History
The station signed-on October 26, 1968 as the second outlet in Palm Springs after ABC affiliate KPLM-TV (now KESQ-TV). Airing an analog signal on UHF channel 36, it has been an NBC affiliate from the start. Actor John Conte owned the station along with the El MIRador hotel in Palm Springs which is where the call letters come from. Desert Regional Medical Center now occupies the site of the old hotel. Today, one can still see the El Mirador broadcasting tower standing in front of the hospital. This is where the station originally transmitted from. The current tower is actually a new one made to look like the original which fell victim to a fire in 1989. Journal Communications acquired KMIR in 1999.
On September 26, 2007, the company announced its purchase of KPSE from Mirage Media for $4.7 million which closed on January 28, 2008. Also in 2008, the station celebrated its 40th anniversary. Along with the other major Coachella Valley stations, KMIR identifies itself on-air using its cable designation rather than its over-the-air digital channel position. This unusual practice (also common in the Fort Myers/Naples, Florida market) stems in part from Palm Springs's exceptionally high cable penetration rate of 80.5% which is one of the highest in the United States.
Read more about this topic: KMIR-TV
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