TV, radio stations under original ownership

[FU2CCU]

WSBT-TV in South Bend Indiana has been owned by Schurz Communications since it signed on in 1952, & had CBS as the primary affiliation the entire time they've been on the air. I however don't know if WSBT-AM has been owned by Schurz since it signed on in 1922, or if they acquired it in 1925. I haven't been able to find out about the ownership of WNSN 101.5 FM South Bend throughout the years.

Also in South Bend Indiana, Michiana Public Broadcasting has owned WNIT TV since its sign on in 1974.

For Chicago, I'll mention WCIU. Weigel Broadcasting has owned WCIU-TV since its signon in 1964, & continues to own the station today, but expanded nationally with This TV & MeTV diginetworks. All other stations have changed owners at some point in history, with the exception of WGN-TV, WTTW, & WYIN on the TV side. WYIN has been owned by Northwest Indiana Public Broadcasting since its signon in 1987 on 56, but they originally had planned to acquire the WCAE license instead, which that license was for channel 50, & the original non-commercial license, & station off the air. Had Newsweb not changed the non-commercial allocation to the WGMI license, which was for channel 56, channel 56 would not have seen the light of day in Northwest Indiana. So other than a license change, as WYIN, it's been under the same owner since it's sign on.

WSBT-AM and WNSN have both been owned by Schurz since they started. WSBT-AM started in 1921 as an experimental station and was licensed in 1922. WNSN was experimental in 1943 and became a licensed FM after that.

Schurz has also owned the South Bend Tribune since it started in 1872

 

[boiseengineer]

January 23, 1923 KFDJ-AM Corvallis OR signed on from the Oregon Agricultural College
KBOI has KOACs first 1 killowatt transmitter, a 1930s Western Electric, on display at the KBOI transmitter. Was the origional KDSH (now KBOI) transmitter in 1947. A few years ago ran accross the Colleges yearly financial statements from the 30s & it's purchase listed. We tried to give it back to them but they don't want it.
No it's not for sale.

 

[RadioDaze]

A commercial radio operation in the same hands since its sign-on nearly 83 years ago is WBTM, Danville, Virginia. Allen Clarke's Clarke Electronic Company applied for and put the station on-air May 24, 1930, and the following year created and served as one of the principles in Piedmont Broadcasting Company, the station's current owner. The company also owns the former WBTM-FM, now 100,000-watt country outlet WAKG 103.3, which signed on in 1968, and just last Thursday signed on an FM translator for WBTM, W275BR 102.5 FM.

Excluding non-commercial broadcasters, these stations and WRAL FM and TV in Raleigh are the only ones I can think of under the same ownership since sign-on across this region.

 

[joebtsflk1]

commercial stations in Iowa....that seems like a pretty short list. KMA 960 in Shenandoah was started by nurseryman Earl May in the 1920s, that family still owns it today. KMA-FM is a johnny-come-lately, it was put on the air in the 70s by another owner in Clarinda and didn't come under the KMA umbrella til the 90s.

In Marshalltown IA, KDAO AM has been owned by the Osmundsen family since it was built in the late 70s. Same family also built in 1987 LPTV station KDAO. KDAO-FM is licensed to Eldora & I'm not sure if there was another owner or not before Osmundsen.

In Quincy IL, WGEM AM-FM-TV has been owned by Quincy Newspapers since 1948 for AM, 1953 for TV and not sure for the FM

KRVN AM-FM Lexington NE were built by the Nebraska Rural Radio Association, a 4000 member co-op of ranchers and farmers which still owns the stations today. KRVN started out in 1951 as a daytimer on 1010, then in the early 70s it moved to 880 where it became one of the old class II-A clear channel stations, 50 kW days ND, night DA to protect WCBS 880 New York

 

[Rollo-Smokes]

Some left out:

WEWS (TV) Cleveland (E.W. Scripps Co., 1947)

WCPO-TV Cincinnati (E.W. Scripps Co., 1949)

WBNS (1922), WBNS-FM (1946) and WBNS-TV (1949) in Columbus, Ohio (Wolfe family, The Columbus Dispatch)

WHIO (1935), WHKO (originally WHIO-FM, 1957) and WHIO-TV (1949) Dayton, Ohio (Cox Enterprises, The Dayton Daily News)

KSTP (1925), KSTP-FM (1965), and KSTP-TV (1947) Saint Paul (Hubbard family)

WBAL-TV Baltimore (Hearst Corp., 1948)

WTAE-TV Pittsburgh (Hearst Corp., 1958)

WPIX (TV) New York City (Tribune Co., 1948)

KATU (TV) Portland, Ore. (Fisher Communications [for now], 1964)

KOTA-TV Rapid City, S.D. (Duhamel family, 1955)

KOMU-TV Columbia, MO (University of Missouri, 1953)

KTBS-TV Shreveport, LA (Wray family, 1955)

WTVA (TV) Tupelo, MS (Spain family, 1957)

and I'm sure there's more out there...

 

[Mario500]

The nine TV stations that make up the Alabama Public Television network have been owned by the government of Alabama ever since each of them was created.

 

[michael hagerty]

Saul Levine has owned KKGO-FM (105.1) in Los Angeles since it went on the air in 1959.

 

[RadioDaze]

The nine TV stations that make up the Alabama Public Television network have been owned by the government of Alabama ever since each of them was created.

University of North Carolina system-owned pubcaster UNC-TV has owned all twelve of its stations since their sign-on:

WUNC-TV, Chapel Hill (1954, 10th educational TV station in the nation)
WUND-TV, Edenton (formerly WUNB-TV, Columbia-1965)
WUNE-TV, Linville (1971)
WUNF-TV, Asheville (1971)
WUNG-TV, Concord (1971)
WUNJ-TV, Wilmington (1972)
WUNK-TV, Greenville (1972)
WUNL-TV, Winston-Salem (1972)
WUNM-TV, Jacksonville (1982)
WUNP-TV, Roanoke Rapids (1986)
WUNU-TV, Lumberton (1996)
WUNW-TV, Canton (2010)

The University of North Carolina has also owned Raleigh area NPR affiliate WUNC-FM 91.5, Chapel Hill since 1952.

There are lots of college-owned radio stations that would fit this list such as Shaw University's WSHA 88.9 FM (Raleigh, 1968), the first station licensed to a historically black college/university.

 

[ftballfan]

In Michigan:
WTCM-AM/FM in Traverse City have been owned by the Biederman family since sign-on (the AM signed on in 1940 and the FM signed on in the early 1970s)
WATZ-AM/FM in Alpena have also been owned by the Biedermans since sign-on as well

 

[kc1ih]

WATD, Marshfield, MA, owned by Ed Perry
WUMB, Boston, owned by University of Massachusetts, Boston.