tv khsv khbs tv or kbsh dt . . kshb tv kansas city missouri kansas city kansas united states city kansas city missouri branding 41 action news slogan clear . complete coverage . news kansas city s weather leader weather channels digital 42 uhf virtual 41 psip affiliations .1 nbc .2 cozi tv .3 laff owner e. w. scripps company scripps broadcasting holdings llc first air date august 10 1970 ; 46 years ago 1970 08 10 call letters meaning scripps howard broadcasting former name of broadcasting division sister station s kmci tv former callsigns kbma tv 1970 1981 former channel number s analog 41 uhf 1970 2009 former affiliations independent 1970 1986 fox 1986 1994 transmitter power 450 kw height 275.8 m facility id 59444 transmitter coordinates 38 58 40 n 94 31 59.5 w 38.97778 n 94.533194 w 38.97778 ; 94.533194 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.kshb.com 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 southern kansas city missouri ; kshb maintains transmitter facilities located at the blue river greenway in the city s hillcrest section . on cable kshb is available on comcast channel 8 time warner cable and surewest channel 13 and at & t u verse channel 41 . the station also serves as the default nbc affiliate for the northerly adjacent st. joseph market which does not currently have an nbc affiliate of its own . however it was announced on thursday august 18 2016 that an nbc affiliate will be coming to st. joseph . 1 kshb s broadcast transmitter provides a city grade signal that reaches st. joseph proper and it is available on cable and satellite providers in the market . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 as an nbc affiliate 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.1.1 kshb dt2 2.1.2 kshb dt3 2.2 analog to digital transition 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 on air staff 4.1.1 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit early history edit the station first signed on the air on august 10 1970 as kbma tv standing for businessmen s assurance company of america which provided the initial funding for the station at its founding . founded by wilson d. grant it originally operated as an independent station . however it had much stronger financing and a better inventory of programming than the first independent ever to operate in the kansas city market kcit tv channel 50 now ion television owned and operated station kpxe tv ; the kcit calls now reside on a fox affiliated television station in amarillo texas which ceased operations in july 1971 at which time channel 41 became the only independent station in kansas city for the next twelve years channel 50 eventually returned to the air in december 1978 as a religious independent station . the station s original studio facilities were located in the bma tower in downtown kansas city missouri . the first local program to air on kbma was 41 treehouse lane an afternoon series aimed at children which also showcased cartoon shorts . from the early 1970s through the 1980s channel 41 extended its availability to many cable providers in the neighboring states of iowa nebraska kansas and oklahoma including many large midwestern cities that did not have independent stations of their own such as des moines omaha lincoln and wichita effectively becoming a regional superstation . in the mid 1970s kbma launched the first locally originated cable network target network television a channel distributed via microwave to cable systems within the market that featured a mix of locally produced programs separate from those carried on the station . in 1977 grant sold kbma to the scripps howard broadcasting subsidiary of the e. w. scripps company . to reflect its new ownership the station eventually changed its call letters to kshb tv on september 28 1981 at which this time it adopted kansas city 41 as its on air branding . under the purview of scripps channel 41 acquired some stronger off network sitcoms and movie packages and remained the area s leading independent station even as it gained competition when kekr tv channel 62 now mynetworktv affiliate ksmo tv signed on in september 1983 as the market s second independent . during the 1980s the station instituted other technological firsts including becoming the first u.s. television station to utilize computer automation for broadcasting operations and the first in the world to use communications satellites for point to point transmission for delivery of its signal . kshb became a charter affiliate of the fox broadcasting company when that network launched on october 9 1986 . 2 as was the case with other fox affiliated stations during the network s early years channel 41 for all intents and purposes was essentially a de facto independent as the network initially aired only a late night talk show at its launch before expanding to include a weekend only prime time schedule beginning in april 1987 ; fox would not carry seven nights a week of network programming until september 1993 . until fox began airing programming on a nightly basis kshb tv aired a movie at 7 00 p.m. on nights when network programs did not air . the station began identifying itself as kshb tv 41 around that time . in 1991 kshb changed its on air branding to fox 41 under the network s stricter branding conventions ; it also began to add a few talk and reality shows to its programming schedule during the early 1990s . as an nbc affiliate edit former logo used from may 2003 to february 4 2012 ; it was incorporated into the amended 41 action news logo introduced on february 5 2012 . see also 1994 united states broadcast tv realignment and repercussions of the 1994 united states broadcast tv realignment on may 23 1994 six months after the national football league nfl awarded the network the rights to the national football conference nfc television package outbidding cbs for the contract new world communications reached an agreement with fox parent news corporation in which the latter company purchased a 20 % equity interest in new world . as part of its partial equity acquisition of new world fox also reached a multi year agreement with new world under which it would affiliate most of the twelve television stations specifically those affiliated with one of the big three networks that the company had either owned outright or was in the process of acquiring with the network once individual affiliation contracts with each of the stations existing network partners expired . 3 4 one of the stations involved in the wide ranging agreement was kansas city s longtime nbc affiliate wdaf tv channel 4 which had been affiliated with that network since it signed on in october 1949 . earlier on may 5 two weeks prior to its signing new world had announced that it would acquire wdaf tv and three other television stations owned at the time by great american communications which was subsequently renamed citicasters for 350 million in cash and 10 million in share warrants cbs affiliate ksaz tv in phoenix was also acquired through the deal although new world would sell great american owned abc affiliates wbrc in birmingham and wghp in high point north carolina to fox s owned and operated station group fox television stations as its purchases of stations from great american and argyle television holdings put it over fcc ownership limits prohibiting a single company from owning more than twelve television stations nationwide and its purchases of wbrc and argyle owned wvtm tv in birmingham would have violated rules forbidding common ownership of two commercial stations in the same market . 5 new world included wdaf among the stations that would switch to fox as part of its affiliation agreement with the network . with only five months to find a new partner to replace wdaf as its kansas city affiliate nbc almost immediately entered into negotiations with other area stations . the network first approached cbs affiliate kctv channel 5 for a deal and briefly held discussions with the station for a contract . however cbs approached the meredith corporation for a proposal to keep kctv a cbs affiliate ; it persuaded meredith to switch two of the company s stations nbc affiliate wnem tv in bay city michigan and independent station kpho in phoenix to that network as a condition of keeping the cbs affiliation on kctv . kmbc tv channel 9 was in the middle of a long term affiliation agreement with abc at the time making it a non viable option for nbc to replace wdaf as its affiliate ; for that reason kshb was not included in scripps affiliation deal with abc a caveat of retaining the network s affiliations with wews tv in cleveland and wxyz tv in detroit which were themselves being approached by cbs to replace affiliates that displaced it through the fox new world deal which was struck around the same time . nbc eventually signed an agreement with scripps to affiliate with kshb on august 1 1994 6 on the condition that it carry as much local news programming as wdaf had aired as an nbc affiliate . channel 41 officially became an nbc affiliate on september 12 1994 when fox programming moved to wdaf ending that station s affiliation with nbc after 45 years . however as wdaf as did the other new world communications owned stations that joined fox around the same timeframe chose to decline carriage of fox s children s programming block fox kids which kshb could not retain due to its programming commitments with nbc the fox kids programming rights were acquired instead by ksmo tv which also acquired much of the syndicated programming inventory that kshb was not able to retain because of nbc s network dominated programming schedule ; the syndicated programming that channel 41 was able to retain on its schedule consisted mainly of off network sitcoms and first run newsmagazines . at that time kshb accordingly dropped its existing fox 41 brand and began branding itself as kshb 41 eventually becoming known as nbc 41 in november 1999 . the assumption of the nbc affiliation resulted in kshb tv effectively becoming the unofficial home station of the kansas city chiefs whose regular season and playoff games aired on the station as part of nbc s broadcasting contract with the american football conference afc . wdaf tv had previously aired most of the chiefs games beginning in 1965 when nbc assumed rights to the american football league afl which became the american football conference upon the merger of the afl and the nfl in 1970 in new world markets outside of kansas city and cleveland mainly those where it bought or already owned a cbs affiliated station stations that were affected by the deal continued their relationships with local nfl teams when fox assumed the nfc rights . the chiefs game telecasts moved to kctv in september 1998 when the rights to the afc package migrated to cbs . since nbc resumed telecasting nfl games in september 2006 chiefs games now only air on kshb whenever the franchise is one of the featured teams participating in a sunday night football telecast . in april 1996 scripps howard broadcasting took over the operations of independent station kmci channel 38 in lawrence kansas under a local marketing agreement it signed with then owner miller television ; 7 after scripps began managing the station kshb moved sitcoms to which it had held local syndication rights that