KSCI (channel 18) 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 ...

licensed to

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, United States, serving the

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, ...

area. Owned by WRNN-TV Associates, the station airs programming from home shopping network Shop LC. KSCI's studios are located on South Bundy Drive in West Los Angeles, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson. KSCI served as a multicultural

independent station An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast television network, network. As such, it only broadcasts broadcast syndication, syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered pr ...

until June 2021.

History

1970s

The channel 18 allocation in Los Angeles was previously occupied by KCHU-TV, licensed to San Bernardino, which signed on the air on August 1, 1962, before it went off the air in June 1964. The station was owned by the '' San Bernardino Sun-Telegram''. KSCI signed on the air on June 30, 1977, operating from studios in West Los Angeles, although still licensed in San Bernardino. It became a non-profit owned by the Transcendental Meditation movement (the call letters stood for

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born Mahesh Prasad Varma, 12 January 191? – 5 February 2008) was the creator of Transcendental Meditation (TM) and leader of the worldwide organization that has been characterized in multiple ways, including as a new ...

's theoretical "Science of Creative Intelligence"). The station broadcast news stories, prerecorded lectures and variety shows with TM celebrities. KSCI's goal was to report "only good news"; sister stations were planned for

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

William, Jefferson (1976) Pocket Books, ''The Story Of The Maharishi'', page 118 The station manager was Mark Fleischer, son of Hollywood director

Richard Fleischer Richard Owen Fleischer (; December 8, 1916 – March 25, 2006) was an American film director. His career spanned more than four decades, beginning at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood and lasting through the American New Wave. He was the ...

1980s

In 1980, KSCI switched to a for-profit operation and earned $1 million on revenues of $8 million in 1985. In November 1985, the station loaned $350,000 to Maharishi International University in

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

. By June 1986, the station's content began to consist of "a hodgepodge of programming" in 14 languages. They had dubbed themselves the "international station" and claimed to offer the most diverse ethnic television programming in the early 1980s. Almost all

Iranian American Iranian-Americans, also known as Persian-Americans, are Americans, United States citizens or nationals who are of Iranian peoples, Iranian ancestry, or who hold Iranian Multiple citizenship, citizenship. Most Iranian-Americans arrived in the U ...

television programs in the early 1980s were on KSCI. In October 1986, the station was purchased by its general manager and an investor for $40.5 million.

1990s

In 1990, the station was sold to Intercontinental Television Group Inc., with programming being produced by Wahid Boctor of Arab American Television. In 1998, KSCI transferred its

city of license In U.S., Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broadcast ...

from San Bernardino to

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

. In 2000, a Korean newspaper, ''The Hankook Ilbo'', took over the International Media Group (IMG), which operated KSCI. IMG was re-launched as the AsianMedia Group, Inc., who purchased the station.

2000s

By 2005, the station was broadcasting seven English-language and three Spanish-language newscasts plus "local news programs in Vietnamese,

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

, and

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

" to 2.5 million Asian-American viewers in Southern California. In early 2005, KSCI changed its on-air branding to "LA18". In October

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, KSCI broadcast the Presidential debate along with translation in Mandarin and offered political analysis by their news staff. The broadcast was one of several that covered election events in Korean, Mandarin,

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

, Vietnamese and Filipino languages.

2010s–present

On January 9, 2012, KSCI, Inc. filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

protection to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. On August 11, 2012, KSCI was purchased by NRJ TV LLC, a company which has acquired smaller television stations in various U.S. cities for the possibility of placing their spectrum for auction once 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 ...

rolls out a voluntary spectrum auction for use for non-broadcast purposes in 2014. On June 22, 2017, KSCI announced that they had canceled all of its programming in Chinese, Filipino, Spanish, and

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

and replaced it with English-language

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of di ...

s beginning July 1. The subchannels of the station continued to air its programs in Chinese and Armenian, but as a result of the station's programming cutbacks, KSCI also announced they reduced its Korean programming from 8 to 11 p.m. and would cut its subchannels list from 12 to 5 the following year. On September 12, 2017, KSCI's parent company NRJ TV LLC announced that they would sell its

Poway Poway () is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. Poway's rural roots influenced its motto "The City in the Country". The city had a population of 48,841 as of the 2020 United States census. Poway is part of San Diego's Eas ...

translator station,

KUAN-LD KUAN-LD (channel 48) is a television station licensed to Poway, California, United States, serving as the San Diego–area outlet for the Spanish-language network Telemundo. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group alon ...

, to the

NBC Owned Television Stations NBC Owned Television Stations (formerly NBC Local Media and NBC Television Stations Division (TVSD)) is the division of NBCUniversal Media Group#NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations, NBCUniversal Owned TV Stations (NBCUniversal), a subsidiary o ...

group (owners of

KNBC KNBC (channel 4) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network ...

KVEA KVEA (channel 52) is a television station licensed to Corona, California, United States, serving the Los Angeles area as the West Coast flagship station of the Spanish-language network Telemundo. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal's T ...

and

KNSD KNSD (channel 39, cable channel 7), branded on air as NBC 7 San Diego, is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations d ...

), for $650,000; the sale was completed on December 21, 2017.

Sale to RNN

On December 9, 2019, it was announced that WRNN-TV Associates, owner of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

–based

WRNN-TV WRNN-TV (channel 48) is a television station licensed to New Rochelle, New York, United States, serving the New York City area as an affiliate of Shop LC. It serves as the flagship station and namesake of Rye Brook–based WRNN-TV Associates; ...

, secured a deal to purchase seven full-power TV stations (including KSCI) and one Class A station from NRJ. The sale was approved by the FCC on January 23, and was completed on February 4, 2020. From February 1 until February 4, 2020, WRNN-TV Associates operated KSCI under a short-term

local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...

(LMA) while it awaited full consummation of its purchase. KSCI began airing WRNN-TV's independent network RNN on its primary channel. RNN's schedule consists primarily of infomercials, with occasional

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

, E/I, and news/talk programs. On May 30, 2021, it was announced that KSCI (along with its sister stations owned by WRNN-TV Associates) would become an affiliate of the

ShopHQ ShopHQ (formerly ValueVision, ShopNBC, Evine Live, and Evine) was an American cable, satellite and broadcast home shopping television network and multi-channel video retailer owned by iMedia Brands Inc., whose assets were acquired by IV Media on ...

24/7 channel on June 28, 2021. iMedia Brands filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 28, 2023. On July 10, 2023, iMedia announced that it would sell its assets, including ShopHQ, to RNN Media Group for $50 million; the deal was terminated in August in favor of a $55 million bid for ShopHQ by IV Brands, owned by

Manoj Bhargava Manoj Bhargava (born 1953) is an Indian American businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder and CEO of Innovations Ventures LLC ( dba Living Essentials LLC), the company known for producing the 5-hour Energy drink. By 2012, the brand ha ...

. In October 2023, KSCI switched to Shop LC.

Technical information

Subchannels

Analog-to-digital conversion

KSCI shut down 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 18, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.List of Digital Full-Power Stations
The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 61, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to its former analog-era UHF channel 18.

Notes

References

External links

KSCI profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ksci 1977 establishments in California Japanese-language television stations Korean-language television stations SCI SCI Television channels and stations established in 1977 SCI