KOAT-TV

Early years

After the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lifted its four-year freeze on television station licenses in 1952, channels 7 and 13 were authorized for commercial use in Albuquerque in addition to the existing KOB-TV (channel 4).[1] Among the various interests whose applications had languished at the FCC prior to the freeze was the Alvarado Broadcasting Company, owner of radio station KOAT (1450 AM). The original application had specified channel 13, but Alvarado switched its application to specify channel 7.[2] This took the company out of competition with KGGM, which had also filed for channel 13.[3] Another application had been filed for channel 7, by E. John and Salome Greer of Santa Fe, but by February 1953, E. John Greer had died.[4] The Greer interests withdrew on June 16, 1953, leaving Alvarado unopposed.[5] Two days later, on June 18, the FCC granted Alvarado a construction permit for KOAT-TV.[6]

Work began within two weeks to enlarge the KOAT radio studios at 122 Tulane SE to accommodate the television extension, including adding a kitchen studio, and on a transmitter site on Ten Mile Hill, west of Albuquerque.[7] KOAT-TV also arranged to match its sister radio station by affiliating with the ABC television network.[8] Meanwhile, a minority stake in KOAT-TV was sold to two new investors.[9]

KOAT-TV was scheduled to start on September 15,[10] but the launch date was missed when factory inspectors and a critical piece of equipment failed to arrive on time.[11] KOAT-TV beat KGGM-TV (channel 13, now KRQE) in being the first of the new stations to air when it began broadcasting on October 2, 1953;[12] channel 13 followed two days later.[13] KOAT-TV was the Albuquerque-area affiliate of the DuMont Television Network from 1954 until the network's dissolution the next year, replacing KOB-TV.[14][15]

Alvarado sold its two radio stations—KOAT and KRSN in Los Alamos—in October 1954. Financial difficulty was evinced by the fact that KOAT had cut all but one live local show from its schedule.[16] Six months later, in April 1955, KOAT-TV filed for bankruptcy reorganization in a plan that brought in 20 new stockholders and saw Albuquerque Exhibitors, a movie theater owner that had bought a stake in the station prior to launch, become the largest stockholder in the venture.[17] Even while in bankruptcy, the station applied to the FCC to relocate its transmitter to Sandia Crest, a peak which already was the home of KOB-TV and KGGM-TV.[18][19] The FCC granted approval in May 1956, allowing construction of a tower at the site.[20]

McKinnon and Steinman ownership

The reorganization in 1955 was ultimately unsuccessful at repairing KOAT-TV's financial condition. Just as the Internal Revenue Service filed a tax lien on KOAT-TV,[21] Clinton D. McKinnon, a former U.S. congressman from California and owner of KVOA radio and KVOA-TV in Tucson, Arizona, came to the station's rescue by buying it for $12,500 plus the assumption of debts. At the time, KOAT's liabilities exceeded its assets by some $150,000.[22] The FCC approved of the sale the next month.[23] McKinnon merged the holding companies for KVOA-TV and KOAT-TV in 1959,[24] under a contract that called for McKinnon to resign if Alvarado Television lost money in six consecutive months.[25]

KOAT-TV unsuccessfully suggested that channel 2 in Santa Fe be jointly assigned to both cities or to Albuquerque so it could move there.[26] KOAT had desired channel 2 to improve its coverage in fringe areas from Albuquerque,[27] and McKinnon had previously protested an attempt by a proposed Santa Fe station to locate its transmitter on Sandia Crest.[28]

In 1962, KOAT-TV constructed a microwave relay system from Albuquerque to Phoenix in order to connect with ABC, said to be the longest such system in private ownership in the United States, and it began work on new facilities on University Boulevard on Albuquerque's northeast side which were twice the size of the original facilities on Tulane.[29] However, while construction was ongoing, several of the partners in Alvarado, in ill health and wishing to liquidate their holdings, pushed McKinnon to sell Alvarado Television. KVOA-TV and KOAT-TV were sold in August 1962 to Steinman Stations of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, headed by Clair McCollough, for $3.5 million,[30] with FCC approval coming in January 1963.[31]

Pulitzer and Hearst ownership

Steinman owned the Albuquerque station for five years before selling it in 1968 to the Pulitzer Publishing Company, publishers of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and owners of KSD radio and KSD-TV in that city, for $5 million;[32] the FCC granted approval for the transaction in 1969.[33][34] Steinman had previously sold Pulitzer KVOA-TV in Tucson earlier in the year.[35][36]

Pulitzer invested in new facilities for the station to facilitate expansion. In 1978, it sold its existing studios on University to Albuquerque radio stations KRZY and KRST and announced it would construct a larger facility at the intersection of Carlisle Boulevard and Comanche Road, more than twice the size of the University building and with more convenient freeway access and a larger parking area.[37] The resulting structure, designed by Albuquerque architect Antoine Predock, began construction in 1979[38] and was completed in July 1980.[39] It also features an on-site helipad, enabling the station to keep a news helicopter at its studios instead of at the airport. Pulitzer received several unsolicited offers but categorically refused to sell KOAT-TV because of its strong performance: company executive Ray Karpowicz noted, "Under no circumstances would we even consider selling it."[40]

In 1991, KOAT opened a news bureau in Roswell with the capability to add regional news, weather, and advertising inserts into the feed of KOAT seen on cable systems and translators in southeastern New Mexico.[41]

Hearst-Argyle acquired the entirety of Pulitzer's broadcasting holdings in 1998.

In 2025, KOAT announced an agreement with the Albuquerque Isotopes of Minor League Baseball to broadcast 12 games. Games will be split between KOAT and KOAT's third subchannel (True Crime Network).[42]

Notable former staff

• Mike Roberts – weekend sportscaster, 1976–1982[61][62]
• Terry McDermott — sports director, 1985–1997[63][64]

Subchannels

KOAT-TV's transmitter is located on Sandia Crest, northeast of Albuquerque. The station's signal is multiplexed: {{legend|#DFEBF6|Broadcast on behalf of another station}}

Analog-to-digital conversion

KOAT-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 7, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 21 to VHF channel 7.[66]

Translators

KOAT-TV is rebroadcast on 27 additional translators, most owned by the station, across much of New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, and northeastern Arizona.[67]

• Alamogordo, etc.: K34CR-D
• Caballo: K16LU-D
• Carlsbad: K18NX-D
• Colfax: K23JD-D
• Crownpoint: K30KV-D
• Deming: K22ME-D
• Dulce, Lumberton: K28ER-D
• Farmington: K19CM-D
• Farmington (Huérfano Mountain): K24IV-D
• Gallup: K10PW-D
• Grants, etc.: K11EV-D
• Hobbs: K12NH-D
• Las Vegas: K09AI-D
• Montoya, Newkirk: K28NX-D
• Mount Powell: K15KK-D
• Raton: K16CH-D
• Red River: K12OC-D
• Roswell: K13RK-D
• Ruidoso: K31MW-D
• Silver City: K08QP-D
• Taos: K36LF-D
• Tierra Amarilla: K36KD-D
• Cortez, CO: K09DM-D
• Durango, CO: K24NH-D
• Romeo, CO: K17JW-D
• Vallecito, CO: K13PJ-D
• Many Farms, AZ: K36JX-D