KMBH (TV)

KMBH
Rio Grande Valley, Texas
United States
City Harlingen, Texas
Branding RTV
Channels Digital: 38 (UHF)
(to move to 16 (UHF))
Virtual: 38 (PSIP)
Subchannels (see article)
Affiliations 38.1: Independent
38.2: PBS
Owner MBM Corporative
(Martinez-Behringer-McCarter Family)
(MBTV Texas Valley, LLC)
First air date May 1982 (1982-05)
Call letters' meaning K McAllen Brownsville Harlingen
Former callsigns KZLN (1982-1985)
Former channel number(s) 60 (UHF analog, 1985–2009)
Former affiliations PBS (Analog/DT1, 1985–2016)
V-me (DT2, until 2016)
Cozi TV (DT1, 2016–2017)
EWTN (DT3, until 2016)
Transmitter power 1000 kW
618 kW (CP)
Height 345.5 m (1,134 ft)
Facility ID 56079
Transmitter coordinates 26°7′15″N 97°49′19″W / 26.12083°N 97.82194°W / 26.12083; -97.82194 (KMBH)
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.kmbh.org

KMBH, virtual and UHF digital channel 38, is a primary independent and secondary PBS member television station licensed to Harlingen, Texas, United States and serving the Rio Grande Valley metropolitan area. The station is owned by MBM Corporative (Martinez-Behringer-McCarter Family) .[1] KMBH's studios are located on Tennessee Avenue in Harlingen, and its transmitter is located near La Feria, Texas.

History

The station initially signed on in May 1982 as KZLN channel 60, with the intent to provide PBS programming to the Rio Grande Valley.[2] Prior to KZLN's arrival, PBS programming was provided to the valley's commercial stations, on a per-program basis, or via cable from KLRN in San Antonio. The station was operated by the Texas Consumer Education and Communications Development Committee, with the license held by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville. KZLN suffered a lengthy delay from its original proposed sign-on of December 1979, due to lack of funds. The station's intent was to implement a bilingual schedule, which included Spanish-language programming aimed at residents of the colonias along the border.[3] However, it soon left the air due to lack of support, with only 400 members at its peak.[2] Three years later, the Diocese would try again, this time launching the more-successful KMBH on October 8, 1985, under the same license originally issued for KZLN.[4]

Conversion to commercial operation

On January 14, 2014, the Diocese announced its intention to file with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to convert KMBH's license to a commercial license, with the intention to sign a local marketing agreement with, and sell the station to, MBTV Texas Valley LLC; the Diocese cited the expenses of running the station. Though both KZLN and KMBH have always operated as noncommercial, public television stations, its channel allocation is not reserved for such operation—a rarity for a PBS station. The move may result in KMBH leaving PBS, though efforts will be made to keep PBS programming available in the Rio Grande Valley;[5][6] KEDT, the PBS station in Corpus Christi (which itself served as the Rio Grande Valley's default PBS station before KMBH's launch), also sought a potential purchase of the station.[7] The proceeds from the sale will be reused to repay nearly $800,000 in grants to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Sister station KMBH-FM, since re-called KJJF, was not affected by the sale of KMBH television.[5][6] As of February 21, 2014, the facility status went from non-commercial educational to commercial.[8]

In March 2014, the $8.5 million sale to MB Revolution LLC (MBTV Texas Valley is a subsidiary of R Communications) was officially announced and filed with the FCC.[1][9] The new owners then took control of KMBH through a local marketing agreement; though MB intends to program the station commercially, it remained a PBS station as of March 28, 2014.[1][10] Programming from the Diocese will continue to be produced from the KMBH studios and aired on a digital subchannel for eight hours each month. MB's owner, Robert Martinez-McCarter, already owns six radio stations in the Rio Grande Valley.[1] On May 20, 2015, MB Revolution received FCC approval to buy the station.[11]

By the start of 2016, PBS programming would move to the .2 position of its broadcast signal (which remained the non-commercial educational), with .1 replaced with Cozi TV, the classic television network owned by NBCUniversal, and .3 replaced with "RTV-Musica", a locally programmed Spanish-language music channel. As of 2018, "RTV-Musica" is simulcast on both the .1 and .3 subchannels, with Cozi TV programming airing on a subchannel of KTLM.

Controversy

In November 2007, the management of KMBH demanded that Bruce Lee Smith, a reporter for Harlingen's Valley Morning Star and a former volunteer for KMBH in the 1990s, reveal his confidential sources, in exchange for the station's financial records that he requested. The station would later file a police report, citing that Smith was abusive to its secretary when he requested the records, a charge that Smith denied. KMBH would soon run hourly announcements on its radio and TV stations, questioning Smith's ethics.[12]

In August 2008, Reymundo Peña, the Bishop of Brownsville, removed three of the seven KMBH board members, without comment; in the licensee's incorporation papers, it listed Peña as the sole member of RGV Educational Broadcasting, allowing him sole discretion to appoint or dismiss board members.[12]

Digital television

Digital channel

ChannelVideoAspectPSIP short nameProgramming [13]
38.1480i16:9KMBH-HDRTV Musica
38.21080iPBSPBS
38.3480i4:3VCNRTV Musica
(Duplicated simulcast of 38.1)

Unlike other stations, KMBH never used virtual PSIP channels to display their digital channel as 60.1 to reflect their analog channel number, instead displaying their digital channel as 38.1. While the FCC mandates stations to use their analog number for PSIP identification, it allows stations to identify themselves by its digital channel instead.

Prior to 2016, PBS was seen in the .1 position, with V-me (a Spanish-language public television network) seen on .2, and the Valley Catholic Network, the diocese's Catholic channel affiliated with EWTN, seen at .3.

Programming

KMBH-DT2 carries general PBS fare, as well as some programming pertaining to the Catholic faith, including Sunday Mass, a Spanish-language Bible study program, and a Catholic family issues program. KMBH is one of at least two PBS members run by a religious organization (KBYU-TV in Provo, Utah is the other), and was formerly one of at least three PBS members owned at least in part by a Catholic-related organization (along with WXEL-TV in West Palm Beach, Florida, which was sold to a community group in 2012, and WLAE-TV in New Orleans, which left PBS in 2013). Because of the Catholic-based ownership, KMBH occasionally refuses to show programming that is contrary to the Catholic faith—one example is a 2007 Frontline documentary, "Hand of God", which dealt with sex abuse by clergymen;[14] the station only aired it the next day as part of PBS's automated overnight schedule at 1 a.m., drawing complaints from viewers in support of the program.[12]

See also

  • KJJF (formerly known as KMBH-FM)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Taylor, Steve (March 25, 2014). "Diocese agrees to sell KMBH-TV for $9 million". Rio Grande Guardian. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
  2. 1 2 Texas Monthly (via Google Books): "Fade to Blah", September 1982.
  3. ↑ Texas Monthly (via Google Books): "Down in the Valley: Why Can't Juan Watch TV?", August 1979.
  4. ↑ FCC: Call sign history for KMBH
  5. 1 2 Vandini, Charlene (January 15, 2014). "Owner looks to sell local PBS station". Valley Morning Star. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  6. 1 2 Sefton, Dru (January 15, 2014). "PBS member KMBH seeks operating agreement with commercial broadcaster". Current. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  7. ↑ Vandini, Charlene (February 4, 2014). "Corpus Christi station eyes KMBH". Valley Morning Star. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  8. ↑ https://stations.fcc.gov/station-profile/kmbh
  9. ↑ Malone, Michael (March 26, 2014). "Rio Grande Valley PBS Station Sold For $8.5 Million". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
  10. ↑ Hendricks, Dave (March 28, 2014). "New owner: PBS programming will remain on-air". Valley Morning Star. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
  11. ↑ FCC application search
  12. 1 2 3 Current: "CPB inquiry, deficits: more tribulations for KMBH", March 16, 2009.
  13. ↑ http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=KMBH#station
  14. ↑ Washington Post: "PBS Weighs Separation Of Church & Stations", 5/16/2009.
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