KNLC

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KNLC
St. Louis, Missouri
Channels	24 (UHF) analog, 14 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	FamilyNet
Owner	New Life Evangelistic Center
Founded	September 12, 1982
Call letters meaning	K New Life Evangelistic Center
Former affiliations	Independent Fox (kids programs, 1995) UPN (1997-1999)
Website	www.knlc.tv

KNLC (channel 24, digital channel 14) is a FamilyNet affiliate station in St. Louis, Missouri. Owned and operated by the New Life Evangelistic Center, the call letters KNLC reflect K) N)ew L)ife Evangelistic C)enter. The station does not broadcast in stereo.

The Reverend Larry Rice, founder of the New Life Evangelistic Center, can frequently be seen on KNLC giving sermons. The station began operation in 1982 with a wall to wall religious format with shows like 700 Club, PTL Club, Richard Roberts, Jimmy Swaggart, and locally produced religious shows.

In 1984 KNLC began mixing in secular classic TV shows like sitcoms and westerns from the 1950s and early 1960s. Most shows were not airing in most markets. They ran them in an unusual manner. Most religious stations that also air secular shows have run a block of secular shows together from, for example, 3-7 p.m. weekdays. But KNLC was known for a schedule running religion from 5-7 a.m., a secular show at 7 a.m., religious 7:30-9 a.m.; secular 9-10:30 a.m., religion 10:30-2 p.m., secular 2-3 p.m., religion 3-5 p.m., secular 5 p.m.-6 p.m., religious 6-9 p.m., secular 9-9:30 p.m., religion 9:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.. The programming was mixed and the station lacked continuity.

In the late 1980s, though, they began mixing the shows in a more consistent pattern. They also got a lot of barter cartoons and somewhat more recent sitcoms. While the day might be mixed from 9-3 p.m., the 7-9 a.m. schedule was cartoons and 3-5 p.m. cartoons and 5-7 p.m. classic sitcoms. It turned down UPN affiliation in 1995. But in that fall they picked up Fox Kids programming which they ran 7-8 a.m. and 3-5 p.m. weekdays and Saturday mornings. The station also acquired more recent programming as well. However, its growth would not last.

KNLC refused to sell local commercial time for Fox Kids programming because it found the programming and its commercials offensive. Instead, the time that would normally be filled with local commercials would be taken up with messages from Rice's ministry about issues such as the death penalty and abortion. Fox felt that children's programming was not the time or place for such subjects. Fox regretted putting Fox Kids on a conservative religious station, so in 1996 it moved Fox Kids to KTVI, which was the only New World station to offer Fox Kids after switching to Fox (other New World stations preferred news and syndicated shows instead).

As kids' programming was declining and the more popular classic TV shows moved to cable television, KNLC began to spend less on secular shows. It did try to affiliate with UPN from 1997-1999, but refused to air much of UPN's programming because it found the shows and commercials offensive. KPLR picked up the UPN shows as a secondary affiliate in 1998 until UPN found a new commercial station, WRBU, in the Fall of 2002.

Today, the programming on KNLC is mostly local and syndicated religious shows such as Ed Hindson. They also broadcast a mix of public domain episodes of classic television shows and public domain movies. Pax (now i) offered KNLC an affiliation after losing its St. Louis affiliate (KUMO-LP), but KNLC turned it down. The station looks very primitive on the air, in both graphics and presentation.

The New Life Evangelistic Center also owns its sister station in Jefferson City, Missouri, KNLJ.

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KNLC