KDAF

Encyclopedia : K : KD : KDA : KDAF

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KDAF (WB 33) is currently the WB affiliate for the Dallas-Fort Worth designated market area. The station is owned by the Tribune Company with its transmitter located on highway 67 in Cedar Hill. The station airs on cable channel 9 on cable systems in the Metroplex.

On January 24, 2006, the WB and UPN networks announced they would shut down. Their primary owners, Time Warner and CBS, respectively announced they would create a new network called The CW, the letters representing the first initial of its corporate parents CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner.

KDAF's owner, Tribune, was a part-owner of The WB. As part of the deal to shut down The WB, Tribune was offered The CW affiliation in most of its markets. KDAF will be the CW's affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth.

History

Channel 33 in Dallas has had several incarnations over four decades of operation. It first signed on-the-air as KMEC in October 1967, the second UHF station in the market after KFWT-TV (channel 21, now KTXA). The station aired a mix of syndicated programming and locally produced shows. KMEC signed off less than a year later. That short-lived attempt was followed by another in 1972, with channel 33 returning to the air using the call letters KBFI and a religious programming format. But, like its predecessor, KBFI signed off after only ten months on the air.

The Christian Broadcasting Network then purchased channel 33's license and, on January 11, 1973, channel 33 returned to the air as KXTX-TV (for "Christ (X) for TeXas"), a station with a religious format and some general entertainment. But CBN's stay on channel 33 wouldn't be a long one: Doubleday Broadcasting wanted to get rid of their independent station, KDTV on channel 39. After an attempt to donate KDTV to non-profit interests, Doubleday donated the channel 39 license and assets to CBN. In April 1973, CBN then moved its programming to channel 39 and Doubleday took over broadcasting channel 33 under the KDTV calls for another several months before turning the frequency off again in December. Channel 33 would remain dark for the next six and-a-half years.

In May 1980, channel 33 returned to the Dallas airwaves for a fourth time. The new station was called KNBN-TV, owned by a local firm, Hill Broadcasting. The station's call letters were derived from its on-air branding, "National Business Network", and as such it aired business news during the day. The evening hours were filled by subscription television from VUE, a program service owned by Gene Autry's Golden West Broadcasters. Again, this format turned out to be short-lived, and channel 33 revamped itself again. Within a year and-a-half, the business programming was gone, the subscription television service moved to rival UHF station KTWS (channel 27, now KDFI-TV), and KNBN-TV picked up programming from the Spanish International Network, the forerunner to today's Univision.

In late 1983, Hill Broadcasting sold KNBN to Metromedia, and on July 31, 1984, the station was renamed KRLD-TV after new sister station KRLD radio, which Metromedia later sold to comply with Federal Communications Commission rules at the time. Metromedia attempted to do the impossible: make channel 33 competitive and profitable, both at the same time. Immediately after taking over control, the station switched from Spanish to a general entertainment format. The new KRLD-TV was entering a very crowded marketplace -- its competition included KTXA, KXTX-TV, and the market's independent leader, KTVT (channel 11). Metromedia's programming investments featured the first 7:00 p.m. newscast ever attempted in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, as well as other first-run syndicated shows and news magazines. Also for four seasons starting in 1984, channel 33 was the broadcast home for Dallas Sidekicks indoor soccer club.

In 1986 Metromedia sold its group of independent stations, including KRLD-TV, to the News Corporation and the 20th Century Fox film studio. On March 6 of that year, channel 33's call letters were changed to the current KDAF, and it would become one of the seeds that formed the Fox television network. Though KDAF remained unprofitable into the early 1990s, by 1994 the station was turning modest profits.

In December 1993 Fox made a group deal with New World Communications to move its network affiliation in several markets, including Dallas-Fort Worth, to stations New World either owned outright or were currently purchasing. In Dallas, then-CBS affiliate KDFW-TV (channel 4, which ironically had also once used the KRLD-TV calls) was being sold by Argyle Television to New World, and was included in the New World-Fox deal. Fox programming, with the early exception of Fox Kids, moved from KDAF to KDFW on July 1, 1995. About the same time, Fox finalized a sale of channel 33 to Renaissance Broadcasting, and KDAF took over the market's WB affiliation from KXTX-TV. Renaissance sold all of its stations, including KDAF, to Tribune Broadcasting in 1997.

Trivia

• The KNBN calls once used on this station now reside on the NBC affiliate in Rapid City, South Dakota.
• Fox would not be without an O&O in the Metroplex for long, as they bought New World's stations in early 1997.

References

• Shannon, Mike (January, 2004). [Dallas–Fort Worth TV Station History. ''The History of Dallas-Fort Worth Radio and Television].

External links

• [KDAF home page]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for KDAF]

WB Network Affiliates in the state of Texas
"KWBB" 10 () - "KWVB" 10 () - "KDBA" 11 () - "KWSA" 14 () - "KWDB" 16 / 23 () - "KTXW" 19 () - "KWB" 20 () - KWBZ 22 () - KWWT 30 () - KDAF 33 () - KMYS 35 () - KHCW 39 () - "KWAW" 39 () - KWKT 44 / KYLE 28 () - "KMHB" 53 () - KCEB 54 () - KNVA 54 ()
'''See also: , , , , , , , , , , , and stations in Texas

 

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