History
KTVA is Alaska's first broadcast television station. Legendary Alaskan broadcast pioneer August G. "Augie" Hiebert (1916-2007) applied to the FCC in May 1953, received approval for construction permits in July 1953, and KTVA signed on the air on December 11, 1953 broadcasting (initially from 2 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.). The studio and office were originally housed on the first floor and the transmitter on top of the pink 14-story McKinley Building. with an analog signal on VHF channel 11. The station aired a few NBC programs in the late 1960s, until KHAR-TV (now KYUR) took the NBC affiliation in 1970. The station was a DuMont affiliate in the early 1950s. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.
KTVA made history by airing the first live satellite TV broadcast from the Lower 48 (Continental U.S.) to Anchorage viewers on January 3, 1971: The NFC championship football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys.
KTVA even carried Sesame Street from 1970 until KAKM signed on in May 1975.
Until the 1980s, when network programming began to be aired live via satellite throughout Alaska, KTVA and other TV stations in Alaska aired network programming on a tape-delayed basis via videotaped recordings of network programs captured off-the-air in Seattle, which were then flown to Alaska .
On November 9, 2012, GCI, through subsidiary Denali Media Holdings, announced plans to purchase KTVA, as well as KATH-LD and KSCT-LP in Southeast Alaska.
For more information, Jeanie Green Productions (JGP) has posted an informative article about the history and evolution of TV broadcasting in Alaska with emphasis on Anchorage.
Read more about this topic: KTVA
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