KVUE

Pre-launch and construction

In the fall of 1961, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began to receive applications for channel 24 in Austin. Applicants included Dalton Homer Cobb, a Midland oilman who owned that city's KDCD-TV (channel 18), and John R. Powley of Altoona, Pennsylvania (whose Texas Longhorn Broadcasting Company sought channel 67).[1] They were soon followed by an Austin radio station in business for 15 years and also seeking channel 24: KVET (1300 AM), which filed on December 12, 1961,[2] in anticipation of a future day when a UHF station could be viable.[3] The Cobb and KVET bids were designated for hearing by the FCC in 1962, and KVET got the nod on March 13, 1963.

While KVET manager Willard Deason announced the station would be built at "deliberate speed" and be on the air by early 1965,[4] Austinites would have to wait some time to see it. In 1965, KVET was sold to Butler Broadcasting, channel 24 construction permit included.[5] Butler announced a start date in February or March 1966,[6] then a fall 1967 launch was floated.[7]

KVET filed to sell the construction permit in 1968 to McAlister Television Enterprises, owner of KSEL-TV in Lubbock, for $44,000.[8] McAlister sold a majority stake to several other investors which included former governor Allan Shivers, resulting in the creation of the Channel Twenty-Four Corporation as the assignee. The FCC approved in June 1970;[9] the KVET-TV call letters were changed to KVUE, and a site in what was then far north Austin along Shoal Creek was selected for the studios.[10]

The station signed on the air on September 12, 1971, after winds from Hurricane Fern delayed the intended start-up.[11] KVUE was the market's first full-time ABC affiliate and finally gave the capital city the full program lineups from all three networks; prior to KVUE's sign-on, the network's programming had previously been limited to off-hours clearances on KTBC-TV and KHFI-TV.[12]

Growth and ownership changes

In 1978, the Evening News Association, publisher of The Detroit News and owner of several television stations, purchased KVUE; it was the last locally owned TV station in the market to be sold.[13] Under Evening News, the station added 13000 ft2 to its studio facility, doubling its size, in an expansion begun in 1985.[14] The station also successfully repelled a 1984 attack by a gunman who wished to broadcast a political manifesto; employees tricked him into thinking his statement was broadcast on the air, and he was arrested after reading his statement.[15]

After a hostile takeover bid by Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio was rebuffed, ENA put itself up and sale and was purchased by the Gannett Company in 1985,[16] a transaction that closed in February 1986.[17] A second expansion of the studios was conducted in 1991, this time adding another 9400 ft2 to house the newsroom.[18]

One of the state's most important owners of media properties was Belo Corporation. It owned The Dallas Morning News and TV stations in most of the state's important cities: KHOU-TV in Houston, WFAA-TV in Dallas, and KENS-TV in San Antonio. However, it lacked an Austin property and coveted one, particularly given its impending launch of Texas Cable News (TXCN). In February 1999, Gannett agreed to a trade with Belo: Belo received KVUE, while Gannett received KXTV in Sacramento, and $55 million. With the addition of KVUE, TXCN could provide news and information from the four largest cities in Texas, and Belo gained coverage of two-thirds of Texas households.[19] The deal was particularly surprising from a monetary standpoint given that KXTV was in a much larger market than Austin.[20]

On June 13, 2013, Gannett announced that it would acquire Belo for $1.5 billion.[21] The sale was completed on December 23.[22] Gannett then split into print and broadcast companies in 2015, with the broadcast company taking on the name Tegna.[23]

On February 22, 2022, Tegna announced that it would be acquired by Standard General and Apollo Global Management for $5.4 billion. As a part of the deal, KVUE, along with its Dallas sister stations WFAA and KMPX and Houston sister stations KHOU and KTBU, would be resold to Cox Media Group.[24][25] The deal was canceled on May 22, 2023.[26]

On August 19, 2025, Nexstar Media Group agreed to acquire Tegna for $6.2 billion.[27] In Austin, Nexstar already owns KXAN-TV, KNVA, and KBVO.[28] The deal was completed on March 19, 2026, with Nexstar being allowed by the FCC to hold three TV station licenses in applicable markets.[29]

Notable former on-air staff

• Walt Maciborski – anchor
• Arthel Neville – reporter[41]
• Fred Roggin – sports anchor, 1978–1979[42][43]
• Casey Stegall – anchor/reporter, 2004–2005[44]

Subchannels

KVUE's transmitter is located in west Austin. The station's signal is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion

KVUE ended regular programming on its analog signal on February 17, 2009, as part of the FCC-mandated transition to digital television for full-power stations (which Congress had moved the previous month to June 12).[46] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 33, using virtual channel 24.[47]

As part of the SAFER Act, KVUE kept its analog signal on the air until June 27 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters.[48]