KQDS-TV
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Duluth, Minnesota/ Superior, Wisconsin United States |
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| City | Duluth, Minnesota |
| Branding | Fox 21 (general) Fox 21 News (newscasts) |
| Channels |
Digital: 17 (UHF) Virtual: 21 () |
| Subchannels | 21.1 Fox 21.2 Antenna TV |
| Translators | (see article) |
| Owner |
Red River Broadcasting (KQDS Acquisition Corporation) |
| Founded | December 9, 1991 |
| First air date | September 20, 1994 |
| Call letters' meaning | Quality Duluth/Superior |
| Sister station(s) | KQDS, KQDS-FM, KZIO, WWAX |
| Former callsigns | KNLD (1994–1999) |
| Former channel number(s) |
Analog: 21 (UHF, 1994–2009) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1994–1999) |
| Transmitter power | 1,000 kW |
| Height | 299 m (981 ft) |
| Facility ID | 35525 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 46°47′37″N 92°7′3″W / 46.79361°N 92.11750°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
| Website | www.fox21online.com |
KQDS-TV, virtual channel 21 (UHF digital channel 17), 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 maintains studio facilities located on London Road in Duluth (along I-35), 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 and fellow Fox affiliate KVRR on South 40th Street and South 9th Avenue in Fargo, North Dakota. Syndicated programs broadcast on KQDS include Two and a Half Men, Divorce Court, Everybody Loves Raymond, Family Feud, The People's Court and The Big Bang Theory.
The station first signed on the air on September 20, 1994, as KNLD. Very few people knew the station was actually on the air at this time, as KQDS 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 (FCC) to cover the license. The station was Duluth's first independent station. 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.
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