List of DuMont Television Network affiliates

This is a partial list of affiliates of the DuMont Television Network, which operated in the United States from 1946 to 1955. In 1949, DuMont had 32 affiliates that covered 99.7 percent of the country's available television audience.^[1] By 1953, DuMont was affiliated with 126 stations,^[2] which grew to around 200 stations in 1954, the network's peak.^[3] The network owned three stations: WABD in New York City, WTTG in Washington, D.C., and WDTV in Pittsburgh; the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also regarded two stations owned by minority owner Paramount Pictures—KTLA in Los Angeles and WBKB in Chicago—as network-owned, despite KTLA leaving the network entirely in 1948 and WBKB never having carried a DuMont program.^[4][5] DuMont also owned an early UHF station, KCTY in Kansas City, Missouri, for one month in 1954 before closing it.^[6] From 1950 to 1951, DuMont also operated KE2XDR, an experimental station to further study color television.^[7]

No definitive list of affiliated stations from 1946 to 1955 exists, and many sources contradict one another. Due to a lack of local stations in most media markets, most DuMont affiliates were also affiliates of NBC, CBS or ABC, or in some cases, all of the above.^[8] This problem was heightened by the FCC imposing a freeze on any new television station permits in 1948.^[9] The AT&T Bell System nationwide coaxial cable network was in construction throughout much of DuMont's existence, thus, many affiliates carried programming prerecorded via kinescope.^[10] By 1952, this cable network was still incomplete; a map of affiliates in The Hollywood Reporter's 1952 Production Encyclopedia showed affiliates in Seattle, Miami, Dallas–Fort Worth and New Orleans were still unconnected.^[11] Other affiliates in small markets were fully dependent on affiliates in larger markets via microwave relay; for example, KDZA-TV in Pueblo, Colorado, relied on KFEL-TV in Denver for DuMont programming.^[12] DuMont's advertising revenues depended on being able to be viewed nationwide. As a result, the company made affiliation agreements which have been described as "a crazy patchwork of deals".

Few stations carried the entire DuMont lineup. Life Is Worth Living was DuMont's most popular show with 172 affiliates clearing it when the network closed in 1955; by contrast, Life Begins at Eighty aired over 37 stations, Chance of a Lifetime on 27 stations, and Studio 57 on only four.^[13][14] Affiliates also fed sports coverage to the network: for example, Cleveland, Ohio, affiliate WXEL produced Cleveland Browns games for the network's NFL coverage.^[15][16] In the network's later years, DuMont's affiliates consisted largely of poorly-watched UHF stations that signed on from 1953 onward and were ill-equipped to compete with established VHF stations. One such UHF station, WITV in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was on paper a primary ABC and DuMont affiliate, but WTVJ in Miami retained "first call" option on programs from both networks.^[17] By 1955, only five percent of DuMont's cable and microwave relay network was utilized, with the majority of their business being transcriptions.^[8]

The end dates listed here are somewhat tentative and largely sourced from either the Spring 1955 Television Factbook^[18] or individual station articles. In April 1955, the network announced all scripted programming would be dropped by September and that it would only supply news, sports and live events to affiliates, effectively ending normal operations.^[14] The relay network was retained but only for affiliates on the East Coast.^[8] No mention of the network—or that it would even continue to function as one—was made when DuMont Laboratories announced the spin-off of DuMont Broadcasting later in the year, consisting of WABD and WTTG.^[19][4] From September 1955 onward, DuMont's sole remaining program was Boxing from St. Nicholas Arena;^[20][21] by August 1956, only 37 stations carried Boxing, 17 of them live.^[22] Boxing transitioned to being syndicated by WABD under the DuMont name to stations largely affiliated with ABC, which did not program to affiliates in Boxing's Monday night time slot.^[23] When Boxing was cancelled in August 1958 by WABD owner Metropolitan Broadcasting (the former DuMont Broadcasting^[24]) only five affiliates remained.^[25]