KSHB-TV

KSHB-TV, virtual channel 41 (UHF digital channel 42), is an NBC-affiliated television station serving Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas, United States. The station is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, as part of a duopoly with independent station KMCI-TV (channel 38). The two stations share studio facilities located on Oak Street in Kansas City, KSHB maintains transmitter facilities located at the Blue River Greenway in the city's Hillcrest section.

The station also serves as the default NBC affiliate for the St. Joseph market, which does not have an NBC affiliate of its own. KSHB provides a city-grade signal in St. Joseph proper, and it is available on cable and satellite providers in the market.

History

Early history

The station first signed on the air on August 10, 1970 as KBMA-TV (standing for Businessmen's Assurance Company of America, which provided initial funds for the station's founding), Founded by Wilson D. Grant, it originally operated as an independent station. However, it had stronger financing and programming than the city's first independent, KCIT-TV (channel 50, now Ion Television owned-and-operated station KPXE-TV), which ceased operations in July 1971 and left channel 41 as the only independent station in Kansas City for the next 12 years (channel 50 eventually returned to the air in December 1978 as a religious station).