 KBDI-TV first signed on the air on February 22, 1980.The station operated initially from a garage in Broomfield and used a juice can as a makeshift transmitting antenna.The channel 12 allocation was originally intended for the University of Colorado at Boulder, but it was assigned to Broomfield-based FREMCO when the FCC's plans to assign an educational television station that would serve the Boulder area exclusively fell through.