View source for KREN-TV

{{Short description|Television station in Reno, Nevada}}
{{distinguish|text=[[KREM (TV)|KREM]], the CBS affiliate in Spokane, Washington}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox television station
| callsign               = KREN-TV
| city                   =
| logo                   = Univision 27 2019.png
| branding               = {{ubl|{{lang|es|italic=no|Univision 27}} (general)|{{lang|es|Noticias Univision Nevada}} (newscasts)}}
| analog                 =
| digital                = 26 ([[UHF]])
| virtual                = 27
| subchannels            =
| translators            =
| affiliations           = {{ubl|'''27.1:''' [[Univision]]|''for others, see {{Section link||Subchannels}}''}}
| network                =
| founded                = March 1, 1982
| airdate                = {{start date and age|1986|10|8|p=y}}
| location               = [[Reno, Nevada]]
| country                = United States
| callsign_meaning       = Reno
| former_callsigns       =
| former_channel_numbers = '''Analog:''' 27 (UHF, 1986–2009)
| owner                  = [[Entravision Communications]]
| licensee               = Entravision Holdings, [[LLC]]
| sister_stations        = [[KRNS-CD]]
| former_affiliations    = {{ubl|SIN/Univision (1986–1994)|[[Independent station|Independent]] (1994–1995)|[[The WB]] (1995–2000, 2002–2006)|[[Ion Television|Pax TV]] (secondary 1998–2000, primary 2000–2002)|[[The CW]] (2006–April 2009, 27.2 August 2009–2018)|[[UniMás]] (27.3, via [[KRNS-CD]], until 2019)}}
| erp                    = 1,000 kW
| haat                   = {{Convert|896|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| class                  =
| facility_id            = 51493
| coordinates            = {{coord|39|18|46.6|N|119|53|2.6|W|type:landmark_scale:2000}}
| licensing_authority    = [[FCC]]
| website                = {{URL|https://noticiasya.com/reno}}
}}
'''KREN-TV''' (channel 27) is a [[television station]] in [[Reno, Nevada]], United States, affiliated with the Spanish-language network [[Univision]]. It is owned by [[Entravision Communications]] alongside [[low-power broadcasting#Television|low-power]], [[Class A television service|Class A]] [[UniMás]] affiliate [[KRNS-CD]] (channel 46). The two stations share studios on Wells Avenue in Reno; KREN-TV's transmitter is located on [[Slide Mountain (Nevada)|Slide Mountain]] between [[Nevada State Route 431|SR 431]] and [[Interstate 580 (Nevada)|I-580]]/[[U.S. Route 395 in Nevada|US 395]]/[[US 395 ALT]] in [[unincorporated area#United States|unincorporated]] [[Washoe County]].

==History==
The station was founded on March 1, 1982, and first signed on in October 1986 as an affiliate of the Spanish International Network (the predecessor to Univision). It was owned by the Sainte Broadcasting Group, a company that was partially related to the present-day [[Sainte Partners II, L.P.]] [[Pappas Telecasting]] acquired the station at the end of 1994 and converted it to an [[American English|English-language]] general entertainment station, taking the [[The WB|WB]] affiliation when that network launched on January 11, 1995. When [[Ion Media|Paxson Communications]] launched Pax TV in 1998, KREN took on a secondary affiliation with that network. In 2000, KREN lost the WB affiliation to the newly launched [[cable television|cable]]-only [[The WB 100+]] channel known by the fictitious call letters KWBV ("WB6"). In 2002, the WB affiliation was moved back to KREN, effectively merging the two channels since KREN then took over the channel 6 position on cable. Pax TV's successor, [[Ion Television]], would not return to Reno until 2018, when [[KTVN]] (channel 2) began carrying it on its third subchannel. The cable channel 6 position is now used by KRNS-CD.

When The WB merged with [[UPN]] to create The CW in 2006, KREN became one of the charter affiliates of that network, with most of its programming provided by [[The CW Plus]]. On May 10, 2008, 13 of Pappas' stations, including KREN-TV and KAZR-CA, filed for [[Chapter 11 bankruptcy]] protection. Pappas cited "the extremely difficult business climate for television stations across the country" in papers filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in [[Wilmington, Delaware]]. The company reported in court filings that it has more than $536 million in debt and $460 million in assets. Problems that led to bankruptcy included poor performance of The CW network, its now-former involvement with [[Azteca América]], and preparations for the 2009 analog shutdown.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,99461.0.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=June 16, 2008 |archive-date=May 22, 2008 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080522000717/http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,99461.0.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:KREN-TV 2009 Logo.svg|thumb|KREN's logo from April 1, 2009, through December 31, 2012|225x225px]]
On September 17, 2008, bankruptcy trustee E. Roger Williams put KREN under contract to [[Entravision Communications]] for $4 million, which doubled as a minimum bid for the station as it went up for auction in late October.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2008/09/24/daily.7/|title = Web Page Under Construction}}</ref> Since that time, there were no suitable bids for either KREN or KAZR-CA, and Entravision officially assumed ownership on [[April Fools Day|April 1]], 2009. On that day, Entravision moved Univision programming from KNVV-LP back to KREN's main channel while it moved The CW to what was then KAZR-CA (now KRNS-CD), thus displacing that station's former [[TuVision]] affiliation. That station had been rebroadcast on KREN's second digital subchannel for some time before the sale to Entravision was finalized (and this arrangement continues to this day under Entravision). The affiliation switch effectively returned KREN to its Spanish-language roots. Around August 2009, KREN began to rebroadcast KNVV-LP (which became a TeleFutura [now UniMás] affiliate after the main KREN channel took over the Univision affiliation) on a new third subchannel.

During Pappas' ownership, KREN's main digital signal was broadcast in [[1080i]] [[HDTV]] with a [[16:9]] aspect ratio. However, when Entravision took over the primary KREN digital signal reverted to [[480i]] [[SDTV]] with a [[4:3]] aspect ratio as all programs which aired on Univision at the time were still produced entirely in that format (and many such programs were produced in studios which still used analog video equipment rather than digital video equipment). However, as Univision transitioned to HD programming in 2010, KREN's signal remained in 4:3 SD until the spring of 2010 when the station's main signal was upgraded back to 1080i transmissions.

==News operation==
On December 27, 2006, KREN launched a one-hour newscast at 10 p.m., the first HD newscast on a CW station, as well as Reno's only prime time local newscast. The station adopted the "[[Videojournalist]]" model of news gathering whereby the reporter is also the photographer and editor. On June 1, 2007, KREN severed its ties with local [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] affiliate [[KOLO-TV]], which originally produced a 10 p.m. newscast for KREN.

Weekend 10 p.m. shows were launched in late 2007.

In January 2008, all KREN newscasts were scaled back to 30 minutes, instead of the previous 1 hour. Weekend KAZR Spanish language newscasts were canceled, but the weekday KAZR news shows remained an hour long.

On March 11, 2008, KREN and KAZR canceled all newscasts, and dismissed the entire news staff. Pappas Telecasting cited low advertising revenue as the reason for the cancellation.

After Entravision took over in April 2009, a local Spanish-language newscast was initially expected to return to KREN. However, in October 2009, KREN began carrying the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts of [[Las Vegas]] sister station [[KINC]], with Reno-specific inserts produced by reporter Anya Archinga and videojournalist Enrique Chiabra.

==Technical information==

===Subchannels===
The station's signal is [[multiplex (TV)|multiplexed]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Subchannels of KREN-TV<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=KREN#station|title=RabbitEars TV Query for KREN|website=[[RabbitEars.info]]|accessdate=December 6, 2024}}</ref>
! [[Digital subchannel#United States|Channel]]
! [[Display resolution|Res.]]
! [[Aspect ratio (image)|Aspect]]
! Short name
! Programming
|-
! scope = "row" | 27.1
| [[1080i]] || rowspan=5| [[16:9]] || KREN-DT || [[Univision]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 27.2
| rowspan=4| [[480i]] || Grit || [[Grit (TV network)|Grit]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 27.3
| Crime || [[True Crime Network]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 27.4
| Bounce || [[Bounce TV]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 27.5
| CourtTV || [[Court TV]]
|}

===Analog-to-digital conversion===
KREN-TV shut down its analog signal, over [[UHF]] channel 27, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were to [[Digital television transition in the United States|transition from analog to digital broadcasts]] under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 26,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |title=DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the 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> using [[virtual channel]] 27.

===Translators===
* '''{{FCC-LMS-Facility|125551|3=K33GZ-D}}''' [[Hawthorne, Nevada|Hawthorne]]
* '''{{FCC-LMS-Facility|125546|3=K18GG-D}}''' [[Mina, Nevada|Mina]]/[[Luning, Nevada|Luning]]
* '''{{FCC-LMS-Facility|125478|3=K26JC-D}}''' [[Walker Lake, Nevada|Walker Lake]]

====Former translator====
Until April 16, 2010, KREN-TV was rebroadcast in [[Susanville, California]] on '''KREN-LP''' (channel 29). Entravision fully returned the KREN-LP license to the [[Federal Communications Commission]] in April 2011, and the KREN-LP call sign was deleted on the 27th of that month.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website}}

{{Reno TV}}
{{TV Stations Nevada}}
{{Spanish-language TV stations California}}
{{Entravision Communications}}

[[Category:1986 establishments in Nevada]]
[[Category:Bounce TV affiliates]]
[[Category:Court TV affiliates]]
[[Category:Entravision Communications stations]]
[[Category:Grit (TV network) affiliates]]
[[Category:Spanish-language television stations in Nevada|REN-TV]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1986]]
[[Category:Television stations in Reno, Nevada|REN-TV]]
[[Category:True Crime Network affiliates]]
[[Category:Univision affiliates]]