KDZA-TV

KDZA-TV
Channels
Programming
AffiliationsCBS, NBC, DuMont
Ownership
OwnerDee B. Crouch
History
First air date
March 19, 1953 (1953-03-19)
Last air date
  • May 7, 1954 (1954-05-07)
  • (1 year, 54 days)
Technical information
ERP16.5 kW[1]
HAAT138 m (454 ft)

KDZA-TV was a television station broadcasting on channel 3 in Pueblo, Colorado, which broadcast from March 19, 1953, to May 7, 1954. It was the first television station established in Pueblo. The station shut down due to financial difficulties, competition from a second station in Pueblo and two outlets in Colorado Springs, and network affiliation changes in Denver that affected its main programming source.

History

KDZA-TV began test broadcasts on March 14, 1953,[2] and started its regular programming on March 19.[3] It was owned by Dee B. Crouch alongside independent AM outlet KDZA (1230 AM). Much of its programming, including network fare, was fed to it by a 104-mile (167 km) microwave relay between Pueblo and KFEL-TV (channel 2) at Denver.[4] The station began affiliations with CBS, NBC, and DuMont networks. KDZA also broadcast syndicated shows from Ziv Television Programs.[5]

Gene O'Fallon, who owned KFEL-TV, filed to buy KDZA radio and television from Crouch for $350,000, including the assumption of $100,000 in payments to DuMont Laboratories for the channel 3 transmitter, at the end of July.[6] Four months later, O'Fallon dropped the deal, though KDZA-TV continued taking programs from KFEL-TV,[7] including live basketball games.[8] The move came as KFEL-TV lost both of its major network affiliations in the final quarter of 1953 to new Denver outlets KLZ-TV (CBS) and KOA-TV (NBC) and after a second Pueblo television station, KCSJ-TV (channel 5), began broadcasting as an NBC affiliate.[4]

Ultimately, continued operation and program feeds from Denver proved uneconomical to continue. On May 7, 1954, channel 3 went silent to repair its equipment, but by then it was an open secret that the station was in financial woes.[4] It never returned, opting not to ask the Federal Communications Commission for continued authority to remain silent,[4] and its construction permit expired on September 22, 1954.[9] KDZA-TV was the third VHF station to close completely for economic reasons, after KFXD-TV in Nampa, Idaho, and KFOR-TV in Lincoln, Nebraska, which had shut down in August 1953 and March 1954, respectively.[4]

The channel 3 allocation was moved to Alamosa in 1955 at the petition of KCSJ-TV, which intended to build a satellite station there.[10] No full-power station ever appeared on the channel, but a translator of KRDO-TV was authorized to use it in December 1965.[11] The full-power allocation was shifted from Alamosa to Glenwood Springs in January 1980 upon the petition of Western Slope Communications, which built and signed on KCWS there in 1984.[12]

References

  1. ^ "KDAL-TV" (PDF). Broadcasting Yearbook. 1954. p. 76. Retrieved October 17, 2025 – via World Radio History.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ "KDZA Going On Air Soon With Television Program". The Pueblo Chieftain. Pueblo, Colorado. March 12, 1953. p. 16. Retrieved October 17, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Packard-Bell Program Opens KDZA-TV Tonight". Pueblo Chieftain. Pueblo, Colorado. March 19, 1953. p. 16. Retrieved October 18, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Colorado VHF Gives Up the Ghost" (PDF). Television Digest. May 15, 1954. p. 3 (33). Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  5. ^ "TV Transmitting". The Pueblo Chieftain. Pueblo, Colorado. March 20, 1953. p. 39. Retrieved October 29, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "More Post-Freeze Stations Being Sold" (PDF). Television Digest. August 1, 1953. p. 1. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  7. ^ "Telecasting Notes" (PDF). Television Digest. November 21, 1953. p. 12 (40). Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  8. ^ "Banker Cage Game Opens TV Station". Casper Morning Star. United Press. December 5, 1953. p. 18. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  9. ^ "Termaination Of KDZA-TV's Operations Is Now Indicated". The Pueblo Chieftain. Pueblo, Colorado. September 23, 1954. p. 2. Retrieved October 18, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Channel Moves Asked" (PDF). Broadcasting. April 18, 1955. p. 9. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  11. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. January 10, 1966. p. 85. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  12. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. February 11, 1980. p. 128. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
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