KELO-TV - History

History

KELO signed on air on May 19, 1953 as South Dakota's first television station. It was owned by Midcontinent Media, a theater and broadcasting conglomerate, along with KELO radio (AM 1320 and 92.5 FM). It was a primary NBC affiliate, but it also carried programs from ABC, CBS and DuMont.

Within a few years of its sign-on, KELO launched additional satellite stations to cover eastern South Dakota, western Minnesota and northwest Iowa: KDLO in Florence was the first of the satellite stations to go on the air on September 27, 1955, followed by KPLO, covering South Dakota's state capitol of Pierre on July 15, 1957; KCLO, which serves the Rapid City area, would not sign on until 31 years later on November 28, 1988. After KSOO-TV (now KSFY-TV) signed on in 1960, KELO switched its primary affiliation to CBS and has remained with that network ever since. On September 23, 1968, KELO became South Dakota's first television station to broadcast its programming in color.

KELO was home to Captain 11, a popular children's show in the area, from 1955 until 1996. Captain 11 was Dave Dedrick, the station's longtime weatherman. He had been a popular radio personality before KELO went on air.

Channel 11 originally broadcast from a 575-foot (175 m) tower near Shindler, South Dakota. In 1956, the station erected a 1,032-foot (315 m) tower on the same site, expanding its coverage area to most of eastern South Dakota. In 1967, KELO-TV moved to a new 2,032-foot (619 m) tower near Rowena, shared with KSFY. The Shindler tower is still used as a backup.

Since 1986, the station's logo has consisted of "Kelo" written in cursive font, over a line, with "KELOLAND TELEVISION" underneath. It is one of the few stations whose logo's last three call letters are in lower-case (KBYU-TV channel 11 in Provo, Utah also has used a similar logo). On November 25, 1986, KELO began broadcasting its programming in stereo. In 1995, Midcontinent Media sold KELO-TV to Young Broadcasting; the sale was approved by the Federal Communications Commission on May 31, 1996. The station celebrated its 50th anniversary on May 19, 2003.