united states city duluth minnesota branding fox 21 general fox 21 news newscasts channels digital 17 uhf virtual 21 psip subchannels 21.1 fox 21.2 antenna tv translators see article owner red river broadcasting kqds acquisition corporation first air date september 20 1994 call letters meaning quality duluth superior sister station s kqds kqds fm kzio wwax former callsigns knld 1994 1999 former channel number s analog 21 uhf 1994 2009 former affiliations independent 1994 1999 transmitter power 1 000 kw height 299.0 m facility id 35525 transmitter coordinates 46 47 37 n 92 7 3 w 46.79361 n 92.11750 w 46.79361 ; 92.11750 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.fox21online.com kqds tv virtual channel 21 uhf digital channel 17 is a fox affiliated television station located in duluth minnesota united states which also serves superior wisconsin . the station is owned by red river broadcasting . kqds maintains studio facilities located on london road in duluth along i 35 and its transmitter is located west of downtown in hilltop park . master control and some internal operations are based out of the studio facilities of sister station and fellow fox affiliate kvrr on south 40th street and south 9th avenue in fargo north dakota . syndicated programs broadcast on kqds include two and a half men divorce court everybody loves raymond family feud the people s court and the big bang theory . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channel 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 news operation 3.1 notable former on air staff 4 translators 5 references 6 external links history edit the station first signed on the air on september 20 1994 as knld . very few people knew the station was actually on the air at this time as kqds transmitted at low power with an extremely limited schedule of programming usually airing only for only four hours per day each morning the minimum required by the federal communications commission fcc to cover the license . the station was duluth s first independent station . while the northland had grown large enough to support an independent station at least a decade earlier it is a very large market geographically . uhf stations do not cover large areas very well . additionally the major stations in the market need sizable networks of translators to adequately cover the market and the cost of building a translator network scared off perspective owners . by the 1990s cable television a must for acceptable television in much of this market had gained enough penetration to make an independent station viable . although its lineup once included big ten college football most of the station s schedule was filled with programming from the shop at home network by the late 1990s . in 1998 red river broadcasting via sister company kqds acquisition corporation purchased knld and several area radio stations including kqds 1490 am kqds fm 94.9 fm wwax 92.1 fm and kzio 94.1 and 104.3 fm and later changed the television station s call sign to kqds tv . the new owners ran into some controversy as they tried to upgrade the station . it was attempting to construct a new tower to replace its old transmitter facility located adjacent to duluth central high school which would give it a coverage area comparable to the other duluth stations . however some school and city officials expressed concern about the danger of ice falling from the tower onto the school s parking lot . although the new tower had already been approved by city officials kqds agreed to build it further from the parking lot than initially planned . the station became the duluth superior market s first fox affiliate on september 1 1999 . prior to affiliating with the network fox programming was available in the market only through cable systems that had carried the network through either foxnet or fox s affiliates in the minneapolis saint paul market kmsp tv from 1986 to 1988 and wftc from 1988 onward . some areas of the market received fox on cable via kvrr from fargo kqds s sister station wluk from green bay wgki from cadillac or even wkbd from detroit prior to that station disaffiliating from the network in 1994 . that same day the station activated its new transmitter tower along with the sign on of eight translators . digital television edit digital channel edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 1 21.1 720p 16 9 kqds dt main kqds tv programming fox 21.2 480i 4 3 antenna antenna tv analog to digital conversion edit kqds tv discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over uhf channel 21 on february 1 2009 . 2 the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 17 using psip to display kqds tv s virtual channel as 21 on digital television receivers . news operation edit in its early years as a fox affiliate kqds entered into a news share agreement with nbc affiliate kbjr to produce a 9 p.m. newscast ; the program was broadcast out of kbjr s studios on south lake avenue in duluth and was anchored by mark mallory with weather and sports segments respectively helmed by meteorologist paul heggen and sports anchor tom hansen . the program was canceled after about nine months due to low ratings and was replaced by a half hour simulcast of cnn headline news . kbjr would not produce a primetime newscast again until september 2002 when that station launched a upn affiliate on its second digital subchannel . in its first ratings period in may 2007 kqds placed third among all evening newscasts in the duluth market . the station drew more viewers than kbjr s northland s newscenter tonight at 9 and kdlh s 10 p.m. newscast . in august of that year after just six months on the air kqds s news operation was nominated for three upper midwest emmy awards in the categories of best newscast best news special and investigative series . in july 2009 kqds registered its best newscast ratings period to date placing third with about 8 650 viewers about 2 000 fewer viewers than kbjr s 10 p.m. newscast . in the fall of 2009 the station won two regional emmy awards for best newscast and overall station excellence . on june 28 2010 kqds debuted a half hour weeknight newscast at 6 p.m. 3 notable former on air staff edit tracee carrasco weekend anchor reporter now reporter at wcbs tv in new york city new york translators edit red river broadcasting owns and operates eight analog translators that relay kqds tv s programming to areas of the market outside its primary signal contour . all of the translators except for k31gh and k39gg had construction permits to air low powered digital signals but the permits expired without any of the stations converting from analog to digital transmission . to comply with fcc mandates related to the digital television transition all of the stations must obtain new permits and convert to digital by september 1 2015 in order to remain on the air . 4 call letters channel city of license transmitter location k15gt 15 hibbing minnesota southwest of downtown k29eb 29 grand rapids minnesota northwest of taconite k31gh 31 hayward wisconsin east of city w32cv 32 ironwood michigan hurley wisconsin k39gg 39 aitkin minnesota east of rabbit lake township along the crow wing and aitkin county line k45jd 45 international falls minnesota east of city w45ci 45 ashland wisconsin k47ir 47 virginia minnesota midway references edit rabbitears tv query for kqds list of digital full power stations fox 21 news adding 6 p.m. newscast . duluth news tribune . april 7 2010 . retrieved april 7 2010 . fcc sets deadlines for lptv tv translator and class a stations to convert to digital and gives hints when television spectrum may be reclaimed for broadband broadcast law blog july 19 2011 external links edit fox21online.com kqds tv official website rabbitears.info query kqds query the fcc s tv station database for kqds tv query the fcc s tv station database for k15gt query the fcc s tv station database for k29eb query the fcc s tv station database for k31gh query the fcc s tv station database for w32cv query the fcc s tv station database for k39gg query the fcc s tv station database for k45jd query the fcc s tv station database for w45ci query the fcc s tv station database for k47ir v t e broadcast television in northeast minnesota and northwest wisconsin including the twin ports duluth superior reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television duluth superior kdlh 3.1 cw kbjr tv 6.1 nbc 6.2 cbs 6.3 mntv wdse 8.1 pbs 8.2 pbs 8.3 create 8.4 mn wdio dt 10.1 abc 10.2 metv kqds tv 21.1 fox 21.2 anttv kcwv 27.1 amgtv iron range krii 11.1 nbc 11.2 cw 11.3 cbs 11.9 mntv wirt dt 13.1 abc 13.2 metv k15gt 15 fox k29eb 29 fox wrpt 31.1 pbs 31.2 pbs 31.3 create 31.4 mn k47ir 47 fox international falls k53cq d 11.1 nbc 11.2 cw 11.3 cbs 11.9 mntv k49bu d 13.1 abc 13.2 metv k51cm d 31.1 pbs 31.2 hd 31.3 create 31.4 mn k38mm d 39.1 3abn 39.2 3abn pr 39.3 3abn dd 39.4 3abn es 39.5 3abn rd 39.6 3abn rl 39.7 radio 74 k45jd 45 fox adjacent locals ckpr 2.1 ctv thunder bay cbmt 6.1 cbc montr al wlef 36 pbs wpt park falls defunct kdul lp 12 upn ain wast lp 25 upn wftv 38 abc nbc cbs dumont k58cm 58 tbn see also twin cities tv fargo grand forks tv eau claire la crosse tv wausau tv marquette tv ontario tv v t e fox network affiliates in the state of minnesota kmsp 9.1 9.9 kftc 26.1 minneapolis bemidji kbrr 10.1 thief river falls grand forks nd keyc 12.2 mankato kqds 21.1 duluth kxlt 47.1 rochester see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in minnesota v t e fox network affiliates in the state of michigan wjbk 2 detroit wluc 6.2 marquette wbkb 11.2 alpena wxmi 17 grand rapids w32cv 32 1 ironwood wfqx 32 wfup 45 cadillac vanderbilt w40an 40 2 escanaba wsym 47 lansing wsmh 66 flint 1 w32cv is a repeater of kqds tv duluth minnesota ; 2 w40an is a repeater of wluk tv green bay wisconsin . see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in michigan retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title kqds tv & oldid 740391030 categories fox network affiliatesantenna tv affiliatestelevision channels and stations established in 1994television stations in duluth minnesota navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 20 september 2016 at 19 40 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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