| Bakersfield, California | |
|---|---|
| Branding | KGET-TV 17 (general) 17 News (newscasts) |
| Slogan | In the Spirit of the Golden Empire |
| Channels | Digital: 25 (UHF) Virtual: 17 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 17.1 NBC 17.2 The CW 17.3 Telemundo |
| Owner | High Plains Broadcasting, Inc. (operated by Newport Television) |
| First air date | November 8, 1959 |
| Call letters' meaning | Kern Golden Empire Television |
| Sister station(s) | KKEY KGET-DT2 |
| Former callsigns | KLYD-TV (1959-1969) KJTV (1969-1978) KPWR-TV (1978-1984) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 17 (UHF, 1959-2009) |
| Former affiliations | ABC (1959-1974) CBS (1974-1984) |
| Transmitter power | 135 kW |
| Height | 405 m |
| Facility ID | 34459 |
| Website | Bakersfield's CW |
KGET-TV is a television station serving Bakersfield, California, owned by High Plains Broadcasting and operated by Newport Television, LLC. It is an NBC affiliate, and transmits on UHF channel 25 (using its former analog channel 17 as its virtual channel via PSIP). KGET also has a digital-only/cable CW outlet called KWFB, one of the The CW Plus stations. It was originally part of The WB 100+ Station Group for the WB network when it was still in operation. The network ended in September 2006 along with UPN to form The CW and KWFB affiliated with the new network.
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Founded by businessman Ed Urner, channel 17 first broadcast on November 8, 1959 as KLYD, an ABC affiliate.[1] The call letters changed to KJTV in 1969.[2] In 1974, KJTV swapped affiliations with KBAK-TV, becoming a CBS affiliate.
The station's call letters changed again to KPWR-TV in 1978. In 1984, the station changed its calls to the present day "KGET-TV", coinciding with an affiliation swap with KERO-TV to become Bakersfield's NBC affiliate, an affiliation which continues to the present day. That same year the station was purchased by the Ackerley Group. It was sold to Clear Channel Communications in 2001.
KGET stands for "Kern Golden Empire Television," a moniker coined by the station's longtime vice president and general manager, Ray Watson, who was elected to the Kern County Board of Supervisors in 2002. The current KGET manager is RVP/GM Tom Randour.
On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel entered into an agreement to sell its entire television stations group to Newport Television, a broadcasting holding company controlled by Providence Equity Partners.[3] However, Providence Equity Partners owns a 19 percent share of the Spanish-language media company Univision, the owner of MyNetworkTV affiliate KUVI-TV. In addition, with only five full-power stations, Bakersfield does not have enough to legally support a co-owned duopoly operation. As a result, the Federal Communications Commission granted conditional approval of the sale, provided that Providence Equity Partners divest either KGET or its stake in Univision as soon as the deal was finalized. That happened on March 14, 2008.
In May 2008, Newport Television agreed to sell KGET and five other stations to High Plains Broadcasting, Inc. due to the aforementioned ownership conflict.[4] The sale closed on September 15, 2008;[5] Newport continues to operate KGET under a shared services agreement.[4]
Current syndicated programming includes The Insider, Rachel Ray, Dr. Phil, Swift Justice with Nancy Grace, Entertainment Tonight, and Access Hollywood.
KGET has dominated Bakersfield television in the Nielsen ratings since 1998. KGET became the second station (or third when counting KBFX-CA, whose newcasts are essentially produced by KBAK) in Bakersfield to begin broadcasting its newscasts in high definition on January 23, 2011.
Anchors[6]
Weather team
Sports team
Reporters
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