Editing KAAL (section)

{{Short description|Television station in Austin, Minnesota}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Other uses|Kaal (disambiguation)}}
{{infobox television station
| callsign               = KAAL
| city                   = Austin, Minnesota
| logo                   = KAAL 2021.png
| logo_alt = The ABC logo, a black disk with the lowercase letters a b c, overlapping a red parallelogram containing a slanted, sans serif 6
| logo_size              = 175px
| branding               = ABC 6
| digital                = 36 ([[UHF]])
| virtual                = 6 
| subchannels            =
| translators            = 33 (UHF) Garner, Iowa
| affiliations           = {{ubl|'''6.1:''' [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]|''for others, see {{section link||Subchannels}}''}}
| network                = 
| founded                = 
| airdate                = {{start date and age|1953|8|17|p=y}}
| location               = {{ubl|[[Austin, Minnesota|Austin]]–[[Albert Lea, Minnesota|Albert Lea]]–[[Rochester, Minnesota]]|[[Mason City, Iowa]]}}
| country                = United States
| callsign_meaning       = Austin/Albert Lea
| former_callsigns       = {{ubl|KMMT (1953–1967)|KAUS-TV (1967–1974)|KAAL-TV (1974–1998)}}
| former_channel_numbers = {{ubl|'''Analog:''' 6 ([[VHF]], 1953–2009)|'''Digital:''' 33 (UHF, 2001–2009)}}
| owner                  = [[Hubbard Broadcasting]]
| licensee               = KAAL-TV, [[LLC]]
| sister_stations        = 
| former_affiliations    = {{ubl|[[CBS]] (1953–1954)|ABC (secondary, 1953–1954)|[[DuMont Television Network|DuMont]] (secondary, 1953–1955)}}
| erp                    = 620 [[kW]]
| haat                   = {{convert|326|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| class                  = 
| facility_id            = 18285
| coordinates            = {{coord|43|38|34|N|92|31|36.0|W|type:landmark_scale:2000}}
| licensing_authority    = [[FCC]]
| website                = {{URL|https://www.kaaltv.com/}} 
}}
'''KAAL''' (channel 6) is a [[television station]] licensed to [[Austin, Minnesota]], United States, serving as the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] affiliate for [[Southeast Minnesota]] and Northern [[Iowa]]. The station is owned by [[Hubbard Broadcasting]] and maintains studios in the [[TJ Maxx]]–anchored [[shopping center]] on Salem Road in [[Rochester, Minnesota]]. Its primary transmitter is located in [[Grand Meadow Township, Mower County, Minnesota|Grand Meadow Township]], with a digital replacement translator in [[Garner, Iowa]], near [[Mason City, Iowa|Mason City]].

Channel 6 went on the air as KMMT on August 17, 1953. It was built by a consortium of Austin radio station [[KAUS (AM)|KAUS]] and other investors and operated from the same facility as KAUS radio. The station became a sole ABC affiliate the next year, having originally also carried [[CBS]] and [[DuMont Television Network|DuMont]] programs. From 1958 to 1980, the station was owned by Black Hawk Broadcasting of [[Waterloo, Iowa]]; it was renamed KAUS-TV in 1967, and then KAAL in 1974, when Black Hawk sold off the KAUS radio stations.

After a series of other out-of-state owners in the 1980s and 1990s, including the [[News-Press & Gazette Company]], Dix Broadcasting, and Grapevine Communications, KAAL was acquired by Hubbard Broadcasting in 2001. The purchase completed Hubbard's ownership of every ABC affiliate in the state of Minnesota. To better compete with market leader [[KTTC]] in the growing Rochester area, the station expanded its existing Rochester offices in 2008 and then moved its studios to a new facility there in 2015.