KSNT

callsign	KSNT
branding	27 KSNT; 27 News
digital	27 (UHF)
virtual	27
affiliations	27.1: NBC 27.2: Fox for others, see
owner	Nexstar Media Group
licensee	Nexstar Media Inc.
location	Topeka, Kansas
country	United States
airdate	December 28, 1967
callsign meaning	Kansas State Network Topeka (former KSNW semi-satellite)
sister stations	KTKA-TV, KTMJ-CD
former callsigns	KTSB (1967–1982)
former channel numbers	Analog: 27 (UHF, 1967–2009) Digital: 28 (UHF, 2004–2009)
former affiliations	ABC (secondary, 1967–1983)
erp	77.9 kW
haat	320 m
facility id	67335
coordinates	39.09278°N, -95.78444°W
licensing authority	FCC
website	https://www.ksnt.com/

KSNT (channel 27) is a television station in Topeka, Kansas, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside low-power, Class A Fox affiliate KTMJ-CD (channel 43); Nexstar also provides certain services to dual ABC affiliate/de facto CW+ owned-and-operated station KTKA-TV (channel 49) under joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with Vaughan Media, LLC. The stations share studios on Northwest 25th Street (US 24), near the unincorporated community of Kiro (with a Topeka mailing address), where KSNT's transmitter is also located.

History

Early years

The station first signed on the air on December 28, 1967, as KTSB.

Sale to LIN Media, and then Media General, then Nexstar

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.[11][12] LIN and Vaughan Media (which concurrently purchased the PBC stations) also entered into a joint sales agreement to provide advertising services for KTKA.[13] The sale of New Vision to LIN Media and KTKA's purchase by Vaughan Media was approved by the FCC on October 2,[14] with the transaction closing on October 12, 2012.[15] The deal marked a re-entry into Kansas for LIN, who briefly owned the licenses of Wichita ABC affiliate KAKE 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.[16] The FCC approved the merger on December 12, 2014, with the deal being consummated on December 19;[17] 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.[18] On September 28, 2015, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced it had offered to purchase Media General and its stations, including KSNT and KTMJ.[19] On January 27, 2016, Nexstar announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Media General.[20] 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 affiliate KSNF in

Programming

KSNT carries the entire NBC programming schedule, though the station airs NBC News Daily "live" with its airing in the Eastern Time Zone as a noontime offering, rather than its usual 1 p.m. Central slot on most affiliates.

News operation

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 additional 13 1/2 hours of locally produced newscasts each week for Fox affiliate KTMJ-CD (consisting of 2 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 by Frank 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.[22][23][24] 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 station WDAF-TV in Kansas 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 branding Kansas First News (which also encompassed the prime time newscast on KTMJ, in an arrangement similar to other joint news operations involving virtual triopolies such as Hawaii News Now involving Raycom Media and American Spirit Media–owned stations in Honolulu and Granite Broadcasting/Malara Broadcast Group's Indiana's NewsCenter operation in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Northland's NewsCenter operation in Duluth, 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;[25][26] 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 in high definition.

Beginning with the 5 p.m. newscast on January 26, 2015, KSNT quietly dropped the Kansas 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 as KSNT News. KTMJ has been rebranded as Fox 43 News @ 9.

On March 25, 2022, KSNT introduced a new logo and revived the 27 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.

Notable former on-air staff

Craig Bolerjack – sports anchor
Campbell Brown – reporter
Steve Doocy – meteorologist
Bill Karins – meteorologist
Alycia Lane – anchor/reporter
Jon Leiberman – reporter
Brent Stover – sports anchor

Notable former on-air staff

Craig Bolerjack – sports anchor
Campbell Brown – reporter
Steve Doocy – meteorologist
Bill Karins – meteorologist
Alycia Lane – anchor/reporter
Jon Leiberman – reporter
Brent Stover – sports anchor

KSNT

History

Early years

New Vision Television ownership, acquisition of KTMJ-CA and LMA with KTKA-TV

Sale to LIN Media, and then Media General, then Nexstar

KSNT-DT2

Programming

News operation

Notable former on-air staff

Notable former on-air staff

Technical information

Subchannels

Analog-to-digital conversion

External links

References