When the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lifted the freeze on new television station applications in 1952, they allocated VHF channels 11 and 13 for broadcast television service in Yuma. Valley Telecasting quickly applied for and opened KIVA on channel 11, becoming the city's first television station in October 1953. Wrather-Alvarez Broadcasting, owners of KFMB-TV in San Diego, followed with a January 1956 application to build KYAT on channel 13, but failed, and in September 1958, the construction permit was dismissed. By November 1961, more than eight years after the arrival of local television, Yuma was still a one-station town.