Hubbard Broadcasting

Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. is an American television and radio broadcasting corporation based in St. Paul, Minnesota that was started by Stanley E. Hubbard.

The corporation has broadcast outlets scattered across Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, and New Mexico, though the flagship stations are KSTP radio, KSTP-FM and KSTP-TV, which serve the Twin Cities region of Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

History

KSTP has its origins in the Twin Cities radio station WAMD ("Where All Minneapolis Dances"), which started broadcasting live dance music from a local ballroom on February 13, 1925. It was the first radio station to be completely supported by income generated by advertisements. Hubbard Broadcasting now operates four radio stations as well as several television stations.

In 1928, WAMD merged with KFOY (Kind Friends of Yours) radio (first broadcast: March 12, 1924) in St. Paul to become KSTP, which was advertised as being operated by the National Battery Broadcasting Co. Ten years later, in 1938, Hubbard bought the first television camera available from RCA. Following the television blackout brought on by World War II, KSTP started television broadcasts in 1948.

KSTP is still Hubbard's flagship, although there are now three different stations that carry that name. KSTP-AM broadcasts a sports radio format, and KSTP-FM broadcasts adult contemporary music; KSTP-TV is affiliated with ABC.

After the Federal Communications Commission relaxed rules about television station ownership, Hubbard bought a second television station in the Twin Cities. Originally affiliated with the Home Shopping Network when it started operations in 1994, KVBM was bought by Hubbard and became general-entertainment independent station KSTC-TV in 2000. It has been used as an alternate outlet for ABC network programming when KSTP-TV is broadcasting coverage of Viking football games or other special shows, including severe-weather coverage.

Aside from terrestrial broadcast stations, other current ventures include the film network ReelzChannel (launched in 2006), arts network Ovation, and the Hubbard Radio Network, which is used to distribute KSTP's local talk shows to subscribing radio stations in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The cable channels are run through subsidiary company Hubbard Media Group.

In 1981, Hubbard Broadcasting started U.S. Satellite Broadcasting (USSB), and later was instrumental in the development and launching of the first digital satellite system for television in 1994. The new satellite could deliver 175 channels to a (at the time) tiny, 18 inch dish. USSB's development partner, Hughes Electronics (a General Motors subsidiary), launched their own subscription satellite service called DirecTV. The two services did not compete against each other (they carried different channels), and were often marketed together to subscribers by retailers and in advertisements until DirecTV's 1998 acquisition of USSB.

Hubbard Broadcasting also operated a 24 Hour News station titled All News Channel which featured longtime KSTP anchor Stan Turner. The news channel lasted from 1991 until it folded in September 2002.

Hubbard Broadcasting also owned the now-closed Bound to be Read bookstores in St. Paul, Albuquerque, and Key Largo.

As of October 2007, it is engaged in a fevered battle with NABET union repping employees of WNYT in Albany, New York.

On January 19, 2011, it was announced that Hubbard will purchase 17 radio stations in Cincinnati, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and St. Louis from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints subsidiary Bonneville International for $505 million.^[1] The sale closed on April 29, 2011.^[2]

On February 25, 2013, Hubbard announced that it would purchase MyNetworkTV station WNYA to form a duopoly with WNYT, pending FCC approval. No financial details were announced.^[3]

On July 16, 2013, Hubbard announced that it had agreed to purchase 10 stations from Ohio-based Sandusky Radio for $85.5 million.^[4]

Hubbard announced on November 13, 2014 that it would purchase the sixteen stations owned by Omni Broadcasting. The Omni stations are all located in central and northern Minnesota.^[5]

Hubbard-owned stations

The Hubbard Broadcasting headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota, with the KSTP SkyMax 5 tower in the background.

Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license.

All of the assets are owned by the Stanley S. Hubbard Revocable Trust, and administered by Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc.^[6][7]

Note: Two boldface asterisks appearing following a station's call letters (**) indicates a station that was built and signed-on by Hubbard.

Television stations

Note:

• ¹ K42DJ is operated by News-Press & Gazette station KVIA-TV in a LMA

Radio stations

Cable channels (through Hubbard Media Group division)

• Ovation (purchased August 2006; co-owned with Bob and Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstein Company)
• Reelz (launched September 2006)

Former Hubbard-owned stations

Television stations

Hubbard also owned a partial stake in KWK-TV (later KMOX-TV, now KMOV), channel 4, in St. Louis during the mid-1950s.

Radio stations

Cable channels

• All News Channel (1989–2002, defunct)

References

Further reading

• Fulton Klinkerfues. Stanley E. Hubbard pioneered local broadcasting. Good Age Newspaper.
• Jeff Miller (editor). A Chronology of AM Broadcasting (1900-1960).
• USA Today, June 11, 2006.
• Los Angeles Times, August 30, 2006.

External links

• Hubbard Radio website

Coordinates: 44°58′5″N 93°12′25″W / 44.96806°N 93.20694°W / 44.96806; -93.20694