KNBC Question

[radioman148]

When the KNBC call letters belonged to the NBC AM affiliate in San Francisco pre-1963 or so, what were the call letters of channel 4 in LA?
Are there any other old timers like me that can remember that far back?

 

[RadioFanBoy]

KNBT

 

[RicoGregg]

KRCA until 1962, IIRC. Before being KRCA, channel 4 had the calls KNBH.

 

[radioman148]

KRCA until 1962, IIRC. Before being KRCA, channel 4 had the calls KNBH.

OK, that makes sense since NBC-TV in NYC at one time was WRCA.
I was wondering if it was KFI-TV since KFI at that time was an NBC affiliate although never owned by NBC.

Thanks

 

[Robnoxious]

I was wondering if it was KFI-TV since KFI at that time was an NBC affiliate although never owned by NBC.

KCAL 9 went on the air in 1948 as Earle C. Anthony owned KFI-TV along side KFI-AM and was affiliated with NBC for one year until Channel 4 lit up in 1949. It remained independent (with a brief period of Dumont programming) until sold to General Tire and Rubber which had purchased Don Lee Broadcasting shortly before the station's sale and flipped the calls to KHJ-TV in 1951 to coincide with Don Lee's mothership KHJ-AM.

Channel 9 has the distinction of being the last truly independent station in Los Angeles.

 

[radioman148]

I was wondering if it was KFI-TV since KFI at that time was an NBC affiliate although never owned by NBC.

KCAL 9 went on the air in 1948 as Earle C. Anthony owned KFI-TV along side KFI-AM and was affiliated with NBC for one year until Channel 4 lit up in 1949. It remained independent (with a brief period of Dumont programming) until sold to General Tire and Rubber which had purchased Don Lee Broadcasting shortly before the station's sale and flipped the calls to KHJ-TV in 1951 to coincide with Don Lee's mothership KHJ-AM.

Channel 9 has the distinction of being the last truly independent station in Los Angeles.

Very interesting...Thanks!

 

[LKellerIII]

KRCA until 1962, IIRC. Before being KRCA, channel 4 had the calls KNBH.

OK, that makes sense since NBC-TV in NYC at one time was WRCA.
I was wondering if it was KFI-TV since KFI at that time was an NBC affiliate although never owned by NBC.

Thanks

KRCA also makes sense because the corporate owner of NBC for many years was the Radio Corporation of America (As in "Wow - I got Color TV - an RCA Victor Color TV...").

As mentioned by radioman, Earle C. Anthony owned KFI radio and TV. Interestingly, like today, the FCC allowed duopolies in early TV - Earl C. Anthony also owned KECA Channel 7.

But I don't see how Channel 9 has the distinction of being "the last truly independent station in Los Angeles" considering it's owned by CBS. It's independent only in that it does not carry any network's programming, if you can call the CW and MyTV "networks." As of next season, My" becomes merely a programming service, which will make KCOP just as "independent."

 

[DavidKaye]

When the KNBC call letters belonged to the NBC AM affiliate in San Francisco pre-1963 or so, what were the call letters of channel 4 in LA?
Are there any other old timers like me that can remember that far back?

Not to be critical or picky...well I guess I'm picky, the NBC radio station in SF was not an affiliate but was owned outright by NBC. It was originally KPO, later KNBC, and then finally KNBR. Under NBC, KPO/KNBC served for as its West Coast flagship and network feed during the early part of the Golden Age of radio, and then again after the demise of network block programming in the 1950s. Those of us who grew up here in SF are quite proud of KPO/KNBC/KNBR's contributions to network radio.

So there.

 

[LKellerIII]

When the KNBC call letters belonged to the NBC AM affiliate in San Francisco pre-1963 or so, what were the call letters of channel 4 in LA?
Are there any other old timers like me that can remember that far back?

Not to be critical or picky...well I guess I'm picky, the NBC radio station in SF was not an affiliate but was owned outright by NBC. It was originally KPO, later KNBC, and then finally KNBR. Under NBC, KPO/KNBC served for as its West Coast flagship and network feed during the early part of the Golden Age of radio, and then again after the demise of network block programming in the 1950s. Those of us who grew up here in SF are quite proud of KPO/KNBC/KNBR's contributions to network radio.

So there.

I'll second David's remarks. During the golden age of radio, San Francisco was still considered the west coast hub - which is why the Bay Area also has (to this day) KCBS radio AM 740 - in the 80s, we generously allowed the call letters to be shared with your lowly KNXT Channel 2 and a Los Angeles CBS owned FM station. ;D

In the early 60s, the FCC would not allow different cities to share call letters, which is why KNBC radio had to become KNBR. I always wondered (even as a kid in LA) why NBC never had an O&O AM station there.

 

[Robnoxious]

But I don't see how Channel 9 has the distinction of being "the last truly independent station in Los Angeles" considering it's owned by CBS. It's independent only in that it does not carry any network's programming, if you can call the CW and MyTV "networks." As of next season, My" becomes merely a programming service, which will make KCOP just as "independent."

That's splitting hairs just a bit, no? Yes, KCAL-9 is owned by CBS now and went through Disney when the FCC finally pulled RKO's license for their advertising misdeeds. All I meant was Channel 9 hasn't hitched to any network (and yes I did include the CW and MY "networks", as flimsy as they are) for much of it's life.

I personally think KCOP and KTLA would fare better being run as independents again. Bring back the 8:00 Movie.

 

[radioman148]

>>I'll second David's remarks. During the golden age of radio, San Francisco was still considered the west coast hub - which is why the Bay Area also has (to this day) KCBS radio AM 740 - in the 80s, we generously allowed the call letters to be shared with your lowly KNXT Channel 2 and a Los Angeles CBS owned FM station. >>

I see the SF/LA wars still live on

 

[DavidKaye]

In the early 60s, the FCC would not allow different cities to share call letters, which is why KNBC radio had to become KNBR. I always wondered (even as a kid in LA) why NBC never had an O&O AM station there.

My understanding is that during the Golden Age, Earle C Anthony wouldn't sell KFI, and NBC didn't want to buy a station and compete against it, given that KFI had by far the best signal in Southern California. If KFI were to switch to another network, NBC could have lost its dominance.

It does seem strange that the West Coast network operations center was moved to LA, but yet NBC didn't have its own station there. By the way, LA's Radio City at Sunset & Vine became the Home Savings (and later Wamu) bank.

 

[rickradio]

A bit off-topic, but in the interest of accuracy, WNBC-TV was never WRCA. WEAF radio became WNBC in 1947 (same year KPO became KNBC), then the letters were changed again in 1954 to WRCA. In 1960, WRCA became WNBC yet again, and would remain so until NBC got outta ray dee oh in 1988.

WNBC-TV began life in 1941 as WNBT.

To bring this post back on-topic, KNBC-TV began life in January 1949 as KNBH (it was never KNBT), became KRCA sometime in the 50s (paging Lkeller), then in '62-'63, became KNBC. KFI-TV went on the air in August 1948, and as someone correctly said, was NBC's TV affiliate, but only for about 4 to 5 months tops, not a year.

 

[fybush]

A bit off-topic, but in the interest of accuracy, WNBC-TV was never WRCA. WEAF radio became WNBC in 1947 (same year KPO became KNBC), then the letters were changed again in 1954 to WRCA. In 1960, WRCA became WNBC yet again, and would remain so until NBC got outta ray dee oh in 1988.

WNBC-TV began life in 1941 as WNBT.

No, WNBC-TV was never "WRCA" - but it most certainly was WRCA-TV from 1954 to 1960, having changed calls from WNBT on the same day WNBC/WNBC-FM changed to WRCA/WRCA-FM. (And the switch from WEAF to WNBC on the radio side was 1946, not 1947; it was coordinated to happen on the same day WABC/WABC-FM became WCBS/WCBS-FM.)

That same 1954 timeframe saw NBC standardize on the RCA-related branding at several other stations - KNBH became KRCA, WNBW Washington became WRC-TV, and two years later, the WRCV AM/TV calls arrived in Philadelphia as part of the big KYW shuffle. I don't know why they didn't replace WNBQ Chicago with "RC" calls; it went straight to WMAQ-TV a few years later.

 

[Art Landing]

Just a little clarification - Earle C Anthony of KFI radio fame never owned KECA-TV nor was there a dual ownership of TV stations in the same market in the early TV days.

What happened was this. Anthony had once owned KECA radio beginning in 1929 as a NBC Blue/Gold network counterpart to his KFI Red/Orange network affiliated KFI. The same antitrust considerations that caused the sale of NBC Blue caused Anthony and a few other dual owners across the country to sell ther secondary stations, which he did to the new ABC circa 1944.

ABC had a problem. however, A station in Texas (I believe San Antonio) already had the KABC call letters in the mid-forties, so the new ABC o&o retained the KECA call signs. For a time KECA local programs continued to originate from the KFI studios on Vermont - KECA labels were still on the control board jacks in the mid-fifties when I used to hang around the station and watch (no security in those days). I was told that even then on occasion KECA local prograns would originate from there.

ABC was the original applicant and owner for Los Angeles channel 7, which began operations as KECA-TV because of the radio station. Anthony's competing KFI-TV placed Anthony in a difficult position of having some NBC radio programs on KFI being simulcast on Channel 4 while Channel 7 was using his initials but e KFI-TV was relegated to doing sports and carrying Dumont programming. When the KABC call letters became available to KECA's owners both the radio and television call signs were changed.

One little known footnote: the original TV stations in Los Angeles were KTLA and KTSL (now KCBS) before WW2. KTSL referred to Thomas S Lee, son of Anthony protege Don Lee and the one who pushed his father's firm into television. The Anthony interests also had a pre-WW2 license for a station to be called KSEE. It had studios in the top floor of a Bekins storage facility in Hollywood but was prevented from taking to the the air by WW2 The Anthony engineers, howsever, were deeply involved in the process which led to the transmitters for all Los Angeles basin stations being located on Mt. Wilson after WW2. Internal WW2 KFI employee newsletters discussed the location by using the code name "Mt Anthony" to distinguish it from Mt Lee, which was the situs of the KTSL transmitter.

 

[1069_KIFR]

Sacramento's NBC afilliate, KCRA had originally applied for the KRCA calls. But due to a typo they were assigned KCRA, so they kept them. And have virtually been the highest rated station in Northern California since.