KPIF (channel 15) is a television station licensed to Pocatello, Idaho, United States, serving the Idaho Falls–Pocatello media market as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Grit. It is owned by Ventura Broadcasting alongside Ion Television affiliate KVUI (channel 31, also licensed to Pocatello). The two stations share studios on West Alameda Road in Pocatello; KPIF's transmitter is located on Howard Mountain.
History
The original construction permit for KPIF was granted on March 2, 2001, to Pocatello Channel 15, L.L.C., a partnership between KM Communications, Inc. of Skokie, Illinois, Kaleidoscope Foundation, Inc. of Little Rock, Arkansas (a subsidiary of Equity Broadcasting Corporation), and Potelco Broadcasting of Greensboro, North Carolina. The three companies had been competing applicants for a channel 15 television station in Pocatello, and agreed in 2000 to form a partnership in order to expedite construction of the station. In 2003, due to irreconcilable differences that caused delays in development of the permit, Myoung Hwa Bae of KM Communications extended an offer to buy out the other two members. KM Communications completed construction of the station and signed on in March 2004 under Program Test Authority from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).[1]