KSNW (channel 3) is a television station in Wichita, Kansas, United States, affiliated with NBC and Telemundo. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, and maintains studios on North Main Street in northwest Wichita (near downtown); its transmitter is located in rural northwestern Sedgwick County (east-southeast of Colwich). KSNW serves as the flagship of the Kansas State Network (KSN), a regional network of five stations (four full-power and one low-power) relaying NBC network programming and other shows provided by KSNW across central and western Kansas, as well as bordering counties in Nebraska and Oklahoma. History The station first signed on the air on September 1, 1955, as KARD-TV. The station, owned by the Wichita Television Corporation was the fourth television station to sign on in the Wichita–Hutchinson market, after KAKE (channel 10)—which signed on in October 1954, KEDD (channel 16)—which signed on in August 1953, and KTVH (channel 12, now KWCH-DT)—which signed on in July 1953. It was initially an independent station, but joined NBC on May 1, 1956 when its former affiliate KEDD shut down. As a result, Wichita became one of the smallest U.S. cities to have three television stations that each maintain exclusive affiliations with one of the major networks. In 1962, after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled that central and western Kansas was part of the Wichita market, KARD was purchased by Central Kansas Television and was merged with its three other stations, KCKT (channel 2) in Great Bend and its satellites KGLD (channel 11) in Garden City and KOMC-TV (channel 8) in Oberlin. The three stations, which were collectively branded as the "Tri-Circle Network," relayed NBC programming throughout central and western Kansas. The Tri-Circle Network changed its name to the "Kansas State Network," with KARD serving as the flagship of the new four-station regional network. During the 1960s and 1970s, KCKT relayed its programming on K18AA (channel 18) in Salina, which eventually became a Fox affiliate. The stations eventually expanded their signals to reach 75% of Kansas as well as portions of Nebraska; KSN now claims to reach half of all households with at least one television set in the state of Kansas. The call letters of all four stations were changed on August 16, 1982 to help viewers think of the four stations as part of one large network. KARD changed its calls to KSNW, KCKT became KSNC, KGLD became KSNG and