K25DM

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K25DM
Phoenix, Arizona
Channels Analog: 25 (UHF)
Affiliations Independent
Owner Mako Communications
Founded July 10, 1990
First air date 1990
Former affiliations Channel America, MuchMusic Canada, Video Catalog Channel, Panda America Shopping Network, ACN, ValueVision/ShopNBC, HSN, LAT TV
Transmitter Power 9.8 kW
Height 264 m
Facility ID 7085
Transmitter Coordinates 33°35′38″N, 112°5′10″W

K25DM is a low-power broadcast television station located in Phoenix, Arizona. It transmits on channel 25 from Shaw Butte in North Phoenix. The station is owned by Mako Communications of Corpus Christi, Texas.

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[edit] History

An original construction permit was granted on July 10, 1990 to Broadcast Systems Inc. of Phoenix to build low-power television station K25DM on channel 25. Its transmitter was located in Deer Valley near Phoenix Deer Valley Airport. The station was quickly built and signed on the air later that year as a full-time affiliate of Channel America. K25DM moved its transmitter location to the current Shaw Butte site in early 1993 and upgraded to the current broadcast parameters in late 1994.

After nearly fifteen years operating the station, its owners sold K25DM and sister station K42FD (now KVPA-LP) to a new broadcast group called Latin America Broadcasting in August 2005. On November 7, 2007, Latin America Broadcasting transferred the station to Mako Communications, whose stations were the first three affiliates of LAT TV.

In November 2007, the station filed a displacement request with the FCC to move to VHF channel 6, citing interference concerns from full-power digital operations from KAZT-TV in Prescott and KMSB-TV in Tucson, both of whom operate their digital stations on channel 25.[1] The FCC granted the displacement request on January 23, 2008, and assigned the station a new callsign of K06OX that will become effective when the station is licensed on the new channel.[2]

[edit] Programming

While the station's ownership and facilities have been relatively steady, its programming history has been much more diverse. As an affiliate of Channel America, K25DM aired old movies and '50s TV shows in the public domain as well as low-cost syndicated programming such as Hot Seat with Wally George. However, Channel America's programming lineup was never stable, and by the middle of 1993, K25DM was piping in the MuchMusic network from Canada.

Not long afterward, K25DM added subscription-only programming from the Playboy Channel during the evening hours, using old over-the-air subscription television equipment to scramble the signal. The station lacked cable television distribution however, and the subscription service was not successful. By November 1993, K25DM had changed programming again, to the now-defunct Video Catalog Channel, a Knoxville, Tennessee-based television auction network.

A rapid succession of shopping services followed, as the station moved from Video Catalog Channel to Panda America Shopping Network (1995), followed by ACN (1997), ValueVision/ShopNBC (1999), and finally HSN (2001).

With the sale of the station, K25DM was poised to change programming again, this time to the Latin America Broadcasting's Spanish-language network, LAT TV, launched in May 2006. However, K25DM remained an HSN affiliate until September 2007, when it also switched to LAT TV. Although both K25DM and KVPA-LP aired LAT TV programming, they did not simulcast; each station maintained its own distinct schedule.

In December 2007, the station briefly affiliated with the music video network, Retro Jams, then, in January 2008, switched to programming called "My2Fish," broadcasting music videos and advertisements for novelty text messaging services.

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