KCEB (Oklahoma)
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Broadcasting |
| Founded | August 21, 1953 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States |
| Founder | Elfred Beck |
| Defunct | December 10, 1954 |
| Headquarters | Tulsa, Oklahoma , United States |
| Owner | Elfred Beck |
KCEB (channel 23) was a television broadcaster located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, with affiliations to NBC, ABC, and the DuMont Television Network. The station, owned by Elfred Beck, operated from March 13 until December 10, 1954.
History
Tulsa oil entrepreneur Elfred Beck founded KCEB—its call letters derived from a reversal of his surname—and began building its studios on top of Lookout Mountain in west Tulsa on August 21, 1953. The station commenced broadcasting on March 13, 1954, becoming Tulsa’s second television outlet. It held affiliations with NBC and DuMont while sharing ABC programming with the primary CBS affiliate KOTV (channel 6). KCEB was equipped with state-of-the-art technology.
During this period, television sets were not mandated to have UHF tuners, which limited KCEB’s audience despite local sales of around 100,000 UHF converters. NBC favored VHF stations and permitted KOTV to select the most popular shows first, thereby restricting the programs available to KCEB.
Soon after KCEB's debut, the FCC issued a construction permit to Central Plains Enterprises—a group including businessmen such as Robert S. Kerr and William G. Skelly—to establish Tulsa’s second commercial TV station. KVOO-TV (channel 2, now KJRH-TV) launched on December 5, 1954. Prior to channel 2’s inauguration, NBC ended its affiliations with both KCEB and later KOTV, shifting all network programming exclusively to the new station.
Beck secured a primary ABC affiliation for KCEB; however, ABC granted KOTV first choice on program selection. This arrangement collapsed when Tulsa Broadcasting Company introduced Muskogee-licensed KTVX (channel 8, now KTUL) as the new ABC affiliate on September 18, 1954, absorbing all remaining ABC content.
Consequently, KCEB was left primarily with limited NBC offerings and DuMont shows—the latter network facing financial difficulties and ceasing operations by August 1956. In October 1954, Beck cut back KCEB’s broadcast hours to four daily, focusing on filmed content and NBC programming; however, this failed to improve ratings or revenue. The station ultimately shut down on December 10, 1954—shortly after Tulsa’s third commercial VHF outlet began transmissions.
In April 1955, Beck sold the KCEB studio facilities and the surrounding 40-acre Lookout Mountain site to Tulsa Broadcasting Company for use by KTVX. Channel 8 initially utilized this location as a secondary studio before relocating from Muskogee to Tulsa in November 1955 and adopting new call letters KTUL-TV to align with its sister radio station KTUL (1430 AM).
Brief revival
Beck retained ownership of the construction permit for channel 23 and following an FCC mandate in 1965 was obligated to resume broadcasting by April 11, 1966, or forfeit the permit. To fund this relaunch, Beck sold a majority stake—65%—to local jeweler Ernest Moody and another 25% to Claude Hill (owner of radio station KOCW-FM), keeping a minority interest of 10%. The station briefly recommenced operations in September 1967 as an independent station, leasing transmitter facilities atop the newly constructed Fourth National Bank Building and operating studios on its 29th floor. Airing six to seven hours daily, programming centered on movies and syndicated shows, with intentions to introduce a nightly newscast at 9 p.m., along with editorials and public affairs discussions.
Post-shutdown
In early 1980, a consortium of Tulsa business leaders and executives, known as "Tulsa 23, Ltd." and headed by Benjamin F. Boddie—with notable investors such as former Williams Companies CEOs John H. Williams and Charles P. Williams—obtained a new license for UHF channel 23. This consortium launched KOKI-TV as an independent broadcaster on October 23, 1980. When the Fox Broadcasting Company debuted in October 1986, KOKI became one of its affiliate stations. From 2012 until 2022, ownership of KOKI was held by the Atlanta-based Cox Media Group. The station inaugurated its news division in February 2002 under the management of Clear Channel Communications, gradually transforming into a news-focused outlet with a weekly total of 48 hours of newscasts, complemented by a lineup featuring sitcoms, dramas, talk shows, and courtroom programming.