KESE-LD

KESE-LD (channel 35) is a low-power television station licensed to Yuma, Arizona, United States, serving the Yuma, Arizona–El Centro, California market as an affiliate of the Spanish-language Telemundo network. It is owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company, alongside El Centro–licensed Fox/ABC/CW+ affiliate KECY-TV (channel 9); NPG also provides certain services to Yuma-licensed dual CBS/NBC affiliate KYMA-DT (channel 13) through a shared services agreement (SSA) with Imagicomm Communications. The three stations share studios on South 4th Avenue in downtown Yuma, with an advertising sales office on West Main Street in El Centro; KESE-LD's transmitter is located southeast of Yuma.

History

The station signed on in October 1997 as the first full-time Telemundo outlet for the Yuma–El Centro market. Prior to the sign-on of the station, KSWT (now KYMA-DT) had a secondary affiliation with Telemundo, carrying some of the network's programs in the late night hours; the full Telemundo schedule could only be viewed over-the-air in western portions of the California side of the market via San Diego/Tijuana affiliate XHAS-TV (now an Azteca América affiliate) or on some cable providers in the area via the network's national feed.

The station began with an original construction permit granted on October 24, 1997. The station was assigned the callsign K35EX and was owned by Estrella License Corporation. Gulf-California Broadcast Company acquired the station in October 2000, applied for a station license in November, and changed the station's callsign to KESE-LP in December. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted the station a license on February 2, 2001.

Technical information

Subchannel

Analog-to-digital conversion

In September 2006, KESE-LP was identified as a singleton applicant for a companion digital LPTV signal on UHF channel 40.^[2] A singleton applicant is one whose application for a construction permit has no competition from nearby applications on the same or adjacent channels. As a singleton applicant, the station is likely to be granted a construction permit. Currently, KESE-LP can be seen (in 1080i full high definition) on KECY's digital subchannel 9.4, a full power station.

On April 19, 2021, KESE-LP was licensed for digital operation on channel 35, changing its call sign to KESE-LD.

See also

• Channel 3 branded TV stations in the United States
• Channel 35 low-power TV stations in the United States
• Channel 35 digital TV stations in the United States

References