KBLR
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| City | Paradise, Nevada |
| Channels | |
| Branding |
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| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
| Founded | 1988 |
First air date | April 20, 1989 |
Former channel number(s) |
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Call signmeaning | Initials of wife of station founder Glenn Rose |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 63768 |
| ERP | 1,000kW |
| HAAT | 371 m (1,217 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 36°0′34.43″N115°0′23″W/ 36.0095639°N 115.00639°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
KBLR(channel 39) is atelevision stationlicensed toParadise, Nevada,United States, broadcasting the Spanish languageTelemundonetwork to theLas Vegasarea.Owned and operatedbyNBCUniversal'sTelemundo Station Group,KBLR maintains studios at theNeonopoliscomplex onFremont Streetin downtown Las Vegas, and a transmitter on Black Mountain nearHenderson.
History
[edit]Early years
[edit]The station was founded in 1988 by Glenn Rose, an entrepreneur who found early success as afranchiseeinSouthern CaliforniaofNutrisystemand used the wealth from that effort to found KBLR, a station whosecall letterswere inspired by the initials of his wife.
During its first two years of operation, it aired a schedule heavy onpublic domainmovies and TV shows,professional wrestling,and programs no other Las Vegas stations wanted to air. A lack of compelling programming and competition from three other independent stations, includingFox-affiliatedKVVU-TV,left KBLR unable to carve out a niche in the market. After a proposed sale to a company known as The Gaming Network fell through in December 1990, the station added programming fromChannel America,a service primarily used by low-power stations.[2]
After dropping much of its programming to carry the contractual minimum with Channel America and air primarily Christian programming in February 1991,[3]the station went dark on July 12, 1991.[4]The station then became the centerpiece of a proposal by Source Venture Capital to relaunch KBLR as a western superstation with content fromWillie Nelson's Outlaw Channel and purchased British series,[5]which was slated for an October 15 launch that was postponed several times and ultimately scrapped when Rose's investors would not go along with the deal.[6]
In 1993, Rose sold the station to a partnership known as Summit Media, headed by Scott Gentry, to be converted to the first full-powerSpanish-languagetelevision station in Las Vegas and a Telemundo affiliate. At the time, the only Spanish-language outlet in the area wasK27AF "KAFT-TV",affiliated withUnivision.[7]The station resumed broadcasting on March 1, 1994.[8]
Sale to NBC
[edit]On February 23, 2005, NBC bought Telemundo affiliate KBLR from Summit Media for $32.1 million.[9][10]The sale was completed on May 24, 2005.[11]
In August 2008, KBLR confirmed reports from theLas Vegas Sunand announced at the city council meeting that its studio facility would be moving toNeonopolison Fremont Street, which is part of theFremont Street Experience.The station's studios were first occupied on January 20 with full completion on February 22, 2009. KBLR began broadcast operations from the new facility that day at 4:45 a.m.
The station previously had arepeaterinReno, Nevada,K52FF(channel 52); this station has since gone dark, and its license canceled.
As a result of the sale to NBCUniversal, KBLR is the only network owned-and-operated station in the Las Vegas media market.
News operation
[edit]As the first full-power Spanish station in Las Vegas, the station launched local news, at first at 6 p.m. and then 11 p.m. during the week and then with weekend news. Previously, in 1994, it had launched a dubbed repeat of the 5 p.m. newscast fromKLAS-TVat 6 p.m.[8]
As part of budget cuts at NBCUniversal, all Telemundo newscast production was shifted to the news hub inDallasin 2007. In late 2010, most Telemundo stations restored locally produced news, but KBLR's newscasts continued to be produced elsewhere, this time toKTAZinPhoenix,which utilized Las Vegas-area reporters and Phoenix-based anchor talent. The 6 p.m. program was presented live, while the 11 p.m. broadcast was pre-taped.
On June 30, 2014, KBLR debuted locally produced 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts, hiring more than a dozen new staffers including anchor Beatriz Moncayo and weather presenter Leticia Castro.[12]The newscast was produced utilizing the technical resources ofNBCaffiliateKSNV(channel 3), owned bySinclair Broadcast Group.[13]
Technical information
[edit]Subchannels
[edit]The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | KBLR-HD | Telemundo |
| 39.2 | 480i | TelEx | TeleXitos | |
| 39.3 | NBCLX | NBC LX Home | ||
| 39.4 | COZI | Cozi TV | ||
| 39.5 | Oxygen | Oxygen | ||
| 39.6 | Nosey | Nosey |
Analog-to-digital conversion
[edit]KBLR shut down its analog signal, overUHFchannel 39, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United Statestransitioned from analog to digital broadcastsunder federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 40 until August 22, 2018,[15]at which point it was licensed to move to channel 20.
References
[edit]- ^"Facility Technical Data for KBLR".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.
- ^White, Ken (December 23, 1990). "Ratings show Channel 3 giving TV-8 a run for the money".Las Vegas Review-Journal.p. 2L.ProQuest259852886.
- ^White, Ken (February 1, 1991). "KBLR to air Christian programs".Las Vegas Review-Journal.p. 15E.ProQuest259848592.
- ^"Local television station off air".Las Vegas Review-Journal.July 13, 1991. p. 1B.ProQuest259835448.
- ^White, Ken (October 1, 1991). "KBLR to go back on air as superstation Oct. 15".Las Vegas Review-Journal.p. 3C.ProQuest259878431.
- ^"KBLR's superstation deal falls through".Las Vegas Review-Journal.January 16, 1992. p. 6D.ProQuest259872632.
- ^Edwards, John G. (July 29, 1993). "Spanish TV station in works".Las Vegas Review-Journal.p. 7E.ProQuest259859611.
- ^abWhite, Ken (November 14, 1994). "Channel launches broadcast in Spanish".Las Vegas Review-Journal.ProQuest259973641.
- ^Telemundo 39 - KBLR Channel 39 Television
- ^Deeken, Aimee (February 28, 2005)."Inside Media".Mediaweek.[dead link]
- ^Romano, Allison (May 24, 2005)."NBC Closes on KBLR".Broadcasting & Cable.
- ^"Telemundo Las Vegas to Expand Newscasts".TVSpy.June 30, 2014.
- ^"Telemundo Las Vegas Hires Moncayo, Castro for Launch of Local News".Media Moves.June 30, 2014.
- ^"RabbitEars TV Query for KBLR".RabbitEars.info.RetrievedJune 13,2024.
- ^"DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on August 29, 2013.RetrievedMarch 24,2012.
External links
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