KNWA-TV

KNWA-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas River Valley. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 50 (virtual channel 51.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter southeast of Garfield. Owned by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group, the station is sister to the Fort Smith-based Fox affiliate KFTA-TV. The two stations share a studio on Dickson Street in Downtown Fayetteville. It also operates a satellite studio in Rogers, its city of license, as well as on Kelley Highway in Fort Smith.

Syndicated programming on KNWA includes Anderson, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Entertainment Tonight, Judge Judy, The People's Court, and The Doctors. KNWA also airs the statewide news program Arkansas Today, along with Nexstar sister stations KARK, KTAL, and KTVE.

History

The station began on October 1, 1989 as KFAA-TV as a satellite of KPOM-TV in Fort Smith. Both stations were owned by the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-based Griffin Television. Its sign-on marked the first time that NBC had been seen over-the-air in much of the northern part of the market since KFSM-TV lost the area's NBC affiliation to KPOM in 1983. KPOM only provided Grade B coverage of Fayetteville and could not be seen at all in Rogers and points north. In 2004, Griffin Television sold KPOM-TV and KFAA-TV to Nexstar, and the stations changed their calls to KNWA-TV and KFTA-TV respectively in 2004 and KNWA became the main station. At the same time, the two stations' operations both were merged in a new studio located in the historic Campbell-Bell building on South Block Avenue in Downtown Fayetteville. KFTA's original studio on Kelley Highway in Fort Smith remained in use as KNWA's Arkansas River Valley bureau.