KPRC 2 is celebrating its 75th anniversary as the first television station in Houston!
The first flickering signal was sent out at 9 p.m. on Jan. 1, 1949.
The station first signed on as KLEE-TV, named after the first owner W. Albert Lee.
In 1950, Lee sold the station to former Texas Lt. Governor William Hobby and his wife.
The Hobby family would own the station for the next 30 years.
They changed the call letters to KPRC for Kotton Port Rail Center, a reference to a major portion of Houston’s business at the time.
KPRC went on to become the first television station in Houston to broadcast color pictures as part of the NBC television network in 1955.
KPRC has been a trailblazing TV station in many ways.
One of the most historic firsts was working with NASA to broadcast Neil Armstrong becoming the first human to step on the moon during the Apollo 11 spaceflight on July 20, 1969.
Also among the many firsts for KPRC-TV:
-The first Houston television station to hire female reporters
-The first Houston television station to hire African-American reporters
-The first Houston television station to use weather radar
-The first Houston television station to go “live” from the scene
-The first Houston television station to hire female sportscasters
To see our KPRC 2 logos through the years, check out the photos below.