states city visalia california branding kmph fox 26 general fox 26 kmph news newscasts slogan we re your station channels digital 28 uhf virtual 26 psip subchannels 26.1 fox 26.2 this tv 26.3 comet affiliations fox owner sinclair broadcast group kmph licensee llc first air date october 11 1971 call letters meaning mike pete and harry pappas station founders sister station s kfre tv kbak tv kbfx cd former channel number s analog 26 uhf 1971 2009 former affiliations independent 1971 1986 the wb secondary 1997 2001 transmitter power 219 kw height 763 m facility id 51488 transmitter coordinates 36 40 1.9 n 118 52 45.2 w 36.667194 n 118.879222 w 36.667194 ; 118.879222 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website kmph kfre.com kmph tv virtual channel 26 uhf digital channel 28 is a fox affiliated television station serving fresno california united states that is licensed to visalia . the station is owned by the sinclair broadcast group as part of a duopoly with cw affiliate kfre tv channel 59 . the two stations share studio facilities located on east mckinley avenue in eastern fresno one mile southwest of fresno yosemite international airport ; kmph maintains transmitter facilities located on big baldy mountain in northwestern tulare county . kmph tv s focus is on the san joaquin valley and central california . kmph tv s signal is receivable as far way as the bakersfield area ; however local fox affiliate and sister station kbfx cd itself once a kmph repeater exclusively carried on cable providers in the bakersfield market . kmph s airwaves extend northward to mariposa and merced and the southern sierra nevada and sometimes can be received in monterey county for those who live just north of king city . kmph has been received over air sometimes in eastern kern county ridgecrest and san luis obispo . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 notable current on air staff 4.2 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit the station first signed on the air on october 11 1971 ; originally operating as an independent station it was the first television station founded by the pappas brothers mike pete and harry and served as the flagship station of their company pappas telecasting companies . the station s original studios were located on mooney boulevard in visalia . the funding for kmph came from general manager harry pappas plan of having hundreds of investors each investing a small amount of money that was needed to construct the station rather than having one investor providing all the capital ; as a result the pappas brothers had a combined ownership stake of only 30.5 % with the other 69.5 % controlled by other investors . 1 kmph carried operation prime time programming at least in 1978 . 2 throughout the early to mid 1980s kmph was one of the top independent stations in the country . the station could be received up to 100 miles 160 km from visalia . kmph formerly operated a translator in merced california on channel 17 kmph ca . pappas signed an affiliation deal with fox for kmph to become a charter affiliate of the network in 1986 the other pappas owned stations whns in greenville south carolina and kptm in omaha nebraska ; joined fox two years later . kmph became a fox affiliate when the network launched on october 5 of that year . kmph remains a fox affiliate to this day ; both it and nbc affiliate ksee channel 24 were the only two stations in fresno that were unaffected by the 1985 network swap involving abc and cbs between kfsn tv channel 30 and kjeo channel 47 now kgpe and the later launches of the cw and mynetworktv in september 2006 . the station relocated its operations from its original studio in visalia to its current facility on mckinley avenue in fresno in the early 1990s . on may 10 2008 thirteen pappas stations including kfre filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection . as a result of the bankruptcy pappas telecasting companies was given until february 15 2009 to sell these stations to other owners . 3 on january 16 2009 pappas announced that most of the stations including kfre would be purchased by new world tv group no relation to the similarly named new world communications which switched most of its stations to fox between september 1994 and july 1995 after the sale received united states bankruptcy court approval . 4 on april 2 2009 pappas laid off 22 employees involved with the kmph kfre duopoly . new world tv group formed a new holding company known as the titan tv broadcast group unrelated to the similarly named smaller market radio station owner titan broadcasting which completed its purchase of most of the pappas stations involved in the bankruptcy on october 15 2009 . titan announced the sale of kfre tv kmph tv and most of the company s other stations to the sinclair broadcast group on june 3 2013 . 5 the fcc approved the sale on september 19 6 and the sale was officially finalized on october 3 2013 . 7 with the completion of the sale kmph was reunited with bakersfield fox affiliate kbfx cd which formerly operated as a repeater of kmph before it was sold to fisher communications in 2005 . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 8 26.1 720p 16 9 fox main kmph tv programming fox 26.2 480i 4 3 this tv this tv 26.3 720p 16 9 comet t comet on october 2009 kmph began carrying the movie oriented digital multicast network this tv on digital subchannel 26.2 . on october 31 2015 comet began airing on 26.3 analog to digital conversion edit kmph tv shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 26 on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 28 . 9 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 26 . programming edit syndicated programs broadcast by kmph tv include the wendy williams show the people s court steve harvey the simpsons and family feud . it is one of the fewest stations to carry both of steve harvey s shows . in 2003 kmph stopped carrying fox s children s program block 4kids tv ; the block which normally aired on saturdays was moved to sister station kfre tv and aired on that station on a tape delay on sunday mornings this resulted in kfre carrying children s blocks from two major networks as it already carried the wb s kids wb block . kmph was one of the few fox charter affiliates to have dropped the network s children s programming ; beginning in the mid 1990s fox gave its affiliates after several stations that switched to the network between 1994 and 1995 that were owned by new world communications opted not to carry the lineup the option to pre empt fox kids programming and arrange for another local station to carry the block a practice continued until the end of the 4kids tv s run . kfre continued to carry 4kids tv until the block was discontinued by fox in december 28 2008 due to a dispute with the block s lessee 4kids entertainment ; kmph has also declined to carry fox s saturday morning infomercial block weekend marketplace which instead airs on kfre in 4kids tv s former sunday morning timeslot on the station . news operation edit kmph tv presently broadcasts 34 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with 6 hours on weekdays and one hour each on saturdays and sundays ; in addition the station produces the lifestyle program around the valley which airs weekdays at 11 00 a.m. prior to its midday newscast . in 1978 kmph launched its first news department and began producing a nightly primetime newscast ; the program was discontinued in 1980 . the station would not resume news programming for seven years until 1987 when channel 26 debuted a 10 00 p.m. newscast which has gone on to become the longest running primetime newscast in the fresno market . on october 6 2003 the station debuted a three hour weekday morning newscast titled great day ; that same date the station also launched a half hour midday newscast at 11 30 a.m. in the spring when of 2007 great day was expanded to five hours running from 5 10 a.m. in january 2006 kmph began to produce a half hour 11 00 p.m. newscast for sister station kfre tv ; the newscast was unable to compete against the established late evening newscasts on kfsn tv ksee and kgpe and was canceled the following year in february 2007 due to low ratings . on september 30 2009 kmph tv became the second television station in the fresno market after kfsn which made the upgrade in april 2007 to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition . it was the first television station in the market to provide news video from the field in true high definition as kmph upgraded its eng vehicles satellite truck studio and field cameras and other equipment in order to broadcast news footage from the field in high definition in addition to segments broadcast from the main studio . 10 in july 2014 politifact reported that kmph in a news story claimed that the implementation of the patient protection and affordable care act had increased the average emergency room wait time in california to five hours . its reporting was deemed inaccurate as it was based on statistics released by the california healthcare foundation in 2012 and not from after the implementation of the affordable care act . 11 notable current on air staff edit kopi sotiropulos anchor notable former on air staff edit vic the brick jacobs sportscaster now at klac radio in los angeles lloyd lindsay young weathercaster later at wwor tv in secaucus new jersey references edit 1973 broadcasting yearbook the facilities of tv buck jerry may 20 1978 . john jakes the bastard is latest effort from operation prime time . eugene register guard . ap . retrieved july 4 2013 . pappas saga turning into tragedy tvnewscheck september 24 2008 . new world gets pappas tvs for 260m . tvnewsday . january 16 2008 . retrieved january 18 2008 . sinclair buys 6 titan television stations . tvnewscheck . june 3 2013 . retrieved june 4 2013 . http licensing.fcc.gov prod cdbs pubacc auth files 1558204.pdf sinclair broadcast group closes on acquisition of the titan stations rabbitears tv query for kmph dtv tentative channel designations for the first and the second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . kmph now broadcasts news in hd rnc chair reince priebus thanks barack obama for five hour e.r. wait times in california . politifact . retrieved 9 july 2014 . external links edit kmph tv official website query the fcc s tv station database for kmph tv query the fcc s tv station database for kmph cd biafn s media web database information on kmph tv program information for kmph at titantv.com v t e television stations in central california including fresno and visalia english language stations kvhf ld 4.1 tv scout 4.2 tuff tv 4.3 ustv 4.4 rev n 4.6 biz tv 4.7 launch tv 4.8 classic shows 32.8 kjeo kail 7.1 mntv 7.2 cozi tv 7.3 h & i k13zl d 13.1 creation tv 13.2 hsn 13.10 sab tv kvbc lp 13.1 metv kgmc 43.6 13.2 heartland 13.3 movies 13.4 retro tv