About KIMT

The station debuted on May 15, 1954, as KGLO-TV, owned by Lee Enterprises, together with the GLObe Gazette and KGLO radio (AM 1300 and FM 101.1). On the first day of operation, reception of the station's analog signal on VHF channel 3 was reported as far away as Gary, Indiana. The maximum effective radiated power allowed on the historic allocation was 100,000 watts at the time. It was linked with CBS due to the long association of its radio sister with CBS Radio, but it also had a secondary relationship with DuMont until 1956, when the latter discontinued operations.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) determined in August 1977 that one firm could not possess all of the media channels in a community, forcing Lee Enterprises to split up its Mason City cluster. As a result, in 1977, KGLO-AM was sold to BY Communications, and the television station was renamed KIMT (Iowa/Minnesota Television). It was purchased by the Shott family of Bluefield, West Virginia, and their Daily Telegraph Printing Company in 1980. They did, however, sell KIMT and WBTW in Florence, South Carolina to Spartan Radiocasting Company in 1984. (later to become Spartan Communications).

Jodi Huisentruit, a KIMT news anchor, was taken outside her apartment on her way to work early on June 27, 1995. She was never recovered, and the case is still unresolved to this day.