KSBW

KSBW is a television station in the United States and is the primary NBC affiliate for the Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz, California market. Licensed to the city of Salinas, the station is owned by Hearst Television. KSBW has its studios on John Street (along Highway 68) in downtown Salinas, which is mentioned occasionally during commercial breaks and newscasts. Its news programs are entitled Action News 8. Its transmitter is located on Fremont Peak in the Gabilan Mountains above San Juan Bautista, California, over 3,100 feet above sea level. The call letters KSBW stand for "Salad Bowl of the World," which is the nickname of the city of Salinas.

History

Early years

KSBW began broadcasting on September 11, 1953. It shared the channel 8 frequency with KMBY-TV of Monterey until the two stations merged in 1955 under KSBW's license and call letters. Originally, it was affiliated with all four major networks — NBC, ABC, CBS and DuMont (DuMont folded in 1955). ABC disappeared from KSBW's programming schedule when San Jose's then-independent KNTV decided to concentrate on the Monterey-Salinas market in 1960. For the next nine years, KSBW was forced to shoehorn NBC and CBS onto its schedule. This was unusual for a two-station market (especially one of Monterey's size); in most such markets, ABC was relegated to secondary status on the CBS and NBC affiliates. When KMST-TV (now KION-TV) signed on as a full-time CBS affiliate in 1969, KSBW became an exclusive NBC affiliate.