KGO-TV
| Company type | Broadcast television station |
|---|---|
| Industry | Television broadcasting |
| Founded | May 5, 1949 in San Francisco, California, United States |
| Headquarters | San Francisco , United States |
Area served | Greater San Francisco Bay Area |
| Owner | ABC Owned Television Stations (Disney) |
| Website | abc7news |
KGO-TV (channel 7) is a San Francisco, California-licensed television broadcaster serving the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Since its establishment, it has been owned and operated by ABC through the ABC Owned Television Stations group. The station's production facilities are situated at the ABC Broadcast Center near The Embarcadero in San Francisco’s North Waterfront neighborhood, with its transmitter positioned atop Sutro Tower. Additionally, KGO-TV leases part of its premises to KRON-TV (channel 4), a CW affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group; however, both stations maintain independent operations.
History
KGO-TV commenced transmissions on May 5, 1949, becoming the Bay Area’s second-oldest television station and the 50th in the United States. It was the fourth original ABC-owned-and-operated station after WABC-TV in New York, WLS-TV in Chicago, and WXYZ-TV in Detroit. The station’s call sign is derived from KGO radio (810 AM). Initially, KGO-TV broadcast ABC network content alongside syndicated programs from the Paramount Television Network.
During its formative years, KGO-TV operated on a limited schedule but expanded to seven-day programming by September 1950. Weekend lineups featured popular local productions such as King Norman's Kingdom of Toys (1954–1961). In 1954, the station moved into a new facility at 277 Golden Gate Avenue. Through Circle Seven Productions, it developed several daytime network programs and syndicated game shows. By the mid-1960s, KGO was pioneering local color broadcasts of news and programming within the Bay Area.
In 1985, KGO-TV relocated to its current studios at 900 Front Street, initially cohabiting with radio stations KGO (AM 810), KSFO, and KMKY. By 2012, these radio outlets had moved out of the building. Toward the end of 2014, KRON-TV shifted its operations into the ABC Broadcast Center, occupying space formerly held by the radio stations and utilizing studio resources for news production. KRON transitioned to a CW owned-and-operated station in 2023.
KGO in the Salinas–Monterey–Santa Cruz market
In an effort to boost advertising revenue in the South Bay area during 1999, KGO-TV paid Granite Broadcasting Corporation—the then-owner of San Jose’s ABC affiliate KNTV—to relinquish its ABC affiliation. This move rendered KGO-TV as the sole ABC broadcaster in the Bay Area but left viewers in Salinas–Monterey–Santa Cruz without over-the-air access to ABC programming since KNTV had served that region. To address this gap, a cable-exclusive ABC affiliate was established to simulcast KGO-TV’s content for those areas, except where syndication exclusivity rules applied. On December 20, 2010, Hearst Television, which owns NBC affiliate KSBW, entered into an agreement with ABC to launch an ABC subchannel on KSBW. This "Central Coast ABC" subchannel began broadcasting on April 18, 2011, supplanting KGO’s market-specific feed across California’s Central Coast.
Logos
KGO-TV was a pioneer among ABC stations by adopting the Circle 7 logo on August 27, 1962. In the late 1990s, when integrating ABC branding elements, KGO and other channel 7 affiliates appended the ABC emblem alongside the Circle 7 design.
Programming
KGO-TV offers a robust daytime schedule featuring shows such as Live with Kelly and Mark, Tamron Hall, Jeopardy!, and Wheel of Fortune. The first two are distributed via Disney Media Distribution; Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune are syndicated through Sony Pictures Television and CBS Media Ventures respectively. Since transitioning from KRON-TV in 1992, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune have been staples on KGO’s lineup. The station aired The Oprah Winfrey Show throughout its entire run from 1986 to 2011 and was among a select group of ABC affiliates that broadcast syndicated Who Wants to Be a Millionaire until it ended in 2019. Notably, KGO was an early adopter in discontinuing Donahue in January 1995 prior to its national cancellation.
KGO also broadcasts the Academy Awards pre-show produced by sister station KABC-TV. Historically, it has covered local events such as the Bay to Breakers race and produced documentaries focusing on significant earthquake events. During the 1970s and 1980s, it developed local talk shows including A.M. San Francisco and later Good Morning, Bay Area, establishing a tradition of locally generated daytime content.
Throughout much of its history as the Bay Area’s only network-owned station—first under Capital Cities Communications following its acquisition of ABC in 1985 and later under Disney from 1996—KGO maintained fewer preemptions of network programming compared to competitors like WPVI-TV or KTRK-TV. This landscape shifted after 1995 when other Bay Area stations became directly owned or affiliated with major networks. After ABC sold Detroit’s WXYZ-TV in 1986, KGO emerged as one of the longest-tenured ABC owned-and-operated stations outside New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
Sports coverage
As a result of its shared ownership with ESPN, Channel 7 possesses the right of first refusal for Monday Night Football games that include the San Francisco 49ers. The station has broadcasted the 49ers' triumphs in Super Bowl XIX at Stanford Stadium and Super Bowl XXIX, along with the Oakland Raiders' participation in Super Bowl XXXVII. Additionally, Channel 7 airs NBA on ABC matchups featuring the Golden State Warriors under the network's NBA contract and, since 2021, has televised San Jose Sharks games as part of its NHL agreement. KGO-TV covered the Warriors’ championship victories in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2022, as well as their finals appearances in 2016 and 2019.
The station was also responsible for airing the 1989 World Series between the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants, which was notably interrupted by the Loma Prieta earthquake just prior to Game 3 at Candlestick Park.
The View from the Bay
Between June 26, 2006, and September 10, 2010, KGO-TV presented The View from the Bay, a weekday variety program hosted by Spencer Christian and Janelle Wang. Aimed primarily at female audiences, this hour-long show highlighted Bay Area attractions and featured interviews, airing weekdays at 3 p.m. with online streaming available. The Los Angeles sister station KABC-TV also aired it on a digital subchannel, while in 2010 it was syndicated on the Live Well Network under the title Everyday Living.
7 Live
On September 13, 2010, The View from the Bay was succeeded by 7 Live, a local afternoon talk show led by veteran KGO-AM radio personality Brian Copeland alongside Lizzie Bermudez. Broadcasting at 3 p.m., 7 Live incorporated a studio audience known as "The Voice Box" and integrated viewer emails and social media feedback. Bermudez handled technology and pop culture segments from a digital podium, while Copeland actively engaged with attendees throughout the broadcast. Jennifer Jolly co-hosted technology and social media portions until August 2011 before transitioning to CBS's The Early Show. The show featured a recurring seven-item segment called "The List" but was ultimately canceled due to low viewership, concluding on April 27, 2012.
News production
KGO-TV currently delivers a total of 42½ hours of locally produced news each week, including 6 hours and 35 minutes on weekdays and five hours over the weekend. Its programming often rebroadcasts stories from the 6 p.m. newscast alongside national and international reports provided by ABC News.
In the late 1960s, KGO-TV adopted the Eyewitness News format similar to its New York counterpart WABC-TV; however, since that branding was already used by KPIX-TV, it identified its newscasts as Channel 7 News Scene during the 1970s and later as Channel 7 News from 1982 until rebranding to ABC 7 News in 1998. Unlike other ABC owned-and-operated stations, KGO-TV has not utilized either the Eyewitness News or Action News titles.
In 1970, the station introduced a 4:30 p.m. newscast titled Early News, which included live helicopter coverage of traffic—one of the earliest such features in the Bay Area. KGO-TV was among the final ABC affiliates to air network evening news at 7 p.m., shifting World News Tonight to a 5:30 p.m. slot by early 1992. Its long-standing late-night newscast expanded from thirty to thirty-five minutes during the early ’90s. Sunday broadcasts in the 2000s regularly featured Richard Hart’s technology segment known as "Next Step" or "Drive to Discover."
In February 2006, KGO-TV launched "Sky 7HD," becoming the first Bay Area station with a helicopter capable of capturing high-definition video footage; however, some segments remained in standard definition due to equipment constraints. It was also second in the market to begin airing local newscasts in high definition starting February 17, 2007.
From January 8, 2007, until March 11, 2022, KGO-TV produced a nightly newscast at 9 p.m. for independent station KOFY-TV (channel 20). On September 6, 2021, KOFY shifted its ABC 7 News broadcast from 7 p.m. to an hour later at 8 p.m., with KGO airing its final newscast on that station in March of the following year ahead of KOFY’s transition to Grit network programming.
Veteran evening anchor Pete Wilson passed away in July 2007; his death prompted extensive tributes across broadcasts.
Responding to viewer demand and technological enhancements—including implementing the "Ignite" automated control system—KGO expanded its weekday morning news to begin at 4:30 a.m. in 2008 and introduced a one-hour newscast at 4 p.m. in May 2011 to replace The Oprah Winfrey Show. Weekend late-night newscasts were extended to a full hour starting September 2011.
On August 8, 2014, KGO established a collaboration with Univision owned-and-operated KDTV-DT to share news-gathering resources—a partnership modeled after sister stations WPVI and WUVP-DT’s arrangement in Philadelphia.
On July 9, 2015, KGO became Northern California’s pioneer commercial drone operator under FAA regulations; "DroneView7" provided live aerial coverage for events including the demolition of Candlestick Park. Most recently, on February 4, 2022, KGO launched ABC 7 Bay Area 24/7, an online streaming channel delivering continuous local news and information coverage.
News Anchors
Meteorologist
Prominent former on-air figures
- Jessica Aguirre – news anchor
- Dr. Dean Edell – health correspondent known for "House Calls"
- Pete Giddings – weather specialist
- Roger Grimsby – news anchor and director
- Carolyn Johnson – news anchor
- Vic Lee – reporter
- Christine Lund – reporter
- Bryan Norcross – meteorologist
- Maury Povich – anchor and host of AM San Francisco
- Pete Wilson – anchor
- Natasha Zouves – anchor
Digital subchannels
KGO-TV's broadcast signal is divided into multiple subchannels:
| Channel | Resolution | Aspect Ratio | Identifier | Content |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.1 | 720p | 16:9 | KGO-HD | ABC |
| 7.2 | LOCLish | Localish | ||
| 7.3 | 480i | Charge | Charge! | |
| 7.4 | HSN | HSN | ||
| 4.5 | 480i | 16:9 | Defy | Defy (KRON-TV) |
Localish subchannel
Since May 2010, KGO-TV has featured the Disney/ABC-owned Localish network (previously Live Well Network) on its second digital subchannel. The station also produces the culinary program Good Cookin' with Bruce Aidells for this channel. Back in 2007, KGO was among the few commercial broadcasters in California to offer alternative content via a digital subchannel, including simulcasts and re-airings of newscasts, locally produced programming, and ABC News shows scheduled at unconventional times such as ABC World News Tonight at 7 p.m. and Nightline at both 9 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Certain programs on channel 7.2, including the Commonwealth Club Speaker's Luncheon and reruns of The Guns of Will Sonnett, were not broadcast on the primary channel 7.1.
Transition from analog to digital
On June 12, 2009, KGO-TV ended its analog transmission on VHF channel 7 in compliance with the federally mandated switch to digital broadcasting. The station's digital signal relocated from UHF channel 24 back to VHF channel 7, making it the only Bay Area station to retain its original channel number after the transition and one of just two stations remaining on VHF alongside KNTV. During the 2019 digital repack, KGO-TV moved to VHF channel 12, while KRON-TV assumed channel 7.
Additionally, KGO-TV holds a construction permit for a fill-in translator operating on UHF channel 35 aimed at improving reception for viewers in southern areas, including San Jose. Since resuming broadcasts on RF channel 7 (VHF), some viewers using UHF HDTV antennas have experienced difficulties receiving the signal.
Translator stations
- Template:FCC-LMS-Facility UHF channel 35 serving San Jose
- Template:FCC-LMS-Facility located in Ukiah