SPJ Honoring Hubbard, KSTP

Minneapolis station and Hubbard broadcasting declared "historic sites" in journalism

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/22/2009 2:44:25 PM

On June 26, the Society of Professional Journalists will declare Hubbard Broadcasting and its KSTP Minneapolis TV station as a historic site in journalism.

The annual award is given to an organization or landmark important to the history of journalism.

Past winners include The Hartford Courant, and Elizabeth Timothy, the first female publisher of an American newspaper.

Stanley E. Hubbard began Hubbard’s broadcasting business in radio. In 1948, Hubbard founded the Midwest’s first commercial TV station. Other Hubbard Broadcasting firsts sited by SPJ: “the first TV station in the United States to broadcast in color, the first to broadcast a seven-day schedule and the first to use remote satellite reports inside newscasts.”

Hubbard Broadcasting, whose legacy has been carried on by succeeding generations of Hubbards, was also a pioneer in satellite newsgatherers.