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INDEPENDENT STATIONS WHO'VE ALWAYS BEEN INDEPENDENT (FULL POWER)

gregg75

gregg75

I'd guess that less than 60 stations have always been independent.

The only one that comes to mind in Georgia is WPCH 17 which evolved from WTBS in 2007 when
TBS rebranded as a network. WTBS evolved from WTCG which debut as WJRJ. Through all these
name changes 17 has always been independent.
 
KCAL 9 in Los Angeles was never affiliated with a network though it was owned by Disney and is currently owned by CBS.
 
I would count CW stations and My Network Stations, and even Fox stations as independents. Those networks only have a couple hours a day on those stations. In fact several Fox affiliates still call themselves independents. WSVN Miami, KTVU San Francisco come to mind
 
ajc_trw said:
KCAL 9 in Los Angeles was never affiliated with a network though it was owned by Disney and is currently owned by CBS.
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Not quite...although they've been an indie practically its entire life as a station (63 years), Channel 9 was briefly affiliated with NBC when it first signed-on, before NBC put Channel 4 on the air months later.

One station comes to mind as far as being on-air as an independent from day one is KGSC/KICU in San Jose; they signed-on in mid-60s. There's also KDOC Anaheim/Los Angeles (1982).
 
WHKY-TV 14 (RF 40) in Hickory, NC, has been independent since its debut on Valentine's Day, 1968, as has Manteo-licensed WSKY-TV 4 (RF 9), though it's targeted at Hampton Roads, Virginia and is only ten years old. Kannapolis-licensed but Charlotte-targeted WAXN-TV 64 (RF 50) has never had a formal network affiliation, though it did air some programming from the former PAX network from 1998-2000. Other than that, the 14 North Carolina full-power TV stations not affiliated with the "Big 4" or PBS--and not mentioned above-- air CW, MyNet, ion, Univision, or TCT (Marion, Illinois-based Christian broadcaster).
 
microbob said:
WCIU TV 26 in Chicago is another one that has always been an Independent.
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They were affiliated with the networks that later became Univision and Telemundo in the 1980s. But they were never affiliated with an English-language network.
 
Marckd said:
I would count CW stations and My Network Stations, and even Fox stations as independents. Those networks only have a couple hours a day on those stations. In fact several Fox affiliates still call themselves independents. WSVN Miami, KTVU San Francisco come to mind
Click to expand...

No, let's not count them or religious stations, just the TRUE independent stations which still
have their integrity.
 
KAZT Prescott AZ. Has kept a presence in Prescott, but the main offices are now in Phoenix, plus the station gets more views from its Phoenix class A companion.

The station had a brief flirtation with Azteca America in 2001-2, but fortunately, that fell through. Current owners The Londen Group (no relation to London, who operates stations in Texas) pretty much rescued the station, then known as KUSK, and actually gave it some respectability.

Independent primary, with Me-TV and RTV secondaries.
 
RadioDaze said:
WHKY-TV 14 (RF 40) in Hickory, NC, has been independent since its debut on Valentine's Day, 1968, as has Manteo-licensed WSKY-TV 4 (RF 9), though it's targeted at Hampton Roads, Virginia and is only ten years old. Kannapolis-licensed but Charlotte-targeted WAXN-TV 64 (RF 50) has never had a formal network affiliation, though it did air some programming from the former PAX network from 1998-2000. Other than that, the 14 North Carolina full-power TV stations not affiliated with the "Big 4" or PBS--and not mentioned above-- air CW, MyNet, ion, Univision, or TCT (Marion, Illinois-based Christian broadcaster).
Click to expand...
\
Even though WAXN is independent, they have are co-owned with WSOC-TV, and were LMA'd by WSOC previously.
 
KWHY-22 Los Angeles has always been an indie unless you count their dabble as the Selec-TV LA outlet in the 70's and early 80's. Also KSCI-18 Long Beach/Los Angeles.
 
Not too many in the northeast, but these come to mind:

WLNY (ex-WLIG) on Long Island has been an indie since it signed on in the 1980s.

WFMZ in Allentown PA has been an indie from its start, at least in its present Channel 69 incarnation (there was a short-lived WFMZ-TV 67 in the early days of UHF).

WRNN in Kingston NY is pretty much all-infomercials now, but has never had a network affiliation. It started out as indie WTZA ("Tappan Zee to Albany") on channel 63 in the late 80s, then moved to channel 62, eventually becoming all-news WRNN before slouching into its current format.

WMFP 62 Lawrence/Boston has MeTV and RTV, but has never had a major network affiliation...except for a handful of NBC and CBS shows it used to pick up when WHDH and WBZ preempted them.

What's now WSAH 43 Bridgeport CT has never had a big network affiliation, though it's been with RTV and Pax for brief periods in its colorful history (hi, Ron!)

And a couple more infomercial-heavy perpetual indies in the Philly market: WTVE 51 Reading and WMCN 44 (ex-WWAC 53) Atlantic City.
 
Consider the journey of WJTC-TV 44 (Pensacola, FL/Mobile, AL). It signed on as an independent on Christmas Eve 1984, and it served as the Mobile-Pensacola market's UPN station from 1995-2006. It never secured an agreement to affiliate with The CW or MyNetworkTV. It opted for a independent life again under 'UTV 44' branding, which is still has today.
 
If you don't count religious, My, CW, or any of the Hispanic nets, the only one I can think of in the Midwest is KSTC.

Except for their LPTV license, WMLW would be another example.
 
In looking at Mike Shannon's excellent website on Dallas/Fort Worth broadcast stations, I can find no full-power TV station that has been independent since its sign-on. All have been affiliated with networks at one time or another in their lives. (I don't include LPTVs in this.) I would have thought KTXA/21, but didn't remember it was affiliated with UPN. (Who really remembers UPN, anyway?)
 
KICU TV 36 in the San Francisco Bay Area had always been independent, in terms of ownership and programming. The station was recently acquired by Cox, which also owns KTVU, a Fox affiliate, so KICU is now occasionally used to run Fox prime-time programs, when pre-empted by local sports (or whatever) on KTVU.
 
Dan Dennis said:
In looking at Mike Shannon's excellent website on Dallas/Fort Worth broadcast stations, I can find no full-power TV station that has been independent since its sign-on. All have been affiliated with networks at one time or another in their lives. (I don't include LPTVs in this.) I would have thought KTXA/21, but didn't remember it was affiliated with UPN. (Who really remembers UPN, anyway?)
Click to expand...

Originally, I wrote that KDFI/27 has never been a network affiliate if you don't count Fox Kids (which moved to channel 27 when Fox jumped from channel 33 to channel 4 in 1996).

But that's not taking into account "My Network TV", which was considered a network for a couple years, until it reverted to a "programming service".

Aside from KDFI/27, the other stations that have come close would be KTAQ/47 -- they carried something called "Promisedland Network" for several years, but considering that network consisted of noting more than KTAQ plus a handful of LPTV stations, that comes closest to having been an independent station for it's entire existence. Albeit, a pretty sorry excuse for an indie.
 
wncc said:
RadioDaze said:
WHKY-TV 14 (RF 40) in Hickory, NC, has been independent since its debut on Valentine's Day, 1968, as has Manteo-licensed WSKY-TV 4 (RF 9), though it's targeted at Hampton Roads, Virginia and is only ten years old. Kannapolis-licensed but Charlotte-targeted WAXN-TV 64 (RF 50) has never had a formal network affiliation, though it did air some programming from the former PAX network from 1998-2000. Other than that, the 14 North Carolina full-power TV stations not affiliated with the "Big 4" or PBS--and not mentioned above-- air CW, MyNet, ion, Univision, or TCT (Marion, Illinois-based Christian broadcaster).
Click to expand...
\
Even though WAXN is independent, they have are co-owned with WSOC-TV, and were LMA'd by WSOC previously.
Click to expand...

True, but they've never had a formal network affiliation, either as WKAY or as WAXN under Cox's LMA and eventual ownership.
 
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