KRCA

KRCA, virtual channel 62 (VHF digital channel 7), is an Estrella TV owned-and-operated television station serving Los Angeles, California, United States that is licensed to Riverside. It is the flagship television property of Burbank-based Estrella Media. The station's studios are located on North Victory Drive (near Interstate 5) in Burbank, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.

This article is about the West Coast flagship station of Estrella TV in Los Angeles, California. For the station that formerly used this call sign, see KNBC. For the air force base near Rapid City, South Dakota assigned the ICAO code KRCA, see Ellsworth Air Force Base.
KRCA
Riverside/Los Angeles, California
United States
CityRiverside, California
BrandingEstrella TV KRCA 62 (general)
Noticias 62 (newscasts)
SloganTu ciudad. Tu equipo.
(Your City. Your Team.)
ChannelsDigital: 7 (VHF)
(shared with KABC-TV[1])
Virtual: 62 (PSIP)
Affiliations62.1: Estrella TV (O&O)[2]
62.2: Estrella Dos
OwnerEstrella Media
LicenseeEstrella Television License LLC
First air dateMarch 20, 1989 (1989-03-20)
Call sign meaningRiverside, CAlifornia
(no relation to the Radio Corporation of America)
Former call signsKSLD (1988–1990)
Former channel number(s)Analog:
62 (UHF, 1988–2009)
Digital:
68 (UHF, until 2009)
35 (UHF, 2009–2018)
Former affiliationsAsian Independent (1988–1990)
HSN (1990–1998)
Spanish Independent (1998–2009)
Transmitter power28.7 kW
50 kW (CP)
Height978 m (3,209 ft)
Facility ID22161
Transmitter coordinates34°13′37″N 118°4′1″W
Licensing authorityFCC
Public license informationProfile
CDBS
Websitewww.estrellatv.com

History

The station signed on March 20, 1989 as KSLD on UHF channel 62, displacing a low-power translator of San Bernardino-based PBS member station KVCR-TV (channel 24). The station was owned by Sunland Broadcasting; it was the first new Southern California TV station since channel 46 had returned in 1984.[3] Channel 62 was intended to be the third Spanish-language TV outlet in the Southland,[3] but an inability to secure enough programming prompted the station to emerge instead with home shopping programming from Home Shopping Network.[4] The reason that KSLD-TV could not secure the programming was the collapse of Transvision, a proposed network of which channel 62 would have been the Los Angeles affiliate; the network opted to delay its launch.[5]

In 1990, Sunland sold KSLD to Fouce Amusement Enterprises, for $3.575 million.[6] Fouce changed the call letters to KRCA and began broadcasting Asian-language programming,[7] as well as fare in Armenian and Persian.[8] In 1997, KRCA was sold for $60 million[9] to Liberman Broadcasting (which was renamed Estrella Media in February 2020, following a corporate reorganization of the company under private equity firm HPS Investment Partners, LLC). Liberman, which owned several Spanish-language radio stations in southern California, converted KRCA into a Spanish-language independent station.

In May 2005, KRCA was the subject of controversy due to billboards advertising its local newscasts, in which the place name "Los Angeles, CA" had the "CA" postal abbreviation crossed out, replaced with the word "MEXICO" in bold red and a picture of the El Ángel victory column on the Paseo de la Reforma superimposed onto a picture of the Los Angeles skyline. The billboard was deemed provocative by some, and protests erupted outside Liberman Broadcasting studios. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke on the popular John and Ken radio talk show on KFI requesting that the Libermans remove the signs. After negotiations between the station and Clear Channel Outdoor (a company that shared common ownership with KFI at the time), the owner of the billboards, the messages were replaced with a more generic advertisement.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[10]
62.1720p16:9KRCA DTMain KRCA programming / Estrella TV
62.2480iKRCA-2Estrella Dos[11][12]

KRCA formerly rebroadcast its San Diego sister station KSDX-LP on digital subchannel 62.2. In September 2009, 62.2 began to transmit Mandarin-language programming for the first time since KRCA last presented Chinese-language television in 2000. It is presented by City of Industry-based Hantian TV (HTTV). In June 2010, KRCA added a third subchannel on 62.3 (since moved to 62.4), carrying programming from Inmigrante TV, a Spanish-language special interest channel featuring political news and commentary aimed at immigrant viewers.

Analog-to-digital conversion

Both the analog and pre-transition allocations for KRCA were outside the core spectrum (channels 2-51) permitted for broadcasting use after the transition; as a result, the station was required to find an in-core channel from which to operate its digital signal post-transition. It originally elected to operate on UHF channel 45 after 2009, but, anticipating difficulty getting coordination from Mexico to use that channel, it instead requested and was granted the use of UHF channel 35.[13][14]

KRCA shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 62, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[15] The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 68 to channel 35 (formerly the pre-transition digital signal of KMEX-DT), using PSIP to display KRCA's virtual channel as 62 on digital television receivers, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

News operation

KRCA presently broadcasts 7½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 1½ hours each weekday); the station does not air any newscasts on weekends.

References
  1. "Modification of a Licensed Facility for DTV Application". FCC Licensing and Management System. August 15, 2017. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
  2. "Coming, a new force in Hispanic TV". Media Life Magazine. March 20, 2009. Archived from the original on March 23, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-11.
  3. Valle, Víctor; Sánchez, Jesús (November 30, 1988). "3rd Latino TV Station on Tap for Southland". Los Angeles Times. p. 10. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  4. "TV & Video". Los Angeles Times. March 21, 1989. p. 2. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  5. "Fourth network?" (PDF). Broadcasting. April 3, 1989. p. 50. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  6. "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. February 26, 1990. p. 52. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  7. Rathbun, Elizabeth (September 18, 1995). "Tribune buys Houston U for WB" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. p. 16. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  8. "King Videocable to add international channel". The Signal. July 10, 1994. p. C6. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  9. "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. August 25, 1997. p. 30. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  10. RabbitEars TV Query for KRCA
  11. LBI Lassoes Spectrum For Its Cable TV Offering
  12. Cable TV – Loyola Marymount University
  13. "DTV Transition Status Report". FCC CDBS database. 2008-02-15. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  14. "Report and Order (Doc. DA 08-1185)" (PDF). FCC CDBS database. 2008-05-21. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
  15. List of Digital Full-Power Stations Archived 2013-08-29 at the Wayback Machine
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