KFWD

Not to be confused with KDFW.
KFWD
Fort Worth/Dallas, Texas
United States
Branding Canal 52 MundoFox
Channels Digital: 9 (VHF)
Virtual: 52 (PSIP)
Subchannels 52.1 MundoFox
Affiliations MundoFox
Owner HIC Broadcast, Inc.
First air date September 1, 1988
Call letters' meaning Fort Worth-Dallas
Former channel number(s) Analog:
52 (UHF, 1988–2009)
Digital: 51 (UHF, –2009)
Former affiliations Telemundo (1988–2002)
Independent (2002–2012)
Transmitter power 55 kW
Height 546 meters (1,791 ft)
Facility ID 29015
Transmitter coordinates 32°35′19″N 96°58′5″W / 32.58861°N 96.96806°W
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.mundofox52.com

KFWD, virtual channel 52 (VHF digital channel 9), is a MundoFox-affiliated television station serving the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex that is licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, United States. The station is owned by HIC Broadcast, Inc. KFWD maintains offices located on West Story Road in Irving, and its transmitter is located south of Belt Line Road in Cedar Hill. On cable, KFWD is available on channel 14 through Verizon FiOS and most Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications systems in North Texas; it is also available on AT&T U-Verse, DirecTV and Dish Network channel 52.

History

As a Telemundo affiliate

The station first signed on the air on September 1, 1988; it first operated as the Dallas-Fort Worth market's original affiliate of the Spanish language network Telemundo. The KFWD call letters were previously used by a local radio station on 102.1 FM (now KDGE). For much of its history with the network, KFWD signed off the air during the overnight hours each night; as a result, the station did not carry the entire Telemundo network schedule, whose overnight lineup (as is the case to this day) consisted of infomercials produced and dubbed in Spanish as well as feature films from countries with a predominant population of Spanish speakers such as Mexico. The station began broadcasting 24 hours a day in late 2000.

KFWD lost its affiliation with the network when NBC, which had recently acquired Telemundo, bought independent station KXTX-TV (channel 39) from the Christian Broadcasting Network in 2001. During KFWD's final month as a Telemundo affiliate, the station aired English language infomercials during the morning and overnight hours.

As an independent station

On January 1, 2002, KFWD became an English language general entertainment independent station. It acquired syndicated programs displaced by both KXTX and KSTR-TV (channel 49) when both stations affiliated with Spanish language networks on that date – KXTX having joined Telemundo, while KSTR joined TeleFutura (including programs such as Real TV and Access Hollywood). The station also began carrying live sporting events including the Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament, as well as FC Dallas and Dallas Sidekicks soccer games that were dropped from KLDT (channel 55, now Azteca América affiliate KAZD).

KFWD logo, used from 2002 to 2011; this variant was used starting in 2006.

Belo Corporation began managing the station in 2006, providing advertising sales assistance, certain technical services and facilities to support the operations of KFWD; Belo's flagship ABC affiliate WFAA (channel 8) also supplied the station with repurposed editions of its newscasts (consisting of simulcasts of its Monday-Saturday 6:00 p.m., Sunday-Friday 10:00 p.m. and Sunday 5:30 p.m. newscasts) and other programs seen on that station (such as The Dr. Oz Show). Belo also operated KFWD.tv, the station's website, using a website platform similar to that used by Belo's other stations. The management agreement included an option to purchase KFWD and create a duopoly with WFAA; this option was never exercised.

On October 17, 2011, KFWD changed its programming format, placing a strong emphasis on classic television series. The new "Classic TV" logo and branding was first unveiled on the station's YouTube channel on August 3, 2011,[1] and later on KFWD's Facebook page on October 7.[2] It was then rolled out to the station's website one month later.

MundoFox

Final ident for KFWD used from 2011-2012

On June 11, 2012, HIC Broadcast, Inc. announced that KFWD would revert to a Spanish language format as a charter affiliate of MundoFox (a joint venture between Fox International Channels and RCN Television); it switched to the network when MundoFox "soft launched" on select affiliates on August 1, 2012 at 6 a.m. local time (the network's formal launch date was on August 13). As a result, Belo terminated its management agreement with HIC Broadcast, Inc. to operate KFWD.[3] The last program to air on KFWD as an English language independent was The Shepherd's Chapel at 5:00 a.m. on August 1 (despite being an English language program, The Shepherd's Chapel returned to KFWD's schedule one month later). There was no formal on-air announcement of the programming change, except for a message posted on KFWD's Facebook page reading "it has been a pleasure".

Many of the programs formerly seen on KFWD during its classic television format now air on Me-TV (whose original local affiliate KTXD-TV (channel 47), joined the network shortly before KFWD's format change; KTXD continues to carry some of these programs as an independent station whereas KTXA's second digital subchannel recovered the Me-TV affiliate), and on Antenna TV (which is affiliated with the second digital subchannel of CW affiliate KDAF (channel 33)).

Digital television

Digital channel

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[4]
52.1 1080i 16:9 KFWD-HD Main KFWD programming / MundoFox

Prior to becoming a MundoFox affiliate, KFWD carried a standard definition simulcast of its main channel on digital subchannel 52.2.

Analog-to-digital conversion

KFWD shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 52, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[5] The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 51 to VHF channel 9 (which previously served as the pre-transition digital channel allocation of WFAA, which moved its digital signal to its former analog-era VHF channel 8 at the same time as KFWD's switch),[6] using PSIP to display KFWD's virtual channel as 52 on digital television receivers, which was among the high-band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

Station presentation

Station slogans

References

  1. ↑ KFWD 2011 on YouTube (Uploaded August 3, 2011)
  2. ↑ KFWD - TV 52's Official Facebook Page (accessed October 17, 2011)
  3. ↑ Bark, Ed (June 11, 2012). "Manana: KFWD-TV set to become D-FW's Spanish language MundoFox affiliate, ending association with Belo-owned WFAA8". Uncle Barky's Bytes. Retrieved June 12, 2012.
  4. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KFWD
  5. ↑ List of Digital Full-Power Stations
  6. ↑ CDBS Print

External links