The station first signed on the air on December 14, 1952 as KROD-TV. It was the first television station in the El Paso television market. The station was founded by Dorrance Roderick, owner of AM 600 KROD Radio and the El Paso Times newspaper.
The station has been a CBS affiliate since its sign-on, 600 KROD radio also featured CBS programming. KROD-TV also maintained secondary affiliations with ABC and the DuMont Television Network until 1956. It lost the ABC affiliation when KILT (channel 13; now KVIA-TV on channel 7) signed on in September. KROD-TV lost DuMont when the network ceased operations in August 1956. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. Roderick sold the station to Trigg-Vaughn of Dallas in 1959.
1961–197?[]
The station was sold again in 1967, this time to the Doubleday Broadcasting Company.
1971–1972[]
1972–1973[]
KDBC-TV[]
1973–1984[]
On May 29, 1973, it changed its call sign to KDBC-TV, reflecting the change in the station's ownership. Doubleday Broadcasting sold the station to Portal Communications, a subsidiary of the Evening Post Publishing Company in 1974. The station kept its 1972 logo with the change.
1984–1989[]
In 1986, the station was acquired by United Broadcasting, then-owners of KARK-TV in Little Rock, Arkansas and WTOK-TV in Meridian, Mississippi. Columbus, Mississippi-based Imes Broadcasting bought KDBC in 1988 for $33 million after United Broadcasting was taken over by investment firm Merrill Lynch.
1989–1992[]
SVG NEEDED
1992–1996[]
40th Anniversary Variant (1992)
1996–1997[]
SVG NEEDED
1997–1999[]
SVG NEEDED
1999–2004[]
Imes began to exit the television business in the late 1990s and announced that they would sell KDBC to Pappas Telecasting in September 2000, who intended to convert the station into a charter affiliate of Azteca América. Plans for the affiliation were canceled following an outcry from viewers, advertisers, and station employees, especially over the fact that no other station in El Paso was interested in joining CBS; most crucially, the Azteca América plan to acquire KXTX-TV in Dallas and use it as the hub of the network fell through, prompting Imes to initially pull KDBC off the market. As a result, the station renewed its affiliation contract with CBS.
On November 17, 2003, two years later, Pappas agreed to buy KDBC from Imes—which had been desiring to sell the station for some time—for $20 million. Pappas began operating KDBC under a time brokerage agreement that same day, with the sale closing on April 2, 2004.
On January 16, 2009, Pappas announced that it would sell several of its television stations, including KDBC, to New World TV Group (later renamed Titan TV Broadcast Group). The sale would be consummated after it received United States bankruptcy court approval.
1Owned by Tennessee Broadcasting and operated by Sinclair under an outsourcing agreement. 2Nominally owned by Cunningham Broadcasting and operated by Sinclair under an LMA. However, trusts belonging to members of Sinclair's founding Smith family control almost all of Cunningham's stock. 3Operated by Nexstar Media Group under an LMA. 4Owned by Second Generation of Iowa, Ltd. and operated by Sinclair under a LMA. 5Owned by Manhan Media and managed by Sinclair. 6Owned by Howard Stirk Holdings, operated by Sinclair under an LMA. 7Owned by Mercury Broadcasting Company and operated by Sinclair. 8Owned by Deerfield Media and operated by Sinclair under an LMA. 9Owned by Roberts Media, but operated by Sinclair. 10Owned by Mitts Telecasting and operated by Sinclair. 11Owned by GOCOM Media and operated by Sinclair. 12Owned by Waitt Broadcasting, but operated by Sinclair under an SSA. 13Owned by Granite Broadcasting Corporation and operated by Sinclair through a JSA and SSA. 14Owned by New Age Media and operated by Sinclair under an MSA. 15Owned by MPS Media, but operated by New Age Media under an LMA. 16Owned by Main Street Sports Group 17Co-owned with Yankee Global Enterprises, The Blackstone Group, Amazon, RedBird Capital and Mubadala Investment Company. 18Co-owned with Chicago Cubs. 20Owned by Palm Television, L.P. and operated by Cunningham Broadcasting under an LMA. 21Operated by Marquee Broadcasting under an SSA.
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