please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . april 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message kpnx mesa phoenix arizona united states city mesa arizona branding channel 12 general 12 news newscasts slogan connecting arizona this is home channels digital 12 vhf virtual 12 psip translators see below affiliations .1 nbc .2 12 news weather .3 justice network owner tegna media multimedia holdings corporation first air date april 23 1953 ; 63 years ago 1953 04 23 call letters meaning phoenix former callsigns ktyl tv 1953 1955 kvar 1955 1959 ktar tv 1959 1979 former channel number s analog 12 vhf 1953 2009 digital 36 uhf 2000 2009 former affiliations secondary dumont 1953 1956 transmitter power 819 kw height 534 m 1 752 ft facility id 35486 transmitter coordinates 33 19 59.2 n 112 3 51.2 w 33.333111 n 112.064222 w 33.333111 ; 112.064222 coordinates 33 19 59.2 n 112 3 51.2 w 33.333111 n 112.064222 w 33.333111 ; 112.064222 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.12news.com kpnx virtual and vhf digital channel 12 is an nbc affiliated television station in phoenix arizona united states that is licensed to mesa . the station is owned by tegna inc. ; kpnx shares offices with formerly co owned newspaper the arizona republic on van buren street in downtown phoenix although they have split after kpnx went to tegna and its transmitter is located atop south mountain on the city s south side . the station s programming is simulcast on satellite station knaz tv in flagstaff and is further relayed through a network of 14 low power translators across northern and central arizona . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 newscasts and local programming 4.1 notable former on air staff 5 references in movies 6 translators 7 references 8 external links history edit the station first signed on the air on april 23 1953 as ktyl tv ; it was originally owned by the harkins theatre group which also owned ktyl radio 1490 am now kihp on 1310 and 104.7 fm now kzzp . the station s original studios were located in the then small town of mesa . the station has been phoenix nbc affiliate since its sign on . previously all four networks of the day were shoehorned on cbs primary affiliate kpho tv channel 5 . channel 12 carried some programming from the dumont television network an affiliation that was shared with kpho until that network s demise in 1956 . john j. louis owner of ktar radio 620 am and 98.7 fm now kmvp fm bought channel 12 in 1955 and changed its call letters to kvar . it would have been ktar tv but at the time federal communications commission regulations did not allow a television station to have the same call letters as a sister radio station if they were licensed in different cities . when regulations were loosened in 1959 channel 12 changed its callsign again to ktar tv . soon afterward the station moved to a new studio on central avenue in phoenix after the fcc began permitting television stations to operate their studio facilities outside of their city of license . for much of the next half century the station identified as phoenix mesa even though under fcc regulations it should have identified as mesa phoenix . over the years the louis family bought several other broadcasting outlets including wqxi tv now wxia tv in atlanta georgia and wpta tv in fort wayne indiana . eventually the louis family s broadcasting interests became known as pacific & southern broadcasting headquartered in phoenix with ktar am fm tv as the company s flagship stations . ktar tv logo used from the late 1960s to 1975 . phoenix advertising mogul karl eller bought pacific & southern broadcasting in 1968 and combined it with his existing business to form combined communications . eller was also one of the original founding owners of the city s first major professional sports team the national basketball association s phoenix suns . channel 12 carried suns games from the team s 1968 inception until the 1980s when the game telecasts moved to then independent station knxv tv channel 15 . ktar tv ident from 1975 . based on the lettering used by nbc news at the time the 12 logo survived until early 1986 long after the station became kpnx . ktar tv was the phoenix pioneer of the so called happy talk news format when it reformatted its newscasts under the action news format in late 1973 with longtime anchor ray thompson paired alongside bob hughes weatherman dewey hopper most recently with air america radio affiliate kphx and a longtime weather forecaster in sacramento and sportscaster ted brown . south west corner of the republic media building in 2013 combined communications merged with gannett in 1979 in what was at that time the largest media merger in united states history . combined s ownership of the ktar stations had been grandfathered earlier in the decade when the fcc forbade common ownership of television and radio stations in the same market . however with the gannett merger the ktar cluster lost its grandfathered protection . gannett opted to keep channel 12 and sell off the radio stations . the station then changed its callsign to kpnx on september 17 1979 since the radio properties had held the ktar call letters first . the station had placed third in the nielsen ratings for many years behind abc affiliate ktvk channel 3 and cbs affiliate ktsp channel 10 now fox owned and operated station ksaz tv . that soon changed in december 1994 when four of the major english language commercial stations in phoenix all changed their network affiliations . coupled with a resurgent nbc kpnx surged past ktvk to the top of the ratings where it has remained ever since only wavering as nbc has experienced its own ratings troubles since the 2004 05 television season . as it retained its nbc affiliation while kpho ktvk ksaz tv and knxv all swapped affiliations abc from ktvk to knxv cbs from ksaz to kpho and fox from knxv to ksaz with ktvk becoming an independent station after a nominal affiliation with the wb kpnx is the only major english language commercial television station in phoenix to have never changed its primary network affiliation . in 2000 gannett merged with central newspapers owner of the arizona republic . as the fcc forbids the common ownership of newspapers and television stations in the same market gannett would have been forced to sell off either kpnx or the republic however the fcc granted gannett a permanent waiver to keep both media properties . gannett s ownership of kpnx and the republic was a factor in their acquisition of the belo corporation owner of ktvk and kasw in 2013 ; belo s phoenix properties had to be divested to the meredith corporation and sagamorehill broadcasting kasw has since been sold to the nexstar broadcasting group . with gannett splitting its publishing and broadcasting interests this will not be an issue in the future . 1 in january 2011 kpnx left its longtime home on central avenue and consolidated its operations with the republic at the republic media building on east van buren street in downtown phoenix with the station s local newscasts broadcasting from a streetside studio . 2 the central avenue facility was then significantly renovated and became the parsons center for health and wellness in part via a major grant from local business entrepreneur bob parsons the headquarters complex for the southwest center for hiv aids . 3 around the first week of october 2012 gannett entered a dispute against dish network regarding compensation fees and dish s autohop commercial skip feature on its hopper dvrs . gannett ordered that dish discontinue autohop on the account that it is affecting local advertising revenues for kpnx and to a lesser extent the republic . gannett threatened to pull all of its stations including kpnx should the skirmish continue beyond october 7 and dish and gannett fail to reach an agreement . 4 5 the two parties eventually reached an agreement after extending the deadline for a few hours . 6 on june 29 2015 the gannett company split in two with one side specializing in print media and the other side specializing in broadcast and digital media . kpnx was retained by the broadcasting company which took the name tegna . 7 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 8 12.1 16 9 1080i kpnx dt main kpnx programming nbc 12.2 480i weather 12 news weather 12.3 justice justice network kpnx operates 12 news weather formerly 12 news weather plus a 24 hour local weather service on its 12.2 digital subchannel and on local cable providers . in addition to national forecasts from accuweather it also runs local forecast inserts for the phoenix area and northern arizona provided by the kpnx weather department . regional weather conditions and forecasts are displayed on an l bar on the left and bottom quadrants of the screen . originally affiliated with nbc weather plus from december 29 2005 to november 1 2008 national programming on the subchannel has been provided by the local accuweather channel since march 2009 knxv s former goaz.tv subchannel also was affiliated with the service but that subchannel s format focused on traffic . on january 20 2015 kpnx launched a 12.3 subchannel with programming from the justice network . analog to digital conversion edit in 1997 the federal communications commission allocated uhf channel 36 as kpnx s companion digital channel construction on the digital transmitter began the following year . kpnx signed on its digital signal in june 2000 . kpnx shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 12 at 10 12 p.m. during the station s 10 p.m. newscast on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . at 10 38 p.m. on that date the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 36 to vhf channel 12 . 9 10 programming edit kpnx broadcasts the entire nbc schedule with the exception of program preemptions for special programming scheduled in advance or breaking news coverage . syndicated programs featured on kpnx are live with kelly t.d. jakes the ellen degeneres show and extra . with this in part due to its weekday schedule being heavy on locally produced and nbc network programs kpnx has the lowest amount of syndicated programming among the phoenix market s television stations and one of the lowest amounts in the country the syndication inventories of milwaukee nbc affiliate wtmj tv green bay cbs affiliate wfrv tv nashville nbc affiliate wsmv tv minneapolis abc affiliate kstp tv las vegas nbc affiliate ksnv dt and chicago nbc owned and operated station wmaq tv are also limited in a similar fashion . newscasts and local programming edit kpnx 12 news studios located on the south east corner of the republic media building in 2013 . kpnx presently broadcasts 29 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with 4 hours on weekdays 3 hours on saturdays and three hours on sundays ; kpnx s newscasts are among the highest rated local newscasts in arizona during evening timeslots 11 with newscasts during that time period having dominated ratings for several years particularly since the 1994 affiliation switches . on march 1 2009 kpnx began to share a news helicopter operated by helicopters inc. as part of a local news service agreement with kpho tv and ktvk ; the helicopter is named news chopper 20 as a combination