Early history
The station first signed on the air on October 26, 1994, as K65GD, which originally transmitted on UHF channel 65. The station was founded by the Epic Broadcasting Corporation, then owner of KCIT. Operating as an independent station, it carried a mix of first-run and off-network syndicated programming, feature films and animated series.
On January 16, 1995, the station became a charter affiliate of the United Paramount Network (UPN), which was created as a partnership between Paramount Television and Chris-Craft/United Television.[3] Outside of UPN prime time programming, the station otherwise continued to maintain a general entertainment programming format. Alongside UPN prime time programming, channel 65 initially carried some recent off-network sitcoms and drama series, movies on weekend afternoons and evenings, children's programming, and some first-run syndicated shows. That same year, Epic sold K65GD, KCIT and sister stations KJTL and KJBO-LP in Wichita Falls to the Wicks Broadcast Group. On November 21, 1997, the station adopted a conventional callsign as KCPN-LP (a combination of the calls of sister station KCIT and its affiliation with UPN), at which time, the station had also moved to UHF channel 33.
On January 6, 1999, Wicks announced that it would sell KCPN-LP and KCIT to Mission Broadcasting for $13 million. The day before the Mission Broadcasting purchase announcement, on January 5, Boston-based Quorum Broadcasting announced that it would purchase KAMR-TV from Cannan Communications as part of a $64-million, three-station deal). The acquisition of KCIT and KCPN was among the first station acquisitions for Mission, which originated as an arm of its creditor Bastet Broadcasting; the Bexley, Ohio–based group had formed partnerships with the Nexstar Broadcasting Group and Quorum to operate many of Mission's stations in markets that did not have enough television stations to allow a legal duopoly between two commercial broadcast outlets. Quorum took over the operations of KCIT and KCPN on June 1, 1999, under joint sales and shared services agreements with Mission, under which KAMR would handle news production, engineering, security and certain other services as well as handling advertising sales for the two stations.[4][5][6][7][8] KAMR subsequently vacated its longtime studio facility on North Polk and Northeast 24th Streets, and relocated its operations 7 mi south to KCIT/KCPN's Fillmore Street facility.
KCPN disaffiliated from UPN on September 16, 2002, after the network reached an affiliation agreement with Drewry Communications to carry its programming on KZBZ-LP (channel 46, later KTXC-LP). The affiliation switch occurred two weeks after the September 1 launch of KFDA's digital television signal (the first television station to begin digital broadcasting operations in the Amarillo market), which began carrying a simulcast of KZBZ on virtual channel 10.3; KFDA also reached an agreement with Cox Communications (its Amarillo service area is now served by Suddenlink Communications) to carry the low-powered KZBZ on channel 6 to avoid disrupting access to UPN programming in the market.[10][11] KCPN replaced UPN network programming with a mix of off-network syndicated programming during prime time. On September 12, 2003, Quorum merged with Irving, Texas–based Nexstar Broadcasting Group for $230 million;[12][13] when the sale was finalized on December 31, 2003, Mission transferred the SSA involving KCIT and KCPN to Nexstar as a consequence of its acquisition of KAMR.[14]
As a MyNetworkTV affiliate
On January 24, 2006, the respective parent companies of UPN and The WB, CBS Corporation and the Warner Bros. Entertainment division of Time Warner, announced that they would dissolve the two networks to create The CW Television Network, a joint venture between the two media companies that initially featured programs from its two predecessor networks as well as new series specifically produced for The CW.[15][16] Subsequently, on February 22, 2006, News Corporation announced the launch of MyNetworkTV, a network operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television that was created to primarily to provide network programming to UPN and WB stations that The CW decided against affiliating based on their local viewership standing in comparison to the outlet that The CW ultimately chose as its charter outlets, giving these stations another option besides converting to a general entertainment independent format.[17]
