Paramount Television Network - Affiliates

Affiliates

During the 1940s and '50s, television networks in the United States were restricted to owning no more than five local VHF TV stations. This system, which had evolved from similar FCC regulations governing radio, resulted in TV network executives forming alliances with local station owners in order to air network programs across the U.S. These alliances were codified in network affiliation contracts; Paramount Television Network staff required affiliate station managers to sign a network contract even if the station only aired one Paramount program. At its peak in late 1950, the Paramount Television Network was distributing five television series a week to over 40 affiliated television stations. Most Paramount stations were in the United States, but at least two were Canadian stations.

During this era, American television programs were either broadcast live to local television stations via microwave relay and AT&T's coaxial cable service or were recorded on kinescope and delivered through the mail to local stations. The live broadcast method was expensive, but was preferred by executives at each of the four major U.S. television networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, and DuMont); in 1954, DuMont alone spent $3 million on live TV broadcasts. The major networks sent kinescopes to stations when live transmissions were not possible. "Film networks", which sent out only prerecorded material, also existed; kinescopes were cheap to produce and cost little to mail. Paramount's television service was a hybrid of the two systems, with a live connection between KTLA and KFMB-TV in San Diego, and other affiliates broadcasting programs from kinescope recordings. Paramount executives considered a live connection between Los Angeles and San Francisco too expensive. Uniquely, Paramount's The Harry Owens Show was broadcast live in Los Angeles and San Francisco by having the program's performers and crew commute via airplane between the two stations for sequential performances.

The table below lists stations which carried Paramount Television Network programs, including the company's two owned-and-operated stations, KTLA and WBKB. DuMont's three VHF stations, WABD, WTTG, and WDTV, which aired little or no Paramount programming but which the FCC ruled were O&Os of the same entity, also appear in this list. Also included are DuMont's two short-lived UHF licenses: KCTY-TV, which only operated for a few months, and WHK-TV, which never signed on. A number of stations carried Armchair Detective, Sandy Dreams, and Frosty Frolics when those programs aired on CBS and ABC. Stations which aired those programs as part of an ABC or CBS affiliation are not shown in the table below.