KGMC (TV)

KGMC

Clovis/Fresno, California United States
City	Clovis, California
Branding	EstrellaTV Fresno
Channels	Digital: 43 (UHF) Virtual: 43 (PSIP)
Subchannels	(see article)
Affiliations	Estrella TV (2016-present)
Owner	Cocola Broadcasting Companies, LLC
Founded	October 2, 1989
First air date	September 11, 1992 (1992-09-11)
Call letters' meaning	Gary Morris Cocola
Former callsigns	KSDI (1992)
Former channel number(s)	Analog 43 (UHF, 1992–2009) Digital: 44 (UHF, until 2009)
Former affiliations	The Box (1992–1995) The WB (1995–1997) America's Store (1998–2007) Jewelry Television (2007–2012) MundoFox/MundoMax (2012-2016)
Transmitter power	335 kW
Height	542 m
Facility ID	23302
Transmitter coordinates	37°4′26″N 119°25′56″W / 37.07389°N 119.43222°W / 37.07389; -119.43222 (KGMC)
Licensing authority	FCC
Public license information:	Profile CDBS

KGMC, virtual and UHF digital channel 43, is an Estrella TV-affiliated television station located in Fresno, California, United States that is licensed to Clovis. The station is owned by Cocola Broadcasting. KGMC maintains studio facilities located on West Herndon Avenue in Pinedale, and its transmitter is located on Bear Mountain (northwest of Squaw Valley).

A live simulcast of some of KGMC's non-network programming can be seen on the Cocola Broadcasting homepage.

History

The former KSDI in 1992, as an affiliate of The Box.

The UHF channel 43 allocation in the Fresno market was originally licensed to KICU-TV. Operating as an independent station, the station signed on the air on December 23, 1961, five days after Fresno's first independent station, KAIL (channel 53, now a MyNetworkTV affiliate on channel 7) took to the air. KICU carried a mix of movies and other independent fare. Toward the end of its run, KICU also picked up some NBC programs that were not cleared to air by that network's Fresno affiliate, KMJ-TV (channel 24, now KSEE-TV). The station ceased operations in 1968; the KICU-TV call letters are now used by an independent station in San Jose.

KGMC first signed on the air on September 11, 1992, as KSDI; the station was originally an affiliate of the viewer-request music video network The Box. That December, the station changed its call letters to KGMC (the calls were previously used by KOCB in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma from 1979 to 1989).

KGMC logo used from 1995 to 1997, as a WB affiliate.

In January 1995, the station entered into a local marketing agreement with Pappas Telecasting Companies, owner of Fox affiliate KMPH-TV (channel 26). Pappas programmed the station from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. and again from 3:00 to 11:00 p.m. daily, airing a blend of cartoons, classic sitcoms and older movies. On January 11 of that year, the station became a charter affiliate of The WB. KGMC continued to run religious programs, paid programming, and home shopping programs during time periods that were not programmed by Pappas.

KGMC logo used from 1998 to 2012 (same as that seen at above left), as an independent station/JTV affiliate.

logo as MundoFox, 2012-15

logo as MundoMax, 2015-16

In 1997, KGMC terminated the LMA with Pappas, switching full-time to a format of infomercials and religious programs. Pappas then moved the WB affiliation first to KMPH on a secondary basis, and later to KNSO (channel 51) in 1998 and finally to KFRE-TV (channel 59) in 2001, where the network remained until The WB ceased operations in September 2006 and was replaced by The CW. In the meantime, KGMC would join home shopping network America's Store in 1998; after America's Store was shut down by HSN in 2007, KGMC switched its programming to Jewelry Television. KGMC had been the only full-power independent television station in the Fresno market, until August 1, 2012, when it became an affiliate of the Spanish language network MundoFox. On December 1, 2016, with the demise of MundoMax, KGMC switched to Liberman Broadcasting's Estrella TV network.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion

KGMC shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 43, 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 was relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 44 to channel 43.^[2]

References

External links

• Website of parent company Cocola Broadcasting
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KGMC
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KGMC-TV