Guide to the KEYT television station records FMST Mss 4
Finding aid prepared by Laura Jean Treat Liebhaber and Zachary Liebhaber, 2023.
UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara 93106-9010
Phone Number: (805) 893-3062
special@library.ucsb.edu
2023 November 15
Title: KEYT television station records
Identifier/Call Number: FMST Mss 4
Language of Material:
English.
Contributing Institution:
UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections
Physical Description:
2.25 Linear Feet
(3 document boxes, 2 flat oversize boxes, 6 videocassettes)
Creator:
KEYT (Television station : Santa Barbara, Calif.)
Date (inclusive): 1950s-2006
Abstract: This collection consists of station records related to the functioning of KEYT Channel 3 (KEYT-TV) television station from
1953 to 2003. Material includes memoranda, correspondence, production records, and memorabilia, as well as photographs of
station talent, grounds, and events.
Physical Location: Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Use Restrictions
Property rights to the collection and physical objects belong to the Regents of the University of California acting through
the Department of Special Research Collections at the UCSB Library. All applicable literary rights, including copyright to
the collection and physical objects, are protected under Chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code and are retained by the creator
and the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns.
All requests to reproduce, quote from, or otherwise reuse collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Department
of Special Research Collections at UCSB at special@ucsb.edu. Consent is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of
California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB as the owner of the physical items and is
not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright
owner, heir(s), or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or their assigns for permission to publish where the UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of Item], KEYT television station records, FMST 4. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara
Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Renée Foley, 2023.
Historical Note
KEYT-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Santa Barbara, California, serving the Central Coast of California.
KEYT-TV first signed on the air in summer 1953 after obtaining a construction permit from the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) on November 13, 1952. The station's original owner was Santa Barbara Broadcasting and Television Corporation (SBBTC),
with original directors and stakeholders including Arthur F. Marquette (partner, Sherman and Marquette), Alvin C. Weingand
(SBBTC secretary and president of the San Ysidro Ranch Corp.), Charles H. Jackson, Jr. (rancher, miner, and industrialist),
Cecil I. Smith (SBBTC vice president and treasurer, investment banker), Harry C. Butcher (SBBTC board chairman, owner of KIST
radio), Colin M. Selph (SBBTC president and general manager), Ronald Colman (actor and vice president of San Ysidro Ranch
Corp.), and Seymour F. Johnson (SBBTC engineering vice president). In early 1953 architectural firm Pereira and Luckman was
retained to plan and supervise construction of station studios and offices on Mesa Hill (locally referred to as TV Hill).
After being on test pattern for a period of time, KEYT-TV went on air with regular commercial programming on Saturday July
25, 1953 and was initially affiliated with all four TV networks. In 1956 SBBTC began plans to maintain a new full-time office
in Santa Maria, California.
In 1957, KEYT-TV was purchased by Key Television, Inc., a newly formed corporation led by principal stockholder and new station
manager, Richard C. D. Bell, for a total of $1,640,000. The station remained under the local ownership of Key Television,
Inc. for nearly thirty years. During this time, Leslie H. Norins played a prominent role in the station's development as General
Manager (1961-1975) and Vice President of Key Television, Inc. in the 1960s. In the 1950s-1960s, KEYT-T programmed a mix of
national and locally produced content including a newscast and shows aimed at children, women, and teenagers such as Sunset
Home, a program for "the afternoon homemaker audience in Coastal California," The Magic Window, Gardening with Gordon, and
Pacific Bandstand, a dance program for local teens hosted live outdoors at the KEYT studios.
After longtime manager Norins died in 1975, the station changed hands again when it was purchased by Los Angeles based Shamrock
Broadcasting, owned by the Roy E. Disney Family, in 1984 for nine million dollars. Three years later in 1987 the station was
sold again, this time to Smith Broadcasting, a Chicago-based group of five stations principally owned by Robert N. Smith,
William Reyner, and Boston-based investment banker, TA Associates. The station continued to produce daily newscasts as well
as news magazine style programs and special programming. In November 2012, the station changed hands again when it was purchased
by the News-Press and Gazette Company. In 2013, the News-Press and Gazette Company assumed operations of some of Santa Maria
station KCOY-TV's operations, including their news operation, under a shared services agreement. When KCOY-TV signed on in
1964 it was owned by Central Coast Television, but subsequently underwent numerous ownership changes in the 1980s-2000s. Under
NPG's ownership, KEYT-TV continues to operate out of its original studios on TV Hill in Santa Barbara.
Scope and Content
This collection consists of station records related to the functioning of KEYT Channel 3 (KEYT-TV) television station from
1953 to 2003. Material includes memoranda, correspondence, and production records, as well as photographs of station talent,
grounds, and events. Additional material includes subject files, newspaper clippings, and historical items and memorabilia.
Historical material includes records and memorabilia gathered for the station's 30th and 50th anniversaries, including many
photographs, scrapbooks and items for the 50th anniversary station gathering. Production records include TV news scripts and
newsroom photographs, personnel rosters, as well as programming schedules, promotional materials, and station records related
to programming operations.
Clippings are mostly drawn from coverage in the Santa Barbara News-Press, including coverage of the construction of the station
building in 1953. Talent files included materials related to Gil Rosas, Bill Huddy, and Gene Forssell, among others. Subject
files cover local Santa Barbara County political races in the early 1980s, and the Santa Barbara crosstown freeway (1961-1962).
Scrapbooks contain mostly clippings and images, including photographs of a staff barbecue in 1966.
Arrangement
Materials have been arranged into the following series: Programming (1961-2006), Talent (1950s-2006), History (1952-2003),
Audiovisual (1995-2003)
Related Archival Material
KEYT News video archive, SBHC Mss 134, Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library. Finding aid URL:
https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c84174pc/
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Television stations -- California -- Santa Barbara -- Archives
Records (documents)
Clippings (information artifacts)
Business correspondence
Scrapbooks
Photographs
Video recordings
KEYT (Television station : Santa Barbara, Calif.) -- Archives
box 1
Department head meetings (agendas and notes)
1980-1989
box 1
Cox Communications
1982-1989
box 1
Crosstown freeway
1961-1962
1979
box 1
Miscellaneous materials
1962-1980s
flat-oversize 5
Daytime television programing schedule
1985 June-July
flat-oversize 5
Ad campaign posters
1980s
box 2
Personnel rosters (I)
1972-2006
box 2
Personnel rosters (II)
1972-2006
box 2
Job descriptions
1972-2006
box 2
Tom Belknap, Eugene Doren, Lynne Henthorn
1962-1972
box 2
Gene Forssell
1960s
1980s
flat-oversize 5
Oversized black-and-white photographs mounted on poster boards
approximately 1951-1956
Scope and Content
Black-and-white photographs of KEYT station talent, as well as well as network television broadcast talent
box 3
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) correspondence
1952-1953
box 3
Studio construction (TV Hill, Santa Barbara)
1953
box 3
Photographs
1953-2003
Scope and Content
Black-and-white photographs (mainly 8"x 11") including personnel headshots, group photographs, building and grounds, dances
and other events, newsroom
box 3
KEYT annual barbeque scrapbook
1966
box 3
Miscellaneous memorabilia
1960s-1990
box 3
Letter to Jeff Marin (KEYT TV Promotion Manager) from Allen Parsons, (Santa Barbara News-Press, Executive Editor)
1994 August 4
box 3
Newspaper clippings (KEYT TV), Santa Barbara News-Press
undated
flat-oversize 4
Scrapbook
approximately 1952-1956
Scope and Content
Newspaper clippings (many from
The Santa Barbara Star), press release clippings, and television broadcast-related clippings
box 3
Material gathered for "KEYT The Early Years"
1953-1983
box 3
Material gathered for 50th anniversary (1953-2003) (I)
2003
Scope and Content
Planning documents, historical memorabilia
box 3
Material gathered for 50th anniversary (1953-2003) (II)
2003
box 3
50th anniversary celebration visitor's register
2003 July 26
item V17476/VHS
KEYT 3 50th Anniversary video tribute
undated
item V17478/VHS
KEYT 3 50th Anniversary video tribute
undated
item V17479/VHS
KEY News 3 "In Focus"
2003 July 27
item V17480/VHS
Santa Barbara's Old Spanish Days Fiesta Parade with King Harris, Kim Insley & Ed Foley c.1986 KEYT-TV/Shamrock Production
Group
undated
