KSIX-TV's transmitter is located atop the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel; its parent stations share studios on Waiakamilo Road in downtown Honolulu.

On August 31, 1981, Oceanic Broadcasting Company applied for a construction permit to build a new TV station on channel 2 in Hilo.

[5] The station cited financial difficulties for dropping the local newscast and cut back its total staff to three employees at the same time.

Chase and from the Kingdom Corporation of Hilo, which hoped to use the TV station as the cornerstone of a Christian planned community in Puna.

[8] Upon acquiring KOHA-TV, Chupack announced his intention to change the call letters to KHBC-TV,[8] which had previously been used on the first TV station in Hilo, which is now KGMD-TV.

[21] Evans agreed to a settlement with the NLRB in early August in order to prevent issues at his radio stations;[22] IBEW supported the move, although the new owners were not expected to continue making programs.

[19] KHBC-TV was sold to the King Broadcasting Company, the Seattle-based owners of Honolulu's KHNL,[23] which at the time did not have over-the-air coverage on the Big Island.