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WDAF-TV
WDAF-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities on Summit Street in the Signal Hill section of Kansas City, Missouri.
WDAF-TV is Kansas City's oldest operating TV station, beginning broadcasts in October 1949, and was the only station in the city for three and a half years. It, along with WDAF radio (610 AM), was an NBC affiliate owned by The Kansas City Star newspaper. Under The Star, the station developed its news department with national coverage of the Great Flood of 1951 and aired a series of popular local programs. After the newspaper was investigated for monopolistic practices in advertising sales, it signed a consent decree in 1957 and sold the WDAF stations to National Theatres the next year. Under National and subsequent owner Transcontinent Television Corporation, WDAF-TV largely coasted on the news image it had crafted and enjoyed a slight edge in local ratings.
Taft Broadcasting acquired WDAF radio and television in 1964 as part of its purchase of most of Transcontinent. Under Taft, the station's news ratings suffered as cost-cutting and corporate mandates produced a revolving door of on-air personnel; one bright spot was the early evening news, which WDAF led in the 1970s and early 1980s. Between 1980 and 1992, the station was the local broadcaster of Kansas City Royals baseball games. Ratings took a dive in the years after Taft Broadcasting was purchased in 1987 and reorganized as Great American Broadcasting Company, with the station posting multi-year lows in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
New World Communications acquired WDAF-TV and three other Great American stations in 1994, then switched the affiliations of WDAF-TV and 11 other stations to Fox. The station's weekday news output more than doubled to accommodate extended news coverage throughout the day, including in morning news, which became a station strength. Fox parent News Corporation bought the New World Fox affiliates, including WDAF-TV, in 1996; channel 4 remained third in local news through this period. WDAF was sold to Local TV LLC in 2007, Tribune Media in 2013, and Nexstar in 2019, becoming more competitive with second- and first-place ratings finishes in news.
On December 12, 1947, The Kansas City Star Company, the parent of The Kansas City Star newspaper as well as Kansas City radio station WDAF (610 AM), applied to build a television station on channel 4. One account stated that the newspaper's board of directors was deadlocked on whether to apply for a TV station. Publisher Roy A. Roberts cast the deciding vote in favor of the application, believing that television might "contribute to the good of our community". The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the application on January 30, 1948. Though the permit was obtained in January 1948, The Star did not announce its plans for WDAF-TV until later. By the end of 1948, it had purchased land at 31st and Summit streets in Kansas City, Missouri, for a facility to house WDAF television (and eventually radio) and poured the bases for a 724-foot (221 m) tower to broadcast WDAF-TV on the same site. Employees trained in television at WNBT in New York, and TV cameras and other equipment were on order. The last section of the tower was put into place on May 23, and the first test pattern broadcasts were made on the evening of August 20. Despite no prior warning, it received phone calls commenting on the reception, including from as far away as Omaha. The Star held a three-day television expo in the Memorial Auditorium from September 11–13, demonstrating the new medium, and began regular broadcasts of the test pattern at that time.
The first program aired on WDAF-TV was not regularly scheduled. It was the September 29 testimonial dinner for William M. Boyle, live from the Arena in the Municipal Auditorium, an event at which president Harry S. Truman spoke and which five local radio stations covered. The first night of regular viewing on WDAF-TV was October 16, 1949, when channel 4 presented a four-hour schedule including a dedication, a live telecast from the American Royal, films of the station's construction, local news (a telegraph tape moved in front of the camera to display the news), and a salute to WDAF-TV by Arthur Godfrey. Program manager Bill Bates estimated that 7,000 sets were in use to watch WDAF-TV's inaugural broadcast and that 100,000 people watched that first night. Though WDAF-TV was the first modern station on the air, it was predated by the experimental W9XAL, which operated in the 1930s.
WDAF-TV was a primary affiliate of NBC, but as the only television station in Kansas City, it held program agreements with the other major networks: CBS, ABC, and the DuMont Television Network (from May 1950). All network programs the station aired in its first year of operation were kinescopes—filmed recordings off the television monitor of the original broadcast—before network coaxial cable service reached Kansas City beginning September 30, 1950. With the advent of live service for network entertainment and sports programming, the station nearly doubled its weekly output from 32–35 hours to 57–60 hours. In February 1951, WDAF-TV carried the Sugar Ray Robinson vs. Jake LaMotta fight live on the air. The telecast, sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and aired over CBS, was a milestone, as neither WDAF-TV, WDAF radio, nor The Star had ever previously accepted any alcohol advertising.
The Great Flood of 1951 devastated the Kansas City area, and WDAF-TV provided ample coverage and public service during the incident. The station covered the flooding in its nightly weathercast by Shelby Storck and Heart of America Newsreel, aired live flood coverage by placing a camera on the studio roof and zooming in on damage, and commissioned an aircraft to shoot aerial footage. WDAF's flood footage was aired nationally by CBS. News director Randall Jessee, who held that position for WDAF radio and television, was cited in hindsight as a calming influence and earned the moniker "Mr. Television" locally. The station's first mobile outside broadcasting van was a converted Packard hearse; its successor, nicknamed "Cosa Nostra", once turned up at a bank robbery before police.
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WDAF-TV
WDAF-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities on Summit Street in the Signal Hill section of Kansas City, Missouri.
WDAF-TV is Kansas City's oldest operating TV station, beginning broadcasts in October 1949, and was the only station in the city for three and a half years. It, along with WDAF radio (610 AM), was an NBC affiliate owned by The Kansas City Star newspaper. Under The Star, the station developed its news department with national coverage of the Great Flood of 1951 and aired a series of popular local programs. After the newspaper was investigated for monopolistic practices in advertising sales, it signed a consent decree in 1957 and sold the WDAF stations to National Theatres the next year. Under National and subsequent owner Transcontinent Television Corporation, WDAF-TV largely coasted on the news image it had crafted and enjoyed a slight edge in local ratings.
Taft Broadcasting acquired WDAF radio and television in 1964 as part of its purchase of most of Transcontinent. Under Taft, the station's news ratings suffered as cost-cutting and corporate mandates produced a revolving door of on-air personnel; one bright spot was the early evening news, which WDAF led in the 1970s and early 1980s. Between 1980 and 1992, the station was the local broadcaster of Kansas City Royals baseball games. Ratings took a dive in the years after Taft Broadcasting was purchased in 1987 and reorganized as Great American Broadcasting Company, with the station posting multi-year lows in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
New World Communications acquired WDAF-TV and three other Great American stations in 1994, then switched the affiliations of WDAF-TV and 11 other stations to Fox. The station's weekday news output more than doubled to accommodate extended news coverage throughout the day, including in morning news, which became a station strength. Fox parent News Corporation bought the New World Fox affiliates, including WDAF-TV, in 1996; channel 4 remained third in local news through this period. WDAF was sold to Local TV LLC in 2007, Tribune Media in 2013, and Nexstar in 2019, becoming more competitive with second- and first-place ratings finishes in news.
On December 12, 1947, The Kansas City Star Company, the parent of The Kansas City Star newspaper as well as Kansas City radio station WDAF (610 AM), applied to build a television station on channel 4. One account stated that the newspaper's board of directors was deadlocked on whether to apply for a TV station. Publisher Roy A. Roberts cast the deciding vote in favor of the application, believing that television might "contribute to the good of our community". The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the application on January 30, 1948. Though the permit was obtained in January 1948, The Star did not announce its plans for WDAF-TV until later. By the end of 1948, it had purchased land at 31st and Summit streets in Kansas City, Missouri, for a facility to house WDAF television (and eventually radio) and poured the bases for a 724-foot (221 m) tower to broadcast WDAF-TV on the same site. Employees trained in television at WNBT in New York, and TV cameras and other equipment were on order. The last section of the tower was put into place on May 23, and the first test pattern broadcasts were made on the evening of August 20. Despite no prior warning, it received phone calls commenting on the reception, including from as far away as Omaha. The Star held a three-day television expo in the Memorial Auditorium from September 11–13, demonstrating the new medium, and began regular broadcasts of the test pattern at that time.
The first program aired on WDAF-TV was not regularly scheduled. It was the September 29 testimonial dinner for William M. Boyle, live from the Arena in the Municipal Auditorium, an event at which president Harry S. Truman spoke and which five local radio stations covered. The first night of regular viewing on WDAF-TV was October 16, 1949, when channel 4 presented a four-hour schedule including a dedication, a live telecast from the American Royal, films of the station's construction, local news (a telegraph tape moved in front of the camera to display the news), and a salute to WDAF-TV by Arthur Godfrey. Program manager Bill Bates estimated that 7,000 sets were in use to watch WDAF-TV's inaugural broadcast and that 100,000 people watched that first night. Though WDAF-TV was the first modern station on the air, it was predated by the experimental W9XAL, which operated in the 1930s.
WDAF-TV was a primary affiliate of NBC, but as the only television station in Kansas City, it held program agreements with the other major networks: CBS, ABC, and the DuMont Television Network (from May 1950). All network programs the station aired in its first year of operation were kinescopes—filmed recordings off the television monitor of the original broadcast—before network coaxial cable service reached Kansas City beginning September 30, 1950. With the advent of live service for network entertainment and sports programming, the station nearly doubled its weekly output from 32–35 hours to 57–60 hours. In February 1951, WDAF-TV carried the Sugar Ray Robinson vs. Jake LaMotta fight live on the air. The telecast, sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and aired over CBS, was a milestone, as neither WDAF-TV, WDAF radio, nor The Star had ever previously accepted any alcohol advertising.
The Great Flood of 1951 devastated the Kansas City area, and WDAF-TV provided ample coverage and public service during the incident. The station covered the flooding in its nightly weathercast by Shelby Storck and Heart of America Newsreel, aired live flood coverage by placing a camera on the studio roof and zooming in on damage, and commissioned an aircraft to shoot aerial footage. WDAF's flood footage was aired nationally by CBS. News director Randall Jessee, who held that position for WDAF radio and television, was cited in hindsight as a calming influence and earned the moniker "Mr. Television" locally. The station's first mobile outside broadcasting van was a converted Packard hearse; its successor, nicknamed "Cosa Nostra", once turned up at a bank robbery before police.
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