| Visalia/Fresno, California | |
|---|---|
| Branding | KMPH Fox 26 (general) KMPH News (news) |
| Slogan | We're your station! |
| Channels | Digital: 28 (UHF) Virtual: 26 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 26.1 Fox HD 26.2 This TV-SD |
| Affiliations | Fox |
| Owner | Titan Broadcast Group (KMPH (TV) License, LLC) |
| First air date | October 11, 1971 |
| Call letters' meaning | Mike, Pete, and Harry Pappas (station founders) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 26 (UHF, 1971-2009) |
| Former affiliations | independent (1971-1986) |
| Transmitter power | 219 kW |
| Height | 763 m |
| Facility ID | 51488 |
| Website | www.kmph.com |
KMPH-TV is a television station in Fresno, California broadcasting digitally on television channel 28, and is licensed to nearby Visalia. It is the Fresno-area affiliate of the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is owned by Titan Broadcast Group and is sister station to KFRE-TV, the Central Valley's CW affiliate. Prior to October 2009, KMPH was the flagship station of Pappas Telecasting Companies.
This station formerly operated KMPH-CA in Merced, California on channel 17. KMPH Fox 26 can also be picked up in and around the Bakersfield area. However, local Fox affiliate KBFX-CA has more exclusive rights in the Bakersfield television market. The television station's airwaves extend northward to Mariposa, California and the southern Sierra Nevada, and sometimes can be received to the south in Kern County for those who live about north of Bakersfield.
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KMPH began broadcasting on October 11, 1971 as an independent station, the first television station founded by the Pappas brothers, Mike, Pete, and Harry. The funding for KMPH came from General Manager Harry Pappas' plan of having hundreds of investors each investing a small amount of money needed to construct the station, rather than having one investor providing all the capital; as a result, the Pappas brothers had a combined ownership stake of only 30.5%, with the other 69.5% controlled by other investors.[1] Throughout the early- to mid-1980s, KMPH was one of the top independent stations in the country. The TV station can be received 100 miles/150 km from Visalia before its move to an office in Fresno in the early 1990s.
Pappas signed an affiliation deal with Fox for KMPH and one of its two other UHF start-ups, KPTM in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1986. (The other Pappas-owned station, WHNS in Greenville, South Carolina, took the Fox affiliation from WAXA two years later.). KMPH and KSEE are the two stations in Fresno to keep the same network affiliation unaffected by the network swaps of ABC and CBS in 1985 and the network changes of The CW Television Network and My Network TV in 2006. The Fox affiliation remains on KMPH to this day.
On May 10, 2008, 13 of Pappas' stations, including KMPH, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As a result of the bankruptcy, Pappas Telecasting had until February 15, 2009 to sell these stations.[2] On January 16, 2009, it was announced that most of these stations, including KMPH, would be sold to New World TV Group, after the sale received United States bankruptcy court approval.[3] On April 2, 2009, 22 station employees were laid off. Eventually, the New World TV Group formed a new holding company known as the Titan Broadcast Group (unrelated to the similarly named smaller-market radio station owner Titan Broadcasting), which completed its purchase of most of the Pappas stations involved in the bankruptcy on October 15, 2009.
KMPH also airs court/reality/talk shows, sitcom reruns, and movies in addition to news and the Fox broadcasting schedule. In recent years KMPH has discontinued cartoons, relocating the 4Kids TV schedule to KFRE, which aired the 4Kids TV lineup on Sunday mornings until December 28, 2008. (Under that technicality, since the mid-1990s, Fox allowed its affiliates (especially the newer ones formerly owned by New World) to preempt Fox Kids programming by sending it to another local station, a practice continued through the end of the 4Kids TV block.)
On October 2009 the station added the This TV Network to its digital subchannel, Channel 26.2.
KMPH airs 32 hours of local news each week, including the longest-running 10 p.m. newscast in the Fresno market, as well as the "Great Day" morning show which debuted October 6, 2003 featuring long-time anchor Kopi Sotiropolous and Bay Area native Anchor, Kim Stephens. In the spring of 2007, "Great Day" expanded to five hours; it now runs from 5-10 a.m. Newsreader Liz Gonzalez joined the morning newscast in 2007.
In January 2006, KMPH also produced a half-hour newscast for sister station KFRE that aired every night at 11 p.m., but due to low ratings, KMPH canceled that newscast in mid February 2007. A few months later, KFRE news anchor Allison Ruddell re-joined KMPH as the "Midday" anchor.
On September 30, 2009, KMPH became the second television station in Fresno (behind KFSN) to produce and broadcast its local newscasts in high definition, and the first to bring high definition live reporter shots. With the switch came new graphics (using elements of the FOX O&O HD Graphics) and new music. [1]
Current anchors
Weather team
Sports team
Reporters
Valley Life
Contributors
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