KDUL-LP (channel 12) was a

low-power television station Low-power broadcasting is broadcasting by a Radio broadcasting#Station, broadcast station at a low transmitter power output to a smaller service area than "full power" stations within the same region. It is often distinguished from "micropower ...

Duluth, Minnesota Duluth ( ) is a Port, port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County, Minnesota, St. Louis County. Located on Lake Superior in Minnesota's Arrowhead Region, the city is a hub for cargo shipping. The population ...

, United States, which operated from October 2000 to August 2001.NorthPine.com Upper Midwest Broadcasting archive, http://www.northpine.com/broadcast/archive The station was owned by Duluth TV Partners and managed by ESI Broadcasting. KDUL-LP's office and

master control Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room (PCR) in television studios where the activities such as swit ...

were located in Fitger's Brewery Complex, a popular shopping and entertainment venue. Its transmitter was located on Duluth's Observation Hill.

History

KDUL-LP was originally K60EZ (channel 60), which carried a scrambled version of

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

as part of an eight-channel

subscription TV Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, but ...

service which operated between 1993 and 1998. After several missed launch dates, KDUL-LP began regular broadcasting on October 1, 2000, carrying

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that operated from 1995 to 2006. It was originally a joint venture between Chris-Craft Industries (later sold to News Corporation)'s subsidiary, United Television, ...

, the

American Independent Network The American Independent Network was one of the first major attempts at building a commercial television network consisting of low-powered television stations. Started by Don Shelton, Randy Moseley, and Lyn Snyder, it was similar to the older ...

, and ''

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Par ...

''. It was also carried in Duluth and

Superior Superior may refer to: *Superior (hierarchy), something which is higher in a hierarchical structure of any kind Places * Superior (proposed U.S. state), an unsuccessful proposal for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to form a separate state *Lak ...

on channel 16 via

Charter Communications Charter Communications, Inc., is an American telecommunications and mass media company with services branded as Spectrum. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. With over 32 million customers in 41 states as of 2022, it is the ...

. The system also carried then-UPN affiliate

KMSP-TV KMSP-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, serving the Twin Cities area. It is owned and operated by the Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division alongside WFTC (channel 9.2 ...

from

Minneapolis–Saint Paul Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a metropolitan area in the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States centered around the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi, Minnesota River, Minnesota, and St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota), ...

as a regional

superstation ''Superstation'' (alternatively rendered as "super station" or informally as "SuperStation") is a term in North American broadcasting that has several meanings. Commonly, a "superstation" is a form of distant signal, a broadcast television sign ...

and blacked out UPN programming on KMSP at KDUL-LP's request. KDUL-LP was to have been co-managed with KWMN-LP (channel 56) in Duluth, another former subscription TV station which was to have carried

Pax TV Ion Television (referred to on-air as simply Ion) is an American terrestrial television, broadcast television network and Free ad-supported streaming television, FAST television channel owned by the Scripps Networks subsidiary of the E. W. Scri ...

. KWMN never signed on. There were also plans to rebroadcast KDUL-LP on W25CA (channel 25, later WAST-LP) in

Ashland, Wisconsin Ashland is a city in Ashland County, Wisconsin, Ashland and Bayfield County, Wisconsin, Bayfield counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the county seat of Ashland County. The city is a port on Lake Superior, near the head of Chequamegon ...

, which also never materialized. ESI Broadcasting severed its management relationship with the station in April 2001. Shortly thereafter, the owners put the station up for sale and

laid off A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing an organization ...

all employees except one technician. The station left the air permanently on August 31, 2001, after news that Charter planned to drop KDUL-LP due to poor video and audio quality; the provider had also taken heavy criticism due to the compulsory blackouts of KMSP during UPN hours despite KDUL-LP barely having a viewable signal. No buyer was ever found. During its entire run on Channel 12, KDUL-LP operated under

construction permit Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to bu ...

program test authority In broadcasting, program test authority (PTA) is an authorization to conduct on-air testing of broadcast station facilities authorized to be built under a construction permit. Once this testing is successfully completed, and all measured paramet ...

. The construction permit for Channel 12 was canceled after KDUL-LP went silent. 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 ...

(FCC) deleted KDUL-LP on May 15, 2008, nearly seven years after its last broadcast.

References

External links

NorthPine.com screengrab of KDUL-LP from 2000
{{Duluth TV 2000 establishments in Minnesota 2001 disestablishments in Minnesota Defunct television stations in Minnesota Television channels and stations disestablished in 2001 Television channels and stations established in 2000 Television stations in Duluth, Minnesota