KDBC-TV

KDBC-TV

El Paso, Texas
Branding	KDBC 4 (general) Local 4 News (news)
Slogan	Your Local News Leader!
Channels	Digital: 18 (UHF) Virtual: 4 (PSIP)
Subchannels	4.1 CBS HD (1080i) 4.2 MyNetwork TV/This TV SD (480i)
Affiliations	CBS MyNetworkTV/This TV (DT2) TeLe-Romántica (DT3)
Owner	Titan TV Broadcast Group (operated by Communications Corporation of America; sale to Cunningham Broadcasting pending) (KDBC License, LLC)
First air date	December 14, 1952
Call letters' meaning	Doubleday Broadcasting Company
Sister station(s)	KTSM-TV
Former callsigns	KROD-TV (1952-1973)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 4 (VHF, 1952-2009)
Former affiliations	ABC DuMont
Transmitter power	363 kW
Height	577 m
Facility ID	33764
Transmitter coordinates	31°48′18.9″N 106°29′0.8″W
Website	http://www.kdbc.com

KDBC-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station in El Paso, Texas that is owned by the Titan TV Broadcast Group. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 18 (virtual channel 4 via PSIP). It carries MyNetworkTV on a digital subchannel. The station is located at 801 N. Oregon St. in El Paso. Its transmitter is also located in El Paso atop Cheyenne Mountain.

History

The station went on air on December 14, 1952 as KROD-TV, the first television station in El Paso. The station was owned by Dorrance Roderick, along with KROD radio and the El Paso Times. Early programs on the station included children's shows Red Brown and Anna Lee and Bozo's Big Top, and wrestling show Mitchell's Mat Time. The station was affiliated with three networks (CBS, ABC, and DuMont) as late as 1955. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.

The station changed its call letters to KDBC-TV in 1973 to reflect the change in station ownership, Doubleday Broadcasting Company. The first transmitter site was south of Comanche Peak in El Paso. A road was built to the site, and a 288-foot (88 m) tower was constructed. A building was assembled from native rock chipped from the site. The station went on with a temporary transmitter (small RCA) and eventually added a 10 kW RCA TT-10AL transmitter and developed an effective radiated power of 61 kilowatts at 1,150 feet (350 m). The site is now used as a backup, and many FM stations transmit from this building.

In 1984 the station 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). The station increased to 100 kW and a height of 1,540 feet (470 m). BTSC stereo also commenced with this new site.

By the mid-1980s, the station was owned by United Broadcasting, who at the time also owned KARK-TV in Little Rock, Arkansas and WTOK-TV in Meridian, Mississippi. Columbus, Mississippi-based Imes Broadcasting, owners of stations such as WCBI-TV and WMUR-TV, bought KDBC in 1988 after United Broadcasting was taken over by the investment firm Merrill Lynch. Imes Broadcasting exited the television business in the late 1990s, and put up all of its stations for sale. In 1999 Pappas Telecasting Companies acquired the station, with the intent to have the station join the new Azteca America network, a Spanish-language network co-owned at the time by TV Azteca and Pappas. Plans for the affiliation were canceled following outcry from viewers and the station's employees (especially over the fact that CBS had nowhere else in El Paso to turn to), and the station renewed its affiliation with CBS. Azteca America and Pappas ended their affiliation relationship in mid-2007. Since early December 2010, Azteca América has been available on KVIA-DT4.

KDBC former logo (2004-2009).

In May 2004, KDBC launched a new set design, logo and graphics. On September 5, 2006, KDBC's new subchannel commenced operations, which includes programming from MyNetworkTV. [1] On January 16, 2009, it was announced that several Pappas stations, including KDBC, would be sold to New World TV Group (now the Titan TV Broadcast Group), after the sale received United States bankruptcy court approval.

On October 19, 2009, Communications Corporation of America, owner of NBC affiliate KTSM-TV, announced that that station will provide sales and other services for KDBC under a new agreement. ComCorp will provide advertising, sales, administrative services and some news programming for KDBC, while Titan will continue to manage KDBC and both stations would retain separate newscasts.

In April 2013, Titan TV Broadcast Group filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission to sell KDBC-TV 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 the principal owners of the Sinclair Broadcast Group (which has completed its purchase of Fox affiliate KFOX-TV from the Cox Media Group), which will result in Sinclair effectively owning a duopoly in the El Paso market. Later that month, it was announced that the Communications Corporation of America stations, including KTSM-TV, would be sold to the Nexstar Broadcasting Group. The future status of the SSA between KDBC and KTSM has yet to be determined.^{citation needed} But it could mean KDBC and KFOX would move to a brand new building in 2014.

Digital channels

Channel	Video	Aspect	PSIP Short Name	Programming
4.1	1080i	16:9	KDBC-DT	Main KDBC-TV programming / CBS
4.2	480i	4:3	MyNet	MyNetworkTV / This TV
4.3				TeLe-Romántica

Analog-to-digital conversion

On June 2, 2009, KDBC announced it has terminated its analog signal because of technical difficulties ten days before the scheduled analog television shutdown and digital conversion on June 12, thus becoming the first television station in the El Paso area to transmit solely in digital. KDBC-TV remains on its transition period channel number, 18. However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display KDBC-TV's virtual channel as 4.

News operation

Among the station's most famous broadcasters was weatherman Howell Eurich, who also worked as El Paso's version of Bozo the Clown during the 1960s and 1970s. Eurich committed suicide in 1982 following a divorce from his wife and fellow KDBC weather anchor Gail Gordon. His son, Robin Eurich, would play Rusty the Handyman on The Bozo Super Sunday Show on WGN-TV in Chicago during its entire run. On December 15, 2009, KDBC began broadcasting its news in high-definition, becoming the third television station in the El Paso market to do so.

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 a few reporters. The locally-produced newscast would originate from KDBC, using KDBC's staff (including Nichole Ayoub as anchor and Robert Bettes as meteorologist), with the remaining reporters in Brownsville filing reports. The new newscast, which debuted on KVEO on January 18, 2010, will be pre-recorded in advance.

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• KROD-TV News (1952–1961)
• The News with Tom Hanson (1961–1967)
• Newsnight (1967–1970)
• Channel 4 News Report (1970–1974)
• Big 4 News (1974–1985)
• Channel 4 News (1985–1988 and 2001)
• News 4 El Paso (1988–1993)
• News 4 (1993–1997)
• CBS 4 Action News (1997–2001)
• CBS 4 News (2001–2004)
• KDBC 4 News (2004–2010)
• Local 4 News (2010–present)

Station slogans

• This is the Big 4 (1974–1982)
• Great Moments on Channel 4 (1982; local version of CBS campaign)
• We're El Paso's Very Own Channel 4 (1982–1987)
• The Spirit of El Paso (1987-19??)
• It's Happening on Channel 4 (1987–1992)
• The Look of El Paso Is Channel 4 (1991–1992, local version of CBS campaign)
• 4 Means News (1992–1995)
• Your Eye on El Paso (1995–2002)
• People You Can Count On (2002–2004)
• We're YOUR Station (2004–present)

News team

Anchors

• Nichole Ayoub - weeknights at 10 p.m.
• Amber Downing - weeknights at 5:30 p.m.
• Cathy Hernandez - weekends at 5:30 and 10 p.m.; also multimedia journalist

Local 4 Weather

• Robert Bettes (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5:30 and 10 p.m.
• Chip Maxham - meteorologist; weekends at 5:30 and 10 p.m.

Sports team

• Fred Albers - sports anchor; weeknights at 5:30 and 10 p.m.
• Beau Bagley - sports anchor; weekends at 5:30 and 10 p.m.
• Aaron Rich - sports reporter

Miscellaneous

• The piano introduction from "Nobody Does It Better" from the James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me" was used in the late 1970's as the musical part of the station's ID prior to the evening news broadcast.

• On December 7, 2005, KDBC 4 anchor Nichole Ayoub's boyfriend of several years, Travis Hughes, proposed to her live on the air during the six o'clock newscast. After saying "yes," the anchorwoman hugged her new fiance. The event caught the attention of ABC's Good Morning America, Inside Edition, and various local TV stations around the country.

• Weatherman Howell Eurich was also known for his Wink, Texas jokes, jokes about how small the town was. He eventually came out with a book of such jokes that was sold locally. Eurich acted in local stage productions, as well as hosted movie shows and Bozo the Clown on the station (1968–1972). Many photos of Eurich adorn the walls of "Jaxons" restaurant in El Paso. Eurich later became despondent after divorcing his wife and committed suicide in 1982.

• Howell Eurich and Gail Gordon introduced "Puffy" the weather dog, who became a feature of the weather forecast.

• In September 2011, Chief Meteorologist Robert Bettes began hosting a children's show on KCOS-TV (PBS) entitled Blast Beyond. As "Captain Rob," Bettes entertains and informs local children with science, art, music, language, and the colorful cast of characters including Cosmo (chief engineer), Ivan (chef), Debvar (security officer), and the Blast Beyond Band.

External links

• KDBC Homepage
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KDBC-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KDBC-TV