Disclosure: Jon Ellis is an employee of Gray Media Group, which owns stations that compete with the stations mentioned below. The statements and views expressed in this posting are his own and do not reflect those of Gray Media Group.
Fargo-based Forum Communications is continuing its regional expansion with the purchase of NBC affiliate KNBN/21.1 (Rapid City).
According to an asset purchase agreement filed with the FCC, Forum will pay Rapid Broadcasting $5.9 million for KNBN and four low-power TV stations and translators in the Rapid City market.
A separate agreement calls for Forum to pay J.F. Broadcasting $100,000 for KAUN-LD/25 (Sioux Falls).
Forum owns the ABC affiliates in the Fargo and Bismarck markets and Independent station KSFL-TV/36.1 (Sioux Falls), which it purchased from J.F. Broadcasting.
At the beginning of this year, Forum expanded its 9 p.m. Fargo newscast to Sioux Falls as “Forum News Network” and also launched a livestream of the newscast on Forum’s nearly two dozen digital newspaper platforms in the Upper Midwest.
Other Forum expansions in recent years include online news operations in Sioux Falls and St. Cloud.
The Rapid City TV market covers the western third of South Dakota and adjacent areas of Wyoming and Montana.
Though none of Forum’s existing operations are in western South Dakota, the company says in an announcement that KNBN viewers can expect to see collaborations with Forum’s properties in Mitchell and Sioux Falls.
KNBN, branded as “NewsCenter1,” has one of two full TV newsrooms in Rapid City, competing with Gray ABC/FOX stations KOTA-TV/KEVN-LD. Nexstar CBS affiliate KCLO, a satellite of KELO-TV (Sioux Falls), also has a bureau in Rapid City. The region’s major newspaper, the Rapid City Journal, is owned by Lee Enterprises, while the city’s commercial radio stations are run by Haugo Broadcasting, Homelice Media, Mid-Century Radio, and Riverfront Broadcasting.
Rapid City-based Rapid Broadcasting is owned by Gilbert D. Moyle, III, Clark D. Moyle, and James F. Simpson. Simpson also owns J.F. Broadcasting.
KNBN has been one of the few remaining standalone, locally-owned major network affiliates in the country.
Besides NBC on channel 21.1, KNBN also carries My Network TV and YTA TV on channel 21.2.