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KFTR-DT (channel 46) 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 ...
licensed to
Ontario, California Ontario is a city in southwestern San Bernardino County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino, the county seat. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire metropolitan area, it lies ...
, United States, serving the
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area as the West Coast
flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyal ...
of the Spanish-language network
UniMás UniMás (, stylized as ''UNIMÁS'', and originally known as TeleFutura from its launch on January 14, 2002, to January 6, 2013) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. ...
. It is
owned and operated In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
by
TelevisaUnivision TelevisaUnivision (formerly known as Univision Communications) is a Mexican-American media company headquartered in Miami and Mexico City that owns American Spanish language broadcast network Univision and free-to-air channels in Mexico such as ...
alongside
Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...
station
KMEX-DT KMEX-DT (channel 34) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of the Spanish-language network Univision. It is owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision alongside Ontario, C ...
(channel 34). The two stations share studios on Center Drive (near I-405) in Westchester; KFTR-DT's transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson. KFTR does not air any
local news In journalism, local news refers to coverage of events, by the news, in a local context that would not be of interest to another locality, or otherwise be of national or international scope. Local news, in contrast to national or international new ...
casts of its own; however, the station does cross-promote sister station KMEX's local news programs.


History


KBSA

On December 18, 1962, Broadcasting Service of America filed an application for a construction permit to build a new TV station on channel 40 licensed to Guasti. The application was amended to specify channel 46 prior to being approved by 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) on October 14, 1964. ( Guide to reading History Cards) The permit took the call letters KBSA, for its ownership. William A. Myers, the principal of Broadcasting Service of America, was noted as concerned by the lack of local programming on television in a 1965 report on KBSA being authorized to locate atop Mount Wilson. With little fanfare, channel 46 finally signed on August 16, 1972, five days after the FCC granted KBSA program test authority; it primarily broadcast in Spanish. However, it then went silent from February 8 to June 7, 1973. Paul Crouch and Jim Bakker purchased time on the station to launch their television ministry, known as the
Trinity Broadcasting Network The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN; legally Trinity Broadcasting of Texas, Inc.) is an international Christian-based broadcast television network and the world's largest religious television network. TBN solicits donations on its Web site, a ...
, for which KBSA served as the network's original home. A year later, KBSA was sold, first in a minority stake and then entirely, to the Berean Baptist Church; TBN would buy KLXA (channel 40) in Fontana and eventually renamed that station KTBN. Berean announced plans to telecast its own services over channel 46. Another program on channel 46 in 1974 was a legal review show, three nights a week, for students preparing for state bar examinations. In addition to programming from Berean, other churches aired regular programs on KBSA, including the First Christian Church of San Pedro. Together with KHOF-TV and KLXA, KBSA was the third religious TV station in southern California. Berean entered into financial difficulties not long after acquiring channel 46, which escalated into a disagreement with Broadcasting Service of America. In an evident default, the KBSA transmission equipment was slated for public sale in August 1976. The station went silent in April 1977. The month before, Broadcasting Service of America entered into an agreement to sell the license for $1.8 million to Buena Vista Broadcasting Company, majority owned by Leon Crosby, who owned KEMO television in San Francisco. Three months later, however, Berean announced it had sold the station to a different concern: Metropolitan Broadcasting Company, owned by Robert F. Beauchamp, in a proposed $1.55 million transaction. The Buena Vista application was dismissed in 1978. Despite the silence, channel 46 would soon enter into a fight for its life. On March 15, 1979, the FCC designated KBSA's application to renew its license for hearing. The move was made after the commission alleged that the station had broadcast false information about bond sales, diverted station operating funds, and carried out an unauthorized transfer of control. Bondholders and other creditors of KBSA were owed a collective $1.5 million by a station that had no assets or equipment—not even a telephone. A $2.2 million distress sale to a minority-owned group, Hispanic Broadcasters, Inc., was approved in March 1980. The next year, Hispanic Broadcasters and Leon Crosby—whose Buena Vista bid had been dismissed three years prior—sold the channel 46 license for $3.7 million to HBI Acquisition, also Hispanic-owned.


Catholic KIHS-TV

In preparation for returning to the air, on November 28, 1983, the call letters were changed to KIHS-TV; the seven-year silence was broken on April 21, 1984—the day before
Easter Sunday Easter, also called Pascha (Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek language, Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, de ...
. The "IHS" call letters referred to the Latin Christogram. With the de Rance Foundation, a large Catholic charity, as one of the stockholders in HBI Acquisition, channel 46's new programming was predominantly Catholic, with family movies and general entertainment shows filling out the schedule; the flagship program was a three-hour news magazine known as ''Heart of the Nation''. KIHS-TV initially broadcast 24 hours a day until cutting back to 18 hours in February 1985. Later in the year, it increased its secular output and began broadcasting more commercials, citing a need to improve its finances. Further secularization was to come in the fall of 1986 when channel 46 picked up the Independent Network News syndicated national newscast, a syndicated package of college football from service academies, movies and home shopping under the name "Shopping Line". Harry G. John, a major philanthropist involved with De Rance, had been dismissed after mismanagement of the foundation by spending millions on the television operations.


Home shopping as KHSC

In September 1986, the Home Shopping Network ( HSN) acquired KIHS-TV for $35 million, putting an end to De Rance's plans to expand its Catholic programming nationwide. ''Heart of the Nation'' had shrunk to a 30-minute talk show and moved to KDOC on December 1, 1986, as channel 46 prepared to go to full-time home shopping, a switch that was made on December 8. Upon the closing of the HSN acquisition in January 1987, channel 46 was renamed KHSC, for the Home Shopping Club service. The new HSC outlet was the second most-successful of HSN's broadcast stations in sales volume in 1988, only trailing its stations in New York. In addition to home shopping programming, half–hour weather reports,
public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. Oftentimes these messages feature unsettling imagery, ideas or behaviors that are des ...
s, and the public affairs program ''In Your Interests'' were added to fulfill local programming.


Sale to Univision

By 1998, after HSN bought the
Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...
TV assets from
Seagram The Seagram Company Ltd. (which trade name, traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational beverage and during the last few years of its existence, entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. ...
, Silver King Broadcasting became USA Broadcasting and plans were to switch all of its stations to a new general entertainment independent format known as "CityVision" featuring both locally-produced programming and live sports along with syndicated drama and sitcom reruns, movies and syndicated cartoons. Stations in
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
(as " WAMI 69"),
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
(as WHUB "Hub 66"),
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
(as WHOT-TV "Hotlanta 34"), and
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...
(as " K-Star 49") had all switched to the format. Plans were for KHSC to become "Click 46" as KLIK.
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
was the leading candidate to buy the stations, which would have made channel 46 a sister to ABC's flagship
KABC-TV KABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station mai ...
. However,
Univision Communications TelevisaUnivision (formerly known as Univision Communications) is a Mexican-American mass media, media company headquartered in Miami and Mexico City that owns American Spanish language broadcast network Univision and free-to-air channels in Mex ...
outbid Disney and in January 2002 used channel 46 (whose call letters were changed to KFTR-TV) and all but three of USAB's stations to become the nucleus for its new second network TeleFutura (now known as UniMás).


Programming

KFTR previously aired a one-hour extension of KMEX's weekday morning newscast at 7 a.m. This was later replaced with an entertainment program named . In addition, KFTR may also take on the responsibility of KMEX's newscasts in the event KMEX is unable due to special programming on Univision. One instance occurred during Univision's coverage of the
2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...
, when KFTR aired KMEX's weekday morning newscasts while KMEX was airing a live broadcast of ''
Despierta America "Despierta" (English: ''Wake Up'') was the first single (music), single from Edurne's debut album, ''Edurne (CD), Edurne''. Gustav Efraimsson, a Swedish songwriter/producer, co-wrote the song. The original title is "Erase delete be gone now"lis ...
''. Another instance occurs every December, when KFTR airs KMEX's evening newscasts during Univision's coverage of Teletón USA.


Los Angeles Rams

In 2016, Univision announced a three-year deal to broadcast Spanish-language
Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...
programming, including preseason games and studio programs; this was the first time that Univision had ever entered into a media rights deal involving the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
. Programming aired on KMEX and KFTR and in the
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 ...
area on KABE-CD and KBTF-CD. In the last year of the agreement, only KFTR aired games.


Los Angeles FC

In April 2018, Univision Los Angeles announced an exclusive programming partnership with
Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. It was establi ...
, a
Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...
club, becoming the official Spanish-language broadcaster. The deal included 18 regular season games and pre- and post-game shows on KFTR. The relationship ended after two years when these rights passed to Estrella TV/ KRCA.


Technical information


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— ...
: In January 2010, KFTR upgraded its digital signal to transmit network programming in HD, as part of a company-wide upgrade of Univision's stations to allow high definition broadcasts. On December 5, 2010, sister station KMEX-DT began Mobile DTV broadcasts of its own signal and of KFTR-DT. KMEX-DT has two Mobile DTV feeds, one of subchannel 34.1, labelled "KMEX-MH1", and of sister station KFTR-TV 46.1, labelled "KFTR-MH2", broadcasting at 3.67 Mbit/s. It was the highest bitrate of any Los Angeles television station's mobile feed. In addition, the station is also simulcast over KMEX's second digital subchannel.


Translator

* Ridgecrest


Analog-to-digital conversion

KFTR-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 46, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.List of Digital Full-Power Stations
The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 29, using
virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered as digits on a receiver's ...
46.


References


External links


UniMás web page section of univision.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kftr-Dt 1972 establishments in California Get (TV network) affiliates Grit (TV network) affiliates Ion Mystery affiliates Quest (American TV network) affiliates FTR-DT Television channels and stations established in 1972 FTR-DT UniMás affiliates