TV"—began broadcasting with an opening program headlined by comedian Johnny Carson and its first night of programs from CBS; it was Sacramento's second station and the city's first VHF outlet, preceded by KCCC-TV (channel 40). However, for nearly three years after broadcasting began, the station's fledgling operation continued to be challenged by McClatchy. In addition to continuing to argue that the FCC was unfair to newspapers in denying its application and looked upon them with a "jaundiced eye", an argument unanimously rejected by a three-man panel, the newspaper company added a new argument related to its decision to change the transmitter site from Pine Hill to Logtown, which reduced the station's coverage area and were a downgrade from the original proposals for both companies. McClatchy found more success in this line of argument; in October 1956, the appeals court ordered the commission to hold hearings on the KBET-TV tower site change. After the Supreme Court of the United States refused to hear appeals from McClatchy and from Sacramento Telecasters, a hearing was slated in October. However, a petition by McClatchy to enlarge the issues to be considered in the tower site hearing such as to force a review of the comparative merits of its original 1952 application alongside that of Sacramento Telecasters was not looked on favorably. As a result, on February 10, 1958, McClatchy announced it would not pursue any further legal action in the case, "reluctantly" discontinuing its battle. The FCC examiner appointed for the tower site hearing then recommended the commission reaffirm the tower site change. McClatchy would eventually succeed at entering the Sacramento/Stockton television market in 1964, when it purchased Stockton station KOVR. Corinthian ownership In November 1958, after a month of negotiations, Sacramento Telecasters agreed to sell KBET-TV to the Great Western Broadcasting Corporation—a subsidiary of the J. H. Whitney Company of New York City, which operated the Corinthian Broadcasting group of television stations—for $4.55 million. The call sign was changed to KXTV on April 27, 1959. The station moved to its present tower site at the start of 1962, having jointly constructed it with KOVR and KCRA-TV. The primary event in the early years of Corinthian operation was a strike that began on September 26, 1960, and stretched more than two years. The strike was touched off when management ordered two directors to leave the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA); 10