KKOG-TV

KKOG-TV, channel 16 was the first full power broadcast station in Ventura County, California. The station. located in Ventura, had a brief history, lasting only nine months. Starting up on December 14, 1968, KKOG, and independent station, offered live, local programming instead of the normal syndicated programming most independents offered. Channel 16 offered its final programming on September 13, 1969. Ultimately, the channel 16 freqency was transferred from television usage in Ventura to mobile radio usage in Los Angeles. Ultimately, Ventura County got finally got a new local TV station in 1985, when KTIE-TV, channel 63 in Oxnard (now KBEH) signed on. 5 years later, in 1990, KSTV (now KJLA) signed on the air on channel 57 in Ventura.

Channel 16 failed for the following reasons.

1) The station, like most UHF stations at the time, had very little ERP (Effective Radiated Power). While many UHF stations now broadcast with 2 to 5 million watts, KKOG had only around 349,500 watts of power, making its grade A and Grade B coverage area too small.

2) The tranmitter for KKOG was on Red Mountain, between Ventura and Ojai. This meant the signal came in from the back side of TV attennas pointed toward Mt. Wilson in Los Angeles.

3) Cable TV was primarily used to provide over the air signals at the time, basically to communities blocked off from TV signals. While KKOG was on cable in Santa Barbara, many other communities did not have cable TV franchises.

4) While the TV Networks were already broadcasting full color primetime programming and many Los Angeles independents, including other UHF stations had some color programs, KKOG was still showing its schedule in total black and white.

5) The owners did not anticipate the operating costs of the station until advertising revenue could build in the market. Therefore, when funds dried up, the cash strapped station was forced to close down.