KGTV - History

History

The station first went on the air on September 13, 1953 as NBC affiliate KFSD-TV, the station took its original callsign from co-owned radio station KFSD (600 AM) and its simulcast station KFSD-FM (94.1), the former of which was the first full-time commercial radio station in San Diego when it debuted as KFVW on June 3, 1925 (KFBC/KGB signed on July 14, 1922, though it operated as a part-time amateur station at 833.3 Kilocycles). In 1961, the television and radio stations all changed their call letters to KOGO, as the AM station switched to a middle of the road format.

The broadcasting division of Time-Life purchased KOGO-TV and its sister radio stations in 1962 from a locally based firm, Fox, Wells & Rogers. During local ownership, Newsweek magazine (later purchased by The Washington Post Company) held a partial stake in KFSD-TV and its radio siblings.

The McGraw-Hill Companies purchased KOGO-TV and Time-Life's other broadcast properties in 1972, and changed the station's callsign to the present-day KGTV (reflecting the former KOGO-TV callsign). The radio stations were sold off to separate owners: the AM station was sold to Retlaw (owned separate from the Walt Disney Studios and run by the children and brother of Walt Disney, whom the company was named after, Retlaw being the backward spelling of "Walter") and retained the KOGO call letters. The FM station reverted to the KFSD calls, and underwent a series of ownership changes. In 1977, KGTV dropped its affiliation with NBC and traded affiliations with KCST (channel 39), sending the ABC affiliation to channel 10. At the time, NBC had crashed to last place in the Nielsen national ratings, while ABC had become the top-rated network in the country with series such as Happy Days, Three's Company, Charlie's Angels, Laverne & Shirley and Starsky and Hutch, and specials (such as Rich Man, Poor Man and Roots).

On October 3, 2011, McGraw-Hill announced it was selling its entire television station group, including KGTV and Azteca America affiliate KZSD-LP, to The E.W. Scripps Company for $212 million. The deal was completed on December 30, 2011, resulting in McGraw-Hill's exit from broadcasting after 39 years.