.

Television stations

City of license/Market Station Channel
TV / DT		 Owned Since Affiliation
Alexandria, Minnesota KSAX **
(satellite of KSTP-TV)		 42 / 42 1987 ABC
Austin - Rochester, MN - Mason City, IA KAAL 6 / 36 2001 ABC
Duluth, MN - Superior, WI WDIO-DT 10 / 10 1987 ABC
Hibbing, Minnesota WIRT-DT
(satellite of WDIO-DT)		 13 / 13 1987 ABC
Redwood Falls, Minnesota KRWF **
(semi-satellite of KSTP-TV)		 43 / 27 1987 ABC
St. Paul - Minneapolis KSTP-TV ** 5 / 35 1948 ABC
KSTC-TV 45 / 45 2000 Independent
Albuquerque - Santa Fe KOB 4 / 26 1957 NBC
Farmington, New Mexico KOBF
(satellite of KOB)		 12 / 12 1983 NBC
Las Cruces, NM - El Paso, TX K42DJ 42 (analog) Azteca América
(operated by News-Press & Gazette station KVIA-TV in a LMA)
Roswell, New Mexico KOBR
(satellite of KOB)		 8 / 8 1985 NBC
Albany - Schenectady - Troy, NY WNYT 13 / 12 1996 NBC
Pittsfield, MA WNYA 51 / 13 2013 MyNetworkTV
Rochester, New York WHEC-TV 10 / 10 1996 NBC

Radio stations

AM Stations FM Stations
Market Station Owned Since Current Format
Phoenix KDUS-1060 2013 Sports radio
KAZG-1440 2013 Oldies
KDKB-93.3 2013 Alternative rock
KUPD-97.9 2013 Active rock
KSLX-FM-100.7 2013 Classic rock
Washington, D.C. WBQH-1050 2011 Regional Mexican
WFED-1500 2011 Federal news/talk
WWFD-820 2011 Freeform
WTOP-FM-103.5 2011 News
WTLP-103.9
(simulcasts WTOP-FM)		 2011
WWWT-FM-107.7
(simulcasts WTOP-FM)		 2011
Chicago WDRV-97.1 2011 Classic rock
WWDV-96.9
(simulcasts WDRV)		 2011
WSHE-FM-100.3 2011 Adult contemporary
WTMX-101.9 2011 Hot Adult Contemporary
Alexandria, Minnesota KULO-94.3 2015 Oldies
KIKV-FM-100.7 2015 Country
Bemidji, Minnesota KBUN-1450 2015 Sports radio
KKZY-95.5 2015 Adult contemporary
KLLZ-FM-99.1 2015 Classic rock
KBHP-101.1 2015 Country
KBUN-FM-104.5 2015 Sports radio
Brainerd-Baxter, Minnesota KVBR-1340 2015 Business news/talk
KLIZ-1380 2015 Sports radio
KBLB-93.3 2015 Country
KUAL-FM-103.5 2015 Oldies
WJJY-FM-106.7 2015 Adult contemporary
KLIZ-FM-107.5 2015 Classic rock
Minneapolis - Saint Paul KSTP-1500 ** 1928 Sports radio
KSTP-FM-94.5 ** 1966 Hot adult contemporary
KTMY-107.1 2000 Female-oriented Talk
Wadena-Staples, Minnesota KWAD-920 2015 Classic country
KNSP-1430
(simulcasts KWAD)		 2015
KKWS-105.9 2015 Country
St. Louis WARH-106.5 2011 Adult hits
WIL-FM-92.3 2011 Country
WXOS-101.1 2011 Sports radio
Cincinnati WKRQ-101.9 2011 Adult Top 40
WREW-94.9 2011 Rhythmic AC
WUBE-FM-105.1 2011 Country
WYGY-97.3 2011 Country Top 40
Seattle KIXI-880 2013 Adult standards
KKNW-1150 2013 Brokered programming
KQMV-92.5 2013 Contemporary hit radio
KVRQ-98.9 2013 Mainstream rock
KRWM-106.9 2013 Adult contemporary

Cable channels (through Hubbard Media Group division)

Former Hubbard-owned stations

Television stations

City of license/Market Station Channel
TV / DT		 Years owned Current Status
St. Petersburg - Tampa WTOG ** 44 / 44 1968–1996 CW affiliate owned by CBS Corporation
Silver City, New Mexico KOBG-TV **
(satellite of KOB)		 6 / 12 2000–2011 defunct, went dark in 2011
(replaced by KOB translator K12QW-D)

Hubbard also owned a partial stake in KWK-TV (later KMOX-TV, now KMOV), channel 4, in St. Louis during the mid-1950s.

Radio stations

AM Stations FM Station
Market Station/
Frequency		 Years owned Current ownership
Albuquerque KOB-770
(now KKOB)		 1957–1986 owned by Cumulus Media
KOB-FM-93.3
(now KKOB-FM)		 1957–1986 owned by Cumulus Media
Winter Haven, FL WGTO-540
(now WFLF)		 1964–1986 owned by iHeartMedia
New Richmond, WI WIXK-1590 2000–2012 owned by Hmong Radio Broadcast, LLC

Cable channels

References

  1. ↑ "$505M sale: Bonneville sells Chicago, D.C., St. Louis and Cincinnati to Hubbard". Radio-Info.com. January 19, 2011.
  2. ↑ "Hubbard deal to purchase Bonneville stations closes". radioink.
  3. ↑ "WNYT Albany to Purchase MyNet WNYA". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  4. ↑ "Hubbard buys Sandusky radio stations for $85.5M". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  5. ↑ "Hubbard Picks up 16 Stations From Omni". Radio Ink. November 13, 2014. Retrieved November 13, 2014.
  6. ↑ Ownership Report for Hubbard Broadcasting - at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
  7. ↑ Attributable Interests Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. - at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Further reading

External links

Coordinates: 44°58′5″N 93°12′25″W / 44.96806°N 93.20694°W / 44.96806; -93.20694

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