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.
KNOX-TV
KNOX broadcast on channel 10 as an ABC affiliate. The station later signed on Winnipeg-targeted border blaster KCND-TV, which was a semi-satellite of KNOX, on November 7, 1960. While KNOX was a primary ABC affiliate, the station also carried programming from NBC.
In 1962, KNOX and KCND, along with KEND-TV (now KVLY-TV) in Fargo, North Dakota, were purchased for $675,200 by the Pembina Broadcasting Company, a group led by Ferris Traylor, the part-owner of an Indiana TV station. KNOX merged with KEND, and KNOX shut down in 1964 after KEND (known as KTHI-TV at this time) began transmitting from a tower in Blanchard, between Fargo and Grand Forks. After KNOX-TV's shutdown, the Grand Forks area did not have a local television station until NBC affiliate WDAZ-TV signed on in 1967.