KDOC-TV

KDOC-TV, virtual channel 56 (VHF digital channel 12), is an independent television station serving Los Angeles, California, United States that is licensed to Anaheim. Owned by Ellis Communications, the station is operated by Titan TV Broadcast Group under a local marketing agreement (LMA). KDOC-TV's studios and offices are located on East First Street in Santa Ana, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.

KDOC-TV
Anaheim/Los Angeles, California
United States
CitySanta Ana, California
ChannelsDigital: 12 (VHF)
Virtual: 56 (PSIP)
BrandingKDOC-TV Los Angeles (general)
ABC 7 Eyewitness News on KDOC-TV (newscasts)
SloganDo Fun
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerEllis Communications
(Ellis Communications KDOC Licensee, LLC)
OperatorTitan TV Broadcast Group
(via LMA)
History
First air date
October 1, 1982 (1982-10-01)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 56 (UHF, 1982–2009)
  • Digital:
  • 32 (UHF, 2004–2019)
  • DT4:
  • Pegasus TV (2011)
  • Stellar TV (2012)
  • Plum TV (2012–2013)
Call sign meaning
Dynamic Orange County
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID24518
ERP110 kW
HAAT1,130 m (3,707 ft)
Transmitter coordinates34°13′55″N 118°4′21″W
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websitewww.kdoc.tv

History

KDOC-TV signed on the air on October 1, 1982; the station was initially owned by locally based Golden Orange Broadcasting, whose investors included entertainer Pat Boone. The station's original studio facilities were located at 1730 South Clementine Street in Anaheim, just blocks east of the Disneyland resort. At the time of its original sign-on it was the sixth independent station in the Los Angeles market, alongside KTLA (channel 5), KHJ-TV (channel 9, now KCAL-TV), KTTV (channel 11), KCOP (channel 13) and KSCI (channel 18). KDOC carried programs from conservative commentator Wally George and televangelist Dr. Gene Scott until their respective deaths in 2003 and 2005. During this period, the station was also popular for weekend broadcasts of Asian programming, which gained a significant non-Asian audience with the broadcast of the 1984–1985 (subtitled) Japanese television series Miyamoto Musashi.

The station also was popular for its weekend block of professional wrestling and roller derby including World Class Championship Wrestling, Mid-Atlantic Wrestling's syndicated show World Wide Wrestling and Los Angeles Thunderbirds roller games. The station also offered some live sports programming, such as UNLV Runnin' Rebels men's basketball during the height of the Jerry Tarkanian era (with play-by-play for many years called by Chick Hearn), plus Loyola Marymount University men's basketball, and a syndicated package of Western Athletic Conference men's basketball games. In 2004, KDOC (with KPXN-TV) carried selected Anaheim Angels games, as then-new owner Arte Moreno wanted to broadcast more games beyond the slate of telecasts already contractually obligated to air on Fox Sports West and the team's then-primary over-the-air carrier KCAL-TV.

In the fall of 1988, KDOC embarked on the station's first brief foray in television news. KDOC began producing NewsWatch 56, a primetime newscast at 8:00 p.m. anchored by Michelle Merker (also the station's public affairs director) and Pat Matthews (then a radio newscaster from New Orleans). The program was moved frequently: first to 7:00 p.m., then to 9:00 p.m., and finally to 11:00 p.m. During that time, the station rebranded the program as Orange County NewsWatch, and then KDOC NewsWatch. In 1992, KDOC stopped producing full-fledged newscasts; the station produced local news updates instead. The station also stopped producing any original in-house programming, except for the minimum amount required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Much of the station's programming through the years has been situation comedy and dramatic reruns that were seen on other Los Angeles area stations in years past, after those stations either relinquished or shared the rights with KDOC. Among those shows were: The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Cosby Show, Saved by the Bell, The Doris Day Show and My Three Sons. Reruns of the iconic courtroom drama Perry Mason had been on the station since 1988, where it aired weekdays at noon for about 20 years, and aired early mornings on KDOC's main channel until September 2011 (several of the aforementioned shows currently air on the station's MeTV subchannel on digital channel 56.3).

On April 4, 2006, Bert Ellis, along with Anaheim Ducks owners Henry Samueli and his wife Susan, bought KDOC for $149.5 million from Golden Orange Broadcasting. The sale closed in May 2006, placing KDOC under the ownership of Ellis Communications, Inc., a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Titan Broadcast Management.

In September 2006, KDOC made changes to its programming schedule and debuted a new slogan (Endless Classics, a reference to the Beach Boys album and the 1966 film The Endless Summer) and logo. The lineup included more current syndicated repeats, Anaheim Ducks hockey, some movies, as well as hours of paid programming. In 2008, the station's programming began moving away from the "Endless Classics" format adding more recent comedies, and talk and court shows that have ended production.[1]

In September 2008, KDOC launched a new website. It brought a new look, promoting the station's new programming format, and removing the forum section for viewers to post questions and comments on KDOC-TV programming that many stations provide.[2] The Endless Classics logo was replaced in late 2009.[3] In the fall of 2009, the station added ESPN Plus' syndication package of Southeastern Conference football and men's basketball (later branded as SEC TV), and added its coverage of Big 12 Conference men's basketball during the 2010–11 season. The SEC TV syndication package ended in 2014 because of the launch of the new SEC Network as part of a 20-year deal between the Southeastern Conference and ESPN.

On July 4, 2011, KDOC launched a new, revised website, as well as a new station logo (minus the "-TV" after the KDOC call letters), a new color scheme, programming promotions for KDOC's main channel (56.1) and MeTV subchannel (56.3), videos, and news headlines for both Los Angeles and Orange counties. On December 3, 2012, the station unveiled a new branding campaign, this time rebranding itself as "LA 56".

On May 11, 2015, KDOC dropped the "LA 56" branding after more than two-and-a-half years of use and reverted to identifying by its call letters. This also includes the branding on the KABC-TV-produced newscasts, which have since been rebranded as ABC 7 Eyewitness News on KDOC-TV.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[4]
56.1720p16:9KDOCMain KDOC-TV programming
56.2480i4:3ESNEESNE TV
56.316:9Me-TVMeTV
56.4CometComet
56.5SETTVSaigon Entertainment Television (Vietnamese)
56.6ThisTVThis TV
56.74:3LSTVLittle Saigon TV (Vietnamese)
56.816:9ChargeCharge!
56.9KDHLKDHL TV (Vietnamese)
56.104:3LSTVSimulcast of Little Saigon TV (Vietnamese)

Analog-to-digital conversion

KDOC began digital broadcast operations on February 18, 2004, at 12:19 p.m. The station shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 56, at noon on February 17, 2009, (the original deadline for full-power stations to shut down prior to the extended June 12 deadline) as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[5] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 32, using PSIP to display KDOC-TV's virtual channel as 56 on digital television receivers, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

As part of the SAFER Act,[6] KDOC kept its analog signal on the air until later in the afternoon on February 18 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters.

MeTV affiliation

On April 4, 2011,[7][8] Ellis Communications parent company Titan Broadcast Management announced, along with other television station groups (such as Hearst, Capitol Broadcasting, Raycom, Cox and Media General among others) to be among the station owners that signed affiliation agreements with MeTV, a network focusing on classic television programming that is owned by Weigel Broadcasting.[9] The network was launched on KDOC 56.3 on June 13, 2011, as Me-TV Los Angeles. On September 19, 2011, KDOC's main channel adopted a new contemporary programming format, thus positioning MeTV Los Angeles to be the network for classic television programs that once aired on KDOC.[10]

Although KDOC continues to carry MeTV on subchannel 56.3, KVME in Bishop was affiliated with MeTV on April 30, 2012, until January 15, 2018. That station carried MeTV on their primary digital channel 20 (virtual channel 20.1), which made it available on the DirecTV and Dish Network local packages tier for the Los Angeles market. Both stations marketed themselves as "Me-TV Hollywood", changing from KDOC's previous brand of "Me-TV Los Angeles". Local advertising for MeTV Hollywood is sold by a jointly managed ad sales team for both stations.[11] However, KVME's MeTV feed did not carry the full schedule of programming, electing to carry Spanish-language religious and paid programming during the early morning weekday hours of 5:30 a.m. to 8:00 am, blocking-out regularly-scheduled programming in those hours. Unlike the KVME feed, the KDOC version continues to air all MeTV programming intact.

On February 1, 2012, Verizon FiOS began carrying MeTV Hollywood in the Los Angeles area on channel 462. In October 2012, Time Warner Cable (now part of Charter Communications' Spectrum TV service) added MeTV Hollywood on its Southern California systems on channel 1232, carrying a time-shifted national feed instead of either the KVME or KDOC versions.

On January 3, 2018, due to the purchase of Los Angeles station KAZA by Weigel Broadcasting, KAZA became a MeTV owned-and-operated station, in addition to continual coverage via KDOC channel 56.3. Both affiliates are separately owned and operated, broadcasting to specific areas within the Los Angeles region due to signal strength. Before a signal upgrade in late 2018, KAZA's over-the-air signal was not available in much of western and southern Los Angeles County, due to its channel-sharing agreement with a low-powered UHF station, which necessitated the continual co-affiliation through KDOC. In addition, each feed was known by a different station identification; MeTV Los Angeles and MeTV KDOC.[12]

On January 15, 2018, KVME discontinued their MeTV affiliation to become an affiliate of Weigel-owned Heroes and Icons (also available over-the-air in Los Angeles, over KCOP Channel 13.4); on February 1, 2018, Spectrum discontinued its MeTV feed, and began offering KAZA as the sole MeTV channel for its Los Angeles area customers.

Programming

General programming

Syndicated programs that are broadcast on KDOC's main channel (as of September 2020) include[10] The Steve Wilkos Show, Maury, Forensic Files, The First 48, Protection Court, Personal Injury Court, Lauren Lake's Paternity Court, Couples Court with the Cutlers, Judge Jerry, Pawn Stars, The Goldbergs, Seinfeld,[13] Impractical Jokers, and two animated series, Bob's Burgers and Family Guy (the latter produced by Seth MacFarlane).

Sports programming

KDOC also held the broadcast rights to games from the Anaheim Ducks of the NHL. KDOC also once aired the locally produced wrestling program Championship Wrestling from Hollywood. In September 2014, it was announced that KDOC would air the final six games of the Los Angeles Dodgers' 2014 season. The team's new broadcaster, SportsNet LA (now Spectrum SportsNet LA), had been afflicted by poor carriage throughout the season.[14]

KDOC produced two telecasts of UC Irvine basketball games during the 2015–16 season in a partnership with UC Irvine, although it is unclear if that partnership is still in progress or has ended. KDOC would later air UC Irvine's final regular season game of their 2018–19 season.

In January 2019, KDOC started airing a weekly high school basketball game on Friday or Saturday nights, branded as the Pacific Surfliner Game of the Week. In the partnership with Pacific Surfliner, the Big West Conference and UC Irvine, select Big West games are also televised.

In June 2019, KDOC showed the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix due to KABC-TV having scheduling conflicts.

Past sports programming

From 2009 until 2014, KDOC carried Southeastern Conference college football and basketball and Big 12 college basketball games supplied by ESPN Plus-operated services SEC TV and Big 12 Network, respectively. Both SEC TV and Big 12 Network were dissolved in August 2014, the first of which was caused by the 2014 launch of the pay-TV-only SEC Network, whose name was previously on the ESPN Plus syndicated SEC service.

From 2014 until 2019, KDOC also broadcast Atlantic Coast Conference football and basketball games from the ACC Network syndication service of Raycom Sports, which was previously on Oxnard-licensed KBEH in the 2013–2014 season.

The station carried games of former Major League Soccer team Chivas USA from 2010 until the club's final season.

Special programming

In May 1990, KDOC broadcast live coverage of the Strawberry Festival Parade in Garden Grove, California. Coverage moved from KHJ-TV (now KCAL-TV) after the Walt Disney Company (which then owned KCAL-TV) decided against broadcasting the parade that year.

On December 31, 2012, KDOC broadcast a live New Year's special hosted by comedian and actor Jamie Kennedy. Following its broadcast, the special gained infamy due to a large number of technical issues, dead air, unedited fleeting profanity, and a fight breaking out on-stage. A montage of clips from the special went viral after it was discovered by fellow comedian Patton Oswalt.[15]

Newscasts

In January 2014, KDOC-TV started airing an hour-long 8:00 p.m. newscast produced by KABC-TV, titled ABC 7 Eyewitness News on LA56 (currently rebranded as ABC 7 Eyewitness News on KDOC-TV); the newscast airs seven nights a week. Concurrently, the station has also added a midnight rebroadcast of KABC's 11:00 p.m. newscast.[16] As of November 17, 2014, the 8:00 p.m. newscast has moved to the 7:00 p.m. timeslot, while the midnight rebroadcast of the 11:00 p.m. newscast has not been affected.

Daybreak OC

On September 10, 2007, KDOC-TV in partnership with the Orange County Register, launched a morning newscast named Daybreak OC. The show initially covered Orange County-specific weather, traffic and news headlines; the program was broadcast in high-definition from its launch, after the station's studios moved to the Register's headquarters in Santa Ana, California.[17] On September 8, 2008, the program was cut to one hour, moved to late morning and focused less on news.[18] On October 14, 2008, the program was cancelled by KDOC following that day's show.[19]

See also

References
  1. Multiple television listings sources
  2. Kdoc website Archived May 24, 2005, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved September 4, 2008
  3. Kdoc website Archived May 24, 2005, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved December 8, 2009
  4. "RabbitEars TV Query for KDOC". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  5. List of Digital Full-Power Stations Archived August 29, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  6. "UPDATED List of Participants in the Analog Nightlight Program" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. June 12, 2009. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved June 4, 2012.
  7. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 9, 2011. Retrieved April 7, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Where to Watch MeTV". Me-TV Network. Archived from the original on March 15, 2012. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  9. "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info. Archived from the original on September 30, 2018. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  10. "KDOC Program Listings". Archived from the original on September 26, 2011. Retrieved September 25, 2011.
  11. "KVME to join with KDOC in creating Me-TV Hollywood brand". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
  12. "Where to Watch MeTV". Me-TV Network. Archived from the original on September 30, 2018. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  13. "Seinfeld KDOC TV Los Angeles". Archived from the original on October 31, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  14. "Time Warner to show final six Dodgers' games free on KDOC" Archived September 15, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Los Angeles Times. September 15, 2014. Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  15. "TV train wreck: Jamie Kennedy hosts terrible, horrible, no good, very bad New Year's Eve broadcast". Zap2It. Archived from the original on January 5, 2013. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
  16. "KDOC To Air KABC-Produced Newscast". TVNewsCheck. November 21, 2013. Archived from the original on January 6, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
  17. Orange County Register: "KDOC seeks to bring local news coverage to O.C." Archived October 30, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved March 3, 2013
  18. Show will move to 10 a.m. Archived June 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved May 22, 2011
  19. KDOC pulls plug on 'Daybreak OC' newscast Archived August 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved May 22, 2011
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