Branding KSN Local News Subchannels (see article) | Slogan Local News Affiliations NBC | |
Channels Digital: 46 (UHF)
Virtual: 16 (PSIP) Owner Nexstar Media Group
(Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.) | ||
KSNF, virtual channel 16, is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Joplin, Missouri-Pittsburg, Kansas television market, the 152nd DMA. KSNF broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 46. Its transmitter and studios are located in Joplin.
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History
The station first signed on as KUHI-TV (for K Ultra HIgh Frequency) on January 4, 1968 as a CBS affiliate. KSNF was the first station in the Joplin-Pittsburg market to broadcast on the UHF band.
It was originally owned by Marvin Caldwell & Associates. Mid-America Broadcasting sold the station to the owners of the Kansas State Network in 1975. The station changed its call letters to KTVJ (TeleVision of Joplin) in 1976. In 1982, The station then changed its call letters to KSNF, and swapping affiliations with KOAM-TV (channel 7) to become an NBC affiliate. The station did limited simulcasting with KSNW. KSN then sold KSNF to Price Communications in 1986, but the station continued the partial simulcast with KSNW. It stopped simulcasting KSNW completely after George Lilly (SJL Communications) acquired the KSN stations and in a cost cutting effort, cut the microwave links to KSNT and KSNF.
The "KSN" brand had become solidified in the market and continued to be used even though KSNF was no longer a part of the Kansas State Network and nor made any references to it.
Price sold KSNF along with two of its stations—KFDX-TV in Wichita Falls, Texas and KJAC-TV (now KBTV-TV, now affiliated with Fox) in Beaumont, Texas to the U.S. Broadcast Group in 1995.
Nexstar acquired the station from the U.S. Broadcast Group in 1998, with its digital signal on channel 46 signing on in 2003.
In 2002, it was announced KSNF and ABC affiliate KODE would merge, with building expansion planned at the KSN studios. Although some departments did in fact move to KSNF, in 2009 the process was not yet completed, leaving the Joplin market as the only one of the several Nexstar-owned duopolies to have failed to completely merge. In June 2008, KSNF began broadcasting NBC HD programming to digital cable and satellite customers in the Joplin market. At the time, only NBC programming is provided in high definition, while local news and syndicated programs were still in standard definition, pending the upgrade of KSN's production systems and equipment to accommodate high definition content for non-network programming.
On May 8, 2009, severe thunderstorms affected the Joplin area. KSNF's tower was destroyed (falling on the studio and nearby homes) and the studio was heavily damaged. KSNF could not broadcast due to this tower collapse, so viewers could only receive NBC programming from stations airing on the fringes of the viewing area (KSNW in Wichita, KJRH in Tulsa, and KYTV in Springfield, Missouri). However, several five- to ten-minute news updates were aired on fourstateshomepage.com each day until broadcasting resumed. The station returned to the air on June 17, 2009. It constructed a news set inside of the studios of its sister station KODE-TV where it was temporarily housed. It was made public in February 2010 that both KSNF and KODE would be moving to the remodeled KSNF studios at 1502 Cleveland, just down the road from the current KODE building.
On June 15, 2016, Nexstar announced that it has entered into an affiliation agreement with Katz Broadcasting for the Escape, Laff, Grit, and Bounce TV networks (the last one of which is owned by Bounce Media LLC, whose COO Jonathan Katz is president/CEO of Katz Broadcasting), bringing the four networks to 81 stations owned and/or operated by Nexstar, including KSNF and KODE-TV.
News operation
While in its role as airing partial simulcasts of KSNW programming, it used the Hello News music package until 1990. In November 2005, a graphics and music change took place. As part of the update (and with upcoming digital changes) the "16" was removed from KSN's logo, opens, and all other images, including station vehicles. In the fall of 2010, KSNF debuted the Four State area's first and only hour-long 6 p.m. newscast. In August 2011, KSNF dropped its 5 p.m. newscast in favor of a new, hour-long 4 p.m. lifestyle program called Living Well making that the area's first and only 4 p.m. newscast. On December 19, 2012 - KSNF launched its local newscasts in 1080i High Definition - and for the first time since the late 90s, re-branded itself as "KSN Local News" dropping "Your Hometown News" after 15 years.