In 1987, the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allocated VHF channel 11 to Columbia, Louisiana. Initially, several interests in the Monroe and
Alexandria areas, including Lanford Telecasting (owner of
KALB), Woods Communications (owner of
KARD) and Gray Communications (owner of
KTVE) sought an interest in the license in order to strengthen its broadcasting footprint in the region, either operating a station on channel 11 as a satellite of an existing station (in KALB or KTVE's case) or as a stronger signal (for KARD). Other companies, such as Love Television Partnership, William L. Cook, Columbia TV and Radio, Pears Broadcasting, Jimmie V. Giles, and Caldwell Broadcasting Limited Partnership all expressed an interest. By late 1995, the license was granted to Monroe Broadcasting, which was owned by businessman Charles Chatelain, who owned Fox affiliate
KADN-TV in
Lafayette and several other small TV stations in south Louisiana. KMLU signed on December 10, 1998, as
ABC affiliate KAQY, returning that network to the market after its previous affiliate,
KARD, became a
Fox affiliate in April 1994. The station originally operated from studios located on Sterlington Road in Monroe. After KARD switched to Fox, cable providers began importing
KLAX from Alexandria for ABC programming in Monroe proper and
KTBS from
Shreveport for parts of the western Monroe DMA, with certain programs carried by other stations based in Monroe being replaced due to
syndex laws; satellite systems in the area piped in the national feed of the network via its two
flagship stations. Monroe Broadcasting owned the station, and
Communications Corporation of America managed and operated the station, similar to arrangements Chatelain had with KADN and
WNTZ. On June 23, 2008, original local owner Monroe Broadcasting filed an application with the FCC to sell KAQY to Parker Broadcasting for $10 million. Included in the application was a proposed
local marketing agreement (LMA) to allow
Hoak Media, then-owner of
CBS affiliate
KNOE-TV, to operate the station. The sale was completed on October 9, 2008. As a result, all four major network affiliates in the Ark-La-Miss became operated by two companies: Hoak Media and
Nexstar Broadcasting Group. During its tenure as a standalone ABC affiliate, even after becoming a sister station to KNOE, the station offered very little local content. It acted largely as a pass-through with ABC programming, airing syndicated programming in the off-hours. It did not air a newscast but carried
weather forecasts from Edward St. Pé's
WeatherVision service during commercial breaks. On November 20, 2013,
Gray Television announced it would purchase Hoak Media and Parker Broadcasting in a $335 million deal. KAQY was to be acquired by Excalibur Broadcasting, and remain under an LMA with KNOE's new owners. However, upon the closing of the sale on June 13 and the FCC scrutinizing joint sales arrangements, Excalibur would later abandon its plans to acquire the station. Gray would continue to operate KAQY in the interim, at which it would later move its programming to a subchannel of KNOE. KAQY would then be spun off to minority interests pending approval from the FCC, which under this arrangement would allow the station to remain on the air on the condition that it would operate independently and not make any partnerships or sharing arrangements with other broadcasters. On August 27, 2014, Gray announced that it would sell KAQY's license, along with
KHAS-TV in
Hastings, Nebraska,
KNDX in
Bismarck, North Dakota, and
KXND in
Minot, North Dakota, to Legacy Broadcasting, a new broadcasting company controlled by Sherry Nelson and daughter Sara Jane Ingram. A month later, KAQY signed off, and its programming was moved to KNOE-DT2. On November 28, 2014, the station's call letters were changed to KMLU. The sale was completed on December 15. Channel 11 remained silent for approximately one year. On September 15, 2015, KMLU returned to the air as the new
MeTV affiliate for the Monroe–El Dorado area, taking the affiliation from
KWMS-LP, which subsequently affiliated with sister network
Heroes & Icons for two years before ceasing operations in 2017. KMLU has also engaged in some community affairs programming recently by broadcasting brief segments during commercial breaks of various events around the Ark-La-Miss. During January 2018, KMLU brought Heroes & Icons programming back to the Ark-La-Miss by launching that network on its second subchannel. It also launched the network
Movies! on its third subchannel at the same time. ==Technical information==