- For the real-life channel 11 in San Jose, California, see KNTV on Wikipedia.
KGAY (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Berkeley, California, United States, serving as the Horizon network affiliate for the San Francisco Bay Area. It is one of three flagship stations of Victoria-based Flower Television (the other two being CW affiliate KVCC [channel 6] in Victoria, and NBC affiliate WQE-TV [channel 4] in Ecovale, Florescenda). The station maintains studio and transmitter facilities in downtown Berkeley. KGAY is the largest Horizon station that is not owned or operated by the network.
For the longest time, KGAY maintained its history as a news-intensive independent for the pride and black communities. The station still maintains its news programming and other programming, even after its affiliation with the Horizon network.
The station also operates a station considered a "semi-satellite", KRBJ, owned by Alltel Communications and licensed in Monterey.
History
Station's sign-on
The station signed on as KMPH on June 23, 1970. The station was owned by the Brighton family, with the callsigns being used for the three siblings, Michael, Perry, & Hazel. The family had been longtime local business owners of local radio stations and owners of former restaurant Golden Crab, located on what is now a lot on Fisherman's Wharf. KMPH's transmitter facilities were originally based on a tower on San Bruno Mountain in northern San Mateo County, before moved in 1973 when it moved it to the Sutro Tower after it was completed.
KMPH has always been a longtime independent, maintaining it's status until 2020, when affiliating with Horizon Television. It was known in the area for it's local newscasts, talk, and sports alongside it's syndicated off-network programs & movies. In 1977, after some financial problems among the family erupted, the family attempted to sell the television and radio stations, which a buyer was not disclosed. It was rumored that among the buyers were Taft Broadcasting, Metromedia, or The New York Times. Two months later, it was announced that Bank of America would purchase it under a subsidiary, as "555 California Properties", under a disclosed agreement. The purchase was completed in 1978.
In 1983, 555 California Properties filed to move it's license to Berkeley, alongside it's studios, as Bank of America continued to expand it's office space. The transfer was approved, and the station changed it's callsigns to reflect it's new place in Berkeley.
In October 1985, News Corporation—which had purchased a 50% interest in 20th Century Fox corporate parent TCF Holdings for $250 million in March 1985, and also acquired John Kluge's Metromedia family of independent television stations in May 1985—announced its intentions to create a fourth television network that would use the resources of 20th Century Fox Television to both produce and distribute programming (with the Metromedia stations as the new network's flagships), intending to compete with ABC, CBS and NBC. The company formally announced the launch of the new network, the Fox Broadcasting Company, on May 7, 1986. Rumors circulated that KBKY would be the Fox station, but was soon announced that KTVU would be the Bay Area's affiliate.
New ownership, breaking limits, and expansion
In 1991, Bank of America announced it would spinoff it's "555 California Properties" subsidiary and sell it to another owner. The buyers were soon to be revealed as "Pride Industries", which sold accessories and clothing and many other goods. Although there were mostly positive feedback on the sale, there was a lot of controversy around the sale of the subsidiary. Many politicians expressed concerns about the sale and made false allegations about the company, begging FCC to not approve the deal. Despite all of it, the sale was approved on June 2, 1992. The station showed support of the approved sale, citing that "it will stay committed to telling local stories, but even better," and that "the Bay Area has become a safe haven for pride and gay rights, and we will accept people no matter what they are".
In 1993, the station changed it's callsigns to KGAY, further showing it's support for gay rights and pride, and announced it's partnership in hosting the San Francisco Pride Parade on television (Central station KVII also cohosts the parade with the partnership).
Affiliation with Horizon, & sale to Flower Television
On January 1, 2020, the station announced that it would affiliate with launching network Horizon Television, ending it's 50-year tenure as an independent. The station cited the change as "an important step into the future", and saying that the network "understood it's values and wanted to create a partnership that can last a lifetime". The station also announced it would launch an independent subchannel to compensate for the lost programming time, and that with it's new affiliation, will only cause a slight shift in programming. The affiliation took place starting February.
On May 20, 2023, Pride Industries announced it would merge with another company, and spin off it's subsidiary to another company. After a long time looking for a buyer, the station announced that Victoria, CA-based Flower Television would purchase the television station, and Waveform Radio would purchase the radio station (both companies are owned by the same family). Flower stated that "as a person who is openly gay and has a sister, who owns Waveform Radio and openly trans, it means a lot to be able to work together with this station." The sale was completed on May 24.
On June 28, the station announced that it would launch a new channel called "The Pride Network", which would feature the newscasts from the independent subchannel, and plans to include original content or acquired shows. The network will launch starting August 25 on all of Flower Television's stations, and many more ahead. It launched on August 28h as a secondary affiliate on the .2 subchannel.
As part of an acquisition/operation agreement of former MyTV stations, KRBJ transformed into a semi-satellite of KGAY, broadcasting local news and programming.
On June 30, 2024, after the San Francisco Pride Parade, with an interview with Flower's CEO Red Kattz, announced that they would donate over $1.5 million to locally based pride organizations from all of their stations through the entirety of July and August. The company will also disclose their payments.
Programming
KGAY clears the entire Horizon schedule on it's main channel, but does not cover any syndicated programming; instead airing "The Importance with Jay Thompson", an original talk show produced by the station. It also hosts the annual San Francisco Pride Parade alongside Central station KVII, with both stations sharing resources and sometimes segments, but handles interviews and camera-shots differently.
It's independent subchannel clears all news and programming lost from becoming a Horizon affiliate, airing newscasts and original programming.
The station has opted out from airing local sports, but does air sports programming from Horizon's programming.
News operation
KGAY presently broadcasts 70 hours of newscasts and original content on it's main channel, and 91 hours (including The Pride Network programming) on it's independent subchannel, making it the highest news output in the entire Bay Area. It's main focus is stories focused on the LGBTQ community and stories from it's surrounding towns in the Bay Area, but also does cover national and state stories from Horizon News. Since 2024, reporters from the station have made appearances for for Flower's other station newscasts.
In 1998, the station started expanding it's newscasts into new slots at 10AM, Noon to 3PM, and 8PM, finding success from it's newscasts under new ownership.
In 2005, after lots of success with it's newscasts and local programming, the station announced it would expand their studios for even more local and unique programming focused on all different aspects of the Bay Area.
Local programming
KGAY also provides local independent programming, including talk show Visible with Raine Forbes, politics-focused show The Issue, positive show Good Things, and more.
Technical information
Subchannels
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | KGAY-DT | Main KGAY programming/Horizon |
| 11.2 | KGAY-IND | Independent/The Pride Network (secondary) | ||
| 11.3 | 720p | KGAY-ST | Story Television | |
| 11.4 | KGAY-PTN | Playtime! | ||
| 11.5 | KGAY-VEW | View |
Analog to digital conversion
KGAY-TV shut down it's along signal as mandated by the FCC on January 27, 2009; becoming one of the first stations to transition to digital.
| This region includes the following cities: San Francisco • Oakland • San Jose • Santa Rosa • Gilroy Reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television | |
| Full power | |
| ATSC 3.0 | |
| Cable | NBC Sports Bay Area • NBC Sports California • TLN |
| Local-access | Cal Channel • CreaTV • EATV • SF Commons • SFGOVTV • Tri-Valley Community Television |
| Streaming | CBS News Bay Area • ABC 9 Bay Area 24/7 • NBC Bay Area News |
| Defunct | BayTV (cable only) • GiantsVision (cable only) • Comcast Hometown Network (cable only) |
| California television: Bakersfield • Chico-Redding • Fresno • Los Angeles • Coachella Valley • Sacramento • San Francisco • San Diego | |
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| Notes: 1Flower Television provides services to this station through a shared services agreement with Guam Local Television, LC.  | |