KAAL

KAAL

Austin–Albert Lea–Rochester, Minnesota Mason City, Iowa United States
City	Austin, Minnesota
Channels	Digital: 36 (UHF) Virtual: 6
Branding	ABC 6
Programming
Affiliations	6.1: ABC for others, see § Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	Hubbard Broadcasting (KAAL-TV, LLC)
History
First air date	August 17, 1953 (70 years ago) (1953-08-17)
Former call signs	KMMT (1953–1967) KAUS-TV (1967–1974) KAAL-TV (1974–1998)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 6 (VHF, 1953–2009) Digital: 33 (UHF, 2001–2009)
Former affiliations	CBS (1953–1954) ABC (secondary, 1953–1954) DuMont (secondary, 1953–1955)
Call sign meaning	Austin/Albert Lea
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	18285
ERP	620 kW
HAAT	326 m (1,070 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	43°38′34″N 92°31′36.0″W / 43.64278°N 92.526667°W / 43.64278; -92.526667
Translator(s)	33 (UHF) Garner, Iowa
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	www.kaaltv.com

KAAL (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Austin, Minnesota, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for Southeast Minnesota and Northern Iowa. The station is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting and maintains studios in the TJ Maxx–anchored shopping center on Salem Road in Rochester, Minnesota. Its primary transmitter is located in Grand Meadow Township, with a digital replacement translator in Garner, Iowa, near Mason City.

Channel 6 went on the air as KMMT on August 17, 1953. It was built by a consortium of Austin radio station KAUS and other investors and operated from the same facility as KAUS radio. The station became a sole ABC affiliate the next year, having originally also carried CBS and DuMont programs. From 1958 to 1980, the station was owned by Black Hawk Broadcasting of Waterloo, Iowa; it was renamed KAUS-TV in 1967, and then KAAL in 1974, when Black Hawk sold off the KAUS radio stations.

After a series of other out-of-state owners in the 1980s and 1990s, including the News-Press & Gazette Company, Dix Broadcasting, and Grapevine Communications, KAAL was acquired by Hubbard Broadcasting in 2001. The purchase completed Hubbard's ownership of every ABC affiliate in the state of Minnesota. To better compete with market leader KTTC in the growing Rochester area, the station expanded its existing Rochester offices in 2008 and then moved its studios to a new facility there in 2015.