KMPH-TV
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| Visalia/Fresno, California | |
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| Branding | KMPH Fox 26 (general) KMPH News (news) |
| Slogan | We're your station! |
| Channels | Digital: 28 (UHF) Virtual: 26 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 26.1 Fox HD 26.2 This TV-SD |
| Affiliations | Fox |
| Owner | Titan Broadcast Group (KMPH (TV) License, LLC) |
| First air date | October 11, 1971 |
| Call letters' meaning | Mike, Pete, and Harry Pappas (station founders) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 26 (UHF, 1971-2009) |
| Former affiliations | independent (1971-1986) |
| Transmitter power | 219 kW |
| Height | 763 m |
| Facility ID | 51488 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 36°40′1.9″N 118°52′45.2″W / 36.667194°N 118.879222°W |
| Website | www.kmph.com |
KMPH-TV is a television station in Fresno, California broadcasting digitally on television channel 28, and is licensed to nearby Visalia. It is the Fresno-area affiliate of the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is owned by Titan Broadcast Group and is sister station to KFRE-TV, the Central Valley's CW affiliate. Prior to October 2009, KMPH was the flagship station of Pappas Telecasting Companies.
This station formerly operated KMPH-CA in Merced, California on channel 17. KMPH Fox 26 can also be picked up in and around the Bakersfield area. However, local Fox affiliate KBFX-CA has more exclusive rights in the Bakersfield television market. The television station's airwaves extend northward to Mariposa, California and the southern Sierra Nevada, and sometimes can be received to the south in Kern County for those who live about north of Bakersfield.
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[edit] History
KMPH began broadcasting on October 11, 1971 as an independent station, the first television station founded by the Pappas brothers, Mike, Pete, and Harry. The funding for KMPH came from General Manager Harry Pappas' plan of having hundreds of investors each investing a small amount of money needed to construct the station, rather than having one investor providing all the capital; as a result, the Pappas brothers had a combined ownership stake of only 30.5%, with the other 69.5% controlled by other investors.[1] Throughout the early- to mid-1980s, KMPH was one of the top independent stations in the country. The TV station can be received 100 miles/150 km from Visalia before its move to an office in Fresno in the early 1990s.
Pappas signed an affiliation deal with Fox for KMPH and one of its two other UHF start-ups, KPTM in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1986. (The other Pappas-owned station, WHNS in Greenville, South Carolina, took the Fox affiliation from WAXA two years later.). KMPH and KSEE are the two stations in Fresno to keep the same network affiliation unaffected by the network swaps of ABC and CBS in 1985 and the network changes of The CW Television Network and My Network TV in 2006. The Fox affiliation remains on KMPH to this day.
On May 10, 2008, 13 of Pappas' stations, including KMPH, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As a result of the bankruptcy, Pappas Telecasting had until February 15, 2009 to sell these stations.[2] On January 16, 2009, it was announced that most of these stations, including KMPH, would be sold to New World TV Group, after the sale received United States bankruptcy court approval.[3] On April 2, 2009, 22 station employees were laid off. Eventually, the New World TV Group formed a new holding company known as the Titan Broadcast Group (unrelated to the similarly named smaller-market radio station owner Titan Broadcasting), which completed its purchase of most of the Pappas stations involved in the bankruptcy on October 15, 2009.
[edit] Programming
KMPH also airs court/reality/talk shows, sitcom reruns, and movies in addition to news and the Fox broadcasting schedule. In recent years KMPH has discontinued cartoons, relocating the 4Kids TV schedule to KFRE, which aired the 4Kids TV lineup on Sunday mornings until December 28, 2008. (Under that technicality, since the mid-1990s, Fox allowed its affiliates (especially the newer ones formerly owned by New World) to preempt Fox Kids programming by sending it to another local station, a practice continued through the end of the 4Kids TV block.)
On October 2009 the station added the This TV Network to its digital subchannel, Channel 26.2.
[edit] News operation
KMPH airs 32 hours of local news each week, including the longest-running 10 p.m. newscast in the Fresno market, as well as the "Great Day" morning show which debuted October 6, 2003 featuring long-time anchor Kopi Sotiropolous and Bay Area native Anchor, Kim Stephens. In the spring[when?] of 2007, "Great Day" expanded to five hours; it now runs from 5-10 a.m. Newsreader Liz Gonzalez joined the morning newscast in 2007.
In January 2006, KMPH also produced a half-hour newscast for sister station KFRE that aired every night at 11 p.m., but due to low ratings, KMPH canceled that newscast in mid February 2007. A few months later, KFRE news anchor Allison Ruddell re-joined KMPH as the "Midday" anchor.
On September 30, 2009, KMPH became the second television station in Fresno (behind KFSN) to produce and broadcast its local newscasts in high definition, and the first to bring high definition live reporter shots. With the switch came new graphics (using elements of the FOX O&O HD Graphics) and new music. [1]
[edit] News/station presentation
[edit] Newscast titles
- The TV-26 Ten O'Clock News (1987–1988)
- The Ten O'Clock News (1988–2000)
- KMPH News (2000–present)
[edit] Station slogans
- The Valley's Only Primetime News (1987–1988)
- Central California's Only Primetime Newscast (1988–1993)
- Dedicated to Keep Your Family Informed (1993–1998)
- We're your Station! (1992–present)
This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.[edit] News team
[edit] Current on-air staff
Current anchors
- Nicole Garcia - weekends at 10 p.m.
- Liz Gonzalez - weekday morning newsreader; also fill-in morning anchor and weeknight reporter
- Anna Laurel - weeknights at 10 p.m.
- Rich Rodriguez - weekends at 10 p.m.
- Kim Stephens - weekday mornings Great Day and noon
- Monty Torres - weeknights at 10 p.m.
Weather team
- Kevan Ramer - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 10 p.m.
- James DeLaVega - meteorologist; weekends at 10 p.m.
- Kopi Sotiropolous - weather and news anchor; weekday mornings Great Day and noon
Sports team
- Ralph Wood - sports director; weeknights at 10 p.m.
- Jessob Reisbeck - sports anchor; weekends at 10 p.m.
Reporters
- Clayton Clark - morning reporter
- Ashley Ritchie - general assignment reporter
- Alysia Sofios - freelance reporter
- Lemor Abrams - general assignment reporter
- Eric Rosales - general assignment reporter
- Nicole Garcia - general assignment reporter
- Rich Rodriguez - general assignment reporter
Valley Life
- Rich Kreps - co-host
Contributors
- Bill Coate - Twists In Time historical contributor
- Mike Gish - financial contributor
- Don Larson - political contributor
- Elizabeth Laval - Pop Laval Collection historical contributor
- Mac and Maxine - 'Word of the Day' monkeys; seen on Great Day
[edit] Former staff
- Vic "The Brick" Jacobs - sportscaster (now at KLAC AM 570 in Los Angeles)
- Sean Thomas - reporter (now at Russia Today RT in Moscow)
- Lloyd Lindsay Young - weathercaster
[edit] References
- ^ (, 1973 Broadcasting Yearbook: The Facilities of TV)
- ^ (cf. , Pappas Saga Turning Into Tragedy)
- ^ "New World Gets Pappas TVs for $260M". TVnewsday. January 16, 2008. http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2009/01/16/daily.11/. Retrieved January 18, 2008.
[edit] External links
- KMPH-TV
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KMPH-TV
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KMPH-CA
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KMPH-TV
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