Helling – who joined KCTV in 1999 following a six-year tenure as weekend evening anchor and reporter at WDAF-TV – was the partial subject of a March 2005 column in the '' Columbia Journalism Review '' , which chastised KCTV for a report that aired in December 2004 about the lax regulations that could allow consumers to purchase ammonium nitrate – a product used in making homemade improvised explosive devices – in violation of a law passed by the Kansas State Legislature after the 1995 Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City that prohibit the packaged sale of the substance . For the investigative report , Helling went to seven Kansas City-area farmers ' supply stores attempting to buy large quantities of ammonium nitrate and insinuated that he was able to purchase twelve 40-pound bags of that fertilizer 's pure form ( totaling ) from Tonganoxie , Kansas-based McGraw 's Fertilizer without further vetting ; however , a '' Tonganoxie Mirror '' investigation uncovered that he had actually bought 20-10-10 , a far less dangerous , commonly sold type of fertilizer named for the respective percentages of ammonium nitrogen ( at levels significantly lower than the 70 % needed to be considered of the pure form ) , phosphorus and potash in the blend . Although the controversy did generate local backlash , it is unclear whether Helling or KCTV station management had ever issued a correction to the story and/or an apology to the store owner
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing
Oklahoma City bombing
KCTV