KNSD

KNSD (channel 39, cable channel 7), branded as NBC 7 San Diego, is a television station in San Diego, California, United States. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network via its NBC Owned Television Stations division. Under common ownership with Poway-licensed Telemundo station KUAN-LD (channel 48), both stations share studio facilities on Granite Ridge Drive in the Kearny Mesa section of San Diego and are broadcast from the same transmitter on San Miguel Mountain, southeast of Spring Valley. Channel 39 began broadcasting November 14, 1965, as KAAR from studios in Kearny Mesa. Owned by locally based San Diego Telecasters, it was the third television station in San Diego and its first independent station. As the first ultra high frequency (UHF) station in San Diego, it struggled to attract viewers and advertisers; at one point, it cut back its schedule to two hours a night, and when it was sold to Bass Brothers Enterprises in 1967, it went off the air for nearly six months, returning as KCST with an emphasis on local sports coverage. Shortly after the relaunch, ownership began a quest to force ABC to affiliate with channel 39. This was possible because ABC needed annual FCC approval to feed network programming to XETV, across the Mexican border in Tijuana, and the FCC had provided this because San Diego lacked a third commercial station. A multi-year legal battle ended in 1972 with the FCC directing ABC to affiliate with KCST, which it did in 1973. Concurrent with the new network affiliation, the station launched a local news department and was sold to Storer Broadcasting. In 1976, after finding itself suddenly in first place in the national ratings, ABC sought an upgrade and agreed to move its programming to KGTV; channel 39 affiliated with NBC instead. KCST...