KFDX-TV first signed on the air at 6:00 p.m. on April 12, 1953; the first program ever broadcast on Channel 3 that evening was the local program "People from Here and There". KFDX was the third television station to sign on in the Wichita Falls–Lawton market, launching one month after the sign-ons of its two principal competitors: CBS affiliate KWFT-TV (channel 6, now KAUZ-TV), which debuted on March 1, and Lawton-based KSWO-TV (channel 7), which had signed on March 8. Although KFDX radio had been an affiliate of the ABC Radio Network since 1947, channel 3 has operated as an NBC affiliate since its sign-on; this was essentially by default, as ABC Television had already maintained a primary affiliation with KSWO-TV at the time of KFDX-TV's sign-on. The station originally employed a staff of 30 people, which at the time, was the largest staff of any broadcast television and radio station in west Texas; the majority of stock held in Wichitex was owned by members of the station's staff.