Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation
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Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation is a broadcasting company based in St. Paul, Minnesota that was started by Stanley E. Hubbard. The corporation has broadcast outlets scattered across Minnesota, Iowa, New York, and New Mexico, though the flagships are the KSTP radio and television stations serving the Twin Cities region of Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
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 supportedy by income generated by running advertisements. Hubbard Broadcasting now operates three radio stations as well as several television stations.
In 1928, WAMD merged with KFOY 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. More recently in the 1980s and '90s, Hubbard Broadcasting attempted an entry into satellite TV and operated U.S. Satellite Broadcasting (USSB) for many years but this property was later sold off.
KSTP is still Hubbard's flagship, although there are now three different stations that carry that name. KSTP television is affiliated with ABC. KSTP AM broadcasts a talk radio format, and KSTP FM broadcasts adult contemporary music.
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 channel 45 was bought by Hubbard and began broadcasting as KSTC in 2000. The station is nominally independent (not affiliated with any broadcast network), but it has been used by KSTP to broadcast ABC network programming when channel 5 is broadcasting coverage of local football games and other special shows (this practice may have stopped).
Aside from terrestrial broadcast stations, other current ventures include the film network Moviewatch, a syndication arm dubbed the Hubbard Radio Network, and the Bound to be Read bookstores in St. Paul and Albuquerque.
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Television stations
- KSTP Channel 5 (digital channel 50) – St. Paul, Minnesota – Affiliated with ABC
- KSTC Channel 45 (digital 44) – St. Paul, Minnesota – Independent
- KSAX Channel 42 (digital 36) – Alexandria, Minnesota – ABC (closely affiliated with KSTP)
- KRWF Channel 43 (digital 27) – Redwood Falls, Minnesota – ABC (closely affiliated with KSTP)
- KAAL Channel 6 (digital 33) – Austin, Minnesota/Mason City, Iowa – ABC
- WHEC Channel 10 (digital 58) – Rochester, New York – NBC
- WNYT Channel 13 (digital 12) – Albany/Schenectady/Troy, New York – NBC
- KOB Channel 4 (digital 26) – Albuquerque, New Mexico – NBC
- KOBF Channel 12 (digital 17) – Farmington, New Mexico – NBC (closely affiliated with KOB)
- KOBR Channel 8 (digital 38) – Roswell, New Mexico – NBC (closely affiliated with KOB)
- WDIO Channel 10 (digital 43) – Duluth, Minnesota – ABC
- WIRT Channel 13 (digital 36) – Hibbing, Minnesota – ABC (closely affiliated with WDIO)
Radio stations
- KSTP 1500 kHz AM – St. Paul, Minnesota – Talk radio
- KSTP 94.5 MHz FM – St. Paul, Minnesota – "KS95" – Music
- WFMP 107.1 MHz FM – Coon Rapids, Minnesota/Twin Cities – Talk radio
See also
References
- Fulton Klinkerfues. Stanley E. Hubbard pioneered local broadcasting. (http://www.wilder.org/goodage/RememberWhen/klink402.html) Good Age Newspaper.
- Jeff Miller (editor). A Chronology of AM Broadcasting (1900-1960). (http://members.aol.com/jeff560/chrono1.html)