HISTORY: Wyoming’s First Television Station

It was back in the 1950s that folks in Wyoming could be seen climbing onto their rooftops to install television antennas. Wyoming's first TV station had just signed on the air.

It was late in coming compared to the rest of the nation. The first television station in the United States, W3XK, signed on the air on July 2, 1928, broadcasting from suburban Washington, D.C.. It was new, crude, and not much to look at on a very small screen.

The first official commercial television station in New York City, NBC's WNBT (now WNBC), signed on July 1, 1941.

The first television station in Colorado, KFEL-TV (Channel 2), signed on the air on July 18, 1952.

Wyoming's first television station, KFBC-TV (Channel 5) in Cheyenne, signed on the air on March 22, 1954, making Cheyenne the smallest market in the US with its own station at the time.

Owned by the McCracken family, it served eastern Wyoming for over 30 years as a primarily CBS and ABC affiliate, eventually becoming KGWN-TV.

Sign-On: March 22, 1954, by the McCracken family, who also owned local newspapers and KFBC radio.

The station carried a little bit of everything, including programming from CBS, NBC, ABC, and DuMont.

The station was sold to Wyneco Communications in 1972 due to FCC regulations, becoming KYCU. Later acquired by Burke Broadcasting (1983) and Stauffer Communications.

On January 1, 1987, the call letters changed to KGWN (Greater Wyoming Network).

The station is now owned by Gray Television, it is a CBS affiliate (since 2008), and continues to operate out of Cheyenne.

KTWO-TV (Channel 2) in Casper signed on as Wyoming's second television station on March 1, 1957. It was launched by Harriscope Broadcasting and was affiliated with the radio station of the same name. The first television station in Wyoming was KFBC-TV (now KGWN-TV) in Cheyenne, which signed on in March 1954.