KVEA

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = KVEA
city =
station_
station_slogan = Mejorando Su Vida
"(Improving Your Life)"
station_branding = Telemundo 52
analog = 52 (UHF)
digital = 39 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = Telemundo
network =
founded =
airdate = June 29, 1966
location = Corona/Los Angeles, California
callsign_meaning = VEA = watch (in Spanish)
former_callsigns = KMTW-TV (1966-1968)
KBSC-TV (1968-1985)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = NBC Universal, Inc.
licensee = NBC Telemundo License Company
sister_stations = KNBC, KWHY-TV
former_affiliations = independent (1966-1985)
NetSpan (1985-1987)
effective_radiated_power = 2510 kW (analog)
54 kW (digital)
HAAT = 907 m (analog)
911.8 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 19783
coordinates = coord|34|12|47.8|N|118|3|44.2|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.telemundola.com/ www.telemundola.com]

KVEA, "Telemundo 52" is an NBC-owned and operated television station in the Los Angeles area, and is the West Coast flagship station of the Telemundo network.

History

Channel 52 started as KMTW-TV on June 29, 1966, owned and operated by Mount Wilson Broadcasting. It was the third commercial UHF station in Los Angeles, after KIIX-TV (channel 22, later KPOL-TV and now KWHY-TV) and KMEX-TV, channel 34, which debuted in 1962. In 1971, it became a part of the Kaiser Broadcasting family of UHF stations in San Francisco (KBHK); Chicago (WFLD); Cleveland ( [WKBF, which would go dark in 1975 and become WCLQ in 1980, and then WQHS-TV in 1986); Boston (WKBG, now WLVI); Detroit (WKBD); and Philadelphia (WKBS, which would go dark in 1983, and whose signal later became WGTW-TV). Kaiser changed the call letters to KBSC-TV (for Kaiser Broadcasting Southern California).

KBSC was never a serious competitor against KTLA-TV, KHJ, KTTV, and KCOP-TV. Not only was the station on UHF during a period when few receivers were equipped to receive UHF broadcasts, there simply wasn't enough programming to go around even in a market as large as Los Angeles. The station operated on a half-day schedule, usually signing on in the early afternoon and leaving the air in the late evening. KBSC offered a general entertainment format with cartoons, film shorts, sitcoms, and old movies. Programming on weekday afternoons was aimed squarely at children, with Japanese cartoons dubbed into English including "Speed Racer", "Kimba the White Lion", "Ultraman", "Johnny Sokko" and "Gigantor" along with compilations of comedy short subjects by The Three Stooges and The Little Rascals. KBSC also showed some programs produced by other Kaiser stations, such as WKBD's "Lou Gordon Program", which was shown at least twice each week in the same timeslot on Saturdays and Sundays in the early 1970s. Programs rarely flowed from one to the other; most of the children's programming was punctuated by long breaks consisting of a shot of the station's logo backed by the Bert Kaempfert single, "That Happy Feeling." The logo, depicting a black number 52 joined together at the top within the shape of a white television screen along with the call letters and cities of license together with the song started the broadcast day as well.

In 1976, Kaiser exited broadcasting, and sold most of its stations to its partner, Field Communications. However, KBSC wasn't included in the deal because of its low ratings, and it was sold to Oak Communications. The general entertainment format stayed on from noon to 7:00 PM. After 7:00 PM on weekdays, and after 2:00 PM on weekends, due to the subscription TV boom, Channel 52 became the Los Angeles-area outlet for the ON-TV service, which carried movies and live sports.

In 1978 the station began 24 hour operations, running ON-TV from 6:00 PM until 6:00 AM daily. The station ran public affairs and religious shows from 6:00 AM to noon. In 1979, KBSC sold its general entertainment shows to KTLA. The station retained its religious programming from 6:00 AM-9:00 AM and ON-TV after 6:00 PM, and began to run Spanish programming from 9:00 AM-6:00 PM on weekdays and from 9:00 AM-1:00 PM on Saturdays. The station ran religious programming from 6:00 AM-1:00 PM on Sundays.

In 1980, the station started to show Spanish programming from 6:00 AM-6:00 PM on weekdays and 6:00 AM-12:00 PM on weekends and kept ON-TV for the rest of the day. In 1982, the station started showing only ON-TV or a scrambled signal 24 hours a day.

In September 1985, KBSC was sold to Miami-based NetSpan, which became Telemundo in 1987. The ON-TV subscription/scrambled format was dropped. Channel 52 became KVEA. The KBSC call letters are currently used by KBSC-LP, an America One affiliate in Brookings, Oregon.

On September 15, 2007, KVEA became the second Spanish language television station in the United States to offer its news broadcasts in HDTV (Reno-based KAZR-CA is the first), also making it the 6th broadcast television station in the Los Angeles DMA to broadcast local news in HD .

Newscasts

On January 15, 2001, KVEA launched a number of news programs in order to compete with powerhouse KMEX. From 6:00 AM to 7:00 AM, "Buenos Dias Los Angeles" began transmission. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the station increased the "Buenos Dias" coverage by an hour, starting at 5:00 AM. The show was anchored by seasoned Mexican journalist and former CBS Telenoticias reporter, Ruben Luengas, anchor Azalea Iniguez, and Sal Morales in charge of weather and the lighter side of the news. Iniguez was KVEA's weeknight anchor who came to Los Angeles from her native Mexico. Morales, the 6 and 11 pm weather anchor for sister station KSTS-48, San Francisco was asked to join the team. Morales used to sub for Luengas when he was on vacation or working on an assignment. California Highway Patrol officer Guillermo Preciado joined them later on, providing traffic reports. This concept began the element of "familia unida" implemented by news director Al Corral, which operates on the idea that Hispanic people are loyal to what they know and will shy away from getting anything from another source, including news. They clicked from day one, their real chemistry increased the viewership in the time slot. The ratings went up, and "Buenos Dias" came to be perceived as a real contender with KMEX's morning show, "Primera Edicion". At present, this team is no longer in place. Only Azalea Iniguez remained in the mornings as head anchor for "Buenos Dias".

At 6:00 and 11:00 PM, KVEA relaunched Noticiero 52 a las 6, with new graphics, new music, and a new anchor team: Lucia Navarro, plucked from KTMD, the Telemundo station in Houston; Vicente Calderon, a reporter from Tijuana; and Mario Solis. The immensely popular Solis left after a disagreement with the station's management and ended up working for KNBC-TV, doing weekend sports. (Solis is also now a weekend talk show host on liberal talk radio station KTLK.) Mauricio Cardenas took his place. Vicente Calderon in turn saw his position shifted to KWHY, the newly acquired independent station, to anchor the 10:00 PM news with Pilar Gariboto. Navarro was joined by Raul Peimbert, former Telemundo/TELENOTICIAS news anchor. Peimbert then left the station to take a government position in his native Mexico. Viewers were never able to familiarize themselves with the afternoon news team, resulting in low ratings. Management heralded the arrival of Eduardo Quezada, a longtime Univision anchor, to join Navarro at 6:00 and 11:00 PM. In early 2006, it was decided that Navarro and Quezada would give up the 11:00 p.m. newscast for a new show to be anchored by ex-morning news anchor Ruben Luengas. Luengas is now competing with former co-worker Raul Peimbert, who has returned to Southern California to anchor the KMEX evening news.

KVEA also decided to be competitive on the weekends, producing newscasts to be anchored by former weeknight anchor Mirthala Salinas and former TV Azteca early prime anchor Eduardo Blancas, with Carolina Davalos doing the weather. Salinas eventually left the anchor desk and Azucena Gomez took her place. Blancas was let go, and former KTLA weekend sports anchor Claudia Trejos joined the fray, but not for long. She decided only a year after her hire to move to the network headquarters in Hialeah, Florida. She is no longer with the network.

NBC bought Telemundo in 2001 and included Channel 52 with NBC-owned and operated KNBC and KWHY and moved the station's news, promotions, and senior management operations to its Burbank facility.

In 2006, Eduardo Quezada left the station. That same year, the station branded their 11:00 p.m newscast "En Contexto," anchored by Luengas. This move became a complete success. "En Contexto" went on to become an award winning show. Replacing Luengas on 'Buenos Dias' was sports announcer and former KVEA weekend sports anchor, Adrian Garcia Marquez, who joined Azalea Iniguez. The new 'Buenos Dias' team included entertainment reporter, Victor Cordero and weather anchor Ericka Pino. After a successful ratings run, the team was changed again in the summer of 2007. Garcia Marquez was let go and moved on to Fox Sports. Soon after, Iniguez took a leave of absence for personal reasons. Since then 'Buenos Dias' has struggled. The show is now temporarily being anchored by Dinorah Perez, who is also a reporter, and network weekend anchor, Rogelio Mora Tagle, who is currently in contract negotiations with KVEA. Telemundo Network will eliminate the Weekend Edition of Noticiero Telemundo, leaving Mora Tagle without a job.

Also in 2006, NBC's 2.0 plan hit behind and in front of the cameras. Reporter Osmin Rodriguez, was let go as well as KWHY anchor Vicente Calderon. Jose Ronstadt took over the newscasts.

In July 3, 2007, a scandal erupted when Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa admitted to the Los Angeles Daily News that he had been having an extramarital affair with Telemundo 52's own reporter, Mirthala Salinas. http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=local&id=5445161. As a result, Telemundo's Miami management replaced Manuel Abud, KVEA's general manager with Miami's WSCV-Telemundo 51, GM, Mike Rodriguez. News Director Al Corral was placed on a two month leave of absence alongside Mirthala Salinas.

Rodriguez now faces the task of the troubled news organization and the morale of employees. Rodriguez though has made it clear that he is not taking the job permanently, as his wife lives in the East coast of the United States and have a home in Miami.

Newscasts

Weekdays

* "Buenos Dias Los Angeles" - 5:00 - 8:00 a.m.
* "Al Mediodia" - 11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
* "Noticiero Telemundo 52 A Las 6 p.m." - 6:00 - 6:30 p.m.
* "En Contexto" - 11:00 - 11:35 p.m.

aturdays & Sundays

* "Noticiero Telemundo 52 A Las 6 p.m." - 6:00 - 6:30 p.m.
* "Noticiero Telemundo 52 A Las 11 p.m." - 11:00 - 11:30 p.m.

External links

* [http://www.telemundola.com/ TelemundoLA.com - Portada]
*TVQ|KVEA
*BIA|KVEA|TV|TV