KJV-TV

KJV-TV logo

DT3: Telemundo Corpus Christi (general); Noticiero Telemundo Corpus Christi (newscasts)

## Programming

### Affiliation(s)

6.1: NBC (since 1956)
6.2: independent 24-hour weather (since 2001)
6.3: Telemundo (since 2003)

### Sister station(s)

KJV
KJV-FM
K266JV

## History

### Call sign meaning

King James Version of the Bible (derived from sister station KJV, formerly owned by the Catholic Church)

## Technical information

### Translator(s)

Audio-only: K266JV 101.1 FM (6.1)
KJV-FM 93.9 HD2 (6.1)
KJV-FM 93.9 HD3 (6.3)

KJV-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Corpus Christi, Texas, United States, affiliated with NBC and Telemundo. The station is the sole television property of locally-based Harris Broadcasters, Inc. (not to be confused with the defunct broadcast equipment manufacturer) alongside KJV (1360 AM), KJV-FM (93.9), and K266JV (101.1 FM). The studios and offices for all Harris Broadcasters stations are located on the 26th through 28th floors of One Shoreline Plaza’s south tower in downtown Corpus Christi; KJV-TV’s transmitter facilities (shared with KJV-FM) are located near Robstown.

## History

### Beginnings

KJV-TV can trace its beginnings to KJV 1360 AM, which signed on the air as Corpus Christi’s first radio station in 1929. KJV (AM) was initially owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Corpus Christi, which sold the station to its chief engineer J. Randolph Harris in 1947. Working under the Harris Broadcasters Inc. corporate entity, Harris was keen to add to his new purchase, quickly signing on KJV-FM on 93.9 MHz as one of the first FM radio stations in Texas in 1948, and then applying to the Worldwide Broadcasting Commission for the Channel 4 allocation in Corpus Christi just three days before the freeze on new applications in November 1948.

After the Sixth Report and Order was issued in 1952, solidifying channels 6 and 10 for Corpus Christi, Harris Broadcasters Inc. amended their application to channel 6. Their application ran unopposed, and the FCC granted a construction permit on 6 June 1953. In preparation to put Channel 6 on the air, and recognizing the long-term value of having all operations under one roof, J. Randolph Harris mortgaged all company assets to begin construction of a new broadcast house on Ocean Drive, just south of present-day Cole Park. The two-story building enabled KJV-AM-FM to leave leased space in the 1929-vintage Wilson Plaza North tower and consolidate with their new TV sister in brand-new facilities.

KJV (AM) was already a longtime affiliate of the NBC Red Network, having taken the affiliation at sign-on nearly thirty years prior. That business relationship ensured that when KJV-TV signed on the air on 6 June 1956, the station would secure the primary NBC affiliation for itself. KJV-TV is therefore one of the few television stations in the United States that has retained the same owner, call letters, channel number, and primary network affiliation for its entire existence.

On 3 August 1970, the station was minimally flooded by storm surge (but remained on the air) from landfalling Hurricane Celia. Weatherman Tom Nix earned a Peabody Award for his coverage of the storm as the KJV-TV set flooded while on air. The studios required extensive repairs in the aftermath of the storm and ultimately incurred over $150,000 of damage ($1.17 million, 2023 dollars).

Despite a stellar public reputation in the wake of Hurricane Celia, the financial hit incurred due to required repairs was a detriment to the station’s ratings in the 1970s through late 1980s. Challenges from a nascent KTHR-TV and KXCC, as well as a weak NBC primetime lineup and limited syndication inventory, slipped the station into a malaise, buoyed only by the legacy status KJV-TV and its radio sisters enjoyed. J. Randolph Harris’ old-line leadership also played a role in the stormy fortunes of the stations; he remained active in leading the stations until his death in 1987 at the age of 86. To the abject horror of station staff, Harris had been secretly negotiating a sale of the stations to Gannett, Inc. at the time of his death, but his will had not yet been updated to reflect this; ownership of the stations transferred to his 49-year-old son, and longtime station manager, J. Randolph Harris Jr. (often called Junior by his staff).

Under Harris Jr.’s leadership, as well as his father’s stock market investments (cashed in and invested into the station) and a resurgent NBC primetime lineup, KJV’s fortunes turned around in the 1990s. Along with high-profile talent acquisitions from KTHR (Jay Ricci and Lee Sausley), plus schoolteacher Dot Pettersen, the station clawed back their lost ratings from the 1960s.

Harris Jr. suddenly passed away in June 1996 (three days after the station’s 40th anniversary), which was a shock to both the stations and the community. Both groups were skeptical when they found that ownership of the stations was willed to Harris Jr.’s son Jared, just nineteen years of age at the time and attending Texas A&M University. Jared shocked station employees when he stepped up to the challenge and left Texas A&M to lead Harris Broadcasters. He gave a lot of latitude to individual department heads, which resulted in an explosion of innovation at the station. Ratings saw a dramatic upswing, and enough ad revenue was generated to purchase outright (not lease) the station’s first helicopter in 1998.

### Hurricane Bret

KJV-AM-FM-TV’s longtime Ocean Drive studio facility was vulnerable to hurricane flooding over the years, having been flooded once by Hurricane Celia in 1970 (see above). The station would experience catastrophe (and tragedy) again on the evening of 22 August 1999.

KJV-TV had abandoned regular programming on 21 August, as the station’s meteorologists had sounded the alarm that the then-Category 4 Hurricane Bret would pose a significant risk to the South Texas coastline, if not the City of Corpus Christi itself. Due to the uncertainty of the storm’s path, live team coverage was in place as far north as Port Lavaca and as far south as Brownsville, and the station’s then-new helicopter was flown inland to be available in the storm’s aftermath. Coverage was simulcast on KJV radio as the mayor of Corpus Christi issued a voluntary evacuation notice.

At approximately 6:15 pm CDT on the evening of 22 August, the station’s studios began taking on storm surge water ahead of the eye’s landfall. Chief meteorologist Dale Nelson let out an expletive on-air when he noticed the rapidly rising water and immediately ordered station staff to move to the upper floor of the building. Within fifteen minutes, the station went from being dry to having two feet of water on the ground floor; the flooding would increase to over six feet. This storm surge flooding destroyed the station’s set, newsroom, master control, and other technical areas. Electricity was lost shortly thereafter due to the station’s standby generator also being flooded.

Upon losing the studio-transmitter link, transmitter engineer Robert “Rocky” Oliveira patched in a separate Doppler radar feed to restore the TV signal, and also patched in a two-way radio to enable Nelson to continue to communicate with the audience on KJV-FM. This practice was quickly adopted by Oliveira’s counterpart at KJV 1360’s separate transmitter site, and was credited by local media as an action that saved lives. As the high-end Category 3 storm made landfall at 7:45 pm CDT, station staff were still trapped on the second floor.

At 9:19 pm CDT, after being battered by high winds for three and a half hours and enduring both sides of the hurricane’s eyewall, a guy wire on the KJV-FM-TV tower near Robstown failed, felling the 1,260-foot tower. The bulk of the tower fell on the transmitter building, instantly killing transmitter engineer Oliveira, destroying the transmitter building and everything within, and taking KJV-FM-TV silent. The KJV AM transmitter, located two miles east of the TV-FM tower, was unaffected and continued to provide coverage via two-way radio for the duration of the event.

After the storm, Harris Broadcasters Inc. president Jared Harris promised his namesake company’s full commitment to returning to the airwaves. KJV-AM-FM-TV was offered temporary refuge in the nearby studios of KTHR-TV (channel 3); the arrangement ultimately lasted for seventeen months while new facilities were constructed on the upper floors of One Shoreline Plaza. It was during this time that KJV adopted a new slogan, “Rebuilding in the Spirit of Texas”. A temporary transmitter facility was constructed at the KJV-AM site.

KJV-AM-FM-TV dedicated their new “Window on the Bayfront” facilities on 31 January 2001; the newsroom is now known as the Rocky Oliveira Memorial Newsroom in the late engineer’s memory. The current facilities were equipped from the beginning for high-definition broadcasting from all three soundstages, including the namesake “Window on the Bayfront” 28th floor studio with panoramic views of the Corpus Christi Bayfront. On that day, the station’s slogan was slightly modified to “Working in the Spirit of Texas”, which still stands today. The station’s former facility, directly adjacent to Cole Park, was sold to the City of Corpus Christi and later demolished to make way for a skatepark.

### Helicopter crash

On 19 May 2012, KJV-TV was airing live coverage of the 37th annual Beach to Bay Relay Marathon. To provide more comprehensive live coverage, the station rented a second ENG-equipped helicopter to supplement coverage from 6 Live TeleCopter.

The station’s main helicopter, a 1979 Bell OH-58 Kiowa (the military version of the 206 JetRanger) was in a low (but out-of-ground effect) hover above the Corpus Christi Bay seawall just east of Cole Park to capture video of the first runners crossing the finish line. The pilot/reporter had intended to return to a nearby helipad for fuel immediately after the finish, and the second helicopter would take over the main helicopter’s duty station. Both pilots reported using a lot of effort to maintain out-of-ground effect hover, given strong 25-35 mph winds on the day of the race.

As the first runners crossed the finish line at 9:27 am, the helicopter experienced a sudden loss of power and the pilot immediately executed an autorotation, followed by an emergency call to air traffic control: “TV 6 going down!” The crew of the second helicopter quickly moved their nose-mounted camera to capture the crash sequence, which aired live on KJV; the video was later provided to the NTSB for their investigation. The main helicopter pilot reported that he tried to autorotate the chopper onto the grassy knoll of Cole Park, but could not get the flight controls to respond adequately. No further radio calls were made from the aircraft.

Within fifteen seconds of the power loss, the helicopter crash-landed on the seawall at a 45-degree roll angle and promptly overturned into the water. The pilot and photographer both escaped the aircraft with serious injuries. It was initially determined that the cause of the crash was the pilot’s failure to maintain minimum reserve fuel. However, further investigation revealed a significant issue with the Bell OH-58/206, wherein abrupt maneuvers (such as maintaining OGE hover in high winds) on minimum fuel would cause fuel starvation and an uncommanded engine rollback.

## Programming

### News operation

KJV-TV presently broadcasts 52.5 hours of locally-produced newscasts each week. Channel 6.1 carries 35.5 hours of English-language news per week, with six hours each weekday and 2.5 hours each Saturday and Sunday. Channel 6.3 carries 17 hours of Spanish-language news per week, with 2.5 hours each weekday and 2 hours each Saturday and Sunday. This includes a weekly Sunday night half-hour sports special on both subchannels; but does not count the 24-hour Doppler radar loop, combined with recorded cut-ins from the KJV 6 First Warning Weather team, that airs continuously on channel 6.2.

KJV-TV has been a factor in the Corpus Christi media market throughout its entire existence, including enjoying the number one spot in the ratings since 1992. This owes to Harris Broadcasters’ leadership status in owning the first radio station in Corpus Christi, their lifelong affiliation with the NBC network, and (since 1988) significant local investment into the newsroom relative to the corporate-owned competition. The station (sharing with KJV radio) owns and operates *6 Live TeleCopter*, a 2006 Eurocopter AS350B2 helicopter, for aerial news gathering duties; this practice is largely unheard of in smaller media markets. On KJV’s Telemundo subchannel, the helicopter is branded *Última Hora SuperCóptero*; the station occasionally provides a live Spanish-language reporter in the helicopter for breaking news events.

The station has used the Eyewitness News brand for its English-language news since 1966. Also uncommon for a small market, the station has usually been known for longevity of talent; chief meteorologist Dale Nelson has served the station since 1981, and longtime anchors Lee Sausley and Dot Pettersen have only recently retired after serving over thirty years each. KJV-TV is one of a handful of stations which typically assigns managing editor duty to their anchors.

On 6 June 2006, KJV-TV became the first TV station in the state of Texas, and the ninth in the country, to upgrade their local news production to high definition. KJV-TV’s NBC network programming, as well as syndicated programming and local advertising, also upgraded to high definition where available. Telemundo network programming made the HD upgrade on 23 April 2009, despite the local newscast having upgraded to HD nearly three years prior. Field video remained in 16:9 standard definition until 2010, except for 6 Live TeleCopter, which did not upgrade until the crashed helicopter was replaced in 2013.

#### Notable people

* Sonya Hill (2011-present)
* Mark Koelbel (1991-1996, now at KUTV)
* Max Mayfield (2007-2019, retired)
* Capt. Dave Miller, USN Ret. (2013-present)
* Dale Nelson (1981-present)
* Dot Pettersen (1988-2021, retired)
* Lorena Placencia (2013-2023, no longer in TV)
* Lee Sausley (1989-2021, retired)
* Matt Terhune (2007-2016, deceased)
* Tom Terry (1990-1995, now at WOTW)

## Technical information

### Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of KJV-TV
 6.2
 6.3

KJV-DT signed on the air on 6 June 2001 (the station’s 45th anniversary) from a new 1,215-foot tower at their permanent site near Robstown; the tower and 4,000 square foot transmitter building were designed to house KJV-FM-TV-DT with room for future tenants. The station’s ATSC sign-on date was relatively early for a smaller-market TV station, thanks in part to Jared Harris’ tech-forward stewardship of Harris Broadcasters Inc., but also a substantial insurance settlement the station received after the aforementioned loss of their studio and transmitter facilities to Hurricane Bret in 1999.

The relatively early adoption of digital TV allowed KJV-DT2 (NJV) to provide 24-hour weather coverage on digital channel 6.2 at launch; to begin carrying Telemundo network programming on KJV-DT3 (OJV) digital channel 6.3 on 1 April 2003; and to begin providing high-definition broadcasts on the station’s 50th anniversary, 6 June 2006. On that date, KJV-DT became the second TV station in the world to provide multiple HD subchannels on one signal, as both the NBC and First Warning Weather Now services upgraded to HD. KJV-TV is unusual among NBC affiliates, as the station carries the network feed in 720p rather than the preferred 1080i; chief engineer Jaime Saiz cited demand for NBC sports programming as the reason to transmit in the 720p format.

### Analog-to-digital conversion

KJV-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 6, at the end of the Nearly Noon newscast (11:59 am) on 12 June 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 19. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 6.

As was true of all other analog channel 6 stations in North America, KJV-TV’s audio subcarrier transmitted on a frequency of 87.75 MHz (+10 kHz shift), and as a result, could be picked up on the lower end of the dial on most FM radios at 87.7. This is no longer possible for full-powered stations after the conversion to digital broadcasting. In preparation for this change, on 26 March 2009, Harris Broadcasters signed on a low-power FM radio station, K266JV (101.1), to continue to provide audio-only reception of digital channel 6.1 within the Corpus Christi city limits. This audio service was also later made available on KJV-FM (93.9) HD2, and in Spanish on KJV-FM HD3, which provided a much greater coverage area due to KJV-FM’s very high broadcasting power.