More Information About KBEH
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This article or section needs to be updated. Please update the article to reflect recent events or newly available information, and remove this template when finished. (January 2009) |
KBEH channel 63 is an MTV Tr3s affiliate serving the Los Angeles television market. It is licensed to Oxnard, California, and is owned by HERO Broadcasting. Because of its transmitter location, the station's signal covers only Los Angeles County, so KBEH employs low-power booster station KBEH1 to broadcast its signal into Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. It used to be a UPN affiliate for Santa Barbara from 1995 to 2002 and an English-language independent from 2002 until May 2004.
History
The station originally went on the air in August 1985 as independent KTIE. The station was the first TV station to operate in Ventura County, California since Ventura's KKOG-TV (channel 16) left the air in 1969. Originally airing live local news, movies and syndicated shows, the original owner, Don Sterling (not the Clippers owner), fighting a regular monthly loss, sold the station in 1988 to billionaire Meshulam Riklis, more famous as the husband of Pia Zadora. Riklis changed the calls to KADY-TV. The station was named after their daughter, Kady[1], who in turn was named for the character Zadora played in her debut performance in the movie Butterfly which, financed by Riklis, was long regarded as one of the Top Ten Worst Movies of all time [2]. Riklis infused the capitol to build up the station, the facilities became 'State of the Art" (at that point in time) and the programming improved greatly, but revenues continued to fall short of profitability.
As Riklis' shifty financial empire began to unravel, KADY-TV was part of settlements. The subsequent company, E-II Holdings, Inc. (a group of jilted Riklis investors), discovered this was not a profitable venture and essentially bailed out on the whole operation.[1] This was part of a succession of owners. The next owner was John Huddy [3] [4], previously the general manager under Riklis. Huddy is the father of Juliet Huddy, now hostess of The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, who also worked at the station and eventually married the news director, Dan Green. How John Huddy, a former entertainment critic for The Miami Herald and executive producer for Tomorrow with Tom Snyder, came to own a television station was never clear. While Huddy made some innovative moves, he did not have the financial resources to operate at a loss. Among his innovations, KADY became one of the original affiliates of UPN in January 1995, another was to duplicate the signal to the Central Coast using leased time on San Luis Obispo's KADE (channel 33; now KTAS). Financially the station survived by slight of hand, but Huddy was not the master magician Riklis was. Huddy, in the name of KADY, left bad debts throughout the area business community, including $4 million to Don Sterling [5], the original owner and still the building's landlord. Eventually the house of cards came down on Huddy and after lying in bankruptcy court in July 1996, the property was immediately seized [6]. Rather than going off to live in disgrace, John Huddy has become a successful author of a "True Crime" bestseller.
After a transitional period under court supervision with John Hyde acting as trustee [7], a sale to Biltmore Broadcasting was arranged in November 1997[8]. Although Biltmore was the successful buyer of channel 63, Paxson Communications was also one of the bidders for the station.
In 2002, KADY dropped the UPN affiliation and became an independent station again. Among the shows seen on the station was a rebroadcast of the local newscasts of Santa Barbara-based KEYT-TV. KADY also debuted on DirecTV in the Los Angeles area.
KBEH logo used while Spanish independent
In 2004, Blitmore sold the station to Bela, LCC, a Florida-based Spanish-language broadcaster. As a result, in May 2004, channel 63 became KBEH and became an independent Spanish language station. In order to expand the stations coverage area, KBEH began identifying as Oxnard-Los Angeles and has since gained coverage on local cable systems, in addition to DirecTV. One year later, when MTV Tr3s launched, Bela flipped KBEH, KMOH, and KEJR to it. With such a move, KBEH and KMOH became the network's lone full-power affiliates.
KBEH was one of four independent stations broadcasting at least part of its program schedule in Spanish. The others are KWHY, KRCA and KJLA, which broadcasts in both English and Spanish. Since 2007, KBBC-TV, licensed to Bishop California and carried as part of the Los Angeles DirecTV coverage, has emerged as a new Spanish/English station for the Los Angeles TV market.
Bela Broadcasting sold KBEH to HERO Broadcasting in January 2008.[9]
Programming
KBEH airs the entire MTV Tr3s schedule, with no local programming but local station identification inserts every hour.
Repeaters
KBEH can also be seen on KBEH1 Channel 63, its Los Angeles-based booster, which broadcasts at 50 kW. It is also seen in Santa Barbara over-the-air on KSBT-LP channel 32 and on local cable systems.
References
- ^ https://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Riklis-Family-Corp-Company-History.html
External links
Official websites
Articles
TV queries
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Other Spanish-Language Network Affiliates in the state of California |
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See also: ABC, CBS, CW, Fox, ION, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS and Other stations in California
Also see: Telefutura, Telemundo, Univision, Independent, Other Spanish Network, Religious and Home Shopping stations in California |
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