KGMC (TV)

KGMC

Merced/Fresno, California United States
City	Merced, California
Channels	Digital: 11 (VHF) Virtual: 43
Branding	Estrella TV Fresno MeTV Fresno (on DT6)
Programming
Affiliations	43.1: Estrella TV 43.4: HSN 43.5: Antenna TV 43.6: MeTV 43.8: Cozi TV 43.9: Laff
Ownership
Owner	Cocola Broadcasting Companies LLC
Sister stations	KVHF-LD, KFAZ-CA, KHSC-LD, KJKZ-LP, KJEO-LD, KSDI-LD, KMSG-LD, KVVG-LD
History
Founded	October 2, 1989
First air date	September 11, 1992 (29 years ago) (1992-09-11)
Former call signs	KSDI (September–December 1992)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 43 (UHF, 1992–2009) Digital: 44 (UHF, until 2009) 43 (UHF, 2009–2018) 27 (UHF, 2018–2020)
Former affiliations	The Box (1992–1995) The WB (1995–1997) America's Store (1998–2007) Jewelry Television (2007–2012) MundoFox/MundoMax (2012–2016)
Call sign meaning	Gary Morris Cocola (name of owner)
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	58608
ERP	45 kW
HAAT	622 m (2,041 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	37°4′18.9″N 119°25′52.3″W / 37.071917°N 119.431194°W / 37.071917; -119.431194
Links
Public license information	Profile LMS

KGMC, virtual channel 43 (VHF digital channel 11), is an Estrella TV-affiliated television station serving Fresno, California, United States that is licensed to Merced. It serves as the flagship television property of owner Cocola Broadcasting, and is sister to eight low-power stations. KGMC's studios are located on West Herndon Avenue in the Pinedale area of Fresno, and its transmitter is located on Bald Mountain, south of Meadow Lakes in Fresno County.

A live simulcast of some of KGMC's non-network programming can be seen on the Cocola Broadcasting homepage.

History[]

The former KSDI in 1992, as an affiliate of The Box.

KGMC logo used from 1995 to 1997, as a WB affiliate.

KGMC logo used from 1998 to 2012 (same as that seen at above left), as an independent station/JTV affiliate.

Early years[]

The UHF channel 43 allocation in the Fresno market was originally licensed to KICU-TV. Operating as an independent station, the station signed on the air on December 23, 1961, five days after Fresno's first independent station, KAIL (channel 53, now a MyNetworkTV affiliate on channel 7) took to the air. KICU carried a mix of movies and other independent fare. Toward the end of its run, KICU also picked up some NBC programs that were not cleared to air by that network's Fresno affiliate, KMJ-TV (channel 24, now KSEE-TV). The station ceased operations in 1968; the KICU-TV call letters are now used by an independent station in San Jose.

1990s–present[]

KGMC first signed on the air on September 11, 1992, as KSDI; the station was originally an affiliate of the viewer-request music video network The Box. That December, the station changed its call letters to KGMC (the calls were previously used by KOCB in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma from 1979 to 1989).

In January 1995, the station entered into a local marketing agreement with Pappas Telecasting Companies, owner of Fox affiliate KMPH-TV (channel 26). Pappas programmed the station from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. and again from 3:00 to 11:00 p.m. daily, airing a blend of cartoons, classic sitcoms and older movies. On January 11 of that year, the station became a charter affiliate of The WB. KGMC continued to run religious programs, paid programming, and home shopping programs during time periods that were not programmed by Pappas.

In 1997, KGMC terminated the LMA with Pappas, switching full-time to a format of infomercials and religious programs. Pappas then moved the WB affiliation first to KMPH on a secondary basis, and later to KNSO (channel 51) in 1998 and finally to KFRE-TV (channel 59) in 2001, where the network remained until The WB ceased operations in September 2006 and was replaced by The CW. In the meantime, KGMC would join home shopping network America's Store in 1998; after America's Store was shut down by HSN in 2007, KGMC switched its programming to Jewelry Television. KGMC had been the only full-power independent television station in the Fresno market, until August 1, 2012, when it became an affiliate of the Spanish-language network MundoFox. On December 1, 2016, with the demise of MundoMax, KGMC switched to Liberman Broadcasting's Estrella TV network.

logo as MundoFox, 2012-15

logo as MundoMax, 2015-16

On February 27, 2020, Cocola agreed to transfer the license assets of KGMC to NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group in exchange for acquiring the KNSO license.^[1] The sale was completed on September 1.^[2] Upon completion of the transfer in which the callsigns were also swapped,^[3] KGMC now operates on VHF channel 11, while KNSO operates on UHF channel 27.

Technical information[]

Subchannels[]

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion[]

KGMC shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 43, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal was relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 44 to channel 43.^[5]

Spectrum auction repack[]

KGMC was one of nearly 1,000 television stations that were required to change their digital channel allocation in the upcoming spectrum auction repack in early 2018. KGMC reallocated its digital signal to UHF channel 27 in phase one of the auction.^[6]

References[]

External links[]

• Website of parent company Cocola Broadcasting
• BIAfn's Media Web Database — Information on KGMC-TV