WLWD was the second link of a group of inter-connected stations which made up the "WLW Television Network", and was named for Crosley's flagship Cincinnati radio station WLW (World's Largest Wireless) + Dayton. The other stations were WLWT in Cincinnati and WLWC (now WCMH-TV) in Columbus, both also owned by Crosley. The three outlets shared common regional programming, most of which was produced in Cincinnati and sent by way of microwave link to Dayton and Columbus (such as "The 50-50 Club" with Ruth Lyons, and later Bob Braun; "The Paul Dixon Show"; and "Midwestern Hayride"). All three stations were also NBC affiliates, and had secondary relationships with the DuMont Television Network; WLWD also carried ABC programs. The first program shown on WLWD was NBC's "Texaco Star Theater", with Milton Berle. To reflect their connection to each other, the WLW Television stations hyphenated their call signs on air; the Dayton outlet was known as WLW-D. The Crosley television group would later expand to include WLWA (now WXIA-TV) in Atlanta, WLWI (now WTHR) in Indianapolis, and WOAI-TV in San Antonio.