All posts by Gary Stigall

Rich Lochmann, Former KFMB Director of Engineering, Remembered

According to the Legacy website, Richard Lee Lochmann (80) of Chesterfield, VA, passed away at home on March 28th, 2026.

Rich Lochmann. Photo from Legacy.com

Rich was born on August 10th, 1945, in Des Moines, IA, to parents Lewis and Betty Lochmann. He graduated from Valley High School, West Des Moines, IA, in 1963 and enlisted in the United States Army the following year. He served with the 3rd Armored Division until his honorable discharge in 1967.

After returning home, Rich attended Concordia College, where he met his wife, Kathleen. They married on July 19th, 1969, and shared over 56 loving years together. For 44 of those years, they resided in San Diego, California, where Rich was Director of Engineering for KFMB Television until his retirement. In 2020, he and Kathy relocated to Chesterfield, VA, to be closer to their son and daughter-in-law.

Rich loved fishing, hunting, and running. He served as President of his family’s church, Christ the Cornerstone, and was a Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 1212 in San Diego. More recently, you could find him and his son working on projects around the house, cooking delicious meals on the grill or smoker, and enjoying good wine.

Rich is survived by his wife, Kathleen; son Timothy and daughter-in-law Andrea of Midlothian, VA; mother-in-law, Mavis Fritz, of Sioux Falls, SD; sister-in-law Margaret (Jim) of Sioux Falls, SD; brother-in-law Dan (Belinda) Fritz, of Madison, SD; and several nieces, nephews, and cousins.

I worked with Rich for 14 years at KFMB-TV, and I appreciated his hands-off management, largely trusting his staff to initiate and carry out improvements and maintenance. He provided the funding and managed the messy stuff behind the scenes. We shared stories over beers for years after my departure, and I will always miss those times. —Gary Stigall

KFMB-TV 8 Joins The Nexstar Group

[Update – On Friday, March 27, a U.S. district judge ordered television operator Nexstar Media Group to temporarily keep TEGNA’s assets separate pending a review of the acquisition for potential antitrust violations.]

On March 19, 2026, the FCC approved the $6.2 billion acquisition of TEGNA TV stations by Nexstar Media Inc., including KFMB-TV 8 San Diego. The CBS network affiliate will join independent KUSI and Fox network affiliate KSWB (“Fox 5”) under common ownership in the San Diego market. The deal makes Nexstar the owner of 259 television stations in the U.S. and includes a waiver of the FCC’s national ownership rule, which prohibits a single corporation from owning more than 39% of the country’s stations. Cable and satellite distribution groups have filed legal challenges, citing Nexstar’s future leverage in retransmission fee negotiations. Some states and Newsmax have also filed legal challenges.

FCC rules currently disallow a single entity from owning more than two full-power TV stations in a given Designated Market Area (DMA), but the FCC waived this rule for San Diego, citing a possible loss of local news should KUSI be divested.

There is some speculation and rumors that the local operating group of stations will close the Engineer Road plant, where KFMB has operated since 1976. No word yet on what will happen with the current engineering staff.

Cox Cable and Charter to Merge

Remember when San Diego was once served by two cable companies? Southwestern Cable had the territory north of Interstate 8, and Cox Cable had the territory south of that highway. Well, now it’ll be one company.

On February 27, the FCC approved Charter Communications’ $34.5-billion purchase of Cox Communications. The combined corporation will be called Cox Communications, but the fiber and cable TV delivery service will continue to be called “Spectrum.” It’s set to become the largest internet service provider, with 38 million customers.

The two companies’ business services have been competitive over most of San Diego County for some time.

The future impact on San Diego employees is unknown.

Tijuana Adds Channel 9 TV Signal

AVSForum viewers report a new signal from south of the Mexican border on Channel 9 VHF, 186–192 MHz. XHCPAT-TDT is said to broadcast from Colinas de Agua Caliente in Tijuana with a licensed power of 60kW ERP.

This is an interesting development since KSDX-LD is licensed for channel 9 from Mt. San Miguel, albeit at a very low power of 275W ERP from a two-element omni-directional horizontal antenna.