KDBC-TV

KDBC-TV is a television station licensed to El Paso, Texas, and serving the El Paso–Las Cruces television market. The station broadcasts on channel 4 and is affiliated with CBS; its second digital subchannel carries MyNetworkTV programming. KDBC-TV is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group and operates alongside Sinclair-owned Fox affiliate KFOX-TV. The stations share facilities on South Alto Mesa Drive in northwest El Paso, while KDBC-TV’s transmission facilities are located in the Franklin Mountains near the El Paso city limits. The station is El Paso’s oldest television broadcaster. It began regular broadcasting in December 1952 as KROD-TV, established by the Roderick Broadcasting Company in association with KROD radio and the El Paso Times. KROD-TV initially carried programming from CBS and the DuMont Television Network and later added ABC programming. It was the only television station in the market until KTSM-TV launched in early 1953. The station’s early local output included children’s and personality programs, including an El Paso edition of Bozo the Clown, as well as locally produced news and entertainment. Ownership changed several times during the station’s first decades. Roderick Broadcasting combined its broadcasting interests with the El Paso Times in 1953. The KROD stations were sold to Trigg–Vaughn in 1959 and then to Doubleday and Company in the 1960s. When Doubleday sold KROD radio, the television station changed its call sign to KDBC-TV on May 29, 1973. Doubleday subsequently sold the television station to Portal Communications, a subsidiary of Evening Post Publishing Company. Portal placed a strong emphasis on local news. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, KDBC expanded its newsroom substantially and became a leading source of local television news in El Paso. The station was sold to United Broadcasting in the mid-1980s and then to the Imes family’s Commercial Dispatch Publishing Company in 1988. Under Imes ownership, KDBC faced increasing competition from KTSM-TV, KVIA-TV, and Spanish-language outlet KINT-TV. Frequent management changes, staffing reductions, format changes, and criticism that the station’s leadership did not sufficiently understand the community contributed to a prolonged decline in news ratings. KDBC was the subject of an attempted sale to Pappas Telecasting in 2000. Pappas proposed converting the station to Spanish-language programming as part of a planned Azteca América network, but the wider network project encountered financing and station-acquisition problems. The sale was abandoned, and KDBC remained with CBS. Pappas later acquired the station in 2004. Its financial difficulties during the late 2000s led to bankruptcy proceedings and the transfer of operational control to Titan TV Broadcast Group, an entity associated with Pappas’s creditors. In October 2009, KDBC entered into a shared-services arrangement under which competitor KTSM-TV supplied advertising, administrative, and selected news resources. The arrangement reduced KDBC’s staffing and ended much of its operation as a fully independent newsroom. Sinclair acquired KDBC-TV and KFOX-TV in 2013, ending the KTSM-related operating arrangement and consolidating the two stations at their current South Alto Mesa Drive facility. Sinclair expanded KDBC’s local news presence for a period, although companywide reductions in 2024 materially reduced the station’s news operation. KDBC remains a local CBS affiliate with a role in news, weather, syndicated programming, network programming, and digital-subchannel distribution.

KDBC-TV received the first construction permit for an El Paso television station on July 31, 1952, after the Federal Communications Commission lifted a freeze on new television applications. The station was developed by the Roderick Broadcasting Company, owner of KROD radio. Its studios were built near the radio operation on Wyoming Avenue, and its transmitter site was established in the Franklin Mountains. Test transmissions began in early December, followed by regular programming later that month. Operating as KROD-TV, the station initially carried CBS and DuMont programs and added ABC in 1953. It was El Paso’s sole television station until KTSM-TV began broadcasting in January 1953. ABC programming later moved to another station, while DuMont disappeared as a network in the mid-1950s. KROD-TV also carried programming from the NTA Film Network and produced a range of local shows. Among the best-known was a locally hosted Bozo the Clown program, presented by Howell Eurich, who also worked in promotions and weather. Roderick Broadcasting merged with the El Paso Times in 1953. The combined operation sold the KROD stations to Trigg–Vaughn in 1959. Doubleday and Company acquired Trigg–Vaughn’s stations in a transaction completed in 1967, creating Doubleday Broadcasting. Doubleday sold KROD radio in the early 1970s but retained the television station, which changed its call sign to KDBC-TV on May 29, 1973. Portal Communications, a unit of Evening Post Publishing Company, acquired the station in 1974. Portal made local news a strategic priority. KDBC grew its news staff from fewer than ten employees in the mid-1970s to approximately thirty by the early 1980s and became a ratings leader in El Paso. Its local personalities and distinctive weather and children’s programming contributed to its community profile. A new transmission structure was also built in the 1980s to serve KDBC and the newly established Spanish-language station KINT-TV. Evening Post placed KDBC on the market in 1985, and United Broadcasting acquired it in 1986. The station remained in a competitive three-way ratings contest with KTSM-TV and KVIA-TV. In 1988, KDBC was sold to Commercial Dispatch Publishing Company, controlled by the Imes family. During the Imes period, the station suffered repeated management changes, layoffs, news-format revisions, and declining ratings. By the 1990s, KDBC had moved from first-place competition to a distant position in local-news viewing. It also rejected a proposal from Fox in 1995 to switch affiliations, instead renewing its CBS relationship. Pappas Telecasting agreed to acquire KDBC in 2000 and announced a plan to use it as an El Paso outlet for the planned Azteca América network. Difficulties in assembling the network’s station group and financing caused the proposal to fail. Imes withdrew the station from the market in 2001, and KDBC continued with CBS. Pappas reached a new purchase agreement in 2003, began operating the station under a brokerage arrangement, and completed the acquisition in 2004. Pappas’s financial problems during the Great Recession led to bankruptcy proceedings and an auction of several stations. Titan TV Broadcast Group, backed by Pappas creditors, retained KDBC’s license. In 2009, KTSM-TV entered a shared-services agreement with Titan to provide sales, administration, and some news resources. The arrangement reduced KDBC’s workforce and resulted in shared newsroom resources while the stations maintained separate brands. Sinclair acquired KDBC-TV and KFOX-TV in 2013. The stations were brought together at a common facility on South Alto Mesa Drive, and Sinclair rebuilt KDBC’s local-news capacity for several years. Subsequent corporate cost reductions, including cuts announced in 2024, reduced the station’s local news output. KDBC-TV nevertheless remains an operating CBS affiliate and an established broadcast outlet in the El Paso market.

1. 2024Local news staffing is reduced

   Sinclair cutbacks considerably reduce KDBC’s local news presence.

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2. 2013Sinclair ownership begins

   Sinclair acquires KDBC-TV together with KFOX-TV and consolidates facilities.

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3. 2009Shared-services period begins

   KTSM-TV begins providing operational and selected news services to KDBC.

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4. 2006MyNetworkTV subchannel launches

   KDBC adds MyNetworkTV programming to its second digital subchannel.

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5. 2004Pappas completes acquisition

   Pappas Telecasting completes its second attempt to purchase the station.

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6. 1988Imes family ownership begins

   Commercial Dispatch Publishing Company acquires KDBC-TV.

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7. 1986United Broadcasting acquisition

   United Broadcasting purchases KDBC-TV after its divestiture by Evening Post.

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8. 1974Portal Communications acquisition

   Evening Post Publishing’s broadcasting subsidiary acquires the station.

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9. 1973KROD-TV becomes KDBC-TV

   The station adopts the KDBC-TV call sign after the sale of KROD radio.

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10. 1967Doubleday Broadcasting takes ownership

    Doubleday completes its acquisition of the Trigg–Vaughn stations.

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11. 1959Sale to Trigg–Vaughn

    The KROD stations are sold to the owners of KOSA-TV and KVII-TV.

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12. 1953Roderick Broadcasting merges with the El Paso Times

    The station becomes part of a combined newspaper and broadcasting operation.

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13. 1952First El Paso television station launches

    KROD-TV begins regular broadcasting and becomes the first television station in El Paso.

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A legacy local broadcast station positioned around CBS network affiliation, El Paso-focused news and weather coverage, and service to a bilingual and binational border-market audience.

• KDBC-TV CBS affiliateNetwork television service1952

  The station’s primary service carries CBS network programming, local news, weather, public-affairs content, syndicated programs, and other scheduled television broadcasts for the El Paso market.

• KDBC-TV local newsLocal television news1952

  KDBC’s local-news operation has historically covered El Paso, the surrounding Texas communities, and nearby southern New Mexico. Its output has included newscasts, weather, traffic, investigative reports, and breaking-news coverage, although the operation was reduced by later corporate cutbacks.

• MyNetworkTV digital subchannelDigital television subchannel2006

  KDBC carries MyNetworkTV programming on a secondary digital channel, extending the station’s schedule beyond its primary CBS service.

• Bozo the Clown El PasoLocally produced children’s programming1968

  A historical local version of the franchised Bozo the Clown children’s program aired on KROD-TV and later KDBC during the late 1960s and 1970s. Howell Eurich hosted the El Paso edition and later became associated with the station’s weather presentation.

• 2024Reduction of local-news operationsStrategy

  Sinclair implemented corporate cost reductions affecting local television news operations.

  What changed. KDBC’s staffing and local-news presence were reduced considerably.

  Aftermath. The station continued operating as a CBS affiliate but with a smaller local-news operation.

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• 2013Sinclair acquisition and facility consolidationM&A

  Sinclair sought to acquire KDBC-TV and KFOX-TV in the El Paso market.

  What changed. Sinclair acquired both stations and integrated them at a shared South Alto Mesa Drive facility.

  Aftermath. The KTSM-related services arrangement ended, and KDBC received an expanded local-news operation for a period.

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• 2009KTSM shared-services agreementStrategy

  Pappas-related ownership and financial distress made standalone operation difficult.

  What changed. KDBC outsourced advertising sales, administration, and selected news resources to KTSM-TV, while Titan retained the broadcast license.

  Aftermath. Approximately half of KDBC’s workforce was dismissed and the station operated with a substantially shared newsroom structure until Sinclair’s acquisition in 2013.

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• 2006Addition of MyNetworkTV serviceProduct launch

  The station expanded its digital offering as broadcast television moved toward multichannel distribution.

  What changed. KDBC placed MyNetworkTV programming on its second digital subchannel.

  Aftermath. The station operated as a primary CBS affiliate with an additional MyNetworkTV service.

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• 2000Proposed conversion to Azteca AméricaStrategy

  Pappas Telecasting’s proposed acquisition was linked to plans for a new Spanish-language network backed by TV Azteca.

  What changed. Pappas announced that KDBC would become an Azteca América affiliate, potentially ending its CBS affiliation.

  Aftermath. The network expansion and related station transactions failed, the sale was withdrawn, and KDBC remained with CBS.

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• 2024Sinclair cuts KDBC news operations

  Companywide reductions at Sinclair substantially reduce KDBC-TV’s local news presence.

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• 2013Sinclair acquires KDBC-TV and KFOX-TV

  Sinclair acquires the two El Paso stations and integrates their operations at a shared facility, replacing the earlier KTSM-related operating structure.

  M&A
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• 2009KDBC enters shared-services agreement with KTSM-TV

  KDBC’s owner outsources advertising, administrative functions, and selected news resources to KTSM-TV, substantially reducing KDBC staffing.

  Leadership change
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• 2006KDBC adds MyNetworkTV to its digital lineup

  The station begins carrying MyNetworkTV programming on its second digital subchannel.

  Product launch
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• 2000Pappas proposes an Azteca América affiliation

  Pappas announces plans to acquire KDBC and convert it into an affiliate of a proposed Spanish-language Azteca América network. The plan later collapses and KDBC remains affiliated with CBS.

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• 1973KDBC-TV adopts its current call sign

  The television station changes from KROD-TV to KDBC-TV after Doubleday sells the associated KROD radio station.

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• 1952KDBC-TV begins broadcasting as KROD-TV

  El Paso’s first television station begins regular programming under the KROD-TV call sign, initially carrying CBS and DuMont programming.

  Product launch
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1. KDBC-TV