Diocese of Brownsville | KMBH : Public Television and Radio Stations

RGV Educational Broadcasting, Inc. operates KMBH-TV60, KMBH-FM 88.9, KHID-FM 88.1 as noncommercial entities supplying Public Broadcasting to the Rio Grande Valley. RGV Educational Broadcasting's mission is to provide high-quality, educational, cultural and informational programming to the Valley.

• Education, culture, spiritual values and arts give meaning and sense to the gift of our lives.
• RGV Educational Broadcasting, Inc. is committed to further all levels of education, to promote the arts, spiritual values and cultural development by means of electronic media, specifically for the communities of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

• For over twenty years, RGV Educational Broadcasting has been an effective instrument of education for “ready to learn” children, school and college students, junior and senior professionals and citizens through its daily programming.
• By implementing more and better technologies, in the present digital era, and by developing a comprehensive plan for community involvement RGV Educational Broadcasting will become a powerful, constant stream of educational opportunities for everybody, through its daily programming and added services, data-casting and multicasting, providing the best in knowledge, science, arts and culture to the communities of the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

• We believe that an individual who has been provided and surrounded by educational opportunities becomes a builder of society, an instrument of tolerance, an agent of peace and progress, a promoter of culture and civilization.
• We believe that a community enriched with educational opportunities, in which culture and art flourish, is the best environment for real human development and a warranty of a bright future for new generations.
• We believe that most of the present crises and tragedies of our world are related to broken opportunities of education for every human being. More and stronger educational media in the world and in our country will guarantee more solutions and .less problems.

The Office of Communications of the Diocese of Brownsville is the central resource of the Catholic Community of the Rio Grande Valley for communications ministry which is an essential expression of the evangelizing mission of the Church.

“Our century is characterized by the mass media or means of social communication, and the first proclamation, catechesis or the further deepening of faith cannot do without these means, as we have already emphasized.
“When they are put at the service of the Gospel, they are capable of increasing almost indefinitely the area in which the Word of God is heard; they enable the Good News to reach millions of people. The Church would feel guilty before the Lord if she did not utilize these powerful means that human skill is daily rendering more perfect.”
His Holiness Paul VI. Evangelii Nuntiandi. 45 (Bold letter is ours).

The diocesan Office of Communications’ primary goal is to empower the evangelization work of the church by using technological means typically known as “mass media”, namely press, radio, television and cinema.

Accordingly, our Office of Communications focuses its efforts on the following areas of interest:

• Presence of gospel values (respect of human life, justice, peace, solidarity, communion, reconciliation etc.) through all media formats and genres.
• Information on Church life and activities.
• Religious education on the Catholic faith, from basic Catechism to lessons on Theology.
• Bible classes.
• Celebration of Catholic liturgy and devotional expressions, such as daily and Sunday mass, prayer of the Rosary and the Stations of the Cross, Holy Hour with the Blessed Sacrament, meditation and Lectio Divina.
• Presentation of all expressions of Catholic art and culture: poetry, music, architecture, sculpture, paint.
• Formation of ministers and promotion of vocations in the Church.
• Application of Catholic teaching (magisterium) to actual situations of our society and our world.
• Presentation of testimonies from witnesses of the Catholic faith.

For over twenty years the Diocese of Brownsville has published a Diocesan Newsletter on a monthly basis with information on diocesan appointments and ministerial activities, bishop’s statements and homilies, church notices and news, etc.
Beginning in 1995 the Diocesan Newsletter has been published by the Office of Communications, with a wide circulation of 2,200 copies reaching out to diocesan and parish staff, clergy, members of religious congregations and orders, parish lay leaders and councils.
On several occasions the leadership of the Diocese has considered the need and feasibility to upgrade our Diocesan Newsletter to a Diocesan Newspaper. No formal decision has been reached so far.

Our ministry on radio and television relies on a corporation that was created by the Diocese of Brownsville over twenty years ago.

RGV Educational Broadcasting, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation, founded on September 19, 1983 in Brownsville, Texas, under the auspices of the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville to serve the communities of the Valley of the Rio Grande with educational TV and Radio programming.
On August 1, 1984, Bishop John J. Fitzpatrick called a press conference to announce the launching of KEDV (later on these call sign will be changed to KMBH, for “McAllen, Brownsville, Harlingen” as to indicate the main cities of the area intended to be served). Here are some excerpts of this programmatic press conference:

“The Diocese has spent well over half a million dollars to bring public television to the Valley and to secure the license for KEDV. This represents an investment in education and in the future, an investment to help our Valley grow.
“The Diocese is prepared to commit one million dollars over the next year to capitalize the station and promises two hundred thousand dollars annually thereafter for operational expenses. This is a large investment, but the potential benefits are great...
“KEDV will be primarily an educational station, as its license mandates. It will be a member of the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) and most of our programs will come from that excellent system.
“We shall also include human development programs to address the problems and opportunities in the Valley –programs which will help to raise the standard of living in the Valley in the fields of family life, health care, nutrition, education and working conditions.
“KEDV intends to reflect the Valley it will serve, and this includes the religious practices of the community. As is done on most other television stations, KEDV will carry some religious programming. KEDV will carry fewer than a dozen hours of religious programming weekly. Some hours of Bible teaching and other subject matter acceptable to people of all faiths in the Valley will be presented.”

This visionary statement of Bishop Fitzpatrick began to be fulfilled a little over one year later, in October 1985 when KMBH-TV60 signed on the air. PBS programming started to enrich the educational environment of the Valley; human development programs began to be produced and aired; religious programming was also included as announced by Bishop Fitzpatrick particularly a Sunday mass produced in the KMBH studio building in Harlingen.
Challenges and struggles were not absent from KMBH’s adventure, especially in terms of financial sustainability and acquisition and/or production of the programming envisioned by Bishop Fitzpatrick, especially in the areas of human development and religious education. After three administrations, which led KMBH-TV through its first ten years of life, RGV Educational Broadcasting had been empowered with a radio station, also under the umbrella of an educational purpose, affiliated to National Public Radio: Classic 88 FM, now known as Public Radio 88 FM, with two frequencies, KMBH-88.9FM and KHID-88.1FM.
In November 1991, Bishop Fitzpatrick retired and his Coadjutor, Bishop Enrique San Pedro was installed as the Bishop of Brownsville. RGV Educational Broadcasting maintained its educational service to the community, but by 1994, when Bishop San Pedro passed away of a lengthy illness, KMBH had plunged into a financial crisis. The Diocese of Brownsville then entertained plans to transfer its broadcasting licenses to commercial operators who were making offers at the time.
The appointment of Bishop Raymundo J. Peña brought a new life to RGV Educational Broadcasting and its television and radio stations, not without a tremendous effort to rescue the Corporation from bankruptcy.
After ten years of dedicated work, in the middle of extraordinary austerity and thanks to the active commitment of the Bishop and local supporters RGV Educational Broadcasting has cleaned up its debts and has made it through the difficult but promissory digital transition process on KMBH-TV.
In October 16, 2003 KMBH-DT38 signed on the air with a simulcast of what is offered through KMBH-TV60.
As for the original purpose announced by Bishop Fitzpatrick, twenty years later we could say KMBH-TV offers for the first time a real perspective of fulfilling the three-fold service to the community described by Bishop Fitzpatrick: educational, human development and religious programming.
This will be possible thanks to the digital technology of multicasting, which is now being installed at KMBH-DT38.
Twenty years after its foundation, KMBH-TV offers 24 hours a day of educational programming. The schedule includes two to three hours a week of community affairs and six hours a week of religious programming.
Ten years ago, in 1995, the Corporation had already been in the hands of four different general managers, none of them a Catholic or bilingual.
The original purpose of the foundation of KMBH could not be fulfilled without a clear Catholic direction or the ability to serve the mostly Spanish-speaking population of the Rio Grande Valley. After twenty years of service to the community both aspects have been just partially addressed.

KMBH-TV signed on the air in October of 1985 supplying the Valley with Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) programming. The main offices and studios are located at 1701 Tennessee Street in Harlingen, Texas, and the transmitter is located on FM 506 just outside La Feria.
KMBH-FM, with its transmitter located in Lozano, Texas, signed on the air in April of 1991 and began airing National Public Radio (NPR) programming in June on the same year. KMBH-FM’s signal was limited mainly to Cameron County Texas while in July of 1992, KHID-FM began broadcasting with its transmitter located in Alton, Texas, covering the Hidalgo County Area.
KMBH-TV60 (2.5 mW) (coveraged area) serves an area of 14155 sq. km, with a population of 980,000 people, from Brownsville and South Padre Island to Raymondville, from Harlingen to Rio Grande City, from Hidalgo to San Manuel. Four counties in the Rio Grande Valley: Cameron, Willacy, Hidalgo, Starr. On the Mexican side of the border, our signal on the air covers the northern part of the state of Tamaulipas.
KMBH-DT38 (1 gW) signed on the air on October 16, 2003 in preparation for the national digital transition slated to be completed by 2006. Then, our digital signal will multicast up to four Standard DTV channels.
Our signal is carried by the Cable companies serving the families of the Valley as well as those in the area of Matamoros and Reynosa. We are also carried by DirectTV and EchoStar.
KMBH-FM 88.9 (2.1 kW) and KHID-FM 88.1 (1.9 kW) combined, cover the whole area of the Valley, for a total of 1,200,000 people.

RGV is governed by a 7-member Board of Directors, appointed by the Bishop of Brownsville. The Board sets policy and establishes guidelines. Board members come from diverse geographical areas and are eminent in such fields as education, cultural and civic affairs, the arts, and business.
Corporate officers are elected by the Board of Directors. Current officer is: Fr. Pedro Briseño, President and CEO.

Chairman: Bill Elliot
Vice-chair: George Borrego
Treasurer: Jesse Gallegos
Secretary: Jennifer Klement
Directors: Mary Rose Cárdenas; Fr. Robert Maher; Mr. Rogelio Botello-Ríos; Chelse Benham.

A detail programming information can be seen on KMBH’s web site: www.kmbh.org.
The programs that air on KMBH-TV60 are as diverse as the audiences who enjoy them. People tune in to further their education, for self-improvement, for news and information, to learn more about the world, to review our history and reflect on our future, to develop new skills, and for entertainment.
Public Radio 88 FM offers award-winning news and information programming from NPR. Programs like “Morning Edition”, “All Things Considered”, “Car Talk”, and our local production, combine to create a broadcast schedule that is truly “One-of-a-kind.”

Most of our programming for radio and television is acquired from the national networks of public broadcasting: NPR and PBS.
After we have satisfied our annual dues of interconnection we have an option to select the programs we want to air. NPR is mostly a la carte while PBS membership carries some condition especially for prime time.
Approximately 40% of our radio programming comes from NPR and 75% of our TV programming is fed from PBS.
Our right to select programs allows us to make sure the topics and treatments we bring to our stations observes an educational nature and does not collide with family and/or religious values. Basically we try to keep our TV content adequate for all ages, especially children. We do not select any program from the networks with dubious moral content or presentation of indecent language or immoral ways of life.
Besides NPR and PBS we acquire programming from independent sources, national or regional.
Our overnight symphonic music service on radio comes from WCPE in North Carolina.
Most of our instructional television programs comes from sources other than PBS and is intended to be used in the classrooms.
Locally we produce aproximately 25% of our radio programming, with staff and volunteers creating content.
About 10% of our TV programming is local, most of it relates to our mission of providing our viewers with religious education and spiritual inspiration.

Thanks to the revolutionary digital technology on TV and on Radio we will be able in the near future to expand our services and to increase the quality of our broadcasting.
Our plan for KMBH-DT38 calls for up to four standard digital television channels to be designated as follows:
38.1 PBS all day.
38.2 Catholic programming all day.
38.3 Instructional television all day.
38.4 Community affairs all day.
Our plan for Public Radio 88 FM on HD-Radio includes two different streams on the same frequency:
• First stream: NPR and the public radio format as it is now.
• Second stream: Catholic radio.

Besides the educational and cultural stream of our contiguous signal on our multicasting environment, Catholic viewers and listeners will benefit from KMBH-TV and Public Radio 88 FM as they get:

• Transmission of daily Mass, with special emphasis on Sunday Mass, for the sick, the home-bound, the physically challenged and the interns at detention centers.
• Transmission of meditation and prayer events, like the Holy Rosary, the Holy Hour, the Stations of the Cross, the Angelus, the Liturgy of the Hours, to nourish a sense of prayer and inspiration.
• Religious instruction and education, through a variety of TV and Radio formats, including drama and music.
• Bible instruction at different levels and again, on a variety of TV and Radio formats.
• Information on church life at all levels, beginning with our own parishes and diocese.
• Documentaries on people, events and aspects of our church life.
• School of ministries aimed at promoting vocations to serve at parish and diocesan level as well as on the specific call to priesthood or religious life.
• Religious programming for children and youth, through special TV and Radio formats such as cartoons, games, stories, etc.

Fr. Pedro Briseno , President and CEO, RGV Educational Broadcasting, Inc.
1701 Tennessee Avenue • Harlingen, TX 78550• Phone 956-421-4111 • Fax 956-421-4150