KOTA-TV - History

History

KOTA-TV first hit the airwaves with test operations on June 1, 1955, with regular broadcasting beginning on July 1. It was the second television station in South Dakota, and the first in the western part of the state. It originally carried programming from all three networks, though it was a primary CBS affiliate. It was owned by Rapid City businesswoman Helen Duhamel along with CBS Radio Network affiliate KOTA (1380 AM). Duhamel bought a minority stake in the radio station in 1943 and gradually expanded her holdings until she bought full control in 1954. Her family continues to own and operate the stations today; Helen's son William Duhamel has been KOTA-TV's president and general manager since 1976.

When KRSD-TV, the original channel 7 in Rapid City, signed on in 1958, it took the NBC affiliation, sharing ABC with KOTA-TV. In 1965, channel 3 took on an unusual "joint primary" affiliation with CBS and ABC, slightly favoring CBS. It was certainly quite a struggle to fit as many network shows as possible onto the schedule, especially in the daytime, so KRSD-TV had to take up some of the slack. But channel 7 always had a painfully weak signal which, by 1966, had deteriorated to the point of unacceptability. KRSD-TV finally gave up and ceased operations on December 31, 1971.

Fortunately for KOTA-TV, the original Prime Time Access Rule had taken effect by this time, which made it easier for the station to clear shows from both CBS and ABC. From January 1972 until June 1976, KOTA had only PBS station KBHE-TV (channel 9) as a competitor; NBC had to be piped in on cable from KOA-TV (now KCNC-TV) in Denver.

The coverage of KOTA-TV satellite KDUH-TV in Scottsbluff, Nebraska clashed with the coverage of KSTF, a satellite of KYCU-TV (now KGWN-TV) in Cheyenne, especially with CBS programs. In February 1976, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) awarded a channel 7 license to KEVN-TV, in order to relieve KOTA of its heavy network load and to end the duplication problem in Scottsbluff. When KEVN opened on July 11, 1976, it took all CBS programming. KOTA and its satellites became primary ABC affiliates. As consolation, both stations added secondary NBC affiliations.

Then in November 1988, KELO-TV in Sioux Falls put a Rapid City satellite of its own on the air, KCLO-TV on channel 15, which took the CBS affiliation. KOTA-TV then became a full-time ABC affiliate, leaving KEVN with NBC; KEVN switched to Fox in 1995 as part of the U.S. television network affiliate switches of 1994.