KTUL (channel 8) is a television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group.

Channel 8 was originally allocated to Muskogee, Oklahoma, where several groups sought the permit, including Muskogee-based and out-of-town interests.

John Toole "J. T." Griffin—majority owner and president of wholesale food distributors Griffin Grocery Company and Denison Peanut Company and hardware manufacturer Western Hardware Corporation, all of which were headquartered in Muskogee—became interested in television broadcasting around 1950, after noticing during one of his commutes that many homes in the Oklahoma City area had installed outdoor television antennas to receive the signal of Oklahoma City station WKY-TV.

[2] In June 1952, the Tulsa Broadcasting Company—a company run by John and his sister, Marjory Griffin Leake, and owner of Tulsa radio station KTUL (1430 AM) as well as radio interests in Oklahoma City and Fort Smith, Arkansas, applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a construction permit to build a television station on channel 8 in Muskogee.

[7] The applicants derided the KTUL-led bid as an attempt to "slip in the back door" to Tulsa from the start, down to its proposal to use the call sign KTUL-TV.

[10] Another application for channel 8 was received in November 1953 from Ashley L. Robison, who was selling a stake in a station he owned in Sacramento, California.

[13] In February 1954, just as hearings were to begin for channel 8 in Muskogee and channel 2 in Tulsa,[14] Oklahoma Press Publishing announced it was withdrawing from the case;[15] the Daily Phoenix ran a front-page editorial declaring that the record now showed a city like Muskogee could not support a station on its own and that local businessmen were not supportive of the station they proposed, which they learned would be a "most hazardous venture".

[17] FCC hearing examiner Millard French issued an initial decision in its favor,[18][19] followed by a commission grant of the permit on April 8, 1954.

Beck alleged that the Concharty Mountain transmitter site would provide better service to Tulsa than to Muskogee and that it would overlap with other Griffin-owned properties, particularly KWTV in Oklahoma City, as well as other Griffin holdings: KTUL, KFPW, and KOMA radio, as well as KATV in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

[41][42] The FCC dismissed the complaint on September 2; Tulsa Broadcasting admitted to failing to comply with station identification rules but made assurances that it stopped such practices.

[43] The commission also admonished the station for exaggerating its coverage area in trade publications and reminded it that it must give "primary consideration" to Muskogee in its local programming.

KOTV and KVOO-TV and that it had been operating as a de facto Tulsa station with limited equipment and personnel based in Muskogee.

Consideration of the application was delayed because a hearing was in progress over Griffin-Leake's qualifications to be a licensee in a case revolving around a planned transmitter relocation for KATV.

[63][64] When Mr. Zing and Tuffy ceased production in January 1970, it was partially replaced with Uncle Zeb's Cartoon Camp,[65] hosted by KTUL promotion director Carl Bartholomew.

[66] Dan Murphy, a KTUL reporter, briefly took over the time slot, hosting as "Dr. Ding A. Ling",[67] and another local children's show, Uncle Zip's Do-Da-Day, aired in 1980.

[71] Chick ended his eponymous morning show in January 1979, following a diagnosis of early stage multiple sclerosis two months prior; he died in May 1986.

[71] On July 20, 1981, Leake fired some 50 employees at his two stations and other businesses, including 24 at KTUL, in a move to "streamline" company operations.

[75] The head of the NABET local at KTUL was fired twice from his position, contributing to a poor climate for efforts to unionize other broadcast stations in Oklahoma.

[76] On November 3, 1982, Leake Industries sold KTUL and KATV to Washington, D.C.–based Allbritton Communications in an all-cash transaction for $80 million;[77][78] the sale received FCC approval on February 14, 1983.

[81] The collapse, brought on by the accumulation of 1,000,000 pounds (454,000 kg) of ice on the mast, damaged the transmitter building, disturbing insulation containing asbestos.

[88][89] The station announced in January 1998 that it would expand its Lookout Mountain studio in a $2 million project to add 12,000 square feet (1,115 m2) which would include a new newsroom, sales offices, and an outdoor deck for weather segments.

[90] The project was completed in October 1999 and included a new layout for employees, whose offices were previously scattered on the building's two floors; the station simultaneously rebranded its newscasts as Oklahoma's NewsChannel 8.

[91] Allbritton announced the sale of their television station holdings to Sinclair Broadcast Group on July 29, 2013, in a $985 million deal.

[111][112] KTUL launched a community outreach initiative in October 1980 with the debut of the "Waiting Child" series of feature segments produced in conjunction with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS), profiling foster children in need of adoptive families.

[130] On November 9, 2023, KTUL announced that it would consolidate production of its newscasts at Fox-affiliated sister station KOKH-TV in Oklahoma City effective December 11.