The station was the first to broadcast in the Coachella Valley on September 15, 1968. Airing an analog signal on UHF channel 36, it has been an NBC affiliate from the start. Actor John Conte owned the station through the Desert Empire TV Corporation,[2] and was the proprietor of the Hotel el Mirador in Palm Springs, from which the call letters were derived. Desert Regional Medical Center now occupies the site of the old hotel. Today, one can still see the El Mirador broadcasting tower standing in front of the hospital. This is where the station originally transmitted from. The current tower is a replica structure emulating the original, which was destroyed in a 1989 fire.
Journal Communications acquired KMIR from Conte in 1999 for $30 million.[3] In 2008, the station celebrated its 40th anniversary. In October 2013, Journal reached a deal to sell KMIR to OTA Broadcasting for $17 million.[4][5] The sale was completed on January 1, 2014,[6] making KMIR the company's first station affiliated with one of the Big Four television networks.
KMIR logo with cable channel 6 branding
Along with the other major Coachella Valley stations, KMIR formerly identified itself on-air using its cable designation (at that time, channel 6) rather than its over-the-air digital channel position. This unusual practice (also common in the Fort Myers–Naples, Floridamarket, where KMIR's former sister station WFTX-TV serves as the market's Fox affiliate) stems in part from Palm Springs's exceptionally high cable penetration rate of 80.5%, which is one of the highest in the United States.[7] As of 2014[update], the station branded simply with its call letters.
Due to its low-power status, KPSE-LP was pulled from Time Warner Cable systems at midnight on July 11, 2013, in a retransmission consent dispute with Time Warner; KMIR continued to air on the system for thirteen days after due to rules disallowing full-power stations from being pulled during a sweeps period.[8] KMIR, along with all Journal stations, was pulled at midnight on July 25, 2013, off Time Warner systems at the end of the sweeps period.[9] The station's evening newscasts were simulcast by KRET-CA on Time Warner channel 14 during the dispute.[10] On September 20, 2013, a deal was reached to return Journal's stations, including KMIR and KPSE, to Time Warner Cable; as part of the deal, KMIR's standard definition channel moved to channel 13, the former location for KPSE (which moved to channel 20). KMIR's previous position, cable channel 6, is now occupied by Game Show Network.[11] With the station no longer carried on channel 6 on any cable or satellite systems in the Coachella Valley, the station rebranded in late 2013, dropping the '6' from its logo.
On September 16, 2018, coinciding with the station's 50th anniversary, KMIR-TV rebranded as "NBC Palm Springs".[14]
News operation
KMIR-TV presently broadcasts 28 hours of news per week (with five hours each weekday and 1+1⁄2 hours each on Saturdays and Sundays).
The station's newscasts are produced in full 1080i high definition, including all video from the field. In September 2014, the station launched a new 9 p.m. newscast on sister station KPSE. It also produces a 10:00 p.m. newscast on KPSE known as KMIR News at 10:00 on KPSE My TV. Former sister station KTNV-TV in Las Vegas provided the station's weather forecasts until the start of 2015, when the station hired former Connecticut-based meteorologist Geoff Fox, However, on August 4, 2015, KMIR announced that Ginger Jeffries (former meteorologist on KESQ-TV) was making the switch to KMIR;[15] replacing Geoff Fox due to his contract being "terminated". KMIR does not have a dedicated sports department, but its news department covers major sporting events and the station extensively covers high school football on Friday nights during football season.
The station's newscasts generally place second in the Nielsen ratings in the Palm Springs market. In late 2023, the station began changing its news focus with less coverage of crime and low-impact stories while placing greater emphasis on community issues and storytelling that serves the audience. In 2018, KMIR received a Golden Mic for the "Best Newscast in Southern California" from the Radio and Television Association of Southern California.[16]
Notable current on-air staff
Fred Roggin – host of The Roggin Report (debuted on January 2, 2024)[17][18]
