KGAN

Construction and early years

American Broadcasting Stations, Inc., the owner of Cedar Rapids radio station WMT (600 AM), applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on January 10, 1951, for permission to build a new television station on channel 9.[1] In June 1952, after the FCC lifted its four-year freeze on television station grants and changed many channel allocations nationally, the application was amended to specify channel 2. In addition to the WMT application, the Davenport Broadcasting Company, owner of KSTT in Davenport, sought channel 2.[2] American Broadcasting Stations charged that Davenport Broadcasting was not financially qualified to build the station.[3]

On April 8, 1953, after Davenport withdrew from contention, the FCC approved American Broadcasting Stations's application and granted a construction permit.[4][5] WMT-TV began regular broadcasting on September 30, 1953, as the first station in Eastern Iowa. After brief remarks by general manager and part-owner William B. Quarton, the station aired Game 1 of the 1953 World Series.[6] The Series was carried by special arrangement with NBC, but WMT-TV was a primary affiliate of CBS with selected programs of the DuMont Television Network. When the station started, the studios on Old Marion Road were still being built and were expected to be completed in November; as a result, live local programming did not appear immediately.[7] As a promotional tactic, the new TV station paid its employees in unusual two-dollar bills.[8] It boasted that it was the first station to broadcast with an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts (the maximum for channels 2 through 6).[9]

WMT-TV began construction of a new, taller tower near Walker in June 1956. The structure, intended to be 1358 ft tall,[10] was toppled in a windstorm on December 10, having reached 1250 ft in height.[11] The structure was rebuilt and put into use in July 1957.[12] In April 1967, the station converted to color for local programming.[13]

In December 1967, American Broadcasting Stations announced it was negotiating to sell WMT radio and television to WAVE, Inc. of Louisville, Kentucky;[14] the $9.98 million purchase was approved by the FCC in June 1968.[15] In 1969, WAVE, Inc. renamed itself Orion Broadcasting in reflection of its broadcasting holdings beyond Louisville.[16]

Guy Gannett ownership

Orion Broadcasting announced in April 1980 that it would put all of its stations up for sale. The Morton and Norton families opted to sell the entire company in order to avoid paying inheritance taxes when 71-year-old Mrs. George Norton eventually died, taxes they were not sure the company could pay.[17] Two months later, Orion announced it would merge with Cosmos Broadcasting, a subsidiary of insurance and broadcasting conglomerate Liberty Corporation. However, the two companies together owned eight very high frequency (VHF) television stations, three more than the FCC allowed at the time. As a condition of the merger, Cosmos opted to sell WMT-TV as well as WFRV-TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and WJMN-TV in Escanaba, Michigan.[18]

Guy Gannett Broadcasting Services of Portland, Maine, agreed to acquire WMT-TV in February 1981, becoming the company's third television station and first in the Midwest. As Cosmos retained WMT radio and the radio stations would retain the WMT call letters, a new designation was required for channel 2.[19] Guy Gannett selected KGAN, which mirrored the company's WGAN-TV in Portland.[20] The $13 million sale received FCC approval that August[21] and was completed on October 16, 1981, at which time WMT-TV became KGAN-TV.[22]

Sinclair ownership

Motivated by the impending expiration of the family trust that owned the company, Guy Gannett Communications put itself up for sale in 1998.[23] The Seattle Times Company acquired Guy Gannett's newspapers, while the firm's television stations were purchased by Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group.[24] The Guy Gannett purchase gave Sinclair diversification into affiliates of the Big Three networks and beyond a portfolio heavy with Fox, WB, and UPN stations.[25]

Sinclair attempted later that year to sell KGAN and two ex-Guy Gannett stations in Illinois—WICS in Springfield and WICD in Champaign—to Sunrise Television. At the time, Sinclair was attempting to shed some of the smaller-market stations it had acquired in a string of recent purchases, as the company had made losses following the purchases.[26] The deal never received approval from the FCC or the United States Department of Justice because of the ownership structure of Sunrise, which was affiliated with investment firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst. That firm was also majority stockholder of the LIN TV Corporation.[27] At the time, LIN owned WAND in Decatur, a rival to WICS/WICD, and could not own both stations.[28]

In 2002, Sinclair and Second Generation of Iowa, owner of KFXA, entered into an outsourcing agreement whereby Sinclair began providing KFXA's sales and other non-programming services.[29] Sinclair then acquired the assets of KFXA, except the license, in 2008.[30] On January 1, 2021, the programming and Fox affiliation of KFXA's main subchannel became the 2.2 subchannel of KGAN.[31]

KGAN began broadcasting a digital signal on channel 51 on October 26, 2002. The station has been digital-only since February 17, 2009;[32] however, the station later asked to move down from its original channel of 51.[33] At the time, the FCC permitted moves of stations off this channel pursuant to agreements with licensees of wireless and cellular services occupying the spectrum formerly allocated to channels 52-69, immediately adjacent.[34] On the morning of April 5, 2014, the station moved to channel 29.[35]

Notable former on-air staff

• Bob Hilton – newscaster, 1993–1996[56][57]