| |
|---|---|
| City | Visalia, California |
| Channels | |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | see§ Subchannels |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Vita Broadcasting[2] |
| History | |
First air date | November 2, 1986 (39 years ago) (1986-11-02) |
Former call signs | KNXT (1986–November 2021) |
Former channel numbers |
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| Technical information[3] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 16950 |
| ERP | 126kW |
| HAAT | 827.7 m (2,716 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 36°17′14.2″N118°50′18.6″W / 36.287278°N 118.838500°W /36.287278; -118.838500 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
KIFR (channel 49) is areligious television station inVisalia, California, United States, serving theFresno area. The station is owned by Vita Broadcasting. KIFR's studios are located on North Fresno Street nearSan Joaquin Memorial High School and theHammond district just north of downtown Fresno, and its transmitter is located on Blue Ridge in ruralTulare County.
Prior to its current ownership, channel 49 (as KNXT) was a Catholic television station for the Central Valley.
In 1985, theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) granted an application by theRoman Catholic Diocese of Fresno—which learned of the channel a week before the deadline to file[4]—to build a newnon-commercial educational television station on the channel 49 allocation in Visalia, beating out a bid from theTrinity Broadcasting Network and theTulare County board of education. Construction of the transmitter on Blue Ridge proved to be a test of sensitivity; the tower required environmental approval because the site is a roosting area for theCalifornia condor, and the county approved the tower over protests by Native American groups, who argued that the ridge was sacred ground and had been used for centuries as a communication point for smoke signals between tribes on different sides of the Sierra. The station signed on November 2, 1986.[5] (The call letters had previously had a long history in California on theCBSowned-and-operated station on channel 2 inLos Angeles, which becameKCBS-TV in 1984.)
It did not take long for the diocese's new television station to be a financial drain, in part because it was approved far faster than had been anticipated,[6] as TBN had unexpectedly withdrawn its application.[4] In 1988, less than two years after signing on, priests called for a probe of the diocese's finances, alleging that monies donated by parishioners and entrusted to the diocese were intended for building improvements but instead diverted to diocesan operations including KNXT.[7] That same year, on the occasion of Bishop Joseph J. Madera'squinquennial visitad limina, the station reported a $263,000 deficit, even though the bishop noted that financial contributions were growing.[8] A group explored a potential sale of channel 49 in 1990[9] and even recommended its sale to Community Educational Television, the noncommercial stations arm of TBN, for $1 million;[10] two years later, negotiations were held with Joseph Desmond, a buyer who owned 30KFC restaurants in the state and planned to keep Catholic programming on KNXT.[11] Bids, however, were so low that the diocese opted to retain and upgrade the station instead.[12] By 1996, KNXT was producing 14 in-house programs in English, Spanish and Portuguese, alongside its weekly Mass from St. Anne's Chapel andEWTN andClassic Arts Showcase programming.[13]
In 2016, the Diocese of Fresno attempted to sell the station, but it could not find a non-profit organization willing to buy the non-commercial educational station. It then operated in a partnership with the Massachusetts-basedCatholicTV network. The diocese then revealed that it was in negotiations with a party again in early 2019, warning that if talks fell apart, the station would sign off the air.[14] That party was revealed to be Ventura TV Video and Appliance Center, Inc., owner of KBID-LP andKVHF-LD in Fresno, when the two parties petitioned the FCC in August 2019 to remove the non-commercial reservation from KNXT's channel allocation.[15]
On June 18, 2020, in a letter from BishopJoseph Vincent Brennan, the diocese announced it could no longer sustain KNXT's high cost of operation and was taking it silent on June 30, after 33 years of broadcasting.[16]
On May 3, 2021, it was announced that KNXT would be sold to fellow non-profit Vita Broadcasting for $50,000; it would remain a non-commercial educational station.[2] The sale was completed on June 21;[17] the station returned to the air on June 29 with Classic Arts Showcase programming.[18] The call letters were changed to KIFR on November 8, 2021.
Prior to the sale to Vita Broadcasting, programming seen on KNXT was mainly of aRoman Catholic religious orient, with some shows being sourced from theEternal Word Television Network; however, KNXT is somewhat less conservative doctrinally (but firmly in line withCatholic Church teachings). The station's programming consisted of a mix of local daily and SundayMass,talk shows, music andvariety programs, theRosary,children's programs, and Catholic-targetedmovies.
KNXT also carried a handful ofProtestant produced programs that do not get into doctrinal issues (including children's shows), as well as some limitedsecular programming. The station's programming was simulcast ontranslator station KNXT-LP (channel 38) inBakersfield. KNXT-LP was acquired by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno from Cocola Broadcasting on November 2, 2007, to serve as a repeater of KNXT.
KNXT was the only full-power, 24-hour Catholic-owned broadcast station in the United States that is not amember station ofPBS, although many other Roman Catholic dioceses around the nation provide such programming tocable orclosed-circuit television systems (although other television stations, includingWWL-TV inNew Orleans, KDTU (nowKTTU) inTucson, Arizona, WETG (nowWFXP) inErie, Pennsylvania,WBAY-TV inGreen Bay, Wisconsin,WNDU-TV inSouth Bend, Indiana, WTXX (nowWCCT-TV) inHartford, Connecticut, and WIHS-TV (nowWSBK-TV) inBoston, have been owned by Catholic interests, all seven stations were commercial, primarily secular stations with limited Catholic programming).
| License | Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KIFR | 49.1 | 720p | 16:9 | DStrES | Daystar Español |
| 49.2 | 480i | ESNE | ESNE TV | ||
| 49.3 | 720p | DAYSTR | Daystar | ||
| 49.4 | 480i | ARTS | Classic Arts Showcase | ||
| 49.7 | Point | The Point TV | |||
| KNXT-LD | 53.1 | 720p | MyTV53 | MyNetworkTV | |
| 53.7 | 480i | TheWalk | The Walk TV |
KNXT shut down its analog signal, overUHF channel 49, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United Statestransitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 50, usingvirtual channel 49.[20]
KNXT was one of nearly 1,000 television stations that were required to change their digital channel allocation in the upcoming spectrum auction repack in late 2017 or early 2018. The station reallocated its digital signal to UHF channel 22 in phase one of the repack.[21]
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