In 1948, the mansion and property was sold to the American Broadcasting Company, where it became the original home of their San Francisco operation as KGO Television.

KGO then formed a consortium with KTVU, KRON, and KPIX, the three other major San Francisco television broadcasters at the time, to build and maintain the tower.

San Francisco writer Herb Caen once wrote, "I keep waiting for it to stalk down the hill and attack the Golden Gate Bridge.

In 2022, Sutro Tower was included in the video game Horizon Forbidden West as one of the prominent landmarks in the San Francisco area.

Additionally, "To accommodate some final project cleanup work, some stations will broadcast from their auxiliary antennas intermittently between mid-July and mid-August.

With the advent of channel-sharing agreements after the 2016 FCC spectrum auction, San Jose's KQEH began to transmit from Sutro with sister station KQED on January 17, 2018, moving from its former Monument Peak transmitter.

KNTV, which assumed the area's NBC affiliation from KRON-TV in 2002, relocated its transmitter from Loma Prieta Peak to San Bruno Mountain, five miles (8 km) south of Sutro Tower; KSTS and KICU-TV transmit from east of Fremont.

On a clear day, the tower can be seen from the East Bay peak of Mount Diablo and is sometimes the only part of San Francisco seen above the coastal fog when it is blown inland, typically on summer mornings and evenings.

[16][17] 54 FM stations that transmit from Sutro Tower include KEXC (Formerly KREV) (92.7), KOIT (96.5), KSOL (98.9), KOSF (103.7), and KNBR-FM (104.5).