KSTP-TV - History

History

Stanley E. Hubbard, founder of KSTP radio, was one of broadcasting's foremost pioneers. In June 1939, he purchased one of the first television cameras available from RCA and began experimenting with television, but the television blackout brought on by World War II prevented any transmissions from being made. The first telecast by KSTP-TV reportedly occurred on December 7, 1947 when Jack Horner hosted a 25-minute program. On April 27, 1948, KSTP-TV signed on as the first commercial television station in Minnesota, although an experimental mechanical TV station had set up by WDGY station engineers more than a decade earlier. That station's license expired in 1938 as the Federal Communications Commission was not interested in continuing mechanical TV broadcasts.

KSTP-TV was originally an NBC television affiliate, as KSTP radio had been an NBC radio affiliate since 1928. Channel 5 claims to be NBC-TV's first affiliate west of the Mississippi River, but this is false; KSD-TV (now KSDK) in St. Louis signed on a year earlier. It was part of NBC's Midwest Network, a regional group of NBC affiliates that fed programming in the days before the coaxial cable link to New York City. In 1961, due to its status as an NBC affiliate, it was the first non-network-owned station to broadcast all of its programs in color.

In the middle-1970s ABC -- now the top-rated television network in the United States -- began looking for stronger affiliates across the country. KMSP-TV (channel 9), the Twin Cities' ABC affiliate since 1961, had long struggled in the ratings. ABC had talks with independent WTCN-TV (channel 11, now KARE), CBS affiliate WCCO-TV (channel 4), and KSTP-TV. Channel 5 surprised the industry in August 1978 by announcing its intention to sever ties with third-rated NBC after 30 years and join ABC. The affiliation switch occurred on March 5, 1979 and was ABC's biggest coup at the time. “We want to go into the 1980s in a leadership position with a network which we think has the management, team and depth to be the best. That's ABC. We're just absolutely thrilled,” said KSTP's Stanley S. Hubbard, son of station founder Stanley E. Hubbard.

A digital TV signal from KSTP started airing in 1999 and became part of the first TV "duopoly" in the state with the purchase of KVBM-TV, channel 45 (now KSTC) the year after that (though there is a longstanding public television pair: KTCA/KTCI).

KSTP-TV has used its "groovy 5" logo or variations on it since April 1969 —- it is the longest-used broadcast logo in the Upper Midwest. By 1982, the design contained a white '5' on a red rounded edge square background. The number was italicized for a time in the mid-to-late 1980s. In the early 1990s, a red triangular backdrop was in place. Eventually, the logo endured a more dramatic makeover, with a gold colored '5' on a blue ABC-style disc, outlined in green. By the late 1990s, after the launch of United States Satellite Broadcasting, along with DirecTV, a brighter, classier logo—still with a gold '5' -- returned the rectangular look, adding a black ABC logo. Since 2004, a white '5' has been used on a red parallelogram, also with a black ABC logo.

In April 2008, KSTP started airing commercials commemorating their 60 years on the air. The commercials ended with a new slogan, "Minnesota's News Leader".