KQDS-TV
KQDS-TV, virtual channel 21, is a Fox-affiliated television station licensed to Duluth, Minnesota, United States and also serving Superior, Wisconsin. The station is owned by Red River Broadcasting. KQDS-TV's studios are located on London Road in Duluth, 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, fellow Fox affiliate and Red River flagship KVRR on South 40th Street and South 9th Avenue in Fargo, North Dakota.
History
The station first signed on the air on September 20, 1994, as KNLD, the Duluth–Superior market's first independent station. Very few people knew it was actually on the air at this time, as it 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 to cover the license. 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. In addition, two independent stations from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul market—KMSP-TV and WFTC—were present on some of the area's cable providers.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 purchased KNLD and several area radio stations including KQDS, KQDS-FM, WWAX and KZIO, and later changed the television station's call sign to KQDS-TV. The new owners immediately set about giving the station a technical overhaul, but not without controversy. They had won a construction permit for 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. Eventually, Red River agreed to build the tower further from the parking lot than initially planned.
On September 1, 1999, KQDS-TV activated its new transmitter tower, along with the sign-on of eight translators. That same day, the station became the Duluth–Superior market's first Fox affiliate. Prior to affiliating with the network, Fox programming was available in the market only through cable systems that had carried the network through KMSP-TV and later WFTC, with Foxnet being carried in areas where neither station was available via cable. Some areas of the market received Fox on cable via KVRR from Fargo, WLUK from Green Bay, WGKI from Cadillac, Michigan, or even WKBD from Detroit.
Digital television
Digital channels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:| Channel | Video | Aspect | PSIP Short Name | Programming |
| 21.1 | 720p | KQDS-DT | Main KQDS-TV programming / Fox | |
| 21.2 | 480i | ANTENNA | Antenna TV |
Analog-to-digital conversion
KQDS-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 21, on February 1, 2009. 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.Programming
programs broadcast on KQDS include Divorce Court, Family Feud, The People's Court and The Big Bang Theory among others.News operation
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. 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.
Notable former on-air staff
- Tracee Carrasco – weekend anchor/reporter
Translators
All translators except for K39GG have been upgraded to digital as of November 1, 2016, and via PSIP, remap to virtual channel 21.
| Call letters | Channel | City of license | Transmitter location |
| W15EE-D | 15 | Ashland, Wisconsin | east of city |
| K29EB-D | 29 | Grand Rapids, Minnesota | northwest of Taconite |
| K31GH-D | 31 | Hayward, Wisconsin | east of city |
| K15GT-D | 15 | Hibbing, Minnesota | southwest of downtown |
| W32CV-D | 32 | Ironwood, Michigan | Hurley, Wisconsin |
| K20NR-D | 20 | International Falls, Minnesota | east of city |
| K21KY-D | 21 | Marcell, Minnesota | |
| K22MR-D | 22 | Virginia, Minnesota | Midway |
An additional translator relaying KQDS-TV's programming is owned by a third party, EZ-TV, Inc.
| Call letters | Channel | City of license |
| K38MJ-D | 33 | Max, Minnesota |