Newscasts
KSNT presently produces 13 1/2 hours of locally produced newscasts each week for KTMJ-CD (consisting of 2 1/2 hours each weekday and a half-hour each on Saturdays and Sundays); the weekend editions of the 9 p.m. newscast are occasionally preempted on certain Saturday and/or Sunday evenings whenever Fox schedules sports programming in prime time that is expected to run into that hour, as KSNT cannot air the program on delay due to its late-evening news simulcast on KSNT and KTKA-TV.
KTMJ-CD, as a Junction City-based station, began broadcasting local news programming in 1988, running news updates focusing on Junction City and Manhattan; the station launched a half-hour prime time newscast at 9 p.m. in 1995. After KTMJ moved its call letters and operations to Topeka in 2001, the station canceled its prime time newscast, replacing it with 60- to 90-second news updates on an hourly basis from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m., anchored primarily by KTMJ news director Gary Brauer.[11]
In April 2007, KTMJ began airing newscasts from fellow Fox affiliate WDAF-TV in Kansas City, simulcasting that station's weekday morning and nightly 9 p.m. newscasts. Following New Vision's purchase of KTMJ-CA, KSNT decided to launch Topeka-focused newscasts produced specifically for the station; on October 31, 2008, KSNT replaced the WDAF morning news simulcast with Good Day Live, a two-hour weekday morning newscast at 7 a.m., using anchors and meteorologists seen on KSNT's morning newscast. Four months later on February 10, 2009, the prime time news simulcast from WDAF was replaced by a half-hour newscast at 9 p.m. on Monday through Friday evenings.[12]
As a result of KTKA's sale to PBC Broadcasting and local marketing agreement with then-KSNT owner New Vision Television, KSNT took over production of KTKA's newscasts, using existing staff from both stations. Newscasts on KSNT, KTKA and KTMJ were relaunched on July 30, under the uniform branding Kansas First News, consisting of the existing KTKA and KTMJ newscasts as well as news simulcasts between KTKA and KSNT;[13] 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; the morning and prime time newscasts on KTMJ were included in the upgrade.
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; the Fox wordmark in the case of KTMJ-CD), with newscasts on KSNT, KTMJ and KTKA being rebranded as KSNT News. Subsequently, on January 30, KTMJ expanded its 9 p.m. newscast to Saturday and Sunday evenings.[14]
