KPIX-TV
channel 5 CBS television station for San Francisco, California
KPIX-TV (channel 5), branded CBS Bay Area, is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division, and is sister to KPYX (channel 44), an independent station. The two outlets share studios at Broadway and Battery Street, in San Francisco's North Waterfront district; KPIX's transmitter is located atop Sutro Tower. In addition to KPYX, KPIX shares its building with formerly co-owned radio stations KCBS, KFRC-FM, KITS, KLLC, KRBQ and KZDG (all now owned by Audacy, Inc.), although they use a different address number for Battery Street (865 as opposed to 855).
History
KPIX signed on the air on December 22, 1948, the first television station in Northern California as well as the 49th in the United States. It was originally owned by Associated Broadcasters, owners of KSFO (560 AM). Initially, channel 5's signal was transmitted from the top of the Mark Hopkins Hotel on Nob Hill. It later moved to a transmitter tower shared with KGO-TV (channel 7) at the Sutro Mansion (which was located midway between Mount Sutro and Twin Peaks), and then to the Sutro Tower in 1973. KPIX's first master control room was in the attic of the Mark Hopkins Hotel (just above the "Top of the Mark" bar).
The station immediately joined CBS due to a deal KSFO's owners had worked out with the television network one year earlier.
The public source identifies “KPIX-TV” as channel 5 CBS television station for San Francisco, California. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around KPIX-TV, channel and television.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “KPIX-TV”, the useful work is to connect “channel 5 CBS television station for San Francisco, California” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q721602. VIAF identifies the subject as 146868299. The Library of Congress control number is no93018556. Authority coordinates are 37.755, -122.453. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1948 and 1973.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “KPIX-TV”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow KPIX-TV primary sources, KPIX-TV archive and KPIX-TV research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “KPIX-TV”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “KPIX-TV” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.