KTVU (channel 36) was a television station in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

, United States, which broadcast from December 18, 1953, to April 30, 1955. An

independent station An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...

and later an

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, KTVU failed because of economic problems common to early

UHF television UHF television broadcasting is the use of ultra high frequency (UHF) radio for over-the-air transmission of television signals. UHF frequencies are used for both analog and digital television broadcasts. UHF channels are typically given high ...

stations.

Construction and operation

When 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) lifted its four-year freeze on new television station applications in 1952, it designated 70 new UHF channels, including channel 36, which was allocated to Stockton. Knox LaRue and Lester E. Chenault applied for the new channel 36 in July 1952, and after refiling as a corporation known as San Joaquin Telecasters in December, the commission granted the application on January 8, 1953. The antenna was erected at a mountaintop site dubbed Teleview Hill, west of Stockton in the Altamont Hills. The facility would deliver a then-record

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would hav ...

of 525,000 watts. Meanwhile, the former East Theater, erected in 1949, was renovated and converted into a television studio. KTVU began broadcasting on the evening of December 18, 1953. The opening night of telecasting was curtailed because of a power failure. Originally an independent station, KTVU affiliated with

in May 1954. A July 1954 reorganization saw original owners LaRue and Chenault exit their stakes, with the former devoting time to his radio ventures including Stockton radio station KSTN, and KTVU become fully owned by Browen Industries, owned by Warren Brown, Jr., and Leo Owens. In September, Stockton gained a second television station,

KOVR KOVR (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Stockton, California, United States, broadcasting the CBS network to the Sacramento area. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate K ...

(channel 13), which initially provided regional coverage to Stockton and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

from its transmitter on

Mount Diablo Mount Diablo is a mountain of the Diablo Range, in Contra Costa County, California, Contra Costa County of the eastern San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. It is south of Clayton, California, Clayton and northeast of Danville, Califo ...

Demise and legacy

On April 30, 1955, the station broadcast for the last time. Its general manager told the ''

Stockton Record ''The Record'' is a daily newspaper based in Stockton, California, serving San Joaquin and Calaveras Counties. It is owned by Gannett. History ''The Record'' was founded in 1895 by Irving Martin as the ''Evening Record.'' It is a newspap ...

'' newspaper, "It is economically impractical to continue daily scheduling of programs for the present." Dwight Newton, radio and television columnist for the ''

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...

'', also cited competition with KOVR, a VHF station that could be received on all television sets. Ashley L. Robison and Harry McCart, officers in Sacramento UHF station

KCCC-TV KCCC-TV was a television station on ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 40 in Sacramento, California, United States. Owned by the Capital City TV Corporation, KCCC-TV was Sacramento's first television outlet and broadcast from 1953 to 1957. Howev ...

(channel 40), purchased KTVU in August 1955 with the intention to operate it as a satellite of the Sacramento outlet; KTVU would eventually have its antenna pattern changed to focus on Stockton, Modesto, and Merced. The Sacramento UHF had previously been eyeing the establishment of a repeater in Pittsburg, in

Contra Costa County ) of the San Francisco Bay , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = California , subdivision_type2 ...

. Sale talks were announced in July but collapsed in early August over the Stockton venture's indebtedness before being completed. In April 1956, Browen sued the two men that had bought San Joaquin Telecasters's capital stock and assets with the intention of restoring KTVU to service with KCCC; by this time, regional utility

Pacific Gas and Electric Company The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered in the Pacific Gas & Electric Building, in San Francisco, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 milli ...

had obtained a writ on the land because of an unpaid $12,000 electricity bill. Robison and McCart charged that Browen failed to fulfill certain conditions of the sale agreement. Other unpaid bills led to lawsuits that continued into 1956, including two motions filed by distributors of television films. For lack of prosecution of the

construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

, the FCC canceled it and deleted the KTVU call letters on May 22, 1956. In 1957, the former East Theater where KTVU had operated was reconverted to a picture house, the Capri. In 1958, a new television station,

KTVU KTVU (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Oakland, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's Fox network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside San Jose� ...

, began broadcasting in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

. While it was stated that the call sign had no specific meaning at the time, a 1985 newspaper article posits that engineers for the new Oakland station, having worked for Stockton's KTVU, named it in tribute.

References

{{Sacramento TV Defunct television stations in the United States 1953 establishments in California 1955 disestablishments in California Television channels and stations established in 1953 Television channels and stations disestablished in 1955 Television stations in Sacramento, California Stockton, California