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Kaiser Broadcasting

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Kaiser Broadcasting Corp.

Company type	Private subsidiary
Industry	Television
Founded	1957; 67 years ago (1957)
Founder	Henry J. Kaiser
Defunct	1977; 47 years ago (1977)
Fate	sold
Successor	Field Communications
Headquarters	Oakland, California, U.S. San Francisco, California, U.S.
Key people	Richard Block; VP, GM Don B. Curran, President
Parent	Kaiser Industries
Divisions	Kaiser Broadcasting Company

The Kaiser Broadcasting Corp. was an American broadcast media company that owned and operated television stations and radio stations in the United States from 1958 to 1977.^[1]

History

Kaiser's involvement in television broadcasting began when the Henry J. Kaiser Company Ltd., a multi-industrial conglomerate, signed on KHVH-TV in Honolulu, Hawaii (operating on channel 13 at the time), in 1957.^{[citation needed]} In 1958 Kaiser purchased Honolulu's KULA-TV^[2] and merged it with KHVH, resulting in KULA becoming the new KHVH-TV, which is now KITV.^{[citation needed]}

Later in the 1960s, Kaiser explored new opportunities to expand its broadcast holdings on the U.S. mainland. Construction permits were secured for multiple ultra high frequency (UHF) stations, all in large markets, and KHVH-TV was sold off to help fund this expansion.^[3] The first two of these stations signed on during 1965: WKBD-TVinDetroit went on the air in January,^[3] followed nine months later by WKBS-TVinBurlington, New Jersey, a suburb of Philadelphia.^[4] KMTW-TV took to the air on June 29, 1966.^[5] Later renamed KBSC-TV,^[6] this station proved to a weak point in the chain after failing to attain a local Phonevision franchise and became uncompetitive against the market's established seven other independent stations.^[7]

Also in June 1966, Kaiser purchased the broadcast assets of Harvey Radio Laboratories, including WXHR AM/FM/TV.^[8] The television station had been off the air since 1956^[9] but the license remained active and was purchased by Harvey Radio in 1959.^[10] The Boston Globe then purchased a 50 percent stake in the Boston stations,^[11] creating a 50–50 joint venture that took advantage of a loophole in a proposed FCC regulation limiting one group to no more than three television stations in the top 50 markets.^[12] The television station was reactivated as WKBG-TV on December 21, 1966.^[13]

Kaiser started up two more stations, KBHK-TVinSan Francisco and WKBF-TVinCleveland, at the start of 1968. The company had intended to have both stations sign on at the same time on January 2, 1968, and arranged for executives to be present at both facilities for the occasion,^[14] but repeated construction delays at the transmitter site due to inclement weather prevented WKBF-TV from signing on until January 19.^[15] Like WKBG-TV, WKBF-TV was jointly owned by Kaiser and Superior Broadcasting Company (which attained the station's construction permit^[16]) for its' first four years of operation,^[17][18] but was formally recognized as "a Kaiser station"^[19] equally taking advantage of the FCC's aforementioned "top 50 market" ownership limit.^[12]

In September 1967, the Kaiser Broadcasting Corporation announced plans for live television network operations by 1970.^[20] Excluding KBSC-TV, all stations in the Kaiser chain placed a significant emphasis on local programming, with some of the more popular programs syndicated to other Kaiser stations. These included shows hosted by Joe Dolan in San Francisco, Alan Douglas in Cleveland,^[21] Hy Lit in Philadelphia^[22] and Lou Gordon in Detroit.^[23] Gordon's WKBD-TV show proved to be the most successful, with all the Kaiser stations eventually carrying the program.^[24] This internal networking practice continued into the mid-1970s when "The Ghoul", a WKBF-TV horror host portrayed by Ron Sweed,^[25] was syndicated to WKBD-TV,^[26] WKBG-TV,^[27] KBHK-TV^[28] and later WFLD-TV (the latter after Kaiser purchased majority control).^[29][30]

Beginning in 1968, Kaiser committed to launching news services throughout the chain, many of which boasted late-evening newscasts an hour earlier than network affiliates.^[31] Kaiser invested approximately $6 million (equivalent to $47.1 million in 2023) into these news departments, with emphasis given to WKBF-TV, WKBS-TV and WKBD-TV;^[32] WKBG-TV's news operation was the last to launch on December 1, 1969.^[33] The high costs incurred, in addition to a weak economic picture nationally and a marketplace reluctant to embrace UHF, led Kaiser to suspend news operations throughout the entire chain on November 12, 1970.^[32] Out of the five stations with a news department, only WKBD-TV turned a profit but still had ratings much lower than had been expected.^[34] WKBG-TV's picture was especially dire, having lost nearly $11 million over the course of four years.^[35] The unilateral move to cull local newscasts was met with doubts and concerns in the industry over the profitability of UHF stations given Kaiser's reputation as a well-equipped broadcaster.^[32]

Although many of Star Trek's third season's episodes were of poor quality, it gave Star Trek enough episodes for television syndication.^[36] Most shows require at least four seasons for syndication, because otherwise there are not enough episodes for daily stripping. Kaiser Broadcasting, however, had already purchased syndication rights for Star Trek during the first season for its stations in several large cities. The company arranged the unusual deal because it saw the show as effective counterprogramming against the Big Three networks' 6 pm evening news programs.^[37]: 138 Paramount began advertising the reruns in trade press in March 1969;^[38] as Kaiser's ratings were good, other stations, such as WPIX in New York City, also purchased the episodes^{[39]: 91–92} for similar counterprogramming.

On May 26, 1972, Kaiser sold a 22.5 percent minority stake in their broadcasting holdings to Chicago-based Field Communications (excluded from this were KBSC-TV and the radio stations) while Kaiser acquired a 77.5 percent majority stake in WFLD-TV, Field's Chicago station.^[40] Completed in May 1973, the Kaiser/Field partnership was named Kaiser Broadcasting Co. (Kaiser Co.) and included KBHK-TV, WFLD-TV, WKBD-TV, WKBS-TV, WKBF-TV and majority control of WKBG-TV.^[41] The Boston Globe sold its stake in WKBG-TV to Kaiser in 1974,^[42] with the station renamed WLVI.^[43] After a prior attempt to spin off KBSC-TV to a prospective subscription television operator failed,^[44][45] Kaiser sold off the station to a joint venture between Oak Industries and Jerry Perenchio in December 1975,^[46] becoming the genesis of the ON TV pay television service.^[47]

Faced with mounting financial losses in Cleveland, Kaiser ceased all operations at WKBF-TV on April 25, 1975, selling off the majority of assets to United Artists Broadcasting, owner of WUAB.^[48] In turn, Kaiser purchased an equity stake in WUAB, which it held until United Artists sold off that station in 1977.^[49] WKBF-TV management and Kaiser executives conceded that, due to WUAB signing on within months of WKBF-TV, the station never turned a profit and could not find consistent viewership or advertiser support in the Cleveland market.^[48][50]

In January 1977, Kaiser sold its stake in the station group to Field for a combined $42.625 million (equivalent to $214 million in 2023).^[51] This sale was part of a larger disposition of Kaiser Industries in which 90 percent of the conglomerate's assets were divested in 1977 alone.^[1]

Programming

The Kaiser Broadcasting group of stations consisted of independent outlets broadcasting on the UHF band. In Detroit, Boston, and Cleveland, Kaiser-owned stations were the first independents in their respective markets. At a time when viewer interest in watching UHF television was still at its infancy, the Kaiser group did its part in attracting audiences by programming aggressively with movies, off-network programs, and children's shows. WKBD in Detroit invested heavily in sports programming, securing rights to carry games of the NBA's Detroit Pistons, the NHL's Detroit Red Wings, and other area college teams early in its history. Perhaps the most elaborate and pioneering program supported throughout its station group and promoted by Kaiser was Della (also known as The Della Reese Show), a 1969-70 talk/variety series, the first long-form national series of the sort to be hosted by an African-American woman, and one of the earliest to be hosted by a woman of any ethnicity.

Former Kaiser stations

Stations are listed in alphabetical order by state and city of license.^[52][53]

Television

Radio

Footnotes

See also

• Fourth television network

External links

• Kaiser Broadcasting 1968 Sales Presentation (Part 1) and (Part 2)
• Video of Kaiser Broadcasting IDatThe Museum of Classic Chicago Television
• Video of another animated Kaiser Broadcasting IDatThe Museum of Classic Chicago Television
• The Lou Gordon Program (talk show produced by WKBD and seen on Kaiser's stations)

References