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Major League Baseball Teams' TV Stations (Pre-Regional Sports Cable Networks)

R

RandTV

Guest
Here is the list of teams and their local TV stations that broadcasted their games, predominantly road games, long before regional sports cable networks.

NOTES: Some team stations' tenures have overlapped depending on coverage schedule. More recent listings were shared with regional networks.

  • Arizona Diamondbacks - 3 KTVK (1998-2007)
  • Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves - Milwuakee: 4 WTMJ (1962-65); Atlanta: 2 WSB (1966-72), 17 WTCG/WTBS (1973-2007)
  • Baltimore Orioles - 13 WJZ (1958-61; 1964-78), 11 WBAL (1962-63), 2 WMAR (1979-94)
  • Boston Red Sox - 5 WHDH (1957-71), 4 WBZ (1972-74), 38 WSBK (1975-95), 68 WABU (1996-98), 56 WLVI (1999), 25 WFXT (2000-02)
  • California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels - 9 KHJ (1961-63), 5 KTLA (1964-95), 9 KCAL (1996-2005)
  • Chicago Cubs - 9 WGN (1948-2020; the longest TV partnership in MLB)
  • Chicago White Sox - 9 WGN (1948-67; 1981; 1990-2019), 32 WFLD (1968-72; 1982-89), 44 WSNS (1973-80), 26 WCIU (2000-14), 50 WPWR (2015-16)
  • Cincinnati Reds - 5 WLWT (1948-95), 64 WSTR (1996-98), 12 WKRC (1999)
  • Cleveland Indians (now Guardians) - 5 WEWS (1948-49; 1956-60), 8 WXEL/WJW/WJKW 1950-59; 1961-79), 43 WUAB (1980-2001), 3 WKYC (2002-22)
  • Colorado Rockies - 2 KWGN (1993-2002), 20 KTVD (2003-08)
  • Detroit Tigers - 4 WWJ/WDIV (1950-53; 1975-89), 2 WJBK (1954-74; 2007), 50 WKBD (1990-2003), 20 WMYD (2006)
  • Florida/Miami Marlins - 33 WBFS (1993-98), 69 WAMI (1999-2001), 35 WPXM (2002-05)
  • Houston Astros - 13 KTRK (1962-72), 2 KPRC (1973-78), 26 KRIV (1979-82), 20 KTXH (1983-97; 2005-08; 2010-11), 51 KNWS (1998-2007)
  • Kansas City Royals - 9 KMBC (1969-71; 1997-2002), 41 KBMA (1972-79), 4 WDAF (1980-92), 62 KSMO (1993-96), 29 KCWB/KCWE (1997-2002), 38 KMCI (2003-07)
  • Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers - Brooklyn: 9 WOR (1950-57); Los Angeles: 11 KTTV (1958-92), 5 KTLA (1993-2001), 13 KCOP (2002-05), 9 KCAL (2006-13)
  • Milwaukee Brewers - 4 WTMJ (1970-80), 18 WVTV (1981-88; 1993-97), 24 WCGV (1989-92; 1998-03)
  • Minnesota Twins - 11 WTCN (1961-72; 1975-78), 4 WCCO (1973-74; 1989-97), 9 KMSP (1979-88; 1998-2001)
  • Montreal Expos (now Washington Nationals) - English: 6 CBMT (1969-89), 12 CFCF (1990-93); French: 2 CBFT (1969-99), 35 CFJP (1995-98)
  • New York Mets - 9 WOR/WWOR (1962-98), 11 WPIX (1999-present)
  • New York Yankees - 5 WABD (1947-51), 11 WPIX (1951-98), 5 WNYW (1999-2001), 2 WCBS (2002-03), 9 WWOR (2004-14), 11 WPIX (2015-19; 2021)
  • Kansas City/Oakland Athletics - Kansas City: 4 WDAF (1959-61), 5 KCMO (1962-67); Oakland: 44 KBHK (1968-72, 1982-84, 1995), 2 KTVU (1973-74), 5 KPIX (1975-81, 1985-92), 36 KICU (1988-92, 1999-2008), 4 KRON (1993-98)
  • Philadelphia Phillies - 3 WPTZ/WRCV/KYW (1947-58; 2005-08), 6 WFIL/WPVI (1949-70),10 WCAU (1948-54), 17 WPHL (1971-82, 1993-99), 29 WTAF/WTXF (1983-92), 57 WPSG (1999-2008)
  • Pittsburgh Pirates - 2 KDKA (1957-94), 11 WPXI (1995-96), 53 WPGH (1997-2000), 22 WPTT/WCWB (1997-2002)
  • St. Louis Cardinals - 5 KSD/KSDK (1949-87, 2007-10), 11 KPLR (1988-2006)
  • San Diego Padres - 10 KOGO (1969-70), 39 KCST (1971-72; 1984-86), 6 XETV (1977-79), 8 KFMB (1980-83; 1995-96), 51 KUSI (1987-94; 1997-2003); 69 KTTY (1995), 45 XHBJ (Spanish, 1991-93)
  • New York/San Francisco Giants - New York: 4 WNBT (1947-48), 11 WPIX (1949-57); San Francisco: 2 KTVU (1961-2007), 11 KNTV (2008-2021)
  • Seattle Mariners - 5 KING (1977-80), 11 KSTW (1981-85; 1989-92; 2001-07), 7 KIRO (1986-88; 1990-91; 1995-2000)
  • Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays - 10 WTSP (1998-99; 2001), 32 WWWB/WMOR (1998-2002), 13 WTVT (2001), 66 WXPX (2003-08)
  • Washington Senators/Texas Rangers - Washington: 9 WTOP (1961-71); Texas: 39 KDTV/KXTV (1972; 1996-), 4 KDFW (1973; 2001-02; 2004-09), 5 WBAP/KXAS (1974-84; 1996-), 11 KTVT (1985- 27 KDFI (2001-09), 21 KTXA (2010-14)
  • Toronto Blue Jays - 5 CBLT (1977-80; 1992-2002), 9 CFTO (1981-91)
  • Washington Nationals - 5 WTTG (2005), 20 WCDA (2005-08), 50 WDCW (2009-12); 9 WUSA (2013-17)
Please feel free to notify me of any errors or omissions.
 
Some of these stations on the list might have lost local rights to baseball games but they would still air them because of Network rights reasons.

Case and point KTTV they aired Dodgers games from 1958-1992 but they still air them for Fox Sports.

San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's used to have local rights on KTVU and KICU but they still air them for Fox Sports.

Washington Nationals the same with WTTG.
 
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The Mariners were carried on KIRO-7 in the 2001 and 2002 seasons, but I believe KSTW and Fox Sports Net NW also shared the rights. I think KTZZ-22 might have had them at one point.
In Yakima, broadcast rights went to KCYU-LP 68 (Fox) in the late '90s and early '00s, and K60EB (an LPTV) in the mid '90s.
 
Chicago Cubs, besides WGN: WBKB/4 (1946-48), WCIU-TV/26 (2000-14), WLS-TV/7 (2015-19), WPWR-TV/50 (2015-19)
 
Your updates and corrections are appreciated. This was something that just popped into my head on which TV stations locally broadcasted which teams' games long before the regional cable sports networks (e.g. Fox Sports LA) were around.
 
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Yes I heard of KDTV used for a general programming channel from Dallas. Also KDTV originally stood for Doubleday television it's first owners of the Dallas station now known as KXTX-TV.
 
I was able to flesh out the St. Louis Cardinals TV history a bit for you:

KSD-TV 5 (1947-53); WTVI 54 (1954); KTVI 36 (1955-56); KTVI 2 (1957-58); KPLR 11 (1959-61); KSD-TV/KSDK 5 (1962-87); KPLR 11 (1988-2006); and KSDK 5 (2007-10).

The St. Louis Browns also aired on KSD-TV 5 from 1947 until the middle of the 1953 season. When WTVI 54 signed on in the Summer of '53, that station picked up the Browns telecasts. By 1954, the Browns were the Baltimore Orioles.
 
Brother said:
I was able to flesh out the St. Louis Cardinals TV history a bit for you:

KSD-TV 5 (1947-53); WTVI 54 (1954); KTVI 36 (1955-56); KTVI 2 (1957-58); KPLR 11 (1959-61); KSD-TV/KSDK 5 (1962-87); KPLR 11 (1988-2006); and KSDK 5 (2007-10).

The St. Louis Browns also aired on KSD-TV 5 from 1947 until the middle of the 1953 season. When WTVI 54 signed on in the Summer of '53, that station picked up the Browns telecasts. By 1954, the Browns were the Baltimore Orioles.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much!
 
The old WHDH-5 didn't sign on until November, 1957, so 1958 was their first season carrying Boston Red Sox baseball games.

From the birth of Boston television in 1948 through 1954, both WBZ-4 and WNAC-7 shared the Red Sox, and through 1950, also shared the old Boston Braves.

TV rights to both teams at the time were held by Narragansett Breweries, who didn't want to show favoritism to either station. In those early years, nearly all home games (but no away games) of both teams were telecast.

In 1951 the Braves signed a deal with WBZ making them the exclusive TV home of the Braves until the team left for Milwaukee during Spring Training in 1953 (they left Boston to head south as the Boston Braves, but by the time training camp ended, they would open the season in Milwaukee).

From 1955 through 1957, WBZ alone carried the Red Sox, and during that time, cut back to around 55 games a year, some of them on the road, but most of them home contests from Boston's Fenway Park.

While the number of Red Sox telecasts remained around 55 or 56 games a year through 1971, the number of televised home games was reduced (to mostly weekends) and the number of road telecasts increased.

But many other teams began televising only away games to protect the gate at home games.

Unless their first game in Milwaukee in April, 1953 was locally televised, the only time Milwaukee Braves fans saw their team on local TV before 1962 was during the 1957 and 1958 World Series.
 

Here is KTVU Oakland/San Francisco when they had local rights to Giants games and their 1990's promo.

Note this is one of a few stations where KTVU lost local rights to MLB Games but they kept MLB Games because of their network affiliation in this case Fox Sports.


KICU San Jose now KTVU Plus had a promo for Oakland A's baseball when they had local rights. Yes Oakland A's baseball airs on KICU-TV via Fox Sports broadcast mainly in the event KTVU Fox 2 has to preempt programming due to Breaking news related reasons or they have to broadcast overtime from Fox Sports on the main feed.
 
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