KFNB (channel 20) is a television station in Casper, Wyoming, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Coastal Television Broadcasting Company LLC, which provides certain services to ABC affiliate KTWO-TV (channel 2, owned by Vision Alaska LLC) and CBS affiliate KGWC-TV (channel 14, owned by Big Horn Television LLC) under separate shared services agreements (SSAs). The stations share studios on Skyview Drive in Casper, while KFNB's transmitter is located atop Casper Mountain south of the city. Satellite stations at Rawlins and Riverton and a translator in Douglas extend KFNB's signal. Most of its programming is also rebroadcast on KLWY (channel 27) in Cheyenne, which airs separate station identifications and commercials.
Channel 20 began broadcasting as Casper's third TV station in 1984. Financial difficulties dominated the station's early history. Between 1986 and 1989, First National Broadcasting attempted to buy the station, a sale that languished and eventually fell apart, with the station leaving the air. After being sold at sheriff's auction, the station began broadcasting again in 1990. An ABC affiliate for most of its history, it switched to Fox as part of a three-station affiliation exchange in 2004. Coastal acquired KFNB in 2020.
History
Early years as KXWY-TV
Channel 20 began broadcasting October 31, 1984, as KXWY-TV; transmitter delays pushed back its planned launch. The station carried partial affiliations with both NBC and ABC. The primary carrier for ABC and some NBC shows was KTWO-TV, which held first-call rights to NBC programming but did not air all of it; the new channel 20 would carry The Today Show, soap operas and game shows from NBC, among others. KXWY-TV was owned by Channel 20 Casper, Inc., whose main investor was A. J. Stanton of Orlando, Florida. The new station immediately made plans to go regional, merging with affiliated Hi Ho Broadcasting, owners of KFWY-TV (channel 10, previously KTNW) in Riverton and Thermopolis, and planning to start up a new satellite station at Rawlins. KTNW had previously opened a channel 20 translator in Casper in August 1980, which launched the same day as KCWY-TV (channel 14, not to be confused with the current KCWY-DT); both were Casper's first UHF television services. The station offered little local news at the outset, producing and airing an insert into the Independent Network News.
The new station faced financial headwinds from the start. By June 1985, it had endured the disconnection of its telephones and was in the middle of a stock ownership dispute that left it undercapitalized. In September, less than a year after starting up, KXWY-TV announced that it would be sold, along with KFWY-TV and the under-construction station at Rawlins (KRWY-TV), to a new company, First National Broadcasting. First National was a subsidiary of First National Entertainment, a movie and television production company.
While the sale itself would languish for years, First National's hand in management and resources immediately became apparent in a series of major changes that took place in 1986. Significant events started just after the new year: that January, the station relocated from its original Salt Creek Highway studio base to Skyview Drive and upgraded its Casper Mountain transmitter from 19,000 to 68,000 watts. The power increase was vital, as it allowed KXWY-TV to reach two-thirds as many homes as KCWY-TV. That meant it qualified under the 1971 "Raleigh rule" of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for an exclusive network affiliation. KTWO-TV, which was affiliated with both ABC and NBC, chose the stronger NBC network, leaving ABC to hook up with channel 20. In May, KXWY-TV began its first full-fledged local news service, replacing the INN cut-ins, which were reliant on video news releases, with 30-minute news programs seen at 6 and 10 p.m. weeknights and produced by a staff of four. The next month, it announced plans for a second transmitter power upgrade to 1.35 million watts and the addition of low-power translators in Douglas and Gillette. In time for the network change, and evidently reflecting the station's planned future ownership, KXWY-TV and its satellite stations became KFNB, KFNE (in Riverton), and KFNR (in Rawlins) in August 1986.
The long, abortive First National sale
Trouble arose again in May 1987, when 26 station employees threatened to walk out on the job; the general manager attributed the payroll issues to the lengthy close of the sale to First National. Only three, however, made good and left the station. An agreement in principle on the sale was finally reached in June; at that time, the local news was temporarily suspended.