KFSN-TV

KFSN-TV

Company type	Television station
Industry	Broadcasting
Founded	1956-05-10
Headquarters	Fresno, California , United States
Owner	ABC Owned Television Stations (The Walt Disney Company)
Website	abc30.com

KFSN-TV (channel 30) operates as the ABC network affiliate serving Fresno, California. It is owned and operated by ABC Owned Television Stations and has its production facilities located on G Street in downtown Fresno. The station’s transmitter is situated on Bear Mountain near Meadow Lakes, California.

Among California markets, Fresno stands as the smallest to feature a "Big Four" network owned-and-operated station. According to RabbitEars.info, the Fresno–Visalia market ranks 42nd in size, while Nielsen Media Research places it at 55th.

KFRE

After the Federal Communications Commission lifted its four-year freeze on television licenses in 1952, two radio broadcasters, KARM and KFRE, vied for Fresno’s only VHF channel 12 license. KFRE secured the permit and launched KFRE-TV on May 10, 1956, affiliating with CBS and becoming the third television station established in Fresno. This development positioned Fresno among the smaller markets with full-time network affiliations.

In 1959, Triangle Publications acquired the KFRE stations. Following an FCC mandate to establish an all-UHF market, KFRE-TV transitioned from VHF channel 12 to UHF channel 30 on February 17, 1961—a process known as deintermixture. This realignment aimed to balance competition between VHF and UHF frequencies and allowed channel 12 to be reassigned to KCOY-TV in Santa Maria, which commenced operations in 1964.

KFSN

Triangle Publications began divesting its broadcasting assets in 1971, selling the KFRE properties to Capital Cities Communications. The new owners sold off the AM and FM radio stations but retained the television station, rebranding it as KFSN-TV on May 1, 1971. The original KFRE-TV call letters are now used by an unrelated CW affiliate broadcasting on channel 59 in Fresno.

On March 18, 1985, Capital Cities announced its purchase of ABC. Subsequently, on September 9 of that year, KFSN-TV switched affiliations with KJEO to align with ABC. The acquisition was finalized on January 3, 1986, officially making channel 30 an ABC owned-and-operated station. This marked a notable event as it was the first time a major network owned a UHF station since NBC sold WNBC in 1960. Later, in 1996, The Walt Disney Company acquired Capital Cities/ABC.

KFSN-TV ended its analog transmission on UHF channel 30 at noon on June 12, 2009, coinciding with the federally mandated digital transition in the United States. Its digital broadcast signal relocated from VHF channel 9 back to UHF channel 30.

In 2004, ABC News Now debuted on digital subchannels of ABC O&O stations including KFSN-TV but concluded its trial phase by January 31, 2005. Subsequently, these secondary channels were repurposed as ABC Plus with an emphasis on local news and public affairs programming. In late 2005, KFSN partnered with AccuWeather to introduce a multicast weather service on its third digital subchannel.

On April 27, 2009, KFSN incorporated the Live Well Network onto its second digital subchannel. The station continued to simulcast Live Well Network in standard definition on subchannel 30.3 until April 15, 2015, when it was replaced by Laff. ABC Owned Television Stations promoted its Localish digital media brand through KFSN and other stations before rebranding Live Well Network as Localish on February 17, 2020.

Programming

KFSN-TV produces two programs for what was formerly the Live Well Network (now Localish): Motion and My Family Recipe Rocks.

News operation

KFSN-TV delivers 42 hours of locally generated news content each week, including seven hours on weekdays and additional hours over the weekend, marking the most extensive local news schedule within the Fresno market. Unlike the majority of ABC affiliates located in the Pacific Time Zone, KFSN-TV does not feature a 5:30 p.m. weekday newscast. Instead, it schedules ABC World News Tonight during that slot and extends its 6 p.m. newscast accordingly. Additionally, the station produces the public affairs show Valley Focus, which airs Sundays at 10 a.m.

For many years, KFSN has maintained a leading position in local news ratings throughout the San Joaquin Valley, including its tenure as a CBS station before merging with ABC. Its 5 p.m. broadcast, Live at Five, frequently outperforms the combined viewership of all other local competitors. Due to branding conflicts with Fresno’s CBS station, KFSN opts not to utilize the Eyewitness News brand or music package commonly associated with ABC owned-and-operated outlets. Instead, it continues to use the Action News branding, a style established by sister station WPVI-TV in Philadelphia since 1970. Between 1994 and 2014, KFSN employed the original 615 Music "News One" theme, also used by sister station KGO-TV in San Francisco.

In 2003, KFSN collaborated with sister stations KABC-TV (Los Angeles) and KGO-TV to open a Sacramento bureau staffed by a dedicated reporter and photographer after Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected Governor of California; this bureau was closed in September 2013. On April 23, 2007, KFSN became the seventh ABC owned-and-operated station to broadcast its local newscasts in high definition, updating its on-air identity to ABC 30 Action News HD.

On September 12, 2011, KFSN introduced a one-hour newscast at 4 p.m., replacing The Oprah Winfrey Show and mirroring similar programming changes made by sister stations WABC-TV, WPVI-TV, KGO-TV, and WTVD. Beginning January 7, 2013, KFSN produced a half-hour 10 p.m. newscast for MyNetworkTV affiliate KAIL, titled ABC 30 Action News Live at 10:00, which concluded in July 2014.

Notable former on-air staff

• Laura Diaz – anchor (1981–1983)
• Karen Humphrey – reporter (1970s)

Subchannels

The station broadcasts multiple digital subchannels:

Subchannels of KFSN-TV

Channel	Resolution	Aspect ratio	Short name	Programming
30.1	720p	16:9	KFSN-HD	ABC
30.2			LOCLish	Localish
30.3	480i		Charge!	Charge!
30.4			HSN	HSN