For over 60 years, television in the islands has been an important source for news, entertainment, sports and a variety of programs. This month we look back at how the first two TV stations in Hawaii — KGMB and KONA (now KHON) — came to be.

During the early 1950s, the number of television stations on the mainland exploded at a rapid pace. Many radio stations jumped on the bandwagon and applied for TV station licenses. Originally, Honolulu was assigned five commercial VHF channels: 2, 4, 9, 11 and 13, with 7 reserved for noncommercial educational use, according to a July 7, 1952, article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

Radio Honolulu Ltd. chose the call letters KONA and channel 11. KGMB radio chose to keep its call letters for television and applied for channel 9. Since both station numbers were uncontested at the time, the Federal Communications Commission granted approval with no issues.

Technically, the first local TV station to go on air was KONA channel 11 when its test patterns successfully showed scenes from a 1930 Bing Crosby movie "March of Time" on Nov. 17, 1952. But the rush to get the station on air permanently proved to be difficult in the coming months. After the initial test pattern, the station realized the KPOA radio station’s antenna was blocking its TV signal because they were on the same lot. KONA had to seek alternate locations for its tower while its 5,500-square-foot TV studio was being constructed at 206 Koula St. in Kakaako. Around that same time, a dock strike tied up nearly half of the TV sets that were to be sold in the islands, so very few local residents were able to see the launch of KONA’s first test patterns.

KGMB television had much smoother sailing in its attempt to go on air. Its radio studios at 1534 Kapiolani Blvd. were already in place, so it was a matter of acquiring the necessary equipment in order to run both the radio and TV stations. The station would simply expand its studios to accommodate television gradually over time. When KGMB’s transmitter and image orthicon tubes (known as TV tubes) arrived in mid-November 1952, they were the final pieces of the puzzle the station needed to broadcast. It cost $250,000 to get KGMB television on air.

KGMB television was launched Dec. 1, 1952, at 5:04 p.m. with TV personality Kino Popo appearing as master of ceremonies during the official live telecast in the islands. Popo interviewed Jules Vetter, KGMB’s new transmitter supervisor, and Ernest Linderman, chief engineer of the Hawaiian Broadcasting System.

Good picture reception for KGMB was reported over major sections of Oahu, with phoned-in reports from Molokai and Maui saying they were able to view the station’s official launch. People who were curious to view the new medium but could not afford to buy a television set, which sold for between $200 to $600, gathered by the hundreds in front of appliance stores to watch TVs in the window.

KGMB television had affiliation agreements with CBS, NBC and ABC and signed up to broadcast Bishop Fulton J. Sheen’s "Life is Worth Living" popular TV program from the DuMont network. KGMB’s daily telecasts were initially two to four hours a day.

The first major televised event in the islands airing on both KGMB and KONA was President-elect Dwight Eisenhower’s arrival on Dec. 11, 1952, via the USS Helena at Pearl Harbor, and his stops around the island. A few days later on Dec. 15, 1952, KONA began its regular scheduled daily programs. TV viewers complained of poor reception from the onset, so a new antenna was installed at Ala Moana Boulevard and Piikoi Street, near where the KHON studios are today.

On March 11, 1953, KONA television went off the air because it needed more time to finish testing equipment and studio construction. That same month the station was sold to the Advertising Publishing Co. and Island Broadcasting Co. for $60,488. On June 24, 1953, KONA had its official relaunch and has been on the air ever since.

KONA was initially affiliated with the DuMont network and would soon become the NBC affiliate for the islands. The station would switch from channel 11 to channel 2 in October 1955. In June 1965, the station would change its call letters to the now-familiar KHON.

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A.J. McWhorter, a collector of film and videotape cataloging Hawaii’s TV history, has worked as a producer, writer and researcher for both local and national media. Email him at flashback@hawaii.rr.com.