KDTP-CA

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KDTP-CA
Phoenix, Arizona
Channels	48 (UHF) analog
Affiliations	Daystar
Owner	Daystar Television Network Community Television Educators, Inc.
Founded	August 23, 1989
Call letters meaning	Daystar Television Phoenix
Former callsigns	KDRX-CA, KDRX-LP, K64DR
Former affiliations	Telemundo
Transmitter Power	52.6 kW
Height	362 m
Class	Class A
Facility ID	27272

KDTP-CA is a low-power Class A television station in Phoenix, Arizona, owned and operated by Community Television Educators, Inc., a board set up by Daystar to manage their non-commercial license in accordance with FCC regulations. The station operates on analog channel 48 with its transmitter atop South Mountain and carriage on Phoenix's major cable systems.

[edit] History

An original construction permit for low-power television station K64DR, channel 64, was granted to Broadcasting Systems, Inc. on August 23, 1989. The station was quickly built and was licensed on October 31, just two months later. It was affiliated with Telemundo and aired very little local programming. In December 1990, the station was sold to Hispanic Broadcasters of Arizona, Inc., and in 1996, when LPTV stations were allowed to acquire four-letter calls, they changed their call letters to KDRX-LP, which incorporated their original assigned calls, K64DR, plus the letter X. In the late 1990s, KDRX-LP added a Spanish-language newscast produced locally by English-language ABC affiliate KNXV. They would begin producing their own newscast a few years later.

The station was sold to Apogeo Television Phoenix LLC in 1999 and moved to channel 48 later that year, improving over-the-air reception. They became a Class A television station a year later when that class of station was approved by the FCC. The locally-produced newscast and the move to in-core channel 48 helped them to qualify for the new status, giving them primary station protection during the digital television conversion of full-service stations, and guaranteeing them an opportunity to upgrade to digital TV. In December 2002, NBC Telemundo acquired KDRX-LP, and a few months later, changed its call letters to KDRX-CA to reflect its Class A status.

By 2004, the station's owners determined that as an LPTV station, KDRX-CA was at a competitive disadvantage to Univision's KTVW. They filed an application with the FCC to move the license of full-power NBC Telemundo-owned KPHZ (now KTAZ) from Holbrook channel 11 to Phoenix channel 39. In exchange, Daystar-owned station KDTP would move from Phoenix channel 39 to Holbrook channel 11 and KDRX-CA would be transferred to Daystar in order to keep a Daystar Television Network outlet in Phoenix. It was an unusual request and complicated, involving not only a swap of licenses, but also non-commercial reservations in Phoenix and Holbrook, plus the 2 LPTV stations (KPHZ-LP - now KDTP-LP - would be added to the deal later), but in October 2005, the FCC agreed to the proposal. [1] [2]

In June 2006, the station was transferred to Community Television Educators, Inc. Later that month, KDRX-CA's call letters were changed to KDTP-CA, reflecting the station's new owner, Daystar. The station continued to air Telemundo programming pending completion of new facilities for KTAZ, but changed its programming to the Daystar Television Network in July 2006 when the construction was complete. Two days after the swap, during a heavy thunderstorm, KDTP-CA only displayed a DirecTV logo, indicating its programming is delivered by satellite.

[edit] External links

• Daystar Television Network
• Yahoo Telemundo
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KDTP-CA