Early Network owned radio stations?

[dustintv]

So I'm trying to figure out which stations the radio networks outright owned back during the Golden Age of Radio. What I know so far:

CBS:

WABC/WCBS 880 New York
WBBM 780 Chicago
KNX 1070 Los Angeles
WCAU 1210 Philadelphia
KMOX 1120 St. Louis
*I know CBS owned WTOP in Washington DC for a period of time as well

NBC:

WEAF/WRCA/WNBC 660 New York
WMAQ 670 Chicago
KPO/KNBC/KNBR 680 San Francisco
WRC 980 Washington, DC
WTAM 1100 Cleveland

ABC:

WJZ/WABC 770 New York
KECA/KABC 790 Los Angeles
WENR/WLS 890 Chicago
WXYZ 1270 Detroit

Mutual:

WOR 710 New York
KHJ 930 Los Angeles
CKLW 800 Windsor Ontario/Detroit
WRKO 680 Boston

Any additions and corrections are greatly appreciated!

 

[KeithE4]

So I'm trying to figure out which stations the radio networks outright owned back during the Golden Age of Radio. What I know so far:

CBS:

WABC/WCBS 880 New York
WBBM 780 Chicago
KNX 1070 Los Angeles
WCAU 1210 Philadelphia
KMOX 1120 St. Louis
*I know CBS owned WTOP in Washington DC for a period of time as well

NBC:

WEAF/WRCA/WNBC 660 New York
WMAQ 670 Chicago
KPO/KNBC/KNBR 680 San Francisco
WRC 980 Washington, DC
WTAM 1100 Cleveland

ABC:

WJZ/WABC 770 New York
KECA/KABC 790 Los Angeles
WENR/WLS 890 Chicago
WXYZ 1270 Detroit

Mutual:

WOR 710 New York
KHJ 930 Los Angeles
CKLW 800 Windsor Ontario/Detroit
WRKO 680 Boston

Any additions and corrections are greatly appreciated!

Of course, NBC owned the pre-split ABC stations prior to 1942.

CBS owned KQW (now KCBS) San Francisco back then. NBC/Blue Network/ABC had KGO San Francisco.

ABC didn't buy WLS Chicago (and the whole Prairie Farmer corporation) until the mid '50s. They were affiliated with WLS but only owned WENR prior to that.

Mutual didn't own those stations listed; in fact I don't thnk they owned any stations in the OTR era. WOR was owned by Bamberger, KHJ by Don Lee, WRKO by RKO. Not sure who owned CKLW in the OTR era, although it was RKO-General later on. Mutual owned WCFL Chicago in the late '70s but I'm not sure if they owned other stations.

 

[Ultimajock]

Mutual owned WCFL Chicago in the late '70s but I'm not sure if they owned other stations.

...they bought WNEW New York in the early '80s (Larry King made a big deal of it on his Mutual show at the time). Considering that General Tire bought WNAC (the forerunner to WRKO) and a minority stake in Mutual in 1943, then KHJ in 1950 and WOR (and a majority stake in Mutual) in 1952, it can be legitimately argued that the network was at least co-owned with those stations. CKLW wasn't bought by RKO General until 1956...

...interestingly, WCFL was an NBC/Blue/ABC affiliate from the late '20s until the merger of WENR and WLS in 1959. It turned out that, because of the frequency-sharing arrangement between WLS and WENR, some programs (usually sports events) crossed the time span each station legally had control of 870/890, and WLS refused to air some sustaining programming in favour of sponsored local shows, so WCFL aired those programs in the Chicago market...

 

[mjlarochelle]

CBC owned quite a few of its own radio stations already when it was established in 1936. The original stations were:

CRCT Toronto (later CBL, now CBLA-FM)
CRCY Toronto (now French CJBC)
CRCO Ottawa (later CBO, now CBO-FM)
CRCW Windsor (left air in 1938, returned in 1950 as CBE)
CRCM Montreal (later CBM, now CBME-FM)
CRCS Chicoutimi (later CBJ, now CBJ-FM)
CRCK Quebec City (later CBV, now CBV-FM)
CRCV Vancouver (now CBU)

By the end of World War II, the CBC owned:

CBL Toronto
CJBC Toronto
CBO Ottawa
CBM Montreal
CBF Montreal (now CBF-FM)
CBJ Chicoutimi
CBV Quebec City
CBA Sackville, NB (now CBAM-FM in Moncton)
CBH Halifax (now CBHA-FM)
CBK Watrous, SK
CBU Vancouver

All of the above stations were Trans-Canada network stations except for CJBC, which was the flagship of the Dominion network, which had all private affiliates; also CBF, CBV, and CBJ were French-language stations. There were some privately-owned Trans-Canada and French stations as well.

 

[chuckydoll]

Updates to Golden Age O&O list

KQW was in San Jose; it didn't move to San Francisco until after WWII. CBS didn't acquire WCAU until 1958.

CBS did own WJSV-1500 in Washington DC and WBT-1110 in Charlotte but sold those stations after the war.

 

[rickradio]

KQW was in San Jose; it didn't move to San Francisco until after WWII.

Yup. KQW was in San Jose as an independent at 1010 until CBS tried to buy KSFO. When KSFO refused to be bought out, CBS switched its affiliation to KQW. KQW, as part of a mass U. S. AM frequency shift in late March 1941 (Eduardo knows what it's called), went to 740, but kept its CBS affiliation thru the 40s. CBS didn't own KQW, nor was KQW in San Francisco, until 1949, when CBS bought the license, moved the transmitter to Black Point, at the north end of the bay, changed the call letters to KCBS, had the COL moved to San Francisco, and thru a deal worked out with KSFO, upgraded the power to 50,000 watts.

 

[rickradio]

After reading my own post above, I felt it necessary to add some clarification.

I worded it in a way that made it sound like everything happened at once with KCBS. It didn't. According to bayarearadio.org, which has fascinating history, including airchecks:

After CBS bought KQW, it became KCBS effective April 3, 1949. However, KCBS was still licensed to San Jose until January 1, 1951 when the COL was moved to San Francisco. Listeners heard "KCBS, San Jose" for 9 months in 1949 and all of 1950.

The KCBS signal continued to emanate from Alviso, however, until August 1951, when the 50,000-watt transmitter plant was completed at Black Point near Novato.