KRBK
KRBK, virtual channel 49, is a Fox-affiliated television station serving Springfield, Missouri, United States that is licensed to Osage Beach. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, as part of a duopoly with Springfield-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate KOZL-TV ; Nexstar also operates Springfield-licensed CBS affiliate KOLR under a shared services agreement with owner Mission Broadcasting. The three stations share studios on East Division Street in Springfield and transmitter facilities on Switchgrass Road, north of Fordland.
History
Early history
The station first signed on the air on August 1, 2009; prior to signing on KRBK, Koplar Communications served as the founding owner of KPLR-TV in St. Louis – which it sold to ACME Communications in 1997 – and formerly owned KMAX-TV in Sacramento – which once bore the KRBK-TV call letters and which Koplar sold to Pappas Telecasting in 1994. It immediately became the MyNetworkTV affiliate for the Ozarks. At the time KRBK signed on, MyNetworkTV programming had not been available in the market for several months, after Harrison-based KWBM switched to Daystar upon being sold to the network as part of Equity Media Holdings's auction of its television stations. The station originally branded as "KRBK-HD".KRBK's transmitter was originally plotted to be located halfway between Springfield and Jefferson City in northern Laclede County, giving it rimshot signals within Springfield and Jefferson City. This is possible because Osage Beach spills into both Camden and Miller counties, and is thus split between the two markets. Most of the city is in Camden County, part of the Springfield market. However, a small sliver in the north is in Miller County, part of the Columbia–Jefferson City market. The transmitter was later moved to Eldridge, in northeastern Polk County, firmly in the Springfield market.
As a Fox affiliate
On June 20, 2011, Fox announced that it would end its affiliation with the network's Springfield charter affiliate, KSFX-TV following a dispute between the network and that station's owner Nexstar Broadcasting Group over Fox's proposal to increase the amount of retransmission consent fees that its stations must divide with the network; on that same day, Koplar signed an affiliation agreement with Fox to make KRBK the market's new affiliate.The switch became official on September 1, 2011, with KSFX-TV changing its call letters to KOZL-TV and became an independent station. With the addition of Fox programming on the station, KRBK relegated MyNetworkTV to a secondary affiliation, delaying its programming by two hours to 9:00 to 11:00 p.m.; as a result, KRBK was one of the few Fox-MyNetworkTV hybrid affiliates that carry both networks on the station's main channel. The station also changed its on-air branding to "FOX KRBK".
On September 8, 2014, MyNetworkTV programming moved from KRBK to KOZL. On that same date, KRBK rebranded as "Fox 5," in reference to its primary channel position in the market on Mediacom's Springfield-area system and on other local cable and satellite providers within the Springfield market; the rollout of the branding also included a logo based on that of the Fox owned-and-operated stations as well as the network's San Diego affiliate KSWB-TV.
Sale to Nexstar Media Group
On August 2, 2018, as part of a press release formally announcing its $2.25-million purchase of CW affiliate WHDF/Florence–Huntsville, Alabama from Lockwood Broadcast Group, Nexstar announced its intent to acquire KRBK from Koplar Communications for $16.45 million; the move will mark the second time that Koplar has exited from television station ownership. Nexstar concurrently assumed the station's operations through a time brokerage agreement that took effect the day prior. The transaction resulted in the formation of a virtual triopoly with Nexstar-owned KOZL-TV—putting KRBK under common ownership with the station from which it assumed the Fox affiliation seven years earlier—and CBS affiliate KOLR, which Nexstar manages through a master services agreement with Mission Broadcasting.In October 2018, KRBK relocated its primary transmitter to the Fordland antenna farm, which provides over-the-air coverage comparable to the market's other full-power stations. Subsequently, on October 22, KRBK's operations were integrated into KOZL/KOLR's studio facilities on East Division Street ; the station also changed its branding to "Ozarks Fox," utilizing a logo similar in resemblance to that used since 2012 by Nexstar-operated/Mission-owned Fox affiliate KJTL in Wichita Falls, Texas. The sale was finalized on November 1. The arrangement—including the preceding time brokerage agreement—placed KRBK in the unusual position of being the senior partner as a Fox-affiliated station in a virtual triopoly involving a CBS affiliate.
Digital television
Digital channels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:| Channel | Video | Aspect | PSIP Short Name | Programming |
| 49.1 | 720p | KRBK-DT | Main KRBK programming / Fox | |
| 49.2 | 480i | KRBK-D2 | MeTV | |
| 49.3 | 480i | KRBK-D3 | Movies! | |
| 49.4 | 480i | KRBK-D4 | Ion Television |
On January 1, 2014, KRBK launched a second digital subchannel carrying MeTV. On March 1, 2017, Ion Television was added to KRBK's 49.4 subchannel.
Transmitters
In April 2013, KRBK improved its signal coverage in this vast and mostly mountainous market through the implementation of a distributed single-frequency network, consisting of five specially engineered slot antennas positioned throughout the Ozarks. All of the repeaters broadcast high definition digital signals on UHF channel 49. Due to the single-frequency system, the station was unavailable over-the-air in Salem, and was only available on cable television in that town.Since the main KRBK signal missed Springfield itself, Koplar leases two subchannels of Harrison, Arkansas-licensed KWBM from its owner, Daystar, in order to provide a full-power signal of their Fox and MeTV channels to the southern portion of the market. With KRBK's move to Fordland, it is unknown whether this arrangement will continue.
Former DTS transmitters
Programming
KRBK currently broadcasts the full Fox network schedule, with the only programming preemptions occurring for situations in which preemption of the network's daytime and primetime programs is necessary to allow the main channel to provide extended coverage of breaking news or severe weather events. Syndicated programs broadcast by KRBK as of 2017 include Maury, Right This Minute, Mom, The Steve Wilkos Show, TMZ on TV, Access and Family Feud.News operation
, KRBK presently broadcasts 17½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week ; the station does not presently produce newscasts on Saturdays and Sundays, opting to carry syndicated programming following Fox prime time programming on those days.From 2010 to 2012, KRBK aired wraparound segments throughout its broadcast day featuring the "KRBK Street Team," who provided entertainment, sports and event-related stories. KRBK began offering conventional news programming in November 2012, consisting mainly of 90-second newsbriefs that aired weeknights each hour between 5:00 and 10:00 p.m. during select commercial breaks within daytime and evening programs, featuring Associated Press wire reports and a short local weather forecast.
Full-scale newscasts on the station began in September 2013, with the launch of a full in-house news department; that month, KRBK debuted Fox KRBK News at 9:00, an abbreviated prime time newscast that began as a 10-minute broadcast leading into the tape-delayed MyNetworkTV prime time lineup. The program—which has aired only on Monday through Friday nights since its premiere—directly competes against a half-hour prime time newscast in that timeslot produced by CBS affiliate KOLR for its MyNetworkTV-affiliated sister KOZL-TV, and an hour-long newscast produced by NBC affiliate KYTV for its CW-affiliated sister K15CZ that premiered on August 22, 2011. The newscast was initially anchored by Janelle Brandom, alongside chief meteorologist David Koeller.
In September 2015, the station expanded the 9:00 p.m. newscast—which, by then, had been retitled Fox 5 News at Nine—to a half-hour, an expansion which coincided with the transfer of the MyNetworkTV affiliation to KOZL-TV. Subsequently, on August 4, 1997, the 9:00 newscast was expanded to one hour, with the addition of a companion half-hour program at 9:30 p.m., Fox 5 News Edge at 9:30; the program—which is similar to the format of former Fox affiliate WCCB/Charlotte's weeknightly WCCB News Edge—maintains a mix of traditional news, entertainment and lifestyle segments. The station began programming regular newscasts outside its established 9:00 slot in March 2018, when KRBK premiered a half-hour 6:30 p.m. newscast on Monday through Friday evenings.
On October 22, 2018, KRBK rebranded its news operation as Ozarks Fox News. At the same time, the station debuted a two-hour weekday morning hybrid newscast/lifestyle talk show titled Ozarks Fox AM, airing from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. and hosted by Jeremy Rabe and Kelly Smith. The station also began simulcasting the 6:00 a.m. hour of KOLR 10 News Daybreak and relaunched its 6:30 p.m. newscast as Ozarks Tonight. With the rebranded newscasts, KRBK began broadcasting its newscasts from KOLR's studios on East Division Street in Springfield.