View source for KFSN-TV

{{short description|Television station in Fresno, California}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2021}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox television station
| callsign = KFSN-TV
| city = Fresno, California
| logo = File:KFSN (2022).svg
| logo_upright = .85
| branding = ABC 30; ''ABC 30 Action News''
| digital = 30 ([[UHF]])
| virtual = 30
| affiliations = {{ubl|'''30.1:''' [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]|''for others, see {{section link||Subchannels}}''}}
| owner = [[ABC Owned Television Stations]]
| licensee = KFSN Television, [[LLC]]
| location = [[Fresno]]–[[Visalia, California]]
| country = United States
| airdate = {{Start date and age|1956|05|10|p=y}}
| callsign_meaning = Fresno
| former_callsigns = KFRE-TV (1956–1971)
| former_channel_numbers = {{ubl|'''Analog:''' 12 ([[VHF]], 1956–1961), 30 (UHF, 1961–2009)|'''Digital:''' 9 (VHF, 2001–2009)}}
| former_affiliations = [[CBS]] (1956–1985)
| erp = 400 [[kW]]
| haat = {{convert|625|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| facility_id = 8620
| coordinates = {{coord|37|4|36|N|119|26|3|W|type:landmark_scale:2000}}
| licensing_authority = [[FCC]]
| website = {{URL|abc30.com}}
}}

'''KFSN-TV''' (channel 30) is a [[television station]] in [[Fresno, California]], United States, serving as the market's [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] network outlet. It is [[owned and operated]] by the network's [[ABC Owned Television Stations]] division, and maintains studios on G Street in downtown Fresno; its transmitter is located on Bear Mountain, near [[Meadow Lakes, California]].

Fresno is the smallest [[television market]] in California with a "[[Big Three (American television)|Big Four]]" network O&O.<ref>Since [[Capital Cities Communications]] was re-branded in 1985 to re-launch the [[ABC Owned Television Stations]] in 1986. According to [[RabbitEars.info]], the [[Template:Fresno TV|Fresno–Visalia area]] ([[Central California]] region) has ranked 42nd, while the market was ranked 55th by [[Nielsen Media Research|Nielsen]].</ref>

==History==
===KFRE===
After the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC)'s four-year-long [[Federal Communications Commission#Freeze of 1948|freeze on awarding television station licenses]] was lifted in 1952, two radio stations—KARM (1430 AM, now [[KFIG]]) and KFRE (940 AM, now [[KYNO]]) competed for the [[construction permit]] to operate a station on channel 12, the sole [[VHF]] allocation given to Fresno. KFRE won the permit, and the station first signed on the air on May 10, 1956, as KFRE-TV (for Fresno). It is the third-oldest television station in the Fresno market in a three-year timeframe and upon signing on, KFRE-TV took the [[CBS]] affiliation from KJEO (channel 47, now [[KGPE]]).  This made Fresno one of the smallest markets where each network gained full-time affiliations at the time.

The KFRE stations were acquired by [[Triangle Publications]] in 1959. On February 17, 1961, KFRE-TV reluctantly moved to UHF channel 30 to make Fresno an all-UHF market under orders from the FCC. It was known by the term ''deintermixture'', the move was made for the purpose of leveling the playing field and eliminating the potential of [[unfair competition]] between the VHF and UHF bands. A similar situation occurred in nearby [[Bakersfield]] where that city's lone VHF station, [[KERO-TV]] on channel 10, moved to UHF channel 23 in 1963. The move of KFRE-TV to channel 30 opened up channel 12 for use by [[KCOY-TV]] in [[Santa Maria, California|Santa Maria]], which went on the air in 1964.

===KFSN===
Triangle began its exit from broadcasting in 1971, and sold the KFRE stations to [[Capital Cities Communications]]. The new owners sold off the AM and [[KSKS|FM]] radio stations as a condition of the purchase and kept the television station, changing its call letters to KFSN-TV on May 1 of that year (the [[KFRE-TV]] calls are now used on Fresno's [[The CW|CW]] affiliate on channel 59; that station is unrelated to the current KFSN-TV).

On March 18, 1985, Capital Cities announced it would purchase ABC. Nearly six months later, on September 9, 1985, KFSN-TV traded network affiliations with KJEO and became an ABC affiliate. The transaction was finalized on January 3, 1986, making channel 30 an ABC [[owned-and-operated station]]. It marked the first time a [[Big Three network]] owned a [[UHF]] television station since [[NBC]] sold WNBC (now [[WVIT]]) in [[New Britain, Connecticut]], to Plains Television in 1960 (NBC would buy the station back from [[Viacom (1952–2005)|the original incarnation of Viacom]] in 1997).<ref>{{Cite news|date=October 5, 1959|title=Ownership Changes|work=[[Broadcasting & Cable|Broadcasting]]|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/59-OCR/1959-10-05-BC-OCR-Page-0110.pdf|access-date=September 27, 2021}}</ref> In 1996, [[The Walt Disney Company]] acquired Capital Cities/ABC.

KFSN-TV shut down its analog signal, over [[UHF]] channel 30, at noon on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States [[Digital television transition in the United States|transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts]] under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition [[VHF]] channel 9 to UHF channel 30.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |title=DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds |access-date=March 24, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829004251/http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |archive-date=August 29, 2013 }}</ref><ref name="FCCForm387">[http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101257376&formid=387&fac_num=8620 CDBS Print<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

[[ABC News Now]] was launched in 2004 on digital subchannels of ABC O&O stations<ref>{{cite news|title=ABC News banks on digital, despite small audiences today|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2004-09-04-digital-broadcasts_x.htm|access-date=May 29, 2014|newspaper=USA Today|agency=AP|date=September 4, 2004}}</ref> and lasting until January 31, 2005, as the channel ended its experimental phase.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kerschbaumer |first1=Ken |title=ABC News Now... And Later |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA498484.html |access-date=January 15, 2020 |work=Broadcasting & Cable |date=January 24, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007075559/http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA498484.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 7, 2008}}</ref> The group changed its programming on secondary channels to ABC Plus, a local news and public affairs format. ABC teamed up with [[AccuWeather]] to launch a [[The Local AccuWeather Channel|multicast service]] starting on ABC stations' third subchannel with the second station taking on the service was KFSN-TV in late 2005.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Umstead |first1=R. Thomas |last2=Moss |first2=Linda |title=Much Ado About Multicasting |url=https://www.multichannel.com/news/much-ado-about-multicasting-368289 |access-date=January 24, 2020 |work=Multichannel |publisher=Future Publishing Limited |date=December 9, 2005 |language=en-us}}</ref> On April 27, 2009, KFSN began carrying the Live Well Network on a second digital subchannel [[digital subchannel]].<ref>{{cite news |title=ABC O&Os Launch Digital Network |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/209986-ABC_O_Os_Launch_Digital_Network.php |work=Broadcasting & Cable |date=April 27, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=ABC Multicasts Live Well HD Channel |url=http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/local-broadcast/e3i18f9fdff77fbe360c575973113dc907b |work=Mediaweek |date=October 25, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091030074214/http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/local-broadcast/e3i18f9fdff77fbe360c575973113dc907b |archive-date=October 30, 2009}}</ref>

The station carried a Live Well Network [[standard definition]] simulcast that was carried on digital subchannel 30.3 until it was replaced with [[Laff (TV network)|Laff]] on April 15, 2015.<ref name="bc">{{cite web|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/currency/exclusive-comedy-multicast-net-launching-abc-scripps/137199|title=Exclusive: Comedy Multicast Net Launching on ABC, Scripps|last=Lafayette|first=Jon|work=Broadcasting & Cable|date=January 18, 2015|access-date=January 20, 2015}}</ref> ABC Owned Television Stations took its Localish digital media venture promoted by KFSN and other stations<ref>{{cite news|last=Lafayette |first=Jon |url=https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/abc-stations-launching-localish-a-brand-for-mobile-millennials |title=ABC Stations Launching 'Localish' for Mobile Millennials |work=Broadcasting & Cable |publisher=Future Publishing Limited |date=September 20, 2018 |access-date=January 24, 2020}}</ref> then rebranded its Live Well Network as [[Localish]] on February 17, 2020.<ref>{{cite news|last=Lafayette |first=Jon |url=https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/abc-rebranding-live-well-broadcast-diginet-to-localish |title=ABC Rebranding Live Well Broadcast Diginet to Localish |work=Broadcasting & Cable |publisher=Future Publishing Limited |date=January 21, 2020 |access-date=January 24, 2020}}</ref>

==Programming==
KFSN-TV serves as the production company for two programs seen on the Live Well Network, now called Localish, ''Motion'' and ''[[My Family Recipe Rocks]]''.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Bachman|first1=Katy|title=ABC Multicasts Live Well HD Channel|url=http://www.adweek.com/news/television/abc-multicasts-live-well-hd-channel-113613|access-date=December 4, 2014|work=Ad Week|date=October 25, 2009}}</ref>

===News operation===
KFSN-TV presently broadcasts 42 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with seven hours each weekday and {{frac|3|1|2}} hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the highest local newscast output among the broadcast television stations in the Fresno market. Unlike most ABC affiliates in the [[Pacific Time Zone]], the station does not broadcast a 5:30&nbsp;p.m. newscast on weekdays, opting to fill the half-hour with ''[[ABC World News Tonight]]'' (as a result of that program airing one hour earlier than other ABC stations in the time zone, KFSN airs an extension of its 6&nbsp;p.m. newscast in ''World News''{{'}} recommended 6:30 timeslot). In addition, the station produces the [[public affairs (broadcasting)|public affairs]] program ''Valley Focus'', which airs Sunday mornings at 10&nbsp;a.m.

KFSN has dominated the local news ratings in the San Joaquin Valley for decades, dating back to its pre-ABC-merger years as a CBS affiliate. Its 5 p.m. newscast, ''Live at Five'' frequently attracts more viewers than all other area stations combined. Due to Fresno's CBS affiliate using the branding, KFSN's newscasts are not branded ''[[Eyewitness News]]'', nor does it use the [[Gari Media Group]]-composed "[[Eyewitness News#Music package|Eyewitness News]]" music package, like most of ABC's other owned-and-operated stations. Instead, KFSN retains the ''[[Action News]]'' branding made famous at [[Philadelphia]] [[sister station]] [[WPVI-TV]], when the format debuted on that station in 1970. KFSN also used the original version of [[615 Music]]'s "News One" music package from 1994 to 2014, also used at the time by [[San Francisco]] sister station, [[KGO-TV]].

In 2003, the station began [[Common-pool resource|pooling resources]] with sister stations [[KABC-TV]] in [[Los Angeles]] and KGO-TV to hire a full-time reporter and photographer to staff a [[Sacramento]] bureau following [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]'s election as [[Governor of California|Governor]] during the [[2003 California recall]] election; the Sacramento bureau was shut down in September 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thedesk.matthewkeys.net/2013/08/abcs-sacramento-california-bureau-to-close-after-10-years/amp/|date=August 28, 2013|title=ABC's Sacramento, California bureau to close after 10 years|first=Matthew|last=Keys|website=The Desk}}</ref> On April 23, 2007, beginning with the 5 p.m. newscast, KFSN-TV became the seventh ABC owned-and-operated station to begin broadcasting their local newscasts in [[High-definition television|high definition]] (following its sister stations KABC-TV, WPVI-TV, [[WABC-TV]] in [[New York City]], [[WLS-TV]] in [[Chicago]], KGO-TV in San Francisco and [[KTRK-TV]] in [[Houston]]) and updated its news branding to ''ABC 30 Action News HD''.

On September 12, 2011, KFSN launched an hour-long 4&nbsp;p.m. newscast, which replaced ''[[The Oprah Winfrey Show]]''.<ref>[http://www.mediabistro.com/tvspy/kfsn-to-launch-10-p-m-newscast-on-kail_b75819 KFSN to Launch 10 p.m. Newscast on KAIL], ''TVSpy'', January 7, 2013.</ref> This follows the trend of the four other sister stations (WABC-TV, WPVI-TV, KGO-TV and [[WTVD]] in [[Durham, North Carolina]]) that started their own 4&nbsp;p.m. newscast after ''Oprah'' ended its syndication run. On January 7, 2013, KFSN began producing a half-hour 10&nbsp;p.m. newscast for then-[[MyNetworkTV]] affiliate [[KAIL]] (channel 7); the program, titled ''ABC 30 Action News Live at 10:00'',<ref>[https://www.mediabistro.com/tvspy/kfsn-set-to-replace-oprah-with-4-p-m-newscast_b19618 KFSN Set to Replace ‘Oprah’ With 4 p.m. Newscast], ''TVSpy'', August 25, 2011.</ref> ended in July 2014.

====Notable former on-air staff====
* [[Laura Diaz (TV anchor)|Laura Diaz]] – anchor (1981–1983)
* [[Karen Humphrey]] – reporter (1970s)

==Subchannels==
The station's signal is [[Multiplex (TV)|multiplexed]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Subchannels of KFSN-TV<ref name="rei">{{cite web|title=Digital TV Market Listing for KFSN|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=KFSN#station|website=[[RabbitEars.info]]|access-date=February 21, 2020}}</ref>
! [[Digital subchannel#United States|Channel]]
! [[Display resolution|Res.]]
! [[Aspect ratio (image)|Aspect]]
! Short name
! Programming
|-
! scope = "row" | 30.1 
| rowspan=2|[[720p]] || rowspan=4|[[16:9]] || KFSN-HD || [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 30.2 
| LOCLish || [[Localish]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 30.3 
| rowspan=2|[[480i]] || Charge! || [[Charge! (TV network)|Charge!]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 30.4 
| HSN || [[HSN]]
|}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
* [http://www.broadcastpioneers.com/wfilhistory.html BroadcastPioneers.com: A History of the WFIL Stations]

==External links==
*{{Official website|https://abc30.com/}}

{{Fresno TV}}
{{ABC California}}
{{Disney–ABC stations}}
{{Major U.S. TV O-O Stations}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kfsn-Tv}}
[[Category:1956 establishments in California]]
[[Category:ABC Owned Television Stations]]
[[Category:American Broadcasting Company affiliates]]
[[Category:Charge! (TV network) affiliates]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1956]]
[[Category:Television stations in Fresno, California|FSN-TV]]