KERO 23 ABC Bakersfield
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KERO-TV (channel 23) is a
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...
in
Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of th ...
, United States, affiliated with
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
and owned by the
E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglom ...
. The station's studios are located on 21st Street in
Downtown Bakersfield Downtown is the central business district for Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield, California. It contains several of the city's major theaters, sports complex, museums, and historical landmarks. What is considered to be "downtown" Bakersfie ...
, and its transmitter is located atop Breckenridge Mountain. KERO-TV operates digital
translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...
KZKC-LD KZKC-LD (channel 28) is a low-power television station in Bakersfield, California, United States. It is a translator of ABC affiliate KERO-TV (channel 23) which is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. KZKC-LD's transmitter is located atop Br ...
(channel 28), which allows homes with issues receiving KERO-TV's VHF signal or only a
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...
antenna to receive KERO-TV in some form.


History

KERO-TV went on the air on September 26, 1953, on channel 10 as an
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
affiliate. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the
NTA Film Network The NTA Film Network was an early American television network founded by Ely Landau in 1956 that operated on a part-time basis, broadcasting films and several first-run television programs from major Hollywood studios. Despite attracting more ...
. It was locally owned by Kern County Broadcasters along with KERO radio (1230 AM, now
KGEO KGEO (1230 AM, branded on-air as "ESPN Bakersfield") is a commercial radio station in Bakersfield, California. It broadcasts a sports radio format with shows from ESPN Radio and the Infinity Sports Network. KGEO is the flagship station of loca ...
). The two stations shared a studio in the lobby of the El Tejon Hotel, which was located at the corner of Truxtun Avenue and Chester Avenue. KERO-TV later moved to its current studios on 21st Street. The radio and TV stations were broken up in late 1955, when KERO radio was sold. Wrather-Alvarez Broadcasting, parent of
KFMB-AM KGB (760 AM) is a broadcast radio station in the United States. Licensed to San Diego, California, it is owned by iHeartMedia and airs a sports format. KGB has local sports talk shows; play-by-play coverage of San Diego State Aztecs football ...
- TV in
San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
, purchased KERO-TV in early 1957; when the Wrather–Alvarez partnership broke up a year later,
Jack Wrather John Devereaux Wrather Jr. (May 24, 1918 – November 12, 1984), was an entrepreneur and petroleum businessman who became a television producer and later diversified by investing in broadcast stations and resort properties. He is best known for p ...
kept KERO-TV and the San Diego stations as part of his newly renamed Marietta Broadcasting. In 1959, Wrather merged Marietta Broadcasting into
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
-based Transcontinent Television Corporation. One of KERO-TV's best remembered shows was ''Cousin Herb's Trading Post'', a local variety series in the 1950s. The show's host
Herb Henson Herbert Lester Henson (May 17, 1925 – November 26, 1963), known as Cousin Herb, was an American country music performer and television host on KERO-TV, channel 10 (now 23) in Bakersfield, California. He is the first cousin once removed of musici ...
was a
country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
musician, and often featured local artists such as
Buck Owens Alvis Edgar "Buck" Owens Jr. (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was the frontman for The Buckaroos, which had 21 No. 1 hits on the ''Billboard'' country music chart. He pioneered what came ...
and Tommy Collins, who would come to popularize the " Bakersfield Sound". Another local favorite was ''The Uncle Woody Show'' in the 1960s and 1970s. Radio and TV personality
Casey Kasem Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio presenter who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably ''American Top 40'', as well as the weekly syndicated televi ...
also used the KERO studios to tape a weekly musical TV variety show entitled ''SheBang'' in the mid-to-late 1960s, while a disc jockey at
KRLA KRLA (870 AM) "AM 870 The Answer" is a commercial radio station broadcasting a conservative talk radio format. Licensed to Glendale, California, it serves Greater Los Angeles and Southern California. The station is owned by Salem Media Group, ...
in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. As a result of the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC) making both the Bakersfield and
Fresno Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...
television markets all-UHF through what was termed as ''deintermixture'', KERO-TV moved to channel 23 on July 1, 1963, and simulcasted on channels 10 and 23 for two months, with channel 10 being shut off at the end of August of the same year. The move of KERO-TV to channel 23 opened up channel 10 for use by
KLVX KLVX (channel 10), branded Vegas PBS, is a PBS member television station in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It is the flagship outlet of the KLVX Communications Group, a subsidiary of the Clark County School District. KLVX's studios are loca ...
in
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
, which signed on the air in 1968. Transcontinent sold most of its stations to
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 ...
in 1964, but KERO was not included; it was sold to
Time-Life Time Life, Inc. (also habitually represented with a hyphen as Time-Life, Inc., even by the company itself) was an American multi-media conglomerate company formerly known as a prolific production/publishing company and Direct marketing, direct ...
. Another publishing firm,
McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American education science company that provides educational content, software, and services for students and educators across various levels—from K-12 to higher education and professional settings. They produce textbooks, ...
, acquired KERO-TV in 1972 along with the rest of Time-Life's broadcasting division—KOGO-TV (now
KGTV KGTV (channel 10) is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Air Way in the Riverview-Webster section of San Diego, and its ...
) in San Diego, KLZ-TV (now
KMGH-TV KMGH-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Sterling-licensed independent station KCDO-TV, channel 3 (and its Denver-based translator ...
) in
Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
(its sole CBS affiliate at the time) and WFBM-TV (now
WRTV WRTV (channel 6) is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Meridian Street (Indianapolis), Mer ...
) in
Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
. As its sister stations KGTV and WRTV switched to ABC in the late 1970s, it was expected that KERO-TV would eventually switch to from third-place NBC to first-place ABC. But instead, in March 1984, KERO-TV swapped affiliations with
KGET-TV KGET-TV (channel 17) is a television station in Bakersfield, California, United States, affiliated with NBC. Its second digital subchannel serves as an owned-and-operated station of The CW Plus. Owned by CW majority owner Nexstar Media Group, KG ...
and joined
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
, citing the network's stronger programming in the Bakersfield area. On March 1, 1996, as part of a corporate affiliation deal between McGraw-Hill and ABC spurred by a deal between Group W and CBS, KERO picked up the ABC affiliation from cross-town rival
KBAK-TV KBAK-TV (channel 29) is a television station in Bakersfield, California, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside low-power, Class A Fox affiliate KBFX-CD (channel 58). The two stations share stud ...
(channel 29), and in the process became the second television station in the Bakersfield market (after KGET), and one of a handful of television stations in the United States, to have been an affiliate of all of the traditional
Big Three television networks From the 1950s to the 1980s, during the network era of American television, there were three commercial broadcast television networks – NBC (the National Broadcasting Company, "the Peacock Network"), CBS (the Columbia Broadcasting System ...
(NBC, CBS, and ABC). In August 2006, KERO-TV gained a sister station in KZKC-LP, an Azteca América affiliate. On October 3, 2011, McGraw-Hill announced it was selling its entire television station group to the
E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglom ...
for $212 million. The deal was completed on December 30, 2011.


Programming

In 2004, KERO-TV, along with the other McGraw-Hill stations, claimed that they tried to preempt ''
Saving Private Ryan ''Saving Private Ryan'' is a 1998 American epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Set in 1944 in Normandy, France, during World War II, it follows a group of soldiers, led by Captain John Miller ( Tom Hanks) ...
'', but out of desperation, aired the film. On September 8, 2014, the station dropped the
Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...
game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...
s ''
Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead g ...
'' and '' Wheel of Fortune'' due to Scripps' chain-wide effort to replace the shows in their markets with lower-cost local and chain-produced programming. The programs moved to KBAK, and were replaced with two Scripps-produced programs, newsmagazine ''The List'' and game show ''
Let's Ask America ''Let's Ask America'' is an American interactive game show which debuted on September 17, 2012. The show features contestants who play from their homes via webcams, answering trivia questions relating to current events. On November 4, 2013, it wa ...
'' (the latter being replaced with ''
Inside Edition ''Inside Edition'' is an American tabloid television program that is distributed in Broadcast syndication, first-run syndication by CBS Media Ventures. Having premiered on January 9, 1989, it is the longest-running syndicated-newsmagazine progr ...
'' after its cancellation).


News operation

Former news anchor Burleigh Smith (died 1990) is considered by many to be the father of television news in Bakersfield. Smith produced and anchored at KERO from 1954 to 1960, and again from 1973 to 1990. Other longtime KERO news personalities include Don Rodewald (who hosted the afternoon movie), George Day, and Sunny Scofield.
MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...
''Live & Direct'' host
Rita Cosby Rita Cosby (born November 18, 1964) is an American television news anchor for Fox, MSNBC and NewsMax, as well as a best selling author. She is a host on the two-hour news show ''Saturday Report'' on Newsmax and a special correspondent for the ...
was a KERO reporter in the 1980s.
Lloyd Lindsay Young Lloyd Lindsay Young, known as "Double L" (born September 4, 1941) is an American weather reporter who gained notoriety for his over-the-top delivery and antics. He is the father of former KGET-TV weatherman George Lindsay Young, with whom he worke ...
joined the station in 2005 as chief weathercaster. His trademark intro is "Hellooooo (insert city name)". He is also known for his outrageous weather pointers which are sent in by viewers; submissions have ranged from a
mannequin A mannequin (sometimes spelled as manikin and also called a dummy, lay figure, or dress form) is a doll, often articulated, used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, window dressers and others, especially to display or fit clothing and show off dif ...
leg to a
dildo A dildo is a sex toy, often explicitly phallic in appearance, intended for sexual penetration or other sexual activity during masturbation or with sex partners. Dildos are made from a number of materials. The shape and size are typically t ...
. On September 17, 2008, ''
The Bakersfield Californian ''The Bakersfield Californian'' is a daily newspaper serving Bakersfield, California and surrounding Kern County in the state's San Joaquin Valley. History ''The Bakersfield Californian'' is the direct descendant of Kern County's first newspap ...
'' reported that Young departed KERO-TV after more than three years there. No reason was given, which followed the broadcasts of September 16, 2008. Rusty Shoop, who is known throughout Bakersfield, and was a former KERO weather anchor, replaced Young. Shoop earlier suffered a brain aneurysm and this was his first TV appearance since the illness. Shoop started on October 27, 2008. After being at KERO-TV for a year, Shoop retired from broadcasting on December 9, 2009, for medical reasons stemming from the brain aneurysm. On January 18, 2010, Jack Church, who was chief meteorologist from 1999 to 2001, replaced Rusty Shoop and was the chief meteorologist from January 18, 2010, until May 5, 2011.


Notable former staff

*
Rita Cosby Rita Cosby (born November 18, 1964) is an American television news anchor for Fox, MSNBC and NewsMax, as well as a best selling author. She is a host on the two-hour news show ''Saturday Report'' on Newsmax and a special correspondent for the ...
*
Frank Gifford Francis Newton Gifford (August 16, 1930 – August 9, 2015) was an American professional football player, actor, and television sports commentator. After a 12-year playing career as a halfback, flanker and safety for the New York Giants of ...
*
Lynn Noel Lynn Culbreath Noel (January 9, 1926 – December 25, 2016), born Helen Clarissa Culbreath, was an American news reporter. She was the public affairs director of television stations in Denver and Bakersfield, and active in Black women's organizati ...
– public affairs director *Rusty Shoop – chief meteorologist (1984; 2008–2009) *
Lloyd Lindsay Young Lloyd Lindsay Young, known as "Double L" (born September 4, 1941) is an American weather reporter who gained notoriety for his over-the-top delivery and antics. He is the father of former KGET-TV weatherman George Lindsay Young, with whom he worke ...
– chief meteorologist (2005–2008)


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's signal is
multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource— ...
:


Analog-to-digital conversion

KERO-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...
channel 23, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 10, using
virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered as digits on a receiver's ...
23.


See also

*
KZKC-LD KZKC-LD (channel 28) is a low-power television station in Bakersfield, California, United States. It is a translator of ABC affiliate KERO-TV (channel 23) which is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. KZKC-LD's transmitter is located atop Br ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kero-Tv 1953 establishments in California American Broadcasting Company affiliates Bounce TV affiliates Court TV affiliates E. W. Scripps Company television stations Grit (TV network) affiliates Ion Television affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1953 ERO-TV