KSWT (Channel 13) owned by Northwest Broadcasting is a CBS-affiliate licensed to City of Yuma, Arizona It shares duopoly with KYMA-DT, an NBC affiliate in the market. News-Press & Gazette Company operates both the sisters through SSA which makes the two siblings of KECY-TV affiliated with Fox/CW+/ABC and KESE-LP, an LP station linked with Telemundo. All four stations are located under one roof on South 4th Avenue in downtown Yuma while having their advertising sales office on West Main Street in El Centro; the transmitter of the service is installed at a site northwest of Yuma.
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Read MoreCatchphrase: On your Side
Sisters: KECY-TV, KESE-LP and KYMA-DT
Website: www.kswt.com
History as KBLU
Following the FCC’s decision to lift sanctions on the allocation of new television services in 1952, it offered VHF Ch 11 and Ch 13 for the broadcast television service in Yuma. Valley Telecasting seeing the lift of freeze was quick to apply and get KIVA launched on Ch 11 as it would become the first staitn in the city in Oct 1953. Wrather-Alvarez Broadcasting followed the course by applying to build KYAT on Ch 13, however upon failure, the permit dismissed by Federal Communications Commission in Sep 1958. After more than eight years of arrival of local television services in Yuma, there was only one station serving the town by Nov 1961.
Robert Crites broke in in Nov 1961 by forming a company called Desert Telecasting to apply for a construction permit to build the service o Ch 13 on Nov 30, 1961. A competing application came in from New England Industries but lost the bid when FCC granted the permit to Desert Telecasting on July 23, 1962. Upon its launch KBLU was the market’s first CBS affiliate. However, it was not a piece of cake for KBLU to sing on as KIVA owner Bruce Merrill strongly contested the decision of introducing a new station in the local market. He opposed everything from proposal to increase time bar of construction permit to increase in the ERP and filed a motion to stay to stop KBLU from building its facilities in Sep 1963. All the applications were Merrill dashed to ground when KBLU received notification for launch under PTA: program test authority on Nov 2, 1963.
It expanded to El Centro in 1965 with another increment in ERP and relocation of transmitter to Black Mountain. A studio facility was also inaugurated in El Centro to expand the operations in Imperial Valley. KBLU was transferred to Combined Communications in 1968. Following the downfall and eventual failure of KIVA in Jan 1970, KBLU opted to leave CBS and join NBC; CBS affiliation was accepted by KECC. It also took over the studio facilities previously used by KIVA. On Nov 1, 1977, KBLU was purchased by Chapman Television of Tuscaloosa and changed its call letters to KYEL-TV.
Chapman Television released its asset to Service Broadcasters, Inc. shortly after its acquisition in Nov 1978. In Nov 1983, the channel was sold to Beam Broadcasters. It maintained its status as an NBC affiliate until KYMA took over as primary NBC affiliate on Feb 1, 1991 when it swapped the affiliation to join former KYMA affiliate network ABC. Beacon Broadcasters (formerly Beam Broadcasters) sold their asset to KB Media in Sep 1991 which altered the calls to KSWT on Sep 13, 1991. When CBS affiliate KECY in Sep 1994 decided to turn to Fox, KSWT joined CBS once again. The channel was then sold to Eclipse Media in Sep 2000 who sold it to Pappas Telecasting. Pappas in Feb 2014 transferred KWST to Blackhawk Broadcasting. NPG: News-Press & Gazette Company on July 2, 2014 announced their deal with Blackhawk and Northwest Broadcasting for resource sharing to operate both KYMA-DT and KSWT. However, the advertising sales department is still under the control of Blackhawk.
Programming
On Weekdays from Monday to Friday, KSWT hosts an hour-long news-bulletin at 4pm called KSWT First News which is followed by CBS Evening News. It then features another hourly newscast named KSWT Early News while closing with the last one at 10pm. The KSWT Late News, a half-hour news segment airs on weekends. Unlike other CBS affiliates, the station does not offer newscasts on weekday mornings, noon and early evenings. Syndicated programming hosted by the channel includes The Dr. Oz Show, The Doctors, Rachel Ray, Entertainment Tonight, and AgDay.
