KCNZ-CD was founded on April 25, 1986, with an original
construction permit granted to National Innovative Programming Network. Initially assigned to
Palo Alto and
Los Altos, California, and given callsign K30BI, the station's construction permit was modified and extended several times. In August 1990,
Channel America acquired the station, but sold it again in July 1992 to Polar Broadcasting, who finally licensed the station on May 3, 1994. By this time, the station had been assigned to San Francisco,
Oakland and
San Jose.
According to listings from 1997, K30BI (referred to as "KBI-TV") was formerly affiliated with
The Box, a 24-hour-a-day music network, and aired classic television during the day.[2] It offered a Korean-language local newscast and a Spanish-language call-in show,[3] as well as Spanish-language preseason broadcasts of
San Francisco 49ers football. It was the only Korean-language TV station in San Francisco and its only independent Spanish-language outlet.[4]
In 1999, the station relocated to channel 28 to make way for
KQED's digital signal on channel 30 and rebranded as "Tu Vision" (Spanish for "Your Vision"). Its studios were originally located in the Cannery on
Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco.[5] In 2000, KBI moved its studios to San Jose, a bid to move the station closer to the locus of the Hispanic community in the Bay Area.[6][7]
Eventually, the station changed affiliations to
HSN; its
call letters were changed to KBIT-LP shortly after. KBIT received Class A status on August 27, 2001, and assumed the call sign KFTL-CA in February 2004 after being taken over by
Family Stations, Inc. Family Stations previously used the KFTL call sign on analog channel 64, licensed to
Stockton, which is now
UniMásowned-and-operated stationKTFK-DT.
KFTL-CA
flash cut to digital on June 27, 2009; its call sign was changed to KFTL-CD.
Family Stations sold KFTL-CD to LocusPoint Networks in November 2012.[8]
The station was purchased by CNZ Communications subsidiary Poquito Más Communications in mid-2017 and changed the call sign to KCNZ-CD on August 7, 2017.
^Martinez, Anne (May 21, 2000). "Culture channel: Broadcasts will come from the heart of Silicon Valley's Latino community". San Jose Mercury News. p. 1B.
^Carman, John (March 22, 2000). "It's Deja Vu All Over Again For Fall TV". San Francisco Chronicle. p. D1.