KNXT

KNXT, virtual 49 and UHF digital channel 50, is a religious independent television station located in Fresno, California, United States. The station is owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno. KNXT maintains studio facilities located on North Fresno Street (just north of downtown Fresno), and its transmitter is located on Blue Ridge in rural northwestern Tulare County.

Background

The station first signed on the air on November 2, 1986; prior to the station's sign-on, the KNXT call letters were previously used downstate on the CBS owned-and-operated station on VHF channel 2 in Los Angeles from 1951 to 1984, when it adopted its current KCBS-TV calls.

Programming seen on KNXT is mainly of a Roman Catholic religious orient, with some shows being sourced from the Eternal Word Television Network; however, KNXT is somewhat less conservative doctrinally (but firmly in line with Catholic Church teachings). The station's programming consists of a mix of local daily and Sunday Mass, talk shows, music and variety programs, the Rosary, children's programs, and Catholic-targeted movies.

KCBS-TV

KCBS-TV, channel 2, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station located in Los Angeles, California, USA. KCBS-TV is owned by the CBS Television Stations subsidiary of CBS Corporation, and operates as part of a television duopoly with independent station KCAL-TV (channel 9). The two stations share offices and studio facilities inside CBS Studio Center in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, and KCBS-TV's transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.

In the few areas of the western United States where a CBS station is not receivable over-the-air, KCBS-TV is available on satellite television through DirecTV.

History

Early years

KCBS-TV is one of the oldest television stations in the world. It was signed on by Don Lee Broadcasting, which owned a chain of radio stations on the Pacific Coast, and was first licensed by the Federal Radio Commission, forerunner of the Federal Communications Commission as experimental television station W6XAO in June 1931. The station went on the air on December 23, 1931, and by March 1933 was broadcasting programming one hour each day only on Monday through Saturdays. The station used a mechanical camera which broadcast only film footage in an 80-line image, but demonstrated all-electronic receivers as early as 1932. It went off the air in 1935, and then reappeared using an improved mechanical camera producing a 300-line image for a month-long demonstration in June 1936. By August 1937, W6XAO had programming on the air six days each week. Live programming started in April 1938.