List of Television Stations in The San Francisco Bay Area - Before The Transcontinental Microwave

Before The Transcontinental Microwave

KPIX, KGO, and KRON all relied on filmed network shows until the completion of the transcontinental microwave in September 1951. They also produced a number of local live shows. Some live network shows were preserved on kinescope films, then shipped to the West Coast for later airing. After the microwave radio relay connections were completed, work proceeded on the development of videotape, which was first used extensively by CBS for its West Coast feed of the nightly network newscast hosted by Douglas Edwards, beginning in November 1956. Network shows were usually transmitted in the Bay Area three hours after they aired on the East Coast, a practice still largely followed today.