WKNA-TV
| Company type | Defunct television broadcaster |
|---|---|
| Industry | Broadcasting |
| Founded | 1953 |
| Founder | Joseph L. Smith, Jr. |
| Defunct | 1955-02-13 |
| Headquarters | Charleston , United States |
Area served | Charleston, West Virginia |
Key people | Joseph L. Smith, Jr. |
| Products | Television broadcasting (ABC and DuMont affiliate) |
WKNA-TV (channel 49) was a Charleston, West Virginia television broadcaster that operated between 1953 and 1955. The station was owned by local entrepreneur Joseph L. Smith, Jr., who also controlled WKNA radio stations (950 AM and 97.5 FM). WKNA-TV held an affiliation with ABC and maintained a secondary relationship with the DuMont network.
Emphasizing regional content, the station featured programs such as What's Cookin', sponsored by Appalachian Electric Power; The 49ers Club, aimed at children; and TV Juke Box. From its inception, WKNA-TV encountered substantial obstacles. The challenging topography of Charleston hindered the UHF signal’s effectiveness, limiting clear reception primarily to the city itself and weakening drastically beyond five miles from its transmitter on Bownemont Hill. Moreover, many television sets in the early 1950s were not equipped with UHF tuners, compelling viewers to invest in expensive converters that often delivered subpar picture quality. These factors greatly diminished the potential audience and deterred advertisers, resulting in limited revenue and modest production capabilities, including a lack of news film coverage and reliance on a single live camera.
The competitive environment intensified as Huntington’s WSAZ-TV extended its broadcast reach to Charleston prior to WKNA-TV’s debut, providing live programming from all four major networks through a private microwave link. Conversely, WKNA-TV was restricted to airing ABC and DuMont shows with a two-week delay using kinescope recordings. ABC declined to grant WKNA-TV an exclusive affiliation, anticipating a combined market encompassing both Huntington and Charleston.
In 1954, after obtaining a live microwave feed, WKNA-TV faced further competition when WCHS-TV launched on channel 8 as a CBS affiliate. Subsequently, ABC withdrew its programming from WKNA-TV in favor of more robust stations WSAZ-TV and WCHS-TV, which also utilized kinescopes. With DuMont’s network decline, WKNA-TV’s sustainability deteriorated rapidly. By early 1955, the station was incurring losses nearing $16,000 monthly while contending with the forthcoming launch of Huntington’s WHTN-TV (channel 13). WKNA-TV ultimately terminated operations on February 13, 1955.
Smith explored options to revive the station, including proposals to operate as a satellite for WOAY-TV in Oak Hill or petitions to the FCC for allocation of VHF channel 5 in Charleston; however, none of these efforts came to fruition, leading to the cancellation of the license in 1965.