Канал 6 KBJR: Телевидение для Дулута и Верхнего Висконсина

NBC/CBS/MyNetworkTV affiliate in Superior, Wisconsin–Duluth, Minnesota

KBJR TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Superior, Wisconsin, United States, serving the Duluth, Minnesota, area as an affiliate of NBC and CBS. It is owned by Gray Television alongside CW+ affiliate KDLH (channel 3). The two stations share studios on South Lake Avenue in Canal Park, downtown Duluth; KBJR TV's transmitter is located west of downtown in Hilltop Park. KRII (channel 11) in Chisholm, Minnesota, formerly branded as Range 11, operates as a semi satellite and has a news bureau and advertising sales office on East Howard Street in Hibbing. KRII serves the northern portion of the market, including the Iron Range area, Grand Rapids and International Falls. This station simulcasts KBJR except during commercials and station identifications. KRII's transmitter is located in Linden Grove Township; master control and most internal operations are based at KBJR's facilities in Duluth. It also acts as a full power translator station of all of the various channels and subchannels of KBJR. KBJR operates the area's CBS affiliate on a second digital subchannel, known on air as CBS 3 in reference to the Twin Ports' longtime CBS affiliate, KDLH, and because it is carried on Charter Spectrum cable channel 3. KDLH was formerly operated by KBJR under a shared services agreement (SSA), wound down following the purchase of KBJR and KDLH by Quincy and SagamoreHill Broadcasting respectively. KBJR also operates a primary Heroes & Icons/secondary MyNetworkTV affiliated third subchannel, branded as My 9 (also in reference to its cable position) which airs programming from Heroes & Icons outside of the MyNetworkTV lineup.

The station began on March 1, 1954, as WDSM TV, and was affiliated with CBS. It was owned by Ridder Newspapers, owner of the Duluth Herald (now part of the Duluth News Tribune), along with WDSM radio (710 AM). WDSM was the first VHF television station in Duluth, signing on days before KDAL TV (now KDLH). In October 1955, the station switched affiliations with KDAL and became an NBC affiliate. It began local color broadcasts in November 1965. It also aired some ABC programs, sharing them with KDAL, until WDIO TV signed on in 1966. Ridder merged with Knight Newspapers in 1974 to form Knight Ridder. However, the merged company was not allowed to keep the WDSM stations. It was grandfathered under Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules forbidding common ownership of newspapers and broadcasting outlets. The FCC considered the Knight Ridder merger to be an ownership change, and as a result, the WDSM stations lost their grandfathered protection. The television station was spun off to RJR Communications, a locally based group, in the fall of that year. On November 13, the call letters were changed to the current KBJR TV. as a semi satellite of KBJR. It was originally licensed to International Falls but was changed to Chisholm, which is closer to Duluth, before signing on. It was granted an original construction permit after the FCC finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997. As a result, it did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. Instead on January 6, 2009, over a month before the end of the digital television conversion period for full service stations, KRII turned off its analog signal and turned on its digital signal (an action called a "flash cut"). After shutting off analog broadcasts, KRII began multi casting programming on digital subchannels. Its news bureau is home to a reporter who contributes Iron Range coverage to the KBJR and KDLH newscasts.

On February 11, 2014, Quincy Media announced that it would purchase KBJR TV and its satellite KRII, along with WEEK TV in Peoria, Illinois, and WBNG TV in Binghamton, New York, from Granite (the deal at the time also included the outright purchase of WPTA in Fort Wayne, Indiana, from the Malara Broadcast Group). The license for Malara owned KDLH was originally planned to be sold to SagamoreHill Broadcasting, with KBJR continuing to operate KDLH through a shared services agreement; that November, SagamoreHill was dropped from the deal, and KDLH would remain with Malara, though Quincy and KBJR would continue to provide services. In July 2015, the deal was reworked yet again; it returned to its previous structure, with SagamoreHill acquiring KDLH, but with the SSA wound down within nine months of the deal's closure—after which CBS programming would be moved to a subchannel of KBJR, and KDLH would operate independently of KBJR and solely carry CW programming. In this form, the deal was completed on November 2, 2015. These changes took effect on air on August 1, 2016, with the launch of KBJR's new "CBS 3" subchannel (named in reference to its continued carriage on Charter cable channel 3) and re launched news programming. Quincy acquired KDLH in 2018, asserting that the station was 5th in the market in November 2017 sweeps numbers (thus satisfying the requirement for duopolies to not involve two of the top four stations in a market). On February 1, 2021, Gray Television announced its intent to purchase Quincy Media for $925 million. The acquisition was completed on August 2, making KBJR and KDLH sisters to Gray stations in nearby markets, including CBS/Fox affiliates KEYC TV in Mankato and WSAW TV/WZAW LD in Wausau, and NBC affiliates WLUC TV in Marquette and WEAU in Eau Claire, while separating from their former Wisconsin sister stations which were divested in order to complete the purchase.

Each November on the Friday before Thanksgiving, KBJR puts on a parade in downtown Duluth called the Christmas City of the North Parade. It is broadcast live on KBJR and streamed live on its website. In recent years, the parade also has been replayed numerous times in the weeks and days before Christmas. According to this station, the parade dates back to 1958 when KBJR (then WDSM) started the event as a way to kick off the holiday shopping season in the area. It has been held every year since except in 1963 when the event was canceled following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; the 2020 edition was held as a no spectator event due to the COVID 19 pandemic. In the early 1960s, the station commissioned Merv Griffin to produce a song especially for the parade. The "Christmas City Song" has been used for the parade every year and also has been the closing music for all KBJR newscasts from Thanksgiving until Christmas.

While operating its own news department, KDLH was the last of the big three stations in Duluth to have a weekday 5 p. m. broadcast. It aired Judge Judy in the time slot instead. In 2004, it debuted a 5 p. m. show that featured anchor Amy Rutledge and meteorologist Phil Johnson. This was replaced along with its 6 o'clock show with the current one at 5:30 when KDLH merged with KBJR in March 2005. Jeopardy! has since reclaimed the 5 o'clock spot on that channel and the CBS Evening News airs at 6. After the KDLH buyout, that station had its news department closed and merged with KBJR. To maintain a separate identity, there were some personalities on this channel that were also seen on KDLH. However, due to KBJR's existing newscasts not all of this station's personnel were seen on that station. More recently, the news teams of both stations have been downsized. KDLH's Northland's NewsCenter at 5:30 had been anchored by Pat Kelly, who was the only news team member remaining after the KDLH sellout. The station aired an abbreviated late night newscast at 10 p. m., Northland's NewsCenter Express, as a lead in to Seinfeld reruns to fill the rest of the timeslot. After thirteen months of mediocre ratings, KDLH changed its 10 o'clock show to the traditional 35 minutes and re branded it to Northland's NewsCenter Tonight. Until its shutdown in late December 2008, KBJR offered NBC Weather Plus with local inserts on a third digital subchannel and Charter digital channel 391. When the national service ended, KBJR DT3 was re branded as NBC Plus, which featured a computer updated loop of regional satellite/radar images, current weather conditions and temperatures, and daily forecasts. A new fourth digital subchannel was created featuring news and weather updated and the "L Bar" that is a remnant of the former NBC Weather Plus service. This was known on air as Northand's NewsCenter Now. KBJR, KRII, and KDLH began broadcasting their local newscasts in 16:9 widescreen on May 4, 2009. They were the first television stations in the market to do so. Although not true high definition, the format matches the ratio of HD television screens. As of November, KDLH began to brand its separate weeknight shows as KDLH 3 News which air from a secondary set. On January 11, 2010, KDLH starting airing the area's only weeknight 6:30 newscast. On August 3, 2016, with the move of KDLH's CBS programming to KBJR DT2, its news operation was expanded with the introduction of new 6 p. m. and 10 p. m. newscasts, and a new morning newscast the next day. These newscasts competed directly with those shown on KBJR TV; previously, KDLH deferred these timeslots to KBJR as part of the shared news operation. While both KBJR 6 and CBS 3's news operations shared footage and some reporters, the two subchannels produced separate newscasts with their own distinct anchors, production staff, and studios.

KBJR TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 6, on February 17, 2009, to conclude the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's digital signal remained on its pre transition UHF channel 19, using virtual channel 6.