Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 0 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Hub AI
KNAT-TV AI simulator
(@KNAT-TV_simulator)
Hub AI
KNAT-TV AI simulator
(@KNAT-TV_simulator)
KNAT-TV
KNAT-TV (channel 23) is a religious television station in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, owned and operated by the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). The station's transmitter is located on Sandia Crest.
KNAT-TV formerly operated from a studio located on Coors Boulevard in northwestern Albuquerque. That facility was one of several closed by TBN in 2019 following the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s abolition of the "Main Studio Rule", which required full-service television stations like KNAT-TV to maintain facilities in or near their communities of license.
Channel 23 began broadcasting as KMXN-TV on August 10, 1975. It was owned by Spanish Television of New Mexico, headed by state senator Odis Echols, and affiliated with the Spanish International Network, broadcasting from a transmitter atop the Western Bank Building.
Problems emerged with the station's management more than a year after it began operations. At the start of 1977, Herbert Taylor, a former officer of Spanish Television of New Mexico, sued Echols, fellow state senator C. B. Trujillo of Taos, and John Aragon, stockholder and president of New Mexico Highlands University, alleging that the three were using KMXN-TV to provide advertising kickbacks and for other political purposes. The First National Bank sued the station in December 1977, claiming it had defaulted on a $67,500 loan made in March 1976; by that time, Echols had stepped down.
Channel 23 also began to branch out beyond Spanish-language shows. When ABC affiliate KOAT-TV (channel 7) decided not to air Monday Night Baseball, KMXN-TV stepped in to carry it instead; the station then added high school football games.
In 1978, Eddie Peña began buying out the partners of Spanish Television of New Mexico. Peña was granted a construction permit the next year to move the transmitter from downtown to Sandia Crest, the main tower site for the Albuquerque area.
Peña also prepared a total relaunch of channel 23's programming. The station shifted to an English-language independent—New Mexico's first—on May 19, 1980, and took on the call letters KLKK-TV. As part of the changes, channel 23 disaffiliated from SIN, which Peña blamed for providing Latin American programming that was not well received in the Albuquerque market. Local productions included pre-existing shows from the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce that had aired on KMXN-TV, as well as Pueblo Speaks, focusing on Native American issues, and a live call-in show. SIN would not be gone from Albuquerque for long, as a translator carrying the network began broadcasting in August.
Not long after the relaunch, Peña began seeking buyers. Rumors circulated as early as the spring of 1981 that channel 23 would be sold. When fired general manager Milt Ledet sued the station for breach of contract at year's end, he revealed that a sale was near, and that he was entitled to two percent of the proceeds. While a $7 million purchase by Malcolm Glazer was reported, it was another buyer that would win out in April: Carson Communications Corporation. A star-studded consortium headed by Johnny Carson and with Neil Simon, David Letterman, Joan Rivers and Paul Anka as other investors, Carson Communications acquired the station and its programming contracts for a total of $3.6 million.
KNAT-TV
KNAT-TV (channel 23) is a religious television station in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, owned and operated by the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). The station's transmitter is located on Sandia Crest.
KNAT-TV formerly operated from a studio located on Coors Boulevard in northwestern Albuquerque. That facility was one of several closed by TBN in 2019 following the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s abolition of the "Main Studio Rule", which required full-service television stations like KNAT-TV to maintain facilities in or near their communities of license.
Channel 23 began broadcasting as KMXN-TV on August 10, 1975. It was owned by Spanish Television of New Mexico, headed by state senator Odis Echols, and affiliated with the Spanish International Network, broadcasting from a transmitter atop the Western Bank Building.
Problems emerged with the station's management more than a year after it began operations. At the start of 1977, Herbert Taylor, a former officer of Spanish Television of New Mexico, sued Echols, fellow state senator C. B. Trujillo of Taos, and John Aragon, stockholder and president of New Mexico Highlands University, alleging that the three were using KMXN-TV to provide advertising kickbacks and for other political purposes. The First National Bank sued the station in December 1977, claiming it had defaulted on a $67,500 loan made in March 1976; by that time, Echols had stepped down.
Channel 23 also began to branch out beyond Spanish-language shows. When ABC affiliate KOAT-TV (channel 7) decided not to air Monday Night Baseball, KMXN-TV stepped in to carry it instead; the station then added high school football games.
In 1978, Eddie Peña began buying out the partners of Spanish Television of New Mexico. Peña was granted a construction permit the next year to move the transmitter from downtown to Sandia Crest, the main tower site for the Albuquerque area.
Peña also prepared a total relaunch of channel 23's programming. The station shifted to an English-language independent—New Mexico's first—on May 19, 1980, and took on the call letters KLKK-TV. As part of the changes, channel 23 disaffiliated from SIN, which Peña blamed for providing Latin American programming that was not well received in the Albuquerque market. Local productions included pre-existing shows from the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce that had aired on KMXN-TV, as well as Pueblo Speaks, focusing on Native American issues, and a live call-in show. SIN would not be gone from Albuquerque for long, as a translator carrying the network began broadcasting in August.
Not long after the relaunch, Peña began seeking buyers. Rumors circulated as early as the spring of 1981 that channel 23 would be sold. When fired general manager Milt Ledet sued the station for breach of contract at year's end, he revealed that a sale was near, and that he was entitled to two percent of the proceeds. While a $7 million purchase by Malcolm Glazer was reported, it was another buyer that would win out in April: Carson Communications Corporation. A star-studded consortium headed by Johnny Carson and with Neil Simon, David Letterman, Joan Rivers and Paul Anka as other investors, Carson Communications acquired the station and its programming contracts for a total of $3.6 million.