Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. is an American television and radio

broadcasting Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

corporation based in

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 311,527, making it Minnesota's second-most populous city a ...

. It was founded by Stanley E. Hubbard. The corporation has broadcast outlets scattered across

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, and

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

KSTP radio,

KSTP-FM KSTP-FM (94.5 Hertz, MHz) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station in St. Paul, Minnesota, serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul media market, radio market. It is the flagship FM station of Hubbard Broadcasting and airs a hot adult contempor ...

KTMY KTMY (107.1 FM broadcasting, FM) is an entertainment-oriented talk radio, talk radio station, serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Twin Cities as well as portions of West Central Wisconsin. The station is owned and operated by Hubbard Broadcasting ...

KSTP-TV KSTP-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, serving the Twin Cities area as an affiliate of ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based Hubbard Broadcasting, which has owned th ...

, and

KSTC-TV KSTC-TV (channel 5.2) is an independent television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, serving the Twin Cities area. Owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, it is sister to Saint Paul–licensed ABC affiliate and company flagshi ...

, which serve the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

region of Minnesota and western Wisconsin, are regarded as the company's legacy flagship stations.

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 with Stanley E. Hubbard as owner and station director. It was the first radio station to be completely supported by income generated by advertisements. 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. Hubbard became the merged station's general manager, and bought controlling interest in 1941. In 1938 Hubbard bought the first

television camera A professional video camera (often called a television camera even though its use has spread beyond television) is a high-end device for creating electronic moving images (as opposed to a movie camera, that earlier recorded the images on filmstoc ...

available from

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

. Following the television blackout brought on by

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, KSTP began 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 Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...

format, and KSTP-FM broadcasts

adult contemporary music Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, sou ...

; KSTP-TV is affiliated with

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

. After the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

relaxed rules about television station ownership, Hubbard bought a second television station in the Twin Cities. Originally affiliated with the

Home Shopping Network HSN, Inc. an initialism of its former name Home Shopping Network, is an American free-to-air television network owned by the QVC Group (formerly Qurate Retail Group), which also owns Catalog merchant, catalog company Cornerstone Brands. It is ...

when it started operations in 1994, KVBM was bought by Hubbard and became general-entertainment

independent station An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast television network, network. As such, it only broadcasts broadcast syndication, syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered pr ...

in 2000. It has been used as an alternate outlet for ABC network programming when KSTP-TV is broadcasting coverage of

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

football games or other special shows, including severe-weather coverage. Aside from terrestrial broadcast stations, other current ventures include the

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

network ReelzChannel (launched in 2006), the arts network

Ovation The ovation ( from ''ovare'': to rejoice) was a lesser form of the Roman triumph. Ovations were granted when war was not declared between enemies on the level of nations or states; when an enemy was considered basely inferior (e.g., slaves, pira ...

, 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 Hughes Electronics Corporation was formed in 1985, when Hughes Aircraft was sold by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to General Motors for $5.2 billion. Surviving parts of Hughes Electronics are today known as DirecTV Group, while the automoti ...

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

), launched its own subscription satellite service called

DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...

. 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 Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of interest to consumers. It is typically us ...

, until DirecTV's 1998 acquisition of USSB. Hubbard was also instrumental in the development of mobile satellite news vehicles. In 1983, Hubbard-owned CONUS Communications and Florida-based subsidiary Hubcom built the first

Satellite News Gathering Electronic news gathering (ENG) or electronic journalism (EJ) is usage of electronic video and audio technologies by reporters to gather and present news instead of using film cameras. The term was coined during the rise of videotape techno ...

(SNG) mobile vehicle, which allowed for much easier live news coverage for network and local television news operations. This ultimately resulted in CONUS—later a joint-venture with

Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2005), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Pa ...

—becoming a nationwide, satellite-based newsgathering cooperative (with Hubbard charging stations to relay their footage). As an outgrowth of this, Hubbard Broadcasting also operated a 24-hour news station, the

All News Channel All News Channel (ANC) was an American satellite television news channel and broadcast syndication service operated as a joint venture between Viacom and CONUS Communications, itself a division of Hubbard Broadcasting. Launched on November ...

, which relied on CONUS-sourced news footage and primarily acted as a "sustaining feed" for television stations to fill air time with; ANC was also responsible for producing news programming for third-parties. The news channel lasted from 1989 until it folded in September 2002, which the channels trademark was spun off to became a website which relaunched. Hubbard Broadcasting also owned the now-closed Bound to be Read

bookstore Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen. History The found ...

s in St. Paul,

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

, and Key Largo. As of October 2007, it is engaged in a fevered battle with

NABET The National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, the Broadcasting and Cable Television Workers Sector of the Communications Workers of America (NABET-CWA) is a labor union representing employees in television, radio, film, and medi ...

union repping employees of WNYT in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

. In June 2009, the "

Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, lette ...

" honored Hubbard Broadcasting and KSTP-TV with its national Historical Site in Journalism award. On January 19, 2011, Hubbard announced the purchase of 17 radio stations in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, and

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

from

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

subsidiary

Bonneville International Bonneville International Corporation is a media and broadcasting company, wholly owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) through its for-profit arm, Deseret Management Corporation. It began as a radio and TV networ ...

for $505 million. The sale closed on April 29, 2011. On February 25, 2013, Hubbard announced that it would purchase

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...

station

WNYA WNYA (channel 51) is a television station licensed to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, United States, serving New York's Capital District as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting alongside Albany-licensed NBC affiliate ...

to form a duopoly with WNYT, pending FCC approval. No financial details were announced. On July 16, 2013, Hubbard announced that it had agreed to purchase 10 stations from Ohio-based Sandusky Radio for $85.5 million. 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. Accessed July 2, 2017 (archived link) On September 26, 2018, Hubbard announced that it agreed to purchase six stations owned by

Alpha Media Alpha Media LLC is a radio broadcasting company based in Portland, Oregon, and led by Bob Proffitt. The group does business under the Alpha Media name. It was formed from the merger of Alpha Broadcasting, L&L Broadcasting, and Main Line Broadc ...

in West Palm Beach Florida, for $88 million. The stations include Urban AC 102.3

WMBX WMBX (102.3 FM "X 102.3") is a commercial radio station licensed to Jensen Beach, Florida. It serves the West Palm Beach and Treasure Coast areas, broadcasting an urban adult contemporary radio format. WMBX is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting. It ...

, Country 103.1

WIRK WIRK (103.1 FM broadcasting, FM) is a radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to Indiantown, Florida, the station serves the Treasure Coast and Palm Beach County, Florida, Palm Beach County area. The station is owned by Hubb ...

, Adult Contemporary 107.9

WEAT WEAT (107.9 FM) is a commercial radio station in West Palm Beach, Florida. it airs a classic hits radio format, switching to Christmas music for much of November and December. It is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, through licensee WPB FCC Lice ...

, Hot Adult Contemporary 97.9

WRMF WRMF (97.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial broadcasting, commercial radio station in Palm Beach, Florida. It serves the northern sections of the Miami metropolitan area, including West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Fort Lauderda ...

, News/Talk 850

WFTL WFTL (850 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio station in West Palm Beach, Florida, serving parts of Palm Beach County, Broward County, and Miami-Dade County. The station airs an talk radio, news-talk radio format, format and is owned by ...

and Sports/Talk 640

WMEN WMEN (640 AM, "Fox Sports 640") is a sports radio station licensed to Royal Palm Beach, Florida, United States. The station primarily serves the West Palm Beach, Florida market and provides strong coverage of nearby Fort Lauderdale and Miami. F ...

. Hubbard Broadcasting took over production of ''

Country Top 40 ''Country Top 40 with Fitz'' (sometimes abbreviated as CT40), formerly known as ''Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40'', is an American country music radio countdown show created by former '' American Country Countdown'' host Bob Kingsley, who hosted ...

'' in January 2020 after the death of the program's founder Bob Kingsley. Fitz, a mononymous host with several syndicated country radio programs to his credit, took over as the program's host.

Hubbard-owned stations

Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and

city of license In U.S., Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broadcast ...

. All of the assets are owned by the Stanley S. Hubbard Revocable Trust, and administered by Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc.Ownership Report for Hubbard Broadcasting
- at the

(FCC) :(**) indicates a station that was built and signed-on by Hubbard.

Television stations

Radio stations

Cable channels (through Hubbard Media Group division)

(purchased August 2006) *

Reelz Reelz (formerly known as Reelz Channel) is an American digital cable and satellite television network owned by Hubbard Broadcasting. The network's programming was formerly devoted to entertainment-oriented programming focusing on the Hollywood ...

(launched September 2006)

Former Hubbard-owned stations

Former television stations

Hubbard also owned a partial stake in KWK-TV (later KMOX-TV, now

KMOV KMOV (channel 4) is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, affiliated with CBS and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Gray Media alongside low-power station KDTL-LD (channel 4.6). The two stations share studios on Progress Park ...

), channel 4, in

during the mid-1950s.

Radio stations

Cable channels

(1989–2002, defunct) * Prime Sports Upper Midwest (1989–95; joint venture with

Liberty Media Liberty Media Corporation (commonly referred to as Liberty Media or just Liberty) is an American mass media company founded by John C. Malone in 1991. The company has three divisions, reflecting its ownership stakes in the Formula One Group, S ...

)

Notes

References

External links

Hubbard Broadcasting website
{{coord, 44, 58, 5, N, 93, 12, 25, W, display=title Hubbard Broadcasting, Companies based in Saint Paul, Minnesota Radio in Minnesota Television broadcasting companies of the United States Television in Minnesota Radio broadcasting companies of the United States Mass media companies established in 1926 1926 establishments in Minnesota

History

Hubbard-owned stations

Television stations

Radio stations

Cable channels (through Hubbard Media Group division)

Former Hubbard-owned stations

Former television stations

Radio stations

Cable channels

Notes

References

Further reading

External links