Construction and early years
After the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lifted its years-long freeze on television station allocations in 1952, Spokane was allotted three commercial TV channels—2, 4, and 6.[2] In June 1952, radio station owner Louis Wasmer applied to the FCC for channel 2.[3] At the time, Wasmer was in the process of selling one Spokane radio station, KSPO, to buy another, KREM (970 AM), from Cole Wylie in a deal approved by the FCC in July 1952; Wasmer found KREM's facilities, on the Moran Prairie, well-suited for television transmission.[4] A second group, Spokane radio station KNEW (as Television Spokane, Inc.), applied for channel 2; this came after their filing for channel 4 came the same day the commission awarded KXLY-TV's construction permit.[5]
The multiple applications threw the case to a comparative hearing,[6] which opened in May 1953 after multiple delays.[7] Wasmer was criticized by Television Spokane for buying and selling radio stations,[8] while Wasmer unsuccessfully impugned Television Spokane's financial capacity to build the proposed station.[9] Several participants had medical problems during the hearing process. KNEW's chief engineer collapsed on the witness stand during questioning; Wasmer suffered from food poisoning; and the wife of Burl Hagadone, a 40-percent owner of Television Spokane, was hospitalized in Montana, prompting the entire proceeding to be recessed.[10] It never resumed, as the Television Spokane bid was withdrawn on March 1, 1954, in exchange for reimbursement of permit expenses by Wasmer and a right of first refusal should KREM-TV come up for sale.[11][12]
Following Television Spokane's withdrawal, an FCC hearing examiner recommended Wasmer be granted channel 2, and within two weeks he began construction on KREM-TV, including a studio expansion to KREM's existing radio facilities.[13] By the end of August, a 747 ft tower had been erected for use by KREM AM, a new KREM-FM 92.9, and channel 2.[14] KREM-TV signed on October 31, 1954, with an "inaugural program" at 6:30 p.m.[15] It was briefly an independent station[16] until December 6, 1954, when it affiliated with ABC.[17][18]
In July 1957, the King Broadcasting Company and its owner, Seattle businesswoman Dorothy Bullitt, agreed to buy the KREM radio and TV stations for $2 million (equivalent to $ in dollars).[19][20] The FCC granted the sale in September[21] only to stay its approval when Television Spokane protested that its right of first refusal had not been respected.[22] To resolve the dispute, Wasmer acquired Television Spokane, clearing the way for the sale to be reapproved by the commission.[23] Wasmer continued as president of the KREM stations until he departed in 1963,[24] marking his retirement.[25]
The FCC approved an application by a community translator organization to set up rebroadcasters of KREM-TV and KHQ-TV in Lewiston, Idaho, in 1958. Though Lewiston's local station, KLEW-TV (channel 3), objected, at the time KREM was with ABC and KLEW was a CBS affiliate.[26] The translator operated from 1958 to 1959 and again beginning in 1963.[27][28] In 1972, cable subscribers in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, began receiving KREM in their lineups;[29] the cable systems in Edmonton followed suit in May 1975 after the Canadian Radio and Television Commission previously had ordered a delay.[30] By the time Fort McMurray cable subscribers received KREM in 1977, the station reached half as many homes on cable in Canada as it did in the United States.[31]
