KUSA (TV)


KUSA is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KTVD. The two stations share studios on East Speer Boulevard in Denver's Speer neighborhood; KUSA's transmitter is located atop Lookout Mountain, near Golden. In addition to its main studios, the station also operates a secondary studio and news bureau on Canyon Avenue in Fort Collins.

History

Pre-launch (1952)

Following the Federal Communications Commission 's "freeze" on new television station licenses in 1948, Colorado politicians, including Senators Edwin C. Johnson and Eugene Millikin, formally protested the commission's proposed allocations for the state. They argued that limiting Denver to three VHF channels would stifle competition and requested additional allocations. When the FCC lifted the freeze in April 1952, the Colorado Television Corporation—owner of radio station KVOD —applied for the channel 9 license on June 19, 1952. The corporation was capitalized at $1 million and led by W. D. Pyle and T. C. Ekrem; major stockholders included Aksel Nielsen, oilman Maurice Robineau, and former Colorado Attorney General Gail Ireland.
Initially, the application for channel 9 was contested by the Empire Coil Company of New Rochelle, New York. However, Empire Coil amended its application to seek UHF channel 26 instead, wishing to avoid a lengthy competitive hearing. Consequently, on July 11, 1952, the FCC granted construction permits to the Colorado Television Corporation, KFEL-TV, and Empire Coil. These were among the first television grants issued by the government in nearly four years.
Following the grant, station officials initially projected a 90-day timeline to get on the air. In August 1952, the company hired Joe Herold, a former technical director for WOW in Omaha, Nebraska, and consultant for stations in Brazil and Cuba, as the station manager. Jerry Lee was appointed commercial manager, while Ekrem traveled to New York to negotiate a network affiliation. Although the station was informally referred to as KVOD-TV in the press throughout the summer, the FCC officially assigned the call letters KBTV on September 11, 1952.
Construction of the station's transmitter building and the erection of a six-bay antenna took place on Lookout Mountain in September 1952, located directly south of the transmitter for KFEL-TV, which had launched in July. While the station set a firm launch date of September 29, delays in the delivery of a 2,000-watt amplifier from the Radio Corporation of America forced a postponement. Further technical difficulties with the transmitter stalled attempts to air a test pattern on September 30 and October 1.

Launch and first years (1952–1954)

KBTV began broadcasting test patterns on October 2, 1952, operating under a special temporary authority from the FCC. The station officially commenced regular commercial programming at 2:15 p.m. on October 12, 1952. It was the second television station to sign on in the Denver market, launching just over three months after KFEL-TV, which had signed on July 18. The first program aired on the station was Quiz Kids at 2:30 p.m. Upon its debut, KBTV served as a primary affiliate for both the Columbia Broadcasting System and the American Broadcasting Company, carrying a slate of programming that included Super Circus and What's My Line?.
Weeks after its launch, KBTV participated in the first coast-to-coast television coverage of a presidential election on November 4, 1952. The station utilized feeds from both CBS and ABC to broadcast returns for the race between Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson II. The station's high-altitude transmitter site on Lookout Mountain proved vulnerable to severe weather and technical faults during its early years. Viewers reported outages during the election cycle due to transmitter difficulties, and severe electrical storms and high winds caused power failures and equipment misalignment in August and December 1953.
Originally operating from studios at 1100 California Street, the station purchased a building—a former automobile agency and car dealership—at 1089 Bannock Street in November 1952. Operations moved to the new facility in May 1953. In July 1953, KBTV increased its effective radiated power to 240,000 watts, the maximum permitted for the channel at the time.
The Denver television market underwent a significant realignment in late 1953 with the launch of KLZ-TV and KOA-TV. Channel 9 gained an affiliation with the DuMont Television Network in 1953, but lost CBS programming to KLZ-TV when that station signed on in November of that year; this was followed by the loss of the NBC affiliation to KOA-TV when it signed on a month later. This left KBTV as a primary DuMont and secondary ABC affiliate. It would become a full-time ABC affiliate when DuMont ceased operations in 1956. To adapt to the loss of network programming during this transition, station management emphasized local productions. In February 1953, the station began airing a weekly program sponsored by the Denver Bears baseball team. Long before the establishment of the Denver Broncos, KBTV served as the outlet for National Football League games, broadcasting Chicago Bears and Chicago Cardinals home games on Sundays.
The station also engaged in significant public service efforts early on. In April 1953, KBTV broadcast a 14-hour telethon for United Cerebral Palsy, featuring national personalities like Dennis James and raising $125,000. The event became an annual tradition, with the second iteration in 1954 featuring Warren Hull and utilizing over 1,000 volunteers. However, local programming did not always meet with viewer approval. In January 1954, a broadcast of a horse show and rodeo drew complaints for excessive interruptions by commercials and interviews. Station producer Everett Wren publicly acknowledged the criticism, stating the station was still learning how to balance coverage for such events.
In late 1953, amidst public speculation about the arrival of color broadcasting, KBTV aired a five-week series titled Debunking Color. The program, moderated by station executives and electrical league officials, was designed to explain the technical and economic obstacles remaining before color television could become a reality in Denver.

1955–1959

In March 1955, the FCC approved the sale of KBTV from the Colorado Television Company to TV Denver, Inc. for $900,000. The new ownership group was led by John C. Mullins of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Frank R. Leu of Nashville, Tennessee, each holding a 50 percent interest. The sale separated the television station from its original radio partner, KVOD. Under Mullins' ownership, the station would eventually form a radio news partnership with KBTR that lasted until the mid-1980s. Upon taking over in 1955, Mullins faced a station losing approximately $25,000 per month. He implemented changes that eventually turned the operation profitable, with the station's valuation reportedly rising to $3.5 million by 1958. The ownership structure shifted again in 1956 when Leu petitioned the FCC to transfer his 50 percent interest to the New York–based real estate firm Webb & Knapp, headed by William Zeckendorf. Under this arrangement, Zeckendorf became chairman of the board while Mullins remained president.
During this period, the station explored relocating its facilities. In late 1955, KBTV abandoned a $100,000 remodeling project at its Bannock Street studios amid rumors of a move to the Courthouse Square development. By 1957, plans were announced to move the station's studios into the Denver Hilton hotel, then under construction by Zeckendorf's firm. The proposed facility was to occupy on two sub-surface levels. However, in April 1959, these plans were canceled when the hotel space was reallocated for a ballroom and exhibit hall. Consequently, Mullins announced that the station would instead remodel and expand its existing headquarters at 1089 Bannock Street.
In November 1955, KBTV entered a partnership with The Denver Post to produce a daily afternoon news segment. The program featured Post editors and reporters presenting stories directly from the newspaper's newsroom, a collaboration described by publisher Palmer Hoyt as a "joint endeavor" between competing media. The station also expanded its local coverage with the launch of Crime Report, Denver in 1956 and the first televised coverage of the Lakeside Amusement Park fireworks display that July. In January 1957, KBTV began broadcasting daily highlights of the National Western Stock Show. This marked the beginning of a broadcasting tradition that the station has continued annually to the present day. In April 1959, the station secured rights to televise nine Denver Bears baseball games, utilizing a five-camera setup to boost interest in the team.
As an ABC affiliate, KBTV benefited from the network's ratings surge in the late 1950s, driven by the popularity of westerns such as Maverick. However, the station drew significant viewer ire in March 1959 during a broadcast of a championship fight between Archie Moore and Hogan Bassey. When the fight ended abruptly in the 13th round, the station cut away to a scheduled block of local commercials rather than showing the official decision or explaining the fight's conclusion, leading to a deluge of complaints.
In September 1957, Mullins submitted an informal application to the Denver City Council seeking authority to introduce a subscription television service. The proposal outlined potential delivery methods, including wire systems or scrambled air signals, to offer exclusive programming such as major sports and theatrical productions. Like other Denver stations, KBTV's operations were severely impacted by a massive blizzard in April 1957. A power line failure on Lookout Mountain knocked the station off the air for nearly 20 hours, with engineers snowshoeing into the transmitter site to restore operations. Tragedy struck the technical staff the following year; in December 1958, engineer Joe Pershin died of a cerebral hemorrhage while installing microwave equipment on a rooftop for a remote telecast.