History
Channel 13 began operation in October 1953 as KGGM-TV, owned by the Hebenstreit family's New Mexico Broadcasting Company along with KGGM radio (610 AM, now KNML). In the late 1960s, the Hebenstreits sold a minority share to Chicago's Harriscope Broadcasting, which at one point owned WSNS-TV in Chicago (among other stations). Many early Westerns were filmed, at least partially, at KGGM. The large studio that it used is now KRQE's "Newsplex," a combination newsroom and news studio. KGGM talent Earnest "Stretch" Scherer, known as Captain Billy, hosted a children's show called Captain Billy's Clubhouse. The format was a kids peanut gallery on bleachers holding about 50 seats with games and banter between cartoons, à la Bozo's Circus. Captain Billy was a sea captain with a Dutch boy white haircut sticking out from under a sea Captain's hat and big brush moustache. Scherer was shot in the station's lobby after a misunderstanding involving a jealous husband. He died later at a hospital. Among many alumni at KGGM/KRQE is Ray Rayner, formerly a children's television personality at WGN-TV in Chicago. He spent the last several years at KRQE before going into retirement.
The Hebenstreits sold KGGM-TV to Lee Enterprises in 1991 (KGGM radio had been sold off in 1973); on September 7, 1992, the station changed its call letters to the current KRQE. However, the name "New Mexico Broadcasting Company" continued on the station's license well into the 21st century.
In January 1995, KRQE became a secondary affiliate of both UPN and WB, running their programming on weekend overnights. Both networks moved to KASY-TV (channel 50) when it signed on that October, with KRQE running KASY under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Ramar Communications. Ramar sold KASY to Acme Communications, owner of KWBQ, in 1999, and the LMA with KRQE was dissolved.
Lee would eventually exit broadcasting and sold KRQE to Emmis Communications in 2000. In 2005, Emmis sold the station to LIN Television (the station's current owner) in a group deal. In 2006, LIN announced its purchase of Raycom Media-owned Fox affiliate KASA-TV, which KRQE took control of on September 15. LIN's acquisition of KASA was finalized on February 22, 2007. The acquisition earned LIN TV criticism from area newspapers for the resulting layoffs, as well as what the Albuquerque Objectivist newspaper in October 2006 referred to as the creation of a local "news empire" in KRQE.
KBIM-TV (channel 10) in Roswell, New Mexico signed on in February 1966 as the CBS affiliate for Southeastern New Mexico, replacing former CBS affiliate KAVE-TV in Carlsbad, New Mexico, which became an ABC affiliate (eventually becoming KOCT, a satellite of rival KOAT-TV). KBIM became a KGGM/KRQE satellite in 1990. KREZ-TV, channel 6 in Durango, Colorado began operations September 15, 1963 as KJFL-TV, a free-standing local independent station owned by Jeter Telecasting; it went off the air March 2, 1964, and returned on September 9, 1965 as KREZ-TV, a satellite of CBS affiliate KREX-TV (channel 5) in Grand Junction, Colorado, operating as such for nearly 30 years (with many attempts at regional news along the way) before becoming a KRQE satellite in 1995. A deal to sell KREZ to Native American Broadcasting, LLC was reached in April 2011; upon the sale's completion, KREZ was to become a full-scale independent station (with plans for extensive local programming), and change its call letters to KSWZ-TV. However, as of August 2012, the sale has not been completed, and KREZ remains a KRQE satellite.
Following the acquisitions of KBIM and KREZ, in the late 1990s, KRQE branded as "CBS Southwest" in hopes of positioning itself as a regional network. However, this went nowhere, largely because the other stations in the market have long branded themselves by their call letters (even after acquiring or starting their own satellite stations), and in 2000 the station changed its branding to "KRQE News 13."
On May 18, 2007, LIN TV announced that it was exploring strategic alternatives that could result in the sale of the company.
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