KTNT-TV Channel 11 signed on in 1953 from Tacoma, Washington. It was a CBS affiliate and sister station to KTNT-AM (now KITZ) and KTNT-FM (now KIRO-FM).
In 1958, KIRO-TV signed on in Seattle, also as a CBS affiliate. KTNT and KIRO both carried CBS programming before Seattle and Tacoma were merged into a single market. KIRO won the battle and became the area’s sole CBS affiliate in 1961. KTNT continued as an independent station.
KTNT occasionally carried NBC programs when NBA basketball pre-empted them on KING-TV. It also carried the Overmyer Network (or United Network) in 1967 in a a short-lived experiment to create a fourth broadcast network. The experiment lasted one month.
Gaylord Entertainment bought KTNT in 1974 and renamed it KSTW. It was a standard independent station, with some CBS daytime programming that KIRO-TV pre-empted. It also aired local programming like “Romper Room” and a children’s program called “Brakeman Bill,” which aired from 1955 to 1975. KSTW became Seattle’s WB affiliate in 1995.
The big affiliation swap of 1994, in which several old-line CBS affiliates switched to Fox, left CBS without an affiliate in Dallas. CBS was to affiliate with Gaylord’s Dallas station, KTVT. Gaylord agreed, but stipulated that CBS would pull it’s affiliation from KIRO-TV and put it back on KSTW. Both sides agreed and KSTW became a CBS affiliate in 1995. KIRO-TV became a UPN affiliate.
Gaylord sold KSTW to Cox in 1997. Three days after the deal was finalized, a big ownership swap unfolded. Viacom wanted to buy KIRO-TV – owned by Belo, which had just acquired rival KING-TV. The three companies agreed to a swap: KIRO went to Cox, regaining its CBS affiliation, Viacom’s KMOV-TV in St. Louis went to Belo, and KSTW went to Viacom, where it became a UPN affiliate.
Viacom acquired CBS in 2000, so KSTW now was owned by CBS. The WB and UPN networks merged in 2006, forming The CW Television Network. KSTW is “CW 11” today.
Source: Wikipedia (KSTW)
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