KDBC-TV

KDBC-TV is the CBS affiliate in El Paso, Texas. The station is owned by the Titan TV Broadcast Group. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 18. Its new digital subchannel carries My Network TV.

The station is located at 2201 E. Wyoming Avenue in El Paso (ZIP code 79903). Its transmitter is also located in El Paso.

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.^[1] During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.^[2]

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 {{convert|1540|ft}. 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, and the station renewed its affiliation with CBS. Azteca America and Pappas ended their affiliation relationship in mid-2007.

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 My Network TV. [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.^[3]

On October 19, 2009 ComCorp, the parent company of 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 will retain separate newscasts for now.^[4]

On December 15, 2009, KDBC began broadcasting its news in high-definition, becoming the Third TV station in El Paso to do so.

In January 2010, Comcorp announced that it would close 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.^[5]

Digital television

The station's digital channel is UHF 18, multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion

On June 2, 2009, KDBC announced it has terminated its analog signal because of technical difficulties^[6][7] ten days before the scheduled analog television shutdown and digital conversion on June 12,^[8] 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.^[9] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display KDBC-TV's virtual channel as 4.

Personalities

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.

Anchors

• Adrienne Alvarez - KDBC 4 at 5:30pm & 10pm Monday - Friday

KDBC 4 Weather

• Robert Bettes - Chief meteorologist weekdays KDBC 4 News at 5:30 & 10

Former staff members

• Damien Alameda (now at KOLD-TV)
• Elizabeth Alvarez (now at WOFL-TV)
• Jamie Apody (now at WPVI-TV)
• Nicole Ayoub
• Carol Barasch
• Jesse Blanco (now at WTGS)
• Krys Boyd [2](now at KERA-FM)
• Robert Boyd
• Estela Casas (now at KVIA-TV)
• Vanessa Chacon (now at KTSM-FM El Paso Sunny 99.9)
• Dustin Chase
• Sally Coronado
• Dave Crome (now at KDAF-TV)
• Katie Decker
• Tom Dillon (deceased 2008)
• Shelton Dodson (formerly at KOB-TV)
• Jennifer Dolt
• Tom Downs
• Melissa Duran (now at KLAS-TV)
• John Engleman (now at KFSM-TV)
• Howell Eurich (deceased)
• Jim Gamble
• Larae Malooly
• Dave Garcia (now at KROD-AM)
• Mercedes Garza
• Rick Glancy
• Gail Gordon
• Crystal Gutierrez
• Ernest Gutierrez, reporter (now broadcasting professor at Riverside Career Technical Institute)
• Tim Hartman (deceased)
• Al Hinojos
• Mike House (now at WTVT / Fox 13 Tampa)
• David Johnston ("Ono") (now at KABC-TV)
• Liz Kern (AKA "Intruder" film actress Elizabeth Cox, marketing coordinator for the El Paso Zoo 2006-2009)
• Christine Maddela (now at WKRN-TV)
• Patricia Maese
• Rebecca Medina (now at WPTY-TV)
• Ruly Medrano
• Raymond Mesa (now at KWHY-TV)
• Suzanne Michaels
• Bill Mitchell (now at WDEF-TV)
• David Morgan
• Gary Munday
• Sheila Parker
• Gabe Rivera, photographer (now with Cox Media)
• Rene Romo
• Richard Saenz (now at KSAZ-TV)
• Chris Saldaña (now at KLAS-TV)
• Sam Saucedo
• Gene Savard
• Steve Savard (now at KMOV-TV)
• Dennis Scott
• Chip Taberski
• Lucy Tipton
• Larry Trejo
• Marcy Valenzuela
• Alexis Vance
• Udell Vigil, (former news director, now Director of Communications, City of Las Cruces, NM)
• Yvette Villarreal (now Yvette Martinez at WBIR-TV)
• Natalie Zea
• Skylar Zwick (now at WTVY-TV)

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, 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•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)
• 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)

KDBC Music

• CBS Afilliate News Packages By Uknown Composer (1989-1997)
• Wall To Wall News By Stephen Arnold Music (1997-1999)
• KDBC 1999 News Theme By Uknown Composer (1999-2001)
• KDBC 2001 News Theme By Uknown Composer (2001)
• News Matrix By Stephen Arnold Music (2001-2004, 2010-Pres.)
• Pinnacle By Stephen Arnold Music (2004-2008)
• Connection By 360 Music (2008-2010)

Miscellaneous

• 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.

External links

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

Footnotes

1. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook, 1955. p 455
2. ^ "Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films", Boxoffice: 13, November 10, 1956, http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_111056-1
3. ^ "New World Gets Pappas TVs for $260M". TVnewsday. January 16, 2008. http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2009/01/16/daily.11/. Retrieved January 18, 2008.
4. ^ http://www.ktsm.com/news/ktsmkdbc-sharing-services
5. ^ El Paso Times: "Ayoub and Bettes now in Brownsville ... sorta", January 14, 2010.
6. ^ http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101315508&formid=910&fac_num=33764
7. ^ http://www.kdbc.com/global/story.asp?s=10510636
8. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
9. ^ CDBS Print

Categories: CBS network affiliates | MyNetworkTV affiliates | Pappas Telecasting Companies | Channel 4 TV stations in the United States | Television channels and stations established in 1952 | Television stations in El Paso, Texas