| Tulsa, Oklahoma | |
|---|---|
| Channels | Analog: 23 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | defunct |
| Owner | Elfred Beck |
| Founded | March 13, 1954 (defunct December 4, 1954) |
| Call letters' meaning | owner's name, letters reversed |
| Former affiliations | NBC/ABC/DuMont |
KCEB, channel 23, was the second television station to sign on in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It first broadcast in 1954.
Tulsa's existing station (KOTV 6) retained the CBS and ABC affiliations initially, with the new station signing on March 1954 as an affiliate of NBC and DuMont.
Founded by Tulsan oilman Elfred Beck, KCEB began construction of facilities atop Lookout Mountain on August 21, 1953. At one point, an estimated 100,000 UHF converters had been sold to viewers and the station was outfitted with the latest equipment.[1]
Soon after KCEB signed on in 1954, the Federal Communications Commission issued construction permits to KVOO radio owner Central Plains Enterprises (who signed on Channel 2) and OETA (who signed on educational Channel 11). NBC cancelled its affiliation agreement with KCEB and moved its programming to Channel 2. KCEB took an ABC affiliation, but that affiliation too would be short-lived.
Like NBC before it, ABC was allowing local VHF station KOTV to cherry-pick much of the network's programming, leaving less programming available to KCEB. Muskogee, Oklahoma was also soon to get its own new television station. Tulsa Broadcasting Company's KTVX Channel 8 signed on as the new ABC affiliate on September 18, 1954.
DuMont's days as a network operation were numbered, with most network programming gone by April 1, 1955; the network would be defunct by 1956. KCEB cut back its operation to a limited program schedule in October 1954 and signed off for the last time on December 10. On April 6, 1955, Beck sold KCEB 23's studios and the forty acres of ground atop Lookout Mountain to Tulsa Broadcasting Company, owners of KTVX 8 Muskogee.
Channel 8 initially used the site as an auxiliary studio,[2] obtaining FCC approval to move Channel 8 to Tulsa in November 1955 under new call letters matching KTUL radio.[3]
KCEB kept its original construction permit for Channel 23. The Federal Communications Commission eventually ordered the station to return to the air by April 11, 1966 or lose the construction permit.[4] Outside investment was sought and the station briefly returned with Ernest Moody (a Tulsa jeweler) holding 65% and Claude Hill (owner of KOCW-FM) a 25% interest; Beck retained the last 10%. Programming was primarily movies and syndicated programming, the traditional fare of small independent stations.
In 1980, a new station was established in Tulsa on Channel 23; KOKI 23 would ultimately affiliate with Fox, a fourth network which was founded in 1986 using many of the original DuMont Television Network stations.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||