WGRZ (channel 2) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Delaware Avenue in downtown Buffalo, and its transmitter is located on Warner Hill Road in South Wales, New York. History The station first signed on the air on August 14, 1954, as WGR-TV, owned by the WGR Corporation, along with WGR (550 AM). WGR-TV started out as an NBC affiliate sharing the 184 Barton Street studios of UHF outlet WBUF-TV (Channel 17). In 1955, WBUF-TV, which was dark at the time, was sold to NBC. In January 1956, WGR-TV became an ABC affiliate after NBC moved its programming to the company-owned WBUF. Most TV sets could not receive channels above 13 or needed a special device to do it. All television reception at the time was via set-top or rooftop aerial antennas. UHF television technology was in its infancy, and most people did not understand how to receive the signals or had antennas designed to pick up UHF channels. UHF signals also did not travel as well as VHF, making it hard for viewers outside of Buffalo and its adjacent suburbs to get a clear picture. WGR-TV itself began its existence using the tower and transmitter of another defunct UHF station, the short-lived WBES-TV on channel 59. WBUF was an experiment by NBC to see if UHF television was yet viable if enough investment were placed into a UHF station; the experiment was not a success, and in September 1958, the station facility was donated to a public broadcaster to become WNED-TV, and NBC reaffiliated with WGR-TV. ABC programming was not available in Buffalo for another two months until WKBW-TV (channel 7) signed on in November of that year as a full-time affiliate of that network. The failure of WBUF was a blow to UHF but served as a boon to WGR-TV locally. Viewers could easily receive the station's VHF channel 2 signal, and WGR-TV now had more syndicated and network program options. The station also carried some shows from the DuMont Television Network, until it shut down in 1956. In 1959, WGR-TV launched an FM radio station, WGR-FM (96.9 MHz, now WGRF). Originally a simulcast of its AM radio sister, it began airing its own programming under the WGRQ call sign in 1973. Over the years, WGR Corporation bought several other radio