KNLC

==History==
Founded by Rev. Larry Rice, founder of the New Life Evangelistic Center (NLEC), the station first signed on the air on September 12, 1982, making it the first new television station in the St. Louis market since [[KDNL-TV]] (channel 30) signed-on in 1969. Originally, KNLC maintained a schedule consisting entirely of [[religious broadcasting|religious programming]], which included shows such as ''[[The 700 Club]]'' and ''[[The PTL Club]]'', programs by televangelists [[Richard Roberts (evangelist)|Richard Roberts]] and [[Jimmy Swaggart]], and locally produced religious shows. In September 1984, KNLC transitioned into a hybrid format similar to that offered by the [[independent station]]s owned at the time by the [[Christian Broadcasting Network]] (CBN), incorporating a selection of [[secularity|secular]] classic television series featuring [[sitcom]]s and [[Westerns on television|westerns]] from the 1950s and early 1960s, many of which had not been airing in many other U.S. markets.

Unlike most religious/secular independents that aired a single daily block of family-oriented secular programs within their schedules (for example, weekdays from 3 to 7&nbsp;p.m.), KNLC scheduled its secular shows in a hodgepodge manner in random short-form blocks. It initially carried secular programs from 7 to 7:30 and 9 to 10:30&nbsp;a.m., 2 to 3 p.m., 5 to 6 p.m. and 9 to 9:30&nbsp;p.m., with religious shows filling the remaining time slots during its broadcast day between 5&nbsp;a.m. and 1&nbsp;a.m. By the late 1980s, the station began mixing its religious and secular shows in a more consistent pattern, and expanded its syndicated offerings with the acquisition of several barter [[animated cartoon|cartoons]] and (relatively more) recent sitcoms. The daytime schedule from 9&nbsp;a.m. to 3&nbsp;p.m. featured a mixed format of secular and religious shows, though cartoons exclusively occupied the 7 to 9&nbsp;a.m. and 3 to 5&nbsp;p.m. time periods and classic sitcoms aired from 5 to 7&nbsp;p.m. In 1986, the New Life Evangelistic Center launched a second religious independent serving the [[Columbia, Missouri|Columbia]]–[[Jefferson City, Missouri|Jefferson City]] market, [[KFDR|KNLJ]] in [[New Bloomfield, Missouri|New Bloomfield]]; the ministry would sell that station to the [[Christian Television Network]] in 2007.

[[Image:KNLC.png|150px|thumb|left|KNLC logo, used from 1982 to 2010.]]
KNLC was approached by the United Paramount Network ([[UPN]]) to become that network's St. Louis charter affiliate in the run-up to its January 1995 debut; however, the station turned its offer down, a move that led to UPN being unavailable over-the-air in the market for its first seven months of operation then beginning a succession of secondary affiliations with other network affiliates in the market, when it affiliated with [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] station KDNL-TV in August 1995. That month, KNLC took over the local programming rights to [[Fox Kids]], after [[KPLR-TV]] (channel 11) turned down Fox Kids because the owner felt "they had a strong slate of children's programming and no room for the [[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers|Rangers]]".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pennington |first=Gail |date=August 1, 1995 |title=For Some Viewers, 2 Doesn't Go Into 30 |page=6D |work=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75000078/ |access-date=April 3, 2021}}</ref><ref name="base">{{Cite news |last=Pennington |first=Gail |date=August 4, 1995 |title=Power Base: Rice To Televise Children's Shows For Inspiration |pages=1A, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75000004/ 14A] |work=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74999993/ |access-date=April 3, 2021}}</ref> Longtime ABC affiliate [[KTVI]] (channel 2)—which switched to [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] on August 7 through an affiliation agreement with [[New World Pictures#New World Communications|New World Communications]]—opted not to carry Fox's children's program block to accommodate expanded newscasts on weekday mornings, syndicated programming on weekday afternoons, and first-run and off-net syndicated [[children's television show|children's programs]], infomercials and local [[real estate]] programs on weekend mornings; outgoing Fox station KDNL could not retain the block due to the station's newfound programming commitments to ABC. KNLC carried Fox Kids on weekdays from 7 to 8&nbsp;a.m. and 3 to 5&nbsp;p.m. as well as on Saturday mornings. The station also acquired more recent first-run and off-network syndicated programs around this time; however, its growth would not last.

While Fox Kids offered the station an opportunity—St. Louis had the largest Fox Kids Club in the country, with 251,000 members{{r|base}}—KNLC quickly rankled Fox Kids executives. It did not sell local advertising in Fox Kids programming; instead, it aired [[public service announcement]]s and Christian ministry messages and even urged kids to write to [[Mel Carnahan|the governor of Missouri]] asking for clemency with death row prisoner [[Johnny Lee Wilson case|Johnny Lee Wilson]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=McGuire |first=John M. |date=November 19, 1995 |title=The Homeless Channel |pages=1D, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74999967/ 14D] |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74999959/ |access-date=April 3, 2021}}</ref> Fox Kids president Margaret Loesch also privately expressed concerns with Rice's proselytizing in commercial breaks. This prompted Fox executives to shy away from Rice, but even more concerning to viewers was the poor signal of KNLC, even on local cable systems. Crediting an avalanche of mail from the Fox Kids Club with influencing the decision, the network opted to move its children's shows to KTVI beginning in September 1996.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pennington |first=Gail |date=August 8, 1996 |title=Fox Kids Programming Moves To Channel 2 |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75000167/ |access-date=April 3, 2021}}</ref>

As children's programming on broadcast television had begun to decline and the more popular classic television shows had migrated to cable television, KNLC began to reduce its programming budget for the acquisition of secular shows. Nonetheless, and despite rebuffing prior overtures from the network,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Brodesser |first=Claude |date=February 16, 1998 |title=News Hounds Buyers, Delights Station Execs |pages=14, 16 |work=Mediaweek |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Mediaweek/1998/Mwdiaweek-1998-02-16.pdf |access-date=April 3, 2021}}</ref> KNLC chose to take on a part-time affiliation with UPN in May 1999. It was the first time UPN programs had been seen in St. Louis in 16 months after KDNL-TV dropped its secondary affiliation with the network in January 1998. However, Channel 24 refused to clear as much as 75 percent of UPN's output because of views by management that felt the network's programs and advertisements were offensive.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pennington |first=Gail |date=June 3, 1999 |title='Star Trek: Voyager' returns to St. Louis' airwaves |page=G6 |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75000277/ |access-date=April 3, 2021}}</ref> UPN eventually chose to move its programming to [[The WB|WB]] affiliate KPLR-TV in September 2000; KPLR-TV carried its entire prime time schedule in late night hours.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gail Pennington |date=September 13, 2000 |title=UPN is left homeless in St. Louis after Channel 24 cuts ties |pages=E1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75000301/ E8] |work=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]] |publisher=[[The McClatchy Company]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75000298/ |access-date=February 3, 2013}}</ref> (The network would not have a full-time affiliate in St. Louis until April 2003, when [[WRBU]]'s home shopping contract ran out.)

KNLC also turned down an offer by Paxson Communications to affiliate KNLC with Pax TV (now [[Ion Television]]), after KUMO-LP (channel 51) and its full-power parent station in [[Mount Vernon, Illinois]], [[WPXS]] (channel 13), disaffiliated from the network in 2004 (the network would return to KUMO and WPXS in 2005, however it would not be available over-the-air in the market from 2008 to 2013, when Ion affiliated with WRBU following that station's transfer into an Ion-controlled trust company.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gail Pennington |date=February 11, 2014 |title=WRBU becomes Ion in St. Louis |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |publisher=The McClatchy Company |url=http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/television/gail-pennington/wrbu-becomes-ion-in-st-louis/article_84a5d13f-09f4-58f7-a863-01bcc09d7c45.html |access-date=February 11, 2014}}</ref>)

On September 7, 2017, it was announced that KNLC was being sold to [[Weigel Broadcasting]] for $3.75 million; Weigel would convert KNLC to a secular independent station.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 7, 2017 |title=Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License |url=https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101765648&formid=314&fac_num=48525 |access-date=September 11, 2017 |publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Holleman |first=Joe |date=September 12, 2017 |title=Larry Rice sells KNLC television station for $3.75 million |work=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]] |url=http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/columns/joe-holleman/larry-rice-sells-knlc-television-station-for-million/article_4f84db47-5481-5020-a11b-f7bcafc291ea.html |access-date=September 13, 2017}}</ref> The sale was completed on December 14, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 14, 2017 |title=Consummation Notice |url=https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101774397&formid=905&fac_num=48525 |access-date=December 15, 2017 |publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]]}}</ref> New Life retains control of one subchannel to carry their programming, on KNLC-DT2, known as "NLEC TV."

On February 1, 2018, MeTV moved from [[KMOV]] 4.2 to KNLC 24.1. This provided an HD feed over the air and also brought MeTV to [[satellite television|satellite]] providers [[Dish Network]] and [[DirecTV]] for the first time in the St. Louis market.

===KNLC-DT2===
KNLC launched a [[digital subchannel]] on [[virtual channel]] 24.2 on February 4, 2009, when it began carrying Renewable Energy Satellite (RES), a 24-hour channel consisting of programs discussing various [[renewable energy]] methods. The subchannel was operated by Missouri Renewable Energy (MORE), a [[non-profit organization|non-profit]] environmental advocacy group associated with the New Life Evangelistic Center.