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| City | Spokane, Washington |
| Channels | |
| Branding | NonStop Local KHQ |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | |
| History | |
First air date | December 20, 1952 (72 years ago) (1952-12-20)[1] |
Former channel number(s) | Analog: 6 (VHF, 1952–2009) |
| ABC (secondary, 1952–1954) | |
Call sign meaning | Taken from KHQ radio, nowKQNT |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 34537 |
| ERP | 1,000kW |
| HAAT | 653 m (2,142 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 47°34′52″N117°17′51″W / 47.58111°N 117.29750°W /47.58111; -117.29750 |
| Translator(s) | see§ Translators |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
KHQ-TV (channel 6) is atelevision station inSpokane, Washington, United States, affiliated withNBC. It is theflagship and namesake of theKHQ Television Group, a subsidiary of the locally basedCowles Company, which also ownsThe Spokesman-Review newspaper. KHQ-TV's studios are located on WestSprague Avenue inDowntown Spokane, and its transmitter is located onKrell Hill southeast of the city. The station also operates a 24-hour sports and weather channel calledSWX Right Now ondigital subchannel 6.2.
KHQ-TV is also carried on cable systems in the Canadian province ofAlberta, includingCalgary andEdmonton. KHQ-TV is one of five local Spokane area television stations seen in Canada on theShaw Direct satellite service. It can also be seen on local cable systems in easternBritish Columbia.
KHQ-TV also handlesmaster control and some internal operations forsister stations and fellow NBC affiliatesKNDO and KNDU in theYakima–Tri-Citiesmarket.
While KHQ andKXLY were both granted authorization by theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) to build television stations on July 12, 1952,[3] KHQ was first went live at 6 p.m. on Saturday, December 20, 1952,[4] with thefilmTexas Trouble Shooters. The first NBC program KHQ broadcast was an episode ofYour Hit Parade, which aired that evening at 7:30.[5] In addition to being the oldest television station east of theCascades, KHQ is also the second-oldest station in Washington state. It was co-owned by Cowles Publishing along with KHQ radio (AM 590, nowKQNT; and FM 98.1, nowKISC). The radio stations were both sold off in 1985.
It was originally a dual NBC/ABC affiliate.KREM-TV took the ABC affiliation when it signed on the air in 1954, but KHQ kept the NBC affiliation, which it retains to this day. It is the only major station in Spokane, and one of a few in the country, that has retained the same primary affiliation, owner, and call letters throughout its history.
After being in its original studio for over forty years, KHQ moved to a new all-digital facility at 1201 W. Sprague Avenue in Downtown Spokane in 2001.[6]
Traditionally, KHQ has been colloquially known on-air as "Q6" since the 1960s, but the station switched to call letter branding from around 2005 to 2018, albeit retaining the "Q6" within its logo. On September 24, 2018, coinciding with the introduction of new newscast graphics, the "Q6" branding was restored full-time to the station's newscasts, which were rebranded "Q6 Local News – Right Now." In October 2022, KHQ's news programming was rebranded asNonStop Local, as part of a group-wide rebranding.[7]
KHQ-TV has been the local home ofGonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball games since 2001. KHQ-TV andRoot Sports Northwestsimulcast all games not covered by either theWest Coast Conference's television contract withESPN or that of an inter-conference opponent.[8][9]
In 2006, KXLY became the first Spokane station to produce a local segment of the news in HD. Each week, one news story was presented in high definition. Until 2008, KXLY was the only news station in Spokane to produce a segment of the news in HD.
On May 16, 2008, KHQ produced a live report in HD. It was officially announced on this date that KHQ planned to become the first station in Spokane to broadcast its entire newscasts in HD, starting on August 8, 2008, to coincide with the2008 Summer Olympics onNBC.[6] However, KXLY made a surprise announcement on August 1, that it would beat KHQ in becoming the first station in Spokane to produce HD newscasts. KXLY's HD newscasts started August 3, five days before KHQ's scheduled date. Despite marketing their newscasts as being in HD, KHQ did not yet present its newscasts in true high definition, but standard definition widescreen. However, with the implementation of a new master control hub (which handles the operations of KHQ, along with sister stationsKNDU andKNDO and its SWX channels) usingfiberoptic links, and the purchase of new studio equipment and cameras, KHQ migrated to full HD newscasts in late 2012.[10][11]
In 2008, KHQ andNorthern Quest Resort & Casino started a partnership and createdSWX, a 24-hour sports and weather channel. SWX soft-launched in January 2009, and officially launched on August 30, 2009.[12]
Unlike most NBC affiliates, the station does not air a noon newscast.
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | KHQ-HD | NBC |
| 6.2 | 480i | KHQSWX | SWX Right Now | |
| 6.3 | KHQNEWS | NonStop Local News |
KHQ-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, overVHF channel 6, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were totransition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transitionUHF channel 15 due to adjacent channel interference withKSPS (now on channel 8).[20][21] Digital television receivers display KHQ-TV'svirtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 6.
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