KXLF-TV was founded on August 14, 1953. It is Montana's oldest television station, and was originally owned by Television Montana, a company largely owned by industry pioneer Ed Craney; it was a sister station to KXLF radio (AM 1370, now KXTL). At the outset, the station operated on channel 6 as a primary NBC affiliate, with some DuMont programming. The NBC affiliation matched its radio sister, which was part of the "Z-Bar Network," a regional Pacific Northwest radio network based in Portland and including affiliates in Spokane, Helena, Great Falls, Missoula, and Bozeman. KXLF added ABC programming in 1955; soon afterward, the station lost DuMont when it shut down.