KNWA-TV
KNWA-TV is a television station licensed to Rogers, Arkansas, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas River Valley. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Fort Smith–licensed Fox affiliate KFTA-TV and Eureka Springs–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate KXNW. The stations share studios on Dickson Street in downtown Fayetteville. KNWA-TV's transmitter is located southeast of Garfield, Arkansas; KNWA-TV's programming is also broadcast from KFTA-TV's transmitter south of Artist Point as one of its subchannels and vice versa.
Channel 51 began broadcasting as KFAA on August 23, 1989. It served as a satellite station of channel 24, then KPOM-TV, owned by Griffin TV. The addition of channel 51 resolved a coverage shortfall for KPOM-TV in fast-growing, affluent Northwest Arkansas that had hindered its competitive position. The two stations carried the same NBC programming and local news, though they had separate advertisements and promotions; KFAA had its own studios in Rogers and eventually originated Northwest Arkansas news inserts for the shared newscasts. The expanded coverage did not improve channel 24/51's news ratings, which had long been in third place, and Griffin discontinued the news department in 1992. Northwest Arkansas's growth in the 1990s made it possible for Griffin to restore a newscast in 2000. As part of the effort, Griffin built new studios in the Campbell-Bell building in downtown Fayetteville.
When Nexstar assumed control of KPOM–KFAA in 2004, it reoriented the news department to primarily serve Northwest Arkansas, changing the stations' call signs to KFTA-TV and KNWA-TV, respectively; moving station operations from Fort Smith to Fayetteville; and reallocating news resources to focus on the Fayetteville area. In 2006, Nexstar split the signals of the two stations, with Fox programming on KFTA, NBC on KNWA, and both services broadcast market-wide as digital subchannels. Even though the stations have separate programming, they are considered one program service by the Federal Communications Commission as a legacy of their prior configuration, enabling Nexstar to own KXNW.
History
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, and in February 1986, Griffin TV agreed to acquire the permit to serve as a semi-satellite of KPOM-TV, the NBC affiliate in Fort Smith, for Northwest Arkansas. KPOM-TV's penetration of the area—rapidly growing and affluent—was poor.As a Fox affiliate
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. Mission leased the Kelley Highway offices and renovated them to house its operation. The area's existing Fox affiliate was a low-power station, KPBI-CA. KPBI-CA's affiliation agreement let Fox move its programming to a full-power station, such as KFTA-TV, on 90 days' notice. 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. Coinciding with the switch to Fox, KFTA began airing a 9 p.m. newscast on weeknights concentrating on Fort Smith–area news. Even though the FCC approved the transaction in 2008, Mission never acquired KFTA, and in 2019, Nexstar acquired another Northwest Arkansas–market station, KXNW. It was able to do so because the FCC recognizes KNWA-TV as operating as a satellite of KFTA-TV under a waiver.KFTA shut its Fort Smith office in 2011 and moved all operations to Fayetteville. In October 2012, KNWA–KFTA relocated its operations into its current facility at The Dickson condominium complex on West Dickson Street, occupying approximately of studio space on the third floor of the building. This enabled an expanded news presence on KFTA. That year, KNWA joined the other Nexstar-owned NBC affiliates serving Arkansas in airing a statewide midday newscast, Arkansas Today, which featured sports segments from Fayetteville.
Technical information
Subchannels
KNWA-TV's transmitter is southeast of Garfield; KFTA-TV's transmitter is located on Cartwright Mountain near Artist Point. KNWA-TV and KFTA-TV broadcast two shared channels and two unique diginets each.| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
| 51.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | KNWA-DT | NBC |
| 51.2 | 720p | 16:9 | KFTA-DT | Fox |
| 51.3 | 480p | 16:9 | Laff | Laff |
| 51.4 | 480p | 16:9 | Grit | Grit |