KHQ-TV, virtual channel 6 (UHF digital channel 15), is an NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Spokane, Washington, United States and also serving Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The station is the flagship and namesake of The KHQ Television Group, a subsidiary of the locally based Cowles Company, which also owns The Spokesman-Review newspaper. KHQ's studios are located on West Sprague Avenue in downtown Spokane, and its transmitter is on Krell Hill southeast of Spokane. The station also operates a 24-hour sports and weather channel called SWX Right Now on digital subchannel 6.2.
On cable and satellite, the station can be seen in high definition on Comcast Xfinity channel 106 in the Spokane area, Charter Spectrum channel 1203 in the Coeur d'Alene area and the Palouse, and channel 6 (in both standard and high definition) on Dish Network and DirecTV.
The station is also carried on cable systems in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, both of which are double the size of KHQ's American coverage area. One result of this is that stations in Calgary and Edmonton air American shows on Pacific Time, even though Calgary and Edmonton are both on Mountain Time. It is one of five local Spokane area television stations seen in Canada on the Shaw Direct satellite service. It can also been seen on local cable systems in eastern British Columbia.
History
While KHQ and KXLY were both granted authorization by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build television stations on July 12, 1952, KHQ was first to sign on the air, going live on Saturday, December 20, 1952 at 6 p.m. with the film Texas Trouble Shooters. The first NBC program KHQ broadcast was an episode of Your Hit Parade, which aired that evening at 7:30. In addition to being the oldest television station east of the Cascades, KHQ is also the second-oldest station in Washington state. It was co-owned by Cowles Publishing along with KHQ radio (AM 590, now KQNT; and FM 98.1, now KISC). 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 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 its headquarters to 1201 W. Sprague Avenue in downtown Spokane in 2001, where it still is today. The reason for the move was to create an all-digital facility, so modern media technology could work well with the news station. In the process, KHQ became the first all-digital facility in Spokane.
Traditionally, KHQ has been known as "Q6," but the station largely deemphasized this branding during the 2000s, near-exclusively referring to itself verbally with its call letters, even though it still used the "Q6" 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."
| TV stations in Washington |
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| KING, Seattle |
| TV stations in the Inland Northwest, including Spokane, Washington and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho |
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| KREM 2 (CBS) KLEW 3 (CBS) KXLY/KXMN-LD 4 (ABC) KHQ 6 (NBC) KSPS 7 (PBS) KWSU 10 (PBS) KUID 12 (PBS) KSKN 22 (CW) KQUP 24 (Daystar) KCDT 26 (PBS) KIDQ-LP 27 (JUCE TV/Youtoo) KAYU 28 (Fox) KDYS-LD 32 (Daystar) KGPX 34 (Ion) KHBA-LD 39 (Hope) K29NM-D 43 (HSN2) KQUP-LD 47 (Daystar) |