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Which affiliates have maintained their networks the longest?

seatownmedia

seatownmedia

I know that Seattle's KING-TV has been NBC affiliated since 1958. Impressive, but I believe others have maintained a longer affiliation. Obviously, the network owned stations in NY and Chicago have a longer history. What other current stations have maintained their original network affiliations to today?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I can top that six times, just in Indiana.
WSBT (South Bend) - CBS Since 1952. Originally affiliated with all networks.
WLFI (Lafayette) - CBS since 1953. Was only TV station in Lafayette for over 60 years, but I don't think they ever held multiple affiliations.
WFIE (Evansville) - NBC since 1953.
WTHI (Terre Haute) - CBS since signing on in 1954. For many years was affiliated with all networks as the only TV station in Terre Haute.
WANE (Fort Wayne) - Ditto.
WPTA (Fort Wayne) - ABC since 1957.

There are no commercial stations in Indianapolis which have maintained their affiliations longer than 1979. Probably about half of Indiana's stations outside Indianapolis not listed above were not on the air until 1958 or later, the other half have changed affiliations, some several times.
 
Around Minnesota

WCCO in Minneapolis has been a CBS since sign on which is 1949. They were called WTCN back then

In Duluth KBJR has been with NBC since 1955
Until this past August CBS had been on KDLH since the same time frame (they are now a sub of KBJR due to the Quincy buyout)

Rochester has the longest tenure of all of the Big 3
KTTC has been with NBC since sign on (1953)...they carried all 4 (Dumont being the 4th) until 1955
KIMT has been CBS since sign on in 1954
KAAL has been with ABC since 1954 (they were CBS until KIMT signed on)
 
In Iowa, nothing much ever changes.

Des Moines:

Iowa State University's WOI-TV 5 in Ames started out with all the nets, CBS-NBC-ABC-Dumont from 1950 to 1954. WHO-TV 13 took on NBC in 1954. KRNT-TV (nee KCCI) 8 got the CBS affiliation when it signed on in 1955. That left ABC for WOI-TV. It's been the same ever since.

It's easier to cite the stations that DID change nets. In Sioux City KVTV later KCAU-TV 9 went from CBS to ABC upon the 1967 sign-on of KMEG-TV 14 which got the nod for CBS. I'm thinking the old Fetzer group which built KMEG had some pull inside CBS, because to have CBS move from the V to the U seems unusual for that time.

In Ottumwa, KTVO 3 ditched CBS for ABC in 1968 in its long but ultimately tragic journey to become ABC for the Tri-States. Long because KTVO's 2000 footer was tied up in hearings for over ten years. Tragic because of the 1988 collapse with fatalities of the 2000 footer after less than a year in the air, never to be rebuilt as KTVO opted to move back to the original tower.
 
joebtsflk1 said:
In Iowa, nothing much ever changes.

Des Moines:

Iowa State University's WOI-TV 5 in Ames started out with all the nets, CBS-NBC-ABC-Dumont from 1950 to 1954. WHO-TV 13 took on NBC in 1954. KRNT-TV (nee KCCI) 8 got the CBS affiliation when it signed on in 1955. That left ABC for WOI-TV. It's been the same ever since.

It's easier to cite the stations that DID change nets. In Sioux City KVTV later KCAU-TV 9 went from CBS to ABC upon the 1967 sign-on of KMEG-TV 14 which got the nod for CBS. I'm thinking the old Fetzer group which built KMEG had some pull inside CBS, because to have CBS move from the V to the U seems unusual for that time.

In Ottumwa, KTVO 3 ditched CBS for ABC in 1968 in its long but ultimately tragic journey to become ABC for the Tri-States. Long because KTVO's 2000 footer was tied up in hearings for over ten years. Tragic because of the 1988 collapse with fatalities of the 2000 footer after less than a year in the air, never to be rebuilt as KTVO opted to move back to the original tower.
Click to expand...



From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KTVO for those wondering...

On June 2, 1988, a three-member broadcast tower maintenance crew were killed when the KTVO transmitter tower collapsed. This forced the channel, along with radio station KRXL-FM 94.5 (which had been renting antenna space on the tower) off-the-air. Since the original tower was still available, KTVO was able to resume broadcasting within thirty hours of the collapse. An Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigation placed official blame for the tower collapse primarily on the maintenance crew, citing the removal of too many tower cross-braces at once for repair. Although a relatively new structure, the steel cross-braces had already shown signs of cracking, rust, and other deterioration thus necessitating the early repair and maintenance.
Click to expand...

How would the new tower have enhanced KTVO's reception?

ixnay
 
WVIT-TV (NBC) channel 30 of New Britain, CT, which is the Hartford/New Haven DMA, has been an NBC affiliate since their 1953 sign on. WFSB-TV (CBS) channel 3 of Hartford signed on as an independent station in 1957 and became CBS around 1960.
 
joebtsflk1 said:
In Iowa, nothing much ever changes.

Des Moines:

Iowa State University's WOI-TV 5 in Ames started out with all the nets, CBS-NBC-ABC-Dumont from 1950 to 1954. WHO-TV 13 took on NBC in 1954. KRNT-TV (nee KCCI) 8 got the CBS affiliation when it signed on in 1955. That left ABC for WOI-TV. It's been the same ever since.

It's easier to cite the stations that DID change nets. In Sioux City KVTV later KCAU-TV 9 went from CBS to ABC upon the 1967 sign-on of KMEG-TV 14 which got the nod for CBS. I'm thinking the old Fetzer group which built KMEG had some pull inside CBS, because to have CBS move from the V to the U seems unusual for that time.

In Ottumwa, KTVO 3 ditched CBS for ABC in 1968 in its long but ultimately tragic journey to become ABC for the Tri-States. Long because KTVO's 2000 footer was tied up in hearings for over ten years. Tragic because of the 1988 collapse with fatalities of the 2000 footer after less than a year in the air, never to be rebuilt as KTVO opted to move back to the original tower.
Click to expand...

Cedar Rapids' KGAN (WMT-TV)/2 & KCRG-TV (KCRI-TV)/9, and Waterloo's KWWL-TV/7 have been CBS, ABC, and NBC, respectively, since all three signed on in 1953. I don't know which of them aired Dumont.

Also:
Phoenix (Mesa) AZ: KPNX (KTYL-TV, KVAR, KTAR-TV)/12 has been NBC since sign-on in 1953. It also split Dumont with KPHO-TV until that network died in '55.

Wausau WI: WSAW (WSAU-TV)/7 has been primary or exclusively CBS since sign-on in 1954.

Tucson AZ: KVOA-TV/4, KGUN-TV/9, and KOLD-TV/13 have not only been NBC, ABC, and CBS, respectively, since their sign-ons in the mid 1950s, but still hold their original call letters.
 
In Memphis WMC has been with NBC since their sign-on in 1948, and WREC/WREG has been with CBS since their sign-on in 1956.
 
Washington, DC.....

WNBW/WRC.....NBC since the late 40s
WTTG.............DuMont in the 40s and 50s, FOX since 1986
WMAL/WJLA......ABC since the late 40s

and despite the many of call letters from WOIC to WTOP TO WDVM to WUSA Washington's channel 9 has always been since CBS which began in the late 1940's.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
WLFI (Lafayette) - CBS since 1953. Was only TV station in Lafayette for over 60 years, but I don't think they ever held multiple affiliations.

unclehonkey said:
They did have Dumont from 1953-56
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

WLFI also was secondary NBC in the 1950s, but IIRC they dropped it when they moved from Channel 59 to 18.
 
I'm pretty sure the Bismarck/Minot ND market NBC and CBS stations have never changed their primary affiliation.
KFYR (NBC) in Bismarck and KXMC (CBS) in Minot, both since 1953.

The Fargo, ND market, on the other hand has had NBC/ABC flips, and the original CBS affiliate doesn't exist anymore as it was absorbed as a subchannel on the NBC station.
 
All of the stations in the Burlington, VT/Plattsburg, NY market have had their affiliations since the time they signed on.

WCAX, CBS (1954)
WPTZ, NBC (1954)
WVNY, ABC (1968)
WFFF, Fox (1998)
 
Traverse City-Cadillac:

WPBN: primary NBC since sign-on (1954)
WWTV: primary CBS since sign-on (1954)
WGTU: primary ABC since sign-on (1971)
WFQX/WGKI: primary FOX since sign-on (1989)
WPBN and WWTV shared a (secondary) ABC affiliation before 1971. Also, WZZM was the default ABC affiliate for the southwest portion of the market (and still is in some areas)
 
joebtsflk1 said:
In Iowa, nothing much ever changes.


It's easier to cite the stations that DID change nets. In Sioux City KVTV later KCAU-TV 9 went from CBS to ABC upon the 1967 sign-on of KMEG-TV 14 which got the nod for CBS. I'm thinking the old Fetzer group which built KMEG had some pull inside CBS, because to have CBS move from the V to the U seems unusual for that time.
Click to expand...

No, it had to do with complaints from KELO in Sioux Falls. KVTV's original tower was north of Sioux City and put a quite good signal into Sioux Falls. KVTV changed ownership and became KCAU right about when KMEG was being built. KCAU agreed to switch to ABC due to pressure put on CBS from KELO. Of course, while that tower was still in use, KCAU had quite an audience in Sioux Falls as the defacto ABC affiliate.

I think KMEG was first put on the air by a local concern, who later sold to Fetzer. The president of the local company had a daughter named Meg, which is where the calls came from. (I had a friend who went to high school with her.)
 
KHQ in Spokane has been an NBC affiliate since they signed on in 1952 (having already been affiliated with the network on the radio side). They've also never changed call letters or ownership.
 
Another thread that devolves into a random list of various stations' affiliations histories...but let's try a little deeper here and limit ourselves just to stations that have been affiliated with (but not owned by) their networks since at least the 1940s.

Detroit's WWJ-TV/WDIV 4 has to be at or near the top of that list; it signed on in early 1947 and has been with NBC from the beginning. KSD-TV/KSDK in St. Louis was also an early 1947 sign-on and has stayed with NBC from day one. WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee came on later in 1947 and is also an NBC lifer. In addition to KPRC, other early NBC affiliates that have stayed with the network all along include KOB Albuquerque (1948), WBAP-TV/KXAS Fort Worth (1948, but eventually an O&O), WLWT Cincinnati (1948), WAVE Louisville (1948), WDSU New Orleans (1948), WJAR Providence (1949), WCMH Columbus (1949), WICU Erie (1949), WGAL Lancaster (1949), WJAC Johnstown (1949), WKTV Utica (1949), WOAI-TV/KMOL/WOAI-TV San Antonio (1949) and WLAV-TV/WOOD-TV Grand Rapids (1949).

On the CBS side, WBEN-TV/WIVB Buffalo signed on in 1948 and has been primary CBS since at least early 1949. WTVR Richmond was also a 1948 debut, but didn't become primary CBS until 1955. KPIX-TV San Francisco signed on in 1948 and has always been CBS, but eventually as an O&O. That, I think, makes WHEN-TV/WTVH in Syracuse the longest-running primary CBS station that's not an O&O, since it signed on in December 1948 with CBS primary. WOIC/WTOP/WDVM/WUSA-TV in Washington can also claim CBS as far back as early 1949. WHIO-TV in Dayton (1949), KFMB-TV San Diego (1949), WNBF-TV/WBNG Binghamton (1949), WBNS-TV Columbus (1949), WCCO-TV Minneapolis (1949, later an O&O) and WBTV Charlotte (1949) round out the pre-1950 CBS lineup that's stayed with the network all these years.

In Philadelphia, WFIL-TV 6 was with ABC from its start in 1947, long before it became WPVI and eventually ended up as an ABC O&O. If you rule WPVI out on those grounds, the next stop would be WTVW/WMAL-TV/WJLA in Washington, which was primary CBS when it signed on in 1947 but was primary ABC by 1948 when DC became a four-station market. Past there and WTVN-TV/WSYX Columbus (1949 as secondary ABC, but primary DuMont until 1955), you're into the 1950s before you find the next stations that have maintained continuous primary ABC affiliation.
 
ixnay said:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KTVO for those wondering...



How would the new tower have enhanced KTVO's reception?

ixnay
Click to expand...

The 2000 footer that fell in 1988 was between Kirksville MO and Quincy IL. It covered nearly all of the Quincy-Hannibal market as well as the Ottumwa-Kirksville market. Had it survived, I think the two markets would have merged. It was the second ABC affiliate that tried to cover Quincy-Hannibal. The first was the ill-fated WJJY-TV 14 Jacksonville IL (1969 - 1971) which provided a city-grade signal to both Springfield IL and Quincy-Hannibal. Much more here: http://www.brainmist.com/wjjy_tv/wjjy_tv.htm
 
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