KDAF (channel 33) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving as the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex's outlet for The CW.

It is owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group (based in nearby Irving), although it is not considered the company's flagship station.

Tribune Broadcasting owned the station from 1996 to 2019; during this time, it was one of the most successful affiliates of The WB in the late 1990s and resumed local news production, which continued in some form for nearly two decades.

Berean, a locally based Christian ministry, operated the station as a family-oriented, general-entertainment independent with weekend religious programming.

[12] NBN was a locally based group operated by Nolanda Hill and Sheldon Turner (both of whom, who had previously successfully lobbied the Dallas City Council to have a cable television franchise established in the city, each owned a 40% interest); other investors included, among others, radio broadcaster Gordon McLendon, who had made previous failed attempts to launch a UHF television station in the market and served as a commentator on precious metals once it launched.

The initial programming format consisted of business news programming during the daytime hours; evenings, meanwhile, were occupied by the subscription television service VEU (owned by Gene Autry's Golden West Broadcasters), featuring a mix of feature films, specials and, during the NBA season, Dallas Mavericks game telecasts.

Though Hispanic leaders protested the change at the Metroplex's only Spanish-language station, it was to no avail, as Metromedia sought to switch to an English-language format that would attract advertisers.

The new studio facilities, which replaced the Harry Hines Boulevard site that incoming anchor Quin Mathews called "a dump" and "a warehouse that had not even been disguised effectively as a television station",[23] also included a newsroom, accommodating the centerpiece of KRLD-TV's programming, a 7 pm newscast.

[24] The newscast, along with plans that were ultimately delayed and aborted to start a local news service at Metromedia's WFLD-TV in Chicago, were part of securing the ability to co-own KRLD radio with the UHF station.

[23] After Channel 33 was sold to Metromedia, its new owners heavily invested in the creation of a news department for the-then KRLD-TV, acquiring modernized technology (including a computer system and several Sony Betacams) for production and newsgathering resources.

The station's news staff was based in a small trailer parked within the Harry Hines Boulevard studios before moving into the larger Carpenter Freeway facility shortly before the newscast's launch.

Its debut was less than auspicious, earning a .7 rating (amounting to less than seven-tenths of 1% of all households in the Dallas–Fort Worth market that watched the premiere broadcast), eventually rising to a peak of 2.0 within several months but still half of the target promised to advertisers.

After original news director Tony deHaro, who had previously served in that same role at KRLD radio prior to Metromedia's purchase of channel 33,[27] was fired by the station, he wrote a scathing letter to D Magazine criticizing the news department and KRLD-TV general manager Ray Schonbak, stating that Schonbak insisted on implementing "sensationalis[tic] and inflammatory" journalism techniques.

At the time, station management acquired a state-of-the-art microwave live truck for newsgathering and drafted plans to open a bureau in Fort Worth.

[23] Art Chapman in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram found the newscast lacked any elements to distinguish it from the other offerings in the market and blamed the time slot.

[28] In May 1985, Metromedia reached an agreement to sell KRLD-TV and its five sister independent stations–WNEW-TV (now WNYW) in New York City, KTTV in Los Angeles, WFLD-TV in Chicago, WTTG in Washington, D.C., and KRIV in Houston – to News Corporation for $2.55 billion.

"Fox 33" had momentum: the network had pulled off a coup by obtaining television rights to the National Football Conference of the NFL, including the Dallas Cowboys.

"[37] The football deal, however, also led Fox to pursue a strategy of upgrading its stations in major markets to increase the network's profile.

[42] Although the network already owned KDAF, Fox sought the opportunity to affiliate with a stronger VHF station with an established news operation in what was then the nation's seventh-largest market.

Fox had structured the KDVR-for-KDAF deal as two separate sales rather than as a trade with a cash exchange in likely anticipation of NBC trying to appeal the transaction and to ensure that Renaissance would continue on with its purchase of KDAF in either event.

On that date, The CW also signed a ten-year affiliation agreement with Tribune Broadcasting, under which 16 of the group's 18 WB-affiliated stations—including KDAF—would serve as the network's charter stations.

[60] It was first anchored by Patrick Greenlaw and Crystal Thornton, alongside chief meteorologist Steve LaNore and sports director Bob Irzyk.

[63] On October 31, 2011, KDAF began airing the Tribune-distributed morning news program EyeOpener, which had originally premiered six months earlier on May 9 as a test concept on Houston sister station KIAH.

Initially airing only on weekday mornings (for three hours starting at 5:00 am), before expanding to include hour-long weekend editions in April 2015, the program's hybrid format was billed as a "provocative and unpredictable" combination of daily news, lifestyle, entertainment, and opinion segments.

[66] On August 16 of that year, EyeOpener senior producer Larissa Hall was promoted to a director of content position to oversee the newscasts.

[66] On September 4, 2012, KDAF management announced in a meeting with station staff that it would adopt a format similar to EyeOpener for the 5:00 and 9:00 pm newscasts, in order to reduce production and operation costs for the news department and to make the broadcast profitable.

[81] This proposed divestiture was one of several that attracted the scrutiny of FCC chairman Ajit Pai,[82] prompting Sinclair to abandon the Cunningham deal in favor of finding a third party for KDAF.

[86] Tribune Media terminated the merger proposal outright on August 9, 2018,[87] filing a breach of contract lawsuit against Sinclair in the process.