KIDZ-LD

KIDZ-LD
Abilene, Texas
Branding My Abilene
Channels Digital: 42 (UHF)
Translators KXVA 15.2
See Translators section
Affiliations MyNetworkTV
Owner Gannett Company
(LSB Broadcasting, Inc.)
Founded October 30, 1991
First air date 1992
Call letters' meaning Derived from KIDY, sister station in San Angelo
Sister station(s) KXVA
Former callsigns K54DT (1991-1996)
KIDZ-LP (1996-2011)
KIDZ-CD (2011-2012)
Former affiliations Fox (1992-2001)
UPN (1995-2006, secondary until 2001)
PAX (secondary, 2001-2006)
Transmitter power 12 kW
Height 111 m
Class Low-power
Facility ID 58561

KIDZ-LD is a low-power television station in Abilene, Texas, broadcasting locally in digital on UHF channel 42 as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. Founded October 30, 1991, the station is owned by the Gannett Company and is part of a duopoly in Abilene with Fox affiliate KXVA. KIDZ-LD 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.)

History

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 MyNetworkTV, 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 MyNetworkTV . 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, MyNetworkTV launched, and KIDZ-LP became a MyNetworkTV affiliate.

On September 27, 2012, Bayou City Broadcasting announced an agreement to sell KIDZ-CD and its seven other television stations to London Broadcasting Company (the sale price initially was not disclosed). The sale marks a temporary exit from the broadcasting industry for the company's owner DuJuan McCoy, who plans on refocusing his company to acquire major network affiliates in mid-sized markets larger than San Angelo and Abilene.[2]The FCC granted its approval of the sale on November 14.[3] The sale was completed on December 31.[4]

On October 26, 2012, the station surrendered its class A status to the FCC, and changed its call sign to KIDZ-LD.

Digital television

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 was 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. KIDZ-CD did subsequently begin digital broadcasting in 2011.

KIDZ is a sister station of KXVA-DT, in digital.[5]

Programming

Syndicated programming on KIDZ-LD includes Divorce Court, Judge Alex, The Test, Friends, How I Met Your Mother, and Modern Family, among others. KIDZ-LD was also Abilene's 2006-07 home of the NBA Dallas Mavericks , broadcasting 14 of the team's games.

Newscasts

A local newscast KIDZ has run since 2014.

Translators

References

  1. ↑ Abilene’s new Fox affiliate, KXVA, expected to broadcast next week, Abilene Reporter-News, January 6, 2001.
  2. ↑ Temporary Exit With Fox Duo Sale by McCoy, TVNewsCheck, September 27, 2012.
  3. ↑ http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/view_auth.pl?Application_id=1517183&File_number=BALCDT-20120927ADA&Callsign=KIDY&Facility=58560
  4. ↑ https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101535867&formid=905&fac_num=58560
  5. ↑ "KIDZ-LD Abilene". rabbitears.info.

External links