KDBC-TV
FCC | |
Facility ID | 33764 |
---|---|
ERP | 1,000 kW |
HAAT | 602 m (1,975 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 31°48′55″N 106°29′22″W / 31.81528°N 106.48944°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | cbs4local |
KDBC-TV (channel 4) is a television station in El Paso, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Fox affiliate KFOX-TV (channel 14). The two stations share studios on South Alto Mesa Drive in northwest El Paso; KDBC-TV's transmitter is located atop the Franklin Mountains on the El Paso city limits.
History
Early years
The station first
Early programs on the station included the children's shows Red Brown and Anna Lee and Bozo's Big Top. For adults, there was wrestling program Mitchell's Mat Time. The station has been a CBS affiliate since its sign-on, as KROD radio had been a longtime affiliate of the CBS Radio Network. KROD-TV also maintained secondary affiliations with ABC and the DuMont Television Network until 1956. It lost the ABC affiliation when KILT (channel 13; now KVIA-TV on channel 7) became an affiliate of that network in November. KROD-TV lost DuMont when the network ceased operations in August 1956.[2] During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[3] Roderick sold the station to Trigg-Vaughn of Dallas in 1959.
Change to KDBC-TV
The station was sold again in 1967, this time to the
The original transmitter site was located south of Comanche Peak in El Paso. A road was built to the site, and a 288-foot (88 m)
In 1984, the transmitter was moved farther up the hill to Comanche Peak. A 440-foot (130 m) tower was built and a new transmitter was installed (one of the last of the RCA TT-25GLs to become operable). The station increased its ERP to 100 kW and increased the height of its transmitter to 1,540 feet (470 m).
In 1986, the station was acquired by United Broadcasting, then-owners of
Imes began to exit the television business in the late 1990s and announced that they would sell KDBC to Pappas Telecasting in September 2000, who intended to convert the station into a charter affiliate of Azteca América, a fledgling Spanish-language network that was co-owned at the time by Mexican network TV Azteca and Pappas.[4][5] Plans for the affiliation were canceled following an outcry from viewers, advertisers, and station employees, especially over the fact that no other station in El Paso was interested in joining CBS; most crucially, the Azteca América plan to acquire KXTX-TV in Dallas and use it as the hub of the network fell through, prompting Imes to initially pull KDBC off the market.[6] As a result, the station renewed its affiliation contract with CBS.
On November 17, 2003, two years later, Pappas agreed to buy KDBC from Imes—which had been desiring to sell the station for some time—for $20 million.[7][8] Pappas began operating KDBC under a time brokerage agreement that same day, with the sale closing on April 2, 2004.[9] Azteca América and Pappas ended their affiliation relationship in mid-2007.[10] Azteca América has been carried on the fourth digital subchannel of ABC affiliate KVIA-TV since early December 2010.[11]
On January 16, 2009, Pappas announced that it would sell several of its television stations, including KDBC, to New World TV Group (later renamed Titan TV Broadcast Group). The sale would be consummated after it received United States bankruptcy court approval.[12]
On October 19, 2009, Communications Corporation of America, owner of NBC affiliate KTSM-TV (channel 9), entered into a shared services agreement with Titan TV for KTSM-TV to provide advertising sales and administrative services as well as some news resources for KDBC-TV. Titan retained KDBC's broadcast license,[13] while both stations would nominally employ separate news departments. However, KTSM-TV was heavily criticized for reducing KDBC's newscasts to near-rebroadcasts with heavy story sharing with its own newscasts. Critics said this made both news departments indistinguishable from one another on-air.
On April 23, 2013, Titan TV Broadcast Group filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to sell KDBC and its low-power repeaters to Cunningham Broadcasting. Nearly all of Cunningham Broadcasting's stock is controlled by trusts held in the names of the children of Sinclair Broadcast Group founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Sinclair had finalized its purchase of Fox affiliate KFOX-TV (channel 14) from the Cox Media Group by this time. For all intents and purposes, this would have created a duopoly in the El Paso market that circumvented FCC ownership rules.
The following day, it was announced that the Communications Corporation of America stations, including KTSM-TV, would be sold to
FCC duopoly regulations normally disallow two of the four highest-rated stations (which usually constitute stations affiliated with the "
Sinclair announced plans to purchase a new studio facility, using an existing building to house the two stations on South Alto Mesa Drive on the city's west side. The new facility opened at the end of September 2014. Sinclair also announced its intention to invest heavily in KDBC to make it a factor in the market for the first time in several years, bringing its payroll to 40 people.[19]
KDBC-DT2
On February 22, 2006,
On January 1, 2010, KDBC-DT2 became an affiliate of movie and classic television multicast network
Programming
KDBC-TV clears most of the CBS network schedule; however, the station airs the CBS Evening News a half-hour earlier than the majority of the network's stations at 5 p.m. (this is the reverse order of the traditional late afternoon scheduling of major network affiliates in the Central and Mountain Time Zones, in which the network newscast airs after a local newscast) and airs the network's Sunday morning news programs CBS News Sunday Morning and Face the Nation one hour earlier than most CBS stations (CBS normally feeds the programs starting at 8 a.m. in each time zone; KDBC instead transmits both programs live via the network's Eastern Time Zone feed).
News operation
KDBC-TV presently broadcasts 24½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week; its early evening newscast airs nightly at 5:30 p.m. instead of as two half-hour broadcasts at 5 and 6 p.m.
On December 7, 2005, then-anchor Nichole Ayoub was proposed to (accepting the marriage proposal) live during that night's 6 p.m. newscast by her boyfriend of several years, Travis Hughes. The event was reported in feature stories seen on ABC's Good Morning America, Inside Edition and by various local television stations around the United States. On December 15, 2009, KDBC became the third television station in the El Paso market to begin broadcasting its newscasts in high definition.
In January 2010, Communications Corporation of America announced that it would shut down the news department of its sister station, KVEO-TV in Brownsville, Texas, other than maintaining a few locally based reporters for stories in the Brownsville area. The locally produced newscast on that station would originate from KDBC, using its staff with reports filed by Brownsville-based reporters. The new newscast, which debuted on KVEO on January 18, 2010, was able to be broadcast live in Brownsville without interfering with the production of KDBC's newscasts due to the one-hour time difference between El Paso (in the Mountain Time Zone) and Brownsville (in the Central Time Zone).[25]
On October 16, 2014, KDBC's news operation was consolidated at the new facilities of sister station KFOX-TV, and re-launched as CBS 4 News.[26] All newscasts will be kept.
On August 17, 2015, KDBC debuted a two-hour weekday morning newscast called CBS 4 News Daybreak from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., along with the return of the station's newscast at noon.
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
4.1 | 1080i | 16:9 |
CBS | CBS |
4.2 | 720p | TBD | MyNetworkTV / TBD[23][28] | |
4.3 | 480i | MeTV | Antenna TV | |
4.4 | Dabl | Dabl | ||
14.4 | 480i | 16:9 | TheNest | The Nest (KFOX-DT4) |
Analog-to-digital conversion
KDBC-TV shut down its analog signal, over
4.Translator
For many years, KDBC has operated
Footnotes
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for KDBC-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "Broadcasting Yearbook, 1955. p 455" (PDF).
- ^ "Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films". Boxoffice: 13. November 10, 1956. Archived from the original on June 14, 2009.
- ^ Miller, Mark K. (April 29, 2001). "Spanish expansion". Broadcasting and Cable. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
- ^ Martinez, Victor R. (September 9, 2000). "Channel 4 to go Spanish: Format would end 40-year affiliation with CBS". El Paso Times. pp. 1A, 2A. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
- ^ Martinez, Victor R. (June 21, 2001). "Channel 4 to remain in English, with CBS". El Paso Times. pp. 1A, 2A. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
- ^ "PAPPAS TELECASTING COMPANIES ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT TO PURCHASE KDBC-TV, CHANNEL 4, EL PASO". Pappas Telecasting Companies. November 17, 2003. Archived from the original on August 14, 2004. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
- ^ Peregrino, David (November 18, 2003). "California company purchases KDBC". El Paso Times. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
- ^ "PAPPAS TELECASTING COMPANIES ANNOUNCES THE CLOSING OF ITS PURCHASE OF KDBC-TV, CHANNEL 4, EL PASO". Pappas Telecasting Companies. April 2, 2004. Archived from the original on August 15, 2004. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
- ^ "Pappas drops Azteca America". Sacramento Business Journal. April 3, 2007. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
- ^ "Azteca America now under KVIA's umbrella". El Paso Times. November 1, 2010. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
- ^ "New World Gets Pappas TVs for $260M". TVnewsday. January 16, 2008. Retrieved January 18, 2008.
- ^ Kolenc, Vic (September 28, 2014). "KFOX-KDBC marriage will change El Paso TV market". El Paso Times. Digital First Media. Archived from the original on November 11, 2014. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
- ^ "CDBS Print".
- ^ Application For Consent To Transfer Control Of Entity Holding Broadcast Station Construction Permit Or License Federal Communications Commission, August 7, 2013, Retrieved August 12, 2013
- ^ Document fcc.gov [dead link]
- ^ http://licensing.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/pubacc/Auth_Files/1566316.pdf [permanent dead link]
- ^ "CDBS Print".
- ^ Gray, Robert (August 24, 2014). "Sinclair grows El Paso TV stations; Group invests $11M, will hire 40 people". El Paso Inc. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
- ^ "News Corp. to launch new mini-network for UPN stations". USA Today. February 22, 2006. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
- ^ News Corp. Unveils MyNetworkTV, Broadcasting & Cable, February 22, 2006.
- ^ My Network TV Signs Nine More Affils, Broadcasting & Cable, April 18, 2006.
- ^ a b Kaplowitz, Steve (July 18, 2014). "UTEP Gets More TV Exposure With New American Sports Network Read More: UTEP Gets More TV Exposure With New American Sports Network". KROD 600 ESPN El Paso. Town Square Media. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
- ^ "Owls Set for ASN Debut on Saturday". Rice Owls.com. CBSi Advance Media. October 2, 2014. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
- ^ El Paso Times: "Ayoub and Bettes now in Brownsville ... sorta", January 14, 2010. Archived March 23, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "KFOX14, CBS4 join forces for complete Borderland news coverage". KFOXTV.com. Sinclair Broadcast Group. Retrieved September 27, 2014.
- ^ "Digital TV Market Listing for KDBC". Rabbit Ears.info. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
- ^ "TitanTV TV Query for KDBC". Retrieved August 29, 2023.
- ^ "CDBS Print".
- ^ http://www.kdbc.com/global/story.asp?s=10510636 [permanent dead link]
- ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
- ^ "CDBS Print". Retrieved August 29, 2023.