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Change is comingto local tv stationMAKVIN KEUBRN (left) CLIFF BROWNliy CIIHISTIA .JOHNSON(Jur Ihisa KditorThere's going to bo some new kids on the block. Or rather, on the tv.You've probably heard that KBLU-TV and radio are splitting An organization called Chapman Television,owner of two stations in Mississippi, has purchased KBLU-TV and changes are inthe windIn town recently wereMarvin Reuben of theChapman organization and Clift Brown, the soon-to-begeneral manager of Yuma'snew station Here to run aFederal CommunicationsCommission survey, the two men took time to talk of the station change.According to Keuben, immediate concentration will be in “beefing up the news depart mentBrown, who was news director at the Hattiesburg, Miss., station, has some definite ideas. He announced that the station will have live news seven days a week.“We plan to have a 10 o'clock live news show seven days a week and a 6 o'clock live show Monday through Friday.” In addition, on the 10 o'clock live news cast we hope to have an on air woman,” said Brown.Besides having “people oncall 24 hours a day to gather news,” explained Brown, “we re going to give Yuma the equipment it needs.” Brown is planning to bringin two new in-studio cameras.equipment to improve the NBC tramsmitting signal from Phoenix and add another mobile camera to the news department.At this stage, commented both Keuben and Brown, the intent is to add to the present staff. Keuben explained that “Cliff is the only person coming in from Chapman Television. We’re thinking about adding, not firing, people. The station will be run by a Yuma man — Cliff — and have complete autonomy like our other stations.”In other words, “News, production and sales judgments will all be made locally,’’ said Keuben. “Were just delighted to be coming to Yuma and we re sending our best shot(Brown).”He added that any other people hired could be from anywhere and probably not the company (Chapman Television) ”Chapman had been looking into several possibilities when the company hit on Yuma. Here we liked what we saw. . we think that Yuma is a growth area and our type of operation fits in Yuma life, said Keuben.Beside the Hattiesburg station, Chapman also ownsa station in Laurel, Miss.New call letters are in orderbecause the KBLU letterswill go with the radio station. At the moment, the lettersKYEL (to stand for theYuma-KI Centro area) are being sought. However, theseletters presently belong to a ship that hasn't been in use since 1803, according to Keuben.Brown anticipates a continual NBC affiliation He considers the station in competition with Los Angeles networks and hopes to bring about a new look and different newsroom set.There's no reason, if this is the only local station, that people should be watching other stations,” said Brown.Although the changeover cannot take place before January 1, 1978 and an okayed FCC application, groundwork is now being laid. Keuben and Brownconducted an FCC,orderedsurvey of Yuma communityleaders.The survey consisting of businessmen, clergy, farmers, women and youth organizations and cultural, environmental and govern* mental groups — is used to point out community needs.Questions asked pointed to“not enough for kids to do” as a big problem in Yuma, stated Keuben and Brown.They reported the people surveyed felt the the city was suffering growing pains with an accompanying lack of direction in its growth. Specific problems revealed In the survey were lack of planning, land use, water resources and proposed housing taking over farming.The FCC requires an additional telephone survey of the general public. Chapman will probably bring in another group to conduct this study.Keuben explained that the surveys help the channel decide what kind of special public affairs programming, news inserts, editorials, guest editorials, etc., are needed.“We do want to serve the community and although we can't solve all the problems, we can draw attention to them and present other people's views andsolutions,” said Reuben.So, although no direct action can take place before FCC permission, the gears are grinding.Cliff Brown, 30, comes to Yuma from the news and commercial award-winning Chapman channel seven in Hattiesburg. That station was in competition with three larger capitol stations with bigger potential network affiliates.Brown has a degree in broadcasting from the University of Southern Mississippi, in Hattiesburg. When he was just about to graduate he joined the 10 o'clock news cast as anchorman on channel seven.From there he went to news director and then into sales.Here in Yuma, Brown plans to concentrate on production. “On-air quality must be as good as on-air news,” he said.“I hate to go back to Mississippi and wait out the lull-— I’m excited to start.
Newspaper Details
Yuma Sun
Yuma, Arizona, US
Fri, Aug 05, 1977
Page 30
Full Page
Clipped by
Sammi B.
NA 14 Jan 2020
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