Home > WKBS-TV
WKBS-TV Channel 48, Burlington, NJ- Philadelphia, PA signed on the air in the Philadelphia DMA on September 1, 1965, owned by Kaiser Broadcasting . The station was licensed to Burlington, NJ, part of the Philadelphia DMA. It was one of three Independent stations in the area, WPHL-TV Channel 17 and WIBF-TV Channel 29 being the other two. Channel 48 offered many great children's programs, including a dance show known hosted by a local personality named Hy-Lit. The show also aired on two of Kaiser's other stations, WKBD-TV Channel 50 in Detroit and WKBG-TV Channel 56 in Boston.In 1977, Kaiser left the Television business, and sold all of their stations to Field Communications , who at the time co-owned WFLD-TV Chicago with Kaiser. Channel 48 continued to be competitive with the other stations in the area.
Sadly, WKBS-TV would not last forever. In 1982, Field put all of their stations up for sale following an internal dispute. All of their stations were purchased successfully, with the exception of Channel 48 in Philadelphia. There was so much speculation in Philadelphia as to what would become of the station. Finally, on July 15, 1983, Field announced that the station would sign off the air for good. On August 29, 1983, following the Penn State-Notre Dame Kickoff Classic, an editiorial by Vincent F. Baressi, General Manager of the station, aired, followed by a video of the employees saying farewell, accompanied by Simon and Garfunkel's " Sounds of Silence. The station then went dark.
Channel 48 was dark until August 15, 1992, when the station quietly returned to the air as WGTW, which as an independent station, paled in comparison to the late WKBS-TV. The station is operating on the same Burlington, NJ allocation as WKBS-TV did years ago.
