The McClung years (1953–1994)
On July 5, 1952, the Golden Empire Broadcasting Company applied to build a new television station on channel 12 to serve Chico. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the construction permit on March 11, 1953, enabling work on KHSL-TV to begin.[2] Just over a month later, the building to house the station's transmitter in Paradise was completed; work was also under way on the station's studio, which was located in a former auto garage at Fourth and Wall streets in Chico.[3] The Chico Enterprise-Record shunned mention of the new television station, going as far as to remove references to KHSL in photography where warranted, fearing the new media outlet would dilute its revenue.[4]
KHSL-TV began regular broadcasting on August 29, 1953.[5] Several days earlier, it had put out its first test patterns, which were a particular disappointment to hopeful viewers in Redding. While Chico and Red Bluff enjoyed good reception from the site, the signal in Redding was weak and heavily affected by multipath ghosting.[6] A local television dealer pushed to set up an early cable television system to provide good KHSL-TV pictures to Redding viewers from an antenna on South Fork Mountain, but the station made the point moot by instead moving its transmitter.[7] The station began transmitting from the higher Cohasset Ridge in September 1954, adding an estimated 50,000 homes to its coverage area.[8] Days later, the station suffered a control panel fire but was able to make repairs in time to air Game 2 of the 1954 World Series.[9]
When it launched, KHSL-TV was an affiliate of CBS and NBC.[10] The station joined the Pacific Coast regional network of ABC in October 1953[11] but was not formally named an ABC affiliate until June 1954.[12] It was also affiliated with the DuMont Television Network by September 1954; that network closed in September 1955. KHSL-TV disaffiliated from NBC on July 31, 1956, retaining CBS and ABC; though it cited its heavy load of network programming,[13] the next day, NBC programs moved to the new channel 7 (originally KVIP, now KRCR-TV) from Redding.[14] In 1960, KVIP-TV and sister station KVIQ-TV
In its early years, KHSL-TV produced a number of local programs. The Paul Bunyan Show was noteworthy for being the springboard for actor Richard Kiel for a year in 1963; in addition to hosting the children's show, he was channel 12's merchandising director.[17] Another early show that turned into a station fixture was The Moriss Taylor Show, hosted by Taylor—a country musician who for much of the time doubled as a DJ on KHSL radio.[18] His program aired from 1956 to the mid-1990s.
KHSL-TV remained at the Fourth and Wall studios in Chico for three decades until June 1984, when it moved into new facilities at Silverbell and Eaton roads. The site, part of a combined facility with KHSL radio, offered twice as much room for the stations.[21] The original studios were used to start a new station for Chico, NBC affiliate KCPM (channel 24, now KNVN), which began in 1985.[22]
In October 1994, KHSL-TV was sold to United Communications Corporation, which owned media properties in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and New York state. The McClung family continued to own the associated KHSL radio stations.[23] KHSL-TV was purchased by Catamount Broadcasting in 1998.[24]
Merger with KNVN
In 2000, Florida-based Bill Evans Communications acquired KNVN (the former KCPM[25]) from Grapevine Communications, which was seeking to sell its only television station holding west of the Rocky Mountains. Evans immediately began discussing a shared services agreement (SSA) with Catamount to utilize KHSL-TV resources to support KNVN in areas such as engineering, promotion, and production. As initially conceived, the SSA also contemplated a limited amount of sharing among the stations' news departments, primarily among reporters.[26] <section begin="knvn-shared"/>Beginning in 2001, news output was gradually consolidated among the two stations,[27] which had previously served separate demographics with KHSL appealing to an older audience.[28][29] In late 2001, the stations combined their morning newscasts, and in January 2002, the two stations began airing common weekend newscasts, titled NCN (Northern California News).[30]
Heartland and Allen ownership
GOCOM sold KHSL-TV to USA Television Holdings, a joint venture of Heartland Media and MSouth Equity Partners, for $40million in 2015. Concurrently, K4 Media Holdings sold KNVN to Maxair Media, with KHSL-TV continuing to provide services to KNVN and sell up to 15 percent of channel 24's advertising time.[38][39] Byron Allen, through his Entertainment Studios division, purchased 11 of the Heartland stations, including KHSL-TV, in a deal announced in 2019 and completed in 2020.[40][41]
On January 17, 2025, Allen Media Group announced plans to cut local meteorologist/weather forecaster positions from its stations, including KHSL/KNVN, and replacing them with a "weather hub" produced by The Weather Channel, which AMG also owns. The decision was reversed within a week by management in response to "viewer and advertiser reaction".[42]
