KVIA-TV
  
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El Paso, Texas/Las Cruces, New Mexico United States |
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| City | El Paso, Texas |
| Branding | ABC 7 (general) ABC 7 News (newscasts) El Paso-Las Cruces CW (DT2) |
| Slogan | Where News Comes First |
| Channels |
Digital: 17 (UHF) Virtual: 7 () |
| Subchannels | 7.1 ABC 7.2 The CW/ASN 7.3 WeatherNation TV 7.4 Azteca TV |
| Translators | K38MH-D 38 Las Cruces/Organ |
| Affiliations | ABC |
| Owner |
News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG of Texas, LP) |
| First air date | September 1, 1956 |
| Call letters' meaning | V-I-A (Roman numeral for 7, which represented former sister station KVII's channel number; the A could also stand for ABC) |
| Former callsigns | KILT (1956–1957) KELP-TV (1957–1979) |
| Former channel number(s) |
Analog: 13 (VHF, 1956–1981) 7 (VHF, 1981–2009) |
| Former affiliations |
DT4: LATV (2007–2010) |
| Transmitter power | 32.4 kW (main signal) 263 kW (STA) |
| Height | 592 m |
| Facility ID | 49832 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 31°48′18″N 106°28′58″W / 31.80500°N 106.48278°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
| Website | www |
KVIA-TV, virtual channel 7 (digital channel UHF 17), is an ABC-affiliated television station located in El Paso, Texas, United States. The station is owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company. KVIA-TV maintains studio facilities located on Rio Bravo Street in northwest El Paso, and its transmitter is located atop the Franklin Mountains on the El Paso city limits.
The station first signed on the air on September 1, 1956 as KILT, broadcasting on VHF channel 13; the station was originally owned by television and radio personality Gordon McLendon. It was the third television station to sign on in the El Paso market, after KROD-TV (channel 4, now KDBC-TV) – which signed on in December 1952. KTSM-TV (channel 9) operated a tall tower at a lower elevation in downtown El Paso. After a short period of ownership, the McClendon Investment Corporation sold KILT to Joseph Harris and Norman Alexander in March 1957, after which, the station changed its call letters to KELP-TV. The station was purchased by John B. Walton Jr. in January 1966. The station's original studio facilities were located in central El Paso at 4530 Delta Drive, which also housed sister radio station KELP (920 AM, now KQBU), which was leased from the city of El Paso.
The station's original studio site amounted to a landfill next to a sewer; the studio land subsided over the years, resulting in the floors becoming uneven; cameras having to be chocked in place to prevent them from coming loose and run to the end of cables, slam into walls or trip over cables; outside walls developing gaps through which studio lights shone outward; and landfill/sewer insects flown into the building. Anchors needed to lean with the sets and cameras to appear upright on camera. The 350-foot (110 m) tower (placing the antenna about 110 feet above average terrain) operated at only 28,000 watts. During the same period, the station depended on microwave relays sent from Los Angeles for its network transmissions; on at least one occasion, an ice storm in Arizona caused a significant disruption in the station's network programming.
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Wikipedia