The stations share studios on Northwest 25th Street (US 24), near the unincorporated community of Kiro (with a Topeka mailing address), where KSNT's transmitter is also located.

Unlike most then two-station markets, KTSB did not take a formal secondary affiliation with ABC, however it did clear a few shows aired by that network.

It had little need to air many ABC programs as the network's two closest affiliates—KMBC-TV in Kansas City and KQTV in St. Joseph—both provide over-the-air signals that decently cover Topeka.

Over the next few years, the station branded itself under the "KSN" name, but only provided limited simulcasts with KSNW and its three full-time satellite stations in western Kansas (KSNG in Garden City, KSNC in Great Bend and KSNK in McCook, Nebraska); as such, KSNT essentially acted as a de facto semi-satellite of KSNW.

On March 9, 2000, Lee Enterprises announced that it would sell its 16 television station properties, in order to focus on its newspaper and online businesses.

[2] Exactly two months later on May 9, 2000, Lee sold KSNT to Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications, as part of a $562.5 million group deal involving KSNW and its satellite stations, and CBS affiliate KMTV-TV in Omaha, Nebraska.

[7] On July 24, 2007, Montecito announced that it would sell all of its stations (KSNT, KSNW and its satellites, as well as KHON-TV and KOIN) to New Vision Television.

[12][13] LIN and Vaughan Media (which concurrently purchased the PBC stations) also entered into a joint sales agreement to provide advertising services for KTKA.

[16] The deal marked a re-entry into Kansas for LIN, who briefly owned the licenses of Wichita ABC affiliate KAKE and its satellites in 2000, but never held operational control of the stations.

[19] On September 28, 2015, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced it had offered to purchase Media General and its stations, including KSNT and KTMJ.

[22] On September 18, 2006, Montecito took over the operations of "Northeast Kansas CW 5" (the channel number referencing its primary cable position in the market on Cox Communications), which originated as a cable-only affiliate of The WB 100+ Station Group—a national feed of The WB intended for smaller markets—when it launched on September 21, 1998, under the fictional call letters "WBKS" (branded on-air as "WB5").

As a result of KTKA's sale to PBC Broadcasting and local marketing agreement with New Vision Television, KSNT took over production of channel 49's newscasts, using existing staff from both stations.