 | Parts of this article (those related to the news operation) need to beupdated. The reason given is: to reflect theshared services agreement that has consolidated News-Press Now withKQTV. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(November 2025) |
 | |
| |
|---|---|
| Channels | |
| Branding |
|
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
|
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KCJO-CD,KNPG-CD,News-Press NOW | |
| History | |
| Founded | January 30, 2012 |
First air date | June 2, 2012 (13 years ago) (2012-06-02) |
Former call signs |
|
Former channel numbers | Digital: 26 (UHF, 2012–2018) |
| 26.3:CW+ (via KNPG-LD, 2012−2013) | |
Call sign meaning | News-Press Now |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 188056 |
| Class | CD |
| ERP | 15kW |
| HAAT | 69.6 m (228 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 39°45′2.8″N94°50′25.8″W / 39.750778°N 94.840500°W /39.750778; -94.840500 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
KNPN-CD (channel 26) is alow-power,Class A television station inSt. Joseph, Missouri, United States, affiliated with theFox network. It is theflagship television property of the locally basedNews-Press & Gazette Company (NPG), and issister toNBC/CW+/Telemundo affiliateKNPG-CD (channel 21),CBS affiliateKCJO-CD (channel 30) and localnews and weather channelNews-Press NOW; this arrangement also places the four outlets under the same ownership as theSt. Joseph News-Press newspaper.
All five media properties are based out of NPG's corporate offices on Edmond Street in downtown St. Joseph; KNPN-CD's transmitter is located on South 16th Street (adjacent toUS 36) just southeast of downtown.[2] There is no separate website for the three stations, instead they are integrated with that of the co-ownedSt. Joseph News-Press.
On March 14, 2012, News-Press & Gazette acquired twolow-power digital television licenses in Saint Joseph, K16KF-D and K26LV-D fromSunrise, Florida–based DTV America 1, LLC for $72,000;[3] two weeks earlier on February 29, theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) granted the company'sconstruction permit application to relocate the two stations' transmitter facilities from a tower nearMound City to the St. Joseph transmitter and upgrade theeffective radiated power for both stations (the channel 16 license would not be activated until March 7, 2013, when it signed on asCW affiliateKBJO-LD).[4][5][6][7][failed verification] K26LV-D was assigned the call letters KNPN-LD on April 5, 2012, before reverting to the original K26LV-D callsign on May 8, 2012;[8] the callsign reversion was deleted from FCC authorization records two weeks later on May 23, 2012, reverting to the KNPN-LD callsign.[9]
The station officially signed on the air at 6 a.m. on June 2, 2012,[10] becoming the first broadcast television station to have been built and signed on by News-Press & Gazette Company and the third station in St. Joseph, afterABC affiliateKQTV (channel 2) – which signed on in September 1953 as primaryCBS affiliate KFEQ-TV, andTBNowned-and-operated stationKTAJ-TV (channel 16)—which launched in October 1986 and also serves the adjacentKansas City market. KNPN-LD displaced Kansas City'sWDAF-TV (channel 4)—which is among the seven full-power Kansas City stations that providecity-grade signal coverage in St. Joseph proper—as the area's default Fox station onSuddenlink Communications,DirecTV andDish Network; however some providers continued to supply CW programming through out-of-market stations (Kansas City affiliateKCWE on some rural cable systems andOmaha affiliateKXVO—which provides rimshot signal coverage in the far northwestern tip of Missouri—on DirecTV; andWPIX/New York City,KTLA/Los Angeles andKWGN-TV/Denver on Dish Network through itssuperstation package) instead of KNPN's CW-affiliated third digital subchannel (News-Press & Gazette assumed promotional and advertising control of cable-onlyCW Plus station "WBJO" from Suddenlink with the sign-on of the subchannel); KNPN'sTelemundo-affiliated fourth subchannel, meanwhile, only replaced the network's national feed on local cable providers, as Telemundo did not have an existing affiliate in Missouri.[11][12]
KNPN's launch marked News-Press & Gazette's return to a television presence in Saint Joseph as the company had formerly owned NPG Cable (which included St. Joseph as one of its service areas) until it sold itscable television holdings, including ownership ofNews-Press 3 NOW (which News-Press & Gazette would re-acquire in May 2012), to Suddenlink for $350 million in November 2010;[13] News-Press & Gazette's ownership of KNPN and theSt. Joseph News-Press does not violate FCC regulations preventing cross-ownership of a television station and a newspaper in the same market as FCC rules allow such joint ownership of a station if it is licensed as a low-power outlet.[11]
On October 9, 2013, KNPN was pulled from DirecTV due to aretransmission consent dispute involving News-Press & Gazette Company (that resulted in the removal of the company's 12 other stations throughout the country) and the satellite provider overcarriage fees.[14] KNPN and the other NPG stations were restored through an interim agreement reached on October 25, 2013.[15][16]
On August 17, 2016, the News-Press and Gazette Company announced it has signed an affiliation deal for sister station KNPG-LD withNBC, giving the St. Joseph market its first locally based NBC affiliate.[17] The KNPG-LD call letters were moved from its Telemundo affiliate on channel 30 to the stronger channel 21 signal, while channel 21's existing CW network affiliation was moved to subchannel 21.2 and the KBJO-LD callsign on channel 21 was relocated to channel 30, which continued as a Telemundo affiliate.[18]
On February 24, 2017, News-Press and Gazette Company announced that KBJO-LD (channel 30)—which had been simulcast on KNPN's LD4 subchannel—would switch its primary affiliation to CBS on June 1, a move that would not only return the network to St. Joseph for the first time since KQTV (as KFEQ-TV) left CBS to become a full-time ABC affiliate in 1967, but also would give the St. Joseph area in-market affiliates of five of the six major American commercial broadcast networks (counting KNPG-LD's CW-affiliated subchannel). On the date of the switch, when KBJO also changed its call letters to KCJO-LD to reflect its CBS affiliation, KNPN moved the KCJO-LD simulcast to its LD2 subchannel; this consequently resulted in a realignment of KNPN's digital multiplex, with News-Press NOW moving to a reactivated LD3 subchannel, while Telemundo programming was effectively dropped from KNPN as a result of KCJO's decision to disaffiliate from the Spanish-language network in order to assume the CBS affiliation (Telemundo programming moved to a new LD3 subchannel on KNPG-LD).[19][20]
KNPN-CD presently broadcasts 22 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with four hours each weekday and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays), which are produced in-house at the station's Edmond Street studios.[10] The station's news department utilizes reporting and coverage resources from theSt. Joseph News-Press,[21] and also shares content with the News-Press NOW news channel.[22]
The station'sDoppler weather radar is presented on-air as "Storm Tracker", operating at the main studios in Saint Joseph and utilizing liveVIPIR data from several radars operated by regionalNational Weather Service forecast offices. Its radar system existed prior to the launch of KNPN-LD as the radar system used during forecasts and severe weather coverage on News-Press 3 NOW. The station does not have a sports department.
Local newscasts debuted on KNPN the day the station began operations on June 2, 2012, with the launch of a 5:30 p.m. newscast and have been broadcast inhigh definition from their debut; this was later followed by the debut of a half-hour prime time newscast at 9 p.m. Two days later on June 4, the station debuted a weekday morning newscast (running for2+1⁄2 hours from 5:30 to 8 a.m.) and a half-hour midday newscast at noon.[23] Upon the debut of the newscasts, KNPN became the second Fox affiliate in NPG's portfolio to have its newscasts produced in-house (the other beingKECY-TV inYuma, Arizona–El Centro, California, which began producing local newscasts on its main Fox and secondary ABC subchannels, and Telemundo affiliateKESE-LP on March 23, 2012). Local newscasts on the company's three other Fox outlets (KQFX-LD inColumbia,KDFX-CD inPalm Springs andKFXO-CD inBend, Oregon) are produced by a co-owned Big Three network affiliate in the respective market.
KNPN-CD is the smallest Fox affiliate by market size (asNielsen Media Research ranks St. Joseph 201st out of 210 U.S. television markets) to produce its local newscasts in-house; previously, the smallest media market with a Fox affiliate that produced its own local news programming in any form wasSan Angelo, Texas (ranked 197th), whereKIDY at the time of KNPN's sign-on aired hourly local news updates during daytime programming and simulcasts ofKABB inSan Antonio's morning and 9 p.m. newscasts (the station has since launched its own full-fledged newscasts). KNPN moved its early evening newscast from 5:30 to 5 p.m. in January 2014.
Coinciding with the deal announced in August to affiliate KNPG-LD with NBC, NPG announced it would produce exclusive newscasts for KNPG-LD, as well as simulcast others from KNPN. KNPG-CD simulcasts the first1+1⁄2 hours of KNPN's morning newscast and its 5 p.m. newscast, and also produces exclusive 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts. As of June 1, the same newscasts also simulcast on sister station and CBS affiliate KCJO-LD.[17][24]
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26.1 | 720p | 16:9 | KNPN-HD | Fox |
| 26.2 | 1080i | NNPN-DT | CBS (KCJO-CD) | |
| 26.3 | 480i | ONPN-DT | News-Press NOW | |
| 26.4 | QNPNESC | Ion Mystery | ||
| 26.5 | 4:3 | SNPNLAF | Laff |
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofMissouri | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Missouri | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
| ||
