KVVV-TV (channel 16) was an

independent television station 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 t ...

licensed to

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

, United States, which served the

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

area. Owned by TVue Associates, the station maintained studios on Lundy Lane in

Friendswood Friendswood is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the Greater Houston metropolitan area. The city lies in Galveston and Harris counties. As of the 2020 census, the population of Friendswood was 41,213. History Friendswood ...

, at FM 528, north of

Alvin ''Alvin'' (DSV-2) is a crewed deep-ocean research submersible owned by the United States Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) of Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The original vehicle was built by General Mills' Electro ...

History

KVVV signed on March 18, 1968, operating at 3.39

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s of

power Power may refer to: Common meanings * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power, a type of energy * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events Math ...

. Prior to the station signing on, controlling stockholder Roy O. Beach Jr. stored the station's original transmitter in the basement of a building across the street from the 1920s Cotton Exchange Building in Houston. Among the programs carried on KVVV were the locally originated children's program ''No-No the Clown'' and the ''Stock Market Observer'' during the day. KVVV also carried syndicated programming and Sundays were dedicated to

Spanish-language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

programs and

movies A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...

imported from Mexico. By late 1968, much of the staff was

laid off A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing an organization ...

, and the stock market program was canceled. As a result, the station was generally on the air only in the afternoons and evenings—signing on between 2 pm and 3 pm, and signing off at 10 pm. KVVV lost so much money in its only year in operation that the owners closed the station on August 31, 1969. Negoations to sell the station to either

Time Life Television Time Life Television was a division of Time Life Films and was the television production and distribution arm of Time Inc. With CBS, they led a partnership to export their shows overseas. Broadcasting Time Life also owned several radio and TV s ...

Taft Broadcasting Taft Broadcasting Company (also known as Taft Television and Radio Company, Incorporated) was an American media conglomerate based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company was rooted in the Taft family, family of William Howard Taft, the 27th President ...

have failed. While a group led by Fred Hofheinz was reported to be in talks to buy KVVV in 1970, no deal emerged, and the construction permit was canceled on April 23, 1971. The equipment and tower used by KVVV were eventually sold to a new

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

member station in Corpus Christi, KEDT (also on channel 16), which signed on in 1972. The assignment of channel 16 to Corpus Christi was made to allow KEDT's owners to avoid costs in converting the equipment to run on channel 38. ( Guide to reading History Cards), containing As of October 2006, the building and some of the furnishings were still there, though it was vandalized and in poor condition. In later years,

KFGY KFGY (92.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Healdsburg, California, broadcasting to the Santa Rosa, California, area. KFGY airs a country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre orig ...

used the KVVV calls on FM radio, while

KUBE-TV KUBE-TV (channel 57) is a television station licensed to Baytown, Texas, United States, serving the Houston area and owned by WRNN-TV Associates. KUBE-TV's studios are located on Fountain View Drive and Burgoyne Road on Houston's southwest side, ...

used the KVVV calls when they were affiliated with Value Vision. Today, the KVVV call letters are now being used for an unrelated low-power station.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kvvv-Tv 1968 establishments in Texas 1969 disestablishments in Texas VVV-TV Television channels and stations disestablished in 1969 Television channels and stations established in 1968 VVV-TV