denver general fox 31 denver news newscasts slogan we are fox 31 denver general your questions answered newscasts channels digital 32 uhf virtual 31 psip translators kfct 22 fort collins k14jz d peetz k49ex d anton k31iq d sterling affiliations .1 fox .2 antenna tv owner tribune broadcasting tribune broadcasting denver license llc first air date august 10 1983 ; 33 years ago 1983 08 10 call letters meaning k denver sister station s kwgn tv former channel number s analog 31 uhf 1983 2009 former affiliations independent 1983 1986 transmitter power 1 000 kw height 317 m facility id 126 transmitter coordinates 39 43 45 n 105 14 12 w 39.72917 n 105.23667 w 39.72917 ; 105.23667 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website kdvr.com kfct fort collins colorado united states channels digital 21 uhf virtual 22 psip affiliations .1 fox .2 antenna tv owner tribune broadcasting tribune broadcasting denver license llc first air date september 1 1994 ; 22 years ago 1994 09 01 call letters meaning fort collins television former channel number s analog 22 uhf 1994 2009 transmitter power 50 kw height 233 m facility id 125 transmitter coordinates 40 38 32 n 104 49 5 w 40.64222 n 104.81806 w 40.64222 ; 104.81806 kfct licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs kdvr virtual channel 31 uhf digital channel 32 is a fox affiliated television station located in denver colorado united states . the station is owned by the tribune broadcasting subsidiary of the tribune media company as part of a duopoly with cw affiliate kwgn tv channel 2 . the two stations share studio facilities located on east speer boulevard in denver s speer neighborhood to the immediate south of the studios of kmgh tv channel 7 ; kdvr maintains transmitter facilities located atop lookout mountain near golden . on cable the station is available on comcast xfinity channel 13 and in high definition on digital channel 655 & on century link prism channel 31 & high definition channel 1031 . the station operates a full time satellite station kfct uhf digital channel 21 virtual channel 22.1 via psip in fort collins which maintains transmitter facilities atop horsetooth mountain just outside fort collins . kfct covers areas of northern colorado being that area s only full power television station that receive a marginal to non existent signal from kdvr though there is significant overlap between the coverage areas of both kdvr and kfct s signals otherwise including in fort collins proper and the nearby cities of greeley windsor and longmont . kfct is a straight simulcast of kdvr ; on air references to kfct are limited to fcc mandated hourly station identifications during newscasts and other programming . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 news team 4.1.1 current on air staff 4.1.2 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit the station first signed on the air on august 10 1983 . founded by a local ownership group kdvr was the first commercial television station to sign on in the denver market since kcnc tv channel 4 debuted in december 1953 and was the first full service uhf television station in the state of colorado . denver had a fairly long wait to receive a second independent station to compete with the longer established kwgn now a cw affiliate even though on paper the market had a large enough population to support two independents since the early 1970s . however the denver market is a very large one geographically stretching across large swaths of colorado wyoming and nebraska . the major stations all operate massive translator networks to cover the vast area and the expense of building so many translators to extend a new station s signal to these areas scared off potential owners . by the late 1970s however cable television then as now a must for acceptable television reception in some parts of the market due to the region s mountainous terrain had gained enough penetration to make a second independent viable . tv guide had listed a channel 31 in its denver edition earlier in 1983 as kx2aeg however this was a translator station rebroadcasting the spanish international network now univision . kdvr has never considered kx2aeg as part of its history . it was only in october 1990 that univision finally gained a full power affiliate of its own in denver in kcec channel 50 . kdvr originally operated as a typical general entertainment independent station running a lineup of cartoons classic sitcoms drama series movies and religious programming . after kwgn turned down an offer to affiliate with the new fox network prior to its launch in 1986 kdvr stepped in and signed a deal to join the network . channel 31 became a charter affiliate of fox when it launched on october 6 of that year ; kdvr eventually changed its on air branding to fox 31 in the late 1980s . the station originally operated from studio facilities located near 7th avenue and auraria pkwy . the station s original local owners sold kdvr to chase broadcasting in 1990 ; chase subsequently merged with renaissance broadcasting in 1992 . on september 1 1994 renaissance signed on kfct channel 22 in fort collins located 63.5 miles 102.2 km north of denver to serve as a full time satellite to improve kdvr s over the air coverage in northern portions of the market expanding its coverage area north to the wyoming border that could not receive its signal . prior to kfct s sign on the uhf channel 22 allocation in fort collins had been occupied by dumont affiliate knco which signed on in 1954 . that station was hampered by low viewership as only a small percentage of television sets in the area were even capable of receiving uhf stations since set manufacturers were not required to equip televisions with uhf tuners until the federal communications commission passed the all channel receiver act in 1961 although uhf tuners were not included on all newer sets until 1964 . in addition the terrain of the area made matters even more difficult as uhf station signals had poorer reception in very mountainous areas . as a result knco shut down in 1956 . 1 renaissance sold kdvr and kfct to fox television stations for 70 million on november 15 1994 in exchange for acquiring that network s owned and operated station in dallas fort worth kdaf which was set to lose fox programming to that market s longtime cbs affiliate kdfw as a result of a ten station affiliation deal with new world communications ; 2 as part of a series of attempts to prevent news corporation the parent company of fox at the time from acquiring additional stations nbc filed a request to the federal communications commission to reject the trade on the grounds that the company was in violation of foreign ownership rules which prohibit a foreign owned company from maintaining more than a 25 % interest in a u.s. television station . 3 however the deal was approved by the fcc and subsequently finalized on july 3 1995 effectively making channel 31 a fox owned and operated station and the second o & o of a major english language network in the denver market kcnc had been owned by nbc from 1986 when the station s owner general electric added it to nbc s owned and operated stations division until 1995 when it was traded to cbs as part of a multi station trade deal that also involved wcau and kyw tv in philadelphia and the transmitter facilities of wcix now wfor tv and wtvj in miami due to a multi part affiliation deal between the network and kyw tv s then parent westinghouse electric corporation thru it s broadcasting division group w which was resulted in all 3 company s owned stations into cbs affiliates . 4 the deal with new world that spurred fox s trade of kdaf with kdvr would play a factor in the denver market on september 10 1995 when cbs affiliate kmgh tv channel 7 switched to abc nbc affiliate kcnc tv took over the cbs affiliation and abc affiliate kusa tv channel 9 switched to nbc ; with the sale to fox being finalized on july 3 1995 kdvr was not affected by the switches it is currently the only television station in the denver market to have never changed its network affiliation . fox never intended to hold on to kdvr for long ; it initially planned to divest the station to qwest broadcasting a company backed by quincy jones and tribune broadcasting and move its affiliation to kwgn . in turn kdvr would have inherited kwgn s wb affiliation . 5 3 however this deal never came to fruition . kdvr logo used from 2008 to 2011 . after becoming a fox owned station kdvr added first run talk and reality shows to its daytime schedule while continuing to carry sitcoms during the evening and late night hours . in september 2006 kdvr along with other fox owned stations had their websites migrated to the myfox web platform created by fox interactive media featuring expanded multimedia and social networking features . on december 22 2007 fox television stations entered into an agreement to sell kdvr and seven other fox owned and operated stations 6 to local tv a holding company operated by private equity firm oak hill capital partners adding to the nine stations that the group had acquired in may of that same year when it bought the broadcasting division of the new york times company . the sale was finalized on july 14 2008 . on september 17 2008 tribune broadcasting announced that local tv would begin managing kwgn under a local marketing agreement and consolidate its operations with kdvr effective october 1 7 as a result of the formation of a broadcast management company that was created to provide management services to stations owned by both tribune and local tv . kwgn vacated its longtime studios in greenwood village and consolidated its operations with kdvr at its speer boulevard facility . as part of the local tv tribune partnership on january 22 2009 kdvr s website switched from the myfox platform to a website platform managed by tribune interactive . 8 tribune bought kdvr outright on july 1 2013 as part of its 2.75 billion acquisition of local tv ; 9 the sale was finalized on december 27 10 forming a legal duopoly between kdvr and kwgn . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel kdvr kfct video aspect psip short name programming 11 12 31.1 22.1 720p 16 9 kdvr dt main kdvr programming fox 31.2 22.2 480i 4 3 antenna antenna tv kdvr became a charter affiliate of antenna tv upon the network s launch on january 1 2011 it is carried on digital subchannel 31.2 . 13 interestingly local tv owned kdvr was given the antenna tv affiliation in the denver market despite the fact that the network s corporate parent the tribune company owns kdvr s sister station kwgn tv . analog to digital conversion edit kdvr shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 31 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 remained on its pre transition uhf channel 32 . 14 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 31 . programming edit kdvr clears the entire fox network schedule nightly primetime saturday late night and fox sports programming along with the network s saturday morning infomercial block weekend marketplace and the political talk show