News Channel Nebraska


News Channel Nebraska is an independent, in-state network of commercial radio and television stations in the U.S. state of Nebraska and Sioux City, Iowa. It is operated by Flood Communications, which was founded by attorney, businessman and Congressman Mike Flood. The television stations are all members of the NCN network.

History

News Channel Nebraska was founded in 2015 at Norfolk, Nebraska. In 2017, Flood Communications announced the addition of Spanish-language network Telemundo, also called Telemundo Nebraska.
In addition to commercial advertising, NCN holds pledge drives and solicits donations in the same manner as non-commercial broadcasters.

Programming

News Channel Nebraska primarily focuses on rolling news coverage similar to the original CNN Headline News and the later NewsNet, whose founder and original owner helped establish the format on the News Channel Nebraska stations. Newscasts air every hour and focus primarily on rural Nebraska stories with some coverage of the two major cities, Lincoln and Omaha, and weather forecasts every 10 minutes including former WTNH meteorologist Geoff Fox broadcasting from his home studio in Irvine, California. The network also includes extensive coverage of high school and small college sports with two broadcast trucks covering rural football and basketball games. There is a "north" and "south" feed which show different sports programs, with the other feed's game rebroadcast on delay. High school sports programming requires a subscription when viewed online. In order to avoid conflicts of interest, articles and news coverage involving Flood are written by the Associated Press or Gray Television affiliates in Nebraska.
In March 2020, NCN launched Quarantine Tonight, a show featuring live music from local musicians originally produced as a service to viewers during the COVID-19 pandemic that proved popular enough to continue well past its original planned ending date. Flood was the host of Quarantine Tonight until he began his run for Congress, since then the program has been hosted by former News Channel Nebraska reporter Austen Hagood.
NCN carries some limited syndicated lifestyle programming on weekend mornings, including AgPhD, Ron Hazelton's HouseCalls and P. Allen Smith Garden Style.

Network stations

NCN consists of seven low-power TV stations that make up the network, all stations have callsigns beginning with a "K", as licensed by the Federal Communications Commission. Combined, they reach almost all of eastern and central Nebraska, as well as parts of Siouxland.
StationCity of licenseChannelFacility IDERPHAATTransmitter coordinatesLicenseeFirst air dateCall letters' meaningPublic license information
KBWF-LDSioux City, Iowa1518167315 kWFlood Communications of Omaha, LLC2016Blake William Flood, Mike Flood's youngest son
KFDY-LDLincoln27670123.65 kWFlood Communications of Omaha, LLC2017"Floody", the nickname of Mike Flood's oldest son, Brenden Flood
KMJF-LDColumbus4818529512 kWFlood Communications, L.L.C.2015Michael John Flood
KMLF-LDGrand Island2118858215 kWFlood Communications Tri-Cities, L.L.C.2017Mandi Lynn Flood, Mike Flood's wife
KNEN-LDNorfolk3518561215 kWFlood Communications, L.L.C.2015"North East Nebraska"
KOHA-LDOmaha273314415 kWFlood Communications of Omaha, LLC2018"Omaha"
KWBE-LDBeatrice2118430815 kWFlood Communications of Beatrice, LLC2016"Beatrice"; shared with KWBE

Technical information

Subchannels

The signals of the NCN stations are multiplexed:
ChannelRes.AspectShort nameProgramming
15.1720p16:9NCN-NNCN
15.2720p16:9TLMONEBTelemundo

ChannelRes.AspectShort nameProgramming
21.1720p16:9TELM NETelemundo
21.2720p16:9NCN-SNCN
21.3480i4:3NCN-NNCN SD simulcast