KRZB-TV
KRZB-TV, UHF analog channel 26, was an independent television station licensed to Hot Springs, Arkansas, United States, which operated from 1986 to 1988. It closed due to financial mismanagement and awaiting efforts to complete a major facility upgrade that would have increased the station's advertising and viewership base. The dormant license was ultimately purchased and used to build KVTH, the Hot Springs transmitter of the Victory Television Network.
On September 9, 1982, Razorback Television Broadcasting, a firm formed by two men from Minden, Louisiana—Herman Drew and Dr. Robert Kemmerly—applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a new television station on channel 26 to serve Hot Springs. The FCC granted the application on May 2, 1983, and Drew and Kemmerly announced they would have KRZB-TV on air by January 1985 as a local independent heavy on movies.[2]
Razorback sold channel 26, still unbuilt, in 1985 to PPD&G Corporation of Hot Springs. The new owners announced they would maintain the proposed independent format and slated an early 1986 launch for KRZB-TV.[3] Construction also began on a building on the south side of Hot Springs to house the new station's studios, while a transmitter was built atop Jack Mountain.[4] The site on Corporate Terrace near the Hot Springs Mall, though, attracted some political controversy. The property was owned by Jim Randall, the mayor of Hot Springs, and some raised concerns on whether him leasing the site to the station constituted a conflict of interest.[5]
Channel 26 began broadcasting on February 7, 1986.[6] Local programming included a recap of racing at Oaklawn Park[7] and news inserts,[8] complemented by such syndicated programs as The Merv Griffin Show, The Love Boat, and Barnaby Jones.[6] The station also produced local programs spotlighting Hot Springs' tourist industry and informing visitors.[9]
In February 1987, rumors began circulating that a majority stake in KRZB-TV was to be sold to Melvyn Bell of Little Rock, whose company Environmental Systems Co. handled hazardous waste disposal of PCBs at an incinerator in El Dorado and who had begun major investments in a variety of fields, from real estate to food service.[10][11] Don Pittman—who owned that majority stake and was one of the two Ps in PPD&G—had recently lost the city's advertising contract, and one of his companies had filed for bankruptcy.[12] The sale of majority control in channel 26 was announced on March 12, along with a "sweeping" change in programming, including the addition of Texas Rangers and Houston Astros baseball games.[13]
The FCC approved the stock transfer in late May, and the deal was consummated in July.[14] In addition to moving the studios to the Medical Arts Building downtown, which it owned,[15] Bell also made an immediate proposal for a technical upgrade that involved relocating the transmitter to a site on Indian Mountain that was also property of Bell Equities. However, the idea of a 1,056-foot (322 m) mast attracted opposition from the aviation community. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association expressed concern that the tower would be in the federal airway between the Hot Springs Municipal Airport and Little Rock, requiring planes to fly at a higher elevation and potentially into clouds in bad weather.[16]
