Tucson's third Hispanic television station, KQBN, "Que bien," began beaming Spanish programming across the airwaves into homes yesterday.

KQBN TV-14, which launched its broadcast 12 a.m. yesterday, offers viewers local, national and international news, novelas (soap operas), movies and variety programming, all in Spanish.

"There are a lot of UA students from some of the Latin countries who would love to see news from home," said Jay Zucker, president of Hispanic Broadcasters of Tucson. "This is an opportunity to see news in a language they're comfortable in."

The local news will be delivered by KQBN's news director, Abelardo Oquita, and the national and international news will be compiled from Telenoticias, KQBN's news network.

"The programming is like CNN in the daytime and HBO in primetime," Zucker said. "Every half-hour we repeat the news with slight modifications. We also show movies, in Spanish, uncut."

Novelas appeal to a mass audience, both male and female, said Zucker. The station launched its programming with "Las Aguas Mansas," a well known novela.

KQBN is targeting the upscale educated Hispanic market. The program director is conducting research groups to fulfill the needs of Tucson viewers, Zucker said. This will help decide what movies and variety programming will be broadcast.

For every 1,000 people coming into the community, 650 are Hispanic, said Zucker. "With this type of growth, there is a good business here," he said.

Programming will run 24 hours a day, every day. To find KQBN, cable owners must have a UHF loop, switch off the cable box and change the channel from 3 to 14.