| ATSC 3.0 station Semi-satellite ofKTAZ,Phoenix, Arizona | |
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| Channels | |
| Branding | Telemundo Tucson |
| Programming | |
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| Ownership | |
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| History | |
First air date | January 5, 1985 (40 years ago) (1985-01-05) |
Former call signs | KPOL (1985–1992) |
Former channel numbers |
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Call sign meaning | Successor full-power station, including affiliation, to K14HR, (nowKUDF-LP)[1] |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 30601 |
| ERP | 396kW |
| HAAT | 622 m (2,041 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 32°14′55.8″N111°6′59.1″W / 32.248833°N 111.116417°W /32.248833; -111.116417 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
KHRR (channel 40) is atelevision station inTucson, Arizona, United States, serving as the market's outlet for the Spanish-language networkTelemundo.Owned and operated byNBCUniversal'sTelemundo Station Group, the station maintains studios on North Stone Avenue in downtown Tucson, and its transmitter is located atop theTucson Mountains.
Although identifying as a separate station in its own right, KHRR is considered asemi-satellite ofKTAZ (channel 39) inPhoenix. As such, itsimulcasts all Telemundo programming as provided through its parent, but airs separate commercial inserts andlegal identifications, and has its own website. Local newscasts, produced by KTAZ and branded asNoticiero Telemundo Arizona, are simulcast on both stations. Although KHRR maintains its own facilities,master control and most internal operations are based at KTAZ's studios on South 33rd Place in Phoenix.
On November 28, 1983, a construction permit was granted to JP Communications, owned by Julius Polan ofChicago,[3] for a new commercial television station on channel 40 in Tucson. Channel 40 had been occupied since November 1980 by a translator of Phoenix Spanish-language stationKTVW.[4] JP beat out Valle Verde Broadcasting Corporation, which proposed a full-service Spanish-language outlet,[5] and five other applicants, including Focus Broadcasting and National Group Telecommunications.[6] The permit was approved after JP paid out a cash settlement to rival Sunwest Communications.[7]
Taking the call letters KPOL, construction began in 1984, forcing the KTVW translator to move to channel 52.[8] The station also secured a package ofPhoenix Suns road games.[9] However, channel 40 missed its planned November start because its studios had not been completed. Meanwhile, minority investor David Jácome sued, saying that Polan had brought him in to add a minority owner to the ownership group but that he had been squeezed out.[10]
KPOL signed on January 5, 1985. It was the second newindependent station for Tucson in the same week. Just days prior, theRoman Catholic Diocese of Tucson had putKDTU channel 18 on the air; the two new outlets brought Tucson from one independent station to three,[11] which sent costs for syndicated programming soaring.[12] It turned out that Polan thought KDTU would not be as commercial a station as it was, and the diocese had not planned for another competitor.[12] Initially, channel 40 broadcast in the evening hours only.[13]
After its first year, KPOL had mostly shown up as Tucson's third-rated independent and was losing money.[14] By 1988, both of the UHF startups were in poor financial condition: at KDTU, the Diocese of Tucson had instituted three waves of job cuts in two years.[15] The market had more stations than it could bear. The diocese had announced it would shut down KDTU beforeClear Channel Communications stepped in to buy channel 18 in February 1989.[12]
KPOL finally succumbed to its financial woes on October 17, 1989, when the station announced it would go off air at midnight.[16] In its final days, the station was selling ads for $10 and $15, and it had stopped subscribing to ratings services.[17]
The license remained active, and Polan engaged a broker to market channel 40 to potential bidders.[18] JP Communications filed for bankruptcy in February 1990, with $35,000 in assets and $2.65 million in liabilities.[19]
In 1991, local Tucson businessman Jay S. Zucker purchased the dormant KPOL license out of bankruptcy for $45,000.[20] Zucker already ownedK14HR "KHR-TV", the low-powerTelemundo affiliate. On July 1, 1992, channel 40 signed on as KHRR, K14HR's full-power replacement.[21] In addition to Telemundo programming, the station also broadcast some programs fromTelemax, the state network of the Mexican state ofSonora.[22] Zucker sold his broadcasting holdings in 1999 to The Apogee Companies, who maintained the Telemundo affiliation.[23]
KHRR became a TelemundoO&O in 2002, along with KDRX-CA (laterKDPH-LD). The two stations maintained a sister relationship, sharing their newscasts and programming stations, yet with each station based out of its own city of license. The arrangement continued until a 2006 station swap relocated Telemundo O&O KPHZ toPhoenix, Arizona, where it becameKTAZ, andDaystar O&OKDTP toHolbrook, Arizona. The deal also transferred KDRX-CA to Daystar, where it became KDTP-CA.
In 2007, a restructuring plan by parent companyNBC Universal, called "NBCU 2.0", moved the KHRR and KTAZ newscasts to the Telemundo News Hub inDallas, along with news operations of other Telemundo stations in the West.
The station's ATSC 1.0 channels are carried on themultiplexed signals of other Tucson television stations:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming | ATSC 1.0 host |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | KHRR-DT | Telemundo | KUAT-TV/KUAS-TV |
| 40.2 | 480i | 4:3 | Exitos | TeleXitos | |
| 40.3 | 16:9 | NBC LX | NBC True CRMZ | KVOA | |
| 40.4 | 4:3 | Oxygen | Oxygen | KOLD-TV |
In their Sixth Report and Order, dated April 3, 1997, proposing adigital television table of allotments, theFCC allocated UHF channel 41 for theKHRR-DT operations.[25] However, by February 1998, the DTV Table of Allotments had been changed to specify channel 42 for KHRR-DT.[26] KHRR applied for DTV facilities to broadcast at 303kW in October 1999, and eventually amended theERP to 411.5 kW in February 2002.[27][28] In May 2003, in order to meet an FCC deadline for having a digital television station operational, KHRR requestedspecial temporary authority (STA) to operate at 12.7 kW, which the FCC granted the following month.[29] After delays due to coordination with the Mexican government, interference issues, and the sale of the station from the Apogee Companies to NBC Telemundo, by June 2006, the station was still operating under their STA facilities, the STA having been extended several times. Having to meet another FCC deadline to have fully operational facilities by June 30, 2006, KHRR requested to make their STA facilities permanent.[30] The FCC granted the request on July 10, 2006, and the next day, KHRR applied for a license to cover their facilities, from which they were already broadcasting. The FCC granted the license on January 31, 2007.[31]
KHRR discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, overUHF channel 40, on June 12, 2009, as part of thefederally mandated from analog to digital television.[32] The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 42 to channel 40.[33]
| Channel | Res. | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.1 | 1080p | KVOA-NG | NBC (KVOA) |
| 6.1 | KUAT-NG | PBS (KUAT-TV) | |
| 9.1 | KGUN-NG | ABC (KGUN-TV) | |
| 11.1 | KMSB-NG | Fox (KMSB) | |
| 13.1 | KOLD-NG | CBS (KOLD-TV) | |
| 40.1 | KHRR-NG | Telemundo |
Spanish-language television stations by affiliation in the state ofArizona | ||
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Includes Spanish-language stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Arizona | ||
| Telemundo | ||
| Univision | ||
| UniMás | ||
| Estrella TV | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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