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PRE-1970 STATIONS (NOT O & O) STILL WITH THEIR DEBUT NETWORK

I guess Cleveland would just be WKYC/3 (NBC), as IIRC WEWS/5 had a turn as a primary CBS affiliate, and WJW/8 lost CBS in the New World/Gillette deal.

WKYC WAS an O&O for a long time (it signed on as an O&O, and was not one during the NBC/Westinghouse swap), but is no longer. But it's been an NBC affiliate the entire time, including during the post-NBC O&O period.
 
OMW, I'm surprised you forgot about your neighbor to the southwest, Columbus.

There's never been an affiliation switch in Ohio's capital city. WLWC/WCMH-TV (ch. 3 then 4, NBC), WTVN-TV/WSYX (ch. 6, ABC) and WBNS-TV (ch. 10, CBS) all went on the air in 1949 with the respective network affiliations they all still carry to this day. It becomes four stations if you throw in WTTE (ch. 28), a charter Fox affiliate.

It should be noted that WLWC and WTVN-TV both carried DuMont programming, and WCMH was an NBC O&O for ten years (1996-2006).
 
gregg75 said:
It's strange that a lot of these stations have been sold 5 or more times, but kept their networks.

I'll finish out Georgia

WMAZ 13 Macon CBS
WRDW 12 Augusta CBS

Augusta has another UHF station that almost qualifies, but they had a rough start (being UHF)
and went silent for a few years. WATU 26 NBC is now WAGT 26 NBC.

NBC allowed WJBF and WATU to cherry pick. Although WATU was NBC, The Today and Tonight
shows were on WJBF (ABC,NBC).
Click to expand...

Don't forget WMGT 41 Macon NBC since its inception in 1969.
 
Some off the top of my head...

St. Louis: KSDK 5-NBC, 1947 (as KSD-TV); KMOV 4-CBS, 1954 (as KWK, later KMOX-TV when CBS purchased the station in 1958, CBS sold the station in '86)
Sacramento: KCRA 3-NBC, 1955
Las Vegas: KLAS 8-CBS, 1953; KSNV 3-NBC, 1955 (as KLRJ; later became KORK and KVBC); KTNV 13-ABC, 1956 (as KSHO)
Palm Springs, California: KMIR 36-NBC, 1968; KESQ 42-ABC, 1968 (as KPLM)
Spokane: KHQ 6-NBC, 1952
Houston: KPRC 2-NBC, 1949 (as KLEE-TV); KHOU 11-CBS, 1953 (as KGUL), KTRK 13-ABC, 1954 (as KXYZ; became an ABC O&O in '86)
New Orleans: WDSU 6-NBC, 1948; WWL 4-CBS, 1957
Rockford, Illinois: WIFR 23-CBS, 1965 (as WCEE)
Champaign-Urbana, Illinois: WCIA 3-CBS, 1953
 
The only ones in the St. Louis area that I can come up with, in regard to stations still with their networks from sign on, are Channel 4, Channel 5 and Channel 9.

KSDK-TV Channel 5 hit the airwaves in February 1947 as KSD-TV, affiliated with all four major networks at the time, ABC, CBS, DuMont and NBC. Nearly a year later Channel 5 became a primary NBC affiliate and has remained with the Peacock network ever since.

KMOV-TV Channel 4 went on the air as CBS affiliate KWK-TV in 1954. It has managed to keep its CBS affiliation despite ownership changes over the years. As a matter of fact, from 1958 to 1986 it was a CBS O&O under the call letters KMOX-TV.

Non-commercial KETC-TV Channel 9, which began operations as the city's first educational station in 1954, became affiliated with the NET network in the 1960s, and later became affiliated with PBS around 1969.
 
Little Rock, Arkansas ... but with a twist:

KARK-4: NBC since 1954 sign-on.
KATV-7: ABC since 1953 sign-on (originally in Pine Bluff).
KTHV-11: CBS since 1955 sign-on.

This is the only market I'm aware of whose "big three" affiliates not only have kept their same networks, but also the same call letters.

It would have been FOUR had KLRT-16 (which debuted in 1983) aligned with FOX on day one instead of 1990! (The market's first FOX affiliate was KJTM-38, now KASN CW)

--Russell
 
Cedar Rapids/Waterloo -- WMT/KGAN0 2 (CBS), KWWL 7 (NBC), KCRG 9 (ABC)
Rochester/Mason City/Austin -- KGLO/KIMT 3 (CBS), KMMT/KAAL 6 (ABC), KROC/KTTC 10 (NBC)
Tallahassee -- WCTV 6 (CBS)
 
Little Rock, Arkansas ... This is the only market I'm aware of whose "big three" affiliates not only have kept their same networks, but also the same call letters.
Click to expand...

This whole collection of stations is pretty extensive. I wonder how short the list would be if this thread had been named "PRE-1970 STATIONS (NOT O & O) STILL WITH THEIR DEBUT NETWORK AND THEIR DEBUT CALL LETTERS".
;)
 
I could start in North Carolina: WFMY (CBS), WBTV (CBS),
WWAY (ABC), WITN (NBC), WNCT (CBS), WLOS (ABC)

In Virginia: WDBJ (CBS), WSLS (NBC)

In South Carolina: WSPA (CBS), WIS (NBC), WCSC (CBS),
WBTW (CBS, but not on its original channel--it started on
Ch. 8 and moved to 13 when the CP was given to WGHP)

In Tennessee: WDEF (CBS), WCYB (NBC, actually Bristol, VA),
WJHL (CBS), WKPT (ABC, just beat the deadline by signing on
in 1969)

In Kentucky: WAVE (NBC), WLEX (NBC)
 
In Maine, WCSH (NBC)

In New Hampshire, WMUR (ABC)

In Massachusetts, WWLP (NBC, but moved from 61 to 22)

In Rhode Island, WJAR (NBC, but moved from 11 to 10)

In New York, WKTV (NBC, 13 to 2); WENY (ABC, though it squeaks in with a 1969 sign-on); WKBW (ABC)

In Vermont, WVNY (ABC), but on a technicality: not only does it squeak in with a 1968 debut, it changed calls to WEZF-TV in the 70s, then returned to its original calls.

In Pennsylvania, WBRE (NBC); WGAL (NBC, 4 to 8); WHP (CBS); WICU (NBC); WSEE (CBS); WJET (ABC); WTAE (ABC); WJAC (NBC, 13 to 6)

In Maryland, WBOC (CBS)

In Ohio, WFMJ (NBC, 73 to 21); WKBN (CBS); WBNS (CBS); WTOL (CBS); WHIZ (NBC, 50 to 18); WLWT (NBC)

In Indiana, WPTA (CBS); WNDU (NBC); WSBT (CBS); WTHI (CBS); WTWO (NBC); WFIE (NBC)

In Michigan, WXYZ (ABC); WJRT (ABC); WOOD (NBC, 7 to 8); WPBN/WTOM (NBC); WWTV/WWUP (CBS)

Not a very long list at all so far!
 
Scott Fybush said:
In Vermont, WVNY (ABC), but on a technicality: not only does it squeak in with a 1968 debut, it changed calls to WEZF-TV in the 70s, then returned to its original calls.
Click to expand...

But if we're going to include that technicality, then the original premise could have included the following stations that are the same network as at sign-on:
  • KPHO-TV 5 Phoenix - CBS at 1949 debut and now, but an indie for most of its life - would also qualify for keeping its original calls since sign-on. It was originally KTLX, but changed before signing on.
  • KSWT 13 Yuma - Signed on in Dec 1963 as a CBS affiliate, took over NBC in Feb 1970 when KIVA went dark, changed to ABC in 1988 shortly after KYMA signed on, and returned to CBS in Sept 1994 when KECY switched to Fox.

Of course, you already knew these, Scott - I see you published the latter in a couple of recent "Tower Site of the Week" articles. An enjoyable read.
http://www.fybush.com/sites/2010/site-100910.html
http://www.fybush.com/sites/2010/site-100917.html
 
Does a station which has its debut callsign and began as a non-O&O but later became one, count? If so, KPIX/5 in San Francisco (several owners, but CBS affiliate from the start in 1948, and only recently an O&O) and KTRK/13 in Houston (always ABC from 1954 sign-on, but not an O&O until the CapCities merger in 1986) could fit.
 
bpatrick said:
I thought KPRC started as a CBS primary, and that the
Hobby family switched it to NBC.
Click to expand...

Nope, they were NBC from day one (and briefly a DuMont secondary).

And KTRK's calls were never KXYZ; KXYZ was the original call letters of channel 39 in the mid-50s. They went out of business after a few months, and the channel remained dark until 1967.
 
you forgot WHYN-WGGB/40 in Springfield, MA since at least the late 1960s
 
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