KMPH-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = KMPH-TV
station_
station_slogan = We're your station!
station_branding = KMPH Fox 26 (general)
KMPH News (news)
analog = 26 (UHF)
digital = 28 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = Fox
network =
founded =
airdate = October 11, 1971
location = Visalia/Fresno, California
callsign_meaning = Mike,
Pete, and
Harry Pappas
(station founders)
former_callsigns =
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Pappas Telecasting Companies
licensee = KMPH (TV) License, LLC
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = independent (1971-1986)
effective_radiated_power = 3240 kW (analog)
219 kW (digital)
HAAT = 792 m (analog)
763 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 51488
coordinates = coord|36|40|1.9|N|118|52|45.2|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.kmph.com/ www.kmph.com]

KMPH-TV is a television station in Fresno, California broadcasting on television channel 26, and is licensed to nearby Visalia. It is the Fresno-area affiliate of the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is the flagship station of Pappas Telecasting and the sister station to KFRE-TV, the Central Valley's CW affiliate.

This station also operates KMPH-CA in Merced, California on channel 17. KMPH Fox 26 can also be picked up in and around the Bakersfield area. However, local FOX affiliate KBFX-CA has more exclusive rights in the Bakersfield television market. The television station's airwaves extends northward to Mariposa, California as well the southern Sierra Nevada range and sometimes can be received to the south in Kern County for those who live about north of Ridgecrest, California.

History

KMPH began broadcasting on October 11, 1971 as an independent station. The funding for KMPH came from station co-founder and General Manager Harry Pappas' plan of having hundreds of investors each investing a small amount of money needed to construct the station, rather than having one investor providing all the capital. Throughout the early- to mid-1980s, KMPH was one of the top independent stations in the country. The TV station can be received 100 miles/150km from Visalia before its' move to an office in Fresno in the early 1990s.

Pappas signed an affiliation deal with Fox for KMPH and one of its two other UHF start-ups, KPTM in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1986 (The other Pappas-owned station, WHNS in Greenville, South Carolina, took the Fox affiliation from WAXA two years later). KMPH and KSEE are the two stations in Fresno to keep the same network affilaition unaffected by the network swaps of ABC and CBS in 1985 and the network changes of The CW Television Network and My Network TV in 2006. The Fox affiliation remains on KMPH to this day.

Programming

KMPH airs 32 hours of local news each week, including the oldest 10 p.m. newscast in the Fresno market, as well as the "Great Day" morning show which debuted October 6, 2003 featuring long-time anchor Kopi Sotiropolous and Bay Area native Anchor, Kim Stephens. In spring 2007, "Great Day" expanded to 5 hours; it now runs from 5:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. Newsreader Liz Gonzales joined the show in 2007.

In January 2006, KMPH also produced a half-hour newscast for sister station KFRE that aired every night at 11:00 p.m., but due to low ratings, KMPH canceled that newscast in mid Feb of 2007. A few months later, KFRE news anchor Allison Ruddell re-joined KMPH as the "Midday" anchor.

KMPH also airs court/reality/talk shows, sitcom reruns, and movies in addition to news and the Fox broadcasting schedule. In recent years KMPH has discontinued cartoons, relocating the 4Kids TV schedule to KFRE, which airs the 4Kids TV lineup on Sunday mornings. (Under that technicality, since the mid-90s, Fox allowed its affiliates (especially the newer ones formerly owned by New World) to preempt Fox Kids programming by sending it to another local station, a practice continued to this day).

Bankruptcy

On May 10, 2008, 13 of Pappas' stations filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection.

Current Personalities

*Kopi Sotiropolous - "Great Day" co-anchor
*Kim Stephens - "Great Day" co-anchor
*Liz Gonzales - "Great Day" newsreader

*Monty Torres - "Ten O'Clock News" anchor
*Nicole Garcia - "KMPH News Midday" anchor
*Kevan Ramer - Chief Meteorologist
*Ralph Wood - Sports Director

*Scott Petty - "Senior Promotion Producer-Director

Past Personalities

*Tom Adams (anchor/reporter) now at KVAL
*Andrew Amador (weekend anchor); now at KSWT (CBS/Yuma) as main anchor
*Terry Allen (sports/weather)
*Eric Alvarez (anchor) later at KOVR (CBS/Sacramento), now freelancing at KNTV (NBC/San Jose/San Francisco)
*Andy Asher (anchor/reporter)
*Bill Bird (reporter)
*Gerrick Brenner (reporter); went to KFSN (ABC/Fresno) as reporter; now at WTVD (ABC/Raleigh-Durham) - [http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=bios&id=5228116 read his ABC 11 bio]
*Mike Bryant (sports)
*Terry Bryant (weather/news/sports anchor/reporter)
*Amy Carlisle (anchor/reporter)
*Dick Carr (anchor/news director)
*Mike Cully (reporter); now President/CEO San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce
*Brendan Conway (reporter); now at WISNCarlos F. Delgado (1998-2000 Reporter, now part-time Reporter at XETV CW 6 and full time as a Media Relations Officer, Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego)
*Denise Dador (reporter); now at KABC as health reporter
*Rusty Dornin (anchor); now at [http://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/dornin.rusty.html CNN]
*Jim Fannin (anchor/reporter/talkshow host, KMPH-FM); now in Reno at KKOH
*Joanne Feldman (weather anchor); went to KFSN (ABC/Fresno) as meteorologist & morning show anchor and WTVD (ABC/Raleigh-Durham) as meteorologist; now at WAGA (Fox/Atlanta) as the weekend weather anchor
*Liza Fernandez (anchor) now at KRON (MY/San Francisco) as weather forecaster
*Dana Greene (sports); now at KTVX (ABC/Salt Lake City) - [http://www.abc4.com/content/about/bios/danagreene/default.aspx/ read his ABC 4 bio]
*Elisa Hahn (reporter) now at KING Seattle
*Silva Harapetian (reporter); went to KBAK (CBS/Bakersfield) as producer; then to a TV station in Lawton, Oklahoma; then to KXAN (NBC/Austin) as reporter; now at WDIV (NBC/Detroit) as reporter
*Tamara Henry (anchor) now at Santa Monica city TV and Beverly Hills TV
*Brandi Hitt (producer/reporter/anchor); now at KOVR (CBS/Sacramento)
*Kristin Hoke (reporter/anchor), now at WPBF Palm Beach,Florida
*Cathy Isom (anchor - KMPH-FM)
*Vic "The Brick" Jacobs (sports); now at KLAC AM 570 in Los Angeles.
*John Kessler (Anchor); now at KPIX (CBS/San Francisco)
*Lloyd Lindsay Young (weather); now at KERO (ABC/Bakersfield)
*Brian Loftus (feature reporter on Great Day)
*Paul Lowe (reporter/anchor); now at KFWB News 98 Los Angeles.
*John Malos (main anchor); fired in 2005 after being booked at the Madera County Jail.
*Kye Martin (reporter/anchor); once at KTXL (FOX/Sacramento), now at WGN-TV Chicago
*Marc Martinez (reporter); now at KSAZ-TV (FOX/Phoenix)
*George Mason (weekend weather) retired in 2008
*Tom Maule (Weather),Mid to late 80's
*Josh McElveen (reporter); now at NECN in Boston
*Steve Miles (anchor)
*Eric Mitchell (reporter)
*Bonni Montevecchi (reporter)
*Kellie Morris (features reporter)
*Derrol Nail (Weekend anchor/reporter)
*Leticia Ordaz (reporter); now at KCRA (NBC/Sacramento)
*Laurie Penco (features reporter), KFSN (ABC/Fresno)
*Ken Pritchett (reporter); now at KTVU (FOX/San Francisco)
*Kim Quintero (reporter) now at KVAL-TV Eugene
*Evy Ramos (Traffic Safety Advocate for Great Day); now at KGTV (ABC affiliate/San Diego) as reporter
*Erika Razo (features reporter), now at KSEE (NBC/Fresno)
*Gary Radnich (sports); now at KRON as a sports director
*Bill Rice (anchor/reporter)
*Larry Rice (weather/reporter); now at KOB-TV
*Allison Ruddell (anchor); resigned in July 2007 but still on website (removed from website 2/20/2008)
*Nick Ryan (anchor - KMPH-FM); now in prison (Child molestation)
*Catalina Salmeron (reporter)
*Veronica Sanchez (reporter); went to KTNV (ABC/Las Vegas) as reporter; now at KPNX (NBC/Phoenix) as reporter
*Julie Sedenko (reporter)
*Richard Smoker (reporter)
*John Soderman (anchor); now at KUSI-TV in San Diego
*Alysia Sofios (reporter)
*Janet Stoll (anchor); now Public Affairs Officer for Clovis, CA Police Department
*Mark Thomas (anchor - KMPH-FM)
*Sean Thomas (reporter)now at KSEE
*Angelica Urquijo (anchor) went to KVVU (FOX/Las Vegas); now Current Director of Public Relations USC School of Dentistry
*Heidi Watney (Weekend sports anchor) now at NESN in Boston
*Cynthia Yip (anchor/reporter)
*Kim Yonenaka (anchor/reporter) went to KTVU (FOX/San Francisco); now unknown
*Don York (Valley Ag News Anchor/Reporter 1995-1998) now KMPH-TV Marketing Department Commercial Producer
*Karen Zarsadiaz (reporter) went to "'KNX in Los Angeles
*Jadine MacLiver (Weeknite co-anchor for 11 years,retired May 23,2008)
*Rich Dixon (anchor/reporter) went to fill in at KGO radio -- Currently college professor)

External links

* [http://www.kmph.com/ KMPH-TV]
*TVQ|KMPH-TV
*TVQ|KMPH-CA
*BIA|KMPH|TV|TV
*TitanTV|KMPH