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KMNF-LD (channel 7) is a low-power television station in Mankato, Minnesota, United States, affiliated with NBC and The CW Plus. It is owned by Gray Television alongside dual CBS and Fox affiliate KEYC-TV (channel 12). The two stations share studios on Lookout Drive in North Mankato; KMNF-LD's transmitter is located near Lewisville, Minnesota.[4]
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| KEYC-TV | |
| History | |
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Call sign meaning | Mankato, New Ulm, and Fairmont[2] |
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Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 183814 |
| Class | LD |
| ERP | 3 kW |
| HAAT | 292.7 m (960 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 43°56′12.3″N 94°24′39″W |
| Translator(s) | K33MW-D Mankato |
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Public license information | LMS |
The KMNF-LD license originated as K38MY-D in St. James, Minnesota, a translator for KEYC-TV (then owned by United Communications) on UHF channel 38[5] that signed on in March 2012.[6] K38MY-D went off the air on December 21, 2017, after the expiration of its tower lease agreement with BENCO/CTV; KEYC had operated UHF translators from Cooperative TV's Godahl tower since 1993.[7]
On September 14, 2018, K38MY-D was granted a construction permit to move to channel 13 from KEYC-TV's tower as K13AAR-D;[8] the channel change was required following the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s spectrum incentive auction and the subsequent repacking of the television band.[9] To maintain its license, the station operated under special temporary authority at reduced power from this facility[9] from November 29[10] to December 6, 2018.[11]
K13AAR-D was included in Gray Television's 2019 purchase of United Communications' television stations.[12]
On May 23, 2019, the station was granted a construction permit to move to channel 7 as K07AAH-D;[13] on June 3, 2019, the call letters were changed to KMNF-LD, a close match for those originally proposed for sister station KEYC-TV in 1958.[14]
On June 24, 2019, Gray announced that KMNF-LD would launch as early as September as an NBC affiliate, with The CW on its second subchannel.[4][15] KEYC-TV itself had launched in 1960 as an NBC affiliate, switching to CBS in 1961.[4] For the next 58 years after that, NBC programming was not available over-the-air in the Mankato market. Since 1981, Minneapolis affiliate KARE and Rochester affiliate KTTC had served as the default NBC affiliates for southwestern Minnesota via cable. KMNF-LD's sign-on leaves ABC and PBS as the only networks to not have over-the-air affiliates in Mankato; ABC programming is carried on cable via KSTP-TV and KAAL, and PBS programming carried via KTCA-TV; with KSTP and KTCA being carried on CTV translators K30FN-D (KSTP) and K26CS-D (KTCA) in St. James.[16][17][18][19]
Testing on KMNF-LD began on October 28, 2019.[20] The station officially signed on December 1, 2019.[21]
On January 17, 2023, KMNF-LD began broadcasting translator K33MW-D from the KEYC-TV studio tower.[22]
KMNF-LD began simulcasting some KEYC newscasts on December 2, 2019. KEYC News Now This Morning airs weekdays from 5:30 to 7 a.m. on both KEYC-TV and KMNF-LD. The stations also simulcast the 10 p.m. news on weeknights, with each station airing separate commercials during each simulcast.
On February 21, 2022, KMNF-LD began simulcasting KEYC's 6 p.m. newscast.
On September 3, 2023, KMNF-LD began airing a 5 p.m newscast on Sunday evenings.
The station's signal is multiplexed:
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