KHMA

KHMA-TV
Channels
Programming
AffiliationsDefunct
Ownership
Owner
  • Denver T. Brannen
  • (St. Anthony TV Corp.)
History
First air date
March 1, 1972; 52 years ago (1972-03-01)
Last air date
October 15, 1973; 50 years ago (1973-10-15)
Independent (1972–1973)
Call sign meaning
Houma
Technical information
ERP257 kW
HAAT143.2 m (470 ft)

KHMA-TV, VHF analog channel 11, was a short-lived independent television station licensed to Houma, Louisiana, United States that served the south Louisiana community.

History[edit]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) licensed channel 11 to St. Anthony TV Corporation in 1958, and the station was intended to be an ABC affiliate. 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 WTOK of Meridian, 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, PBS member station WYES-TV in New Orleans uses the digital channel 12, and Martin Folse established KFOL-CD (HTV Channel 10) to serve the Houma area.

Programming[edit]

Among the locally produced programs included a local news show (The Tri-City Report) twice a day, at 5:30 and 10 p.m., sports (The Tri-City Accent), and a third show hosted by local farm authority George W. Shannon,[13] as well as a program by local musician L. J. Foret. KHMA primarily aired old movies and syndicated reruns, including The Phyllis Diller Show, Peyton Place, The Movie Game, The Munsters, Petticoat Junction, Hogan's Heroes, Dragnet, The Virginian, Lassie, America Sings, Time Tunnel, The Wild Wild West, The Name of the Game, The Andy Griffith Show, Happy and His Friends, Land of the Giants, Galloping Gourmet, Lost in Space, and Engelbert Humperdinck. The station also broadcast movies under the following monikers: Cinema 11, Western Theatre, Adventure Theatre, Nightmare Theatre, The Late Movie, and Afternoon Theatre.[14]

References[edit]

  1. ^ US Broadcasting Yearbook, 1965
  2. ^ [1][dead link]
  3. ^ "347 F.2d 808". Archived from the original on 2012-05-24. Retrieved 2011-07-23.
  4. ^ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/66-OCR/BC-1966-01-10-Page-0053.pdf [dead link]
  5. ^ The Times-Picayune, March 1, 1972, Section 4, Page 11
  6. ^ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1972/BC%20YB%201972%20B&W.pdf [dead link]
  7. ^ The Houma Daily Courier and Terrebonne Press, March 5, 1972, Page 11
  8. ^ The Times-Picayune, October 28, 1973, page 118
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Federal Communications Commission Reports: Decisions, Reports, and Orders of the Federal Communications Commission of the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1974.
  11. ^ "Other actions" (PDF). Broadcasting. November 25, 1966. p. 59. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  12. ^ "FCC Record, Volume 2, No. 15, Pages 4316 to 4529, July 20 - July 31, 1987". July 1987.
  13. ^ The Times-Picayune, March 27, 1972, Page 11
  14. ^ The Houma Courier, various issues from 1972 and 1973
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