Television Digest's map of television stations and network routes: 1955 - Oklahoma Maps - Digital Collections - Oklahoma State University

Television Digest's map of television stations and network routes: 1955 - Digital Collections - Oklahoma State University

Before satellites, TV networks used coax cables and microwave links to relay programming from station to station across the country. This map shows lists TV stations in 1955 and shows the routes that programming followed. A trunk line snaked its way west, roughly parallel to I-70 to Kansas City, then followed the Kansas Turnpike to Wichita and I-35 to OKC and Dallas, with a branch from near Stillwater to Tulsa. At this time, Tulsa had two stations (KOTV 6, KVOO 2), while Muskogee's KTVX 8 would later move to Tulsa as KTUL, while Enid's KGEO 5 would move to Oklahoma City to become KOCO. But stations in Ada (KTEN) and Lawton (KSWO) would remain independent. The number of UHF stations (channels 14 and higher) are surprising.