KQCA - History

History

The station went on the air on April 13, 1986 with the call letters KSCH. It originally was an independent station and aired classic television shows of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Some shows that were aired had not been seen since their original network/syndication runs. KSCH was also the first stereo sound station in the Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto area built from the ground up.

In 1994, KSCH entered into a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Kelly Broadcasting, the owner of KCRA. That station then took over the operations of KSCH.

On February 1, 1995, the station changed its call letters to its current call sign KQCA, became an affiliate of UPN, and changed its on-air branding to "Q 58"; prior to that, Sacramento viewers who wanted to watch UPN had to view it on cable, via KBHK-TV. On January 5, 1998, it swapped affiliations with KMAX and became an affiliate of The WB. When Hearst-Argyle Television (predecessor to today's Hearst Television) bought KCRA and its LMA with KQCA in 1999, the "Q 58" branding was dropped in favor of its call letters and channel number. Hearst-Argyle eventually bought KQCA outright in 2000 and the station adopted the "WB 58" branding in September 2004.

On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Time Warner announced they would shut down both UPN and The WB that fall. In place of these two networks, a new "fifth" network, jointly owned by both companies, would launch, with a lineup of the most popular programming of both networks. The network was given the name "The CW Television Network" ("CW" representing the first initials of CBS and Warner). It was announced that KMAX would become an affiliate of The CW.

On February 22, 2006, News Corporation announced that it would start up another new broadcast television network called MyNetworkTV. The new network, which would be sister to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming independent. It was also created to compete against The CW.

KQCA began broadcasting MyNetworkTV on September 5, 2006. KMAX began broadcasting The CW on September 18, 2006.

In August 2007, KQCA became the new home of Oakland Raiders pre-season games. It took the broadcasting rights from KMAX.

Like its sister station KCRA, My58 airs local news on a regular basis. It also airs news at special times in the event NBC special programming pre-empts KCRA's regularly scheduled local news (for example, if an event such as NFL football airs at 5 pm on a typical Sunday on KCRA, My58 will take its sister station's place in airing its early news).