please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . july 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message not to be confused with ksnb tv . ksnv las vegas nevada united states city las vegas branding channel 3 general news 3 newscasts slogan southern nevada s news leader channels digital 22 uhf virtual 3 psip subchannels 3.1 nbc 3.2 estrella tv 3.3 gettv affiliations nbc secondary through 1956 owner sinclair broadcast group kupn licensee llc first air date january 23 1955 ; 61 years ago 1955 01 23 call letters meaning southern nevada sister station s kvcw former callsigns klrj tv 1955 kork tv 1955 1979 kvbc 1979 2009 kvbc dt 2009 2010 ksnv dt 2010 2014 former channel number s analog 2 vhf 1955 1967 3 vhf 1967 2009 digital 2 vhf 1999 2014 former affiliations secondary abc 1955 1956 transmitter power 630 kw height 382.9 m class none facility id 10179 transmitter coordinates 36 0 28 n 115 0 24 w 36.00778 n 115.00667 w 36.00778 ; 115.00667 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website news3lv.com ksnv virtual channel 3 and uhf digital channel 22 is the nbc affiliated television station located in las vegas nevada united states . the station s studios are located on foremaster lane in las vegas making it the only major television station whose operations are based inside the city limits and its transmitter is located on black mountain near henderson southwest of i 515 us 93 us 95 . it was the flagship station of the intermountain west communications company which was founded by the late james e. rogers until the gradual sale of its remaining stations that began in 2013 . the sinclair broadcast group who own las vegas s mynetworktv and the cw affiliate kvcw and formerly owned kvmy now khsv had acquired its reno sister station krnv dt and satellite kenv dt in late 2013 and announced its purchase of ksnv on september 3 2014 . due to restrictions preventing sinclair from owning all three stations the company elected to swap kvmy s license to intermountain west for that of ksnv . on november 4 2014 the ksnv call letter virtual channel number and intellectual unit moved to the channel 21 license that was previously used for kvmy effectively putting the station under sinclair ownership . contents 1 history 1.1 sale to sinclair license swap 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 news operation 3.1 notable current on air staff 3.2 notable former on air staff 4 translators 5 heliport 6 references 7 external links history edit the station went on the air as klrj tv on vhf channel 2 on january 23 1955 ; it was originally licensed to henderson and was owned by southwestern publishing company along with the las vegas review journal and kork radio 920 am now kbad ; and 97.1 fm now kxpt . in september 1955 it changed its calls to kork tv to match its radio sisters and soon after moved its city of license and studio facilities to las vegas . it has always been an nbc affiliate but shared abc with klas tv channel 8 until ksho tv channel 13 now ktnv tv signed on in 1956 . during the late 1950s the station was also briefly affiliated with the nta film network . 1 in 1960 the donrey media group later stephens media llc bought the review journal and the kork stations . in 1967 kork tv moved to channel 3 in order to operate from potosi mountain without being short spaced to knxt now kcbs tv in los angeles which also operated on channel 2 . 2 in 1971 a group of local residents led by las vegas attorney jim rogers began an effort to take control of channel 3 . rogers group gained more support when donrey began to heavily preempt nbc programming in order to sell more local advertising in the late 1970s . nbc was far less tolerant of programming preemptions than the other networks at the time . the most notable of these preemptions was the 1978 world series angering both nbc and several las vegas area viewers some of whom filed complaints to the federal communications commission fcc . facing pressure from both nbc and the fcc donrey was forced to sell the station to the rogers group s holding company valley broadcasting company in 1979 . donrey retained kork radio and as a result on october 1 1979 the station changed its callsign to kvbc reflecting the new ownership . in the late 1980s kvbc s sign on to sign off ratings climbed to an all time high thanks in part to a strong primetime lineup by nbc . 3 two major events aided kvbc s rise to the top . in may 1988 an explosion and fire rocked the pacific engineering and production company pepcon in henderson . kvbc was knocked off the air for a few minutes because its transmitter facilities atop black mountain were positioned just above the blast site . once kvbc was back on the air it was the first local station to continuously broadcast its breaking news coverage of the explosion . later that year cbs produced 48 hours in las vegas a feature about las vegas that portrayed the city as full of gamblers and riddled by crime . in response kvbc produced a one hour documentary entitled las vegas beyond 48 hours which painted a more realistic picture of sin city and its residents . kvbc was first to document the mirage volcano explosion during its initial test in front of an unsuspecting nighttime audience . with the digital transition completed the station officially added the dt suffix to its legal call sign on june 23 2009 . 4 former logo used from july 9 2010 to april 18 2015 . the 3 had been used since 1986 . on june 18 2010 kvbc filed an application with the fcc to change the station s call letters to ksnv dt reflecting the renaming of valley broadcasting company which by this time was a subsidiary of sunbelt communications company that held the station s license to southern nevada communications as well as better reflecting the station s relationship with sister stations krnv dt in reno and kenv dt in elko . 5 the change to ksnv dt became official on july 9 2010 . 4 6 jim rogers died of cancer on june 14 2014 at the age of 75 . 7 sale to sinclair license swap edit on september 3 2014 intermountain west communications announced that it would sell ksnv dt to sinclair broadcast group for 120 million . as sinclair already owned a duopoly in las vegas kvmy channel 21 and kvcw channel 33 the company planned to sell the license assets though not the programming of one of the three stations to comply with fcc ownership restrictions with the divested station s programming being moved to the other stations . 8 80 85 % of proceeds from the sale will go toward the formation of the rogers educational foundation which will support students and educators in southern nevada . 9 on november 1 2014 ksnv began the process of swapping signals with kvmy ; kvmy moved its mynetworktv programming to a subchannel of kvcw which was replaced by a simulcast of ksnv dt s programming . additionally the two stations swapped virtual channel numbers which moved kvmy to channel 3 and ksnv to channel 21 . on november 4 2014 the call letters on kvmy s license were changed to ksnv and the existing ksnv license changed its call letters to kvmy . these moves effectively put ksnv under sinclair ownership using its existing channel 21 license . the previous channel 3 license was later sold to howard stirk holdings . 10 6 a similar swap occurred during sinclair s acquisition of wciv in which its abc programming and call sign were moved to another sinclair owned signal and the previous wciv channel 4 license renamed wmmp was sold to howard stirk holdings though the psip channel number was not swapped . 11 12 sinclair could not buy ksnv dt outright because las vegas has only seven full power stations four too few to legally permit a duopoly . when the sale closes sinclair would control half of those stations . it would also create a situation in which a cw affiliate is the nominal senior partner in a duopoly involving an nbc affiliate and a big four station . digital television edit digital channels edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 13 3.1 1080i 16 9 ksnv 3 main ksnv dt programming nbc 3.2 480i 4 3 estrell estrella tv 3.3 gettv gettv analog to digital conversion edit ksnv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 3 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 . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition vhf channel 2 . 14 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 3 . news operation edit former ksnv newscast title card used from july 9 2010 to august 19 2013 . ksnv presently broadcasts a total of 44 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with 7 hours on weekdays and three hours each on saturdays and sundays ; in addition the station produces one locally produced program the sports highlight program which airs on sunday evenings after the 11 00 p.m. newscast at the 11 35 p.m. time slot . . a public affairs discussion program which aired after the noon newscast each weekday was cancelled in november 2013 and replaced with what s your point which was later cancelled . ksnv debuted a 3 p.m. newscast news 3 live at 3 on august 19 2013 ; to accommodate this newscast the station dropped days of our lives which moved to kvcw . 15 on september 16 2013 ksnv added an hour long 7 p.m. newscast which after its contract to carry jeopardy and wheel of fortune expired which later moved to klas tv . the station also dropped dr. phil in september 2014 which later moved to klas tv ; its two remaining syndicated programs rachael ray and the doctors were to be dropped in the fall of 2015 and were originally going to be replaced with newscasts as well if both shows are not canceled before then . these changes were part of an increased emphasis on ksnv s news department ; under this plan the station s weekday lineup outside of nbc prime time programming were consist entirely of local newscasts . 16 17 due to these changes anchor lineups will also be shuffled . 18 with the sale to sinclair it is probable that these plans might not proceed further . access hollywood was added to the schedule at 7 30 p.m. weeknights in september 2014 after the sale to sinclair was announced . the discussion program ralston reports 6 30 7 00 p.m. ended on december 12 2014 and was replaced with an hour long extension of the 6 00 p.m. newscast along with krnv dt on december 15 2014 . on december 29 2014 days of our lives was reinstated on the station at 1 00 p.m. weekdays . after nbc objected to the change made by jim rogers . the hour long 11 00 a.m. newscast and the discussion program what s your point 12 30 1 00 p.m. hosted by jeff gillan ended on december 26 2014 and was replaced by rachael ray and an hour long extension of the noon newscast on december 29 2014 leaving ktnv tv as the only