City Eureka, California | Branding News Channel 3 | |
Slogan The Spirit of the North Coast Channels Digital: 3 (VHF)
Virtual: 3 (PSIP) Affiliations NBC (primary 1984–present; secondary 1953–1958) Owner Pollack/Belz Broadcasting LLC | ||
KIEM-TV is a broadcast television station in Eureka, California. It is an NBC affiliate which broadcasts on digital channel 3. KIEM's studios are located on South Broadway in downtown Eureka.
Contents
History
KIEM-TV signed on the air as Eureka's first television station on October 25, 1953. The station was started by William B. Smullin and his company, California Oregon Broadcasting, Inc., who also started (and still owns) KOBI-TV in nearby Medford, Oregon. Since KIEM-TV was the only station in the Eureka market at the time, it offered programs from more than one network. The station callsign KIEM-TV was counterpart to the company's AM radio station, KIEM - which stood for "Keep Informed Every Minute". The FM part of a broadcast trio was KRED. (Soon after KIEM-TV began broadcasting, the first stereo broadcast in Humboldt County used the AM and FM stations in concert, AM = right channel, FM = left channel.) Initially KIEM was affiliated with CBS; however, the station also provided programs from NBC, ABC, and DuMont (the DuMont Network folded in 1955). After KVIQ signed on in 1958 and became the NBC affiliate, both KIEM and KVIQ offered some ABC programming on a part-time basis. Full-time ABC coverage was provided by Redding ABC affiliate KRCR-TV on area cable systems.
By 1984, KVIQ and KIEM had swapped affiliations, with KIEM picking up the NBC affiliation. Another commercial station, 'KREQ-TV' (later KAEF-TV) signed on the air in 1987 offering ABC to the North Coast. When the new station signed on, both KVIQ and KIEM ceased offering ABC programs on a part-time basis.
Analog-to-digital conversion
KIEM-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 3, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 16 to VHF channel 3 for post-transition operations.
Satellite availability
The Eureka television market, one of the smallest in the country, was the only TV market in California not available on DISH Network until June 3, 2010, at which time it became available. Since November 2, 2011 KIEM has also been available on DirecTV.
Sign-Off
As of November 2013, KIEM signs off every Sunday Morning at 1:00 a.m., and Monday Morning at 12:35 a.m., and resuming at 5:00 a.m. both days, during the sign-off and sign-on, KIEM broadcasts a classic sequence, which includes the old blue "3" logo as well as its NBC peacock logo and the station ID which is licensed to the city seen before and after the test pattern with a SMPTE Color Bars with a "News Channel 3" logo with the current gold "3" and NBC peacock logo with the station ID's which is the current digital ID as well as its former digital ID as KIEM-DT, which call letters used until the US Digital Transition in 2009 and its slogan as "The Spirit of the North Coast" on the bottom of the pattern, as KIEM has no US National Anthem at Sign-Off and Sign-On and as a result, the station does not air any national NBC networked All Night block or syndicated overnight programming on early Sunday and Monday Mornings.
News Operation
Since 1996, KIEM is the only station on the North Coast airing a full local news schedule, seven days weekly. KIEM currently programs news beginning with hourly inserts during The Today Show starting at 7:26 a.m., instead of a full morning newscast, and instead broadcasting Early Today, a early-morning news program from NBC News at 5:00 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. and sandwiched by syndicated news shows AgDay and First Business at 5:30 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. and full 30-minute broadcasts at 5pm, 6pm, and 11pm on weeknights, 6:00 and 11:00 pm weekends as the station also does not have a midday or weekend morning newscast. KIEM-TV is the North Coast's only locally staffed and operated television station. The other operations are mostly satellite operations of their "mother" facilities in the Chico-Redding, CA market. As of November 2014, KAEF ABC 23 airs a 30-minute newscast at 6pm and KBVU Fox 28 airs a 30-minute newscast at 10:00 pm on weekdays which originate from their studios in Eureka. As of October 19, 2015, KAEF ABC 23 began airing a newscast at 11:00 pm on weeknights. The station produces and has staffed the region's only local news department including a full-time meteorologist and full LIVE Truck capability. During recent flood and other local emergencies, the station provided around the clock LIVE news coverage. Utilizing back-up generators at both transmitter and studio locations, KIEM-TV provided the North Coast region with its only instantaneous outlet for emergency news coverage. This kind of local commitment has garnered KIEM many industry awards and recognition for outstanding coverage.
The station has a fully staffed production department. It, too, has been the recipient of outstanding creative service to the advertising community.
High Definition
As of May 2016, KIEM's local newscasts are not available in high definition in contrast to KAEF ABC 23 and its sister station KBVU Fox 28 which present their local newscasts in high definition.
Notable former on-air staff
Translators
KIEM is rebroadcast on the following translator stations: