Wkbw-tv history

In 1954, WGR-TV (Channel 2) got airborne, with a stable of talent that included Bill Mazer, Billy Keaton, pioneer female personality Helen Neville, Roy Kerns and “your Atlantic weatherman” Jack Mahl.

Clinton Churchill, original owner of 50,000 watt radio station WKBW (1520 AM, now WWKB), was granted the license to operate the station in 1957.

In 1959, however, a new Channel 17, redubbed WNED-TV, became New York State’s first public noncommercial TV station.

The first commercial UHF station to survive in Buffalo was WUTV-TV (Channel 29), which took to the air in 1970, founded by radio polka king Stan Jasinski.

In 1977, WKBW-TV unsuccessfully sued the Canadian Radio-Television Commission (CRTC) over simultaneous substitution rules.

Under Capital Cities' ownership, in 1978 the WKBW stations moved their studios from Main Street to their present location, "7 Broadcast Plaza", on Church Street a few blocks southwest of Niagara Square.

During the 1980s, two additional Buffalo station began telecasting — WNYB-TV (Channel 49, now WNYO-TV) and public, noncommercial WNEQ, now WNLO (Channel 23).

When Capital Cities announced its acquisition of ABC in March 1985, it was required to divest stations to stay within Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ownership limits of the era.

A year-and-a-half later, in June 1995, Granite bought the remaining 55% interest in the station.

Buffalo’s newest station, WNGS-TV (Channel 67), signed-on in 1997.

In March, 2009, Time Warner Cable launched the first 24 hour live local news station in Western New York.

YNN (Your News Now). The company changed to Time Warner Cable News in January, 2014.

E.W. Scripps spun-off their papers to Journal Media Group on April 1, 2015, while Gannett's publishing and digital media operations were spun off to the new Tegna on June 29, 2015.