 KABU serves the Spirit Lake Nation of the Dakota tribe in northern North Dakota.The station was assigned the KABU call letters by the Federal Communications Commission on June 21, 1996.On January 16, 2008, the FCC granted the station a construction permit to upgrade to a class C2 station with an increase in effective radiated power to 28,000 watts and a rise in antenna height above average terrain to 121 meters (397 feet).