KFNE

Channel 10 began broadcasting December 22, 1957, as KWRB-TV.[2] It was originally owned by Mildred V. and Joseph P. Ernst, doing business as Chief Washakie TV.[3] The Ernsts owned multiple stations in different cities in central Wyoming, including Thermopolis, Riverton and Worland. Described as the "first small-town TV station" in the United States, KWRB-TV carried programs from all three major networks.[4]

Operating a television station in a rural and rugged region such as the Big Horn Basin was difficult. It received its programs from KOOK-TV (now KTVQ) in Billings, Montana. KTWO-TV in Casper did not cooperate, and Ernst blamed boosters of that station and early cable systems for competing with channel 10. The venture was not profitable, having lost $60,000 in 1958.[5] The Ernsts successfully fought efforts to provide signals by microwave to local cable systems on the grounds that they would adversely impact KWRB-TV's financial condition.[6]

However, Wyoming's harsh winters represented the station's most significant operating challenge. From December to April, an engineer had to live atop Boysen Peak because snowdrifts blocked the road to the site.[5] A November 1959 storm shattered a large window at the transmitter building, filling it with snow and rocks, while winds lifted part of the roof off.[7] In 1961, an engineer returning to the mountain after having dental work performed in town went missing and was found by police, his station wagon having skidded into a snowbank.[8] Less than a year later, two men supplying the site with butane gas had to walk the final two miles (3 km) to the top when their truck stalled.[9] In 1963, a plane carrying unrelated personnel to the top of the mountain crashed in −17 °F (−27 °C) conditions, and the occupants took shelter at the transmitter site, the only shelter in a radius of 18 miles (29 km).[10]

In the late 1970s, citing age and health, the Ernsts put their last broadcast holdings, KWRB-TV and KRTR radio at Thermopolis, on the market.[11] A deal was reached in January 1978 to sell KWRB-TV to Strang Telecasting for $650,000. However, a petition to deny filing from Associated Christian Broadcasters[3] delayed approval of the sale; having not been concluded in a year, the Ernsts canceled the contract and sought another buyer. Strang sued the Ernsts, who won a unanimous decision in May 1980 from the Wyoming Supreme Court upholding their action.[12]

KWRB-TV continued to operate, though the danger inherent in operating a television station in such a rugged region remained. In 1979, an engineer living at the Boysen Peak site was attempting to repair equipment when he was electrocuted; the station did not find out until it failed to sign on the next morning.[13]

A second buyer was identified: Hi Ho Broadcasting, which purchased KWRB-TV for $700,000 in March 1980 and also bought WDHN-TV in Dothan, Alabama, at the same time.[14] The new owners moved aggressively to improve the station. The call letters were changed to KTNW on June 1, 1980;[3] plans were made to move the main studios from Thermopolis to Riverton and double the station's power;[15] and a channel 20 translator at Casper was activated on August 12, 1980.[16][17] The new translator doubled channel 10's viewership at one stroke.[18] As one era began, another ended: the next day, Mildred V. Ernst died at the age of 79.[19]

Between 1980 and 1984, the station was an exclusive NBC affiliate.[20]

Catherine Malatesta, one of the part-owners of KTNW, also owned a part of Casper Channel 20, Inc., which held a construction permit for a new channel 20 station at Casper.[21] When that station began operations on October 31, 1984 as KXWY-TV,[22] it merged with the Hi Ho station, which had changed its call letters to KFWY-TV that June.[23]

In 1986, KXWY-TV obtained an exclusive ABC affiliation for the Casper market.[24] In time for the network change, and evidently reflecting the station's planned future ownership by First National Broadcasting, a subsidiary of First National Entertainment[25]—KXWY-TV and its satellite stations became KFNB, KFNE (in Riverton) and KFNR (in Rawlins) in August 1986.[26]

The First National sale collapsed in April 1989 when the company defaulted on a loan secured with the station's equipment, leaving KFNB and its satellites off air for nine months.[27][28] While the company never acquired KFNB itself, First National ended up with new licenses to replace those held by Stanton's interests for KFNE and KFNR; Wyomedia acquired the pair in 2007 for $30,000 in total debt forgiveness.[29]

KFNB became a secondary affiliate of Fox in 1994, airing prime time programming in off hours and its Sunday football games.[30] As the result of an affiliation shuffle in Casper, KFNB and its satellites became a full-time Fox affiliate on March 8, 2004.[31]

Wyomedia Corporation agreed to sell its stations to Legacy Broadcasting on February 8, 2018. The deal would have created a duopoly between KFNB and KTWO-TV, which Legacy would have concurrently acquired from Silverton Broadcasting Company; in its filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Legacy stated that the duopoly was permissible because KFNB was the fifth-ranked station in the Casper–Riverton market, trailing sister station KWYF-LD as well as KTWO, KCWY-DT, and KGWC-TV.[32] The sale was canceled on October 2, 2018.[33]

On October 8, 2019, Wyomedia announced that it would sell its stations to Front Range Television, a subsidiary of Coastal Television Broadcasting Company (run by Bill Fielder); the sale was concurrent with Big Horn Television's purchase of KGWC-TV and Vision Alaska's purchase of KTWO-TV.[34] Coastal Television and Vision Alaska (run by Stephen Brissette) already jointly operated stations in Alaska.[1] The sale was completed on June 1, 2020.[35]