KSNW

KSNW, virtual channel 3 (UHF digital channel 45), is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Wichita, Kansas, United States. The station is owned by Media General. KSNW maintains studio facilities located on North Main Street in northwest Wichita (near downtown), and its transmitter is located in rural northwestern Sedgwick County (east-southeast of Colwich).

KSNW serves as the flagship of the Kansas State Network (KSN), a regional network of four stations (three full-power and one low-power) relaying NBC network programming and other programs provided by KSNW across central and western Kansas, as well as bordering counties in Nebraska and Oklahoma. On cable, the station is available on Cox Communications and AT&T U-verse channel 3 in standard definition, and in high definition on Cox QAM channel 115-1 and digital channel 2003, and U-verse channel 1003.

History

The station first signed on the air on September 1, 1955 as KARD-TV; it was the fourth television station to sign on in the Wichita-Hutchinson market, after KAKE (channel 10) – which signed on in October 1954, KEDD (channel 16) - which signed on in August 1953, and KTVH (channel 12, now KWCH-DT) – which signed on in July 1953. It was initially an independent station, but joined NBC on May 1, 1956 when its former affiliate KEDD shut down. As a result, Wichita became one of the smallest U.S. cities to have three television stations that each maintain exclusive affiliations with one of the major networks. Channel 3 also took the NBC affiliation from KAKE, which had only been with the network since it signed on the previous year.