WKBW-TV

WKBW-TV, virtual channel 7 (UHF digital channel 38), is an ABC-affiliated television station located in Buffalo, New York, United States. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, the station's studios are located at 7 Broadcast Plaza in downtown Buffalo, and its transmitter is located at 8909 Center Street in Colden.

WKBW-TV is one of many local Buffalo television stations that are available over-the-air and on cable television in Canada, particularly in Southern Ontario. For many years, it was carried via microwave to cable systems in such areas as Corning and Horseheads; this ended when WENY-TV signed on as the ABC affiliate for the Elmira market.

History

1957–1986: Clinton Churchill/CapCities ownership

The Channel 7 frequency was hotly contested during the 1950s; the Buffalo Courier-Express and former WBUF-TV owner Sherwin Grossman tried several times to gain rights to the channel allocation (to compete with The Buffalo News's WBEN-TV), but was unable to secure a license. The competition for the channel 7 allocation continued to grow when the city's first UHF station, WBES-TV, failed. Clinton Churchill, original owner of 50,000 watt radio station WKBW (1520 AM) in Buffalo, was granted the license to operate the station in 1957.