Sinclair also manages primary sports-formatted independent station and secondary MyNetworkTV affiliate KNSN-TV (channel 21) under a separate JSA with Deerfield Media.

The three stations share studios on Vassar Street in Reno; KRNV-DT's transmitter is located on Slide Mountain between SR 431 and I-580/US 395/US 395 ALT in unincorporated Washoe County.

Founded by E. L. Cord and owned after his 1974 death by his estate and charitable foundation, it was an NBC affiliate from the moment it began broadcasting but was not much of a success, eventually becoming the perennial third-rated outlet in the market.

Sunbelt also embarked on several extensions of the KRNV brand, including rebroadcasters in Northern Nevada and a news/talk radio station in the Reno area.

[9] In 1962, Circle L began constructing offices at Vassar Street and Harvard Way, and approval was received to erect an antenna in rural Washoe County.

[15] A preliminary sale agreement was reached with 20th Century Fox for a $17.5 million acquisition of KCRL in 1980,[16] but ownership never changed hands.

It believed that the Cord Foundation's management of the station was so poor and underperforming as to not fulfill its fiduciary duty; it also filed a license challenge, seeking to force the FCC to choose it over Circle L to run channel 4.

[20] The move promised major changes for KCRL, long Reno's third-rated local TV station.

[27] KRNV slowly picked itself up into second place; the addition of the market's only 5 p.m. newscast proved to be successful, leading the local ratings in its time slot.

[29] On July 11, 1994, KRNV-FM debuted, mixing local morning and daytime rolling news coverage with audio simulcasts of the television station's 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 11 p.m.

[39] Cunningham Broadcasting then filed on December 19, 2013, to purchase the license assets of KRNV and KENV for $6.5 million—a transaction the FCC did not approve until September 22, 2017.