KYMA-DT

Not to be confused with KMYA-DT.
KYMA-DT
Yuma, Arizona/El Centro, California
United States
Branding News 11
Slogan Where News Comes First
Channels Digital: 11 (VHF)
Virtual: 11 (PSIP)
Subchannels 11.1 NBC
11.2 This TV
Affiliations NBC (1988-present)
Owner Blackhawk Broadcasting
(operated under a resource sharing agreement by
News-Press & Gazette Company)
(Blackhawk Broadcasting, LLC)
First air date January 22, 1988
Call letters' meaning YuMA
Sister station(s) KSWT, KECY-TV, KESE-LP
Former callsigns KCAA (1982-1987)
KYMA (1987-2009)
Former channel number(s) Analog:
11 (VHF, 1988-2009)
Digital:
41 (UHF, 2007-2009)
Former affiliations Primary:
ABC (1988)
DT2:
LATV (2007-2009)
Transmitter power 2.1 kW
Height 493 m
Facility ID 74449
Transmitter coordinates 33°3′10.3″N 114°49′43.5″W / 33.052861°N 114.828750°W
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.kyma.com

KYMA-DT is an NBC-affiliated television station in Yuma, Arizona/El Centro, California, USA, broadcasting locally in digital on VHF channel 11. Owned by Blackhawk Broadcasting, it is the sister station of CBS affiliate KSWT. Through a resource sharing agreement with News-Press & Gazette Company, the station is also operated alongside Fox and ABC affiliate KECY-TV and Telemundo affiliate KESE-LP. KYMA can be received over the air in Blythe, California in the Palo Verde Valley, and in the southeastern end of the Coachella Valley, and it transmits a clear signal to viewers in Mexicali, Mexico. KYMA also broadcasts This TV programming on digital subchannel 11.2.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[1]
11.1 1080i 16:9 KYMA-DT Main KYMA-DT programming / NBC
11.2 480i 4:3 THIS TV This TV

The station's digital signal is multiplexed. In May 2007, KYMA added LATV on digital subchannel 11.2. The affiliation lasted until late 2009, when KYMA replaced it with This TV.

Analog-to-digital conversion

On April 3, 1997, the FCC assigned UHF channel 41 as the digital companion channel for KYMA, and on May 25, 2000, granted a construction permit. KYMA applied for Special Temporary Authorization (STA) for reduced-power operations in order to get a digital signal on the air quickly. The STA was granted on June 7, 2002 and the station built temporary digital facilities, to eventually be replaced by full-power operations. In 2005, KYMA elected and was approved for channel 11 as its permanent digital channel, meaning its license for channel 41 would be returned to the FCC after the analog shut-off, at the time scheduled for February 17, 2009.

Since operations on channel 41 would be temporary, KYMA requested to specify its low-power operation as its final pre-transition DTV facilities. The request was approved and the station was granted a license for its digital channel on September 20, 2006. KYMA was granted a construction permit for its post-transition operations on channel 11 on August 19, 2008. The station shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 11, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 41 to VHF channel 11 for post-transition operations.[2]

History

Channel 11 had been home to Yuma's first television station, KIVA, which operated from 1953 until 1970, when it went off the air. The allocation lay vacant for ten years, but by 1980, applications had been submitted to revive channel 11 in Yuma, and on September 29, 1982, the FCC awarded an original construction permit to Elizabeth Overmyer with call letters KCAA. The station's early history was eventful, as Overmyer was forced to transfer control of the station to Cadmus, Inc. in November 1984.

Cadmus then sold the station to Yuma Television Associates (later Manning Telecasting, then Yuma Broadcasting Company) in January 1986. The station changed its call letters to KYMA on July 27, 1987, reviving long-dormant call letters of a Yuma radio station, and began broadcasting in January 1988 as an ABC affiliate, later becoming an NBC affiliate in a swap with then-KYEL, which would later become KSWT. KYMA was granted its initial license on April 29, 1988. The station changed hands again on June 8, 1989, when Yuma Broadcasting was sold to Sunbelt Communications Company, and finally, KYMA and its parent company, were sold to James Rogers on May 21, 1996.

In May 2013, Intermountain West Communications Company (formerly Sunbelt Communications) reached a deal to sell the station to Blackhawk Broadcasting, a company that shares ownership with the Northwest Broadcasting group.[3] In July, Blackhawk announced that they also in the process of acquiring competing station, KSWT from Pappas Telecasting, which would require a failing station waiver.[4] The FCC approved the KYMA transaction on August 12,[5] while the KSWT transaction was approved on December 23.[6][7] The sale of both stations was completed on February 18, 2014.[8] [9]

On July 2, 2014, News-Press & Gazette Company, owners of KECY-TV and KESE-LP, announced that it had agreed to form a resource sharing agreement with Blackhawk Broadcasting, giving NPG control of the big four television network affiliates in the Yuma/El Centro market. All employees of KYMA and KSWT, except for sales personnel, became employees of NPG.[10][11] Blackhawk continues to operate the sales departments of its stations.[12] As a result of the agreement, KYMA and KSWT will relocate to the studios of KECY within five months.[13]

Programming

Being an NBC affiliate, KYMA's schedule is dominated by network and syndicated programming, including children's programming from NBC Kids on Saturday mornings. Syndicated programming featured on KYMA includes: Dr. Phil, The Insider, Jeopardy!, Inside Edition, Wheel of Fortune and Grey's Anatomy; in addition, unlike most stations that carry the show, KYMA airs Live! with Kelly and Michael at 11 a.m., instead of the program's standard 9 a.m. timeslot.

News operation

The station produces four daily newscasts on weekdays at 6 a.m., 5, 6 and 10 p.m., and two daily newscasts on the weekends at 5 and 10 p.m. Mountain Time. Unlike most NBC affiliates in the Mountain time zone, it does not carry a full two-hour weekday morning newscast or a midday newscast. Until December 2008, it operated a news bureau in El Centro to provide additional coverage of the Imperial Valley. Following the planned relocation of KYMA-DT to the studios of KECY-TV, the station will retain its current newscast times and separate news branding from KECY and KSWT.[13]

Notable former on-air staff

Notes

  1. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KYMA
  2. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  3. ↑ Jessell, Harry A. (June 2, 2013). "Brian Brady Buying NBC Affil in Yuma, AZ". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
  4. ↑ "Application For Consent To Assignment Of Broadcast Station Construction Permit Or License". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. July 22, 2013. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  5. ↑ http://licensing.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/pubacc/Auth_Files/1567891.pdf
  6. ↑ http://licensing.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/pubacc/Auth_Files/1562224.pdf
  7. ↑ http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=45843
  8. ↑ Consummation Notice, CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved 19 February, 2014
  9. ↑ Consummation Notice, CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved 19 February, 2014
  10. ↑ NPG Takes Over Yuma/El Centro Stations ftvlive.com, 2 July, 2014, Retrieved 9 July, 2014.
  11. ↑ One Station Group Makes Big Move in a Small Market, TVSpy.com, 3 July, 2014, Retrieved 9 July, 2014.
  12. ↑ Lobeck, Joyce (July 9, 2014). "4 major TV network affiliates here will share management". Yuma Sun. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lobeck, Joyce (July 9, 2014). "Yuma TV stations await completion of agreement". Yuma Sun. Retrieved July 14, 2014.

External links