KRCR-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Redding, California, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for the Chico–Redding market. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside five low-power stations: Chico-licensed Antenna TV affiliate KXVU-LD (channel 17); MyNetworkTV affiliates Redding-licensed KRVU-LD (channel 21) and Chico-licensed KZVU-LD (channel 22); Chico-licensed Univision affiliate KUCO-LD (channel 27); and Chico-licensed UniMás affiliate KKTF-LD (channel 30). Sinclair also provides certain services to Paradise-licensed Fox affiliate KCVU (channel 20) under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Cunningham Broadcasting; however, Sinclair effectively owns KCVU as the majority of Cunningham's stock is owned by the family of deceased group founder Julian Smith. The stations share studios on Auditorium Drive east of downtown Redding and maintain a news bureau and sales office at the former Sainte Television Group facilities on Main Street in downtown Chico (for FCC and other legal purposes, the Chico/Paradise-licensed stations still use the Chico address and Redding-licensed stations use the Redding address). KRCR's transmitter is located atop Shasta Bally, west of Redding. KAEF-TV (channel 23) in Arcata operates as a semi-satellite of KRCR, serving the Eureka market. As such, it clears all network programming as provided through KRCR but airs a separate offering of syndicated programming; there are also separate local newscasts, commercial inserts and legal station identifications. Although KAEF maintains its own studios (shared with LMA partner KBVU) on Sixth Street in downtown Eureka, master control and some internal operations are based at KRCR's facilities. History The station was founded in 1956 as KVIP (adding the -TV suffix to its callsign on August 15, 1957) by William B. Smullin of California Oregon Broadcasting, Inc. (COBI), owners of KOBI in Medford, Oregon, and satellite station KOTI in Klamath Falls, as a primary NBC affiliate with a secondary ABC affiliation. By 1963, network emphasis had shifted towards ABC, as only the Saturday morning and Sunday night prime time schedules, a few daytime game shows and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson were carried in NBC's schedule pattern. The full ABC schedule was available by way of translators of Stockton's KOVR in Chico and Redding. Channel 7 became KRCR in 1963. It dropped NBC and took on a full-time ABC affiliation in 1978, which in turn started the seven-year process for building KCPM (channel 24, now KNVN). This was an unusual arrangement for a two-station market especially one of the size of Chico–Redding, but