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, seeKCJO-LD.

KNPG-LD

St. Joseph, Missouri United States
Channels	Digital:9 (VHF) Virtual:21
Branding	NBC 21 KNPG (general) News-Press Now on NBC 21 KNPG(newscasts) St. Joseph CW 6(on LD2) Telemundo St. Joseph(on LD3)
Programming
Affiliations	21.1:NBC for others, see§ Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	News-Press & Gazette Company (News-Press TV,LLC)
Sister stations	KNPN-LD,KCJO-LD, News-Press NOW
History
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)
Former call signs	"WBJO" (1998–2013) KBJO-LD (2013–2016)
Former channel number(s)	Digital:16 (UHF,2013–2019)
Former affiliations	The WB(viaThe WB 100+;as "WBJO", 1998–2006) The CW(viaThe CW Plus;as "WBJO", 2006–2012; as a broadcast station, 2012–2016)
Call signmeaning	News-Press & Gazette Company
Technical information
Facility ID	188055
Class	LD
ERP	3kW
HAAT	74.6 m (245 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	39°45′2.8″N94°50′25.8″W
Links
Website	www.newspressnow.com/tv/

KNPG-LD(channel 21) is alow-power television stationinSt. Joseph, Missouri,United States, affiliated withNBC,The CW PlusandTelemundo.It is owned by the locally basedNews-Press & Gazette Company(NPG) alongside fellowflagshipproperties,FoxaffiliateKNPN-LD(channel 26) andCBSaffiliateKCJO-LD(channel 30). The three stations share studios at News-Press & Gazette's corporate headquarters (which also house operations for theSt. Joseph News-Pressand localnews and weather channelNews-Press NOW) on Edmond Street in downtown St. Joseph;KNPG-LD's transmitter is located on South 16th Street (adjacent toUS 36), just southeast of downtown.

There are no separate websites for the three stations, instead they are integrated with that of the co-ownedSt. Joseph News-Press.

History

Early history

The station's history traces back to the September 21, 1998, launch of a cable-only affiliate ofThe WBthat was originally managed and promoted by St. Joseph Cablevision (a cable television provider that was owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company), alongside the launch ofThe 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 byNielsen Media Research.Since it was a cable-exclusive outlet that was not licensed by theFederal 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 area received their WB network programs viaSuperstation WGN,and in September 1996,KCWBwhen the station began broadcasting, then fromKSMO-TVwhen 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 WarnerandCBS Corporationannounced that the two companies would shut down their respective networks, The WB andUPN,to createThe CW Television Network,which would feature programs from its two predecessors as well as new series that were specifically produced for The CW.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.

Prior to the launch of KNPN-LD, residents in the St. 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 nearbyKansas Citymarket (which provides at leastgrade B signal coverageto much of the St. Joseph market); the default CW outlet for localDirecTVsubscribers wasOmaha'sKXVO,whileDish NetworkcarriedNew York CityaffiliateWPIX,Los AngelesaffiliateKTLAandDenveraffiliateKWGN-TVas default affiliates through their carriage on itssuperstationpackage in lieu of regional affiliates located within proximity to St. Joseph. Upon the sale of News-Press & Gazette Company's cable television operations (which served St. Joseph, and parts ofArizonaandCalifornia) to Suddenlink Communications in 2011 for $350 million,Suddenlink also acquired ownership of "WBJO" and sister cable outletNews-Press 3 NOW.

On March 19, 2012, News-Press & Gazette Company announced that it would launch a Fox-affiliated television station in St. Joseph to serve as the flagship of its television station group, which would also carry affiliations with The CW andSpanish-languagenetworkTelemundoon digital subchannels;the station was created using the license of K26LV-D (now KNPN-LD).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's 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.The subchannel officially debuted at 6 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 (ahigh definitionfeed of the channel was also provided to Suddenlink subscribers ondigital cablechannel 606).

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 fromDTV America 1, LLCofSunrise, Florida;the purchase price for both stations was $72,000.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 nearMound Cityto the St. Joseph transmitter and upgrade theeffective radiated powerof both stations.

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).Concurrent with KBJO's sign-on, KNPN-LD dropped CW programming from its second subchannel.Low-power television stationsare exempt from themust-carryandretransmission consentregulations that full-power stations enjoy, meaning that its carriage on other area cable systems besides Suddenlink, and satellite providers is not guaranteed.

Switch to NBC affiliation as KNPG-LD

On August 18, 2016, the News-Press & Gazette Company announced that it had reached an affiliation agreement withNBC,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,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.

KNPG-LD displacedKSHB-TV(channel 41) – which is among the seven full-power Kansas City stations that provide city-grade signal coverage in St. 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 fromWDAF-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 St. Joseph proper; however, the switch resulted in NBC programs carried on KSHB beingblacked outto comply with programming duplication regulations imposed by the FCC.The move leftMyNetworkTVas the outlier among the six major broadcast networks without a local affiliate in St. Joseph.

Subsequently, on June 1, 2017, KNPG took over the local affiliation rights to Telemundo, which had been carried on its sister station on channel 30 (as KBJO-LD) until it converted into a CBS affiliate as KCJO-LD on that date, through the activation of a new third subchannel.

News operation

KNPG-LD presently broadcasts 17 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with three hours on weekdays and one hour on Saturdays and Sundays). The news department shared by KNPG, KNPN-LD and KCJO-LD also utilizes reporting and coverage resources from theSt. Joseph News-Press,and also shares content with co-owned local news channel News-Press NOW, with all news programming carried by the properties produced in-house at the station's Edmond Street studios.

As KBJO-LD, the station did not broadcast any newscasts from parent station KNPN-LD (being a CW affiliate at the time, channel 21 would have been precluded from airing much news programming in any event, since Fox affiliate KNPN already produced morning and prime time newscasts that air in time periods where stations affiliated with Fox and The CW typically carry local news as neither network has a morning news-talk program or a third hour of prime time network programming on weekdays).

However, after News-Press and Gazette relaunched channel 21 as NBC affiliate KNPG-LD on November 1, 2016, KNPN began providing simulcasts of local news programs originating on that station as well as additional newscasts produced exclusively 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 for2+1⁄2hours, with the remaining hour airing exclusively on channel 26 as KNPG airsTodayduring the 7 a.m. hour of the broadcast) and its half-hour 5 p.m. newscast (the weekend editions of which moved to KNPG following the switch, due partly to frequent preemptions on channel 26 caused by predetermined or gameplay-caused overruns byFox Sportsevent broadcasts). In addition, KNPG-LD also began producing exclusive half-hour newscasts at 6 p.m. weeknights and at 10 p.m. seven nights a week. CBS affiliate KCJO-LD subsequently began simulcasting all of the news programs carried by KNPG, when the former Telemundo affiliate was relaunched as a CBS station on June 1, 2017.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal ismultiplexed:

Subchannels of KNPG-LD

Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name	Programming
21.1	1080i	16:9	KNPG	NBC
21.2	720p		KNPG-CW	The CW Plus
21.3	1080i		KNPGTEL	Telemundo
21.4	480i		QNPGBNC	Bounce TV
21.5			SNPGRIT	Grit

AsTBNowned-and-operated stationKTAJ-TV'svirtual channelis mapped as "16" (its former analog channel assignment), KNPG-LD (as KBJO-LD) signed on as virtual channel 21.1 (which is also KTAJ's physical digital channel) to avoid channel mapping redundancies with KTAJ.

See also

• Channel 9 digital TV stations in the United States
• Channel 9 low-power TV stations in the United States
• Channel 21 virtual TV stations in the United States

External links

• www.newspressnow.com/tv/- KNPG-LD/KNPN-LD/KCJO-LD official website
• www.yourcwtv.com/partners/saintjoseph/- "St. Joseph CW 6"official website
• Facility details for Facility ID 188055 (KNPG-LD)in theFCCLicensing and Management System