KIKU (channel 20) is a
multicultural
The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
television station in
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...
, United States, serving the
Hawaiian Islands. It is owned by
Allen Media Group alongside
ABC affiliate
KITV (channel 4). The two stations share studios on South King Street in downtown Honolulu; KIKU's transmitter is located in
Nānākuli.
History
Prior history of the KIKU callsign in Honolulu
Although the station advertises on-air that it has been on the air for "over 40 years," the "current KIKU" is not to be confused with another station in Honolulu on
VHF channel 13 that formerly used the KIKU call letters. That station launched as independent station KTRG-TV on
July 4, 1962, under the ownership of the Watumull Broadcasting Company. That station was sold in 1966, changing its call letters to KIKU.
[ Raycom Media] The original KIKU became quite popular with Hawaiian children throughout the 1970s, televising several
Japanese
tokusatsu
is a Japanese term for live action film or television drama that makes heavy use of practical special effects. ''Tokusatsu'' entertainment mainly refers to science fiction, war, fantasy, or horror media featuring such technology but is som ...
shows, including ''
Kamen Rider V3'', ''
Kikaider
is a manga series written and illustrated by Shotaro Ishinomori. A two-season tokusatsu series titled ''Android Kikaider'' ('' Kikaider 01'' in season 2) was produced by Toei Company and Ishimori Productions in early 1970s. A 18-episod ...
'', ''
Rainbowman'', ''
Ganbare!! Robocon'', ''
Himitsu Sentai Gorenger
is a Japanese ''tokusatsu'' superhero television series. ''Gorenger'', created by Shotaro Ishinomori, was the first in the long-running ''Super Sentai'' metaseries of ''tokusatsu'' programming. The series aired on NET (now TV Asahi) from April 5, ...
'' and ''
Battle Fever J
is a live-action Japanese-American TV series. The third entry of the ''Super Sentai'' series franchise, ''Battle Fever J'' was a co-production of Toei Company and Marvel Comics. A total of 52 episodes aired on TV Asahi from February 3, 1979 to ...
''.
The Cushmans of San Diego, in partnership with
TV Asahi
JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Comp ...
and ten local investors, formed Mid-Pacific Television Associates and purchased channel 13 on April 9, 1979. Japanese programming was pared down and moved to the prime time hours from 7 to 10 p.m.; KIKU switched to a "kid vid" format, scoring success with programs such as ''The Children's Hour'' and ''Professor Fun''.
(the Japanese programs would be dropped completely by 1981).
In 1984, KIKU had its callsign changed to
KHNL-TV. In 1986, KHNL-TV was sold to
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
-based
King Broadcasting Company
King Broadcasting Company is an American former media conglomerate founded in 1946 by Dorothy Bullitt. The company was owned by the Bullitt family until it was sold to the Providence Journal Company in 1991; it is currently a subsidiary of Tegn ...
; that year, channel 13 became a charter affiliate of the
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
network. However, KHNL continued to broadcast Asian programming content—mostly
sumo wrestling
is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by thr ...
matches. In 1992, King Broadcasting merged with the
Providence Journal Company
''The Providence Journal'', colloquially known as the ''ProJo'', is a daily newspaper serving the metropolitan area of Providence, Rhode Island, and is the largest newspaper in Rhode Island. The newspaper was first published in 1829. The newspape ...
and its financial partner,
Kelso & Company. KHNL presently operates as the market's
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
affiliate following a January 1, 1996, affiliation switch that saw the station trade
network affiliations with
KHON-TV
KHON-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of Fox and The CW. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KHII-TV (channel 9). Both stati ...
(channel 2), which became Honolulu's Fox affiliate on that date through a groupwide affiliation agreement with its then-owner
SF Broadcasting
SF Broadcasting was an American media company that owned and operated four television stations; the company operated from its founding March 1994, four months before its purchased stations owned by Burnham Broadcasting, until its merger with Silv ...
.
KIKU station history
Channel 20's history traces back to February 12, 1980, when a license for the allocation was filed with the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC), officially registered under the call letters KHAI-TV. It signed on the air under that callsign on December 30, 1983, under the ownership of
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...
-based Media Central. Initially, the station's programming mirrored that of a traditional independent station during the daytime and late evening hours (featuring cartoons such as ''
Inspector Gadget
''Inspector Gadget'' is a media franchise that began in 1983 with the DIC Entertainment animated television series ''Inspector Gadget''. Since the original series, there have been many spin-offs based on the show, including additional animated s ...
'' and ''
Voltron, Defender of the Universe'',
infomercial
An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...
s, and movie packages such as ''
Kung Fu Theater
Martial arts films are a subgenre of action films that feature numerous martial arts combat between characters. These combats are usually the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often are a method of storytelling and character expre ...
''), with most of the Asian programming airing in the evenings, similar to the format of the channel 13 KIKU. This would gradually change over the years as it expanded the Asian programming throughout its entire schedule. KHAI was originally carried by Oceanic Cable on channel 21,
C-SPAN
Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...
took over the space during the morning hours when KHAI was off-the-air; this continued until Oceanic realigned its basic cable lineup and move the station to channel 9. After Media Central ran into financial troubles and filed for
Chapter 11
Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
, KHAI was sold to the owners of
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
multicultural station
KSCI
KSCI (channel 18) is a television station licensed to Long Beach, California, United States, serving the Los Angeles area. Owned by WRNN-TV Associates, the station airs programming from ShopHQ. KSCI's studios are located on South Bundy Drive ...
in 1989. The station changed its call letters to KIKU on September 4, 1993.
In October 2003, the station's general manager Gregg Mueller left KIKU after a three-year tenure. After many years, acting president Joanne Ninomiya of JN Productions ended her company's partnership with KIKU in early 2004.
On November 1, 2004, KIKU began a secondary affiliation with
UPN
The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...
. The station became the fourth and final television station in the Honolulu market to affiliate with UPN;
KFVE
KFVE (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of the Spanish-language Telemundo network. It is owned by Gray Television alongside CBS affiliate KGMB (chann ...
served as the market's original UPN affiliate from January 1995 to September 2002, after which KHON-TV and
KGMB
KGMB (channel 5) is a television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Gray Television alongside NBC affiliate KHNL (channel 13) and Kailua-Kona–licensed Telemundo affi ...
shared the network's programming as a joint secondary affiliation until October 2004. KIKU aired most UPN programming during the late afternoon hours, with some shows airing out of pattern. For instance, in 2006, the station aired UPN's Thursday night comedy block out of order on Friday afternoons, resulting in ''
WWE Friday Night Smackdown
''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes simulc ...
'' airing in a Saturday late night timeslot.
KIKU reverted to being a full-time independent station after UPN shut down on September 17, 2006 (UPN and
The WB
The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...
's consolidation and shutdowns that month resulted in the creation of
The CW Television Network
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
). After the launch of The CW was announced, KIKU formally announced it would not seek to affiliate with the upstart network; The CW later signed an affiliation deal with KHON-TV, which carries the network on a
digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
.
On September 18, 2006, KIKU became one of the few over-the-air affiliates of the
Funimation Channel
Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...
. From that date until September 2007, KIKU ran two hours of select anime programs in English every weekday from 6:00 to 7:00 and 10:00 to 11:00 p.m., with the lineup of shows changing periodically. KIKU disaffiliated from the FUNimation Channel in September 2007, due to low viewership.
In January 2012, KIKU's then-owner AsianMedia Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection; the station, along with KSCI in Los Angeles and its
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
repeater
KUAN-LP, was sold to NRJ TV (a company unrelated to European broadcaster
NRJ Radio
NRJ (NRJ is an acronym read as Nouvelle Radio Jeune, or ''énergie'' in French, pronounced , literally "energy") is a private French radio station created by Jean-Paul Baudecroux and Max Guazzini in June 1981, and was widely popularized tha ...
) for $45 million in March 2012, in a transaction that included the assumption of AsianMedia Group's debt.
In May 2012, KIKU dropped most of its English-language entertainment programming to concentrate on expanding its Asian programming.
Sale to WRNN-TV Associates
On December 9, 2019, it was announced that WRNN-TV Associates, owner of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
–based
WRNN-TV
WRNN-TV (channel 48) is a television station licensed to New Rochelle, New York, United States, serving the New York City area as an affiliate of ShopHQ. It serves as the flagship station of Rye Brook–based WRNN-TV Associates; its headquarter ...
, secured a deal to purchase seven full-power TV stations (including KIKU and KSCI) and one
Class A station from NRJ.
The sale was approved by the FCC on January 23,
and was completed on February 4, 2020.
In May 2021, the station announced that it would cease its current programming and begin airing
ShopHQ
ShopHQ (formerly ValueVision, ShopNBC, Evine Live, and Evine) is an American cable, satellite and broadcast home shopping television network and multi-channel video retailer owned by iMedia Brands Inc., in which Comcast holds a 12.5% stake in th ...
on June 28, 2021, a programming direction noted with disapproval by the station's longtime general manager, Phyllis Kihara, announcing the move. This change was part of a larger and controversial deal that RNN made for main-channel affiliations for ShopHQ, whose stations, no matter their content, are required to be carried by pay TV providers under
must-carry
In cable television, governments apply a must-carry regulation stating that locally licensed television stations must be carried on a cable provider's system.
North America Canada
Under current CRTC regulations, the lowest tier of service on ...
guidelines. ShopHQ itself was, and is, universally available on cable and satellite throughout the United States, including
Oceanic Spectrum channel 24 on the Islands. This made the requirement to carry the network on KIKU from disconnected ownership in suburban
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
especially troublesome to viewers seeing a Mainland owner force a programming change upon the station without any local input.
Sale to Allen Media Group
On September 27, 2021, it was announced that KIKU would be sold to Allen Media Broadcasting for $4,000,000.
The sale was completed on January 31, 2022.
Programming
Prior to the switch to ShopHQ, most of KIKU's programming consisted of multicultural content catering to the large
Asian community in the
Hawaiian Islands. Programs seen on the station were broadcast in
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
,
Filipino
Filipino may refer to:
* Something from or related to the Philippines
** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines.
** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
, and
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
. Japanese programming was its most popular genre on the station, with content licensed from some of Japan's major television broadcasters, including TV Asahi,
TBS Television
TBS may stand for:
Entertainment
* Taipei Broadcasting Station, a radio station in Taipei, Taiwan
* Tokyo Broadcasting System, a stock holding company in Tokyo, Japan
** TBS Television (Japan), a television station
** TBS Radio, a radio stati ...
,
NHK
, also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee.
NHK operates two terrestr ...
and
Nippon TV
JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed su ...
.
[Official website](_blank)
/ref> KIKU's Filipino programming was from the most popular television broadcasters in the Philippines, including GMA Network
GMA Network (Global Media Arts or simply GMA) is a Philippine free-to-air television and radio network. It is the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network, Inc. Its first broadcast on television was on October 29, 1961. GMA Network (f ...
, ABS-CBN
ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast broadcast network, network tha ...
, and TV5. In 2011, KIKU expanded its Asian focus to include Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
programming on Saturdays.
KIKU partnered with various companies to provide English subtitles
Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or informati ...
for its Japanese programming to reach English-speaking viewers; some programs were subtitled in-house.
On May 30, 2021, it was announced that KIKU would stop airing Filipino and Japanese TV content after June 28, 2021, and instead become an affiliate of ShopHQ (which previously aired on its second subchannel).
On January 31, 2022, KIKU returned to airing Japanese and Filipino programming, as well as local news from its now-sister station KITV. It also added Entertainment Studios
Entertainment Studios, Inc., also known as Allen Media Group, is an American media and entertainment company based in Los Angeles. Owned and founded in 1993 by businessman Byron Allen, the company was initially involved in the production and d ...
and other syndicated content to fill the schedule out further.
Criticism
In the April 2006 hardcopy publication ''Kokiku Magazine'', fans have expressed their displeasure of KIKU continuing to air old travel shows such as '' Soko ga Shiritai''. In the following May issue, KIKU general manager Phyllis Kihara defended the station's position, stating that ''Soko'' ranks higher in the local Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
than some of the major network shows that air in the 7:00 p.m. timeslot on weeknights.
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed
In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...
:
Analog-to-digital conversion
KIKU discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 20, on January 15, 2009, the date in which full-power television stations in Hawaii transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts (six months earlier than the June 12 transition date for stations on the U.S. mainland). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 19, using PSIP
The Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) is the MPEG (a video and audio industry group) and privately defined program-specific information originally defined by General Instrument for the DigiCipher 2 system and later extended for the AT ...
to display the station's virtual channel
In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
as its former UHF analog channel 20.
See also
*Nippon Golden Network
Nippon Golden Network (ニッポンゴールデンネットワーク, abbreviated NGN) is a cable television network broadcasting Japanese programs in Hawaii, United States. It is viewable in 4 islands in Hawaii (Kauai, Oahu, Maui, Hawaii) and Cali ...
*TV Japan
TV Japan is a 24-hour Japanese-language television channel geared towards the Japanese diaspora in the USA and Canada. It is the North American carrier of the NHK World Premium service. The channel is owned by NHK CosmoMedia America Inc., a s ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiku
Independent television stations in the United States
Laff (TV network) affiliates
Television channels and stations established in 1983
IKU
Iku or IKU may refer to:
Languages
* Iku language (ISO 639: ikv), a Plateau language of Nigeria
* Arhuaco language (ISO 639: arh), also known as Ikʉ, a Chibchan language of Colombia
* Inuktitut (ISO 639: iku), an Inuit language of Canada
Other u ...
Japanese-language television stations
1983 establishments in Hawaii
Entertainment Studios