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KNSD (channel 39, cable channel 7), branded on air as NBC 7 San Diego, 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 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 ...
, California, United States, serving as the market's
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outlet. 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 the network's
NBC Owned Television Stations NBC Owned Television Stations (formerly NBC Local Media and NBC Television Stations Division (TVSD)) is the division of NBCUniversal Media Group#NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations, NBCUniversal Owned TV Stations (NBCUniversal), a subsidiary o ...
division alongside
Poway Poway () is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. Poway's rural roots influenced its motto "The City in the Country". The city had a population of 48,841 as of the 2020 United States census. Poway is part of San Diego's Eas ...
-licensed
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 ...
station KUAN-LD (channel 48). KNSD and KUAN-LD share studios on Granite Ridge Drive in the Kearny Mesa section of San Diego and are broadcast from the same transmitter on San Miguel Mountain, southeast of Spring Valley. Channel 39 began broadcasting November 14, 1965, as KAAR from studios in Kearny Mesa. Owned by locally based San Diego Telecasters, it was the third television station in San Diego and its first
independent station An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast television network, network. As such, it only broadcasts broadcast syndication, syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered pr ...
. As the first
ultra high frequency 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 ...
(UHF) station in San Diego, it struggled to attract viewers and advertisers; at one point, it cut back its schedule to two hours a night, and when it was sold to Bass Brothers Enterprises in 1967, it went off the air for nearly six months, returning as KCST with an emphasis on local sports coverage. Shortly after the relaunch, ownership began a quest to force ABC to affiliate with channel 39. This was possible because ABC needed annual FCC approval to feed network programming 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 ...
, across the Mexican border in
Tijuana 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 ...
, and the FCC had provided this because San Diego lacked a third commercial station. A multi-year legal battle ended in 1972 with the FCC directing ABC to affiliate with KCST, which it did in 1973. Concurrent with the new network affiliation, the station launched a local news department and was sold to
Storer Broadcasting Storer Communications, known from 1927 to 1952 as the Fort Industry Company and from 1952 to 1983 as Storer Broadcasting, was an American media company that owned television and radio stations and cable television systems. Founded by George Butle ...
. In 1976, after finding itself suddenly in first place in the national ratings, ABC sought an upgrade and agreed to move its programming to
KGTV KGTV (channel 10) is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Air Way in the Riverview-Webster section of San Diego, and its ...
; channel 39 affiliated with NBC instead. KCST remained mired in third place in the local news ratings throughout this time period. In 1988, after being purchased by Gillett Communications, KCST was relaunched with new KNSD call letters and an overhauled news department. The changes did not have an immediate ratings impact, but as the 1990s wore on, KNSD became more competitive particularly in late news ratings. NBC acquired KNSD from New World Communications in 1996. In 2001, KNSD moved its studios to the downtown 225 Broadway office tower, returning to Kearny Mesa in 2016. NBC brought the Telemundo affiliation in San Diego in-house in 2017, resulting in a further expansion to the news department.


Early history


KAAR: Construction and early years

San Diego Telecasters, Inc., filed 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) on June 17, 1963, to build a new television station on
ultra high frequency 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 ...
(UHF) channel 39 in San Diego. The applicant was owned by Larry Shushan and Leon Kahn, the president and co-owner of San Diego radio station KPRI-FM. Shushan and Kahn proposed to build channel 39 on San Miguel Mountain. The FCC approved this application on June 25, 1964, by which time preparations were under way on the transmitter site. Construction required building a road to the mountain's summit, a task that delayed the planned sign-on for the new station. A late delivery of an antenna from
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...
also set back work. In October 1965, the antenna was installed, and the station formally opened its studios on Engineer Road in Kearny Mesa. KAAR began broadcasting on November 14, 1965. It was an
independent station An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast television network, network. As such, it only broadcasts broadcast syndication, syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered pr ...
, San Diego's first, with a 12-hour broadcast day featuring color movies in prime time, shows for children (''Suzy Mallery's Kaartoon-O-Rama'') and teenagers (''Kaar A Go Go''), This format was not a success. In August 1966, citing a lack of advertising, KAAR cut its broadcast day to 7 to 9 p.m. from Monday to Saturday, carrying the same movie every night in the first week of its curtailed operation. The station later moved to a 7 to 10 p.m. schedule. On January 16, 1967,
educational television Educational television or learning television is the use of television programs in the field of distance education. It may be in the form of individual television programs or dedicated specialty channels that are often associated with cable televi ...
came to the San Diego area with the launch of instructional programming from the San Diego Instructional Television Authority, a consortium of 26 local school districts. The educational station in San Diego, KEBS-TV (channel 15), was not yet in operation, so the programs were aired by channel 39 during daytime hours under a contract with KEBS-TV's owner, San Diego State College. KAAR restored much of its lost broadcast day after the shift, instituting a late-afternoon children's block, a nightly talk show covering local issues, and a 9:30 p.m. newscast. KEBS-TV began test broadcasting on June 12 and supplanted KAAR as the broadcaster of educational television programming.


KCST: Bass Brothers ownership and sports format

San Diego Telecasters filed to sell KAAR to Bass Brothers Enterprises on June 23, 1967, for $1.1 million. The sale was approved and the station authorized to go silent effective August 31. The station was placed under a Bass subsidiary, Western Telecasters. During this time, the new owners recast the station with new KCST call letters and a format heavy on sports. KCST returned to air on February 2, 1968; the highlight of its first day on air was live coverage of a game between the San Diego Rockets and
San Francisco Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...
. The station had a package of six total Rockets games as well as 13
San Diego Gulls The San Diego Gulls are a professional ice hockey team based in San Diego. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Anaheim Ducks. The team plays its home games at Pechanga Arena. History On Jan ...
games. Former KOGO-TV (channel 10) sports director Bob Chandler, former KOGO-TV newscaster Bill Fouch, and Mike Smith served as the announcers for a wide slate of sports events. Chandler and Fouch hosted two sports and news updates at 7 and 10 p.m. nightly; the station built a large scoreboard to present half-hourly score updates. In addition to sports, the station had a nightly interview show and teen dance program. Within three months of signing on, the new KCST secured rights to three more San Diego sports teams, including eight games of the Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres baseball team and
San Diego State Aztecs The San Diego State Aztecs are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent San Diego State University (SDSU). The university fields 17 varsity teams (6 men's, 11 women's) in National Collegiate Athle ...
football replays. That March, channel 39 signed a deal to become the official station of the
San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...
football team, airing live preseason road games, a weekly coaches' show, and highlight packages. The relationship with the Chargers extended beyond sports broadcasts. When the Chargers drafted cornerback Jim Hill that year, he was assigned number 39 on account of the KCST pact; he hosted a variety show, ''Mr. 39 Talent Time'', and conducted interviews. Between February 1968 and March 1969, KCST grew from having just eight to ten employees to a staff of 45, and Bass's broadcasting division moved its corporate office from Texas to San Diego. The
San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...
of
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
were established in 1969 and had no local television broadcasts that first season. For 1970, KCST purchased rights to 20 road game telecasts from KOGO. That July, it increased its
effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...
to 4.2 million watts, increasing signal quality. To address one remaining area shaded by terrain, a translator was built at
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 ...
.


ABC affiliation dispute and sale to Storer

In November 1968, Western Telecasters petitioned the FCC, starting a quest to force ABC to affiliate with it. At the time, there were three commercial stations licensed to San Diego: KCST and two very high frequency (VHF) stations,
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) and KOGO-TV, affiliated with CBS and
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 ...
, respectively. However, a fourth station served San Diego from across the Mexican border:
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). Beginning in 1955, the FCC annually granted ABC permission to feed network programming to XETV. This grant was made at the time, per the FCC, because at the time there was "no operating or authorized third television station in the San Diego area" to provide a third major network even though XETV had minimal local programming for San Diego audiences. KCST argued that it was the third station, it would do a better job than XETV at providing local programming, and it was available to become the ABC affiliate, rendering the reason for the original grants moot. In the petition, Western Telecasters revealed that it had lost $650,000 running KCST between February and November 1968 in spite of a $1.36 million expenditure on improvements to the station. By 1970, its losses had widened to $1 million a year. ABC had argued, for its part, that it was already losing money and could not afford an additional $1 million in annual projected losses from a forced affiliation switch. After the matter was designated for hearing in 1969, FCC hearing examiner James F. Tierney ruled in an initial decision in May 1971 that the ABC affiliation with XETV was in the public interest because of XETV's superior technical facility compared with KCST. Tierney found that, were ABC to move from channel 6 to channel 39, the network—already in third place in ratings—would lose coverage in 26,000 to 29,000 television households and advertising revenue, impairing its competitive standing. He ruled in favor of preserving the ABC network service and its benefits to San Diego over local service improvements that KCST could make over XETV. Western Telecasters appealed Tierney's ruling to the full FCC, which reversed the initial decision on May 30, 1972, and ruled against renewing ABC's ability to provide network programming to XETV. The commission agreed with KCST's contention that the initial rationale for the annual authorization no longer existed with a third commercial TV station in San Diego itself and found that "as an ABC affiliate, KCST's programming would meet the needs and interests of the community more effectively than the existing ABC affiliate", XETV, which had "not produced a local news program since 1967, does not contemplate resumption of one, and has never interrupted its broadcast schedule for a bulletin of local interest". It also found that the network would lose 22,500 homes as compared to a previous figure of 29,000—a figure the commission deemed "minimal"—and noted that XETV was subject to potential Mexican censorship. The effect of this ruling was to essentially force ABC to affiliate with KCST. A challenge in the
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. courts of appeals, ...
by ABC and XETV was denied in January 1973; the Court of Appeals found that the FCC had acted within its authority. ABC and XETV then signed a memorandum of understanding and proposed to the FCC that the network continue with the Tijuana station until July 1, subject to negotiating an affiliation agreement with KCST. Just after prevailing in its fight for the ABC affiliation, Western Telecasters agreed in March 1973 to sell KCST to
Storer Broadcasting Storer Communications, known from 1927 to 1952 as the Fort Industry Company and from 1952 to 1983 as Storer Broadcasting, was an American media company that owned television and radio stations and cable television systems. Founded by George Butle ...
for $12 million after Storer unexpectedly made an offer for the station. Mel Wheeler, president of Western Telecasters, noted "mixed feelings" on the sale but found the offer "difficult to resist". The deal would make Storer the first group to own the then-maximum complement of five VHF and two UHF television stations. News of the transaction prompted XETV to declare the previously agreed memorandum of understanding void and resume its affiliation fight, which ended when the
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...
rejected XETV's final appeal in June 1973. KCST began airing ABC daytime programming on June 4, 1973, and the network's prime time schedule on July 1. In advance of the affiliation switch, the station started building out a full-service news department. The station selected the '' Eyewitness News'' format for its newscasts and named Harold Greene, a reporter and anchor at
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 ...
in Los Angeles and native San Diegan, as news director. Newscasts at 5 and 11 p.m. debuted on July 16, 1973, with Greene as the lead weeknight anchor. Despite the station winning two regional
Golden Mike Award The Golden Mike Award is a broadcast journalism award presented by the Radio and Television News Association (RTNA) of Southern California. Awards are given in the categories of television news and radio news. Eligibility is limited to a select g ...
s for news coverage, Greene resigned after six months because he was in conflict with station staff; he sought to grow the news staff at a faster rate than station management. After Greene left, in April 1974, KCST named Carol Ann Hutchison as a news anchor, making her the first woman to anchor a local evening newscast in San Diego. Another anchor at KCST during this time, from 1973 to 1976, was Lou Waters, later of
CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
.


Storer ownership

Though the sale of KCST to Storer was announced in March 1973 and a contract formally signed that June, the local chapter of the
National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...
(NOW) petitioned the FCC to deny the transaction. It alleged that Storer discriminated against women in hiring to such a manner that the company's promises to hire women and minorities could not be trusted and that Storer owned cable systems in KCST's coverage area, creating a then-impermissible overlap. Storer and NOW reached an agreement under which Storer committed to hire more women in top-level positions, fund scholarships for women, and devote 12 primetime programs to women's issues in its first two years of ownership. The FCC approved the transaction in September 1974 but warned NOW that a licensee's discretion could override such agreements and could not "curtail" its responsibility for station operations. In 1975, KCST's newscasts were rebranded from ''Eyewitness News'' to ''39 News Alive''; at that time, Charlie Jones joined as an occasional sports commentator and
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 ...
as entertainment editor, in addition to his role at KABC-TV.


Affiliation switch to NBC

Midway through the 1975–76 television season, ABC experienced a major upswing in ratings nationally. The increase was so significant that it propelled KCST-TV to first place in prime time, beating KFMB-TV and KGTV in share in the February 1976
Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...
sweeps period. It was the first time a UHF station had beaten two network-affiliated VHFs in its market. However, ABC was still smarting from the 1973 move to KCST, which had been forced upon it, and was interested in moving back to a VHF station. As early as late 1974, ABC was in discussions with
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, ...
, owner of KGTV, about moving its San Diego affiliation. McGraw-Hill, in turn, looked favorably at ABC's younger audience. On June 3, 1976, ABC and McGraw-Hill announced that KGTV would become the new ABC affiliate in San Diego, a move that an NBC spokesman stated left the network "stunned". ABC noted that the decision was not a reflection on KCST's performance but born of the need to continually improve the network's affiliate base. NBC initially showed resistance to the idea of letting KGTV switch networks before its existing NBC affiliation agreement expired in November 1977, even though ABC had already sent a six-month termination notice to KCST-TV. In September 1976, Storer announced that an affiliation agreement between KCST and NBC was imminent. It also divulged plans to switch the Storer station in Milwaukee, WITI, from ABC to CBS. Though Storer executive vice president Terry Lee claimed that the Milwaukee move was about associating with CBS, of which Storer owned three other major-market affiliates and which Storer regarded like "family", and stated that the move was not being made "out of spite", he admitted, "Obviously, we had no good feelings about ABC after what they did to us in San Diego. ABC vice president Dick Beesemyer, noting that WITI was number-one as an ABC affiliate in that market, believed that the deal was motivated by factors other than performance. The parties reached a compromise: on June 27, 1977, KCST-TV became an NBC affiliate, and KGTV became an ABC affiliate. KCST-TV complemented the affiliation switch with major changes in its local news offerings. Channel 39's newscasts were retitled ''NewsCenter 39'', with two new presenters for news and weather, and the early local news was moved to 6:30 p.m. Ron Fortner, who had anchored the KCST news for three years, was dismissed; management felt he was not a match for the new name and format designed to complement the ''
NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas'' for its weeknight broadcasts ) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NBC television network ...
'', apparently on the advice of a consultant. The news department won critical acclaim and was the first San Diego station to win consecutive Golden Mike Awards for best newscast competing against the Los Angeles stations, and the station's news audience share quadrupled from 3 to 12% between 1977 and 1981. In two ratings periods in 1979, KCST was second at 11 p.m. In 1981, a 5 p.m. newscast was reinstated; a 4:30 p.m. local newscast consisting of several minutes of local news leading into a live segment of CNN2 was introduced the following year. The changes did little to change KCST-TV's overall news ratings performance, which was generally third place, well behind KFMB or KGTV. The station continued to suffer from a comparative lack of viewer loyalty as a UHF station as well as the 20-year head-start that KFMB and KGTV enjoyed as news outlets. During this period, the station had unusually little on-air turnover in spite of the low ratings and a revolving door of news directors. Lead anchors Dennis Morgino and Laura Buxton remained a team from 1981 through 1987; Mark Sauer of ''The San Diego Union'' called their tenure "remarkable" given the circumstances. Station staffers felt that Storer did not invest sufficiently in KCST. During this time, Bill Ritter joined the channel 39 staff as a financial reporter.


KKR buyout and attempted sale to Lorimar

Storer Communications was taken private in a $1.6 billion
leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is the acquisition of a company using a significant proportion of borrowed money (Leverage (finance), leverage) to fund the acquisition with the remainder of the purchase price funded with private equity. The assets of t ...
by
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global private-equity and investment company. , the firm had completed private-equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 billion of total ...
(KKR), a merchant banker. Completed in December 1985, the buyout was engineered to thwart a
hostile takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (law), company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast t ...
by
Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...
and an attempted liquidation of the company by dissatisfied shareholders. KKR had purchased
Wometco Enterprises Wometco Enterprises (also known simply as Wometco) is an American company headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida; a suburb of Miami. It was once a large media company with diversified holdings, but slowly sold off its assets during the early 1980s ...
the previous year, after no succession plan was found following the death of chairman Mitchell Wolfson, and began the process of dismantling the conglomerate. Wometco already owned several television stations in markets where Storer owned cable systems, including
WTVJ WTVJ (channel 6) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Fort Lauderdale–licensed WSCV (channel 51), a flag ...
in Miami, and owned a cable system in Atlanta where Storer owned
WAGA-TV WAGA-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, serving as the market's Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains st ...
; the FCC's approval was conditional on KKR divesting in these overlapping markets. KKR originally planned to only sell WTVJ but soon entertained offers for some of the Storer stations. On May 21, 1986,
Lorimar-Telepictures Lorimar-Telepictures Corporation, Inc. was an entertainment company established on February 19, 1986 with the merger of Lorimar Productions, Inc. and Telepictures Corporation. Headquartered at the former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (now Sony Pi ...
, producer of ''
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 ...
'', ''
Knots Landing ''Knots Landing'' is an American primetime television soap opera that aired on CBS from December 27, 1979, to May 13, 1993. A spin-off of ''Dallas (TV series), Dallas'', it was set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles and initially cente ...
'' and ''
Falcon Crest ''Falcon Crest'' is an American prime time television soap opera created by Earl Hamner Jr. that aired for nine seasons on CBS from December 4, 1981, to May 17, 1990. The series revolves around the feuding factions of the wealthy Gioberti/Cha ...
'' for CBS, agreed to purchase the Storer stations,
production company A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television show, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video ...
, advertising sales division, Washington
news bureau A news bureau is an office for gathering or distributing news. Similar terms are used for specialized bureaus, often to indicate a geographic location or scope of coverage: a 'Tokyo bureau' refers to a given news operation's office in Tokyo; 'fo ...
, and WTVJ for $1.85 billion, This deal collapsed by late October 1986 when Lorimar asked to have WTVJ excluded. Initially attributed to issues financing the deal and reduced
cash flow Cash flow, in general, refers to payments made into or out of a business, project, or financial product. It can also refer more specifically to a real or virtual movement of money. *Cash flow, in its narrow sense, is a payment (in a currency), es ...
estimates for WTVJ, it was later revealed that CBS president Laurence Tisch objected to Lorimar purchasing a significant portion of the affiliate base and threatened to disaffiliate all the CBS affiliates in the deal.


Gillett and New World ownership

In 1987, George N. Gillett Jr. acquired majority control of the Storer stations; the $1.3 billion deal was financed through junk bonds and represented a valuation of nearly 15 times cash flow for the group. KKR maintained a 45-percent minority ownership. To satisfy federal regulations, Gillett's existing station group was spun off to Busse Broadcasting, a company formed by Gillett employees. As the sale was pending, the era of third-place stability ended at KCST-TV. In 1987, Morgino and Buxton were replaced by Marty Levin and Denise Yamada. Levin was the first person to be a lead anchor at each of channels 8, 10, and 39 and had just been demoted at KFMB; Yamada had been a reporter for ABC's ''
Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...
''. In spite of the new anchor team, KCST remained at the back of the San Diego news ratings. In the May 1988 sweeps period, it had less than half the viewers of either KFMB or KGTV at 5 p.m. and tied KFMB for a distant second at 11 p.m.


KNSD: ''News San Diego'' and a total overhaul

After the Gillett purchase concluded, larger changes were seen on the horizon. Gillett's focus on news was predicted to bolster the news department. The company named a new general manager—Neil Derrough, former president of the CBS owned-and-operated stations group—who sought to fix the station's major image problems. Some stemmed from the UHF status, mostly a crutch by this point. The ''San Diego Business Journal'' called ''NewsCenter 39'' "matronly", while Derrough considered its newscasts "bland, predictable, and not very interesting". Coinciding with the opening night of NBC's coverage of the
1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...
, on September 15, 1988, KCST-TV changed its call sign to KNSD; began promoting its cable channel number of 7 over its over-the-air channel 39; and retitled its newscasts ''News San Diego''. It launched a series of new programs: a monthly show hosted by former KFMB-TV personality Larry Himmel, a sports show with then–San Diego Chargers head coach Al Saunders, and two new public affairs series. The Himmel program lasted just six months before it was canceled due to low ratings. The revamped KNSD newscasts proved more competitive at 11 p.m., but ratings continued to lag in the early evening news. In September 1989, the early evening news hour at 5 p.m. was split into half-hour 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts, a different format than KFMB and KGTV had at the time. That same year, channel 39 hired former San Diego Chargers linebacker Jim Laslavic as its new sports director—a position in which he would spend nearly 30 years—and debuted a sports talk show featuring Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton, a local sports radio personality. Ritter, who had been reassigned as an investigative reporter when the news department was relaunched, departed at the end of 1989 for
KTTV KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. It is owned a ...
in Los Angeles. The 1990 promotion of Irv Kass to the position of news director was credited with stabilizing the typical revolving door of on-air talent and strengthening the channel 39 newsroom, but the station continued to add air talent and experiment. In 1991, KNSD began airing an afternoon local talk show, ''The Ross/Hedgecock Report''. It paired Allison Ross, a former KFMB-TV anchor, with Roger Hedgecock, a former San Diego mayor then hosting a talk show on KSDO radio. The program was canceled after 15 months due to low ratings, particularly as the popular ''
The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Oprah Winfrey. The show ran for twenty-five seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in which it broadcast 4,561 episodes. The show was taped i ...
'' aired on KGTV in the same time slot. It was replaced months later by a new 4 p.m. newscast, anchored by Ross. In 1993, Rolland Smith, a news anchor with a lengthy career in New York, moved to San Diego to anchor the 4 p.m. news when Ross was taken off the program. That year, the station also started a weekend morning newscast. Over the course of the early- to mid-1990s, KNSD's news ratings increased, particularly at 11 p.m. While KGTV had been winning the late news ratings race for years, KNSD posted major increases in ratings during 1995 and moved ahead of KGTV in 1996. In early 1996, KNSD launched a morning newscast, originally 90 minutes from 5:30 to 7 a.m.


Ownership instability

During much of the late 1980s and early 1990s, the ownership future of channel 39 seemed uncertain. Gillett's purchase of the Storer stations, renamed SCI Television, was troubled from the start. The junk bonds were raised prior to Black Monday: by November 1987, Gillett recorded a 10:1 debt-to-profit ratio and faced a $153 million loan payment by October 1989. Rumors of a sale ran hot in the lead-up to the conversion to ''News San Diego'' in 1988, particularly as Gillett, who formerly had a role with the
Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...
, expressed interest in buying the
Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...
. At one point, KGTV reported that
Westinghouse Broadcasting The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndi ...
was under contract to buy channel 39, which turned out to be premature. Gillett boasted that the sale of
WSMV-TV WSMV-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Media alongside low-power Telemundo affiliate WTNX-LD (channel 29). The two stations share studios on Knob Road i ...
in
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, was enough to shore up the company's finances, but the firm missed the October 1989 loan payment, prompting three creditors to ask the
United States Bankruptcy Court United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the United States Constitution. The current system of bankruptcy courts was created by the United States Congress in 1978, effective April 1, 1984. United States bankruptcy ...
in Delaware that SCI Television be placed in involuntary
Chapter 7 bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 U.S. Code is the bankruptcy code that governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. This is in contrast to bankruptcy under Chapter 11 and Chapter 13, which govern the process of ''re ...
while SCI offered a debt for equity exchange. This exchange offer was agreed to within hours of a deadline placed by the Delaware court. Bondholders acquired a 39-percent stake in SCI, while Gillett saw his ownership reduced to 41 percent and KKR's reduced to 15 percent; KKR also cancelled a $190 million
debit note A debit note or debit memorandum (or debit memo) is a commercial document, common in business to business (B2B) transactions, that either buyers or sellers may use regarding the amount due for a sale of goods or services. Debit note acts as the ...
held on SCI. Gillett failed to meet a debt payment by August 1990, prompting
S&P Global Ratings S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is cons ...
to lower the rating for Gillett Holdings from a C to a D. Gillett's financial pressures continued to mount after the sale of
WMAR-TV WMAR-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios and offices are located on York Road ( Maryland Route 45) in Towson north o ...
in
Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
was renegotiated to a lower price and a Denver bankruptcy judge denied any further extensions on a
Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...
filing. The
early 1990s recession The early 1990s recession describes the period of economic downturn affecting much of the Western world in the early 1990s. The impacts of the recession contributed in part to the 1992 U.S. presidential election victory of Bill Clinton over incum ...
also negatively impacted television station cash flow and advertising revenue, on top of Gillett's failure to divest assets prior to a decline in station valuation. Facing lawsuits from multiple creditors including Apollo Partners,
Allstate The Allstate Corporation is an American insurance company, headquartered in Glenview, Illinois (with a Northbrook, Illinois address) since 2022. Founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., it was spun off in 1993, but was still pa ...
and
Fidelity Investments Fidelity Investments, formerly known as Fidelity Management & Research (FMR), owned by FMR LLC and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, provides financial services. Established in 1946, the company is one of the largest asset managers in the ...
, Gillett Holdings filed for Chapter 11 on July 26, 1991. After reaching another agreement with bondholders, Gillett Holdings was restructured in January 1992, with Gillett as a minority owner but maintaining day-to-day operational control. Investor
Ronald Perelman Ronald Owen Perelman (; born January 1, 1943) is an American banker, businessman, investor, and philanthropist. MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated, his company, has invested in companies with interests in groceries, cigars, licorice, makeup, ca ...
, regarded as a
corporate raider In business, a corporate raid is the process of buying a large stake in a corporation and then using shareholder voting rights to require the company to undertake novel measures designed to increase the share value, generally in opposition to th ...
and the owner of Revlon and
Marvel Entertainment Marvel Entertainment, LLC (formerly Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and Marvel Enterprises, Inc.) was an American entertainment company founded in June 1998 and based in New York City, formed by the merger of #Marvel Entertainment Group, Marvel Ente ...
, purchased majority control of SCI Television, including KNSD, on February 17, 1993, pushing Gillett out entirely. The transaction came through a bankruptcy court-approved Chapter 11 reorganization: Perelman's holding company
MacAndrews & Forbes MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated is an American diversified holding company wholly owned by billionaire investor Ronald Perelman. Current investments include leading participants across a wide range of industries, from cosmetics and entertainme ...
made a $100 million investment in SCI, which was still burdened by $1.3 billion in debt, in exchange for 53 percent of its equity. After the deal closed, SCI was folded into Perelman's New World Entertainment and renamed New World Communications. This was one of several deals Perelman made in rapid succession, as he then purchased a stake in Genesis Entertainment via Four Star Television and directly purchased infomercial producer Guthy-Renker. KNSD was excluded from the deal made between the Fox network and New World Communications on May 23, 1994, that saw New World agree to convert 12 affiliates of ABC, CBS, and NBC to Fox. John Freeman of the ''San Diego Union-Tribune'' hypothesized that Fox wanted to keep XETV, one of its stronger affiliates and a VHF station, over KNSD. The deal, nonetheless, had nearly immediate consequences. Because New World was under contract to acquire more stations than it could legally own (twelve), KNSD was identified as a prime target for a sale. Unsure of her employer's future, Denise Yamada left KNSD to anchor at KFMB-TV, reportedly on the condition that she earn more money than her former co-anchor Levin. New World briefly put KNSD on the market at an asking price of $150 million before withdrawing it. The possibility of an affiliation switch disappeared in 1995 when New World and NBC signed a 10-year agreement extending the affiliations of KNSD and WVTM-TV in
Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...
, in exchange for limits on affiliate compensation and New World developing syndicated programming for the NBC owned-and-operated stations, which developed as the entertainment newsmagazine ''
Access Hollywood ''Access Hollywood'', briefly known as ''Access'' from 2017 to 2019, is an American weekday television entertainment news program that premiered on September 9, 1996. It covers events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was create ...
''.


NBC ownership


Sale to NBC and creation of Station Venture Operations

On May 22, 1996, New World Communications agreed to sell KNSD and WVTM-TV to NBC for $425 million. Of that total, $250 million was estimated to represent KNSD, setting a record sales price for a San Diego TV station. The deal came amid speculation that New World was trying to sell its 10 Fox affiliates to the Fox network itself. NBC was able to make the purchase, which brought its national coverage to 25.1%, because the
Telecommunications Act of 1996 The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is a United States federal law enacted by the 104th United States Congress on January 3, 1996, and signed into law on February 8, 1996, by President Bill Clinton. It primarily amended Chapter 5 of Title 47 of ...
raised the national reach cap for a single station owner from 25 to 35%. NBC gave
LIN Broadcasting LIN Media was an American holding company founded in 1994 that operated 43 television stations. All except one were affiliates of the television in the United States#Major broadcast networks, six major U.S. television networks. One of the re ...
a 20-percent ownership stake of KNSD in 1997 in exchange for 80 percent of
KXAS-TV KXAS-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alon ...
, the NBC affiliate in
Fort Worth, Texas 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 well as cash support for the bid of Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst for LIN. Kass, who had been KNSD's news director since 1990, departed in 1998, with the station's late newscasts sitting at number-one in the ratings seven nights a week. Phyllis Schwartz succeeded Derrough as KNSD's general manager in 1999 upon his retirement. Schwartz, a San Diego native, had worked for each of the major network affiliates in Chicago, coming from NBC-owned
WMAQ-TV WMAQ-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Telemundo station WSNS-TV (chann ...
. Under her leadership, the station began digital broadcasting on November 1, 1999, and made plans to leave Kearny Mesa after 35 years. In 2000, KNSD announced it would set up studios in 225 Broadway, a downtown office tower. This included street-level studio space as well as the entire third floor. While Kearny Mesa had become a popular spot for TV station siting with KFMB-TV, KNSD,
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- ...
and KSWB-TV all located there and was closer to northern and eastern San Diego County, the move put KNSD's news operation near the heart of the city. The first broadcast from 225 Broadway took place in December 2001, marking the first time downtown San Diego was home to a TV station since KFMB-TV left in 1977. Over the course of the 2000s, KNSD continued to lead the 11 p.m. news ratings race with weaker performances in early evening news. For instance, in July 2004, it was third in afternoon news but beat KFMB for the leading late-night newscast. From 2005 to 2008, KNSD provided a 10 p.m. newscast for KSWB-TV (channel 69, cable 5) as part of a deal between NBC and
Tribune Broadcasting Tribune Broadcasting Company, LLC was an American media company which operated as a subsidiary of Tribune Media, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. The group owned and operated television station, television and radio stations thro ...
to outsource newscasts in San Diego and Philadelphia. The newscast was co-anchored by Anne State and Vic Salazar on weeknights. The KSWB arrangement ended after that station obtained Fox affiliation and restarted an in-house local news department. KNSD experimented with several new programs beginning in 2005, including a weekly lifestyle show, ''Streetside San Diego'', and an entire low-power TV station: KBOP-CA (channel 43) "Mi San Diego", a Spanish-language station featuring San Diego Padres telecasts, a local newscast produced by KNSD, and entertainment programming from KWHY-TV in Los Angeles. During the
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.
, KNSD scaled back its operation. In December 2008, it canceled weekend morning newscasts, ''Noticias Mi San Diego'' (by then airing at 4 a.m. on KNSD itself), and ''Streetside'' as part of a layoff of 12 employees. Further cuts saw KNSD outsource weather to
KNBC KNBC (channel 4) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network ...
in Los Angeles for several years; Fritz Coleman, KNBC's meteorologist, presented the weeknight weather on KNSD. This ended in 2011 when the station hired two meteorologists, including Dagmar Midcap, whose last on-air role had been at
WGCL-TV WANF (channel 46) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is the flagship property of locally based Gray Media and is co-owned with CW affiliate WPCH-TV (channel 17) and low-power, Class A Telem ...
in Atlanta. During this period, Marty Levin retired in 2010 and was succeeded on the weeknight anchor desk by Mark Mullen, who had previously been a correspondent for ABC News and NBC News. The weekend morning news was restored in 2013. Though KNSD was operated as part of the NBC-owned station group, LIN continued to participate in the Station Venture Operations joint venture that owned it and KXAS until 2013, when the venture was dissolved as part of a corporate restructuring at LIN. On January 9, 2014, KNSD announced that it would not renew its lease for the 225 Broadway studios and relocate by 2016, ending a 20-year lease five years early. For $9.6 million, NBC purchased a building in Kearny Mesa—selected for its access to major roads and free parking—which was gutted and rebuilt to provide newsroom, studio, and office space for the station and opened in 2016.


Telemundo integration

NBCUniversal posted a job listing in January 2017 seeking a vice president of sales for "a new Telemundo-owned station in San Diego", the first signal that the network was seeking to bring the Telemundo affiliation in-house after more than 26 years broadcast on XHAS-TDT, a Tijuana station programmed by Entravision Communications Corporation, when its affiliation agreement expired later that year. Telemundo 20—a subchannel of KNSD, branded as its cable channel—was formally unveiled that April and began in July, expanding the existing KNSD news operation by more than 30 employees to provide Spanish-language evening newscasts. That September, NBC agreed to purchase KUAN-LD of
Poway, California Poway () is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. Poway's rural roots influenced its motto "The City in the Country". The city had a population of 48,841 as of the 2020 United States census. Poway is part of San Diego's East ...
, from NRJ TV. By December 18, 2018, Telemundo 20 San Diego was being carried on KUAN. As a result of the
2016 United States wireless spectrum auction The 2016 United States wireless spectrum auction, officially known as Auction 1001, allocated approximately 100 MHz of the United States Ultra High Frequency (UHF) spectrum formerly allocated to UHF television in the 600 MHz band. The sp ...
, KNSD was repacked to channel 17 on March 14, 2019, with KUAN sharing KNSD's channel. By 2022, KNSD was in general second place in San Diego–market news ratings and particularly competitive with KFMB-TV in the demographic of viewers 25–54. While KFMB-TV led in total viewers at 6 a.m. and 5, 6, and 11 p.m., KNSD beat or tied KFMB in the 25–54 demo in each of those time periods.


Notable former on-air staff

* Emily Chang – reporter, mid–2000s * Laurence Gross – entertainment critic, 1983–1990s * Joe Lizura – meteorologist, 1990–2006 * Bree Walker – anchor, 1997–2000


Subchannels


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knsd 1965 establishments in California Cozi TV affiliates NBC Owned Television Stations New World Communications television stations Television channels and stations established in 1965 NSD