KHON-TV
KHON-TV first signed on the air on December 15, 1952 as a primary NBC affiliate, KONA-TV, occupying the channel 11 position. It also had a secondary affiliation with DuMont (which it later shared with KULA-TV, now KITV, after it signed on in 1954) until its demise in 1955. The station, which is Hawaii's second-oldest television station (behind KGMB, originally on channel 9, now on channel 5), was originally owned by Herbert Richards. Two years later in 1954, the "Honolulu Advertiser" purchased the station. On October 16, 1955, KONA changed channels from 11 to 2 due to the lower VHF positions (2 to 6) having the most powerful ERPs at the time. The channel 11 frequency now belongs to PBS member station KHET. In 1956, KONA was sold to Pacific and Southern Broadcasting, the forerunner of Combined Communications. KAII signed on in 1958, with KHAW following in 1961. In 1965, the station's call letters were changed to the current KHON-TV.
KUHL
The station first signed on January 17, 1947 as KCOY at the 1400 kHz frequency. It was launched by News-Press Publishing Company, owner of KTMS in Santa Barbara and the Santa Barbara News-Press. On April 5, 1955, KCOY was sold to Arenze Broadcasters, headed by James H. Ranger, for $34,000. It moved to 1440 kHz in 1960. In its early years, KCOY was a full service station, broadcasting a variety of news, sports, and rock music programming.