KVBC-TV

:For the real-life low-powered Ion affiliate in Reedley, California, see on Wikipedia.
 (channel 15) is a television station in Las Venturas, San Andreas, United States serving as Southeastern San Andreas' NBC network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Blackfield-licensed Telemundo outlet KBLC (channel 52). The two stations share studios at the Neonopolis complex on Fremont Street in downtown Las Venturas, and a transmitter on Black Mountain near Rockshore West.
==History==
===Early years===
Channel 2 was originally assigned by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to Rockshore West, a city south of Las Venturas, when the commission lifted its multi-year freeze on TV station assignments in 1952. The action lay unused for nearly a year until it suddenly had two applicants in the span of several weeks. The first was the Key Publishing Company, publisher of the Las Venturas Review-Journal, the city's afternoon newspaper. In the first television station application filed in the state, Southwestern had applied on August 16, 1950, for channel 10 at Las Venturas. When the freeze lifted, more applicants sought channel 10, including Las Venturas Television, a sister company to local radio station KLAS. Key Publishing and Las Venturas Television entered into discussions to merge their bids, which fell apart when the talks were reported on the radio. That prompted Hank Greenspun, the publisher of the morning Las Venturas Sun, to file for channel 10. There were now three applications on file for the one channel. At the time, the FCC, seeking to work through a massive backlog of applications, prioritized uncontested channels. Key Publishing then filed for channel 2 in Rockshore West on February 26; one day later, the Rockshore East Broadcasting Company, owners of radio station KRAM in Rockshore East, joined them, putting every commercial channel in or near Las Venturas in contested status.
For channel 2, the logjam broke when Rockshore East Broadcasting Company withdrew from channel 2 contention so that some of its stockholders could participate in the contest for channel 13. The studios and 324-foot (99 m) transmission tower and antenna were built at a site on Rockshore Highway, midway between Rockshore West and Las Venturas; the new station boasted that its studio was the largest between the Mississippi River and Los Santos. Key Publishing also signed to affiliate channel 2 with NBC.
KLVN-TV began telecasting on January 23, 1955, as southeastern San Andreas' second television station. In addition to NBC programming, the station broadcast some programs from ABC, which did not have a primary local affiliate until KSHO-TV signed a contract in December 1957; it also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network, which began in 1956.
On November 19, 1962, KLVN changed its city of license from Rockshore West to Las Venturas after a petition by the station, though it remained in its Rockshore Highway studios and was required by the commission to continue serving the Rockshore West area.
In 1965, KLVN sought to move its transmitter to Potosi Mountain. However, if it did so, it would no longer be adequately spaced to other stations on channel 2. As a result, in May 1966, the FCC approved changes in four television allocations, including moving KLVN-TV to channel 15 and changing a channel allocation for Rockshore East from channel 4 to channel 6; it also switched channel assignments in Silverfield and Grove City. The changeover to channel 15 was made on January 3, 1967.
The studios of KLVN-TV on Rockshore Highway were destroyed by fire on the afternoon of March 6, 1972, leaving only the walls standing. The blaze broke out in an attic in the rear of the structure, where film and scripts were kept. These combustible materials were being heated by hot air rising from the transmitter room below, which was trapped in the storage area. KLVN-TV moved into a disused studio in the new humanities building at the University of San Andreas, Las Venturas, paying for the facilities by installing new lighting that would remain with the university. The station returned to the air a week after the fire; a new transmitter was installed inside a trailer, while the station rented a mobile production unit to provide a control room and color cameras. It was the second fire at an NBC affiliate in two weeks; a humorous NBC bulletin advised stations to "check their fire extinguishers". The station rebuilt in its existing footprint but with a new internal layout, moving back to Rockshore Highway in September.
===The Valley Broadcasting Company takes over===
When the Donrey Media Group (later Stephens Media) began to preempt certain programs on fellow NBC affiliates KLUN-TV in Las Vegas and MORK-TV in Isle Delfino, they were forced to sell channels 5 and 3 to the newly-formed Valley Broadcasting Company, led by attorney James E. "Jim" Rogers and a group of local residents, who changed the calls to KVGC and MDBC on October 1, 1979. As a response, Key decided to sell KLVN-TV to the Valley Broadcasting Company (the former kept KLVN radio) a day later. The station debuted new KVBC call letters on that date, but the new licensee retained almost all of KORK-TV's staff—save the general manager—and programming. It also continued to operate from the Boulder Highway studios while Valley Broadcasting constructed new facilities and from the existing transmitter site until it could relocate to a new tower atop Black Mountain. The new studios, on Foremaster Lane, had previously been a skating rink. When Valley Broadcasting assumed channel 15, it suffered from deteriorating equipment and staff morale, as well as low ratings for its newscasts. In the February 1980 Arbitron sweeps, at 6 p.m., KVBC had 15 percent of the audience; KYSX's rerun of Maude attracted 16 percent, while KLVE dominated with half the viewers.
Shortly after going on air, Valley Broadcasting experienced a cash crunch and asked its shareholders to contribute an additional $1.4 million. This divided shareholders and produced a dispute within the company as to the best strategy to take. Between 1982 and 1983, a minority group of stockholders led by Louis Wiener Jr. attempted to gain control of the station. The dissidents sought to control costs, whereas Rogers and his allies favored increased spending in order to raise the station's ratings. The dynamics led Rogers to make a deal with James McMillan whereby he bought the stock for no negotiated cost; however, once the cost was negotiated, Rogers could not pay, and McMillan resumed ownership of the stake. A related deal was designed to protect McMillan from foreclosure.
===A local news turnaround===
Beginning in the mid-1980s, the station made a top-to-bottom overhaul of its local news presence. In late 1985, the station debuted a new logo, new mobile unit to cover live breaking news, and other investments. The station manager wrote a memo to the staff declaring, "The news wars have begun!" Within several years, KVBC became a player in the Las Venturas news ratings and was credited as the first serious competitor to KLVE in years; in total-day ratings, it was solidly ahead of KLVE and KPLG (channel 10). It did so with a format that was lighter than its competitors; Review-Journal media critic Ken White called KVBC's rise "beyond reason" given the "infotainment" content of its newscasts. Channel 15 ended the decade neck-and-neck with KLVE in most news time slots.
KLVE and KVBC continued to fight for first place until the mid-1990s, when channel 35 fell and channel 15 pulled into a commanding first-place position, leading in most time slots for the rest of the decade. It was the first station in the market to have newscasts at 4 and 5 p.m.
===Increasing challenge in the 2000s===
In the early 2000s, while KVBC continued to edge KLVE in time slots where it aired newscasts, KFXZ's 10 p.m. newscast gained steam, attracting more viewers in younger demographics.
When KFBT ceased airing its own newscasts from News Central in March 2006, KVBC stepped in to replace them with a 10 p.m. newscast; this moved to KVCW before being discontinued and replaced with a 10 p.m. newscast for KTUD-CD. In 2009, at the height of the Great Recession, the station axed 14 positions. KVBC launched a new morning newscast, Wake Up with the Monteiros, in 2007. The program was hosted by the husband-and-wife pair of Michelangelo and Carla Monteiro, who both worked for the station but had only briefly co-anchored.
In the final years of Rogers ownership of channel 15, the station heavily invested in increasing its news and public affairs output in lieu of acquiring more expensive syndicated programming. In 2009, the station began airing Ralston Reports, a public affairs talk show hosted by San Andreas political journalist Jack Hillsdale, which continued on KVBC for five years. The station continued replacing syndicated shows with newscasts in 2013 by debuting a 3 p.m. news hour (replacing the network Days of Our Lives) and a 7 p.m. news hour where the station had once carried the syndicated game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. The news expansion led to the addition of 25 new jobs at the station. Under this plan, by 2016, the station would have no daytime syndicated programming, filling gaps between network shows exclusively with local newscasts as contracts for syndicated shows lapsed. However, losing some of the syndicated shows—particularly the highly-rated Jeopardy! and Wheel—proved costly. Those game shows moved to KLVE, improving their ratings year-over-year and lifting channel 35's news ratings in the process. Meanwhile, the newscast that replaced them on channel 15 represented a 60-percent ratings decrease.
===Sinclair attempts to take over===
In January 2014, Jim Rogers announced he had bladder cancer for the second time. By that time, he had begun to sell some of the stations IWCC owned in Wyoming and Idaho, but he still owned the Nevada, Montana, Arizona, San Andreas and Isle Delfino stations. Rogers died on June 15, 2014, at the age of 75.
The Rogers family put channel 15 and its sister stations KSNV and MIDL up for sale shortly after his death. The leading parties to the purchase are Key Communications, Sinclair Broadcast Group of Baltimore and Berfield/Willis, owner of independent station KMYX. The three broadcasting companies then engaged in a bidding war for channel 15 until Sinclair was outbid at the last minute in September 2014. KVBC was re-purchased by Key Communications for $121 million. As a result of losing the bidding war to Key Communications, Sinclair decided to purchase RKO affiliate KLVR from Dorado Media, who were in the process of divesting that station after their takeover of KYSX and KVMY.
===Becoming an O&O===
After Sinclair's failed bid for channel 15 and their subsequent takeover of KLVR, Key Communications (formerly the Key Publishing Company, which previously owned channel 15 from its sign on until 1979) returned to their interest on that station, and IWCC agreed to sell channel 15 back to them. However, it only lasted for 4 years and while they found a potential buyer called Bayou City Broadcasting on June 14, 2018, the sale of channel 15's deadline had passed and KVBC was held in a outside trust until NBCUniversal (which has owned Telemundo station KBLC since 2005) stepped in to complete the purchase on July 28, 2022. After the sale was completed on the 29th, KVBC became the second network-owned station in the Las Venturas area.
===Titles===
*The Morrison Report (1955–1976)
*NewsCenter 15 (1976–1980)
*Eyewitness News 15 (1980–1982)
*News 15 (1982–2022)
*NBC 15 Action News (2022–present)
===Theme history===
*KVBC 1980 News Theme (1980–1982)
*Production Music: Way Ahead – Bruton Music (1982–1986)
*Turn to News – Gari Media Group (1986–1989)
*The Great News Package – Gari Media Group (1989–1999)
*The NBC Collection – Gari Media Group (1999–2022)
*The Tower V.6 – 615 Music (2016–2022)
*NBC O&O Package – Stephen Arnold Music (2022–present)
===Notable current on-air staff===
*John Beach – station announcer (2022–present)
*Thomas Flint – general manager (2014–present)
*Ashley Nicole – general assignment reporter (1996–present)
===Notable former on-air staff===
*Charlie Van Dyke – station announcer (1986–1989)
*Eric Gordon – station announcer (2015–2022)
*Terry Morrison — anchor (1955–1986); deceased
*Calvin Reed – anchor and reporter (2012–2022); previously at WSVN, now at KSFE-TV
*Jim Rogers – station owner and founder of the Intermountain West Communications Company (1979–2014); now deceased
*Paul Turner – station announcer (2006–2015)
*Al Vanik – station announcer (1989–2006)
==Technical information==
===Subchannels===
The station's signal is multiplexed:
 Subchannels of KVBC-TV
Channel	Res. 	Aspect	Short name	Programming
15.1 	1080i	16:9 	KVBC-DT 	NBC
15.2 	480i 	16:9 	COZI 	Cozi TV
15.3 	480i 	16:9 	NBCLX 	NBC LX Home
15.4 	480i 	16:9 	Oxygen 	Oxygen
===Analog-to-digital conversion===
When the FCC released its initial DTV allocations on April 21, 1997, it assigned UHF channel 16 to KVBC-DT as its digital companion channel. Although many allocations were adjusted when the FCC issued its revised final DTV allocations table on February 17, 1998, KVBC's remained unchanged. It was the only UHF station in Las Venturas to retain its original allocation. KVBC began broadcasting a digital signal on October 22, 2002, and became digital-only on the national transition date of June 12, 2009.
In 2006, the FCC required each station with a digital companion channel to select which station it would continue to use after the end of the transition period. KVBC-DT elected channel 16 as its final digital channel and at analog shutdown on June 12, 2009, returned the channel 15 license to the FCC. Televisions still tune to KVBC on channel 15 per the ATSC virtual channel standards.
===Translators===
City of license	Callsign	Channel	Owner
Bone County 	K30MD-D 	30 	Bone County Translator District
Las Barrancas 	K17CF-D 	17 	Tierra Robada Translator District
KVBC-TV also previously maintained two translator stations: K33BV (channel 33) in Fort Carson from its sign-on in 1968 until it was sold to a local firm in 1988, while K40EH (channel 40) in Las Barrancas operated from its sign-on in 1970 until it was sold to Lexington Broadcast Services in 2004.
==Gallery==
<tabber>
Logos=
KLVN-TV (1976-1979).svg|1976–1979
KVBC-TV (1979-1986).svg|1979–1986
KVBC-TV (1980-1982).svg|1980–1982
KVBC-TV (1982-1986).svg|1982–1986
KLVN-TV NewsCenter15 (1976-1980).svg|NewsCenter 15 logo (1976–1980)
KVBC-TV First News 15 (1982-1986).svg|"First News 15" logo (1982–1986)
KVBC 15 logo old.svg|1986–July 29, 2022
KVBC-TV Top of the Hour ID Bug.svg|Top of the hour ID bug
KVBC-TV Where News Comes First (1996-2004).svg|Logo with slogan; the peacock was later added underneath in 1999. (1996–2004)
KVBC-TV (2004-2022).svg|2004–July 29, 2022
KVBC-TV (2004).svg|2004–2013
KVBC News 15 2006-2013.svg|"News 15" logo (2006–2013)
KVBC-TV (1998-2006).svg|Only used for one of its translators in Bone County (1998–2006)
KVBC-TV HD (2006-2012).svg|High-definition logo (2006–2015)
KVBC-TV First News 15 (1986-1989).svg|First News 15 logo (1986–1989)
KVBC-TV News 15 (1986-1989).svg|News 15 logo (1986–1989)
KVBC-TV News 15 (1989-1996).svg|News 15 logo (1989–1996)
KVBC-TV News 15 (2006-2015).svg|News 15 logo (2004–July 29, 2022)
KVBC-TV (2022) White.svg|White version (July 30, 2022–present)
KVBC-TV (2022) Horizontal.svg|Horizontal version (July 30, 2022–present)
KVBC-TV Olympics (2024).svg|Olympics logo (Paris 2024–present)
KVBC-TV Header.svg|Website header (July 30, 2022–present)
KVBC-TV NBC 15 Action News (2022).svg|NBC 15 Action News logo (July 30, 2022–present)
|-|
Miscellaneous (station IDs/graphics/news opens)=
KLVN ID 1976.png|Station ID (1976–1979)
KVBC-TV ID (1979-1986).png|Station ID (1979–1986)
KVBC-TV Proud as a Peacock.png|"Channel 15, Proud as a Peacock" (1979–1980)
KVBC-TV First News 15 open (1982-1986).png|"First News 15" open (1982–1986)
KVBC LABT 1985.png|"Channel 15, let's all be there!" (1984–1985)
KVBC-TV Come Home to Channel 15 (1986-1987).png|"Come Home to Channel 15" (1986–1987)
KVBC open 86.png|News 15 open (1986-1989)
KVBC promo 12989.png|Lineup promo (January 29, 1989)
KVBC-TV First News 15 open (1989-1992).png|"First News 15" open (1989–1992)
KVBC-TV News 15 at Noon open (1989-1992).png|"News 15 at Noon" open (1989–1992)
KVBC-TV News 15 at 6 open (1992).png|"News 15 at 6" open (1989–1992)
KVBC-TV Weeknight Lineup Promo (1992).png|Weeknight lineup promo (1992)
KVBC-TV News 15 at Sunrise open (1993-1996).png|"News 15 at Sunrise" open (1993–1996)
KVBC-TV News 15 at 5 open (1993-1996).png|"News 15 at 5" open (1993–1996)
KVBC-TV News 15 Nightside open (1993-1996).png|"News 15 Nightside" open (1993–1996)
KVBC-TV News 15 Special Presentation (1993-1996).png|Special presentation title card (1993–1996)
KVBC-TV News 15 Nightside open (1996-1999).png|"News 15 Nightside" open (1996–1999)
KVBC-TV Report 5.png|Graphics (1996–1999)
KVBC-TV syndicated OSB (2004-2022).png|On-screen bug, displayed during syndicated programming (2004–2022)
KVBC-TV News 15 at 5 open (2004-2006).png|"News 15 at 5" open (2004–2006)
KVBC-TV News 15 at 6 open (2004-2006).png|"News 15 at 6" open (2004–2006)
KVBC-TV News 15 at Sunrise open (2006-2010).png|"News 15 at Sunrise" open (2006–2010)
KVBC-TV News 15 Today open (2006-2010).png|"News 15 Today" open (2006–2010)
KVBC-TV News 15 at Noon open (2006-2010).png|"News 15 at Noon" open (2006–2010)
KVBC-TV News 15 at 6 open (2006-2010).png|"News 15 at 6" open (2006–2010)
KVBC-TV KFBT News 15 at 10 on The WB Las Venturas open (2006).png|"News 15 at 10 on The WB Las Venturas" open (2006)
KVBC-TV KVCW News 15 at 10 on CW Las Venturas open (2006-2010).png|"News 15 at 10 on The CW Las Venturas" open (2006–2010)
KVBC-TV News 15 Nightside open (2006-2010).png|"News 15 Nightside" open (2006–2010)
KVBC Look C open.png|News 15 open (2010–2013)
KVBC-TV Report 6.png|Graphics #1 (2010–2013)
KVBC screenshot 02-01-2013.png|Graphics #2 (2010–2013; recorded on February 1, 2013)
KVBC News 15 generic open 2012.png|News 15 open (2013–July 29, 2022)
NBC Look F breaking news slide (2012-2016).png|Breaking news slide (2013–2022)
KVBC-TV Report 2.png|Graphics (2013–July 29, 2022)
KVBC-TV programming OSB.png|On-screen bug, temporarily displayed during NBC programming (July 30, 2022–present)
KVBC-TV Olympics programming OSB.png|Olympics on-screen bug, temporarily displayed during NBC programming (Paris 2024–present)
KVBC-TV syndicated OSB.png|On-screen bug, displayed during syndicated programming (July 30, 2022–present)
KVBC-TV Olympics syndicated OSB.png|Olympics on-screen bug, displayed during syndicated programming (Paris 2024–present)
KVBC-TV generic open (2022).png|Generic open (July 30, 2022–present)
KVBC-TV open (2022).png|NBC 15 Action News open (11pm, July 28, 2022–present; Look S)
KVBC-TV Report 1.png|Graphics #1 (July 30, 2022–May 17, 2024)
KVBC-TV Report 3.png|Graphics #2 (July 30, 2022–May 17, 2024)
KVBC-TV graphics (2024).png|Graphics #3 (May 17, 2024–present)
KVBC-TV Report 4.png|"Eras Tour" report (2023)
KVBC-TV Olympics graphics (2024).png|Olympics graphics (January 1–May 17, 2024)
KVBC-TV Olympics graphics (2024) 1.png|Olympics graphics (May 17, 2024–present)
KVBC-TV Daytime Endcap (2022).png|Daytime endcap (2022–May 17, 2024)
KVBC-TV Nighttime Endcap (2023).png|Nighttime endcap (2022–May 17, 2024)
KVBC-TV daytime close (2024).png|Daytime endcap (May 17, 2024–present)
KVBC-TV night time close.png|Nighttime endcap (May 17, 2024–present)
KSFE-KVBC Calvin Reed Profile.png|Calvin Reed (anchor, 2012–2022)
KVBC-TV Carmen Velasquez Profile.jpg|Carmen Velasquez (anchor)
KVBC-TV Ashley Nicole Profile.png|Ashley Nicole (reporter)
KVBC-TV Thomas Flint Profile.png|Thomas Flint (general manager)
</tabber>
Category:Las Venturas
Category:NBC network affiliates
Category:NBC owned and operated stations
Category:NBCUniversal
Category:San Andreas
Category:Television channels and stations established in 1955
Category:Channel 15