Markets with No Affiliation Changes

[fybush]

I am pretty sure Buffalo, NY would qualify here. Its always been 2 (NBC), 4 (CBS ), 7 (ABC ) and 29 ( FOX ).
Though the call letters have changed over the years with WGR to WGRZ and WBEN becoming WIVB .

Not so!

WGR-TV signed on in 1954 as an ABC affiliate, because NBC was already spoken for in the market, on NBC O&O WBUF 17. When WKBW came along in 1958, bringing a third VHF signal to the market, NBC folded WBUF, the NBC affiliation moved to WGR, and WKBW took ABC.

Fox also moved in Buffalo - it started out on WNYB-TV 49, then moved to WUTV 29 in 1990.

 

[KeithE4]

Re: Los Angeles had affiliation changes

Actually L.A. doesn't even qualify. CBS was originally on KTTV 11- KTTV was originally a joint venture between CBS and the Los Angeles Times. Channel 2 was KTSL, a DuMont affiliate co-owned with KHJ radio. Don Lee Broadcasting put KTSL up for sale and CBS, wanting full ownership of a station in Los Angeles, bought it, renaming it KNXT to match its KNX radio (the KCBS-TV calls did not come until 1984), and selling its portion of KTTV to the Times. Don Lee then bought KFI-TV 9, which is how KHJ-TV (now KCAL) came to be. KTTV ended up taking DuMont until 1954, when the network was already on life support- KTTV never needed it in the first place, it was a strong station- and bottom-barrel KHJ-TV picked DuMont for the rest of its existence.

Neither does Chicago, but only because CBS was originally split between WBKB Ch. 4 & WGN Ch. 9, with Dumont also on Channel 9. CBS dropped WGN as a secondary affiliate when they got Channel 4 (now 2) after the ABC/United Paramount merger.

 

[genius]

Aside from KGSW/KASA changing their channel frequency, Albuquerque has had no affiliation changes amongst the major networks. Neither has Boise as far as I know.


quote author=bk77 link=topic=101168.msg792258#msg792258 date=1212650307]
I don't think any of the Colorado TV stations OUTSIDE OF DENVER went through any network changes either.[/quote]

Well there is KTVS(now KUPN) in Sterling but that's a story for another time

 

[james32746]

Orlando, though the NBC affiliation was split between WESH and WDBO (primary CBS) from 1956 to 11/4/1957, then on 11/5/1957, WESH activated a bigger tower in Orange City and added Orlando to the coverage area and became a full-time NBC affiliate.

 

[MikeyBos]

I'm pretty sure that ch. 40 WHYN in Springfield started out as CBS.

Actually, per Wikipedia - started out as primary CBS with secondary ABC and DuMont affiliations.

Hartford/New Haven wouldn't count then. CBS went from channel 18 to 3 at one time. Channel 20 of Waterbury was WATR-TV, an NBC affiliate until 1982 (would then go independent, UPN, WB and then CW). Channel 30 of New Britain is the only station in the market to be with one network their whole life (in this case, NBC). Channel 61 of Hartford signed on in 1984 as an independent but has been with FOX since the Joan Rivers talk show started in the fall of 1986.

Otherwise, can Springfield, MA count? I'm pretty sure that channel 22 has always been NBC while channel 40 has always been an ABC affiliate.

 

[dhett]

I am pretty sure Buffalo, NY would qualify here. Its always been 2 (NBC), 4 (CBS ), 7 (ABC ) and 29 ( FOX ).

Nope. WGR was originally an NBC affiliate from 1954-56, then became an ABC affiliate when NBC bought WBUF 17 as an O&O. When WKBW came online, WBUF shut down, and the NBC affiliation moved back to WGR, with ABC going to WKBW. The WBUF license and equipment were donated to Western NY Public Broadcasting Assn. and used to launch WNED.

Source: Wikipedia

 

[bpatrick]

How about Chattanooga:
3-NBC
9-ABC
12-CBS
61-Fox

I don't think Shreveport has had
one either. As far back as I can
remember, it's been 3-ABC, 6-NBC,
12-CBS, and I don't know where
Fox is.

Likewise, has Beaumont, TX had one?
Seems it's always been 4-NBC, 6-CBS,
12-ABC.

Oklahoma City:
4-NBC
5-ABC
9-CBS
25-Fox

Tulsa:

2-NBC
6-CBS
8-ABC
23-Fox

And I think Tucson has been:

4-NBC
9-ABC
11-Fox
13-CBS

 

[nbc9houston]

Houston and San Antonio.

Not exactly. San Antonio had an affiliation switch between KABB (which switched from an independent to Fox) and KRRT (which switch from Fox to the new UPN network) in 1995. Three years later, KRRT dropped UPN for the WB and UPN went to then-KMOL as a secondary affiliation until KBEJ signed on in 2000.

 

[KTN Corp]

Houston and San Antonio.

It's only Houston now. All I'm waiting for are the two affiliates to become O&Os. NBC might be more likely to buy first due to the weakness of the station in one of the largest markets.

 

[KML0224]

Good topic!

A few other markets that come to mind:

Bangor ME, Portland ME, Burlington/Plattsburgh, Boise (two-station market until 1974), Erie PA, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Fort Wayne, Orlando (on a technicality - WDBO-TV started as all three, then shed its ABC and NBC secondaries as channels 9 and 2 came on), Nashville (the ABC affiliation stayed constant as WSIX-TV moved from channel 8 to 2 and became WNGE/WKRN), Duluth, Grand Rapids, Madison, Topeka, Las Vegas, Palm Springs (two-station market until a few years ago), Tucson.

Scott? You can scratch Portland/Poland Spring off of that list. WPXT-TV channel 51 came on in 1986 as a charter FOX affiliate with Joan Rivers' talk show. However, they dropped FOX in 2001 and switched to WB (and are a CW affiliate today).

 

[fybush]

Scott? You can scratch Portland/Poland Spring off of that list. WPXT-TV channel 51 came on in 1986 as a charter FOX affiliate with Joan Rivers' talk show. However, they dropped FOX in 2001 and switched to WB (and are a CW affiliate today).

Whoops...should have remembered that! And Madison's off my "top of the head" list, too - as someone pointed out upthread, WKOW came on with CBS.

Hey, Lansing counts, doesn't it? 6 CBS, 10 NBC, 53 ABC?

 

[KML0224]

Has their FOX affiliate always been on channel 47?

 

[mjlarochelle]

Technically Watertown, NY has had no affiliation changes, as WWNY was always primary CBS - although at one point it carried all four networks including PBS/NET.

Traverse City/Cadillac, Michigan has never had changes either, as far as I know.

 

[Smittian]

Corpus Christi was unchanged until just a few months ago

CBS- KZTV-10 since 1956 sign-on
NBC- KRIS- 6 since 1956 sign on
ABC- KIII- 3 since 1964 sign on
PBS- KEDT- 16 since 1972 sign on
FOX- was K47DF from the early 90's until February 2008 when affiliation changed to full-powered KUQI-38

 

[RadioDze]

The Florence/Myrtle Beach (SC)/Lumberton (NC) might qualify, though with one caveat: the former WGSE-TV 43 was an affiliate of the former WB Network before becoming FOX as WFXB in the late 1990s, though there wasn't a FOX affiliate based in the market beforehand (they got FOX from neighboring Wilmington, NC on channel 26 (WSFX) and in the NW part of the market via Fayetteville, NC's channel 62, the former WFAY --which aired the network briefly in the mid-1990s before becoming PAX/ION affiiate WFPX. Based in the Raleigh-Durham, NC market, channel 62 reaches neither of those cities whatsoever). As for the other stations, WBTW, Channel 13, has always been CBS (though originally on channel 8 until the early 1960s) and WPDE, channel 15, always ABC since their 1981 sign on. The market has never had an NBC affiliate, though digital-only WMBF, channel 32, is to change that

 

[Markxxx]

Re: Los Angeles had affiliation changes

Actually L.A. doesn't even qualify. CBS was originally on KTTV 11- KTTV was originally a joint venture between CBS and the Los Angeles Times. Channel 2 was KTSL, a DuMont affiliate co-owned with KHJ radio. Don Lee Broadcasting put KTSL up for sale and CBS, wanting full ownership of a station in Los Angeles, bought it, renaming it KNXT to match its KNX radio (the KCBS-TV calls did not come until 1984), and selling its portion of KTTV to the Times. Don Lee then bought KFI-TV 9, which is how KHJ-TV (now KCAL) came to be. KTTV ended up taking DuMont until 1954, when the network was already on life support- KTTV never needed it in the first place, it was a strong station- and bottom-barrel KHJ-TV picked DuMont for the rest of its existence.

Neither does Chicago, but only because CBS was originally split between WBKB Ch. 4 & WGN Ch. 9, with Dumont also on Channel 9. CBS dropped WGN as a secondary affiliate when they got Channel 4 (now 2) after the ABC/United Paramount merger.

I have actually checked the historical Chicago Tribune index and I've never seen anything to indicate this was real, other than a program or two WGN picked up.

WBKB was airing CBS shows consistantly WENR (Channel 7) was consistantly airing ABC.

The program listings show WGN to pick up a fews shows that WBKB didn't want, but that's hardly an affiliation. And they weren't always consistantly the same show either.

So that's what's difficult in determaining the affiliation thing in the early years.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

I'd like to toss Lafayette, Indiana into the ring.

One station market.
I believe WLFI 18 has been CBS since it signed on in the 50s.

 

[w9wi]

Burlington/Plattsburgh,

Fox initially on WWBI-LP? (or do I mis-remember that?)

Nashville (the ABC affiliation stayed constant as WSIX-TV moved from channel 8 to 2 and became WNGE/WKRN),

Fox initially on WXMT (now WUXP) 30.

 

[nbc9houston]

Re: Los Angeles had affiliation changes

Actually L.A. doesn't even qualify. CBS was originally on KTTV 11- KTTV was originally a joint venture between CBS and the Los Angeles Times. Channel 2 was KTSL, a DuMont affiliate co-owned with KHJ radio. Don Lee Broadcasting put KTSL up for sale and CBS, wanting full ownership of a station in Los Angeles, bought it, renaming it KNXT to match its KNX radio (the KCBS-TV calls did not come until 1984), and selling its portion of KTTV to the Times. Don Lee then bought KFI-TV 9, which is how KHJ-TV (now KCAL) came to be. KTTV ended up taking DuMont until 1954, when the network was already on life support- KTTV never needed it in the first place, it was a strong station- and bottom-barrel KHJ-TV picked DuMont for the rest of its existence.

KFI-TV Channel 9 was briefly affiliated with NBC when it signed on in 1948 before Channel 4 (KNBH, KRCA, and now KNBC) signed on one year later.

 

[ricksegers]

I believe Albany GA fits into this...

WALB has been NBC since it went on the air in the early 50's. WFXL went on the air as an indy as WTSG but became a Fox station when the network started in the 80's.