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 go on the air on December 8, 1952, broadcasting a test pattern, and on December 15, for one day programming. The station officially went on the air live at 6p.m. on Saturday, December 20, 1952, 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 in the state 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 the 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 to a new all-digital facility at 1201 W. Sprague Avenue in Downtown Spokane in 2001. Traditionally, KHQ has been colloquially known on-air as "Q6" since the 1960s, but the station switched to call letter branding from around 2005 to 2018, albeit retaining the "Q6" within its 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." In October 2022, KHQ's news programming was rebranded as
NonStop Local, as part of a group-wide rebranding. ==Programming==