KHON-TV initially went on the air on December 15, 1952, as a major NBC affiliate, KONA-TV, on channel 11. It also held a secondary affiliation with DuMont until its dissolution in 1955 (which it later shared with KULA-TV, now KITV, after signing on in 1954). Herbert Richards initially owned the station, which is Hawaii's second-oldest television station (after KGMB, formerly on channel 9, now on channel 5). The Honolulu Advertiser bought the station two years later, in 1954. On October 16, 1955, KONA switched from channel 11 to channel 2 since the lower VHF locations (2 to 6) had the highest intense ERPs at the time. KHET, a PBS member station, now owns the channel 11 frequency. Pacific and Southern Broadcasting, the precursor of Combined Communications, purchased KONA in 1956. KAII joined in 1958, followed by KHAW in 1961. The station's call signs were changed to the present KHON-TV in 1965.