 | |
| |
|---|---|
| Channels | |
| Branding | 27 KSNT;27 News |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
|
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KTKA-TV,KTMJ-CD | |
| History | |
First air date | December 28, 1967 (57 years ago) (1967-12-28) |
Former call signs | KTSB (1967–1982) |
Former channel numbers |
|
| ABC (secondary, 1967–1983) | |
Call sign meaning | Kansas State Network Topeka (formerKSNW semi-satellite) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 67335 |
| ERP | 77.9kW |
| HAAT | 320 m (1,050 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 39°5′34″N95°47′4″W / 39.09278°N 95.78444°W /39.09278; -95.78444 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
KSNT (channel 27) is atelevision station inTopeka, Kansas, United States, affiliated withNBC. It is owned byNexstar Media Group alongsidelow-power,Class AFox affiliateKTMJ-CD (channel 43); Nexstar also provides certain services to dualABC affiliate/de factoCW+owned-and-operated stationKTKA-TV (channel 49) underjoint sales andshared services agreements (JSA/SSA) withVaughan Media,LLC. The stations share studios on Northwest 25th Street (US 24), near the unincorporated community ofKiro (with a Topeka mailing address), where KSNT's transmitter is also located.
The station first signed on the air on December 28, 1967, as KTSB. It was originally owned byRalph C. Wilson Jr., founding owner of theAFL (nowNFL) franchiseBuffalo Bills. It was the second commercial television station to sign on in the Topeka market, and the first full-powered UHF station in Kansas. The station has been an NBC affiliate from its debut. Unlike most then two-stationmarkets, KTSB did not take a formal secondary affiliation with ABC, however it did clear a few shows aired by that network. It had little need to air many ABC programs as the network's two closest affiliates—KMBC-TV in Kansas City andKQTV inSt. Joseph—both provide over-the-air signals that decently cover Topeka. After sharing ABC programming withCBS affiliateWIBW-TV (channel 13) for channel 27's first 16 years of operation, both stations lost the local rights to the network when KLDH (channel 49, nowKTKA-TV) signed on in June 1983, becoming the market's first full-time ABC affiliate.
In 1982, George Hatch—owner of the Kansas State Network, a chain of NBC-affiliated stations originating at KARD-TV (nowKSNW) inWichita—purchased the station from Wilson. Later that year on August 16, the station changed its call letters to KSNT, as part of an effort to help viewers think of the KSN stations as part of one large network. Over the next few years, the station branded itself under the "KSN" name, but only provided limitedsimulcasts with KSNW and its three full-timesatellite stations in western Kansas (KSNG inGarden City,KSNC inGreat Bend andKSNK inMcCook, Nebraska); as such, KSNT essentially acted as ade factosemi-satellite of KSNW.
SJL Communications (owned by George Lilly) purchased the station, along with KSNW, from Hatch in 1988; Lilly eventually had part of the microwave system that linked the two stations dismantled in a cost-cutting effort. In 1995,Davenport, Iowa–basedLee Enterprises acquired the Kansas State Network group as well as KSNT. On March 9, 2000, Lee Enterprises announced that it would sell its 16 television station properties, in order to focus on its newspaper and online businesses.[2] Exactly two months later on May 9, 2000, Lee sold KSNT toIndianapolis-basedEmmis Communications, as part of a $562.5 million group deal involving KSNW and its satellite stations, and CBS affiliateKMTV-TV inOmaha, Nebraska.[3]
On May 15, 2005, Emmis Communications announced that it would sell its 16 television stations in order to concentrate on its portfolio of radio stations.[4] On September 15, Emmis sold KSNT, KSNW and its satellites as well as CBS affiliateKOIN inPortland, Oregon, and Fox affiliateKHON-TV inHonolulu, Hawaii, to the Montecito Broadcast Group (formerly SJL Broadcast Group) for $259 million;[5][6] the sale was finalized on January 27, 2006.[7]
On July 24, 2007, Montecito announced that it would sell all of its stations (KSNT, KSNW and its satellites, as well as KHON-TV and KOIN) toNew Vision Television.[8] The sale closed on November 1 of that year. Subsequently, on July 7, 2008, New Vision Television announced its intention to buy Fox affiliateKTMJ-CA (channel 43) and its repeaters—KTLJ-CA (channel 6) inJunction City, KMJT-LP (channel 15) inOgden and KETM-LP (channel 17) inEmporia—from Montgomery Communications.[9] The purchase was completed on September 1. As a result, KTMJ relocated its operations into KSNT's facilities on Northwest 25th Street.
On February 4, 2011, Free State Communications announced that it would sell KTKA toLos Angeles–based PBC Broadcasting for $1.5 million.[10] As part of the deal, New Vision Television – then-owner of KSNT, and which already maintainedshared services and local marketing agreements with PBC-owned stations inYoungstown, Ohio, andSavannah, Georgia, would operate KTKA-TV under a local marketing agreement. Despite objections to the sale by the American Cable Association that alleged the sale could give the virtualtriopoly involving KSNT, KTKA and KTMJ-CA too much leverage in negotiations forretransmission consent agreements, theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the sale on July 21, 2011.[11] PBC officially consummated on the purchase one week later on July 28. Two days later on July 30, KTKA relocated from its existing studio facility on 21st Street and Chelsea Drive in southwestern Topeka, and merged its operations with KSNT and KTMJ-CA at the two stations' facilities on Northwest 25th Street.
On May 7, 2012,LIN TV Corporation announced that it would acquire the New Vision Television station group, including KSNT and KTMJ-CD, for $330.4 million and the assumption of $12 million in debt. Along with the outright ownership of KSNT and KTMJ, the agreement included the acquisition of New Vision's shared services agreement with PBC Broadcasting, giving LIN operational control of KTKA-TV.[12][13] LIN and Vaughan Media (which concurrently purchased the PBC stations) also entered into a joint sales agreement to provide advertising services for KTKA.[14] The sale of New Vision to LIN Media and KTKA's purchase by Vaughan Media was approved by the FCC on October 2,[15] with the transaction closing on October 12, 2012.[16] The deal marked a re-entry into Kansas for LIN, who briefly owned the licenses of Wichita ABC affiliateKAKE and its satellites in 2000, but never held operational control of the stations.
On March 21, 2014,Media General announced that it would purchase the LIN Media stations, including KSNT, KTMJ-CD, and the SSA/JSA with KTKA-TV, in a $1.6 billion merger.[17] The FCC approved the merger on December 12, 2014, with the deal being consummated on December 19;[18] however as a condition of the sale's approval, Media General was originally required to terminate the joint sales agreement between KTKA-TV and KSNT within two years, due to the FCC's ban on agreement involving the sale of advertising encompassing more than 15% of a separately-owned station's airtime.[19] On September 28, 2015,Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced it had offered to purchase Media General and its stations, including KSNT and KTMJ.[20] On January 27, 2016, Nexstar announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Media General.[21] The deal was approved by the FCC on January 11, 2017, and completed on January 17, marking Nexstar's entry into the Topeka market and reuniting KSNT with former sister station and fellow NBC affiliateKSNF inJoplin, Missouri.
On April 10, 2006, Montecito Broadcast Group signed an affiliation agreement withThe CW in which KSNT-DT2 would serve as the network's Topeka affiliate.[22] On September 18, 2006, Montecito took over the operations of "Northeast Kansas CW 5" (the channel number referencing its primary cable position in the market on Cox Communications), which originated as a cable-only affiliate ofThe WB 100+ Station Group—a national feed ofThe WB intended for smaller markets—when it launched on September 21, 1998, under the fictional call letters "WBKS" (branded on-air as "WB5"). Programming on KSNT-DT2 as a CW affiliate was received through The CW's small-market national feedThe CW Plus; as The CW handles programming responsibilities for its CW Plus affiliates during non-network time periods, KSNT only provided local advertising services for the subchannel.
On November 1, 2008, KSNT-DT2 disaffiliated from The CW Plus, which moved to thethird digital subchannel of ABC affiliate KTKA-TV, replacing it with a standard-definition simulcast of Fox affiliate KTMJ-CA to provide a digital signal for thelow-power station and to extend its programming to the far northern and eastern fringes of the Topeka market.
KSNT carries the entire NBC programming schedule, though the station airsNBC News Daily "live" with its airing in theEastern Time Zone as a noontime offering, rather than its usual 1 p.m. Central slot on most affiliates.
KSNT presently broadcasts 26 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with four hours each weekday and three hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). Unlike most NBC affiliates, the station does not carry newscasts on weekday middays. In addition, KSNT presently produces an additional13+1⁄2 hours of locally produced newscasts each week for Fox affiliate KTMJ-CD (consisting of2+1⁄2 hours on weekdays and a half-hour each on Saturdays and Sundays); KSNT also simulcasts its weekday morning and weeknight 10 p.m. newscast on KTKA-TV.
From its sign-on, KSNT's newscasts have traditionally placed second behind the longer-established WIBW-TV, although it placed far ahead of the perennial third place KTKA-TV after that station signed on in 1983 as KLDH. As a part-time member of the Kansas State Network, KSNT was one of only two stations in the group (along with KSNF in Joplin, Missouri, another former KSNW semi-satellite) that maintained a full in-house news department separate from KSNW; however, KSNT provided news content focusing on northeast Kansas to KSNW and the other KSN stations, while KSNW provided news stories focusing on central and western Kansas to KSNT in turn. While in its role as airing partial simulcasts of KSNW programming, the station used the "Hello News" music package byFrank Gari for its newscasts and station imaging from 1982 to 1986.
In September 2003, KSNT gradually scaled back its sports department, with the departures of sports director Leo Doyle, and later, weekend sports anchor Katrina Hancock; during this time, the station's evening anchors provided sports-related stories on Monday through Thursday evenings, while sports content aired in the form of a standalone segment within the newscasts on Friday through Sunday evenings; this lasted until April 2004, when Lance Veeser was hired as KSNT's sports director.[23][24][25] In April 2009, following that station's purchase by New Vision Television, KSNT began producing a two-hour weekday morning newscast at 7 a.m. and a half-hour newscast at 9 p.m. weeknights for Fox affiliate KTMJ-CA, replacing news simulcasts from fellow Fox stationWDAF-TV inKansas City in those timeslots.
As a result of KTKA's sale to PBC Broadcasting and local marketing agreement with New Vision Television, KSNT took over production of channel 49's newscasts, using existing staff from both stations. KSNT started producing channel 49's newscasts the following day on July 30 – beginning with the 6 p.m. newscast – under the uniform brandingKansas First News (which also encompassed the prime time newscast on KTMJ, in an arrangement similar to other joint news operations involving virtual triopolies such asHawaii News Now involvingRaycom Media andAmerican Spirit Media–owned stations in Honolulu andGranite Broadcasting/Malara Broadcast Group'sIndiana's NewsCenter operation inFort Wayne, Indiana, andNorthland's NewsCenter operation inDuluth, Minnesota), with the two stations initially simulcasting newscasts on weekday mornings and at 6 and 10 p.m., while KSNT aired a 5 p.m. newscast that is exclusive to the station;[26][27] On May 4, 2013, KSNT and KTKA respectively became the second and third (and last) television stations in the Topeka market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts inhigh definition.
Beginning with the 5 p.m. newscast on January 26, 2015, KSNT quietly dropped theKansas First News brand, with the introduction of a new graphics package and news set, as well as a uniform logo scheme for all three stations (consisting of only the station's respective call letters and the logo of their affiliated network), with newscasts on KSNT, KTMJ and KTKA being rebranded asKSNT News. KTMJ has been rebranded asFox 43 News @ 9.
On March 25, 2022, KSNT introduced a new logo and revived the27 News brand across newscasts seen on both KSNT and KTKA. Newscasts continued to use the previous graphics and music from the KSNT News brand at the time.[citation needed]
The station's digital signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | KSNT-DT | NBC |
| 27.2 | 720p | FOX | Fox (KTMJ-CD) | |
| 27.3 | 480i | ION | Ion Television | |
| 27.4 | Bounce | Bounce TV |
KSNT shut down its analog signal, overUHF channel 27, 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 relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 28 to channel 27.[29][30]
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofKansas | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Kansas | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS |
| |
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
| ||
| ABC | .svg){kind=logo} | |
|---|---|---|
| CBS | ||
| The CW |
| |
| Fox | ||
| MyNetworkTV | ||
| NBC | ||
| Other stations | ||
| TV network |
| |
| Other assets |
| |
| Acquisitions | ||
** Owned by third parties but operated by Nexstar through various agreements. | ||
