KNPG-LD

This article is about the television station currently known as KNPG-LD. For the station originally known as KNPG-LD until November 1, 2016, see KBJO-LD.
KNPG-LD


St. Joseph, Missouri
United States
Branding KNPG 21 (general)
News-Press Now on KNPG (newscasts)
St. Joseph CW 6 (LD2)
Channels Digital: 16 (UHF)
Virtual: 21 (PSIP)
Subchannels 21.1 NBC
21.2 The CW
Affiliations NBC (2016–present)
Owner News-Press & Gazette Company
(News-Press TV, LLC)
First air date September 21, 1998 (1998-09-21)
(as cable-only "WBJO")
June 2, 2012 (2012-06-02)
(as a digital subchannel of KNPN-LD)
March 7, 2013 (2013-03-07)
(as standalone low-power station)
Call letters' meaning News-Press & Gazette Company
Sister station(s) KNPN-LD, KBJO-LD,
News-Press 3 NOW
Former callsigns "WBJO" (1998–2013)
KBJO-LD (2013–2016)
Former affiliations Primary/DT1:
The WB (via The WB 100+; as "WBJO", 1998–2006)
The CW (via The CW Plus; as "WBJO", 2006–2012; as a broadcast station, 2012–2016)
Transmitter power 15 kW
Height 79 m
Class LPTV
Facility ID 188056
Transmitter coordinates 39°45′0.0″N 94°50′26.0″W / 39.750000°N 94.840556°W / 39.750000; -94.840556
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website http://www.newspressnow.com/knpg

KNPG-LD, virtual channel 21 (UHF digital channel 16), is a NBC-affiliated television station located in Saint Joseph, Missouri, United States. The station is owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company, and is a sister station to Fox affiliate (and the company's television flagship) KNPN-LD (channel 26) and Telemundo affiliate KBJO-LD (channel 30). The three stations share studio facilities located out of News-Press & Gazette's company headquarters (which also house operations for the St. Joseph News-Press and local news and weather channel News-Press 3 NOW) on Edmond Street and Interstate 29 in downtown Saint Joseph;[1] KNPG-LD maintains transmitter facilities located between South 16th and Duncan Streets (adjacent to U.S. 36), just southeast of downtown Saint Joseph.

Its LD2 subchannel is affiliated with The CW through its programming feed The CW Plus, which formerly aired on the station's main channel from July 2012 until its conversion into an NBC affiliate in November 2016; its on-air branding, St. Joseph CW 6, is derived from the station's cable placement on Suddenlink Communications channel 6.[2]

History

Early history

The station's history traces back to the September 21, 1998 launch of a cable-only affiliate of The WB that was originally managed and promoted by NPG Cablevision (a cable television provider that was owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company), alongside the launch of The WB 100+ Station Group, a service similar to The CW Plus that was created to expand national coverage of The WB via primarily local origination channels managed by cable providers in markets ranked above #100 by Nielsen Media Research. Since it was a cable-exclusive outlet that was not licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, the channel used the callsign "WBJO" in a fictional manner. Before the sign-on of the cable-only WBJO, viewers in the St. Joseph, Missouri area received their WB network programs, via Superstation WGN, and in September 1996, KCWB when the station began broadcasting, then from KSMO-TV when that station dropped UPN and picked up the WB from KCWB, in which it changed the call letters to KCWE two years later.

On January 24, 2006, Time Warner and CBS Corporation announced that the two companies would shut down their respective networks, The WB and UPN, to create The CW Television Network, which would feature programs from its two predecessors as well as new series that were specifically produced for The CW.[3] The CW Plus was created by the network as a replacement for The WB 100+ Station Group to allow the existing cable outlets as well as low-power analog stations and digital subchannels of major network affiliates in smaller markets that had joined The WB 100+ in the years following its launch to maintain a network affiliation; "WBJO" affiliated with The CW Plus on September 18, 2006 upon the launch of the CW network.

Prior to the launch of KNPN-LD, residents in the Saint Joseph market who received programming over-the-air or subscribed to other television providers besides Suddenlink viewed CW programming through out-of-market stations: some rural cable systems carried KCWE from the nearby Kansas City market (which provides at least grade B signal coverage to much of the Saint Joseph market); the default CW outlet for local DirecTV subscribers was Omaha's KXVO, while Dish Network carried New York City affiliate WPIX, Los Angeles affiliate KTLA and Denver affiliate KWGN-TV as default affiliates through their carriage on its superstation package in lieu of regional affiliates located within proximity to Saint Joseph. Upon the sale of News-Press & Gazette Company's cable television operations (which served Saint Joseph, and parts of Arizona and California) to Suddenlink Communications in 2011 for $350 million,[4] Suddenlink also acquired ownership of "WBJO" and sister cable outlet News-Press 3 NOW.

On March 19, 2012, News-Press & Gazette Company announced that it would launch a Fox-affiliated television station in Saint Joseph to serve as the flagship of its television station group, which would also carry affiliations with The CW and Spanish-language network Telemundo on digital subchannels;[5] the station was created using the license of K26LV-D (now KNPN-LD).[6][7] On June 1, 2012, News-Press & Gazette Company confirmed that The CW Plus would be carried on its third digital subchannel, retaining the "St. Joseph CW 6" branding; although the satellite providers carry KNPN's main signal, DirecTV and Dish Network did not sign carriage agreements to offer KNPN-LD3 (and subsequently KBJO-LD), CW programming continued to be offered through out-of-market stations as a result.[8] The subchannel officially debuted at 6:00 a.m. on June 2, 2012, with News-Press & Gazette assuming promotional and advertising control of "WBJO" from Suddenlink Communications with the subsequent sign-on of KNPN-LD digital subchannel 26.3. It remained available on Suddenlink cable channel 6 (a high definition feed of the channel was also provided to Suddenlink subscribers on digital cable channel 606).[9]

KNPG-LD history

As KBJO-LD

On March 14, 2012, concurrent with its acquisition of K26LV-D, News-Press & Gazette also purchased the low-power digital license of K16KF-D from DTV America 1, LLC of Sunrise, Florida; the purchase price for both stations was $72,000.[6] Two weeks earlier on February 29, the FCC granted the company's construction permit application to relocate the two stations' transmitter facilities from a tower near Mound City to the St. Joseph transmitter and upgrade the effective radiated power of both stations.[7][10][11]

Channel 16 first signed on the air on March 7, 2013, concurrent with the change of K16KF-D's callsign to KBJO-LD (adapted from the predecessor cable channel's branding).[12][13] Concurrent with KBJO's sign-on, KNPN-LD dropped CW programming from its second subchannel.[14] Low-powered television stations are exempt from the must-carry and retransmission consent regulations that full-powered stations enjoy, meaning that its carriage on other area cable systems besides Suddenlink, and satellite providers is not guaranteed.

Switch to NBC affiliation & call letter change

On August 18, 2016, the News-Press & Gazette Company announced that it had reached an affiliation agreement with NBC, under which channel 21 would become the network's affiliate for the St. Joseph market, giving the market its first locally-based NBC affiliate. Concurrent with the change, the station's call letters would be changed from KBJO-LD to KNPG-LD, which had been assigned to its Telemundo-affiliated sister station on channel 30. On November 1 of that year, when the callsign and network affiliation change took effect,[15] the CW Plus affiliation moved to a newly created subchannel on virtual channel 21.2; the KBJO-LD callsign was transferred to its sister station on channel 30.[16]

KNPG-LD displaced KSHB-TV (channel 41) – which is among the seven full-power Kansas City stations that provide city-grade signal coverage in Saint Joseph proper – as the area's default NBC station on Suddenlink Communications, DirecTV and Dish Network. However, KSHB – which has served as the network's default affiliate for St. Joseph since it assumed the NBC affiliation from WDAF-TV (channel 4) in September 1994 – continues to act as an alternate NBC affiliate for the market as its transmitter produces a city-grade signal that reaches Saint Joseph proper, and the station remains available on Suddenlink; however, the switch resulted in NBC programs carried on KSHB being blacked out to comply with programming duplication regulations imposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).[15] The move left CBS and MyNetworkTV as the outliers among the six major broadcast networks without a local affiliate in St. Joseph, both networks continue to be received in the area through the Meredith Corporation-owned Kansas City duopoly of KCTV (channel 5) and KSMO-TV (channel 62).

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[17]
21.1 720p 16:9 KNPG Main KNPG-LD programming / NBC
21.2 St. Joseph's CW 6

As TBN owned-and-operated station KTAJ-TV's virtual digital channel is mapped as "16" (its former analog channel assignment) through PSIP, KNPG-LD (as KBJO-LD) signed on as PSIP channel 21.1 (which is also KTAJ's physical digital channel) to avoid PSIP channel mapping redunancies with KTAJ.

News operation

As KBJO-LD, the station did not broadcast any newscasts from parent station KNPN-LD. However, when KBJO-LD changed its call letters to KNPG-LD and joined NBC on November 1, KNPN began producing newscasts as well as providing simulcast of local news programs originating on that station for KNPG, using the former's existing news department staff.

On that date, it began simulcasting the first 90 minutes of KNPN's weekday morning newscast (which runs on that station for 2½ hours, with the remaining hour airing exclusively on channel 26 as KNPG airs Today during the 7:00 a.m. hour of the broadcast) and its half-hour 5:00 p.m. newscast (the weekend editions of which moved to KNPG following the switch, due partly to frequent pre-emptions on channel 26 caused by predetermined or gameplay-caused overruns by Fox Sports event broadcasts). In addition, KNPG-LD also began producing half-hour newscasts at 6:00 p.m. weeknights and at 10:00 p.m. seven nights a week that are exclusive to the station.

See also

References

External links

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