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.
KION-TV
By 1993, San Jose's TCI cable opted to drop KMST. Later that year, Retlaw sold the station to a partnership between Harron Communications and Smith Broadcasting, with Smith Broadcasting having control of the joint venture). On October 4, the new owners changed Channel 46's call sign to KCCN-TV. The next year, Smith Broadcasting sold its share of the station to Harron, in order to purchase KSBW. At that time, KCBA (Fox 35), then owned by the Ackerley Group, signed a local marketing agreement with KCCN, with Ackerley taking over the operations of both stations. The beginning of the LMA came at a time when CBS' ratings were at one of the lowest points in the network's history, while Fox's ratings were on the rise. Although KCCN was longer-established, KCBA became the senior partner in the LMA. On February 23, 1997, KCCN changed its call letters again, this time to KION.