KUVI-DT

KUVI-DT (channel 45) is a television station in Bakersfield, California, United States, affiliated with the digital multicast network Quest. It is owned by TelevisaUnivision alongside two Class A stations carrying TelevisaUnivision's networks: Univision station KABE-CD (channel 39), and UniMás station KBTF-CD (channel 31), both of which are also subchannels of KUVI-DT. The three stations share studios at the Univision Broadcast Center on Truxtun Avenue in western Bakersfield; KUVI's transmitter is located atop Mount Adelaide.

Channel 45 went on air in 1988 as KDOB-TV, Bakersfield's first local independent station, and was originally owned by Dorothy Owens. Owens had to settle with five competing applicants to obtain the construction permit, incurring significant debt in the process, and went into bankruptcy reorganization after less than a year in operation. The best offer for the station came from Buck Owens, Dorothy's brother and owner of the KUZZ radio stations; the Federal Communications Commission approved the deal in 1990 over protests from competing stations. The station changed its call sign in March 1991 to KUZZ-TV to match its sister radio properties.

While many similar stations affiliated with the Fox network, KUZZ-TV was shut out because

History

A total of six applicants filed for channel 45 in Bakersfield in 1985.[1] Five of these—Harold L. Mullican, Lash Communications, Liberty Broadcasting, Crown City TV, and Dorothy J. Owens—entered in October 1986 into a settlement agreement, under which Owens won the channel.[2] The other applicants were reimbursed a total of $642,500 for their expenses. Dorothy Owens considered starting KDOB-TV as a Spanish-language station and desired affiliation with Univision, but Univision would not grant the affiliation because it was contractually bound to KFTV in Fresno, which had a translator in Bakersfield. Dorothy Owens ruled out Telemundo, finding its program mix too Caribbean for Bakersfield's Hispanic community.[3][4] KDOB-TV (for "Dorothy Owens Broadcasting") began broadcasting on December 18, 1988.[5] It was an independent station with a family-friendly mix of programs, including syndicated movies and children's series and Los Angeles Lakers road games. The studios were on Chester Avenue in Oildale, in a building owned by Dorothy's brother, country music artist Buck Owens; it had previously housed the River Theater and Buck Owens's recording studio, and Dorothy had previously worked for Buck.

Buck Owens ownership and UPN affiliation

Less than a year after signing on the air, in October 1989, Dorothy Owens filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization to protect the station from its creditors.[6] The largest secured creditors were two banks, but a group of six program suppliers headlined the list of unsecured creditors.[7] Buck Owens then filed a $4.5 million bid to purchase KDOB-TV and pay its creditors. Because of his ownership of KUZZ-AM-FM, he was normally not eligible to buy the station.[8] However, in bankruptcy, the FCC was more predisposed to waive its one-to-a-market rule for stations at risk of leaving the air. The licensees of Bakersfield's three other TV stations—KGET-TV, KERO-TV, and KBAK-TV—and KMPH-TV in Visalia all objected to the deal. They pointed to Buck Owens guaranteeing a $1.5 million loan to Dorothy before the station went on the air; called the financing action deliberate to allow use of the so-called "failed station" waiver; and went on to declare the bankruptcy proceeding a "sham" devised to allow Buck Owens to take control of channel 45.

callsign	KUVI-DT
digital	26 (UHF)
virtual	45
affiliations	45.1: Quest 45.2: Univision 45.3: UniMás for others, see
airdate	December 18, 1988
location	Bakersfield, California
country	United States
callsign meaning	Univision
former callsigns	KDOB-TV (1988–1991) KUZZ-TV (1991–1997) KUVI (1997–2004) KUVI-TV (2004–2009)
former channel numbers	Analog: 45 (UHF, 1988–2009) Digital: 55 (UHF, 2002–2009), 45 (UHF, 2009–2019)
owner	TelevisaUnivision
licensee	KUVI License Partnership, G.P.
sister stations	KABE-CD, KBTF-CD
former affiliations	Independent (1988–1995) UPN (1995–2006) MyNetworkTV (2006–2017) Justice Network/True Crime Network (2017–2022) Twist (2022–2023)
erp	490 kW
haat	401 m
facility id	7700
coordinates	35.43797°N, -118.74069°W
licensing authority	FCC

History

Buck Owens ownership and UPN affiliation

Technical information

Subchannels

Analog-to-digital conversion

See also

References

Univision ownership