KFWD

KFWD, virtual channel 52 (VHF digital channel 9), is a ShopHQ-affiliated television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, United States and serving the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex. The station is owned by Rye Brook, New York-based WRNN-TV Associates. KFWD's offices are located in Coppell, and its transmitter is located in Cedar Hill, Texas.

History

As a Telemundo affiliate

The station first signed on the air on September 1, 1988; it first operated as the Dallas–Fort Worth market's original affiliate of the Spanish-language network Telemundo. The KFWD call letters were previously used by a local radio station on 102.1 FM (now KDGE). For much of its history with the network, KFWD signed off the air during the overnight hours each night; as a result, the station did not carry the entire Telemundo network schedule, whose overnight lineup (as is the case to this day) consisted of infomercials produced and dubbed in Spanish as well as feature films from countries with a predominant population of Spanish speakers such as Mexico. The station began broadcasting 24 hours a day in late 2000.

KFWD lost its affiliation with the network when NBC, which had recently acquired Telemundo, bought independent station KXTX-TV (channel 39) from the Christian Broadcasting Network in 2001. During KFWD's final month as a Telemundo affiliate, the station aired English-language infomercials during the morning and overnight hours.

As an independent station

On January 1, 2002, KFWD became an English-language general entertainment independent station. It acquired syndicated programs displaced by both KXTX and KSTR-TV (channel 49) when both stations affiliated with Spanish-language networks on that date—KXTX having joined Telemundo, while KSTR joined TeleFutura (including programs such as ''Real TV'' and ''Access Hollywood''). The station also began carrying live sporting events including the Big 12 men's basketball tournament, as well as FC Dallas and Dallas Sidekicks soccer games that were dropped from KLDT (channel 55, now MeTV affiliate KAZD).

Belo Corporation began managing the station in 2006, providing advertising sales assistance, certain technical services and facilities to support the operations of KFWD; Belo's flagship ABC affiliate WFAA (channel 8, now owned by Tegna) also supplied the station with repurposed editions of its newscasts (consisting of simulcasts of its Monday–Saturday 6:00 p.m., Sunday–Friday 10:00 p.m. and Sunday 5:30 p.m. newscasts) and other programs seen on that station (such as ''The Dr. Oz Show''). Belo also operated KFWD.tv, the station's website, using a website platform similar to that used by Belo's other stations. The management agreement included an option to purchase KFWD and create a duopoly with WFAA; this option was never exercised.

KFWD has been digital-only since June 12, 2009.List of Digital Full-Power Stations

On October 17, 2011, KFWD changed its programming format, placing a strong emphasis on classic television series. The new "Classic TV" logo and branding was first unveiled on the station's YouTube channel on August 3, 2011, and later on KFWD's Facebook page on October 7. It was then rolled out to the station's website one month later.

Return to Spanish

On June 11, 2012, HIC Broadcast, Inc. announced that KFWD would revert to a Spanish-language format as a charter affiliate of MundoFox (a joint venture between Fox International Channels and RCN Television); it switched to the network when MundoFox " soft launched" on select affiliates on August 1, 2012 at 6 a.m. local time (the network's formal launch date was on August 13). As a result, Belo terminated its management agreement with HIC Broadcast, Inc. to operate KFWD. The last program to air on KFWD as an English-language independent was ''