| Abilene, Texas | |
|---|---|
| Branding | My Abilene |
| Channels | Analog: 42 (UHF) |
| Translators | KXVA 15.2 See Translators section |
| Affiliations | My Network TV |
| Owner | Bayou City Broadcasting |
| Founded | October 30, 1991 |
| Call letters' meaning | Derived from KXVA, sister station in Abilene |
| Former callsigns | K54DT |
| Former affiliations | UPN, Fox, PAX (secondary) |
| Transmitter power | 12 kW |
| Height | 111 m |
| Class | Class A |
| Facility ID | 58561 |
KIDZ-LP is a low-power Class A television station in Abilene, Texas, broadcasting locally in analog on UHF channel 42 as an affiliate of My Network TV. Founded October 30, 1991, the station is owned by Bayou City Broadcasting and is part of a duopoly in Abilene with Fox affiliate KXVA. KIDZ-LP is carried on local cable TV television systems and can be seen over-the-air in neighboring cities through a network of low-power stations, and in a full power form over KXVA's 15.2 digital subchannel. (See Translators section.)
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On October 30, 1991, the FCC granted an original construction permit to former owner Sage Broadcasting Corporation to build low-power television station K54DT, to serve Abilene, Texas on UHF channel 54. The station was quickly built and came on air in May or June 1992 as Abilene's first full-time Fox affiliate. When UPN launched in 1995, K54DT began carrying select programs from that network also, including Star Trek: Voyager. In June 1996, after the FCC began to allow low-power stations to use four-letter callsigns, the station took call letters KIDZ-LP. KIDZ-LP served as primary Fox and secondary UPN affiliates until January 2001, when former owner Sage Broadcasting launched KXVA as a full-service Fox affiliate. KIDZ-LP then became a primary UPN affiliate, with PAX as a secondary affiliation [1]. The station received permission to move to UHF channel 42 in December 2001, and as part of the move, upgraded their license to Class A on February 27, 2002. They completed the move to the new channel in late 2004, and licensed the new facilities on December 22, 2004.
In January 2006, UPN and The WB Television Network announced that each network would cease operations in September 2006 and that in its place would be a new network, later named The CW Television Network. A month later, unable to secure CW affiliation for their largest-market stations, News Corporation, the parent company of FOX, announced that it would form its own network, called My Network TV, and stations that had been affiliated with UPN or The WB needed to decide which of the two networks to affiliate with, or to go independent. On April 18, 2006, KIDZ-LP announced that it would affiliate with My Network TV [2]. The choice seemed natural, as the station's former owner, Sage Broadcasting Corporation, had had a working relationship with Fox in Abilene for nearly 15 years. On September 5, 2006, My Network TV launched, and KIDZ-LP became a My Network TV affiliate.
As a My Network TV affiliate, KIDZ-LP still has much programming time to fill, as network programming is only two hours for five days a week. KIDZ-LP airs the My Network TV schedule from 7 PM until 9 PM, which is prime time for stations in the Central Time Zone. After network programming is completed, KIDZ-LP airs a block of syndicated programs, similar to KXVA. The two stations often air the same syndicated series, but at different times. Until 2009, the station had no newscasts, either local or national, and relied heavily on syndicated programming to fill their schedule. KIDZ-LP broadcasts a block of infomercials during the overnight hours, plus a smaller block of infomercials during the early afternoon hours.
In addition to the local, network and syndicated fare, KIDZ-LP is Abilene's 2006-07 home of the NBA Dallas Mavericks [3], broadcasting 14 of the team's games.
In lieu of its own local newscasts, KIDZ-LP has run a simulcast of Fox News at Nine, from Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned Fox affiliate KABB (channel 29) in San Antonio, since 2009. The newscast airs every night at 10 p.m. on KIDZ on a one-hour tape delay, except in the case of live television programming run-over. There are no local news content inserts for the Abilene viewing area during the newscast.
Fox News at Nine (10 to 11 p.m.)
Weeknights
Weekends
Low-power stations are exempt from the February 18, 2009 mandatory switch-off of full-power analog television stations in the United States, therefore KIDZ-LP is unaffected. When the FCC allowed low-power stations to apply for digital companion channels, so that low-power stations could get their digital operations up and running, neither KIDZ-LP nor its repeaters submitted applications.
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