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KFTA-TV
KFTA-TV (channel 24) is a television station licensed to Fort Smith, Arkansas, United States, serving as the Fox affiliate for the Arkansas River Valley and Northwest Arkansas. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Rogers–licensed NBC affiliate KNWA-TV (channel 51) and Eureka Springs–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate KXNW (channel 34). The stations share studios at the Underwood Building on Dickson Street in downtown Fayetteville. KFTA-TV's transmitter is located on Cartwright Mountain, south of Artist Point; KFTA's programming is also broadcast from KNWA-TV's transmitter southeast of Garfield, Arkansas, as one of its subchannels and vice versa.
Channel 24 was the third commercial station to be activated in Fort Smith. It began broadcasting on November 12, 1978, as KLMN and was a CBS affiliate with studios on Kelley Highway, changing affiliations to NBC in 1980. It was built by MCM Broadcasting, a company in which Jim and Rob Walton were part-owners, and was sold to the Schindler family of Houston in 1980. The station was renamed KPOM-TV in 1982. From 1986 to 2003, the station was owned and operated by Griffin TV. Griffin invested in the news department. To improve KPOM-TV's poor reception in fast-growing Northwest Arkansas, it acquired the construction permit for channel 51 in Rogers and built it as KFAA, a satellite station, in 1989. However, the station remained third in local news ratings. The original news department was disbanded in 1992, but Griffin relaunched news in 2000 in conjunction with opening a studio in downtown Fayetteville.
Nexstar took over management of KPOM–KFAA in 2004 before buying the stations outright from Griffin. It changed the stations' call signs to KFTA-TV and KNWA-TV, respectively, and concentrated its resources on the more populous, more affluent, and faster-growing Northwest Arkansas portion of the market. The Fort Smith operation was reopened from 2006 to 2011 in conjunction with KFTA splitting off as a Fox affiliate and a never-consummated sale to Mission Broadcasting. KNWA-TV produces 7 a.m. and 5:30 and 9 p.m. local newscasts for air on KFTA-TV.
MCM Television received a construction permit from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build a television station on channel 24 in Fort Smith on March 14, 1975. The station, bearing the call sign KLMN, was still unbuilt in 1977, when Jim and Rob Walton acquired a 20-percent stake. The station was announced to be beginning construction that December, and in May 1978, it received the primary CBS affiliation for the market. The existing CBS affiliate in Northwest Arkansas, the combination of KFPW-TV 40 and KTVP 29, had been negotiating with ABC, of which the network became aware, prompting the move to the new KLMN. As a result, while the station was still under construction, the full CBS schedule was not available in Fort Smith. This completed Fort Smith's transition from a one-station market where KFSM-TV (channel 5) had all network affiliates to a three-station market.
KLMN began broadcasting on November 12, 1978. It had studios on Kelley Highway and a tower on Cartwright Mountain, midway between Fort Smith and Fayetteville, where the station had a news bureau. KLMN became an NBC affiliate in 1980 after KFSM-TV was purchased by The New York Times Company, which accepted an offer by CBS to change its affiliation. The Times owned two other CBS affiliates. That year, MCM agreed to sell the station to Houston-based Schindler Broadcasting Company for $950,000 and assumption of debts; in comparison, KFSM-TV had sold for $17.5 million. The FCC approved the transfer in May 1981. On September 22, 1982, the station changed its call sign to KPOM-TV. The designation stood for "People on the Move" and came from a viewer contest.
Ozark Broadcasting, under which Schindler reorganized, sold KPOM-TV to Griffin TV of Oklahoma City in a deal announced in August 1985. and filed in November as a $6.24 million transaction. Griffin overhauled the news department, relaunching the newscasts that had been known as 24 Express News as Newsline 24.
Shortly after taking control, Griffin agreed to acquire the construction permit for KFAA (channel 51) at Rogers, to serve as a semi-satellite for Northwest Arkansas. KPOM-TV's penetration of the area—rapidly growing and affluent—was poor. The permit had been held by Mike McCutcheon, whom Griffin hired to be the general sales manager and eventually general manager; McCutcheon had found no party willing to finance construction of the station on a standalone basis. Over an objection from KSNF-TV in Joplin, Missouri, which claimed the combination would have excessive overlap and signal loss issues, the FCC approved the transfer in December 1988. KFAA began broadcasting on August 23, 1989, and the station's newscasts were retitled Newsline 24/51. The 12-person Fayetteville bureau was replaced with a partially separate, 25- to 30-person operation in Rogers, and the station began presenting its newscasts in a dual-city format with an anchor in both cities, an approach already used by channels 40/29. Except for Mike Nail, the Fayetteville-based sports director who doubled as the voice of Arkansas Razorbacks athletics, most of the on-air news staff turned over.
One thing that did not change was that KPOM–KFAA rated third in the full market, often by distant margins compared to KFSM and KHBS/KHOG. However, its ratings status was higher in Benton County, the county containing Rogers, which was reassigned to the Fort Smith–Fayetteville market from Joplin, Missouri, in 1989. In 1991, Griffin agreed to sell KPOM–KFAA to Newark Broadcasting; it had been attempting to sell the pair since late 1989. In anticipation of the move, the station relaunched its newscasts as Eyewitness News in September. The new format included a split segment of news for Northwest Arkansas viewers, though most of the program still originated from Fort Smith. Citing a lack of demand for their news product, Griffin shuttered the KPOM–KFAA news operation effective June 12, 1992, resulting in the dismissal of 22 employees in Fort Smith and Rogers.
KFTA-TV
KFTA-TV (channel 24) is a television station licensed to Fort Smith, Arkansas, United States, serving as the Fox affiliate for the Arkansas River Valley and Northwest Arkansas. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Rogers–licensed NBC affiliate KNWA-TV (channel 51) and Eureka Springs–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate KXNW (channel 34). The stations share studios at the Underwood Building on Dickson Street in downtown Fayetteville. KFTA-TV's transmitter is located on Cartwright Mountain, south of Artist Point; KFTA's programming is also broadcast from KNWA-TV's transmitter southeast of Garfield, Arkansas, as one of its subchannels and vice versa.
Channel 24 was the third commercial station to be activated in Fort Smith. It began broadcasting on November 12, 1978, as KLMN and was a CBS affiliate with studios on Kelley Highway, changing affiliations to NBC in 1980. It was built by MCM Broadcasting, a company in which Jim and Rob Walton were part-owners, and was sold to the Schindler family of Houston in 1980. The station was renamed KPOM-TV in 1982. From 1986 to 2003, the station was owned and operated by Griffin TV. Griffin invested in the news department. To improve KPOM-TV's poor reception in fast-growing Northwest Arkansas, it acquired the construction permit for channel 51 in Rogers and built it as KFAA, a satellite station, in 1989. However, the station remained third in local news ratings. The original news department was disbanded in 1992, but Griffin relaunched news in 2000 in conjunction with opening a studio in downtown Fayetteville.
Nexstar took over management of KPOM–KFAA in 2004 before buying the stations outright from Griffin. It changed the stations' call signs to KFTA-TV and KNWA-TV, respectively, and concentrated its resources on the more populous, more affluent, and faster-growing Northwest Arkansas portion of the market. The Fort Smith operation was reopened from 2006 to 2011 in conjunction with KFTA splitting off as a Fox affiliate and a never-consummated sale to Mission Broadcasting. KNWA-TV produces 7 a.m. and 5:30 and 9 p.m. local newscasts for air on KFTA-TV.
MCM Television received a construction permit from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build a television station on channel 24 in Fort Smith on March 14, 1975. The station, bearing the call sign KLMN, was still unbuilt in 1977, when Jim and Rob Walton acquired a 20-percent stake. The station was announced to be beginning construction that December, and in May 1978, it received the primary CBS affiliation for the market. The existing CBS affiliate in Northwest Arkansas, the combination of KFPW-TV 40 and KTVP 29, had been negotiating with ABC, of which the network became aware, prompting the move to the new KLMN. As a result, while the station was still under construction, the full CBS schedule was not available in Fort Smith. This completed Fort Smith's transition from a one-station market where KFSM-TV (channel 5) had all network affiliates to a three-station market.
KLMN began broadcasting on November 12, 1978. It had studios on Kelley Highway and a tower on Cartwright Mountain, midway between Fort Smith and Fayetteville, where the station had a news bureau. KLMN became an NBC affiliate in 1980 after KFSM-TV was purchased by The New York Times Company, which accepted an offer by CBS to change its affiliation. The Times owned two other CBS affiliates. That year, MCM agreed to sell the station to Houston-based Schindler Broadcasting Company for $950,000 and assumption of debts; in comparison, KFSM-TV had sold for $17.5 million. The FCC approved the transfer in May 1981. On September 22, 1982, the station changed its call sign to KPOM-TV. The designation stood for "People on the Move" and came from a viewer contest.
Ozark Broadcasting, under which Schindler reorganized, sold KPOM-TV to Griffin TV of Oklahoma City in a deal announced in August 1985. and filed in November as a $6.24 million transaction. Griffin overhauled the news department, relaunching the newscasts that had been known as 24 Express News as Newsline 24.
Shortly after taking control, Griffin agreed to acquire the construction permit for KFAA (channel 51) at Rogers, to serve as a semi-satellite for Northwest Arkansas. KPOM-TV's penetration of the area—rapidly growing and affluent—was poor. The permit had been held by Mike McCutcheon, whom Griffin hired to be the general sales manager and eventually general manager; McCutcheon had found no party willing to finance construction of the station on a standalone basis. Over an objection from KSNF-TV in Joplin, Missouri, which claimed the combination would have excessive overlap and signal loss issues, the FCC approved the transfer in December 1988. KFAA began broadcasting on August 23, 1989, and the station's newscasts were retitled Newsline 24/51. The 12-person Fayetteville bureau was replaced with a partially separate, 25- to 30-person operation in Rogers, and the station began presenting its newscasts in a dual-city format with an anchor in both cities, an approach already used by channels 40/29. Except for Mike Nail, the Fayetteville-based sports director who doubled as the voice of Arkansas Razorbacks athletics, most of the on-air news staff turned over.
One thing that did not change was that KPOM–KFAA rated third in the full market, often by distant margins compared to KFSM and KHBS/KHOG. However, its ratings status was higher in Benton County, the county containing Rogers, which was reassigned to the Fort Smith–Fayetteville market from Joplin, Missouri, in 1989. In 1991, Griffin agreed to sell KPOM–KFAA to Newark Broadcasting; it had been attempting to sell the pair since late 1989. In anticipation of the move, the station relaunched its newscasts as Eyewitness News in September. The new format included a split segment of news for Northwest Arkansas viewers, though most of the program still originated from Fort Smith. Citing a lack of demand for their news product, Griffin shuttered the KPOM–KFAA news operation effective June 12, 1992, resulting in the dismissal of 22 employees in Fort Smith and Rogers.