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Outlet profile

Gray Media / KOTA-TV

U.S. center, locally oriented

Owned byGray Media, Inc. (publicly traded, NYSE: GTN), chaired and led by CEO Hilton H. Howell Jr.; KOTA-TV is one of roughly 180 local stations Gray owns or operates across more than 113 U.S. markets
FundingPrimarily local and national advertising on broadcast stations, supplemented by retransmission consent fees paid by cable and satellite providers (which accounted for roughly half of total revenue in early 2025) and a surge in political advertising in election years; the company carries significant long-term debt (~$5.8 billion as of mid-2026) taken on through aggressive acquisitions
On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

KOTA-TV signed on in Rapid City, South Dakota on July 1, 1955, making it the second television station in the state and the first in its western half; it was founded and owned by Rapid City businesswoman Helen Duhamel. The station originally carried programming from multiple networks as a primary CBS affiliate before switching to ABC in 1984. After 58 years of Duhamel family ownership, Bill Duhamel sold KOTA-TV and its satellite stations to Schurz Communications in 2013. Gray Television—itself tracing its roots to the Albany, Georgia newspaper market and formally organized as a broadcast company in 1946 by James Harrison Gray—purchased the full Schurz Communications television portfolio for roughly $443 million, with that deal closing February 16, 2016, bringing KOTA-TV into the Gray family. Gray rebranded from Gray Television to Gray Media in 2025 and has continued expanding aggressively, acquiring Allen Media Group stations in 2025 and American Spirit Media stations in 2026. Media-bias rating organizations such as Media Bias/Fact Check characterize Gray's central news operation (the Gray DC Bureau) as 'Least Biased' with high factual accuracy, though some media observers note that Gray airs a Sunday program hosted by Fox News veteran Greta Van Susteren and may have a slight rightward tilt relative to major broadcast networks in some markets. KOTA-TV's coverage of the Trump second term has reflected standard local broadcast practice—reporting on region-specific events such as the Trump administration's Mount Rushmore plans and Vice President Vance's July 2025 visit—without notable ideological framing.

Sources

  1. KOTA-TV – Wikipedia
  2. Gray Media – Wikipedia
  3. Gray DC Bureau – Bias and Credibility (Media Bias/Fact Check)
  4. Who Owns Gray Media (Free Press)
  5. Who is Gray Television? And how did it land that big debate? (Star Tribune)
  6. Is Gray Television Liberal or Conservative: A Media Analysis (TelevisionUSA)
  7. Gray Media Agrees to Purchase Television Stations from Allen Media Group (GlobeNewsWire)
  8. Gray Media Agrees to Purchase American Spirit Media's Television Stations
  9. Gray Media Strategy and Business Model (Umbrex)
  10. Gray Television Profile (OpenSecrets)

Profile compiled 2026-07-21; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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