This article is about the former television station in Cleveland, Ohio.

For the current channel 61 in Cleveland, see WQHS-TV. This page is about the existing television station in Cleveland Ohio.

WKBF-TV
Cleveland, Ohio
Branding	WKBF Channel 61
Channels	Analog: 61 (UHF)
Affiliations	defunct (off the air in 1975)
Owner	Kaiser Broadcasting (1968-1975) Field Communications (co-owner with Kaiser, 1973-1975)
Founded	January 19, 1968
Call letters’ meaning	W Kaiser Broadcasting F
Former affiliations	Independent (1968-75)

WKBF-TV channel 61 was an Independent television station serving the Cleveland, Ohio market owned by a joint venture between Kaiser Broadcasting and Field Communications (the latter owned a minority stake in the station from 1972 to 1975). Cleveland is a City in the US state of Ohio and the County seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state A brand is a collection of Images and ideas representing an economic producer more specifically it refers to the descriptive verbal attributes and concrete symbols such as a In Broadcasting, a channel is a range of frequencies (or equivalently Wavelengths assigned by a government for the operation of a particular Television Analog (or analogue) television encodes Television picture and sound information and transmits it as an Analog signal: one in which the Year 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Ownership is the state or fact of exclusive rights and control over Property, which may be an object, land/real estate, Intellectual property Kaiser Broadcasting was the name of an entity that owned and operated Broadcast television stations in the United States from 1958 to 1977 Year 1968 ( MCMLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Field Communications was a division of Field Enterprises, which owned the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Daily News Year 1973 ( MCMLXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. Year 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1419 - Hundred Years' War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England completing his reconquest of Normandy. Year 1968 ( MCMLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. In Broadcasting and Radio communications a call sign (also known as a callsign or call letters, or abbreviated as a call, or otherwise Independent station is a term for a broadcast radio or Television station which is more independent in some way compared to other "dependent" Independent station is a term for a broadcast radio or Television station which is more independent in some way compared to other "dependent" Cleveland is a City in the US state of Ohio and the County seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state Kaiser Broadcasting was the name of an entity that owned and operated Broadcast television stations in the United States from 1958 to 1977 Field Communications was a division of Field Enterprises, which owned the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Daily News Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. WKBF is perhaps the least remembered for its position in television history, although many nationally recognized broadcast professionals began their career at the station. It was the first commercial UHF station in northeast Ohio. It was located on St. Clair Avenue in Euclid, Ohio. Euclid is a city in Cuyahoga County Ohio, United States. It is part of the Greater Cleveland Metropolitan Its microwave Studio-Transmitter Link (STL) was assigned the microwave license of KZM-32.

History

1968-1975

Channel 61 began operation on January 19, 1968 as WKBF-TV. Events 1419 - Hundred Years' War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England completing his reconquest of Normandy. Year 1968 ( MCMLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. It was the first commercial UHF station in Cuyahoga County. Cuyahoga County (pronounced /ˌkaɪəˈhɔgə/ or /ˌkaɪəˈhoːgə/ is a County located in the state of Ohio, United States. Its studios were located on St. Clair Avenue in Euclid. Euclid is a city in Cuyahoga County Ohio, United States. It is part of the Greater Cleveland Metropolitan It was part of the Kaiser Broadcasting chain of stations that included WKBD-TV in Detroit, WKBS-TV (frequency now occupied by WGTW-TV) in Philadelphia, WKBG-TV (now WLVI-TV) in Boston, WFLD-TV in Chicago, KBHK-TV (now KBCW) in San Francisco, and KBSC-TV (now KVEA) in Los Angeles. Kaiser Broadcasting was the name of an entity that owned and operated Broadcast television stations in the United States from 1958 to 1977 WKBD, channel 50 is an owned-and-operated station of the CW Television Network, based in Detroit Michigan. WKBS-TV was an independent television station licensed to Burlington New Jersey, which served the Philadelphia Pennsylvania area from 1965 to 1983 WGTW-TV, channel 48 is a Trinity Broadcasting Network -owned and operated television station licensed to Burlington New Jersey, and serving the Philadelphia Philadelphia (ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə WLVI-TV, channel 56 is a CW Television Network affiliate licensed to Cambridge Massachusetts, and serving the Boston Massachusetts television market WFLD, channel 32 is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation -owned Fox Broadcasting Company, based in Chicago Illinois. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city 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 Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West When WKBF came to the air, its first day of broadcast was delayed due to one of the worst local snow storms that winter. The first video transmitted was a simple sentence on a hand lettered message board "We made it Cleveland", with a 1,000 hertz tone (normally used for system calibration).

Ad for WKBF's "10 O'Clock News," taken in 1968

WKBF attempted to bring unique programs into the market to gain profitability. Under news director Alan DePetro, the station began a 10 p. m. newscast, simply called "The 10 O'Clock news". Its anchor, John Herrington, later moved to WKYC. WKYC-TV, channel 3 is an NBC -affiliated television station located in Cleveland Ohio, owned by the Gannett Company. (John Herrington died in 2007. )

WKBF also ran a children's show named Captain Cleveland, where the viewer never actually saw the captain, only John (John Slowey, a local ventriloquist) and his puppet buddy Clem who performed on the station from 1969 to 1974. Additionally, the station aired traditional cartoons, anime (8th Man), syndicated shows (such as McHale's Navy), old movies, and public affairs programming. or is a fictional Manga and Anime Superhero created in 1963 by writer Kazumasa Hirai and artist Jiro Kuwata. McHale's Navy is an American television Sitcom series The series ran for 138 half-hour episodes from September 11 1962 to August 20 1966 on It also brought special interest sports programming into the market such as Canadian football Cincinnati Royals NBA Basketball and harness racing. The Canadian Football League (CFL ( Ligue canadienne de football (LCF in Harness racing is a form of Horse-racing in which the horses race in a specified gait By 1973, Kaiser had sold a 22. 5% share of WKBF to Field Communications, but continued with a majority share of the station.

Other programming on WKBF included the late-night weekend horror movies hosted by Ron Sweed, who's on-air character was named "The Ghoul. Ron Sweed, (born 1950 Cleveland Ohio) is an American entertainer best known for his late-night Television Horror host character The Ghoul " The Ghoul character was essentially a beatnik vampire, outfitted in a fright wig, goatee, lab coat, and sunglasses with one lens missing. Vampires are mythological or folkloric revenants who subsist by feeding on the blood of the living A wig is a head of Hair made from horse-hair human hair wool feathers buffalo hair or synthetic worn on the head for fashion or various other aesthetic and stylistic In the traditional taxonomy of facial hair a goatee is a Beard formed by a tuft of hair on the chin A white coat or laboratory coat (abbreviated lab coat) is a knee-length overcoat/ Smock worn by professionals in the medical field or by those Sunglasses or sun glasses are a visual aid variously termed Spectacles or Glasses, which feature lenses that are coloured or darkened to prevent strong It was patterned after (and with the permission to do so) of the Ghoulardi character created by Ernie Anderson, later to become the voice of the ABC network in the 1970's. Ghoulardi was a Fictional character invented and portrayed by Disc jockey, voice Announcer, and Actor Ernie Anderson ( November Ernie Anderson ( November 12 1923 &ndash February 6 1997) was an American Television and Radio, voice announcer The American Broadcasting Company ( ABC) is an American Television network. While Anderson had no interest in doing so, he granted Sweed permission to don the costume. Because WJW owned the rights to the name "Ghoulardi," the younger performer adopted the name "The Ghoul. " Although WKBF has long since passed into broadcasting history, Sweed continues to makes personal appearances in this guise today.

WKBF was also the first northern Ohio station to support the now famous Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. The Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon is hosted by Jerry Lewis to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The local inserts were hosted by Linn Sheldon (of Barnaby fame) a career broadcaster whose work in the Cleveland market set national standards in children programming at Cleveland's channel 3 (WKYC/KYW). WKYC-TV, channel 3 is an NBC -affiliated television station located in Cleveland Ohio, owned by the Gannett Company.

Despite the quality of the local programming, the syndication of the original Star Trek was the most profitable program in terms of advertising revenue. With the popularity of Trek, WKBF began a trend that other stations (including others in the Kaiser/Field chain) would come to copy. WKBF had decided to rebroadcast the 80-episode series in the exact order of play that NBC had done when it was a network show. The National Broadcasting Company ( NBC) is an American Television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's They also ran it in its original length, without editing. At the time, stations were allowed (by the Television Code of the National Association of Broadcasters, not the Federal Communications Commission) the ability to run 20 percent more commercials than network programming. The Code of Practices for Television Broadcasters was a set of ethical standards adopted by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB for television National Association of Broadcasters (NAB is a trade association representing the interests of for-profit over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States

WKBF was one of two commercial independent stations in the Cleveland market back in the early 1970s, along with WUAB. WUAB, identified on-air as "My43 WUAB" is the MyNetworkTV affiliate in Cleveland Ohio. A third UHF station also existed, but was the non-profit PBS (then NET) station WVIZ. The Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS) is a Non-profit Public broadcasting Television service with 354 member TV stations in the WVIZ is a public television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In April, 1975, United Artists (WUAB's owner) sold a partial stake in WUAB to Kaiser/Field. This article is about the film studio Previously it was affiliated with a cinema chain bearing its name now owned by Regal Entertainment Group. As the F. C. C. rules at the time did not allow for ownership of more than one station in any market by the same owner or group owner, Kaiser/Field opted to shut down WKBF and augment WUAB's programming assets with the better part of Kaiser's Cleveland assets (mostly programming), after the station went dark. At no time did WUAB operate under (full or partial) Kaiser ownership. Kaiser, partnered (as a minority shareholder) with United Artists operations in the spring of 1975.

During WKBF's final moments on the air, the station manager thanked the community for its support, and attributed the decision to fold the WKBF operation to "static market growth" and "the creation of a second (commercial UHF) station in less than a year". The channel 61 license was fully returned to the FCC, which closed the opportunity to transfer the license to another owner. It is here that the history of channel 61 breaks, with WKBF's history considered separate from that of WCLQ/WQHS.

1975 to 1980: The dark years

Rumors abounded concerning potential companies that could file for the Channel 61 license in Cleveland, yet none came forward right away. In 1980, Balaban Communications purchased a new, separate license for Channel 61. They signed the station on later that year under the call letters WCLQ-TV (the station would later change the call letters to WQHS-TV). This page is about the existing television station in Cleveland Ohio. The station is now an affiliate of the Spanish language Univision network. Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States and Puerto Rico.