KRBK (channel 49) is a
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...
licensed to
Osage Beach, Missouri
Osage Beach is a city in Camden and Miller counties in the U.S. state of Missouri, near the Lake of the Ozarks. Most of the city is in Camden County, while a small eastern sliver is in Miller County. The population was 4,637 at the 2020 census.
...
, United States, serving the
Springfield area as an affiliate of the
Fox network. It is owned by
Nexstar Media Group
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarters in Irving, Texas, Midtown Manhattan, and Chicago. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 television station ...
alongside
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...
affiliate
KOZL-TV (channel 27); Nexstar also provides certain services to
CBS affiliate
KOLR (channel 10) under a
local marketing agreement
In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...
(LMA) with
Mission Broadcasting
Mission Broadcasting, Inc. is a television station group that owns 29 full-power television stations in 26 markets in the United States. The group's chair is Nancie Smith, the widow of David S. Smith, who founded the company in 1996 and died in 2 ...
. The stations share studios on East Division Street in Springfield, while KRBK's transmitter is located 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
St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...
—which it sold to
ACME Communications
ACME Communications Inc. was a U.S.-based broadcasting company that was involved in operations of television stations and programming from the late 1990s to 2013.
History
ACME Communications was co-founded by chairman and original CEO Jamie Ke ...
in 1997 (it is now a sister station to KRBK)—and formerly owned
KMAX-TV
KMAX-TV (channel 31) is an independent television station in Sacramento, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside Stockton, California, Stockton-licensed KOVR (channel 13), the market's CBS owned-and- ...
in
Sacramento
Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...
—which once bore the KRBK-TV call letters and which Koplar sold to
Pappas Telecasting in 1994 (it is now owned by
CBS News and Stations
CBS News and Stations is a division of the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global that owns and operates a group of United States, American television stations along with CBS News. , the division owns 28 stations: 15 are the core stati ...
). It immediately became the MyNetworkTV affiliate for the Ozarks. At the time KRBK signed on, MyNetworkTV programming had not been available in the
market
Market is a term used to describe concepts such as:
*Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand
*Market economy
*Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market
*Marketing, the act of sat ...
for several months, after
Harrison, Arkansas
The city of Harrison is the county seat of Boone County, Arkansas, United States. It is named after Marcus LaRue Harrison, a surveyor who laid out the city along Crooked Creek (Arkansas), Crooked Creek at Stifler Springs. According to 2019 Cen ...
–based
KWBM (channel 31) 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
Jefferson City, informally Jeff City, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Missouri. It had a population of 43,228 at the 2020 United States census, ranking as the List of cities in Missouri, 16th most popu ...
in northern
Laclede County, giving it
rimshot
A rimshot is a percussion technique used to produce an Accent (music), accented snare drum backbeat. The sound is produced by simultaneously hitting the Drum hardware#Rim, rim and Drumhead, head of the drum with a drum stick.
The sound and var ...
(Grade B) signals within Springfield and Jefferson City. This is possible because Osage Beach spills into both
Camden and
Miller
A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents ...
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 Laclede 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 (channel 27) 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
Retransmission consent is a provision of the 1992 United States Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act that requires cable operators and other multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) to obtain permission from commerc ...
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
An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast television network, network. As such, it only broadcasts broadcast syndication, syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered pr ...
. With the addition of Fox programming on the station, KRBK relegated MyNetworkTV to a secondary affiliation, delaying its programming by two hours to 9 to 11 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 (most Fox affiliates that also carry MyNetworkTV programming usually air the latter service on an additional
digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
). 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
Mediacom Communications Corporation is the United States' fifth-largest cable television provider based on the number of video subscribers, and among the leading cable operators focused on serving smaller cities and towns. The company has a sig ...
's Springfield-area system and on other local cable
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
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
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
affiliate KSWB-TV (which also brands as "Fox 5", but uses its former UHF analog allocation of channel 69 as its virtual channel).
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
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
–Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...
from Lockwood Broadcast Group
Lockwood Broadcast Group is a television broadcasting company that owns stations in several markets. The company's main offices are located in Richmond, Virginia, with operational headquarters in Hampton, Virginia.
History
Lockwood Broadcast be ...
, 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 (channel 10), which Nexstar manages through a local marketing agreement with Mission Broadcasting
Mission Broadcasting, Inc. is a television station group that owns 29 full-power television stations in 26 markets in the United States. The group's chair is Nancie Smith, the widow of David S. Smith, who founded the company in 1996 and died in 2 ...
.
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.[Modification of a Construction Permit to Convert from DTS to DTV Application](_blank)
/ref> Subsequently, on October 22, KRBK's operations were integrated into KOZL/KOLR's studio facilities on East Division Street (near the Webster Park/Shady Dell subdivision); 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
Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls metropolitan area, Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Archer County, Tex ...
. 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 (in most virtual or legal operational arrangements involving a Fox affiliate and a Big Three-affiliated station, the Fox station normally serves as the junior partner).
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 prime time programs is necessary to allow the main channel to provide extended coverage of breaking news
Breaking news, also called late-breaking news, a special report, special coverage, or a news flash, is a current issue that warrants the interruption of a scheduled broadcast in order to report its details. News broadcasters also use the term ...
or severe weather
Severe weather is any dangerous meteorological phenomenon with the potential to cause damage, serious social disruption, or loss of human life. These vary depending on the latitude, altitude, topography, and atmospheric conditions. High ...
events (in some instances, these programs may either be rebroadcast on KRBK on tape delay in place of the station's regular overnight programming, however, cable and satellite subscribers have the option of watching the affected shows on Fox's desktop and mobile streaming platforms or its cable/satellite video-on-demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typical static broadcasting ...
service the day after their initial airing). Syndicated programs broadcast by KRBK include '' Maury'', '' Right This Minute'', '' Mom'', ''The Steve Wilkos Show
''The Steve Wilkos Show'' is a syndicated American tabloid talk show hosted by Steve Wilkos. The series is a spin-off of the ''Jerry Springer'' show, where Wilkos was employed as head of security. ''The Steve Wilkos Show'' debuted on Septemb ...
'', ''TMZ on TV
''TMZ on TV'' (also known as ''TMZ on Fox'' and simply as ''TMZ'' or ''TMZTV'') is an American Broadcast syndication, syndicated Entertainment journalism, entertainment and gossip news television show that premiered on September 10, 2007 (its maj ...
'', ''Access
Access may refer to:
Companies and organizations
* ACCESS (Australia), an Australian youth network
* Access (credit card), a former credit card in the United Kingdom
* Access Co., a Japanese software company
* Access International Advisors, a hed ...
'' and ''Family Feud
''Family Feud'' is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson. Two families compete on each episode to name the most popular answers to survey questions in order to win cash and prizes.
The show has had three separate runs, the ...
''.
News operation
, KRBK presently broadcasts hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with hours each weekday); 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 (originally titled the ''Fox KRBK News Break'') that aired weeknights each hour between 5 and 10 p.m. during select commercial breaks within daytime and evening programs, featuring Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
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. (As a result, the programming service's local ad time was largely taken up by the newscast.) 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 KOLR for its MyNetworkTV-affiliated sister KOZL-TV (which debuted in 2005, during that station's tenure as the Springfield market's original Fox affiliate, as the area's first local prime time news program), and an hour-long newscast produced by NBC affiliate KYTV (channel 3) for its CW-affiliated sister K15CZ (now primary ABC affiliate KSPR-LD, which continues to carry CW programming on its second subchannel) 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 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 p.m. 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
WCCB (channel 18) is a television station in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with The CW. It serves as the flagship station of locally based Bahakel Communications. WCCB's studios are located just outside Uptown Charlot ...
/ 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 p.m. 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 to 9 a.m. and hosted by Jeremy Rabe and Kelly Smith. The station also began simulcasting the 6 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.
In other media
The 2014 20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
film '' Gone Girl'' features KRBK's pre-September 2014 logo within the film's preview poster, various key art and other online presences with news stories around the events depicted in the film (whose setting takes place in KRBK's market area), along with a false search coordination website with the same logo. No real staff members were used, and in the actual film, the fictional KRBK news organization seems to have a glossy tabloid image unlike what is seen in reality.
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is multiplexed
In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource— ...
:
On January 1, 2014, KRBK launched a second digital subchannel carrying MeTV. On March 1, 2017, Ion Television
Ion Television (referred to on-air as simply Ion) is an American broadcast television network and FAST television channel owned by the Scripps Networks subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August ...
was added to KRBK's 49.4 subchannel. On January 1, 2021, KRBK replaced its MeTV subchannel with Nexstar-owned network Antenna TV, with MeTV moving to KSPR-LD subchannel 33.3 which previously carried Antenna TV.
Former DTS transmitters
In April 2013, KRBK improved its signal coverage in this vast and mostly mountainous market through the implementation of a distributed Distribution may refer to:
Mathematics
*Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations
*Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...
single-frequency network
A single-frequency network or SFN is a broadcast network where several transmitters simultaneously send the same signal over the same frequency channel.
Analog AM and FM radio broadcast networks as well as digital broadcast networks can operat ...
, consisting of five specially engineered slot antenna
A slot antenna consists of a metal surface, usually a flat plate, with one or more holes or slots cut out. When the plate is driven element, driven as an antenna (radio), antenna by an applied radio frequency current, the slot radiates electromag ...
s positioned throughout the Ozarks. All of the repeaters broadcast high definition digital
Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits.
Businesses
*Digital bank, a form of financial institution
*Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company
*Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...
signals on UHF channel 49. Due to the single-frequency system, the station was unavailable over-the-air in Salem (located in the northeast part of the market), and was only available on cable television in that town.
Since the main KRBK signal missed Springfield itself, Koplar leased two subchannels of 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. This arrangement ended in 2020 with the launch of the Daystar Español channel on KWBM-DT2.
See also
* Channel 5 branded TV stations in the United States
* Channel 22 digital TV stations in the United States
* Channel 49 virtual TV stations in the United States
References
External links
OzarksFirst.com
- KRBK official website
MeTVOzarks.com
- KRBK-DT2 ("MeTV Ozarks") official website
{{NXST TV
2009 establishments in Missouri
Fox Broadcasting Company affiliates
Ion Television affiliates
MeTV affiliates
Movies! affiliates
Nexstar Media Group
Television channels and stations established in 2009
RBK