reassigned to Little Rock (where it had operated a secondary studio) in July 1958. KJTM originally operated from studio facilities located on West 29th Avenue (between South Fir and Hazel Streets) in southwest Pine Bluff; since its sign-on, the station's transmitter has operated from a tower located west-southwest of Redfield, adjacent to the broadcast tower operated by KATV and the former Arkansas Educational Television Network tower at Redfield. Only four months after its debut, KJTM became a charter affiliate of Fox on October 9, 1986. Although it was technically a network affiliate, channel 38—which began identifying as "Fox 38" in September 1987—continued to be programmed as a de facto independent station, as Fox had initially only provided a late-night talk show (The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers) and would not add prime time programming (launching initially on Sundays and then on Saturdays over the span of three months) until April 1987. On April 27, 1988, TVX sold the station to Evanston, Illinois–based MMC Television Corp. (principally owned by Paula Baird Pruett) for $6 million; the sale received FCC approval on June 15, 1988. (TVX had previously attempted to sell KJTM to Detroit-based Barden Communications in a $6-million deal that received FCC approval on December 30, 1987, but was terminated prior to its completion.) The station's call letters were changed to KASN (for "Arkansas State Network") on September 27, 1988. The station subsequently moved its operations into offices located along I-30 (between West 65th Street and Baseline Road) in southwest Little Rock. During the late 1980s, Channel 38 struggled to compete with dominant independent KLRT as the Little Rock–Pine Bluff market did not have enough television-viewing households to support three independent stations, two of which could be received in Little Rock proper. In July 1988, Little Rock Communications Associates (LRCA), then-owner of KLRT, negotiated a deal with MMC Television to acquire channel 38's non-license assets (including its Fox affiliation rights and most of its syndication inventory) and have KLRT managing partner Scollard Communications assume the station's financial liabilities (including overdue programming payments) through its creditors. KASN was to then become a full-time affiliate of the Home Shopping Network (which had been airing overnights through its Home Shopping Spree broadcast service). That October, however, KLRT management notified KASN/MMC in a faxed document that it would not be moving forward with the deal. Although an alleged "side contract" with Fox stated the affiliation