KTNC-TV
Encyclopedia
KTNC-TV, digital channel 14, is the Estrella TV
affiliate in Concord, California
, serving both Bay Area and Sacramento
areas. KTNC is owned by New World TV Group and broadcasts at 40 kilowatts
.
, Dr. Robert Schuller's Hour of Power, and various other local and national religious programs, usually of an evangelical nature.
In its earliest years, KFCB supplemented the religious programs with secular shows such as Speed Racer
, Dennis The Menace, Donna Reed
, Father Knows Best
, Mighty Hercules, Candid Camera
, New Zoo Revue
, Danger Mouse, CNN Headline News
, and others for about 5 hours per day. Although the station aired secular programming and commercials, KFCB's primary revenue source was always viewer donations; commercial revenue was not significant. Commercials that aired were primarily "direct response" spots. The station broadcast semi-annual telethons, in the manner of public television and radio. Christian children's programming included The Gospel Bill Show
, Superbook
, Davey and Goliath
, and others. From 1985 to 1986, the station phased out most of its secular shows, although a lineup of Saturday morning secular shows remained until at least 1989. The secular shows were occasionally modified to meet the station's "Christian" standards—master control operators were instructed to cover up the "Hollywood Minute" feature of CNN Headline News, and beer commercials were deleted from It's Your Business, a syndicated discussion program. During the fall of 1989, KFCB aired a schedule of Western Athletic Conference
college football games.
KFCB's studios were originally located at 5101 Port Chicago Highway, in the industrial section of north Concord, just north of the interchange with State Route 4
. Later, space was leased in a neighboring office building for additional offices and a larger studio. Only the cameras (three RCA
TK-761's) were moved to the new studio, with the control room remaining in the original building. The new studio was also the only television studio in the Bay Area to feature a restroom in the middle of the studio floor, the result of the studio being located in a roughed-in, but unfinished, office structure. The restroom was placed off-limits during tapings as a result of not being soundproof. The RCA transmitter was located on the north peak of Mount Diablo, in a very difficult to access building which was barely large enough to house the transmitter itself—the result of challenges from environmentalists against the station's original application for a construction permit. An engineer working on the front panel of the transmitter was actually standing outside the building itself. The North Peak transmitter site was to be decommissioned at the end of analog transmission in June, 2009. The digital transmitter site is on Mt. Diablo's main peak.
KFCB maintained a full-time production staff and generated much of its own programming, primarily short ministry programs with local ministers. A Sunday-afternoon public-affairs program, Open Forum, covered secular community issues and was the result of an agreement between First Century Broadcasting and a competing applicant for the channel 42 license. The program was later replaced by a similar show, The Informed Viewer.
Around 1988, a translator station, K34AV, was built in Fresno, California
to rebroadcast KFCB's signal. The translator became low-power station KSDI-LP
in 1997 (now on channel 33) and is no longer associated with KFCB/KTNC. Efforts around the same time to construct another translator in Modesto, California
, and purchase a full-power station on Long Island, New York failed.
In 1990, the license renewal application of KFCB came under fire from minority groups for alleged failures to comply with the equal employment opportunity regulations of the FCC
. After an investigation by the FCC, the license was ultimately renewed.
A few years later, Haus and other partners decided to form United Christian Broadcasting, with KFCB as the flagship station, which was intended to bring station's programming to a national audience. The venture would prove to be a financial disaster, and by 1996 Haus was forced to sell the station to Pappas Telecasting, at which time the station adopted the KTNC-TV callsign.
In 1997, Pappas acquired KFWU-TV in Fort Bragg
in 1997 from Sainte Limited
, at which point KFWU became a satellite of KTNC (though at first, KFWU was considered the main station and KTNC the satellite). That station became KUNO-TV in 2003.
KUNO was sold to Jeff Chang in July 2010. Chang would later drop the KTNC simulcast in favor of Retro Television Network
programming, under new call letters (originally KBQR; now KQSL), upon taking over.
KTNC was among the earliest affiliates of Azteca America
upon its formation in 2001. However, Pappas Telecasting terminated KTNC's affiliation agreement with Azteca America after the end of the June 30, 2007 broadcast day. The next day, KTNC officially became a part of Pappas' independent Spanish language network, TuVision
. The Azteca América affiliation for the San Francisco DMA moved to a newly-created digital subchannel of KBWB (now KOFY-TV), while the Azteca América affiliation for the Sacramento DMA moved to a low-power station, KSTV-LP
. DirecTV
replaced KTNC with the KBWB subchannel in some locations on July 1, 2007.
On January 16, 2009, it was announced that several Pappas stations, including KTNC and KUNO, would be sold to New World TV Group, after the sale received United States bankruptcy court
approval.
On June 3, 2009, the Federal Communications Commission announced that KTNC would be one of 35 stations to go dark at the end of full-power analog television operation on June 12, 2009. However, the station was transmitting a digital signal as of June 13, 2009.
KTNC affiliated with Estrella TV upon its launch in 2009.
Digital channels>
Digital Channel
Programming
42.1
Estrella TV
// Bay Area
42.2
Estrella TV // Central Valley
42.3
This TV
Estrella TV
Estrella TV is a Spanish-language television network owned by Liberman Broadcasting. The network launched September 14, 2009.-Affiliates:-Former Affiliates:-Controversy:...
affiliate in Concord, California
Concord, California
Concord is the largest city in Contra Costa County, California, USA. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 122,067. Originally founded in 1869 as the community of Todos Santos by Salvio Pacheco, the name was changed to Concord within months...
, serving both Bay Area and Sacramento
Sacramento
Sacramento is the capital of the state of California, in the United States of America.Sacramento may also refer to:- United States :*Sacramento County, California*Sacramento, Kentucky*Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta...
areas. KTNC is owned by New World TV Group and broadcasts at 40 kilowatts
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
.
Station history
The station began broadcasting in 1983 as KFCB, a Christian-broadcasting station owned by First Century Broadcasting (later, Family Christian Broadcasting) — the initials in the company name formed the station's original call letters. At that time, its president was Rev. Ronn Haus. A majority of its air time was devoted to Christian programming, including its own in-house productions. The flagship program was called California Tonight, later retitled Coast to Coast, a Christian talk show with sermons, conversations with religious topics, and musical guests. The program utilized an applause cart (audio tape cartridge) to give the viewers the impression of a studio audience. Other programming included The 700 ClubThe 700 Club
The 700 Club is the flagship news talk show of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing in syndication throughout the United States and Canada. In production since 1966, it is currently hosted by Pat Robertson, Terry Meeuwsen, Kristi Watts, and Gordon P. Robertson, two of whom will host on any...
, Dr. Robert Schuller's Hour of Power, and various other local and national religious programs, usually of an evangelical nature.
In its earliest years, KFCB supplemented the religious programs with secular shows such as Speed Racer
Speed Racer
Speed Racer is an English adaptation name of the Japanese manga and anime, which centered on automobile racing. Mach GoGoGo was originally serialized in print form in Shueisha's 1958 Shōnen Book, and was released in tankōbon book form by Sun Wide Comics, re-released in Japan by Fusosha...
, Dennis The Menace, Donna Reed
Donna Reed
Donna Reed was an American film and television actress.With appearances in over 40 films, Reed received the 1953 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the tramp Lorene in the war drama From Here to Eternity. She is also noted for her role in the perennial Christmas...
, Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best is an American radio and television comedy series which portrayed a middle class family life in the Midwest. It was created by writer Ed James in the 1940s.-Radio:...
, Mighty Hercules, Candid Camera
Candid Camera
Candid Camera is a hidden camera/practical joke reality television series created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially began on radio as Candid Microphone June 28, 1947...
, New Zoo Revue
New Zoo Revue
New Zoo Revue is an American half-hour children's television show that ran in syndication from 1972-1977. Stations usually broadcast the program in the early or middle part of the morning hours, when many pre-schoolers were watching it as well as similar shows such as the franchised Romper Room and...
, Danger Mouse, CNN Headline News
CNN Headline News
HLN, formerly known as CNN Headline News and CNN2, is a cable television news channel based in the United States and a spinoff of the cable news television channel, CNN. Initially airing tightly-formatted 30-minute newscasts around the clock, since 2005, the channel has increasingly aired long-form...
, and others for about 5 hours per day. Although the station aired secular programming and commercials, KFCB's primary revenue source was always viewer donations; commercial revenue was not significant. Commercials that aired were primarily "direct response" spots. The station broadcast semi-annual telethons, in the manner of public television and radio. Christian children's programming included The Gospel Bill Show
The Gospel Bill Show
The Gospel Bill Show is a Christian-values based television show that was produced by Willie George Ministries from 1981 to 1993. It was broadcast on the CBN and TBN, and is currently seen on Daystar, Smile of a Child, and in syndication on other small Christian television stations.-Characters:*...
, Superbook
Superbook
Superbook, also known as , is an anime television series produced by Tatsunoko Productions in Japan in conjunction with the Christian Broadcasting Network in the United States....
, Davey and Goliath
Davey and Goliath
Davey and Goliath is a 1960s stop-motion animated children's Christian television series. The programs, produced by the Lutheran Church in America , were produced by Art Clokey after the success of his Gumby series.Each 15-minute episode features the adventures of Davey Hansen and his "talking"...
, and others. From 1985 to 1986, the station phased out most of its secular shows, although a lineup of Saturday morning secular shows remained until at least 1989. The secular shows were occasionally modified to meet the station's "Christian" standards—master control operators were instructed to cover up the "Hollywood Minute" feature of CNN Headline News, and beer commercials were deleted from It's Your Business, a syndicated discussion program. During the fall of 1989, KFCB aired a schedule of Western Athletic Conference
Western Athletic Conference
The Western Athletic Conference is an American collegiate athletic conference, which was formed on July 27, 1962, making it the sixth oldest of the 11 college athletic conferences currently participating in the NCAA's Division I FBS...
college football games.
KFCB's studios were originally located at 5101 Port Chicago Highway, in the industrial section of north Concord, just north of the interchange with State Route 4
State Route 4 (California)
State Route 4 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California, routed from Interstate 80 in the San Francisco Bay Area to State Route 89 in the Sierra Nevada. It passes through Ebbetts Pass and contains the Ebbetts Pass Scenic Byway, a National Scenic Byway.SR 4 roughly parallels the...
. Later, space was leased in a neighboring office building for additional offices and a larger studio. Only the cameras (three RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
TK-761's) were moved to the new studio, with the control room remaining in the original building. The new studio was also the only television studio in the Bay Area to feature a restroom in the middle of the studio floor, the result of the studio being located in a roughed-in, but unfinished, office structure. The restroom was placed off-limits during tapings as a result of not being soundproof. The RCA transmitter was located on the north peak of Mount Diablo, in a very difficult to access building which was barely large enough to house the transmitter itself—the result of challenges from environmentalists against the station's original application for a construction permit. An engineer working on the front panel of the transmitter was actually standing outside the building itself. The North Peak transmitter site was to be decommissioned at the end of analog transmission in June, 2009. The digital transmitter site is on Mt. Diablo's main peak.
KFCB maintained a full-time production staff and generated much of its own programming, primarily short ministry programs with local ministers. A Sunday-afternoon public-affairs program, Open Forum, covered secular community issues and was the result of an agreement between First Century Broadcasting and a competing applicant for the channel 42 license. The program was later replaced by a similar show, The Informed Viewer.
Around 1988, a translator station, K34AV, was built in Fresno, California
Fresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
to rebroadcast KFCB's signal. The translator became low-power station KSDI-LP
KSDI-LP
KSDI-LP is a low-power television station in Fresno, California, owned and operated by Cocola Broadcasting. The station broadcasts six streams of video. KSDI Channel 33.1 broadcasts the Pursuit Channel during the daytime and Gems TV airing the overnight hours...
in 1997 (now on channel 33) and is no longer associated with KFCB/KTNC. Efforts around the same time to construct another translator in Modesto, California
Modesto, California
Modesto is a city in, and is the county seat of, Stanislaus County, California. With a population of approximately 201,165 at the 2010 census, Modesto ranks as the 18th largest city in the state of California....
, and purchase a full-power station on Long Island, New York failed.
In 1990, the license renewal application of KFCB came under fire from minority groups for alleged failures to comply with the equal employment opportunity regulations of the FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
. After an investigation by the FCC, the license was ultimately renewed.
A few years later, Haus and other partners decided to form United Christian Broadcasting, with KFCB as the flagship station, which was intended to bring station's programming to a national audience. The venture would prove to be a financial disaster, and by 1996 Haus was forced to sell the station to Pappas Telecasting, at which time the station adopted the KTNC-TV callsign.
In 1997, Pappas acquired KFWU-TV in Fort Bragg
Fort Bragg, California
Fort Bragg is a city located in coastal Mendocino County, California along State Route 1, the major north-south highway along the Pacific Coast. Fort Bragg is located west of Willits, at an elevation of 85 feet...
in 1997 from Sainte Limited
Sainte Partners II, L.P.
Sainte Partners II, L.P. is a broadcast company based in Modesto, California. The company's founder was country-western performer Chester Smith and the current chief executive officer is Robert Castro. They own several television stations throughout California and southern Oregon...
, at which point KFWU became a satellite of KTNC (though at first, KFWU was considered the main station and KTNC the satellite). That station became KUNO-TV in 2003.
KUNO was sold to Jeff Chang in July 2010. Chang would later drop the KTNC simulcast in favor of Retro Television Network
Retro Television Network
The Retro Television Network is a system of television stations that airs classic television shows as well as more recently produced programs...
programming, under new call letters (originally KBQR; now KQSL), upon taking over.
Azteca América
Azteca América is a broadcast television network marketed toward Spanish-speaking families residing in the United States. As a rapidly-growing Spanish language network, Azteca América now reaches 89% of the Hispanic households in the U.S., operating in sixty-two markets nationwide. Wholly owned by...
upon its formation in 2001. However, Pappas Telecasting terminated KTNC's affiliation agreement with Azteca America after the end of the June 30, 2007 broadcast day. The next day, KTNC officially became a part of Pappas' independent Spanish language network, TuVision
TuVisión
TuVisión was an American Spanish-language broadcasting network, which is owned by Pappas Telecasting. TuVisión is a portmanteau of tu and televisión . During the latter part of 2007, Pappas hired Moelis & Company to develop long-term objectives to identify which television assets it should retain...
. The Azteca América affiliation for the San Francisco DMA moved to a newly-created digital subchannel of KBWB (now KOFY-TV), while the Azteca América affiliation for the Sacramento DMA moved to a low-power station, KSTV-LP
KSTV-LP
KSTV-LP, Channel 32, is a low power station in Sacramento, California, affiliated with the Spanish-language Azteca América network. It is owned by Bustos Media....
. DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
replaced KTNC with the KBWB subchannel in some locations on July 1, 2007.
On January 16, 2009, it was announced that several Pappas stations, including KTNC and KUNO, would be sold to New World TV Group, after the sale received United States bankruptcy court
United States bankruptcy court
United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the United States Constitution. They function as units of the district courts and have subject-matter jurisdiction over bankruptcy cases. The federal district courts have original and exclusive jurisdiction over all cases arising...
approval.
On June 3, 2009, the Federal Communications Commission announced that KTNC would be one of 35 stations to go dark at the end of full-power analog television operation on June 12, 2009. However, the station was transmitting a digital signal as of June 13, 2009.
KTNC affiliated with Estrella TV upon its launch in 2009.
Digital television
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:Estrella TV
Estrella TV is a Spanish-language television network owned by Liberman Broadcasting. The network launched September 14, 2009.-Affiliates:-Former Affiliates:-Controversy:...
// Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
This TV
This TV is a United States general entertainment television network, with a large emphasis in its programming on movies....