KMBC-TV

The two stations share studios on Winchester Avenue near Swope Park in southeast Kansas City, Missouri; KMBC-TV's transmitter is located at 23rd Street and Topping Avenue, east of downtown in the Blue Valley area. Channel 9 began broadcasting on August 2, 1953. For the first ten months, two stations operated on the channel: KMBC-TV, associated with KMBC radio, and WHB-TV, the television adjunct of WHB radio. The stations had separate studios and staffs, alternating every 90 minutes on the air, but shared transmitter facilities and an affiliation with CBS. The two stations were combined in 1954 when Cook Paint and Varnish Company, owner of WHB radio and television, bought out KMBC radio and television and retained the KMBC facilities and designation. In 1955, a multi-market affiliation switch by the Meredith Publishing Company forced KMBC-TV to switch from CBS to ABC. Metromedia acquired the KMBC stations in 1961, selling KMBC radio off in 1967. Under Metromedia, KMBC-TV became a competitive station in the market, at first in non-news programming—where its offerings sometimes resembled one of Metromedia's own independent stations—and later in news in the 1970s.