KGEB

KGEB

Tulsa, Oklahoma United States
Channels	Digital: 12 (VHF) Virtual: 53
Branding	GEB Network
Programming
Affiliations	53.1: GEB America 53.2: Shop LC 53.3: Buzzr 53.4: Religious 53.5: Quest 53.6: GetTV 53.7: HSN
Ownership
Owner	Oral Roberts University (University Broadcasting, Inc.)
History
First air date	January 24, 1996 (1996-01-24)
Former call signs	KWMJ (1996–1999)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 53 (UHF, 1996–2009) Digital: 49 (UHF, 2009–2018)
Former affiliations	DT2: Light TV (2019–2021) DT3: Dabl (until 2021) Shop LC (until 2021) DT5: Shop LC (until 2021)
Call sign meaning	Golden Eagle Broadcasting (refers to the Golden Eagles, Oral Roberts University's mascot and sports teams)
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	24485
ERP	21.5 kW
HAAT	182 m (597 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	36°2′35″N 95°57′12″W
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	www.kgeb.net

KGEB, virtual channel 53 (VHF digital channel 12), is a religious independent television station licensed to Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. The station is owned by Oral Roberts University. KGEB's studios are located at the Mabee Center on the ORU campus in south Tulsa, and its transmitter is atop the CityPlex Towers (located south of the campus).

KGEB's programming is distributed throughout the United States as GEB America on satellite provider DirecTV, IPTV provider Sky Angel and select cable systems.

History

The station first signed on the air on January 24, 1996, as KWMJ; when it began operations, the station maintained a 24-hour family-oriented programming format, consisting mostly of religious programs along with a few classic and public domain television programs.

In June 1999, during the broadcast of two children's programs that aired on the station, KWMJ ran an advertisement for a videotape of the program that was being aired at the time, followed by an commercial for a toy resembling a character from that program. Under the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s Children's Television Act, the usage of character tie-ins in advertising during children's programs is treated as a program-length commercial in violation with an advertising clause in the Act. The station originally was to be fined $8,000, but KGEB managed to get the fine reduced by 20% as remedial action had been taken and there had not been any other problems since then; this was also because the error came from a syndicator that distributed the program and not KWMJ.

The station changed its callsign to KGEB on November 29, 1999, becoming the originating station of the Golden Eagle Broadcasting (now GEB America) network (the KGEB call letters were used fictionally in the 1953 science-fiction film adaptation of The War of the Worlds, appearing on the truck and microphone of a radio news reporter covering the Army's first engagement with the Martian invaders). By this point, the station gradually shifted towards a lineup mainly featuring religious programming, including programs produced by the station—such as weekly services from the ORU Chapel—as well as syndicated religious programs (both those distributed exclusively to religious broadcasters and those distributed to both religious and commercial broadcasters)—including programs from televangelists such as James Robison, Jim Bakker, Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer, as well as a very sparse amount of secular programming and a block of children's programs complying with the FCC's educational programming guidelines on Saturdays.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel	Video	Aspect	Short name	Programming
53.1	1080i	16:9	KGEB-HD	Main KGEB programming / GEB America
53.2	480i		SHOP-LC	Shop LC
53.3			BUZZR	Buzzr
53.4			ORU	Religious
53.5			QUEST	Quest
53.6			GET-TV	GetTV
53.7		4:3	HSN	HSN

Analog-to-digital conversion

KGEB shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 53, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 49. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 53, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

External links

• KGEB official website
• GEB America official website
• Oral Roberts University official website
• Template:BIA