Changes: KCBA

Latest revision as of 16:59, 17 June 2022

KCBA (channel 35) is a television station licensed to Salinas, California, United States, serving the Monterey Bay area as an affiliate of The CW Plus. It is owned by Seal Rock Broadcasters, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with the News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG), owner of local CBS affiliate KION-TV (channel 46), for the provision of certain services. Programming originates from the KION-TV studio facilities on Moffett Street in Salinas and is broadcast from a transmitter located on Fremont Peak.

Established as a Spanish-language station in 1981, KCBA became an English-language station in 1986 and affiliated with the new Fox network the next year. The station started broadcasting local news in 1990 and acquired most of the operations of KION-TV, then known as KCCN-TV, in 1996. In 2013, Seal Rock changed service providers from KION-TV to Entravision Communications, owner of Univision affiliate KSMS-TV; this deal ended in 2021, and a new agreement was signed with KION. On January 1, 2022, KCBA and KION's second digital subchannel exchanged affiliations.

History[]

The station was launched on November 1, 1981, by Sainte Broadcasting Group. It began as a Spanish International Network (SIN) affiliate from noon until about 1 a.m. daily. In the mornings, it carried religious programming such as Jimmy Swaggart, The PTL Club and The 700 Club weekdays and others on weekends. While the station was primarily a Spanish-language broadcaster, the religious programming was in English.

The station was put up for sale in the winter of 1986 and sold to Ackerley Broadcasting in May 1986. In June the station changed formats to an English-language conventional general-entertainment format. The station added cartoons from 6 to 9 a.m. weekdays. The religious shows, held over from the Sainte days aired from 9 a.m. to about noon. The afternoon initially consisted of a movie and eventually classic sitcoms. By about 2:30 p.m. the station aired cartoons, followed by more off-network sitcoms by 5 p.m., a prime time movie, and a blend of sitcoms, dramas, and movies into the late night. On weekends, the station ran additional movies, and the Sunday morning religious shows remained for many more years.

Early years[]

On November 12, 1976, the KLOC Broadcasting Corporation filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build a new television station on channel 35 in Salinas. The firm proposed to operate the station primarily as a Spanish-language outlet with additional English-language religious programming on weekday mornings. Another group, Leejon Broadcasting, also sought channel 35 for Spanish-language programming, but it opted to withdraw from the contest that June. The construction permit was granted on September 20, 1979, conditional on the sale of one of the two broadcasting properties it owned in Modesto, KLOC radio and television; the radio station was chosen to be sold. The new station launched on November 1, 1981, bringing the Spanish International Network to over-the-air viewers on the Central Coast; in 1979, the network's San Francisco station, KDTV, was added to local cable systems.

In March 1986, Sainte reached a deal to sell KCBA to Ackerley Communications of Seattle. The sale created immediate questions about the station's future format, and rumors persisted that Ackerley planned on switching to English-language programming; as a result, the League of United Latin American Citizens objected to the transaction. The FCC approved of the sale in May 1986, and in June, Ackerley unveiled its programming plans, which included no Spanish-language output; however, a new station, KSMS-TV (channel 67), would launch with SIN programming using some of KCBA's facilities, and channel 35 would not change formats until that station went into service.

KCBA switched to English-language programming on September 1, 1986, broadcasting a mix of children's programs, sitcoms, movies, and sports events. KCBA joined the Fox network in the fall of 1987 and relocated to quarters on Moffett Avenue in Salinas in 1990, facilities large enough to house a news department.

As a Fox affiliate[]

KCBA joined the Fox network at its inception on October 9, 1986. Like most Fox stations and independents, KCBA moved away from older sitcoms and added talk shows, reality shows, and court shows by the mid-1990s. In 1994, KCBA entered into a local marketing agreement (LMA) with what was then KCCN-TV, which was then owned by Harron Communications. KCBA took over the operations of KCCN, which changed its call letters to KION-TV two years later. Although KCCN/KION was longer-established, KCBA functioned as the senior partner in the LMA during the years that Ackerley owned Channel 35. Ackerley bought KION outright in 1998 and sold KCBA to a pair of investors doing business as Seal Rock Broadcasters and Utica Television Partners (although only one of them, Seal Rock Broadcasters, serves as the licensee). The transactions were completed on January 12, 2000; however, Ackerley retained control of KCBA through an LMA with its new owners. As a result, Channel 46 became the senior partner in the LMA. Cartoons were phased out in 2001, and in 2002 newscasts were added. KION and the LMA for KCBA were sold to Clear Channel Communications as part of a group deal. In addition, KCBA and KION shared a secondary affiliation with UPN from 1995 until 2003.

On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia), the owner of KION at the time, entered into an agreement to spin off its entire television stations group to Newport Television, a broadcasting holding company controlled by the private equity firm Providence Equity Partners. Newport Television subsequently announced the sale of KION and its LMA with KCBA to Cowles Publishing Company. This transaction was finalized on May 7, 2008.

On June 5, 2013, Entravision Communications, owner of Univision (the successor to SIN) affiliate KSMS-TV, UniMás affiliate KDJT-CA, and radio stations KLOK-FM and KSES-FM, announced that it would take over KCBA's operations through a joint sales agreement on or around December 1.

Joint management with KION-TV[]

In April 1996, Ackerley Group entered into an agreement with the Harron Corporation, owner of CBS affiliate KCCN-TV, to take over its operations under a local marketing agreement (LMA). KCCN's newscasts at 5, 6, and 11 p.m. attracted roughly half as many viewers as KCBA's 10 p.m. program. Operations of channel 46 moved from Monterey to Salinas, and local news on the CBS affiliate was suspended for a month before resuming in early June, with many—though not all—KCCN staffers rehired by Ackerley.

Late in 1998, Ackerley bought KION outright from Harron and sold KCBA to Seal Rock Broadcasters, though Ackerley would continue to operate that station on Seal Rock's behalf; the deal closed in 2000. Ackerley merged with Clear Channel Communications in 2002; when Clear Channel spun off its television stations to Newport Television, a broadcasting holding company controlled by the private equity firm Providence Equity Partners, in 2007, the buyers were forced to divest of KION-TV due to overlapping radio interests in San Jose, with the Cowles Publishing Company purchasing that station and assuming the LMA with KCBA.

On June 5, 2013, Entravision Communications—owner of KSMS-TV, UniMás affiliate KDJT-CA, and radio stations KLOK-FM and KSES-FM—announced that it would take over KCBA's operations through a joint sales agreement on or around December 1.

Move of Fox to KION-DT2[]

The News-Press & Gazette Company (owner of KION-TV) purchased the non-license assets of KCBA from Seal Rock Broadcasters in December 2021. While Seal Rock would continue to own and program KCBA, NPG acquired all of its existing programming and the Fox affiliation. On January 1, 2022, the Fox schedule and the intellectual unit for KCBA's main signal moved permanently to KION-DT2 while retaining the "Fox 35" on-air brand, while CW+ programming which had been carried on KION-DT2 moved to KCBA. Cable and satellite viewers saw no change, as KION-DT2 took over KCBA's former channel slots.

Switch to The CW[]

After Entravision opted not to exercise an existing option to purchase KCBA's non-license assets from Seal Rock, the company entered into a new shared services agreement (not including sales) with NPG in September 2021 and moved its operations back to Salinas from Entravision's studio center in Monterey. NPG purchased the Fox affiliation and program stream, which moved to KION's 46.2 subchannel on January 1, 2022; simultaneously, the CW affiliation agreement was assigned to Seal Rock for use on KCBA. There was no change for cable or satellite viewers.

News and programming[]

Until November 30, 2013, KCBA aired one newscast, Central Coast News at 10, produced by KION. The broadcast was on-air for an hour on weeknights and a half-hour on weekends. As of May 2011, this newscast was broadcast in high definition for the in-studio portions, with live field reports in unconverted 16:9 widescreen standard definition. The newscast was anchored by Jon K. Brent on weeknights and Susanne Brunner on weekends, while Norm Hoffman and Alex Snyder did the weather. KCBA used additional news personnel from KION for news and KCOY for "California Sports" segments. This newscast moved to KION's 46.2 subchannels as of December 1, 2013 while KCBA simulcast the KTVU Mornings on 2 morning show (4:30–9 a.m. weekdays and 7–10 a.m. Sundays) and The 10:00 News on KTVU Fox 2 at 10:00 p.m. daily from Fox-owned KTVU in Oakland.

Notable former on-air staff includes Craig Kilborn, former late-night talk show host and SportsCenter anchor on ESPN, who was the sports anchor in the early 1990s. Another staff member, Alex Witt, anchor for MSNBC, was a reporter and anchor from 1990 to 1992.

Newscasts[]

Further information: KION-TV § News operation

In 1990, Ackerley started a local news department for KCBA, becoming the third source of television news on the Central Coast, with 5:30 and 10 p.m. newscasts. The station was able to attract a significant number of employees, including anchor Romney Dunbar, from KMST, which was suffering through a period of ratings and workplace turmoil. In addition to actor Jeremy Slate, who served as the station's entertainment critic, Craig Kilborn served as the weekday sports anchor, a precursor to a career that would include hosting SportsCenter and his own late-night talk show. Alex Witt, who went on to anchor for MSNBC, also was a reporter and anchor for the station in its early years. The station cut back to one hour-long 10 p.m. program in 1991 but reinstated an early evening newscast at 6 p.m. in 1994, using the "family-sensitive newscast" format then being tried at several stations around the country, but dropped the concept after less than a year.

When the original KCBA LMA with KION ended in 2013, the 10 p.m. newscast moved to KION's 46.2 subchannel as of December 1, 2013. KCBA instead began to simulcast the morning and evening newscasts of KTVU in Oakland; that station had long been available on cable systems in Santa Cruz but was dropped at that time. By late 2021, KCBA was simulcasting 42 hours a week of KTVU's news output.

Local news returned to KCBA itself with the CW–Fox swap on January 1, 2022, which returned the KION 10 p.m. newscast to channel 35.

Technical information[]

Subchannels[]

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of KCBA
Channel	Video	Aspect	Short Name	Programming
35.1	1080i	16:9	CW35	Main KCBA programming / The CW Plus
35.2	480i		Newsy	Newsy
35.3			Defy TV	Defy TV
35.4			TruReal	TrueReal

Former Subchannel[]

Former Subchannel of KCBA
Channel	Video	Aspect	Short Name	Programming
35.1	1080i	16:9	CW35	Main KCBA programming / The CW Plus

Analog-to-digital conversion[]

KCBA shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 35, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 13. Through the use of PSIP digital-television receivers show the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 35.

Gallery[]

KCBA's final logo as a Fox affiliate, used until 2022.

TV stations in California
KTLA, Los Angeles KSBY-DT2, Santa Barbara/Santa Maria/San Luis Obispo KECA-LD, Eureka KMAX, Sacramento KHSL-DT2, Redding/Chico KCWQ-LD, Coachella Valley/Palm Springs KBCW, San Francisco KCBA, Monterey KECY-DT3, El Centro/Yuma KFRE-TV, Fresno KGET-DT2, Bakersfield KFMB-DT2, San Diego

TV stations in Monterey Bay area, including Monterey, Salinas and Santa Cruz

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 |former_owner=
-}}'''KCBA''' (channel 35) is a television station in Salinas, California, United States, serving the Monterey Bay area as an affiliate of The CW Plus. It is owned by Seal Rock Broadcasters, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with the News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG), owner of local CBS affiliate KION-TV (channel 46), for the provision of certain services. Programming originates from the KION-TV studio facilities on Moffett Street in Salinas and is broadcast from a transmitter located on Fremont Peak.
+}}'''KCBA''' (channel 35) is a television station licensed to Salinas, California, United States, serving the Monterey Bay area as an affiliate of The CW Plus. It is owned by Seal Rock Broadcasters, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with the News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG), owner of local CBS affiliate KION-TV (channel 46), for the provision of certain services. Programming originates from the KION-TV studio facilities on Moffett Street in Salinas and is broadcast from a transmitter located on Fremont Peak.
 Established as a Spanish-language station in 1981, KCBA became an English-language station in 1986 and affiliated with the new Fox network the next year. The station started broadcasting local news in 1990 and acquired most of the operations of KION-TV, then known as KCCN-TV, in 1996. In 2013, Seal Rock changed service providers from KION-TV to Entravision Communications, owner of Univision affiliate KSMS-TV; this deal ended in 2021, and a new agreement was signed with KION. On January 1, 2022, KCBA and KION's second digital subchannel exchanged affiliations.