News Channel Nebraska (NCN) is an independent, in-state network of commercial radio and television stations in the U.S. state of Nebraska and Sioux City, Iowa. It is operated by Flood Communications, which was founded by attorney, businessman and Congressman Mike Flood. The television stations are all members of the NCN network.
History News Channel Nebraska was founded in 2015 at Norfolk, Nebraska. In 2017, Flood Communications announced the addition of Spanish-language network Telemundo, also called Telemundo Nebraska.
In addition to commercial advertising, NCN holds pledge drives and solicits donations in the same manner as non-commercial broadcasters.
Programming
News Channel Nebraska primarily focuses on rolling news coverage similar to the original CNN Headline News and the later NewsNet, whose founder and original owner helped establish the format on the News Channel Nebraska stations. Newscasts air every hour and focus primarily on rural Nebraska stories with some coverage of the two major cities, Lincoln and Omaha, and weather forecasts every 10 minutes including former WTNH meteorologist Geoff Fox broadcasting from his home studio in Irvine, California.https://www.facebook.com/FoxNCN The network also includes extensive coverage of high school and small college sports with two broadcast trucks covering rural football and basketball games. There is a "north" and "south" feed which show different sports programs, with the other feed's game rebroadcast on delay. High school sports programming requires a subscription when viewed online. In order to avoid conflicts of interest, articles and news coverage involving Flood are written by the Associated Press or Gray Television affiliates in Nebraska.
In March 2020, NCN launched Quarantine Tonight, a show featuring live music from local musicians originally produced as a service to viewers during the COVID-19 pandemic that proved popular enough to continue well past its original planned ending date. Flood was the host of Quarantine Tonight until he began his run for Congress, since then the program has been hosted by former News Channel Nebraska reporter Austen Hagood.
NCN carries some limited syndicated lifestyle programming on weekend mornings, including AgPhD, Ron Hazelton's HouseCalls and P. Allen Smith Garden Style.
Network stations NCN consists of seven low-power TV stations that make up the network, all stations have callsigns beginning with a "K", as licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Combined, they reach almost all of eastern and central Nebraska, as well as parts of Siouxland. Station City of license Channel Facility ID ERP HAAT Transmitter coordinates Licensee First air date Call letters' meaning Public license information KBWF-LD Sioux City, Iowa 15 181673 15 kW Flood Communications of Omaha, LLC 2016 Blake William Flood, Mike Flood's youngest son KFDY-LD Lincoln 27 67012 3.65 kW 2017 "Floody", the nickname of Mike Flood's oldest son, Brenden Flood KMJF-LD Columbus 48 185295 12 kW Flood Communications, L.L.C. 2015 Michael John Flood KMLF-LD Grand Island 21 188582 15 kW Flood Communications Tri-Cities, L.L.C. 2017 Mandi Lynn Flood, Mike Flood's wife KNEN-LD Norfolk 35 185612 15 kW Flood Communications, L.L.C. 2015 "North East Nebraska" KOHA-LD Omaha 27 33144 15 kW Flood Communications of Omaha, LLC 2018 "Omaha" KWBE-LD Beatrice 21 184308 15 kW Flood Communications of Beatrice, LLC 2016 "Beatrice"; shared with KWBE
Technical information Subchannels The signals of the NCN stations are multiplexed: + Subchannels of KBWF-LD Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming 15.1 720p 16:9 NCN-N NCN 15.2 TLMONEB Telemundo + Subchannels of KFDY-LD Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming 27.1 1080i 16:9 TELM NE Telemundo 27.2 720p NCN-S NCN + Subchannels of KMJF-LD, KMLF-LD and KWBE-LD Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming 21.1 720p 16:9 TELM NE Telemundo 21.2 NCN-S NCN 21.3 480i 4:3 NCN-N NCN SD simulcast + Subchannels of KNEN-LD Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming 35.1 720p 16:9 NCN NOR NCN 35.3 TelmdNE Telemundo 9.1 480i 4:3 KCAU-TV ABC (KCAU-TV) +Subchannels of KOHA-LD Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming 27.1 720p 16:9 TelemNE Telemundo 27.2 480i NCN NCN 27.3 DayStar Daystar 27.4 Audio only KBBX-FM KBBX-FM simulcast
References