Construction and Griffin ownership
Channel 51 was allocated to Rogers, Arkansas, in 1984. The only application for the channel came from MCC Communications, a company owned by John McCutcheon, which was granted the permit in 1985. McCutcheon struggled to find financing to construct the station as a standalone operation,[1] and in February 1986, Griffin TV agreed to acquire the permit to serve as a semi-satellite of KPOM-TV (channel 24), the NBC affiliate in Fort Smith, for Northwest Arkansas.[2] KPOM-TV's penetration of the area—rapidly growing and affluent—was poor.
KNWA/KFTA split
On April 19, 2006, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced it would sell KFTA-TV to Brecksville, Ohio–based Mission Broadcasting, a group which maintained joint sales and shared services agreements with Nexstar-operated outlets in other cities, for $5.6 million. Under the terms of the agreement, KFTA would continue to be operated by Nexstar under agreement but would split from KNWA to broadcast Fox on a full-power signal as well as a prime time local newscast.[3] Mission leased the Kelley Highway offices and renovated them to house its operation.[4] The area's existing Fox affiliate was a low-power station, KPBI-CA (channel 46). KPBI-CA's affiliation agreement let Fox move its programming to a full-power station, such as KFTA-TV, on 90 days' notice.[5] Its owner, Equity Broadcasting, challenged the sale of KFTA with the FCC, claiming the move would result in an unauthorized duopoly. Even while the challenge was pending, KFTA became a Fox affiliate on August 28. Until the license challenge was to be settled, KFTA continued to simulcast KNWA from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. KFTA was only available in Fayetteville and KNWA in Fort Smith using digital subchannels.[6] Coinciding with the switch to Fox, KFTA began airing a 9 p.m. newscast on weeknights concentrating on Fort Smith–area news.[7] Even though the FCC approved the transaction in 2008 (admonishing Nexstar for making false claims and barring them from simulcasting each other's digital signals),[8] Mission never acquired KFTA, and in 2019, Nexstar acquired another Northwest Arkansas–market station, KXNW (channel 34). It was able to do so because the FCC recognized KNWA-TV as operating as a satellite of KFTA-TV under a waiver.[9]
KFTA shut its Fort Smith office in 2011 and moved all operations to Fayetteville.[10] In October 2012, KNWA–KFTA relocated its operations into its current facility at The Dickson condominium complex on West Dickson Street, occupying approximately 12,000 sqft of studio space on the third floor of the building.[11] This enabled an expanded news presence on KFTA.[12] That year, KNWA joined the other Nexstar-owned NBC affiliates serving Arkansas (KARK, KTAL-TV, and KTVE) in airing a statewide midday newscast, Arkansas Today, which featured sports segments from Fayetteville.[13]
On March 20, 2026, it was announced that KNWA would be sold as part of Nexstar's acquisition of Tegna.[14]
