KHMA

KHMA-TV
Houma, Louisiana
City of license Houma, Louisiana
Slogan Tri-City Television
Channels Analog: 11 (VHF)
Affiliations independent
Owner Denver T. Brannen
(St. Anthony TV Corp)
First air date March 1, 1972
Last air date mid-October 1973
Call letters' meaning HouMA
Transmitter power 1160 kW
Height 505m

KHMA-TV was a short-lived independent television station in Houma, Louisiana that served the south Louisiana community. The FCC licensed channel 11 to St. Anthony TV Corporation in 1958, and the station was intended to be an ABC affiliate. In the 1960s, St. Anthony TV Corp. petitioned to move the station's transmitter to a point north of Houma near Geismar, LA so that the station could also serve Baton Rouge (which did not have a primary ABC affiliate yet).[1][2] After the FCC granted permission to move the tower, 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 AM, the station signed on as an independent station serving the tri-city area of Morgan City(although part of the Lafeyette 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 AM and signed off at 12:30 AM, and, on weekends, it signed on at 8:00 AM and signed off at 12:30 AM.[7] The station suffered financial trouble and by October 23, 1973, the station and St. Anthony TV Corp declared bankruptcy.[8][9] At the same time, station owner Denver T. Brannen launched WDTB (now WMBB) in Panana City, FL, which served as that region's NBC affiliate and is now the ABC affiliate.

In the mid-1980s, MGM/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.[10] Today, PBS affiliate WYES in New Orleans uses the digital channel 11, and Martin Folse established KFOL-CD (HTV) to serve the Houma area.

Programming

Among the locally produced programs included a local news show (The Tri-City Report) twice a day, at 5:30 and 10 PM, sports (The Tri-City Accent), and a third show hosted by local farm authority George W. Shannon,[11] as well as a program by local musician L. J. Foret. KHMA primarily aired old movies and syndicated reruns of programs. Among the programs the station aired include: 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 monkiers: Cinema 11, Western Theatre, Adventure Theatre, Nightmare Theatre, The Late Movie, and Afternoon Theatre.[12]

References

  1. ↑ US Broadcasting Yearbook, 1965
  2. ↑ http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20090311/OPINION01/903111003
  3. ↑ http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/347/347.F2d.808.18621.18638_1.html
  4. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/66-OCR/BC-1966-01-10-Page-0053.pdf#search="khma wafb"
  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
  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. ↑ http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1596/m1/72/
  11. ↑ The Times-Picayune, March 27, 1972, Page 11
  12. ↑ The Houma Courier, various issues from 1972 and 1973
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