Knight Ridder-owned Television Stations
In 1954, Ridder Newspapers launched WDSM-TV in Superior, Wisconsin, serving the Duluth, Minnesota market. Initially a CBS affiliate, it switched to its present NBC affiliation a year and a half after the station's launch. It was spun off after Ridder's merger with Knight Newspapers, Inc.
From 1956 to 1962, Knight co-owned a then-NBC affiliate, WCKT in Miami, Florida, with the Cox publishing family.
In 1977, Knight Ridder entered broadcasting with the acquisition of Poole Broadcasting, which consisted of WJRT-TV in Flint, Michigan, WTEN in Albany, New York and its satellite WCDC in Adams, Massachusetts, and WPRI-TV in Providence, Rhode Island. Immediately after the acquisition of these stations was finalized, Knight Ridder cut a corporate affiliation deal with ABC, switching then-CBS affiliates WTEN/WCDC and WPRI (the latter of which eventually rejoined CBS) to ABC (WJRT was already affiliated with ABC when the affiliation deal was made). Knight Ridder would acquire several television stations in medium-sized markets during the 1980s, including three stations owned by The Detroit News which the Gannett Company (which purchased the newspaper in 1986) could not keep due to Federal Communications Commission regulations on media cross-ownership and/or television duopolies then in effect. (Interestingly, none of Knight Ridder's later acquisitions changed their network affiliations under Knight Ridder ownership; for example, then-NBC affiliate WALA-TV in Mobile, Alabama remained an NBC affiliate when it was owned by Knight Ridder and would switch to Fox several years after Knight Ridder sold the station.) In early 1989, Knight Ridder announced its exit from broadcasting, selling all of its stations to separate buyers; the sales were finalized in the summer and early fall of that year.
| Current DMA# | Market | Station | Years Owned | Current Affiliation/Owner |
| 17. | Miami, Florida | WCKT 7 (now WSVN) |
1956-62 ** | Fox affiliate owned by Sunbeam Television |
| 29. | Nashville, Tennessee | WKRN-TV 2 | 1983-89 | ABC affiliate owned by New Young Broadcasting |
| 43. | Norfolk, Virginia | WTKR 3 | 1981-89 | CBS affiliate owned by Local TV |
| 45. | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | KTVY 4 (now KFOR-TV) |
1986-89 | NBC affiliate owned by Local TV |
| 53. | Providence, Rhode Island | WPRI-TV 12 | 1977-89 | CBS affiliate owned by LIN Television |
| 58. | Albany, New York | WTEN 10 | 1977-89 | ABC affiliate owned by New Young Broadcasting |
| Adams, Massachusetts | WCDC 19 |
1977-89 | ABC affiliate owned by New Young Broadcasting |
|
| 60. | Mobile, Alabama - Pensacola, Florida | WALA-TV 10 | 1986-89 | Fox affiliate owned by LIN Television |
| 67. | Tucson, Arizona | KOLD-TV 13 | 1986-89 | CBS affiliate owned by Raycom Media |
| 69. | Flint, Michigan | WJRT-TV 12 | 1977-89 | ABC affiliate owned by SJL Broadcasting |
| 138. | Superior, Wisconsin - Duluth, Minnesota | WDSM-TV 6 (now KBJR-TV) |
1954-74 ++ | NBC affiliate owned by Granite Broadcasting |
Notes:
- **This station was co-owned by Knight Newspapers and Cox Newspapers, long before Knight's merger with Ridder Publications.
- ++This station was owned by Ridder Publications until the merger between Ridder and Knight forced its divestiture.
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Famous quotes containing the words knight, television and/or stations:
“The knight slew the dragon,
The lady was gay,
They rode on together,
Away, away.”
—Unknown. This Is the Key (l. 38–41)
“Photographs may be more memorable than moving images because they are a neat slice of time, not a flow. Television is a stream of underselected images, each of which cancels its predecessor. Each still photograph is a privileged moment, turned into a slim object that one can keep and look at again.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“A reader who quarrels with postulates, who dislikes Hamlet because he does not believe that there are ghosts or that people speak in pentameters, clearly has no business in literature. He cannot distinguish fiction from fact, and belongs in the same category as the people who send cheques to radio stations for the relief of suffering heroines in soap operas.”
—Northrop Frye (b. 1912)