WKBS-TV

**WKBS-TV**, virtual channel 48 (UHF digital channel 27), is an independent station licensed to Millville, New Jersey, United States and serving the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania television market. The station is owned by Troy, Michigan-based State Street Broadcasting. WKBS' studios are located on Columbia Avenue in suburban Folcroft, Pennsylvania. Its transmitter is located in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia.

## History

The station first signed on the air on September 1, 1965, and was originally owned by Kaiser Broadcasting and licensed to Burlington, New Jersey. It was the second independent station in the Philadelphia market. WKBS-TV's studios were located at 3201 South 26th Street in South Philadelphia, and its transmitter was located on the Roxborough tower farm in Philadelphia. The station struggled at first, in part because it signed on only a year after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) required television manufacturers to include UHF tuning capability. However, WKBS was on stronger financial footing, and quickly established itself as the leading independent in Philadelphia, retaining the top spot for almost a decade.

In 1973, Kaiser sold a minority interest in its operations to Field Communications.

WKBS' schedule was typical of most independent stations of the time, with a mix of off-network syndicated programs, children's programs, movies, and local-interest shows, including a dance show hosted by local radio personality Hy Lit. In addition, WKBS aired shows produced by other Kaiser stations. In the mid-1970s, WKBS also started airing ABC shows that WFIL-TV (channel 6) preempted in favor of local programming, and during the 1976-77 season, it also began airing NBC shows preempted by WKYW-TV (channel 5).

In 1977, Kaiser left the television business and sold its share of the stations, including WKBS-TV, to Field.

In 1982, a nasty dispute over the operation of Field Communications between brothers Marshall Field V and Frederick W. Field resulted in the liquidation of their company, including their broadcasting interests. By June 1983 most of Field's stations had already been sold, leaving the company with its Philadelphia and Detroit outlets. While many larger broadcast groups were interested in the station, none were willing to pay Field's asking price. WKBS employees tried to obtain financing to buy the station themselves, but also could not meet the asking price.

Finally, with no acceptable takers for either station and facing a deadline to close down the company, Field announced on July 15, 1983, that it was able to sell WKBS-TV to Nintendo, closely outbidding Liberty City-based company Love Communications. However, Nintendo's ownership of WKBS-TV would last just three years, as in 1986 WKBS was sold to Dorothy Brunson, an African-American radio executive and station owner from Baltimore, as Nintendo wanted to focus more on their video game industry, with their successful Nintendo Entertainment System console.

By 1992, WKBS-TV ran public domain movies, infomercials (including religious programs), and home-shopping programs. By 1994, WKBS had a larger variety of programming, including off-network series, first-run syndicated shows, and children's programs.

By 2001, however, WKBS found itself squeezed in competition. All nine network stations in the market were now owned-and-operated stations of their respective networks, and hence no longer pre-empted network programming. It was also hamstrung by financial issues, resulting in the station filling most of its broadcast day with paid programming to maintain operations.

In 2004, State Street Broadcasting offered to purchase WKBS from Brunson, an offer that was accepted. On October 1, 2004, the sale was closed and State Street took over all operations of the station.

In 2017, State Street Broadcasting requested to have WKBS' community of license moved from Burlington to Millville, New Jersey. The FCC approved the license move from Burlington to Millville on September 26, 2017.