Channel 8 first signed on the air at 8 p.m. on September 17, 1949, as KBTV, with a fifteen-minute ceremony inaugurating the launch of Channel 8 as its first broadcast; KBTV broadcast for one hour that evening, with the remainder of its initial schedule consisting of its first locally produced program, the variety series Dallas in Wonderland. Texas oil magnate Tom Potter founded and operated the station through the Lacy-Potter TV Broadcasting Company, which he partially controlled. It was the third television station to sign on in Texas, the second in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, and the first to be licensed to Dallas proper. It originally operated as a primary affiliate of the DuMont Television Network and a secondary affiliate of the short-lived Paramount Television Network; under the arrangement, through an agreement between Lacy-Potter and Paramount Pictures, the station agreed to air 4.75 hours of Paramount Television's programming each week during 1949.
WFAA (-TV)
In January 1950, A.H. Belo purchased KBTV from Lacy-Potter for $575,000; the sale received FCC approval on March 13, 1950, with Belo formally assuming control of Channel 8 on March 17. The station was the first television property to be owned by the Dallas-based company, and also served as the flagship station of its broadcasting division until Belo merged with the Gannett Company in 2013. Four days later, on March 21, Belo changed the station's call letters to WFAA-TV to match those of its new radio partner WFAA (570 AM, now KLIF).
The KBTV call letters were later used from 1953 to 1984 by what is now a sister station KUSA in Denver, and since 1999 have been used by a Beaumont station. It is one of a relatively limited number of television stations located west of the Mississippi whose call letters begin with a "W"; due partly to the fact that Dallas was originally located east of the original "K"/"W" border distinction defined by the FCC.
1950–1953
SVG NEEDED
In 1950, WFAA switched its primary affiliation to NBC, and also affiliated with ABC on a secondary basis. DuMont shut down in 1955, amid various issues that arose from its relations with Paramount that hamstrung it from expansion. WFAA lost its NBC affiliation on September 1, 1957, as the network had awarded WBAP-TV (channel 5, now KXAS-TV) the exclusive affiliation for the Dallas–Fort Worth market as a byproduct of the transmitter relocation and signal boost; this left Channel 8 as an exclusive affiliate of the then-low-rated ABC.
1953–1968
SVG NEEDED
1968–1980, 2009
Designer:
Stan Richards
Typography:
Custom
Launched:
1968
This logo was briefly reintroduced during the transition from analog to digital in 2009.
1980–1996
1980–1983
1983–1996
1996–present
1996–2018
1996–2012
2012–2018
2018–present
2018–2021
The station's call sign is now in a "play button" shaped triangle.
1Owns a 75% stake of the network, the other 12.5% stake is co-owned between Paramount Skydance Corporation and Warner Bros. Discovery. 2Joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery, in which Nexstar owns 31% while Warner Bros. Discovery owns the remaining 69%. 3Nexstar operates these stations owned by Mission Broadcasting. 4Nexstar operates this station owned by Cunningham Broadcasting. 5Nexstar operates this station owned by White Knight Broadcasting through an SSA. 6Nexstar operates this station owned by Vaughan Media. 7Predecessor company of LIN Media. 8Nexstar operates this station owned by Londen Media Group. 9Nexstar operates this station owned by Gray Media through an SSA. 10Nexstar operates this station owned by American Spirit Media through an SSA. 11The station is yet to be sold to a third party as a condition of the Nexstar-Tegna merger. 12Co-owned by Cox Communications.
