 | This articleis missing information about KBAK-TV's news operation. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on thetalk page.(April 2018) |
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| Channels | |
| Branding | KBAK CBS;Eyewitness News |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| KBFX-CD | |
| History | |
First air date | August 21, 1953 (1953-08-21) |
Former call signs | KAFY-TV (1953–1954) |
Former channel number |
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| ABC (1974–1996) | |
Call sign meaning | Bakersfield |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 4148 |
| ERP | 110kW |
| HAAT | 1,128 m (3,701 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 35°27′10.8″N118°35′28.3″W / 35.453000°N 118.591194°W /35.453000; -118.591194 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | bakersfieldnow |
KBAK-TV (channel 29) is atelevision station inBakersfield, California, United States, affiliated withCBS. It is owned bySinclair Broadcast Group alongsidelow-power,Class AFox affiliateKBFX-CD (channel 58). The two stations share studios on Westwind Drive west ofDowntown Bakersfield; KBAK-TV's transmitter is located atop Breckenridge Mountain.
The station signed on the air on August 21, 1953, as KAFY-TV.[2] It was originally owned by Sheldon Anderson along withKAFY radio (550 AM, now 1100 AM). The station originally operated from studios located on Chester Avenue in Bakersfield. It is Bakersfield's oldest television station;KERO-TV (then on channel 10) followed a month later. Four months later, Anderson sold the station to theChronicle Publishing Company ofSan Francisco. KAFY-TV was initially an affiliate of the Dumont television network, later becoming a primary CBS affiliate, sharingABC programming with KERO-TV until KLYD-TV (channel 17, nowKGET-TV) signed on in 1959.
In February 1954, shortly after becoming a full CBS affiliate, channel 29 changed its calls to the current KBAK-TV.[3] TheChronicle sold the station to Reeves Telecom in 1960. As a CBS and later ABC affiliate, KBAK aired all of each network'scolor programs in color, and went to full color in 1967. In 1974, KBAK swapped affiliations with channel 17, then known as KJTV, and became an ABC affiliate.[4][5]
In 1964, Reeves sold KBAK to Chicago-based Harriscope Broadcasting, which also ownedWSNS in Chicago (now aTelemundoO&O) and a partial stake inKRQE inAlbuquerque (now owned byNexstar Media Group). In the late 1980s, KBAK started signing off only on Fridays and Saturdays, which, as a CBS affiliate, it continued to do until May 2008, when the sign-offs on KBAK and KBFX were discontinued and were replaced by a simulcast of the Kern Weather Channel, which is also available ondigital cable systems in the Bakersfield area.
In 1986, Harriscope sold KBAK to Burnham Broadcasting, which also ownedKHON-TV inHonolulu and would later acquireWVUE inNew Orleans,WALA-TV inMobile, Alabama, andWLUK inGreen Bay, Wisconsin. In 1995, Burnham sold most of its stations to SF Broadcasting, a joint venture between Fox andSavoy Pictures, but KBAK was not included in the sale to SF Broadcasting, and was instead spun off to Westwind Communications, a locally based company linked to former Burnham executives.
AfterMcGraw-Hill (then-owner of KERO-TV) learned in November 1994 that itsKMGH-TV in Denver would be losing its CBS affiliation toKCNC-TV, it signed a groupwide affiliation deal which called for all of its stations, including KMGH-TV and KERO-TV, to become ABC affiliates. KBAK rejoined CBS on March 4, 1996, after KERO-TV's affiliation contract with CBS expired.
On August 6, 2007, Westwind Communications announced the sale of KBAK and KBFX-CA toFisher Communications ofSeattle.[6] The deal closed on January 1, 2008. This marked a re-entry into the Central Valley for Fisher, who had previously bought and sold KJEO (nowKGPE) inFresno in the late 1990s.
In mid May 2010, KBAK became the first station in Bakersfield to begin broadcasting local newscasts in16:9 widescreenstandard definition. Then on January 16, 2011, KBAK took it one step further to become the first station in Bakersfield to launch local news in true high definition.[7] The KBFX shows were included in the upgrade to HD; however, until recently, they were presented in downconverted standard definition widescreen on KBAK-DT2 (which serves as a full-power companion to KBFX's low-powerClass A digital terrestrial signal).
KBAK-TV, KBFX, and Fisher Communications' other holdings were sold toSinclair Broadcast Group in a transaction announced on April 10, 2013.[8][9] The deal was completed on August 8, 2013.[10] The transaction marked a re-entry into California for Sinclair since it sold off itsSacramento stationKOVR to CBS at the end of April 2005.
The currentannouncer for KBAK and KBFX is nationally recognized voice-over artist Eric Gordon.[11]
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | KBAK | CBS |
| 29.3 | 480i | Charge! | Charge! | |
| 29.4 | TCN | True Crime Network | ||
| 58.2 | 720p | FOX58 | Fox (KBFX-CD) |
KBAK-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, overUHF channel 29, 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 33, usingvirtual channel 29.[13]
Includes English-language stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of California | ||
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