The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) licensed channel 11 to St. Anthony TV Corporation in 1958, and the station was intended to be an ABCaffiliate. In 1964, St. Anthony TV Corp. petitioned to move the station's transmitter to a point north of Houma near Geismar, Louisiana so that the station could also serve Baton Rouge (which did not have a primary ABC affiliate at the time).[1][2] After the FCC granted permission to move the tower on the condition it did not interfere with WTOKofMeridian, both Louisiana Television Broadcasting Corporation (owner of Baton Rouge's then-NBC affiliate WBRZ, (now Baton Rouge's ABC affiliate) and Guaranty Broadcasting Corporation (owner of Baton Rouge's CBS affiliate WAFB) filed an appeal to block the transfer.[3] In 1965, the District Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the two Baton Rouge stations, blocking the FCC's grant.[4]
On March 1, 1972, at 11:30 a.m., the station signed on as an independent station serving the tri-city area of Morgan City (although part of the Lafayette DMA), Thibodaux, and Houma and the ten-parish area south of Baton Rouge and New Orleans.[5][6] The first program the station aired was The Phyllis Diller Show. During weekdays, KHMA signed on at 11:30 a.m. and signed off at 12:30 a.m., and, on weekends, it signed on at 8:00 a.m. and signed off at 12:30 a.m.[7] The station suffered financial trouble, and the FCC authorized the station to go dark on October 15, 1973, and St. Anthony TV Corp. declared bankruptcy.[8][9][10] At the same time, station owner Denver T. Brannen launched WDTB (now WMBB) in Panama City, Florida, which served as that region's NBC affiliate and is now the ABC affiliate. The license was deleted at the request of the licensee on November 12, 1974.[11]
In the mid-1980s, New Dawn Broadcasting was issued a permit to establish a new TV station in Houma on channel 11, KNHH, but due to technical trouble, the FCC denied their request for an extension.[12] Today, PBSmember stationWYES-TV in New Orleans uses the digital channel 12, and Martin Folse established KFOL-CD (HTV Channel 10) to serve the Houma area.
^Morgan City Daily Review, October 22 and 23, 1973...NOTE: None of the local newspapers had any article about the station signing off--the last Morgan City newspaper to list KHMA programs was October 22, 1973, and from October 23 until the end of 1973, the station's programming was left blank.
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