WMTV signed on the air in July 1953 on channel 33 and was an affiliate of NBC, ABC and DuMont. However, it has always been a primary NBC affiliate. In 1956, WKOW-TV, which had the CBS affiliation, picked up the ABC affiliation from WMTV after losing CBS to then-new VHF station WISC-TV, thus resulting in WMTV becoming solely affiliated with NBC.