The first excited triplet states of the nonphosphorescent charge-transfer (CT) crystals phenazine/TCNQ and fluorene/TCNQ were investigated by means of magnetic resonance. It was found that in both crystals the T 1 state is localized on the TCNQ molecule with a very small TC admixture. This is valid for both the trap and excitonic states observed. The assignment of the triplet state to TCNQ in both systems is based on the orientation of the fine structure tensors (the ẑ axis lies in the TCNQ plane), the individual zfs parameters (Ph/TCNQ: | D| = 0.05975(6), | E| =0.00760(8), F/TCNQ: | D| =0.05982(1), | E| = 0.00700(5) cm −1), the hyperfine pattern of the Ph- h 8/TCNQ trap in the Ph- d 8/TCNQ crystal and the very short lifetime τ⩽ 100 μs.