| KSWB-TV | |
|---|---|
| San Diego, California | |
| Branding | FOX 5 San Diego (general) FOX 5 News (newscasts) |
| Channels | Analog: 69 (UHF) Digital: 19 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | FOX |
| Owner | Tribune Company |
| Licensee | KSWB, Inc. |
| First air date | October 1, 1984 |
| Call letters' meaning | San Diego's WB (previous affiliation) |
| Former callsigns | KTTY (1984-1996) |
| Former Affiliations | Independent (1984-1995) The WB (1995-2006) The CW (2006-2008) |
| Transmitter Power | 4,470 kW (analog) 322.8 kW (DT) |
| Height | 594 m (analog) 598 m (DT) |
| Facility ID | 58827 |
| Website | FOX 5 San Diego's Website |
KSWB-TV, ch. 69, is the FOX-affiliated TV station for San Diego, California. It's transmitter is located southeast of Spring Valley. Owned by the Tribune Company, the station has studios on Engineer Road in the Kearny Mesa section of the city. Syndicated programming on KSWB includes: Two & a Half Men, Family Guy, My Wife & Kids & Sex & the City. It used to be the market's home of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers until KSWB switched network affliations from the CW Network to FOX. All games were produced by sister station KTLA. However KTLA to this day still broadcasts Los Angeles Clippers in the Los Angeles TV market. Since the station is aired on cable ch. 5 on COX Communications, Time Warner Cable & AT&T U-verse in the greater San Diego area, KSWB is known on-air as FOX 5. COX Communications & Time Warner Cable carries KSWB's HD signal on ch. 705, while AT&T U-verse carries it on ch. 1005. The station is also available on it's customary Ch. 69 position (in both SD & in HD) on both DirecTV's & Dish Network's Local Channels packages. Unlike other UHF stations in the market (like KNSD & KUSI) that identify using their cable channels, the station does not also use it's over-air channel number in station branding other than during news casts during which the 5 in the FOX 5 logo constantly fades between 5 & 69. KSWB surpassed WSYT in Syracuse, New York (ch. 68) as the highest allocated FOX affiliate.
History[]
The station went on the air as KTTY on October 1, 1984 as a new independent station. It ran a general entertainment format featuring dramas, old movies, cartoons & religious programming that was passed on by other stations. It also aired a great deal of paid programming. It continued to be a low rated independent station until January 11, 1995 when it became an affiliate of the new WB network. Tribune's broadcasting division purchased the station from local interests in September of 1996 & shortly thereafter changed it's call letters to the present KSWB. The company added many off-network sitcoms to the schedule. Throughout the rest of the 1990s, talk & court shows were mixed into the schedule as well.
On January 24 2006, The WB & UPN announced they would end broadcasting & merge. The newly combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the 1st initial of it's corporate parents: CBS (the parent company of UPN) & the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. The merger took effect on-air on September 18 & KSWB became the San Diego affiliate. Former UPN station XHUPN-TV, licensed to Tecate, Mexico & owned by Entravision is now MyNetworkTV affiliate XHDTV-TV (identified on-air as XDTV). KSWB's call letters reference the former network. Unlike many other former WB affiliates that also had call signs relating to it's former network, it has retained them.
In a seminar by Sam Zell in March of 2008, it was revealed that KSWB would be affiliating with FOX. The change happened on August 1, 2008 assuming the affiliation from XETV. At first, there was speculation that San Diego's CW programming would most likely come from KTLA in Los Angeles, which is seen only on COX cable ch. 14, while 2 other scenarios were being entertained. This included the possibility that KUSI would pick up the CW affiliation or the network landing on KSWB's 2nd DT subchannel (which has been silent since The Tube shut down in 2007). On July 2, XETV announced that they will be the new home of The CW on the same day KSWB becomes a FOX station.
News operation[]
The station launched a news department & began producing a 10 PM local newscast in 1999 entitled The WB News @ 10. This was to counter against rivals KUSI & another start-up operation @ XETV. The station's news slogan was "all the news just 30 minutes" (as it was San Diego's only half-hour primetime newscast). In March of 2005, KSWB joined the morning news race launching The WB Morning Show which was made up of a simulcast of the morning news program from KTLA. It originated from that station's studios on West Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. There were local cut-ins from KSWB's San Diego studios every half hour by a solo anchor. At the end of 2005, the in-house 10 PM news operation ceased & was handed over in October to NBC affiliate KNSD. After KSWB ceased producing the 10 PM news, everyone from the news department was let go except for male anchor Jeff Powers who continued to anchor the newscast until he left the station.
The WB News @ 10 began to be produced by & broadcast from KNSD's studios on Broadway in downtown San Diego. However, weekday morning local updates continued to be done from KSWB's studios. On September 18 2006, the morning news was remamed CW Morning Show & the 10 PM broadcast became known as CW News @ 10. KNSD reporter Anne State assumed co-anchoring duties until April of 2008 when she left for WBBM-TV in Chicago. Vic Salazar then solo anchored the 10 PM broadcast. The KNSD news on KSWB was a similar operation to other Tribune-outsourced newscasts that are seen on WPHL-TV & KRCW-TV. In addition, there was a Sunday night public affairs show called Take 5 that aired @ 10:30. After becoming a FOX affiliate on August 1 2008, KSWB once again established an in-house news operation. They debuted a brand new morning newscast which airs weekdays from 5-9 AM anchored by Arthel Neville & former XETV morning anchor, Christina Russo. There is also a new hour-long 10 PM newscast with former KFMB-TV anchor Kathleen Bade (weeknights) & former KUSI anchor Susan Lennon (weekends). Associate anchors (Raoul Martinez, Walter Makaula & Kendris Gibson) serve as sidemen for all of the new in-house newscasts, which are presented in HD.
News team[]
FOX 5 Morning News
(Weekday Mornings from 5-9 AM)
- Anchors:
- Arthel Neville
- Raoul Martinez
- Weather & Traffic:
- Christina Russo
FOX 5 News @ 10 (10-11 PM)
Weeknights
- Anchors:
- Kathleen Bade
- Kendis Gibson
- Weather:
- Kyle Hunter - Chief Meteorologist
- Sports:
- Troy Hirsch
Weekends
- Anchors:
- Susan Lennon
- Walter Makaula
- Weather:
- Brad Wills
DTV[]
After analog TV shutdown & DT conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17 2009, KSWB-TV will remain on it's current pre-transition ch. number, 19. However, through the use of PSIP, DTV receivers will display KSWB-TV's virtual ch. as 69.