The station was signed on the air for the first time on October 31, 1948, as WNBK, broadcasting on VHF channel 4. It was the second television station in Cleveland to debut, ten months after WEWS-TV (channel 5), the 41st overall in the United States, and the fourth of NBC's five original owned-and-operated stations to sign on, three weeks after WNBQ (now WMAQ-TV) in Chicago. WNBK was a sister station to WTAM radio (1100 AM), which was owned by NBC since 1930.
1952–1954
SVG NEEDED
On April 14, 1952, due to the frequency reallocation from the FCC's Sixth Report and Order, WNBK swapped frequencies to channel 3 with the fellow NBC affiliate in Columbus, WCMH-TV (channel 4), in order to alleviate interference with WWJ-TV (now WDIV-TV) in Detroit.
1954–1956
SVG NEEDED
In May 1955, NBC agreed to trade WNBK and WTAM-AM-FM to Westinghouse Electric Corporation in return for KYW radio and WPTZ television in Philadelphia. The swap became official on January 22, 1956, as NBC moved its operations (including much of its Cleveland staff) to Philadelphia, with WPTZ becoming WRCV-TV.
KYW-TV
1956–1959
SVG NEEDED
Westinghouse took over the WNBK/WTAM operation and changed its call letters to KYW-AM-FM-TV on February 13, 1956. Westinghouse received a cross-station waiver from the FCC to own channel 3 since it has overlapping signals with Group W flagship KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh.
Then-owner Westinghouse Broadcasting (Group W) introduced a common design language across its media properties in 1963. This logo only lasted two years before the station's callsign and logo moved to Philadelphia and the station was again taken over by NBC.
WKYC (-TV)
1965–1969
SVG NEEDED
NBC re-assumed control of the Cleveland stations on June 19, 1965. This change was made because Westinghouse claimed to the FCC that NBC had coerced Westinghouse into making the trade (otherwise, NBC would cancel its affiliations). This resulted in an investigation, which ended with NBC being forced to reverse the trade.
Instead of restoring the previous WNBK and WTAM identities, the stations' new call letters became WKYC-AM-FM-TV, in order to maintain the "KY Cleveland" brand position. In a reverse of what took place in 1956, some radio and television staffers who worked for Westinghouse in Cleveland stayed with the company and moved to Philadelphia.
1969–1975
SVG NEEDED
1976–1984; 1991–1992
1976–1979
This Helvetica "3" logo was shared with KARD (currently known as KSNW) in Wichita-Hutchinson, WLBT in Jackson, WSAV-TV in Savannah, WSTM-TV is Syracuse, and KVBC (currently known as KHSV) in Las Vegas, and currently used by CBS affiliate KMTV-TV in Omaha, Nebraska.
1979–1984
1991–1992
1984–1991
1984–1986
From 1984-86, the logo was tilted upward.
1985–1986
1986–1991
In 1986, the logo was oriented straight. After years of sagging ratings and continuing to be the lowest-rated of the network's owned and operated stations, NBC sold majority control of WKYC (51%) to Multimedia, Inc. in 1990.
1992–2019
1992–2006
1992–1999
The Gannett Company purchased Multimedia on December 4, 1995. Under a December 1998 put-call agreement with NBC, Gannett increased its stake in WKYC-TV to 58% in April 1999 and to 64% in December 2000; it acquired the remaining 36% of the station from NBC in 2001.
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.
