(UPN) to become that network's St. Louis charter affiliate in the run-up to its January 1995 debut; however, the station turned its offer down, a move that led to UPN being unavailable over-the-air in the market for its first seven months of operation then beginning a succession of secondary affiliations with other network affiliates in the market, when it affiliated with ABC station KDNL-TV in August 1995. That month, KNLC took over the local programming rights to Fox Kids, after KPLR-TV (channel 11) turned down Fox Kids because the owner felt "they had a strong slate of children's programming and no room for the Rangers". Longtime ABC affiliate KTVI (channel 2)—which switched to Fox on August 7 through an affiliation agreement with New World Communications—opted not to carry Fox's children's program block to accommodate expanded newscasts on weekday mornings, syndicated programming on weekday afternoons, and first-run and off-net syndicated children's programs, infomercials and local real estate programs on weekend mornings; outgoing Fox station KDNL could not retain the block due to the station's newfound programming commitments to ABC. KNLC carried Fox Kids on weekdays from 7:00 to 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. as well as on Saturday mornings. The station also acquired more recent first-run and off-network syndicated programs around this time; however, its growth would not last. While Fox Kids offered the station an opportunity—St. Louis had the largest Fox Kids Club in the country, with 251,000 members—KNLC quickly rankled Fox Kids executives. It did not sell local advertising in Fox Kids programming; instead, it aired public service announcements and Christian ministry messages and even urged kids to write to the governor of Missouri asking for clemency with death row prisoner Johnny Lee Wilson. Fox Kids president Margaret Loesch also privately expressed concerns with Rice's proselytizing in commercial breaks. This prompted Fox executives to shy away from Rice, but even more concerning to viewers was the poor signal of KNLC, even on local cable systems. Crediting an avalanche of mail from the Fox Kids Club with influencing the decision, the network opted to move its children's shows to KTVI beginning in September 1996. As children's programming on broadcast television had begun to decline and the more popular classic television shows had migrated to cable television, KNLC began to reduce its programming budget for the acquisition of secular shows. Nonetheless, and despite rebuffing prior overtures from the network,