KDFI-TV, virtual channel 27, is a MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated station serving the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The station is licensed to Dallas and owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network outlet KDFW (channel 4). Its transmitter is located in Cedar Hill. KDFI-TV is on channel 7 on most cable systems in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

History[link]

As an independent station[link]

Channel 27 initially was granted a license as KLIF-TV in 1967 with a construction permit issued in 1968. However the station never formally signed on and by 1972 the license was deleted. Later in 1981, the station signed on under ownership by Liberty Television as KTWS-TV with religious shows, public-affairs shows, and ABC, NBC, and CBS shows that were preempted by WFAA, KXAS, and KDFW-TV respectively. Channel 27 aired some limited local news, anchored by former WFAA anchor Bob Gooding. The station also broadcast public domain movies during the day. At night, the station ran the Preview, then later VEU, subscription TV services. In August 1984, the station's call sign changed to the present KDFI-TV.

In 1985, KDFI became a general entertainment station for the entire broadcast day. It began running low budget syndicated shows, old cartoons, and B Grade movies. The station continued to run pre-empted network shows as well, and had been able to balance its books.

In 1993, Argyle Television, which owned KDFW, began running programming on KDFI. KDFI was broadcasting mostly talk shows and newscasts delayed from KDFW.

When KDFW switched to Fox, the newscasts were dropped. KDFI continued the talk format while adding a few cartoons in the mornings and a few sitcoms as well. When Fox acquired KDFW in a group deal, the network moved Fox Kids programming to KDFI from KDAF(Channel 33). By then, KDFI was a traditional independent station broadcasting cartoons, classic off network sitcoms, syndicated talk/reality shows, and movies.

The station continues this format today, though Fox Kids went to weekends only in 2002 and became Fox Box (later 4Kids TV, now Weekend Marketplace) later in 2002. In 2000, when duopolies in television became lawful, Fox bought KDFI outright.

MyNetworkTV affiliation[link]

On February 22, 2006, Fox announced that KDFI would be part of a new primetime network called MyNetworkTV which launched on September 5, 2006. My Network TV is operated by Fox Television Stations, Inc. and Twentieth Television.

The station began identifying itself on-air as "my 27" shortly after the announcement, reflecting the new network's naming conventions. A temporary logo using the circular 27 symbol and the word 'my' was created. The KDFI website changed its slogan to "Shows I Like are on my 27" accordingly. On Friday, July 7, KDFI officially changed its logo to the MyNetwork style four-square 'my 27' on air. MyNetworkTV ads also began running heavily on this date.

In addition, KDFI may carry Fox network programming should it be preempted by KDFW in the event of a local special or an emergency such as a breaking news story. Prior to this affiliation, KDFI was the only News Corp.-owned station to be an independent, while all other News Corp. stations were affiliated with Fox or UPN. It is also the largest MyNetworkTV affiliate to not have been formerly affiliated with either UPN or The WB.

George Lowe, the voice of Space Ghost in Cartoon Network's Space Ghost Coast to Coast, is the station's imaging voice.

Digital television[link]

On digital subchannel 27.2 is Bounce TV, a digital multicast network aimed at African-Americans between the ages of 25 and 54 years old; the subchannel launched on March 30, 2012. The subchannel is not currently carried on local cable providers at this time.^[1]

KDFI also has plans for a Mobile DTV feed of 27.1.^[2][3]

Analog-to-digital transition[link]

On June 12, 2009 KDFI ceased its analog transmissions on channel 27 and continues KDFI digital broadcasts on channel 36. PSIP is used to display KDFI-TV's virtual channel as 27 on digital television receivers.

Programming[link]

Sports programming[link]

Due to its Fox ownership, KDFI has, in the past, broadcast Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars games not carried by Fox Sports Southwest. Broadcasts of both teams have now moved to KTXA 21, with the Rangers completing the switch at the beginning of the 2009 Major League Baseball season and the Stars for the 2010-2011 National Hockey League season.

The station also picked up the rights to air two Dallas Cowboys games that also aired on the NFL Network in the 2007-2008 season, along with the network's HDTV feed for those games. The games against the Green Bay Packers on November 29 and Carolina Panthers on December 22 were the highest-rated shows in the history of KDFI.

KDFI began airing a number of Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers games in high definition in early 2008.

Station presentation[link]

Station slogans[link]

• "Your Movie Station" (1980s)
• "The Talk Of Texas" (1993–1996)
• "Hot TV 27" (1996–1999)
• "Cold Ice. Cool Game. Hot TV 27." (1996–1999; used for its promotion of Dallas Stars games)
• "Anything Can Happen" (2002–2004)
• "Get It On" (2004–2005)
• "Your Hometown Station" (2005–2006)
• "The Shows I Like Are on My27" (2006)
• "My Shows, My Station, My27" (2006–2009)
• "It's All Good" (2009–present)

References[link]

• Shannon, Mike (January, 2004). Dallas-Fort Worth TV Station History. The History of Dallas-Fort Worth Radio and Television.
• KLIF-TV Channel 27 designation in 1972. Detailed Texas EBS Operational Plan.

External links[link]

Dallas-Fort Worth portal

• KDFI Official website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KDFI
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KDFI-TV
• Program Information for KDFI at TitanTV.com

Graham Kerr (born January 22, 1934 in London) is a cooking personality who is best known for his television cooking show The Galloping Gourmet.

Biography[link]

Kerr was born in London, and his parents were established hoteliers. As a result, much of his childhood was spent among some of the most outstanding chefs of Europe. Educated at the independent school Brighton College, he became trainee manager at the Roebuck Hotel in East Sussex, England, when he was just fifteen years old. After five years in the British Army as catering adviser, Graham became General Manager of England's Royal Ascot Hotel.

Kerr moved to New Zealand in 1958, becoming chief chef catering adviser for the Royal New Zealand Air Force. It was there that his media career began in the early 1960s: his recipes were delivered on radio and in magazines, and a related book, Entertaining with Kerr, sold out its first edition in eight days. He moved into television with the emergence of the new medium in New Zealand, after being recruited by NZBC producer Shirley Maddock.

Later The Galloping Gourmet (1969-71), a show named for Kerr's onscreen persona, was taped in Ottawa at CJOH-TV and produced by his wife Treena Kerr. The origin of his 'Galloping Gourmet' persona stemmed from a 1967 book he co-authored with wine expert Len Evans, The Galloping Gourmets. The nickname was the result of a 35-day worldwide trek to the finest restaurants around the globe. The title was echoed in the opening of each episode of his original North American series, filmed in front of a live audience, where Kerr entered the stage area by running in and leaping over a chair in the dining room set.

The series was known for its lighthearted humour, tomfoolery and the copious use of clarified butter, cream and fat. Indeed, Kerr's most famous line on the show might have been his response to someone's criticism of his cooking: "Madame, you could go outside and get run over by a bus and just think what you would have missed!" He also liberally featured wine, serving it with most meals, drinking it while cooking, using it in his dishes, and waxing poetic about its virtues. In an ongoing feature of the show, Kerr would make his way into the audience as the closing credits began and select an audience member (usually female) whom he would invite onstage with him to enjoy whatever dish he had just prepared. During The Galloping Gourmet's successful run, he became a worldwide sensation, wrote an abundance of cookbooks, and earned two Emmy Award nominations. One particularly amusing episode featured Kerr making the British dessert known as "Spotted Dick."

In 1972, Kerr was making guest appearances on Monitor, a NBC radio variety program.^[1]

While The Galloping Gourmet first aired in 1969 and ended in 1971, some near tragedies caused Kerr to suspend his television career ending the show. In April 1971, Kerr and his wife Treena were involved in a car accident in California. As a result of the accident he suffered a dislocated spine and a weakened right arm. As therapy Kerr had to wear a one-pound bracelet in order to strengthen the weakened arm. Then in January 1972 Treena was at first diagnosed with lung cancer and given a year to live. That diagnosis turned out to be incorrect. It was determined she had tuberculosis and part of her lungs had to be removed. She later fully recovered.^[2]

Kerr returned to television in 1974 with a daily, syndicated five-minute series, Take Kerr which featured a particular recipe for each show. This programme only lasted one series, and was controversial for a time, due to an inclusion of a passage from the Bible in the closing credits, since Kerr became a Christian^[3] following his accident. This series was later repeated on CNN during its first year or so on the air.

After his wife Treena's stroke, then heart attack in 1986, Kerr was prompted to create a new style of cooking that he dubbed "Minimax". This new method of food preparation minimised ("Mini-") fat and cholesterol, while it maximised ("-max") aroma, colour, texture and taste. Minimax led to the eponymous Graham Kerr show, originally produced at KING-TV in Seattle in 1990 and 1991 and later syndicated to local stations and, later, the Discovery Channel. Minimax also led to three successful cookbooks: Graham Kerr's Smart Cooking Graham Kerr's Minimax Cookbook and Graham Kerr's Creative Choices (A Minimax Book) along with corresponding series in syndication, on Public Television. In 1995, he appeared in a PBS special with Julia Child called Cooking in Concert: Julia Child & Graham Kerr.^[4]

In 1996, Kerr, in his book of that year called Swiftly Seasoned, created the concept of a "Moulded Ethnic Vegetable", a baked combination of starches and vegetables seasoned with flavours characteristic of different ethnic cuisines. The "MEV", as he referred to it in recipes, was intended to remedy what he perceived as a lack of focus in vegetarian meals; according to Kerr, while omnivorous cuisine generally has a central focus in a meat dish, vegetarian plates are often little more than collections of side dishes, and the MEV was an attempt to provide a central focus for such meals. The MEV was not a widely successful concept and a business venture to manufacture and sell a muffin tin-like MEV baking pan was not successful. (While generally intended to be vegetarian, Kerr did incorporate meats into some MEV recipes in later books.)

Since the late-1990s, Graham Kerr was also seen in a series of radio and television features for the National Cancer Institute's 5 A Day program, called Do Yourself A Flavor, which emphasizes the use of fruits and vegetables in recipes. Meanwhile, Kerr's earlier series, including The Galloping Gourmet, has aired in the US on Food Network and Cooking Channel.

In 2003, Graham Kerr received an honorary doctorate for culinary arts and nutrition from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.^[5]

He works directly with Bastyr University and many businesses looking for innovation, better-health and good taste.

Kerr currently lives with his wife in Mount Vernon, Washington, where he has been a resident for several years.^[5]

Television Cookbooks[link]

In addition, seven volumes of "Television Cookbooks", featuring recipes from The Galloping Gourmet series, were published from 1969 to 1971 by the show's syndicator, Fremantle International. Four versions were known to exist—a regular version, plus three additional versions released in conjunction with KABC-TV in Los Angeles, CBC Television in Canada and the BBC in Britain. The Fremantle and KABC versions were hardcover, while the CBC and BBC versions, though identical in content, were softcover and GBC-bound, with different covers (with the BBC version under the title Entertaining With Kerr). These cookbooks were generally sold by mail order, through the TV series.

In 1972, the cookbooks were re-released with new colour covers and sold in bookshops. This new version was sold by Paperback Library but, despite the publisher's name, the books were hardcover.

Works[link]

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Kerr, G. (1963). Entertaining with Kerr. Wellington: A.H. and A.W. Reed
• Kerr, G. (1966). The Graham Kerr Cookbook. Wellington: A.H. and A.W. Reed (this cookbook was released in a distinctive spiral binding, with heavy covers)
• Kerr, G., & Evans, L. (1967). The galloping gourmets. Sydney: A.H. & A.W. Reed.
• Kerr, G. (1969). The Graham Kerr cookbook, by the galloping gourmet. Garden City, New York: Doubleday.
• Kerr, G. (1970). The Galloping Gourmet's Kitchen Diary.
• Kerr, G. (1972). The complete galloping gourmet cookbook. New York: Grosset & Dunlap.
• Kerr, G. (Early 1970s). A Festive Occasion, Just For You (a record album). Fremantle Records.
• Kerr, G. (1976). The new seasoning. New York: Simon and Schuster / Fleming H. Revell.
• Kerr, G. (1978). The love feast: How good, natural, wholesome food can create a warm and lasting Christian family. New York: Simon and Schuster / Fleming H. Revell.
• Kerr, G., & Kerr, T. (1982). The Graham Kerr Step By Step Cookbook. David C Cook Publishing Company.
• Kerr, G. (1991). Graham Kerr's smart cooking. New York: Doubleday.
• Kerr, G. (1993). Graham Kerr's minimax cookbook. New York: Doubleday.
• Kerr, G. (1994). Graham Kerr's kitchen. New York: G.P. Putnam's.
• Kerr, G. (1995). Graham Kerr's best: A low fat, heart healthy cookbook. New York: G.P. Putnam's.
• Kerr, G. (1996). Graham Kerr's swiftly seasoned. New York: G.P. Putnam's.
• Kerr, G. (1997). The gathering place: Informal international menus that bring family and friends back to the table. Stanwood, WA: Camano Press.
• Kerr, G. (2002). The gathering place: Featuring Nutrient-Rich Comfort Food. Quarry Press.
• Kerr, G., & Suzanne, B. (2004). Graham Kerr's simply splenda cookbook. Alexandria, VA: Small Steps Press.
• Kerr, G., & Kerr, T. (2004). Charting a course to wellness: Creative ways of living with heart disease and diabetes. Alexandria, VA: American Diabetes Association.
• Kerr, G., & Kerr, T. (2006). Recipe For Life.
• Kerr, T., & Kerr, G. (2007). Day by Day Gourmet Cookbook. Broadman & Holman.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Appearances with Julia Child
• 2003 interview with the Seattle Times
• Radio Interview with Graham Kerr WSLR w/Doug Miles