KGSW-TV was a television station on channel 14 in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

, United States. It broadcast from 1981 to 1993 and was last owned by

The Providence Journal ''The Providence Journal'', colloquially known as the ''ProJo'', is a daily newspaper serving the metropolitan area of Providence, Rhode Island, and is the largest newspaper in Rhode Island. The newspaper was first published in 1829. The newspape ...

Company (ProJo). An independent station and later

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

affiliate for its entire history, it was merged with Santa Fe's KKTO (channel 2) in 1993 to create

KASA-TV KASA-TV (channel 2), branded on-air as , is a television station licensed to Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States, serving the Albuquerque area and most of the state as an owned-and-operated station of the Spanish-language Telemundo network. KASA ...

, which remained the Fox affiliate for the Albuquerque television market until 2017.

History

On October 7, 1978, Galaxy Broadcasting, Inc., filed an application with the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

for a new television station to broadcast on channel 14 in Albuquerque. Galaxy, owned by Albuquerque car dealer E. W. Richardson and his associate B. L. Turner, was one of two applicants seeking the channel, alongside Southwest Television, a group based in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

, and led by Gene Adelstein and Edward Berger. It proposed to operate channel 14 with a mix of ad-supported and subscription television programming, with the latter being supplied by SelecTV. The merger of the two applicants in 1980 led to the creation of Galaxy–Southwest Television, which received the construction permit on May 29, 1980, and purchased the former

KOAT-TV KOAT-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by Hearst Television, the station maintains studios on Carlisle Boulevard in Northeast Albuquerque, and its transmitter is located ...

studios at 1377 University Boulevard NE. Broadcasting began April 26, 1981, from a transmitter atop

Sandia Crest Sandia Crest, also known locally as Sandia Peak or simply as the Crest, is a mountain ridge that, at , is the highpoint of the Sandia–Manzano Mountains, and is located in the Sandia Mountains of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United States. ...

. In 1984, after being approached with an offer and four months of negotiations, Galaxy–Southwest Television sold KGSW-TV to Mountain States Broadcasting, a joint venture of the Providence Journal Company and Southland Corporation. KGSW-TV sold for $7.2 million; ProJo concurrently acquired Southwest Television's other holding, KZAZ-TV in the

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

, market, for $6 million. ProJo purchased equipment and a new remote broadcast van for channel 14, allowing it to begin broadcasting University of New Mexico athletics. In addition, company executives suggested that channel 14 start producing local newscasts, though local management felt that such a venture would lose money. KGSW became New Mexico's Fox affiliate in 1986, a partnership that led channel 14 to plan extending its signal to communities in the southern half of New Mexico and southwestern Colorado. Six years later, in 1992, ProJo announced that it would buy Santa Fe-based independent station KKTO channel 2, which at the time was losing money, for the express purpose of moving the Fox affiliation and channel 14 programming to the VHF station, which in turn would move its transmitter to Sandia Crest in a $1 million upgrade. Programming from KKTO ceased at midnight on September 6, 1992. The FCC approved the ProJo purchase of KKTO in January 1993, along with new KASA-TV call letters for channel 2. On April 5, 1993, at 6 p.m., KGSW-TV signed off channel 14, and KASA-TV began telecasting on channel 2.

References

{{Albuquerque TV Television channels and stations established in 1981 1981 establishments in New Mexico Television channels and stations disestablished in 1993 1993 disestablishments in New Mexico GSW-TV