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TV Stations that Have Never Changed Call Letters

North Dakota (for stations started before 1970):

KFYR Bismarck
WDAY Fargo
KUMV Williston
KMOT Minot
WDAZ Devils Lake/Grand Forks
KXMD Williston
 
Here in Massachusetts, WWLP in Springfield, although moving in it's early years from Channel 61 to Channel 22 and later to "mapped" Channel 22, has had the same call letters since going on the air in 1953.

Both of Boston's PBS member stations, WGBH-2 and WGBX-44, have had their original call letters since going on the air in 1955 and 1967 respectively. And WGBY-57 Springfield has been using those call letters since first going on the air circa 1970 or 1971.

In Providence, WJAR-10 has been using those call letters since their first day on the air in 1949.

In Northern New England, Portland's WCSH-6 and WMTW-8 has had those call letters since their respective first broadcasts in 1953 and 1954.
 
WFMY, WGHP, WRAL, WTVD, WITN, WNCT, WWAY, and WLOS have had the same call letters from
day one, as have WDBJ and WSLS.

To amplify on WTRF: that station's decline began when it switched from NBC to CBS. WTRF had been
an NBC affiliate on Channel 7; what is now WTOV, a CBS affiliate on Channel 9. But CBS was also
available from Pittsburgh on very-viewable Channel 2 (KDKA); NBC had a weaker signal from Pittsburgh
on Channel 11 (WPXI). People would watch CBS on 2 and NBC on 7. But after the switch, Channel 2
was able to hold on to much of the CBS audience, while NBC's chose 9 over 11. And oh yes, until
digital opened up subchannels, ABC was represented by one station: WTAE/4 in Pittsburgh.
 
Wheeling-Steubenville almost qualifies as an "infill" market, in that Pittsburgh stations can easily be received in both cities. Without them, though, the areas further to the west, too far for easy reception of either Columbus or Pittsburgh stations, would be basically "white areas", so that area is the naturally-occurring market, not Wheeling or Steubenville themselves. It's a somewhat similar situation to the Dayton market, which extends quite a distance to the north, but abruptly stops a few miles south of Dayton where the Cincinnati market begins. The same can also be said of Washington and Baltimore, the markets split like an amoeba a few miles from either city along a line running northwest-southeast that is more or less equidistant from both.
 
bpatrick said:
WFMY, WGHP, WRAL, WTVD, WITN, WNCT, WWAY, and WLOS have had the same call letters from
day one, as have WDBJ and WSLS.

To amplify on WTRF: that station's decline began when it switched from NBC to CBS. WTRF had been
an NBC affiliate on Channel 7; what is now WTOV, a CBS affiliate on Channel 9. But CBS was also
available from Pittsburgh on very-viewable Channel 2 (KDKA); NBC had a weaker signal from Pittsburgh
on Channel 11 (WPXI). People would watch CBS on 2 and NBC on 7. But after the switch, Channel 2
was able to hold on to much of the CBS audience, while NBC's chose 9 over 11. And oh yes, until
digital opened up subchannels, ABC was represented by one station: WTAE/4 in Pittsburgh.
Click to expand...
It also didn’t help that WTRF was bought and sold a number of times. I believe it was then General Manager Chuck Sherman that flipped the Station to CBS, in hindsight a truly boneheaded move.
 
Greg Goodfellow said:
It also didn’t help that WTRF was bought and sold a number of times. I believe it was then General Manager Chuck Sherman that flipped the Station to CBS, in hindsight a truly boneheaded move.
Click to expand...

An interesting scenario would be for WOWK, WTRF, WBOY, and WVNS all to be affiliated with CBS (which would necessitate an affiliation swap with WBOY and WDTV) and to be a kind of "CBS West Virginia" superstation with news centralized at WOWK and cut-ins for Wheeling, Clarksburg, and Beckley, WTRF, WBOY, and WVNS being semi-satellites of WOWK. There could be a similar situation with Gray stations WSAZ, WVVA, WTAP, and WDTV, with news centralized at WSAZ.

WCHS and WOAY would also make sense as "ABC 8 and 4", similar to WPBN and WTOM "NBC 7 and 4" in northern Michigan. There is considerable overlap between WCHS and WOAY.
 
In Puerto Rico, WKAQ and WAPA both were post freeze 1954 sign-ons, with WKAQ being a few weeks earlier.

While "Wapa" pronounces the same as "guapa" which means "pretty (girl)", the calls of WAPA actually stand for the Asociación de Productores de Azúcar, or "the Sugar Producer Association" which was the original owner.

WKAQ was owned by the largest newspaper, El Mundo, which no longer publishes.
 
All 4 Yakima stations have used the same calls since sign-on. KIMA since 1953, KNDO since 1959, KAPP since 1970, KYVE since 1962.
The only exception is KCYU-LD (Fox), which started as K53CY in late 1989, a semi-satellite of KAYU Spokane with some different shows and commercials. Then they moved up to channel 68 as K68EB in 1993, switching calls again to KCYU-LP in 1995. They moved to channel 41 around 2003 or 2004. KCYU flash cut to digital shortly after the DTV transition (maybe even on 2/17/09, can't remember) and went to an "LD".
 
IM42A said:
An interesting scenario would be for WOWK, WTRF, WBOY, and WVNS all to be affiliated with CBS (which would necessitate an affiliation swap with WBOY and WDTV) and to be a kind of "CBS West Virginia" superstation with news centralized at WOWK and cut-ins for Wheeling, Clarksburg, and Beckley, WTRF, WBOY, and WVNS being semi-satellites of WOWK. There could be a similar situation with Gray stations WSAZ, WVVA, WTAP, and WDTV, with news centralized at WSAZ.

WCHS and WOAY would also make sense as "ABC 8 and 4", similar to WPBN and WTOM "NBC 7 and 4" in northern Michigan. There is considerable overlap between WCHS and WOAY.
Click to expand...
Nexstar stations participate in a 5:30 pm show called “West Virginia Live”, with the anchor, Mark Curtis in Charleston.
 
WICU-TV, WSEE-TV, WJET-TV and WQLN-TV here in Erie, PA. All original call letters since they signed on the air.
 
KLTV, Tyler, Texas (1954)
KTRE, Lufkin, Texas (1955)
KTEN, Ada, Oklahoma (1954)
KFDX, Wichita Falls, Texas (1953)
KSWO, Lawton, Oklahoma (1953)
 
Discounting the addition of the "-DT" suffix after the digital transition, Canada's two oldest TV stations (CBFT Montreal and CBLT Toronto) still have the same call letters, although CBLT has changed channels twice over the years.

Others from Ontario, pre-1970 sign-ons:
Barrie - CKVR 3 (1955)
Hamilton - CHCH 11 (1954)
Kingston - CKWS 11 (1954)
Kitchener/Waterloo - CKCO 13 (1954)
London - CFPL 10 (1953)
Ottawa - CBOT 4 (1953), CBOFT 9 (1955), CJOH 13 (1961)
Peterborough - CHEX 12 (1955)
Toronto - CFTO 9 (1960)
Wingham - CKNX 8 (1955, though it only exists as a full satellite of CFPL anymore)
 
In Greenville/Spartanburg/Anderson/Asheville:
WSPA (originally licensed as WORD-TV, but already changed calls to WSPA before going on the air in April 1956)
WHNS (at least in its current incarnation, though not emphasized much in its current Fox Carolina branding. It DID have previous life as WANC as an Asheville/WNC-only CBS/NBC affiliate and later repeater of WGGS before going dark in 1979, selling to Pappas Telecasting and changing to WHNS calls the same year, beginning to build studios and choose a new transmitter site in 1981 and finally going back on the air on April 1, 1984, I kid you not!)
WLOS
WGGS
WNTV (and Spartanburg's WRET and Greenwood's WNEH before going defunct; all PBS/SCETV affiliates)
 
Last edited:
Evan Stripes Carr said:
In Greenville/Spartanburg/Anderson/Asheville:
WSPA (originally licensed as WORD-TV, but already changed calls to WSPA before going on the air in April 1956)
WHNS (at least in its current incarnation, though not emphasized much in its current Fox Carolina branding. It DID have previous life as WANC as an Asheville/WNC-only CBS/NBC affiliate and later repeater of WGGS before going dark in 1979, selling to Pappas Telecasting and changing to WHNS calls the same year, beginning to build studios and choose a new transmitter site in 1981 and finally going back on the air on April 1, 1984, I kid you not!)
WLOS
WGGS
WNTV (and Spartanburg's WRET and Greenwood's WNEH before going defunct; all PBS/SCETV affiliates)
Click to expand...

When did WNEH Greenwood go defunct? I didn't hear anything. Are they sharing spectrum with some other station, or are they off the air entirely?

I've never quite understood the need for an SCETV station in that area, but granted, given the terrain, they might be a bit far afield of WNTV and WRLK for reliable OTA reception in Greenwood and surrounding counties.
 
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