KXDF-CD signed on the air on August 7, 1996 as K13XD, the area's sixth television station, four months after longtime CBS affiliate KTVF switched to NBC. It was owned by Tanana Valley Television Company alongside Fox affiliate KFXF. Before channel 13 signed on, select CBS programming had been seen on KFXF. The addition of K13XD meant that Fairbanks would finally have a station for each of the four main networks: KATN (ABC), KFXF (Fox), KTVF (NBC), and K13XD (CBS), along with KJNP-TV (TBN) and KUAC-TV (PBS).