station in dallas fort worth texas ; for its fox affiliated sister station in kansas city missouri see wdaf tv . kdaf dallas fort worth texas united states city dallas texas branding cw33 general eyeopener morning newscasts newsfix evening newscasts slogan express yourself general a different kind of morning show morning newscasts news in a new way evening newscasts putting our community first public service channels digital 32 uhf virtual 33 psip subchannels 33.1 the cw 33.2 antenna tv 33.3 this tv affiliations the cw antenna tv dt2 this tv dt3 owner tribune broadcasting kdaf llc first air date september 1980 1980 09 call letters meaning dallas and fort worth former callsigns kmec tv 1967 1968 kbfi tv 1972 1973 kxtx tv 1973 kdtv 1973 knbn tv 1980 1984 krld tv 1984 1986 former channel number s analog 33 uhf 1967 2009 former affiliations independent 1967 1973 and 1984 1986 silent 1973 1980 sin univision 1980 1984 fox 1986 1995 the wb 1995 2006 secondary fox kids 1995 1997 transmitter power 780 kw height 537 m facility id 22201 transmitter coordinates 32 32 35.4 n 96 57 32.9 w 32.543167 n 96.959139 w 32.543167 ; 96.959139 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website cw33.com kdaf virtual channel 33 uhf digital channel 32 is a cw affiliated television station serving the dallas fort worth metroplex that is licensed to dallas texas united states . the station is owned by the tribune broadcasting subsidiary of tribune media . kdaf maintains studio facilities located off the john w. carpenter freeway state highway 183 in northwest dallas and its transmitter is located south of belt line road in cedar hill . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 stability then transition 1.3 as a fox owned and operated station 1.4 renaissance broadcasting ownership and wb affiliation 1.5 tribune broadcasting ownership 1.5.1 cw affiliation 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.1.1 kdaf dt2 2.1.2 kdaf dt3 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 nightcap 4.2 newsfix 4.3 on air staff 4.3.1 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit early history edit the uhf channel 33 allocation in dallas fort worth has been used by several companies over five decades of operation . the first television station to occupy the channel was kmec an independent station that signed on the air on october 1 1967 ; it was the second uhf television station to sign on in the market after kfwt tv channel 21 allocation now occupied by ktxa which debuted two weeks earlier on september 19 . founded by maxwell electronics corporation owned by carroll maxwell who also served as its general manager the station aired a mix of syndicated and locally produced programming among which included the public affairs program dallas speaks hosted by jim underwood who previously worked at cbs affiliate krld tv channel 4 now kdfw as a reporter and children s programs bozo s big top a localized version of the bozo the clown franchise and colonel pembroke s funtime . due to financial losses incurred on the venture the station ceased operations on october 25 1968 . maxwell sold the station s license to the evans co. on april 2 1969 . evans paid the costs for the demolition of channel 33 s existing transmitter tower as well as the construction of a new tower facility to house its transmitter . the short lived and ultimately aborted attempt by the evans co. at returning the station to the air led to sell the construction permit for the transmitter facilities to the locally based ministry berean fellowship international in the winter of 1971 . six months after being granted a license on september 1 1971 berean signed a new station on channel 33 under the call letters kbfi on february 21 1972 . it operated as a non commercial independent station that maintained a format consisting of religious programming . but like its predecessor kbfi signed off after only ten months on the air on december 16 1972 . the christian broadcasting network cbn purchased the license and returned channel 33 to the air on april 16 1973 as kxtx tv for christ x for texas becoming cbn s third television station after wyah tv now cw affiliate wgnt in virginia beach virginia and wanx now cbs affiliate wgcl tv in atlanta both of which would later be co owned with kdaf under tribune ownership . as was the structure of cbn s other independent stations it maintained a format consisting primarily of religious programs as well as some general entertainment programming with its slate of secular content being a mix of westerns classic sitcoms and drama series . however cbn s stay on channel 33 would not be a long one doubleday broadcasting wanted to get rid of kdtv a competing independent station on uhf channel 39 that served as the company s flagship television property due to its constant struggles in attempting to make the station profitable . doubleday attempted to donate it to three different non profit interests area education television foundation inc. the dallas independent school district both of which owned pbs member station kera tv channel 13 at the time and berean fellowship international with neither choosing to accept doubleday s offer as the donation proposal would have resulted in the prospective owner agreeing to assume a large amount of the station s debt . doubleday s attempts to find a willing licensee to donate the channel 39 license and assets led it to approach cbn about discussing such an acquisition ; the ministry accepted doubleday s proposal on november 9 1973 . four days after cbn acquired ownership of the license on november 14 it moved the kxtx call letters and associated programming to channel 39 . meanwhile doubleday took over the channel 33 license assigning the kdtv calls and relocating some of its programming there ; doubleday broadcasting operated the station for another nine weeks before deciding to shut down the station early that december and turn over the license to the federal communications commission fcc for cancellation on december 20 1973 the kdtv call letters are currently used by a univision owned and operated station in san francisco . the programming inventory held by kdtv was acquired by cbn and combined with that of kxtx in january 1974 converting the latter surviving outlet into a full time commercial independent station . the channel 33 allocation would remain dormant in dallas fort worth for the next 6 years until hill broadcasting a locally based group operated by nolanda hill and sheldon turner both of whom who had previously successfully lobbied the dallas city council to have a cable television franchise established in the city each owned a 40 % interest and other investors that included among others radio broadcaster gordon mclendon who had made previous failed attempts to launch a uhf television station in the market and served as a commentator for the station applied to the fcc for a new construction permit to launch a new station on that allocation which it issued on june 13 1977 . the current television station that would become kdaf first signed on the air in september 1980 as knbn tv the call letters standing for the national business network which served as the station s on air branding . it operated from studio facilities located in a converted warehouse on 3333 harry hines boulevard near downtown dallas the building has since been torn down . the initial programming format consisted of business news programming during the daytime hours ; evenings meanwhile were occupied by the subscription television service veu owned by gene autry s golden west broadcasters featuring a mix of feature films specials and during the nba season dallas mavericks game telecasts . again this format was short lived . within a year and a half of knbn s sign on in the winter of 1981 the station discontinued its block of business news programs ; the veu affiliation had also moved to rival independent ktws tv channel 27 now mynetworktv owned and operated station kdfi . knbn tv then became an affiliate of the spanish international network the forerunner to the present day univision . stability then transition edit in the fall of 1983 hill broadcasting sold knbn to new york city based metromedia which already owned independent stations in five of the six major u.s. cities where it owned television stations for 15 million ; the sale was finalized on november 8 of that year . initially knbn remained a spanish language station ; however it had drafted plans to eventually switch to an english language format . around the time of its acquisition the station added a couple of english language syndicated programs that were distributed by its metromedia pictures corporation subsidiary that were not already run by any other station in dallas fort worth . sin programming would eventually be relegated to the late afternoon and nighttime with some english language programming being added during the daytime hours . on july 30 1984 the station s call letters were changed to krld tv after radio station krld 1080 am which became a sister property to the television station after metromedia successfully sought the fcc for a waiver of its cross ownership regulations which were in the process of being updated to allow common ownership of television and radio stations by a single company to let it retain krld radio incidentally the krld tv calls had previously been used from 1949 to 1970 by what is now kdfw which was the original television sister of krld radio until the times mirror company s 1970 sale of the latter station to metromedia ; the knbn tv call letters are currently used by an nbc affiliated station in rapid city south dakota . its operations moved to studio facilities located next door to krld radio at the station s current facility on john w. carpenter freeway on the northwest side of dallas . the new krld tv was entering a very crowded marketplace its competition included ktxa kxtx tv and ktvt which was the leading independent in the market at the time . the station adopted a general entertainment format initially programming a schedule made primarily of adult targeted fare such as first run syndicated programs plenty of off network dramas reruns of older game shows and some low budget movies ; the programming inventory incorporated very few cartoons at first as most of these programs and shorts were already carried by other area stations . from 1984 to 1987 channel 33 served as the broadcast home of the dallas sidekicks indoor soccer club . in the fall of 1985 with a huge abundance of barter cartoons now available on the market krld tv added two hour blocks of these programs in the 7 00 to 9 00 a.m. and 3 00 to 5 00 p.m. timeslots and also began phasing in more off network sitcoms at that point . under metromedia s stewardship its format began to increasingly resemble a traditional independent station for that time . even still the continued to underperform as most of the stronger programs available on the syndication market had been acquired by either its rival independents or by the market s network affiliates ; the station also struggled to define a clear programming identity as it heavily incorporated movies reruns and children s programs while the shows it did air were repeatedly moved to different time slots in hopes of shoring up their ratings . the station attempted a coup to improve viewership by acquiring the local rights to reruns of dallas and dynasty for a reported fee of up to 38 000 per episode only for neither show to pull decent ratings when they joined the station in september 1985 . 1 as a fox owned and operated station edit in may 1985 metromedia reached