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KGTV (channel 10) is a
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...
in
San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
, United States, affiliated with
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
and owned by the
E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglom ...
. The station's studios are located on Air Way in the Riverview-Webster section of San Diego, and its
transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...
is located on
Mount Soledad Mount Soledad, also known as Soledad Mountain, is a prominent landmark in San Diego, California, United States. The mountaintop is the site of the Mount Soledad Cross. Geography The mountain lies between Interstate 5 to the east and the Pac ...
in
La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood in San Diego, California, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. The climate is mild, with an average daily temperature o ...
. KGTV operates digital
translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...
KZSD-LD KZSD-LD (channel 20) is a low-power television station in San Diego, California, United States. It is a translator of ABC affiliate KGTV (channel 10) which is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. KZSD-LD's transmitter is located on San Miguel ...
(channel 20), which allows homes with issues receiving KGTV's VHF signal or only a
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...
antenna to receive KGTV in some form.


History

The San Diego area's third-oldest television station first went on the air on September 13, 1953, as
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
affiliate KFSD-TV. The station's original owner was Airfan Radio Corporation, which also owned
NBC Radio Network The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (also known as the NBC Red Network from 1927 to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in continuous operation from 1926 through 1999. Along with the NBC Blue Network, it wa ...
affiliate KFSD (600 AM, now KOGO). Under terms of the initial
construction permit Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to bu ...
award, Airfan sold one-third ownership of the stations to two other firms who competed separately for channel 10. In 1954, the KFSD stations were purchased by investment firm, Fox, Wells & Rogers. The publishers of ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'' magazine took a minority (about 46 percent) share of the stations in 1957, four years before the periodical was itself sold to
the Washington Post Company Graham Holdings Company (formerly The Washington Post Company) is a diversified American conglomerate holding company. Headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia, and incorporated in Delaware, it was formerly the owner of ''The Washington Po ...
. In 1961, channel 10 changed its
call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...
to KOGO-TV; the radio stations also adopted the KOGO call sign. The broadcasting division of
Time-Life Time Life, Inc. (also habitually represented with a hyphen as Time-Life, Inc., even by the company itself) was an American multi-media conglomerate company formerly known as a prolific production/publishing company and Direct marketing, direct ...
acquired KOGO-TV and its sister radio stations in 1962. This deal was reached after failed attempts to sell the properties to
Triangle Publications Triangle Publications Inc. was an American media group based first in Philadelphia, and later in Radnor, Pennsylvania. It was a privately held corporation, with the majority of its stock owned by Walter Annenberg and his sisters. Its holdings ...
and
United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...
among others; and after the Washington Post Company's
Post-Newsweek Stations Graham Media Group (formerly Post-Newsweek Stations) is the television broadcasting subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company. It is now headquartered in Detroit, co-locating with its local NBC affiliate WDIV-TV, after spending 10 years in Chicago. ...
division disclosed it was not interested in acquiring full ownership. As part of a sale announced in late 1970, KOGO-AM- FM-TV was sold to
McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American education science company that provides educational content, software, and services for students and educators across various levels—from K-12 to higher education and professional settings. They produce textbooks, ...
along with Time-Life's other radio/television combinations in
Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
,
Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
and
Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...
; and
KERO-TV KERO-TV (channel 23) is a television station in Bakersfield, California, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on 21st Street in Downtown Bakersfield, and its transmitter ...
in upstate
Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of the ...
. When the sale was concluded in June 1972, the purchase price for the entire group was just over $57 million. However, to comply with the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC)'s new restrictions on
concentration of media ownership In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', '' molar concentration'', '' number concentration'', ...
, McGraw-Hill was required to sell the radio stations in San Diego, Indianapolis, Denver, and Grand Rapids. Time-Life would later take
WOOD-TV WOOD-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for West Michigan. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Battle Creek–licensed dual American Broadcasting Compan ...
in Grand Rapids out of the final deal. KERO-TV, KLZ-TV (now
KMGH-TV KMGH-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Sterling-licensed independent station KCDO-TV, channel 3 (and its Denver-based translator ...
) in Denver, and WFBM-TV (now
WRTV WRTV (channel 6) is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Meridian Street (Indianapolis), Mer ...
) in Indianapolis were retained by McGraw-Hill along with KOGO-TV, which changed to its current call letters KGTV on June 1 as a result of the sale due to FCC regulations in place at the time that prohibited TV and radio stations in the same market, but different ownership from sharing the same callsigns.


Switch to ABC

The ABC affiliation in San Diego had belonged to
XETV XETV-TDT (channels 6 and 16) is a television station located in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, broadcasting programs from Canal 5 (Mexico), Canal 5 and NU9VE. Its terrestrial television, terrestrial signal also covers the San Diego area acros ...
(channel 6), a station licensed across the international border to
Tijuana, Mexico Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...
, since 1956. ABC was required to obtain special permission from the FCC, renewed annually, to transmit its programming across the border via microwave. In 1973, KCST-TV (channel 39), San Diego's nascent third television station and an
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
, prevailed in a years-long attempt to contest this arrangement and secure ABC programming in the market; KCST claimed that ABC should no longer be affiliated with a station located in Mexico when there was now a third U.S.-based station which could carry its programming. At the time of the switch, ABC was still the third-ranked network, behind second-rated NBC and perennial leader
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
. Over the next several years, however, ABC began to experience ratings growth in their prime time programming and rose to first place during 1975–76, finishing the year with ten programs in Nielsen's top twenty. In San Diego, KCST-TV experienced a carryover effect and also rose to first place locally, knocking KGTV down to third behind CBS station
KFMB-TV KFMB-TV (channel 8) is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, affiliated with CBS, The CW, and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Tegna Inc., it has studios on Engineer Road in the Kearny Mesa section of San Diego, and its transmitter i ...
(channel 8). But ABC was never happy with having been forced onto the UHF dial in San Diego, and the unprecedented success gave the network the impetus to actively upgrade its affiliate roster nationwide. Despite having more than a year remaining in its current agreement with NBC, KGTV announced it was joining ABC in June 1976. After KCST-TV (now
KNSD KNSD (channel 39, cable channel 7), branded on air as NBC 7 San Diego, is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations d ...
) signed with NBC, the switch between the two stations took place on June 27, 1977. In 1994, as part of repercussions stemming from CBS' acquisition of
KCNC-TV KCNC-TV (channel 4), branded CBS Colorado, is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios on Linc ...
and
KUTV KUTV (channel 2) is a television station in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside independent station KJZZ-TV (channel 14) and St. George, Utah, St. George–licensed MyNetwor ...
, McGraw-Hill signed a long-term deal with ABC that would keep KGTV as an affiliate of the network (it remains an ABC affiliate to this day). As a condition of that agreement, television stations in other cities, including
KUSA Kusa or KUSA may refer to: * Kusa, Russia, a town in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia * Kusa, Latvia, a village in Madona district, Latvia * Kusa, Oklahoma, United States * Kusa, indigenous name of Beles River (in Gumuz language) * KUSA (TV), a televisi ...
in Denver and
KBAK-TV KBAK-TV (channel 29) is a television station in Bakersfield, California, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside low-power, Class A Fox affiliate KBFX-CD (channel 58). The two stations share stud ...
in Bakersfield, would lose their ABC affiliations to competing McGraw-Hill-owned stations (KMGH-TV, KERO-TV) in those cities. KGTV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 10, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...
channel 25 to VHF channel 10. On October 3, 2011, McGraw-Hill announced it was selling its entire television station group, including KGTV and
Azteca América Azteca América (, sometimes shortened to Azteca) was an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by INNOVATE Corp., which acquired the network from the Azteca International Corporation subsidiary of TV Azteca. Headquar ...
affiliate
KZSD-LP KZSD-LD (channel 20) is a low-power television station in San Diego, California, United States. It is a translator of ABC affiliate KGTV (channel 10) which is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. KZSD-LD's transmitter is located on San Miguel ...
, to the
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
-based
E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglom ...
for $212 million. The deal was completed on December 30, 2011. Due to their current Scripps ownership, the station makes disclaimers regularly, especially in its medical reporting, that it has no ties to the local
Scripps Health Scripps Health is a nonprofit health care system based in San Diego, California. The system includes five hospital campuses and 30 outpatient centers and clinics, and treats more than 600,000 patients annually through 3,000 affiliated physicians. ...
system, a completely separate organization created in 1923 from a bequest from
Ellen Browning Scripps Ellen Browning Scripps (October 18, 1836 – August 3, 1932) was an American journalist and philanthropist who was the founding donor of several major institutions in Southern California. She and her half-brother E. W. Scripps, E.W. Scripps creat ...
, a sister to Scripps founder E. W. Scripps, as Scripps Health personnel are regularly asked to comment on medical stories in the San Diego area, including by KGTV.


News operation

KGTV presently broadcasts 44 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with seven hours each weekday and hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). In addition, the station produces the sports highlight program ''Sports Xtra'' at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday evenings. Of note, KGTV, along with KNSD and
Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...
affiliate
KSWB-TV KSWB-TV (channel 69) is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside independent station KUSI-TV (channel 51). The two stations share studios on Vie ...
(channel 69), is one of three San Diego television stations with a 4 p.m. newscast. Entitled ''The NOW San Diego'', KGTV's 4 p.m. newscast originally premiered under the title ''10-4'' in 2009. KGTV first began to challenge the longstanding local news dominance of KFMB in the mid-1970s, when anchors Jack White and Harold Greene, along with popular weather anchor "Captain Mike" Ambrose and sportscasters Al Coupee and Hal Clement, led the station's newscasts (then simply titled ''The News'') to first place in the ratings, albeit briefly. Even with the brief return of Greene following his stints in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the station fell back to second place behind KFMB in the early 1980s. However, management succeeded in hiring away popular anchor
Michael Tuck Michael Tuck (born 24 June 1953) is a seven-time premiership-winning player, Australian rules footballer with the Hawthorn Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) / Australian Football League (AFL). His 426 career games was a VFL ...
from KFMB in 1984; the move resulted in KGTV reclaiming first place and giving the station credibility by way of Tuck's infamous nightly commentaries titled "Perspectives." KGTV also made history by being the first station in San Diego with a female anchor team on its 11 p.m. newscast, featuring Carol LeBeau and Bree Walker. After Walker left in 1987, Kimberly Hunt would team with LeBeau and form the city's longest-running anchor duo at 15 years. During that time, LeBeau and Hunt would anchor alongside Tuck (who left for
KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2), branded CBS Los Angeles, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship station of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the n ...
in Los Angeles in 1990, only to return to San Diego nine years later on KFMB), Stephen Clark (later at sister station
WXYZ-TV WXYZ-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside independent station WMYD (channel 20). The two stations shar ...
in Detroit but now retired), Steve Wolford (later at sister station
KTNV-TV KTNV-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Laughlin-licensed independent station KMCC (channel 34). The two stations share studi ...
and now with
KSNV KSNV (channel 3) is a television station in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside dual CW/MyNetworkTV affiliate KVCW (channel 33). The two stations share studios on Foremaste ...
in Las Vegas), and a returning Hal Clement (who had switched from sports to news duties in 1983 while working at KFMB). Eventually, KGTV would decline after Hunt left for an anchor position at
KUSI-TV KUSI-TV (channel 51) is an independent television station in San Diego, California, United States. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Fox affiliate KSWB-TV (channel 69). The two stations share studios on Viewridge Avenue (near I- ...
(channel 51) alongside Tuck; at one point, the station fell to third place as KNSD's news viewership rose to first place in the 11 p.m. timeslot. The Hunt-Lebeau team was reunited in early 2008, before LeBeau retired from the station the following year. On August 30, 2008, KGTV became the third television station in the San Diego market (after KFMB-TV and KSWB-TV) to broadcast its local newscasts in
high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *Blu-ray Disc, the universal optical High Definition disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tap ...
. Since the Scripps purchase of KGTV was completed at the end of 2011, the station has entered into a news and weather partnership with its former AM radio sister KOGO (now owned by
iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...
). In May 2010, KGTV had the top-rated early evening newscast in the San Diego market in the coveted demographic of adults between 25 and 54 years old.


Notable current on-air staff

* Virginia Cha – anchor * Kimberly Hunt – chief & primary anchor, managing editor * Anne State – anchor


Notable former on-air staff

*
Mona Kosar Abdi Mona Kosar Abdi (born May 13, 1991) is an American multimedia journalist. She graduated from the University of California, San Diego where she earned a BA in International Studies, Political Science, and Communications. In January 2019, she joi ...
– general assignment reporter * Harold Greene – anchor/reporter (1974–1977 and 1980–1982) * Jim Hill – sports reporter  * Lisa Kim – anchor (1986–1994) *
Paul Magers Paul Magers (born May 15, 1954) is an American former news anchor and reporter, most recently at KCBS-TV in Los Angeles, California. Magers was born in Santa Maria, California, and spent the majority of his childhood in Ellensburg, Washington. He ...
– anchor/reporter (1981–1983) * Byron Miranda – meteorologist * Kent Ninomiya – reporter (1991–1993) *
Regis Philbin Regis Francis Xavier Philbin ( ; August 25, 1931 – July 25, 2020)Archived aGhostarchiveand thWayback Machine was an American television presenter, comedian, actor, and singer. Once called "the hardest-working man in show business", he held th ...
– local talk show host (1961–1964) * Sarah Purcell – talk show host (late 1970s) * Billy Ray Smith – sportscaster (1993–1997) *
Michael Tuck Michael Tuck (born 24 June 1953) is a seven-time premiership-winning player, Australian rules footballer with the Hawthorn Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) / Australian Football League (AFL). His 426 career games was a VFL ...
– anchor (1984–1990) * Bree Walker – anchor/reporter (1980–1987)


Subchannels

The station's signal is
multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource— ...
:
Until October 2012, the station has carried
TheCoolTV TheCoolTV was a digital broadcast television network and online music video "jukebox" streaming service owned by Cool Music Network, LLC of Lawrence, Kansas. History As a digital broadcast television network Launched in March 2009, the network ...
on its second digital subchannel. It was later replaced with the
Live Well Network Localish (formerly Live Well Network) is a digital multicast television network owned by ABC Owned Television Stations, a division of Disney. Localish's 24/7 channel streams on Hulu + Live and on linear TV. Its flagship shows including ''More ...
. On April 15, 2015, LWN was replaced with Laff. On May 1, 2017, Scripps took over the affiliation for the
MeTV MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television progra ...
classic television network in San Diego, and placed the subchannel on KGTV-DT2, along with an analog simulcast on KZSD-LP; two months earlier the Azteca affiliation moved to XHDTV-TDT2 temporarily, then to
XHAS-TDT XHAS-TDT (channel 33) is a television station in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, carrying Estrella TV. It is owned by a Mexican company whose largest single investor is Entravision Communications, a U.S.-based broadcaster with radio and telev ...
on July 1, all of which involved the move of
The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...
affiliation from XETV to MeTV's former slot on KFMB-DT2, and
Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. It provides content ...
from XHAS to KNSD-DT20 (now
KUAN-LD KUAN-LD (channel 48) is a television station licensed to Poway, California, United States, serving as the San Diego–area outlet for the Spanish-language network Telemundo. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group alon ...
). During an interim period from mid-March to the end of April that year, KGTV-DT2 carried a continuous loop of the latest newscast produced by the station. On November 15, 2024, Scripps News has been replaced with Laff, as Scripps News has switched its focus on streaming, ending over-the-air broadcast.


Translator


See also

*
KGTV Tower KGTV Tower is an self-support Dresser-Ideco television tower in the La Jolla area of San Diego, California, United States. History KGTV Tower (originally KFSD-TV tower, later KOGO-TV) was built in 1953, by then owner Thomas Sharp (founder of Sha ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kgtv 1953 establishments in California American Broadcasting Company affiliates Bounce TV affiliates E. W. Scripps Company television stations Grit (TV network) affiliates Ion Mystery affiliates Laff (TV network) affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1953 GTV