WBES-TV

WBES-TV was an early UHF television station in Buffalo, New York.

The station operated on UHF channel 59 from studios in the Hotel Lafayette in Buffalo.

WBES-TV, the second UHF station (and third TV station overall) in Western New York, was very short-lived, signing on September 29, 1953 and shutting down for the last time on December 19 of the same year.

An independent station for its entire existence, WBES-TV was plagued by technical and financial problems, the primary factor in the station's failure.

[1] After WBES-TV was shut down, Buffalo was left with two stations, market leader WBEN-TV and fellow UHF upstart WBUF-TV (channel 17); WGR-TV (channel 2) signed on for the very first time on August 14, 1954, using WBES-TV's broadcast tower.