KICU-TV (Visalia, California)

KICU-TV

Company type	Private
Industry	Television broadcasting
Founded	1961
Defunct	1968
Fate	Ceased operations; license revoked by FCC in 1975
Headquarters	Visalia, California , United States
Key people	Norwood Patterson (owner)
Owner	Sierra Broadcasting, Inc.

KICU-TV (channel 43) was a television broadcaster based in Visalia, California, operational from December 1961 through October 1968. Its transmission equipment was situated east of Badger at Eshom Point.

History

The station commenced transmissions on December 26, 1961. Sierra Broadcasting, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco and led by Norwood Patterson, owned the station. Patterson also acquired Fresno's KBIF radio station in early 1962, making it a co-owned property. Previously, Patterson had obtained the Eshom Point transmitter location, which had been utilized by the unsuccessful KVVG-TV (channel 27). Initially, KICU-TV aired programming for several hours daily, offering films and shows not carried by Fresno’s NBC and CBS affiliates. Norwood Patterson’s father held ownership of the KSAN stations in San Francisco, including the inactive KSAN-TV channel 32; to facilitate the sale of channel 32, S. H. Patterson reactivated it by simulcasting KICU-TV content. This simulcast arrangement lasted two years until Metromedia purchased KSAN-TV in March 1968. Additionally, KICU-TV provided instructional broadcasts for local schools, addressing the absence of educational television in the Central Valley at that time.

In 1966, the station enhanced its effective radiated power to 2.13 million watts, promoting itself as the most powerful broadcaster west of the Mississippi River. Despite this upgrade, KICU-TV discontinued operations on October 18, 1968, citing intentions to move east of Fresno and implement color broadcasting capabilities—plans that ultimately did not come to fruition. Approximately six months later, two individuals attempted to break into the transmitter facility at Eshom Point. Following the station’s shutdown, Tulare County initiated legal action against Sierra Broadcasting over unpaid taxes. Financial difficulties escalated as Patterson faced $141,000 in federal tax debts and penalties related to withholding violations at his stations. After being convicted on sixteen counts in 1971, he served a ten-month prison term beginning in 1973 after unsuccessful appeals. The Federal Communications Commission revoked KICU-TV’s license in 1975 due to lack of response to commission inquiries.

After KICU-TV went silent, Tulare County proposed utilizing channel 43 for a non-commercial educational television outlet amid concurrent efforts to establish a cooperative station on channel 18 in Fresno. In December 1973, Tulare County formally applied for the license to operate on channel 43. A subsequent plan involved facilities offered by Harry Pappas and his KMPH-TV, but this was abandoned when Fresno County agreed to include additional stakeholders more integrally in its application for channel 18.