History
The station first signed on the air on July 9, 2001, originally operating as an independent station, carrying a format of Spanish-language music videos temporarily until the launch of Azteca América on July 28. The station was founded by Visalia-based Pappas Telecasting (which initially held a 75% majority stake in the station, which expanded to 80% in 2014) and TV Azteca (which owned the remaining interest).
On November 30, 2006, NBC Universal (owner of rival KVEA, channel 52 and then-owner of KWHY, channel 22) filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deny KAZA's license renewal, on basis that TV Azteca controlled 51.6% of the station (above the FCC-designated 33% interest limit for foreign owned broadcasters) via loans and other interests.[2][3] According to the Los Angeles Times, it is believed to be the first challenge to a license renewal sent to the FCC since 1979 (notwithstanding the two-decade long RKO General license challenges including KHJ-TV that were not fully sorted until the late 1980s).
According to the filing,[4] NBC Universal accused TV Azteca of attempting to undermine its operations in Mexico. One example cited is the shutdown of production of the Telemundo program Quinceañera. NBC Universal accused TV Azteca of hiring undercover police officers to enforce the shutdown; the show's production was moved to Miami as a result. Two days later, Azteca chairman, Luis Echarte, insisted that the local marketing agreement is legitimate and called NBC Universal's allegations "ridiculous", citing that: "It's obviously a ploy to damage our image, given our strong performance in the U.S.," he says. "KAZA is owned by Pappas. We’ve been paying rent to Pappas to operate the station for three years."[5]
On September 8, 2017, Pappas Telecasting and TV Azteca announced they would sell KAZA to Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting for $9 million.[6] On January 1, 2018, KJLA (channel 57) replaced KAZA as the Azteca America affiliate for the Los Angeles market.[7][8] Weigel Broadcasting assumed operational responsibilities for KAZA as well as ownership of its license on January 3, 2018, and converted into an owned-and-operated station of Weigel-owned MeTV as "MeTV Los Angeles". Prior to the switch, the MeTV affiliation was split between the DT3 feed of Anaheim-based KDOC-TV (channel 56) and Bishop-based KVME-TV (channel 20). KVME became an affiliate of MeTV's sister network, Heroes & Icons (H&I) on January 15, 2018, until 2020 when it moved H&I to its second digital subchannel and switched its primary affiliation to Jewelry Television.[9]
On August 31, 2018, Decades soft-launched on KAZA-DT2, ahead of it moving three days later officially from KCBS-DT2 to launch fellow Weigel network Start TV.
On February 28, 2022, subchannel 54.2 was upgraded to 720p high definition. On May 26, 2022, Story Television moved to 54.2, with Decades moving to KPOM-CD 14.1.
