KDFX-CD

KDFX-CD
Coachella Valley, California
United States
City Indio–Palm Springs, California
Branding Fox 11 (general)
NewsChannel 3 HD
CBS Local 2 News
Slogan The Desert's News Leader
Where LOCAL Comes First!
Channels Digital: 39 (UHF)
(to move to 33 (UHF))
Virtual: 33.2 (PSIP)
Subchannels 33.2 Fox
Translators KESQ-DT 33.2 (42.4 UHF) Palm Springs
Owner News-Press & Gazette Company
(Gulf-California Broadcast Company)
Founded November 1, 1992 (1992-11-01)
Call letters' meaning Desert Fox
Sister station(s) KESQ-TV, KPSP-CD, KCWQ-LD, KUNA-LP/LD, KESQ-AM, KUNA-FM
Former callsigns K40DB (1990–1997)
KDFX-LP (1997–2003)
KDFX-CA (2003–2015)
Former channel number(s) 40 (UHF analog, 1992–1997)
33 (UHF analog, 1997–2015)
Former affiliations CBS (as translator of
KECY-TV, 1992–1995)
Transmitter power 4.8 kW (digital)
15 kW (CP)
Height 188.9 m (620 ft)
196.9 m (646 ft) (CP)
Facility ID 51207
Transmitter coordinates 33°51′58.1″N 116°26′5″W / 33.866139°N 116.43472°W / 33.866139; -116.43472
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS

KDFX-CD is a low-powered, Class A Fox-affiliated television station licensed to both Indio and Palm Springs, California, United States and serving the Coachella Valley in California's Inland Empire. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 (or virtual channel 33.2 via PSIP) from a transmitter on Edom Hill northeast of Cathedral City and I-10.

Owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company, it is a sister station to Palm Springs-licensed ABC affiliate KESQ-TV (channel 42), Cathedral City-licensed Class A CBS affiliate KPSP-CD (channel 38), Palm Springs-licensed low-powered CW affiliate KCWQ-LD (channel 2), and Indio-licensed low-powered Telemundo affiliate KUNA-LP (channel 15). The five stations share studios on Dunham Way in Thousand Palms.

Along with other major Coachella Valley television stations, KDFX identifies itself on-air using its cable designation (Fox 11) rather than its over-the-air channel position. The unusual practice stems in part from the area's exceptionally high cable penetration rate of 80.5% which is one of the highest in the United States.

In addition to its own digital signal, KDFX is simulcast in standard definition on KESQ's fourth digital subchannel (UHF channel 42.4 or virtual channel 33.2 via PSIP) from the same Edom Hill transmitter facility.

History

The station signed-on in 1990 as K40DB and was a translator of CBS affiliate KECY-TV in El Centro, California/Yuma, Arizona. The station was added on cable television on November 1, 1992. Along with its parent outlet, the station switched to Fox in 1995 becoming the first CBS affiliate in the United States to join the so-called "fourth network". In 1997, Pacific Media Corporation (which was principally controlled by Judge Robinson O. Everett of Wilmington, North Carolina) entered into a local management agreement (LMA) with a subsidiary of Lambert Broadcasting. That company split the translator off and relaunched it as a separate Fox affiliate serving the Coachella Valley.

On August 23 of that year, the station moved to UHF channel 33 and adopted KDFX-LP as its call sign. The LMA and options to purchase the two stations were sold a year later to the News-Press Gazette Company of St. Joseph, Missouri. Lambert invested heavily in the station and upgraded it to Class A status on April 7, 2003, as KDFX-CA. In May 2008 with the operational options running out, that owner officially bought the stations for $2 million. Since that company was already controlling KESQ in Palm Springs, the transaction made KDFX a sister outlet to the ABC affiliate. The station was licensed for digital operation on March 18, 2015, taking on the call sign KDFX-CD.

Programming

Syndicated programming on KDFX includes The Wendy Williams Show, The Real, The Simpsons and Mike & Molly among others.

Newscasts

KESQ produces a two-hour extension of its weekday morning show seen from 7:00-9:00 a.m. on KDFX known as NewsChannel 3 HD in the Morning on Fox 11. The station also airs a nightly prime time broadcast called CBS Local 2 News Nightcast on Fox 11 which is produced by KPSP featuring the CBS outlet's branding, graphics, and anchors. Both of these offerings competed with now defunct low-powered MyNetworkTV affiliate KPSG-LP, which had local news seen at the same times produced by rival NBC affiliate KMIR-TV.

See also

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