KIEM-TV

KIEM-TV
Eureka, California
United States
Branding Redwood News
Slogan The Spirit of the North Coast
Channels Digital: 3 (VHF)
Virtual: 3 (PSIP)
Subchannels 3.1 NBC
3.2 Ion Television
Affiliations NBC (secondary 1953–1958; primary 1984–present)
Owner Northwest Broadcasting
(Redwood Television Partners LLC)
First air date October 25, 1953 (1953-10-25)
Call letters' meaning Keep Informed Every Minute
Sister station(s) KVIQ-LP
Former channel number(s) Analog:
3 (VHF, 1953–2009)
Digital:
16 (UHF, 2004–2009)
Former affiliations Primary:
CBS (1953–1984)
Secondary:
ABC (1953–1987)
DuMont (1953–1955)
Transmitter power 12.5 kW
Height 485 m (1,591 ft)
Facility ID 53382
Transmitter coordinates 40°43′49″N 123°57′11″W / 40.73028°N 123.95306°W / 40.73028; -123.95306
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.kiem-tv.com

KIEM-TV, virtual and VHF digital channel 3, is an NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Eureka, California, United States. Owned by Northwest Broadcasting, it is a sister station to low-powered CBS affiliate KVIQ-LP (channel 14). KIEM's studios are located on South Broadway in downtown Eureka,[1] and its transmitter is located along Kneeland Road southeast of the city.

History

KIEM-TV signed on the air as Eureka's first television station on October 25, 1953. The station was started by William B. Smullin and his company, California Oregon Broadcasting, Inc., who also started (and still owns) KOBI-TV in nearby Medford, Oregon.[2] The station call sign KIEM-TV was a counterpart to the company's AM radio station, KIEM—which stood for "Keep Informed Every Minute". The FM part of a broadcast trio was KRED. (Soon after KIEM-TV began broadcasting, the first stereo broadcast in Humboldt County used the AM station to broadcast the right channel and the FM station to broadcast the left channel.)

KIEM-TV was initially affiliated with CBS; however, as the only station in the market in its early years, it also provided programs from NBC, ABC, and DuMont (which folded in 1955). After KVIQ signed on in 1958 and became the NBC affiliate, both KIEM and KVIQ offered some ABC programming on a part-time basis. Full-time ABC coverage was provided by Redding ABC affiliate KRCR-TV on area cable systems.

By 1984, KVIQ and KIEM had swapped affiliations, with KIEM picking up the NBC affiliation. Another commercial station, KREQ-TV (later KAEF-TV, channel 23) signed on the air in 1987 offering ABC to the North Coast. When the new station signed on, both KVIQ and KIEM ceased offering ABC programs on a part-time basis.[3]

Pollack/Belz Broadcasting agreed to sell KIEM-TV to Lost Coast Broadcasting on March 13, 2017. Lost Coast, in turn, assigned its right to acquire the station to Redwood Television Partners, a subsidiary of Northwest Broadcasting, on August 15. Northwest would at that time sell its existing Eureka station, KVIQ.[4][5] The sale was completed on December 1.[6] [7]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[8]
3.11080i16:9KIEM-DTMain KIEM-TV programming / NBC
3.2480i4:3IONIon Television

Analog-to-digital conversion

KIEM-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 3, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 16 to VHF channel 3 for post-transition operations.[9]

Satellite availability

The Eureka television market, one of the smallest in the country, was the only TV market in California not available on Dish Network until June 3, 2010, at which time it became available.[10] Since November 2, 2011, KIEM has also been available on DirecTV.

Sign-off

As of November 2013, KIEM signs off every Sunday morning at 1:00 a.m., and Monday morning at 12:35 a.m., and resumes broadcast at 5:00 a.m. During sign-off and sign-on, KIEM broadcasts a classic sequence, which includes the old blue "3" logo with the NBC peacock logo and the station ID, which is licensed to the city. These were shown before and after the test pattern with SMPTE color bars and the News Channel 3 logo with the current gold "3" and NBC peacock logo with the station ID. This is its current digital ID as KIEM-DT, with the call letters used until the US Digital Transition in 2009 and its slogan as "The Spirit of the North Coast" on the bottom of the pattern. KIEM does not play the national anthem at sign-off or sign-on.

News operation

KIEM produces a total of 8.5 hours of local news each week, with 1.5 hours of newscasts on weekdays and 1 hour on Saturdays and Sundays. The station provides brief news updates during the Today show. KIEM is currently the only station within the Eureka market to provide newscasts on weekend evenings, as competitors KAEF and KBVU only broadcast weekday newscasts. KIEM may also provide breaking news coverage for floods or other emergency coverage when warranted.

In 2017, KIEM introduced a major update to their graphics with HD capabilities; the newscasts remain in 4:3 standard definition.

Notable former on-air staff

Translators

KIEM is rebroadcast on the following translator stations:

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ William B. Smullin NAB Distinguished Service Award, YouTube.com
  3. ↑ D.C, Radio News Bureau, Washington (1974). Television Factbook. Television Digest, Incorporated.
  4. ↑ "Application For Consent To Assignment Of Broadcast Station Construction Permit Or License". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. August 22, 2017. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
  5. ↑ "KIEM-TV manager says no major changes predicted after $3.5M transfer deal". Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  6. ↑ Consummation Notice CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission. 4 December, 2017. Retrieved 30 September, 2018
  7. ↑ Redwood Television Closes On KIEM Buy, TVNewsCheck.com, 4 December, 2017, Retrieved 16 September, 2018
  8. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KIEM
  9. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  10. ↑ DISH Network to Become First Pay-TV Provider to Offer Local Broadcast Channels in All 210 Local Television Markets in the United States
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