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| Channels | |
| Branding | Fox 5 San Diego |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner | |
| KUSI-TV | |
| History | |
First air date | September 30, 1984 (1984-09-30) |
Former call signs |
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Former channel numbers |
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Call sign meaning | "San Diego'sWB", former affiliation |
| Technical information[3] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 58827 |
| ERP | 350kW |
| HAAT | 596 m (1,955 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 32°41′47″N116°56′10″W / 32.69639°N 116.93611°W /32.69639; -116.93611 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | fox5sandiego |
KSWB-TV (channel 69, cable channel 5) is atelevision station inSan Diego, California, United States, affiliated with theFox network. It is owned byNexstar Media Group alongsideindependent stationKUSI-TV (channel 51). The two stations share studios on Viewridge Avenue (nearI-15) in theKearny Mesa section of San Diego; KSWB-TV's transmitter is located southeast ofSpring Valley. The station is branded asFox 5 San Diego, in reference to its primarycable channel number in themarket.
KSWB-TV went on the air in September 1984 as KTTY. It was the third independent station in the market with programming that was perceived at the time to be generally inferior to its two competitors. In 1994, the station was placed into bankruptcy to avoid foreclosure.Tribune Broadcasting won the bidding to purchase KTTY in 1995, and it was relaunched as KSWB-TV on August 16, 1996. Stronger programming, includingThe WB, and the start of a new local newscast, which ran from 1999 to 2005, dramatically improved its on-air product.
In 2008, Tribune reached a deal to make KSWB-TV the region's new Fox affiliate, displacingXETV, aTijuana-based independent that had long targeted the U.S. market. The move led the station to restart its own local newscasts. In 2024, Nexstar bought KUSI-TV, giving it aduopoly in San Diego.
The insertion of another television station into the San Diego area was proposed by Center City Complex Inc., owned by businessmanCharles Woods, in 1978. He had proposed that channel 27 be allocated to the city[4] and sought to build a new Spanish-language outlet; however, a revised agreement with Mexico gave that country channel 27 for Tijuana, and channel 69 was proposed in its stead.[5] Ten[6] to twelve[7] applications were received, and eight were designated forcomparative hearing by theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) in early 1982.[8] The field of applicants consolidated after the hearing designation by way of settlements and mergers and was whittled down eventually to five. Four of these groups consolidated: a group of Asian businessmen headed by former San Diego city councilorTom Hom; Black investorJ. Bruce Llewellyn and several other East Coast interests; Gil Contreras, leading a Hispanic group; and a White group led by Jim Harmon, the president ofImperial Airlines.[6] Harmon was the brother of former KFMB-TV co-owner Helen Alvarez Smith.[9] They then settled with the fifth group—Christian Communications Network, owned by evangelist Jerry Barnard—and agreed to air its programming.[6]
The settlement cleared the way for the consortium, known as San Diego Television, to get a construction permit, which the FCC moved to grant on December 2, 1982.[10][6] The Llewellyn group opted to sell, owing to the difficulty of living on the East Coast and trying to set up a TV station on the West Coast,[11] and was bought out by the other groups for $2 million (equivalent to $5.09 million in 2024[12]).[6] When the antenna was shipped, it was first delivered to the studios inChula Vista, not to the San Miguel Mountain transmitter site where it needed to be installed.[13] The Chula Vista studio site was chosen for its access toI-5 and relative lack of congestion; this contrasted with the situation in the Kearny Mesa area, where most San Diego TV stations are located.[7]
KTTY began broadcasting on September 30, 1984, mostly airing classic movies and old syndicated reruns, as well asNewspot news briefs throughout the day.[13][6] In its first year, ratings were low; even some Los Angeles independent stations, seen on San Diego cable systems, surpassed it in the ratings. It airedSan Diego State Aztecs sports and such local productions asBeach Party, a show filmed on local beaches described by its producer as "PM Magazine meetsAmerican Bandstand for teenagers".[14] As an independent station, KTTY consistently trailedXETV (channel 6) andKUSI-TV (channel 51) in the quality of its programming and its ratings. It promoted itself as "San Diego's Movie Channel";[15] John Freeman, TV writer forThe San Diego Union-Tribune, called it in retrospect "a laughingstock—bankrupt and virtually bereft of watchable programming".[16] The Harmon–Alvarez Smith group became the primary owners of San Diego Television in 1986 when the group obtained a $17 million bank loan.[17][18]
San Diego Television filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on February 2, 1994.[17] This action was undertaken by Alvarez Smith in order to protect KTTY from foreclosure on the 1986 loan.[18] In the year that followed, the station made two upgrades. As part of a newSan Diego Padres baseball rights package, KTTY picked up a scheduled 36 games a season for two years, one of three different outlets airing Padres games in 1994 and 1995 (alongside KFMB-TV andPrime Sports).[19] It also affiliated withThe WB, one of two new networks launching in January 1995.[20]
On August 29, 1995, in a Los Angeles courtroom, bidders competed at a bankruptcy auction to buy KTTY. Before the auction, offers for the station had hovered between $40 and $42 million.[18] In an event described as "exciting" by an observer, and amidst a frenzied market for TV stations nationally, bidding was fierce. After groups including Newsweb andViacom dropped out, third-place finisherNew World Communications exited when the price reached $60 million, leavingTribune Broadcasting andUnited Television—associated with The WB's rival,UPN—to fight it out in a bidding war. After both parties bid in 22 rounds to push the price to $70 million, Tribune bid $70.5 million (equivalent to $132 million in 2024[12]) without United matching it, winning the right to buy KTTY.[21] After the debts—which had increased to $26 million—were covered, the owners of San Diego Television split $44 million.[18]
Tribune assumed control of KTTY on April 19, 1996; 20 people lost their jobs, as the new owners only rehired 34 of the 54 employees of the station, and new programming started to debut.[22] Ahead of the new television season, KTTY changed its call sign to KSWB-TV as part of a campaign to, per general manager Lise Markham, remove "negative connotations" associated with the station.[23] It also moved on San Diego cable systems from channel 14 to channel 5, which had previously been assigned to Tribune's Los Angeles WB station,KTLA.[16]
In 2000, a marketing campaign conducted by KSWB in which it mailed VHS tapes to 75,000 San Diego-area homes and urged homes reporting inNielsen Media Research ratings diaries, "Attention Nielsen homes: Please watch KSWB 5/69", led to Nielsen taking action against the station. It delisted KSWB from its ratings for an entire survey period; a Nielsen spokesman noted that this action was a first in company history.[24]
On January 24, 2006, Time Warner andCBS Corporation announced that the two companies would shut down the broadcast networks that they had respectively owned, The WB and UPN, and create a new merged network,The CW, to begin that September.[25][26] With the announcement, The CW signed a ten-year affiliation agreement with Tribune Broadcasting for 16 of the group's stations, with KSWB-TV named as the network's San Diego affiliate.[26][27]
AfterSam Zell took over control of the Tribune Company in December 2007,[28] he reevaluated many aspects of the company. He learned that, under prior management, Tribune had been offered theFox affiliation for KSWB-TV and turned the network down.[29]McKinnon Broadcasting, owner of KUSI-TV, had also been talking to Fox about moving its affiliation.[30] In mid-March 2008, he toldChicago Tribune columnistPhil Rosenthal that when he heard about this, "I calledRupert [Murdoch], and I said, 'Rupert, what the [bad word] is going on?' ... He says, 'Well, why didn't you take it when we offered it in the first place?' I said, 'Well, you didn't call me. You called those [less bad word].'"[29]
On March 23, 2008,TelevisionWeek reported KSWB-TV would switch to Fox,[30] which was then confirmed to be effective August 1.[31] Fox's executive vice president of network distribution, Jon Hookstratten, cited the fact that, as a Mexican station, XETV—an original Fox affiliate from the network's creation in 1986[32]—had to answer to a different communications regulator as one reason for the changeover.[31] The switch gave Tribune a seventh station airing Fox programming, solidifying its status as the second-largest Fox affiliate owner.[30]
The news left the fate of XETV uncertain. That station's management originally contended their Fox affiliation agreement ran through 2010.[31] On July 2,Bay City Television/Grupo Televisa signed an affiliation agreement to bring The CW's programming to XETV. With the Fox affiliation agreement, KSWB-TV's ten-year contract with The CW was rendered void, and KSWB-TV and XETV exchanged affiliations on August 1, 2008.[33][34] The switch was met with an open letter from XETV management, stating in part, "Unfortunately, in these troubled times, it seems as though there is no honor or loyalty anymore."[35]
In 2017,Sinclair Broadcast Group announced it hadagreed to purchase Tribune Media for $3.9 billion (equivalent to $4.89 billion in 2024[12]).[36][37] As part of divestitures associated with the deal, KSWB-TV and other stations were to be sold toFox Television Stations.[38] Both transactions were nullified on August 9, 2018, when Tribune Media terminated the Sinclair deal and filed abreach of contract lawsuit;[39] this followed a public rejection of the merger by FCC chairmanAjit Pai[40] and the commission voting to put the transactions up for a formal hearing.[41]
Following the merger's collapse,Nexstar Media Group announced a $6.4 billion (equivalent to $7.85 billion in 2024[12]) all-cash purchase of Tribune Media on December 3, 2018.[42][43] The sale was completed on September 19, 2019.[44]
On May 8, 2023, Nexstar announced that it would acquire KUSI-TV from McKinnon Broadcasting for $35 million (equivalent to $35.9 million in 2024[12]) with the intention of making it an affiliate ofThe CW when the affiliation becomes available.[45] The deal was completed on August 31.[46]
As early as 1997, rumors circulated of the potential for KSWB to launch a local newscast, possibly using the resources of another station in the market.[16] Local stations in San Diego had previously inquired as to the station airing local newscasts produced by them when it was KTTY.[15] However, Tribune opted instead to start a news operation of its own for KSWB. To house this expansion, the station had to move from Chula Vista and found a sufficiently large site in Kearny Mesa, on the same street asKFMB-TV andKNSD.[47]
TheWB News at Ten, a half-hour 10 p.m. newscast, began to air on September 27, 1999. Competing against an established prime time newscast from KUSI-TV, it was designed to cater to viewers aged 18 to 49; the average age of the initial on-air presenters was 29.[48] Both stations were joined three months later by a startup 10 p.m. newscast from XETV, which was bolstered by its Fox affiliation and beat KSWB's offering in the ratings.[49] KUSI's ratings generally compared to XETV's and KSWB's combined.[50] On March 7, 2005, the station debutedThe WB Morning Show, a simulcast of Los Angeles sister station KTLA'sweekday morning newscast interspersed with half-hourly local news inserts presented by a solo anchor from KSWB's San Diego studios.[51]
It was a tough business decision. It's very tough to make the economics work on one 30-minute newscast. News is a very expensive business. KNSD can do it on a much more efficient basis. We've looked at this from all different angles; it's not something we've done flippantly.
On September 21, 2005, KSWB announced that its news department would be shut down, with 30 news staffers to be laid off. The final 10 p.m. newscast produced by KSWB aired on October 28, 2005. Production of the prime time newscast was turned over to KNSD, which began producing the newscast on October 31 using the same newscast title and imaging.[52] Tribune made an identical decision that same day at another WB affiliate it owned,WPHL-TV inPhiladelphia, wherethat city's NBC-owned station began producing its local 10 p.m. newscast.[53]
To correspond with KSWB's affiliation change to The CW, the KTLA morning news simulcast and the KNSD-produced 10 p.m. news were accordingly renamed asThe CW Morning Show andCW News at Ten. The newscast was anchored by Vic Salazar andAnne State, both of KNSD. The station also aired a public affairs program,Take 5, on Sunday evenings; this was hosted by Perette Godwin, who also anchored the morning newscast cut-ins.[54]
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The Fox affiliation deal kickstarted the return of in-house local news production to KSWB-TV, with Tribune initially stating it aimed to produce three to four hours a day of local news.[30] Tribune tapped Rich Goldner, news director at KTLA, to move south to San Diego and set up a newsroom at KSWB-TV.[55]
Upon the affiliation switch on August 1, 2008, KSWB-TV debuted a new weekday morning news program (initially airing from 5 to 9 a.m. and hosted byArthel Neville) and an hour-long 10 p.m. newscast, both produced inhigh definition.[56][57] A total of 50 staffers were added to KSWB to facilitate the news revival.[35]
By 2014, KSWB-TV aired weekdays local newscasts in the morning and at 1, 4, 5, 6, and 10 p.m.[58] A 7 p.m. newscast was added in 2020 and extended to an hour the next year.[59] By 2022, KSWB was producing64+1⁄2 hours of local news and sports programming a week, as well as a daily lifestyle show with paid segments,The Localist SD.[59]
Since 2022, KSWB airs 11Los Angeles Clippers regular season games a year syndicated from Nexstar sister stationKTLA.[62]
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KSWB-TV transmits fromSan Miguel Mountain.[3] Its signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 69.1 | 720p | 16:9 | KSWB | Fox |
| 69.2 | 480i | 4:3 | Antenna | Antenna TV |
| 69.3 | 16:9 | CourtTV | Court TV | |
| 69.4 | ION | Ion Television | ||
| 51.1 | 720p | 16:9 | KUSI HD | KUSI-TV (Independent) |
| 51.2 | 480i | Rewind | Rewind TV (KUSI-TV) |
On January 16, 2024, KUSI-TV converted toATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) broadcasting of the two Nexstar stations, with the main KUSI subchannel moving to the KSWB multiplex.[63][64]
KSWB shut down its analog signal, overUHF channel 69, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were totransition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back five months to June 12, 2009).[65] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 19.[66] The station wasrepacked from channel 19 to 26 in 2019.[1]
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