.svg){kind=logo} | |
 KRNV studios in Reno | |
| |
|---|---|
| Channels | |
| Branding | News 4 |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| Operator | Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| KNSN-TV,KRXI-TV | |
| History | |
First air date | September 30, 1962 (63 years ago) (1962-09-30) |
Former call signs |
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Former channel numbers |
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| ABC (secondary, 1962–1967) | |
Call sign meaning | Reno, Nevada |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 60307 |
| ERP | 19kW |
| HAAT | 891.4 m (2,925 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 39°18′56.2″N119°53′6″W / 39.315611°N 119.88500°W /39.315611; -119.88500 |
| Translator(s) | See§ Translators |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | mynews4 |
KRNV-DT (channel 4) is atelevision station inReno, Nevada, United States, affiliated withNBC. It is owned byCunningham Broadcasting, which maintainsjoint sales andshared services agreements (JSA/SSA) withSinclair Broadcast Group, owner ofFox affiliateKRXI-TV (channel 11) and manager ofKNSN-TV (channel 21), for the provision of certain services. The three stations share studios on Vassar Street in Reno; KRNV-DT's transmitter is located onSlide Mountain.
Channel 4 in Reno began broadcasting in 1962 as KCRL, the city's second TV station. Founded byE. L. Cord and owned after his 1974 death by his estate and charitable foundation, it was an NBC affiliate from the moment it began broadcasting. The station was purchased bySunbelt Communications Company in 1989 and relaunched the next year as KRNV, including an overhaul of the station's local newscasts. This was successful at moving KRNV from third to second place locally. Sunbelt also embarked on several extensions of the KRNV brand, including rebroadcasters in Northern Nevada and a news/talk radio station in the Reno area.
In 2013, Sinclair acquired KRNV's non-license assets and began operating the station; Cunningham eventually acquired the license.
The first application for channel 4 in Reno was made by Western Television Company in January 1953.[2] TheFederal Communications Commission (FCC) granted an application made by Nevada Telecasting Corporation in April 1955.[3] Soon after, it emerged that Nevada Telecasting had misrepresented its ownership to the commission and there were additional undisclosed parties in interest.[4] AZephyr Cove man, Charles E. Halstead, filed for the channel in 1956;[5] Halstead had been the owner of radio stationKDIA in Auburn, California, whosebroadcast license had been canceled in 1953.[4] In March 1958, an FCC examiner recommended revoking the Nevada Telecasting permit,[6] which the commission did in June 1959.[7]
E. L. Cord—a businessman, Nevada state senator, and owner ofKFAC inLos Angeles—asked the FCC to insert channel 11 at Reno in July 1958, while channel 4 was mired in litigation.[8] After the revocation of Nevada Telecasting's permit, Cord applied for channel 4 on June 25, 1959,[9] with Halstead and the Electron Corporation ofDallas also seeking the permit.[10][11] Six applicants sought the channel, but all except Cord's Circle L, Inc., had withdrawn by 1961, when an FCC hearing examiner recommended Cord's application;[12] the FCC awarded the construction permit on June 15, 1961.[9]
In 1962, Circle L began constructing a studio and offices at Vassar Street and Harvard Way, and approval was received to erect an antenna in ruralWashoe County.[13] The station began broadcasting on September 30, 1962, as KCRL.[14] In addition to NBC, the station splitABC programming with Reno's first station,KOLO-TV (channel 8), until 1967, whenKTVN (channel 2) debuted.[15]
Under a separate corporation, the Cord family started a radio station,KCRL (780 AM), in October 1970.[16] The station was sold in 1981 and becameKROW.[17]
Cord died in 1974, setting off a years-long court dispute for control of his estate.[18] A preliminary sale agreement was reached with20th Century Fox for a $17.5 million acquisition of KCRL in 1980.[19] At the time,Chris-Craft Industries owned a 19-percent stake in 20th Century Fox. Between them, they already owned the limit of fivevery high frequency (VHF) stations, creating possible legal issues for any attempt by Fox to purchase stations.[20]
Beginning in 1983, Washoe Broadcasting Company—a company partly owned byJames Rogers which also ownedKVBC inLas Vegas—made a concerted effort to take control of channel 4. On September 1, it filed an application for a new station to broadcast on channel 4 at Reno.[21] Washoe Broadcasting urged the FCC to hold hearings pitting it against Circle L for the right to use channel 4. It also sought to force the Cord Foundation to sell its 90-percent stake in Circle L, Inc. It contended that the Cord Foundation's management of the station was so poor and underperforming as to not fulfill itsfiduciary duty to the estate.[18] The owner of the other 10 percent, estate co-executor Charles Cord, died in 1986 at the age of 70.[22]
The Cord Foundation put KCRL on the market in February 1989.[23] In July 1989, after two months of negotiations, the Cord Foundation signed a deal with Sunbelt to sell the station for $27 million. Sunbelt was attracted to KCRL because it was an NBC affiliate with obvious possible efficiencies and synergy with its Las Vegas station, also an NBC affiliate.[24] The move promised major changes for KCRL, long Reno's third-rated local TV station. Over the course of the 1980s, Sunbelt had turned KVBC from a distant second place to fighting for the market lead.[25][26][27]
Upon taking control in October, Sunbelt replaced the station's management and several on-air staffers.[28] Among those dismissed was John Firpo, who had been news director and 6:30 p.m. news anchor for 26 years.[29] Sunbelt also applied for new KRNV call letters for channel 4.[30]
On January 22, 1990, the station officially relaunched as KRNV and overhauled its newscasts. Only three news anchors were held over from the pre-Sunbelt operation.[31] By 1994, KRNV's newscasts had placed second overall in several ratings surveys; the addition of the market's only 5 p.m. newscast proved to be successful, leading the local ratings in its time slot.[32]
In 1994, Sunbelt purchased Reno radio station KTHX (101.7 FM).[33] On July 11,KRNV-FM debuted, mixing local morning and daytime rolling news coverage with audio simulcasts of the television station's 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 11 p.m. newscasts.[34] The concept was replicated in Las Vegas, where Sunbelt's KVBC provided news to and leased the time of KRBO beginning in 1995.[35][36] That station later changed its call sign toKVBC-FM. Sunbelt exited radio in December 1999, andEXCL Communications began programming the stations with Spanish-language formats.[37][38]
Another way Sunbelt sought to expand KRNV was buildingsemi-satellite stations in rural Northern Nevada. From studios atGreat Basin College in Elko,KENV (channel 10) began broadcasting in March 1997; it broadcast KRNV's programming with morning news inserts for the Elko area.[39] KENV continued to air NBC programming until December 31, 2017, when NBC refused to renew its affiliation because Elko is assigned to theSalt Lake City TV market, in which the NBC affiliate isKSL-TV.[40] Another such station, KWNV (channel 7) inWinnemucca, operated from 1998[41] to 2008, when it was closed down for economic reasons.[42]
On December 19, 2006, KRNV began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition, making it the first station in the market to do so.[43][44] Sunbelt eventually changed its name to Intermountain West Communications Company.[45]
On November 22, 2013,Sinclair Broadcast Group announced the acquisition of KRNV's non-license assets for $26 million. Sinclair already ownedKRXI-TV and operatedKAME-TV in Reno.[46] The station licensee entered at that time into joint sales and shared services agreements with Sinclair.[47]Cunningham Broadcasting then filed on December 19, 2013, to purchase the license assets of KRNV and KENV for $6.5 million—a transaction the FCC did not approve until September 22, 2017.[48] While the sale remained pending, Rogers announced that hisbladder cancer had recurred;[45] he died in June.[49]
KRNV-DT's transmitter is located onSlide Mountain.[1] The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | News4 | NBC |
| 4.2 | 480i | Dabl | Dabl | |
| 4.3 | TBD | Roar | ||
| 21.2 | 480i | 16:9 | Stadium | The Nest (KNSN-TV) |
KRNV shut down its analog signal, overVHF channel 4, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United Statestransitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 7, usingvirtual channel 4.[55]
KRNV-DT relocated its signal from channel 7 to channel 12 on July 3, 2020, as a result of the2016 United States wireless spectrum auction.[56]
KRNV-DT's signal is additionally rebroadcast over the following translators:[57]
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofNevada | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Nevada | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other stations | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
Includes English-language stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of California | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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** Owned by third parties and operated by Sinclair through various operating agreements. *** Owned by Sinclair and operated byMarquee Broadcasting. JV Joint venture. | ||||||||||||||||||
