kabc tv los angeles california united states branding abc 7 general abc 7 eyewitness news newscasts slogan welcome to the circle channels digital 7 vhf virtual 7 psip translators see article affiliations .1 abc o & o .2 live well network .3 laff owner disney abc abc holding company inc. first air date september 16 1949 ; 67 years ago 1949 09 16 call letters meaning k american broadcasting company sister station s kspn kdis former callsigns keca tv 1949 1954 former channel number s analog 7 vhf 1949 2009 digital 53 uhf until 2009 transmitter power 28.7 kw height 978 metres 3 209 feet facility id 282 transmitter coordinates 34 13 37 n 118 3 58 w 34.22694 n 118.06611 w 34.22694 ; 118.06611 coordinates 34 13 37 n 118 3 58 w 34.22694 n 118.06611 w 34.22694 ; 118.06611 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website abc7.com kabc tv channel 7 is an abc owned and operated television station located in los angeles california united states . the station is owned by abc owned television stations a unit of the disney abc television group division of the disney media networks subsidiary of the walt disney company . kabc maintains studios and offices on circle seven drive off interstate 5 in glendale and its transmitter is located on the summit of mount wilson . in the few areas of the western united states where an abc station s over the air signal is not receivable over the air kabc tv is available on satellite television through directv . in addition to the disney owned tv station which includes award winning programming on its schedule such as jeopardy and wheel of fortune it also has two sister radio stations . one is a standalone children s pop music 24 7 station through kdis while the other is a standalone sports network through kspn . the former is locally based as the local rd station is considered the flagship of the network while the latter is the los angeles and west coast o & o flagship of the espn radio network . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 local programming 3.1 news programming 3.1.1 ratings 3.1.2 social media 3.1.3 current on air staff 3.1.4 notable former on air staff 3.2 other locally produced programming 4 rebroadcasters 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit an early keca tv logo slide from 1949 to 1954 . channel 7 first signed on the air under the callsign keca tv on september 16 1949 . at the same time it was the last television station licensed to los angeles operating on the vhf band to sign on and the last of abc s five original owned and operated stations to make its debut after san francisco s kgo tv which signed on four months earlier . it was also the last of the los angeles classic seven tv stations to sign on all of them were originally on the vhf dial prior to the 2009 digital conversions . in addition it was the last new los angeles tv station to sign on from 1949 until 1962 when the first two uhf los angeles stations launched they were kiix now kwhy and kmex channels 22 and 34 respectively . the station s callsign was named after los angeles broadcasting pioneer earle c. anthony whose initials were also present on channel 7 s then sister radio station keca 790 am now kabc which had served as the los angeles affiliate of the nbc blue network . anthony s other los angeles radio station kfi was aligned with the nbc red network . the red network survived the split of the two nbc radio networks ordered by the federal communications commission in 1943 . edward j. noble who bought the blue network beginning its transformation into abc purchased keca radio a year later when the fcc forced anthony to divest one of his los angeles radio stations . on february 1 1954 keca tv changed its callsign to the present day kabc tv . citation needed from the time of its initial sign on in 1949 channel 7 was located at the abc television center now called the prospect studios on prospect avenue in the los feliz neighborhood of los angeles east of hollywood . in december 2000 kabc tv moved from the los feliz studios to a new state of the art facility designed by c sar pelli in nearby glendale . citation needed the station is currently located four miles east along the corridor of the los angeles river and state route 134 of abc s west coast headquarters on the walt disney studios lot in burbank . kabc tv has used the circle 7 logo since 1962 the same year abc created and implemented its current logo and augmented its bottom left quadrant with the abc network logo in 1997 . the station s news anchors and reporters wear circle 7 lapel pins when they appear on camera a practice that had once been standard at each of the original five abc owned stations . in 1984 kabc tv became the first west coast television station to air stereo audio for the 1984 summer olympics . on february 4 2006 kabc tv became the first television station in the state of california to broadcast its local newscasts in high definition using hd cameras in the studio . along with the in house upgrades the station debuted an updated news set and theme music gari media group s eyewitness news . in july 2010 the walt disney company became engaged in a carriage dispute with time warner cable the first such incident since a 2000 dispute that pulled abc s owned and operated stations from the cable provider using the stations as leverage for carriage of toon disney and soapnet and basic cable carriage of the disney channel which had been carried as a premium channel at the time . 1 this dispute involved kabc tv and three other abc owned and operated stations disney channel and the espn family of networks . if a deal was not in place all of the disney owned channels would have been removed from time warner cable and bright house networks systems across the united states . the walt disney company and time warner cable reached a long term agreement to keep the stations and their sister cable channels on time warner cable and its co managed systems on september 2 2010 . in october 2015 the station debuted a new news set which utilizes two wide format displays and four flat panel screens . along with the physical upgrades the station also debuted a new graphics package . kabc tv became the designated broadcast home of los angeles rams games in 2016 for the team s appearances on espn monday night football . kabc tv will only carry the rams monday night football games from that year onward while other games will be split between four other television stations kcbs tv through the nfl on cbs and its preseason rams telecasts including the network s thursday night games ; knbc through nbc sunday night football and nbc produced thursday night games ; ktla through games telecast exclusively by nfl network ; and kttv through fox nfl sunday . the station will also produce and broadcast rams team shows on saturday nights during the regular season with comedian jay mohr serving as host . 2 the station will also carry nfl post season wild card games . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 3 7.1 720p 16 9 kabc dt main kabc tv programming abc 7.2 livwell live well network hd 7.3 480i 4 3 laff laff 4 in addition to live well network programming digital subchannel 7.2 also carries rebroadcasts of kabc s local newscasts public affairs programs and syndicated shows ; it also handles the responsibility of carrying programs normally seen on main channel 7.1 due to preemptions caused by long form breaking news coverage of note are occurrences in 2007 when abc7 aired espn on abc sports programming due to continuous live news coverage of local wildfires on kabc the subway 500 nascar nextel cup series race on october 21 and the first round of the skins game golf tournament on november 24 . on september 12 2009 abc7 aired live coverage of a memorial service at dodger stadium for two members of the los angeles county fire department who died while fighting the station fire in the angeles national forest kabc s saturday morning abc kids children s programming aired as scheduled without preemption . digital channel 7.3 previously carried programming from the local accuweather channel it was replaced with a standard definition feed of the live well network in 2010 . on april 15 2015 the comedy network laff replaced the standard definition feed of lwn on 7.3 . 4 analog to digital conversion edit kabc tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 7 at noon on june 12 2009 citation needed 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 53 which was among the high band uhf channels 52 69 that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition to its analog era vhf channel 7 for post transition operations . 6 after the transition occurred some viewers had difficulty receiving kabc s signal despite operating at a high effective radiated power of 25 000 watts . on march 31 2009 kabc tv filed an application with the federal communications commission to upgrade its signal strength to 28 700 watts . 7 it was granted a construction permit on march 3 2011 . 8 local programming edit news programming edit this section includes a list of references related reading or external links but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations . please help to improve this section by introducing more precise citations . september 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message former abc 7 eyewitness news newscast title card used until october 31 2015 . kabc tv presently broadcasts 49 hours 25 minutes of locally produced newscasts each week with 7 hours 35 minutes on weekdays 6 hours on saturday and 5 hours on sunday . a typical of abc stations and major network affiliates in general kabc tv produces an hour long newscast at 4 p.m. on weekend afternoons . kabc tv has had news bureaus in sacramento in the past . the initial one was shut down in the early 1980 s. the station s second sacramento bureau was opened in 2003 when arnold schwarzenegger became governor following the 2003 california recall . this created a full time presence in california s state capital of sacramento the station utilized shared resources with sister stations kgo tv in san francisco and kfsn tv in fresno to staff the bureau . the bureau was closed in 2014 . the station also has bureaus located in riverside and orange . in the 1980 s the station also had a bureau located in ventura . lew irwin reports the station s first locally produced newscast debuted in 1957 . initially the 15 minute program was broadcast nightly monday through saturday at 11 00 p.m. and featured irwin delivering a news summary prepared by kabc radio newswriters followed by a seven minute feature written by irwin that included footage shot for the program by the mgm owned newsreel company telenews . irwin interviewed a host of public figures for the program including former president harry truman then senator john kennedy philosopher bertrand russell actor marlon brando h bomb scientist edward teller and poets robert frost and carl sandburg . irwin