An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station , not affiliated with a larger broadcast network . As such, it only broadcasts syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered programming, for which a third party pays the station for airtime; and local programs that it produces itself.
111-960: KIKU (channel 20) is an independent television station in Honolulu, Hawaii , United States, which primarily airs Japanese and Filipino programming. It is owned by Allen Media Group alongside ABC affiliate KITV (channel 4). The two stations share studios on South King Street in downtown Honolulu; KIKU's transmitter is located in Nānākuli . Channel 20 in Honolulu went on air in December 1983 as KHAI-TV. Though built and originally owned by Tennessee-based Media Central, it has specialized in Asian programming for nearly its entire history. International Channel Network acquired KHAI-TV in 1989 as part of Media Central's bankruptcy. JN Productions took over operations in 1993 and changed
222-539: A construction permit in December, but KULA-TV protested, fearing the Honolulu market could not support an additional station and that it would face negative economic impacts from the sign-on of channel 13. Hal Lewis , better known on the radio as J. Akuhead Pupule, was the executive vice president of the new Kaiser broadcasting operation in Honolulu. KHVH (990 AM) was approved in February 1957 and began broadcasting on March 15. The FCC dismissed KULA-TV's challenge to
333-522: A burden not faced by network-affiliated stations – these factors made prospective owners skittish about signing on a television station as an independent. By the 1970s, however, cable television had gained enough penetration to make independent stations viable in smaller markets. This was especially true in markets that were either located in rugged terrain or covered large areas; in these regions, cable (and later satellite) are all but essential for acceptable television. Nearly 300 independent stations existed in
444-561: A complicated six-station affiliation switch in South Florida saw WSVN in Miami switch from NBC to Fox in 1989, the station adopted a news-intensive format unlike any independent station or Fox affiliate prior, a scheduling choice initially ridiculed in local media but which quickly attracted industry attention and saw ratings success. This model was copied by stations owned by New World Communications and SF Broadcasting that switched to Fox in
555-527: A correspondent for ABC News; and sportscaster Al Michaels . When Henry left for KABC-TV in 1971, his replacement was state senator Mason Altiery . The station sank to third in the ratings. In 1975, it tried a team consisting entirely of local newscasters; in the Advertiser , Bill Mann wrote that the newscasts were an "embarrassment", awkward, and riddled with mistakes. Two reporters, Don Baker and Tom McWilliams, sued, alleging they were fired for being White at
666-604: A deal announced in May 1978 and approved by the FCC in May 1979. The merger of Starr and Shamrock came after LIN Broadcasting made a higher offer that required more divestitures, with the two satellite stations of KITV a complicating factor. Under Shamrock, KITV endured a two-month-long strike by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) that began on November 3, 1980. On that date, eight on-camera employees walked off
777-408: A digital signal, which was temporarily turned off to resolve interference issues with nearby scientific instruments. A second digital subchannel was configured but only broadcast color bars. In 1999, KHON and KITV abandoned the practice known as "Hawaii time", where additional commercials were inserted into prime time but shows did not start on time, in favor of "clock time", where shows started at
888-539: A distinct class of station because their lack of network affiliation led to unique strategies in program content, scheduling, and promotion, as well as different economics compared to major network affiliates. The Big Three networks in the United States — ABC , CBS , and NBC — traditionally provided a substantial number of program hours per day to their affiliates, whereas later network startups— Fox , UPN , and The WB (the latter two were succeeded by The CW and, to
999-541: A full-service variety format, while others are devoted primarily to classic television (such as MeTV ) and/or films, or carry mainly niche programming. Many stations that are affiliated with the larger post-1980s networks still behave much like independents, as they program far more hours a day than a station affiliated with one of the Big Three networks. This is especially the case with MyNetworkTV, whose efforts to offer first-run programming were largely unsuccessful. By 2009,
1110-451: A group linked to radio woman Christmas Early, filed for the channel in December 1952, only to abandon its bid within months and formally withdraw it in June. In October 1956, industrialist Henry J. Kaiser applied for channel 13 after also requesting authority to build a new Honolulu radio station. Kaiser had been a dignitary at the launch of KULA-TV two and a half years prior. The FCC granted
1221-472: A lesser extent, MyNetworkTV )—provided substantially fewer shows to their affiliates. Through the early 1990s, Fox affiliates were often considered independents. The term independent station most often is used to refer to stations with general entertainment formats. Historically, these stations specialized in children's programming, syndicated reruns or first-run shows, and sports coverage. Some independent stations, mostly those once having been affiliated with
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#17329696577331332-790: A local show in Vietnamese and another in English aimed at the Filipino community. For a time, it aired anime syndicated by the Funimation Channel , making it the service's first non-cable affiliate; KIKU broadcast dubbed versions of select shows every weekday from 6 to 7 p.m. and 10 to 11 p.m. KIKU discontinued analog broadcasting on January 15, 2009, the date on which full-power television stations in Hawaii transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts . The transition in Hawaii had been brought forward from
1443-653: A major network affiliation. However, in a broader sense, there are independent stations that focus on a specific genre of television programming. For instance, religious independent stations buy and schedule, or produce locally, evangelism and study programs, and ethnic independent stations purchase or produce programs in specific languages or catering to specific communities. During the 1950s and 1960s, independent stations filled their broadcast hours with movies, sports, cartoons, filmed travelogues , and some locally produced television programs, including in some instances newscasts and children's programs. Independents that were on
1554-970: A major network, produce substantial amounts of news and public affairs programming. The model for these stations was WSVN in Miami , an NBC affiliate that switched to Fox in January 1989 and dramatically expanded its news output. Further affiliation changes and news expansions from the 1990s onward have produced a number of additional stations, such as KTVK in Phoenix (an ABC affiliate until 1995); WJXT in Jacksonville, Florida (a CBS affiliate until 2002); and WHDH in Boston (an NBC affiliate until 2017), as well as stations such as WGN-TV in Chicago and KUSI-TV in San Diego that never held
1665-416: A mostly English-language program lineup in June 1981. Under new general manager Rick Blangiardi , in 1984, KIKU-TV changed its call sign to KHNL . Ninomiya renewed her association with KHNL beginning in 1986, providing six hours of Japanese programs on Sundays as well as a daily newscast from Japan and subtitled sumo broadcasts. In late 1978, a group of investors known as Sunset Communications Corporation
1776-756: A network programming style as much as possible; but in turn, Fox only carried a late-night talk show at its launch in October 1986, and beginning in April 1987, offered one night of prime time programming a week (on Sundays). The network only programmed two hours of prime time programming each night (and, beginning in the 1990s, some children's programming through Fox Kids ), but gradually expanded its prime time lineup to all seven nights until January 1993. Fox's owned-and-operated stations left INTV in March 1992. The lack of programming in other dayparts forced most Fox affiliates to maintain
1887-422: A new facility at One Archer Lane, KITV became the first television station in the United States to begin commercial digital broadcasts in January 1998. Hearst sold KITV to SJL Broadcasting in 2015. It was acquired in 2021 by Allen, which a year later purchased KIKU and restored its traditional format of Japanese- and Filipino-language programming. Channel 4 was one of the first two channels to receive interest after
1998-469: A number of owners including AsianMedia Group and NRJ TV, WRNN-TV Associates acquired the station in 2019. As part of a group affiliation agreement, KIKU converted to the home shopping network ShopHQ in June 2021, a switch met with outcry and dismay by Hawaii viewers. Allen Media Group acquired KIKU in 2022 and immediately restored its prior program format, augmented by English-language syndicated programs and local newscasts from KITV. The call sign KIKU first
2109-447: A result of the various network launches that have occurred since the 1986 launch of Fox, true independent stations have become a rarity. The smallest stations, which in the past would have been forced to adopt a locally originated independent program schedule, now have other options – 24-hour-a-day networks that require no local or syndicated programming for the station to carry; some of these networks, such as AMG TV or America One , follow
2220-551: A schedule dominated by shows held over from and an affiliate body primarily made up of stations previously aligned with its two predecessors. Some of the newly independent stations subsequently found a new network home through MyNetworkTV , itself created out of the prospect that the UPN affiliates of corporate sister Fox Television Stations would become independents due to The CW choosing to affiliate with CBS Television Stations and Tribune Broadcasting stations in overlapping markets. As
2331-495: A standalone basis have become quite rare in the United States and, in turn, independents that are senior partners in duopolies are fairly uncommon. With the proliferation of duopolies and local marketing agreements since that point, most independent stations are operated alongside a major network affiliate (more commonly, one of either ABC, NBC, CBS or Fox), which may share syndicated programming with and/or produce newscasts in non-competitive timeslots for its unaffiliated sister. This
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#17329696577332442-473: A time when the station wanted a more diverse news team; a federal judge ruled against the lawsuit. Altiery, who at various times served as the news director of each of KHON-TV, KGMB-TV, and KHVH-TV, returned to channel 4 from 1975 to 1976. Later in the 1970s, after the Shamrock purchase, KITV invested $ 1 million in improvements to its newscasts. It hired Jack Hawkins, a news anchor unfavorably compared by many to
2553-460: A two-hour block to air UPN prime time programming. When The WB and UPN merged to form The CW in 2006, KIKU passed on the offering because The CW wanted prime time clearance for its programming. In addition to shows it purchased, KIKU produced local programming. This included short-form segments such as The Wisdom of Hawai‘i's Elders , Japanese Word of the Day , and Itadakimasu . Its output also included
2664-488: A two-hour morning newscast in January 1996. The 5 p.m. newscast—anchored by the husband-and-wife team of Gary Sprinkle and Pamela Young—was a ratings success for the station; Young brought her Mixed Plate travel and features series with her to channel 4. In the first two decades of the program, which aired at one point or another on KHON, KGMB, and KITV, Young had produced 80 specials. Overall, KITV moved from third place to second behind leader KHON, where it remained into
2775-434: A variety of sources for Japanese- and Filipino-language programming, such as Nippon Golden Network , continued to be available, these were all pay services to which viewers may not have necessarily been able to subscribe. In advance of the change in format, KIKU scheduled episodes in such a way as to complete series, airing some shows twice a week or more. Only three months after the change to ShopHQ, on September 27, 2021, it
2886-477: A very different program format from their predecessors. While sitcom reruns are still popular, expanded newscasts and other syndicated programs such as talk shows; courtroom shows; reruns of recent scripted comedy and drama series; and no-cost public domain programming are common. Another type of content being added to many independent station lineups in recent years has been brokered programming , including infomercials , home shopping and televangelist programs ;
2997-547: Is a television station in Honolulu, Hawaii , United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of ABC . It is owned by Allen Media Group alongside multicultural independent station KIKU (channel 20). The two stations share studios on South King Street in downtown Honolulu; KITV's main transmitter is located atop the Ala Moana Hotel in Honolulu. Rebroadcasters on the islands of Maui and Hawaii extend
3108-961: Is because in most markets, independents tend to have lower viewership than that of a network affiliate, and usually fall within part of the FCC's duopoly criteria (which allows a company to own two stations in the same market if one is not among the four highest-rated at the time of an ownership transaction). 5.4 MyNetworkTV August 16, 1969 (2nd incarnation) July 5, 1976 (current incarnation) April 1, 1971 (2nd incarnation) 68.2 ABC November 1, 1964 (current incarnation) 23.2 ABC 19.2 MeTV/MyNetworkTV 19.2 Independent 55.2 MeTV 7.2 The CW June 1994 (current incarnation) April 30, 1997 (current incarnation) (now WGPX-TV) (now WMYA-TV) (now KSIX-TV) 13.2 Independent 13.3 CBS 13.2 Independent 13.3 Telemundo (now KHII-TV) (now KCVH-LD 6 ) (now KYAZ) 4.2/29.2 Independent (now WNDY-TV) (now WJAX-TV) 30.2 MyNetworkTV/MeTV 30.4 Telemundo 47.4 MyNetworkTV KHVH-TV KITV (channel 4)
3219-543: The Ala Moana Hotel , which improved reception for viewers in Waikiki shaded from the original 371-foot (113 m) tower by a new condominium building but not some viewers on windward Oahu. The company purchased KMVI-TV on Maui from its owner, Pacific Media Group, in 1978; it changed its call sign to KMAU after the sale. The Starr stations were acquired by Shamrock Broadcasting , a company founded by Roy E. Disney , in
3330-722: The Eastern and Pacific time zones, and 9:00 p.m. in the Central and Mountain time zones. Network stations aired their late newscasts an hour later. From the late 1970s through the mid-1980s, independent stations in several U.S. cities, particularly those that had yet to receive a cable franchise, carried a form of a network affiliation through subscription television networks (such as ON TV , Spectrum and SelecTV ); these services – which were formatted very similarly to their pay cable counterparts – ran sports, uncut and commercial-free movies (both mainstream and pornographic , broadcasts of
3441-540: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began taking applications for television stations to serve the Honolulu area on one of five commercial channels (2, 4, 9, 11, and 13). The Advertiser Publishing Company, publisher of the Honolulu Advertiser newspaper and owner of radio station KGU , applied for channel 4 in early June. Applications quickly piled up, especially for channels 2 and 4 in
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3552-570: The Merrie Monarch Festival . Tak wound up a years-long bankruptcy proceeding in 1995 by selling two of its stations, including KITV, to Argyle Television. Argyle—which merged with the Hearst Corporation in 1997 to form Hearst-Argyle Television—improved the quality and ratings of KITV's newscasts, which moved into second place from the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s. In conjunction with its move from studios on Ala Moana Boulevard to
3663-621: The Tom Moffatt Show . Station manager John Serrao was transferred to Detroit in 1963 to help construct Kaiser's WKBD-TV and cited KHVH-TV's local programming successes when discussing WKBD's planned emphasis on local sports coverage and entertainment. Kaiser Industries announced the creation of Kaiser Broadcasting , a dedicated subsidiary of the company, to house the firm's broadcasting interests in September 1964. The KHVH stations would not be among them for long. That October, Kaiser announced
3774-517: The $ 3 million sale of the KHVH stations and KHJK-TV to Lawrence S. Berger, who had experience running stations in Wyoming and Montana. The transaction also included a construction permit for an FM radio station. The acquisition of KHVH-TV and KHVO—the former KHJK—by Berger's company, Western Telestations, was completed in December. KHVH-TV was the first Hawaiian television station to air live pictures from
3885-484: The Federal Communications Commission did not allow infomercials to be broadcast on American television until 1984, but since then, it has proven to be a lucrative, if somewhat polarizing with viewers, way to fill airtime. During the 1990s when infomercials gained popularity, many stations began broadcasting 24 hours a day rather than signing off at night. By filling the overnight hours with infomercials,
3996-535: The Hearst Corporation acquired Argyle's stake in the venture, took it private, and renamed it Hearst Television. Argyle began planning to move the station to more modern quarters. In 1998, KITV moved its operations from its longtime studios on Ala Moana Boulevard to its current location on South King Street (also known as One Archer Lane). The new facility, set up at a cost of $ 15 million, contained equipment sufficient to begin commercial digital broadcasting. From
4107-703: The KHVH stations and the Hawaiian Village Hotel that was their namesake, he developed Hawaii Kai on eastern Oahu as well as a cement plant and a hospital. His influence led the Advertiser to ask in a December 1959 editorial, "Who's Running Hawaii?" Kaiser soon cast his gaze to broadcasting on the U.S. mainland. In 1962, he filed for stations in the UHF band in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Burlington, New Jersey , near Philadelphia. His plans called for seven TV stations—the maximum one company could own at
4218-505: The KHVH stations now under separate owners, channel 4 changed its call sign to KITV, for Island Television. Berger would later regret not holding on to the television stations; in 1979, he said, "It was a mistake as far as money, at least. Who knew ABC would end up with Happy Days instead of the junk stuff we had in those days?" Under Starr, two changes were made in KITV's transmission setup. In early 1977, channel 4 switched to an antenna atop
4329-585: The Rich and Famous , Star Search , Independent Network News and Star Trek: The Next Generation (as well as canceled network series revived for first-run syndication such as Fame , Too Close for Comfort , Charles in Charge , It's a Living and Baywatch ), and made-for-television movies and miniseries like Sadat . This trend primarily benefited independent stations. Independents scheduled these first-run programs during prime time and on weekends. In
4440-633: The United Paramount Network ( UPN ). The WB, UPN and their affiliates used a very similar programming model to that initially used by Fox and its stations during their first four years of existence (although neither network would expand their prime time lineups to all seven nights); the launch of those networks resulted in PTEN's demise in 1997, as most stations that became affiliates of UPN and The WB (whose respective founding parents, Chris-Craft Industries and Time Warner , jointly owned PTEN) either dropped
4551-604: The United States by the mid-1980s, in markets of varying sizes, up from fewer than 100 in 1980. They could buy new shows without cash using barter syndication . Many stations belonged to the Association of Independent Television Stations (INTV), a group similar to the National Association of Broadcasters , and which lobbied the FCC on behalf of independents. In the 1980s, television syndicators began offering original, first-run series such as Solid Gold , Lifestyles of
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4662-973: The United States during the 1960s and 1970s, independent stations from large and mid-sized markets were imported by these systems via wire or microwave relay to smaller media markets , which often only had stations that were affiliated with the Big Three television networks ( ABC , NBC and CBS); these independents became the first " superstations ," which were distributed on a statewide or regional basis. In December 1976, Ted Turner decided to uplink his struggling Atlanta , Georgia station WTCG to satellite for national distribution. Soon, other companies decided to copy Turner's idea and applied for satellite uplinks to distribute other stations; WGN-TV in Chicago, KTVU in Oakland -San Francisco, and WPIX and WOR-TV in New York City would begin to be distributed nationally during
4773-778: The United States, many independent stations were commonly owned. Companies that operated three or more independents included: In 1986 several independent outlets, led by the Metromedia stations, formed the Fox Broadcasting Company , the first major venture at a fourth U.S. broadcast television network since the DuMont Television Network shut down in August 1956 (which resulted in some of its affiliates, including those owned by Metromedia, becoming independents). Fox made efforts, slowly at first, to have its affiliates emulate
4884-419: The United States; some mid-sized markets would not regain a general entertainment independent until the early 2000s, through sign-ons of unaffiliated stations and disaffiliations by existing stations from other commercial and noncommercial networks. In 2001, Univision Communications purchased several English language independents in larger markets (which mostly operated as Home Shopping Network affiliates until
4995-416: The acquisition of KULA-TV; he would retain KHVH radio, with KULA being sold off to Jack Burnett. The two television stations merged as KHVH-TV on channel 4, retaining KULA-TV's affiliation with ABC and its studios on Ala Moana Boulevard, at midnight on July 15, 1958. The late 1950s and early 1960s saw KHVH-TV's programming expand to the neighbor islands. Channel 4's programming began to be seen on Maui on
5106-563: The acquisition received FCC approval in January 2020 and was completed the next month. WRNN-TV Associates continued the Asian format until announcing in May 2021 that it would affiliate all of the stations it owned with ShopHQ , a home shopping network, on June 28. For ShopHQ, this deal brought high-definition cable and satellite carriage on TV stations reaching more than 20 million homes in the major markets of New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Dallas–Fort Worth, San Francisco, Houston, Washington, and Boston. The deal included KIKU; eight days later,
5217-553: The ailing governor, John A. Burns ; the university arranged telling the NCAA that the game was a sellout as required by television rules of the time to allow Burns to see the game on TV. Most notable, however, was the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo; Grimm successfully petitioned organizer Dottie Thompson , initially reticent, to allow a telecast. Originally in the form of an edited highlight package, live coverage debuted in 1984, and KITV held
5328-432: The air during this period would sign-on at times later than that of stations affiliated with a television network, some not doing so until the early or mid-afternoon hours. Another source of programming became available to independent stations by the mid-1960s: reruns of network programs which, after completing their initial runs, were sold into syndication . As cable television franchises began to be incorporated around
5439-439: The change in management was the consolidation of the cable programming from JN Productions as well as KHNL's Japanese-language shows onto channel 20's schedule. Ninomiya also changed the station's call sign to KIKU. KSCI and KIKU were sold in 2000 to a consortium of The Korea Times and private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners , known as AsianMedia Group. In 2004, JN Productions ceased providing programming functions for
5550-413: The channel 13 permit on April 8, 1957. On May 5, KHVH-TV began broadcasting on channel 13. Airing from Kaiser's Hawaiian Village Hotel , it was the first station to broadcast color television in Hawaii. KHVH-TV was an independent station that lacked network affiliation or even a studio camera; it was primarily a movie station, scheduling three to four feature films a day. In May 1958, Kaiser announced
5661-448: The continental U.S. KHVH-TV brought Hawaii its first live television via satellite in 1966 and aired the first live programs between Hawaii and Japan. Berger kept KHVH radio and sold the television stations to Starr Broadcasting in 1973; channel 4 was renamed KITV. Under Starr, Shamrock Broadcasting , and Tak Communications ownership for the next 20 years, KITV languished as the market's third-rated news station but initiated live coverage of
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#17329696577335772-446: The continental U.S., a practice that KGMB and KHON had adopted with CBS and NBC programming three years earlier. KITV did not switch at that time because of the cost of equipment to receive and delay the satellite feed for later rebroadcast. Tak nearly sold KITV to Anthony Cassara, a television executive who had made several attempts in preceding years to buy Hawaii TV stations, in 1989; the company agreed in June to sell 60 percent of
5883-559: The continental United States. Using the Lani Bird satellite, channel 4 brought viewers a college football game between Michigan State and Notre Dame on November 19, 1966. During halftime, viewers in the U.S. saw sunbathers on Waikiki's beaches; in addition, KHVH fed film from the Vietnam War to the ABC and NBC networks. KHVH-TV also originated the first live broadcast from Hawaii to Japan and aired
5994-779: The date on which full-power television stations in Hawaii transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts . The transition in Hawaii had been brought forward from the original February 17 national switch date—itself later delayed to June—because of concern that the dismantling of existing transmitter towers atop Haleakalā would affect the mating season of the endangered Hawaiian petrel , which begins in February. KITV's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 40, KHVO's digital signal relocated from channel 18 to channel 13, and KMAU's digital signal relocated from channel 29 to channel 12; all three stations switched to using virtual channel 4. On May 13, 2015, Hearst announced that it would sell KITV and its satellites to SJL Broadcasting ;
6105-660: The deal marks the return of the company to Hawaii, as SJL (then known as Montecito Broadcast Group) formerly owned KHON-TV from 2006 until 2007. The sale was approved by the Federal Communications Commission on July 10, 2015, and completed on September 1, 2015. SJL sold the One Archer Lane studio site in 2016 under a long-term leaseback arrangement. As a result of the 2016 United States wireless spectrum auction , KITV relocated its signal from channel 40 to channel 20 on April 12, 2019. The $ 30 million sale of KITV to Los Angeles –based Allen Media Group , owned by Byron Allen ,
6216-454: The early 2000s as KGMB and KHNL inched closer. KGMB overtook KITV in late news by 2004, on its way to unseating KHON as the leading 10 p.m. newscast in 2006 for the first time in two decades. By 2015, the station's ratings had fallen further, with less than half the late news viewership of Hawaii News Now or KHON. Mixed Plate ended its run in 2016 after Young left the station to rejoin KHON. In
6327-456: The early evening, and movies during prime time and late night hours. In some areas, independent stations carried network programs that were not aired by a local affiliate. In larger markets such as New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles, independent stations benefited from a ruling by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that barred network-affiliated stations within the top 50 television markets from airing network-originated programs in
6438-600: The facilities would accommodate studios for KULA radio. KULA-TV began broadcasting on April 16, 1954. It was an affiliate of the ABC network, whose programs had previously appeared over KGMB -TV; KULA had been an ABC radio affiliate. The ownership of KULA radio and television shifted several times in its early history. ABS sold the outlets to the Television Corporation of America, a new Hawaiian company headed by Jack Burnett and Albert Zugsmith, in 1955. The Crowell-Collier Publishing Company agreed to purchase all of
6549-400: The fictional Ted Baxter and suffering from a credibility gap as a non-local newsman. From 1982 to 1984, KITV briefly presented its evening news at 5:30 and 9:30 p.m. while KGMB and KHON fought for viewers at 6 and 10; this arrangement was replaced with a more conventional late news schedule at 10 p.m. In 1987, KITV debuted a midday newscast. No matter the newscasts, the KITV news department
6660-695: The first live television program produced in Japan to be seen in Hawaii, as well as nationally-aired coverage of ceremonies commemorating the 25th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor . Berger accepted an offer from the Starr Broadcasting Company of New Orleans to sell KHVH-TV in March 1971; Berger would have bought KHVH radio from Western Telestations in a concurrent transaction. The deal fell apart that August, but Starr agreed to acquire KHVH-TV in November 1972. The sale closed on August 1, 1973; with
6771-560: The four Tak TV stations in Wisconsin. Argyle Television II offered $ 146 million and received court approval to purchase KITV ($ 51 million) and WGRZ-TV in Buffalo, New York , from Tak in February 1995. The bid for KITV beat out a $ 50 million offer by Freedom Communications . In August 1997, Argyle merged with the Hearst Corporation 's broadcasting unit to form what was then known as Hearst-Argyle Television. The name continued until 2009, when
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#17329696577336882-673: The hour preceding prime time. This legislation, known as the Prime Time Access Rule , was in effect from 1971 to 1995, and as a result independents faced less competition for syndicated reruns. Some stations in larger markets (such as WGN-TV in Chicago; KTLA , KCOP-TV and KHJ-TV in Los Angeles; KWGN-TV in Denver ; and (W)WOR-TV, WPIX and WNEW-TV in New York City) ventured into local news broadcasts, usually airing at 10:00 p.m. in
6993-617: The island's first TV station, KMVI-TV (channel 12) in Wailuku . The station, at the time independently owned by the Maui Publishing Company, had rebroadcast KONA-TV programs until KONA-TV set up its own repeater. Kaiser Industries constructed the station at Hilo , KHJK-TV on channel 13, which launched on May 15, 1960, from studios in the Naniloa Hotel . By 1960, Kaiser's interests in Hawaii were diverse and far-reaching. In addition to
7104-471: The job, claiming that general manager Dick Grimm had refused contract negotiations for four years. During the strike, public officials including governor George Ariyoshi , Honolulu mayor Frank Fasi , and other state and city leaders refused to speak to reporters from KITV, and the city prosecutor filed a complaint in district court accusing the station of hiring strikebreakers. Shamrock planned new studio facilities for KITV in 1986, but they were not built, and
7215-421: The last of four stations to air UPN programming in Hawaii when it began airing the network's programs on November 1, 2004. UPN programs were usually broadcast in the late afternoon, leaving Japanese-language shows in prime time. The original UPN affiliate had been KFVE ; when it dropped UPN to emphasize The WB , KHON-TV and KGMB then split UPN programming. KIKU was the only Honolulu station that could provide
7326-527: The late 1970s and early 1980s (in the case of KTVU, it would revert to being a regional superstation by the early part of the latter decade). By the start of the 1970s, independent stations typically aired children's programming in the morning and afternoon hours, and movies and other adult-oriented shows (some stations aired paid religious programs ) during the midday hours. They counterprogrammed local network-affiliated stations' news programs with syndicated reruns – usually sitcoms and hour-long dramas – in
7437-405: The late 1990s) from USA Broadcasting to form the nuclei of the upstart Spanish language network Telefutura (now UniMás ), which launched in January 2002. Several stations affiliated with The WB and UPN became independent again when the respective parent companies of those networks (Time Warner and CBS Corporation ) decided to shut them down to form The CW , which launched in September 2006 with
7548-486: The latter often created legal issues that were eventually largely cleared up due to an FCC regulation that legally allowed the broadcast of programs featuring content that would otherwise be deemed indecent when broadcast "in the clear" if the encrypted signal was not visible or audible to nonsubscribers), and on some services, television specials. Independents usually ran the services during the evening and overnight hours in lieu of running movies and other programs acquired off
7659-519: The low VHF band, seen as most desirable due to their propagation characteristics. Honolulu station KPOA , the Island Broadcasting Company, was the second applicant to seek channel 4. KPOA's filing was called in "bad faith" by the Advertiser , which pointed out that two other channels were available and had not yet been filed for. KGU and KPOA both bowed out of the channel 4 fight at the same time in March 1953, when they each bought half
7770-449: The messages people are leaving, we're really sorry we're going to lose this and I think that's what the people of Hawaii feel like, too." Kihara went as far as to provide aggrieved viewers her direct contact information. Observers, including Ninomiya, noted that running a Japanese-language TV station carried with it significant costs for licensing programs and additional expenses and needed personnel skills to translate and subtitle them. While
7881-559: The mid-1990s , and to other news-producing Fox and minor network affiliates, and independent stations, by the 2000s. In September 1993, many independents began carrying the Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN), an ad-hoc programming service that emulated a network model, which featured drama series and made-for-TV movies intended for first-run syndication. In January 1995, many remaining independents, including those that carried PTEN, joined upstart networks The WB and
7992-541: The network had abandoned its first-run programming efforts and became a "programming service", with its programming now focused upon off-network reruns of drama series. After this transition, many of MyNetworkTV's affiliates began to downplay their affiliation with the network and move the block to alternate timeslots (such as late-night); network owner Fox Television Stations rebranded most of its MyNetworkTV stations as offshoots of their parent Fox stations (such as " Fox 11 Plus" for KCOP-TV ) Current independents follow
8103-437: The original February 17 national switch date—itself later delayed to June—because of concern that the dismantling of existing transmitter towers atop Haleakalā on Maui would affect the mating season of the endangered Hawaiian petrel , which begins in February. KIKU continued to broadcast on its pre-transition channel 19, using virtual channel 20. In January 2012, AsianMedia Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection;
8214-454: The outstanding stock in the KULA stations in April 1956, which was canceled four months later when mortgage holders in the firm refused to permit the necessary stock swap. Where channels 2 and 4 both received multiple applications, channel 13 was the last of Honolulu's original five TV allocations to receive any interested bidders, possibly because of fear of the number 13. Territorial Telecasters,
8325-413: The over-the-air subscription services had shuttered operations by the end of the 1980s. Until the late 1970s, independent stations were usually limited to the larger American television markets, due to several factors. Most smaller markets did not have a large enough population to support four commercial stations. Even in markets that were large enough to support a fourth station, the only available license
8436-510: The previously aired programming. KULA-TV had newscasts from the start, with John Needham and John Galbraith as the station's first news presenters. In 1959, under Kaiser, channel 4 was the first local station with same day news images, utilizing wire service photos fed by the International News Service ; the other stations had to wait a day to process newsfilm. Present from the start of the station, initially as production manager,
8547-480: The rights to the festival through 2009, after which it was outbid by KFVE . Shamrock was not planning to sell KITV but received and accepted a $ 50 million offer from Tak Communications, owner of television stations in Wisconsin and a radio station in Illinois, in 1986. One of the first changes under the new ownership was the switch to same-day broadcast of prime time entertainment series and soap operas with stations in
8658-463: The same programming model as independent stations during non-prime time slots, and during its early years, on nights without prime time programming from the network. Fox coerced most of its affiliates to air prime time newscasts (there were some holdouts as late as 2013, while many others opted to run outsourced local newscasts from a competing network affiliate) as well as news programming in other dayparts common with other major network affiliates. When
8769-613: The same time they would on a U.S. mainland station. The practice had originated when entertainment programs were still taped and shipped to Hawaii for rebroadcast; the commercials defrayed the cost of transporting network material. By the late 1990s, it was causing advertising prices to be cheaper than otherwise. The switch to clock time had little effect on KHON and KITV, then the top two news stations in Honolulu, which remained in their ratings positions. All four network affiliates had adopted clock time by December 2002. KITV, KHVO, and KMAU discontinued analog broadcasting on January 15, 2009,
8880-414: The schedule out further. The general manager of KITV said that KIKU's new schedule would include about 75 percent of the programs the station had been airing prior to switching to ShopHQ, including some subtitled shows. The station's signal is multiplexed : Independent television station In North American and Japanese television, independent stations with general entertainment formats emerged as
8991-546: The service or moved its lineup out of prime time when those networks launched. Other stations banded together to become charter outlets of the Pax TV (now Ion Television ) network in August 1998, although some of the stations that aligned with Pax had earlier affiliated with its predecessor, the Infomall TV Network (inTV), two years before. The launches of these networks drastically reduced the number of independent stations in
9102-472: The start, Argyle opted to equip the facility with serial digital video connections, and as planning continued, the company opted to take the plunge with digital transmission. On January 15, 1998, KITV began airing a digital signal, giving it a claim to be the first U.S. TV station to commercially broadcast in the new format. KHVO in Hilo was the first station to be awarded a regular commercial construction permit for digital operations. KMAU also began broadcasting
9213-675: The station announced that "The Rumor Is True" and that ShopHQ would displace all of KIKU's existing programming. It also meant the closure of the KIKU studio in the Pacific Guardian Center, in part because ShopHQ programming did not include local advertising. The change led to considerable outcry, including among older viewers that had watched the station for decades and were not necessarily fluent in English. Station manager Phyllis Kihara told Pacific Business News , "We've been getting calls and emails and texts all day. When you look at Facebook,
9324-410: The station remained on Ala Moana Boulevard, where the station televised the annual Aloha Festivals parade as it passed by. Grimm brought many local broadcasts to KITV. In the mid-1970s, University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine women's volleyball was added to the station's lineup at a time when the team was among the top squads in the nation. A University of Hawaii football game aired in 1974 as a favor for
9435-410: The station remained profitable and, with bankruptcy court approval, bought new equipment and replaced the roof on its studios. Tak's creditors sought in December 1992 to take control of the company; Michael Eskridge, the founder of CNBC , became the operating agent. The original reorganization plan failed when the FCC did not approve the transfer, possibly because of objections filed to the transfer of
9546-433: The station through 1999, commented that the reduced resources led KITV's newscasts to concentrate on police, courts, and government reporting. In 1989, when Anthony Cassara was under contract to buy KITV, he called it "under-managed". The 1990s saw KITV become more competitive head-to-head with its rivals. In 1992, the station dropped its 5:30 p.m. early news and replaced it with separate 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts; it debuted
9657-485: The station to a firm headed by Cassara, but the deal fell apart in October as the buyers were unable to secure financing. Tak Communications struggled financially for a significant portion of its time owning KITV, having overpaid in a hot market for stations. In October 1990, its lenders—a group of East Coast banks—sued to force the appointment of a receiver. After reaching an accord with the lenders, Tak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 1991. During bankruptcy,
9768-457: The station to new studios on Sand Island Access Road in 1991, built a new transmitter, and expanded its weekly broadcasting by 28 hours; more than half of the new airtime featured programming in Chinese. ICN brokered the station's airtime to JN Productions, the programming and subtitling company owned by Joanne Ninomiya, in 1993; JN began handling sales and programming duties. The first move made with
9879-544: The station would be able to generate extra revenue where they had previously been off the air. Home shopping programs (mainly simulcasts of cable services that also have over-the-air distribution such as QVC and the Home Shopping Network) or syndicated programs fill overnight time periods on stations that do not run infomercials during that day part. Since the FCC revised its media ownership rules to permit station duopolies in August 1999, independents that operate on
9990-518: The station's call sign to KIKU; its owner, Joanne Ninomiya, had been the general manager of channel 13 when that station was Japanese-language KIKU-TV. JN continued to supply Japanese-language programming for KIKU until 2004. UPN programming aired on channel 20 from 2004 to the network's closure in 2006. In addition, the station produced local programming, some of which was aimed at the Vietnamese and Filipino communities in Hawaii. After passing through
10101-464: The station's intended general manager programmed two hours a week of Japanese-language shows. By 1967, the station programmed entirely in Japanese. In 1968, it began nightly telecasts of sumo wrestling . The station introduced English-language subtitles on its Japanese-language programs in 1970, which proved popular and expanded to having half of all programs subtitled by 1975. Another channel 13 specialty
10212-422: The station's signal. Channel 4 was the third station established in Honolulu as KULA-TV in April 1954. It was constructed by Iowa-based American Broadcasting Stations, then-owner of radio station KULA, and affiliated with ABC from the start. Three years later, industrialist Henry J. Kaiser founded the city's fourth TV station, KHVH-TV on channel 13. Established in the same year as radio station KHVH (990 AM) , it
10323-575: The station, along with KSCI in Los Angeles and its San Diego repeater KUAN-LP , was sold to NRJ TV (a company unrelated to European broadcaster NRJ Radio ) for $ 45 million in March 2012, in a transaction that included the assumption of AsianMedia Group's debt. Disappointment, disbelief, indignation. No more Red and White Song Festival at New Year's? No Abarenbo Shogun revivals or cute commercials for Gyotaku restaurants? In favor of another 24-hour shopping network?! On December 9, 2019, WRNN-TV Associates announced it would purchase NRJ's TV stations;
10434-500: The station, though it continued to supply KIKU with subtitles for its Japanese-language programming; the station brought programming operations in-house. In 2007, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs honored Ninomiya with the Order of the Rising Sun , Gold and Silver Rays for contributing to "introducing Japanese culture and promoting friendship between Japan and the United States". KIKU was
10545-555: The stock in Honolulu's struggling KONA-TV on channel 11 (which later became KHON-TV on channel 2). One of the applications for channel 2 came from radio station KULA , which was in competition with a consortium known as Royaltel. KULA was sold in 1953 to American Broadcasting Stations (ABS), the owner of WMT in Cedar Rapids, Iowa , which filed in April 1953 for channel 4 in an effort to prevent KGU and KPOA from moving KONA from channel 11 to channel 4. Even while its purchase of KULA
10656-605: The syndication market by the station, although a few eventually began to carry these services for most of the broadcast day. The services required the use of decoder boxes to access the service's programming (some of which were fairly easy to unencrypt due to the transmission methods stations used to scramble the signal during the service's broadcast hours); some required the payment of an additional one-time fee to receive events and adult films. As cities added cable franchises, thus allowing people to subscribe to conventional premium television networks like HBO and Showtime , nearly all of
10767-429: The time—with the stations in Honolulu and Hilo counting as two of the seven. During Kaiser ownership, the station developed several local programs. Children's show Captain Honolulu aired from 1959 to 1969; Robert "Bob" Smith served as host under the "Sgt. Sacto" and Captain Honolulu characters before the show came to an end in 1969. Other early local shows included Kaiser Sports Central , 50th State Wrestling , and
10878-531: The wake of the 2006 Kiholo Bay earthquake on the island of Hawaii, KITV was unable to broadcast its signal but began producing and streaming its newscast online, the only local station able to do so. The stream received hundreds of thousands of views from around the world and was redistributed by the CNN Pipeline video news service. In 2010, the station added additional weekend morning and early evening newscasts. By 2023, KITV produced 36 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours
10989-479: Was Bob Sevey . Sevey left the station in 1957 to work for an ad agency, returned in 1961 as a news anchor, and departed in 1965 after Cecil Heftel poached him to run the KGMB-TV newsroom, where he immediately led that station to number one in the ratings. In the late 1960s, the station's news team featured Chuck Henry , who later went on to a career as an anchor in Los Angeles; Ken Kashiwahara , who spent 25 years as
11100-547: Was an independent station that aired primarily movies and brought color television to the islands. Kaiser bought KULA-TV in 1958 and merged the two stations as KHVH-TV on channel 4. Its signal extended with a 1958 affiliation agreement with KMVI-TV, covering Maui from atop Haleakalā , and the 1960 construction of satellite station KHJK-TV—now KHVO—in Hilo on the island of Hawaii. Kaiser sold KHVH radio and television to Lawrence Berger in 1964 as he sought to move into broadcasting in
11211-484: Was announced on August 17, 2020, and completed on January 20, 2021. In 2022, Allen acquired KIKU (channel 20), a station that had traditionally broadcast Japanese- and Filipino-language programming but had been converted by its ownership to rebroadcasting the ShopHQ home shopping network in spite of public outcry. The sale was completed on January 31, 2022. The new ownership restored the prior format and about 75 percent of
11322-417: Was announced that KIKU would be sold to Allen Media Broadcasting, owner of KITV , for $ 4,000,000. The sale was completed on January 31, 2022. Allen immediately moved to restore much of the prior programming and format to KIKU. On January 31, KIKU returned to airing Japanese and Filipino programming, as well as local newscasts from KITV. It also added Entertainment Studios and other syndicated content to fill
11433-414: Was associated with Japanese-language television in Honolulu in 1967, when Richard Eaton bought KTRG-TV (channel 13) from David Watumull and renamed it KIKU-TV (kiku ( キク(菊) ) being the Japanese word for the chrysanthemum flower). His announced plans to make channel 13 a primarily Japanese-language station had led to scrutiny of the transaction by the Federal Communications Commission ; during this time,
11544-580: Was children's programming; it aired such tokusatsu programs as Kamen Rider , Rainbowman , and Android Kikaider (known in Hawaii as Kikaida ). The success of the latter was particularly noteworthy; the show beat Sesame Street in the ratings, and it was noted in an article in Time magazine. A station employee, Hideo Fujii, recalled that "older people in the Nikkei community would sit up straight in bed and weep" watching KIKU's programs. In 1979, KIKU-TV
11655-478: Was formed to file for channel 20. Sunset shared investors with Delta Television, a subsidiary of advertising firm Petry Television that had put WPTY-TV in Memphis, Tennessee , on air earlier that year. For one of the principals, John A. Serrao, it was a return to Hawaii, as he had been general manager of KHVH-TV (channel 4) in the early 1960s when it was owned by Kaiser Broadcasting . The channel 20 construction permit
11766-601: Was granted on August 12, 1980. The group sold the permit to Media Central of Chattanooga, Tennessee , in 1982; under Media Central, the station began broadcasting as KHAI-TV on December 30, 1983, with Japanese-language programming from the Tokyo Broadcasting System . It was the fifth station Media Central built during 1983. In addition to Japanese-language programming, the station added Filipino programming in 1986 and shows in Korean in March 1989. However, its broadcast day
11877-444: Was hemmed in by a smaller budget and staff than the other stations; in 1987, the station had an annual news budget of $ 1.1 million and 27 news employees, whereas KHON had a news budget of $ 1.9 million and 40 news staffers. After the 1980 strike, the station became a non-union shop and consequently offered lower pay to its workers, which resulted in higher turnover. Anchor Tina Shelton , who moved from KGMB to KITV in 1985 and remained at
11988-416: Was limited. In 1986, the station switched from signing on at noon to beginning at 4 p.m. because Oceanic Cable , the dominant cable provider on Oahu, placed it on the same channel as The Discovery Channel . In 1987, Media Central filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy . KHAI was sold for $ 1.75 million to International Channel Network (ICN), which owned Los Angeles multicultural station KSCI , in 1989. ICN moved
12099-464: Was on a UHF channel allocation. During the analog television era, the reception quality of UHF stations was not nearly as good as stations on the VHF band, especially in areas with rugged terrain (the reverse is true in the present day with the transmission of digital signals) or in markets that cover large geographic areas. Since independent stations had to buy an additional 16 hours of programming per day –
12210-399: Was sold by Eaton to Mid-Pacific Television Associates. The new ownership proposed to reduce the proportion of Japanese-language programming at the station. This prompted general manager Joanne Ninomiya, who had run channel 13 since 1969, to depart in January 1981; she then started her own company, JN Productions, to broadcast Japanese-language shows on cable. The new KIKU-TV ownership instituted
12321-581: Was still pending, the FCC granted channel 4 to ABS on May 14, 1953. After the commission approved its acquisition of KULA, it withdrew its application for channel 2 and began scouting studio sites for the new station. Originally designated KABS-TV, the channel became KULA-TV when it was transferred to the same subsidiary as KULA radio, the Pacific Frontier Broadcasting Company. Construction of KULA-TV's studios and original transmitter site on Ala Moana Boulevard began in December 1953;
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