Non-Commerical to Commercial TV Stations

[Markxxx]

I know there are a lot of examples of commerical TV stations failing for one reason or another, and the license is donated to a non-commerical entity. Channel 13 New York for one.

What are some examples of the reverse. A non-commerical station going TO commercial?<P ID="signature">______________
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[Stelly]

> What are some examples of the reverse. A non-commerical
> station going TO commercial?
>

Not sure of the specifics, but two examples that come to mind are 43 KAUT Oklahoma City (to Paramount Stations Group/Viacom) and 23 WNLO Buffalo (LIN Broadcasting.) Both became UPN affiliates.

I'm sure someone can elaborate as to the whos and whys.

Stelly

 

[EricStein]

> > What are some examples of the reverse. A non-commerical
> > station going TO commercial?
> >
>
> Not sure of the specifics, but two examples that come to
> mind are 43 KAUT Oklahoma City (to Paramount Stations
> Group/Viacom) and 23 WNLO Buffalo (LIN Broadcasting.) Both
> became UPN affiliates.
>
> I'm sure someone can elaborate as to the whos and whys.

Actually, KAUT went from commercial (under Gene Autry's ownership) to non-commercial after it was sold (or donated?) to local public broadcasters, and then back to commercial. This was the same case with KCPQ-13 in Tacoma, Washington (going from commercial to NCE and back to commercial).

WPXN 31 in New York City was also non-comm PBS WNYC for many years.

 

[Tom_Desmond]

> Not sure of the specifics, but two examples that come to
> mind are 43 KAUT Oklahoma City (to Paramount Stations
> Group/Viacom) and 23 WNLO Buffalo (LIN Broadcasting.) Both
> became UPN affiliates.

Going back even further, KOKH/25 in Oklahoma City and KCPQ/13 in Tacoma (Seattle) were once public TV stations operating on commercial channels. Both subsequently were sold back into commercial operation. In the case of KCPQ, it started commercial, went bankrupt and was sold into non-commercial use, and eventually returned to commercial use. KAUT in Oklahoma City apparently followed the same path (although it didn't quite go bankrupt).

 

[Mark_Ericson]

Add to the list Independent WUSQ-45 in Albany, became PBS WMHQ, then became WB WEWB.

WQEX-16 in Pittsburgh, formerly a secondary PBS to WQED-13, is now doing Home Shopping.

WNED-17 in Buffalo was originally an NBC O&O but was donated to non-comm after a third VHF was added to Buffalo. WNEQ-23 in Buffalo became a secondary PBS. WNED convinced the FCC to trade the reserved status from 23 to 17 and sold WNEQ to LIN, who made it WNLO, UPN23.

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[Markd]

I do not remember what happened with KCPQ 13 Seattle/Tacoma. All I know was they began commercial operation in 1980.

KAUT 43 though signed on with Business News by day and Subscription TV by night back in 1979 the same month 2 other independent stations 25 KOKH and 34 KGMC signed on (34 is now WB and 25 is now Fox). Golden West owned 43 KAUT. By 1982 KAUT added general entertainment to the daytime lineup and went general entertainment full time by 1984. Golden West sold 25 KOKH to Heritage in 1985.

In 1988 Pappas almost bought Fox 25 KOKH. Under the deal 43 KAUT would be sold to OETA and be flipped to Educational programming while KGMC 34 would be sold to Home Shopping Network. Pappas would buy programming from the other 2 stations and fold it into 25 KOKH. But the deal was canceled in 1989.

In 1991 Heritage would buy 25 KOKH. They sold 43 KAUT to OETA and folded assets onto Fox 25 KOKH. They eventually LMAd 34 KGMC becoming KOCB. The combo would go to Sinclair in 1996.

Channel 43 would go educational in 1991 as "The Literacy Channel". KOCB 34 was the WB station so Oklahome City lacked a UPN station. In 1997 OETA sold 43 to Chris Craft. At that point they kept educational programming until 3 PM and general entertainment independent scheduling plus UPN after 3 PM. Eventually the daytime lease with Oklahoma Educational expired and 43 became a full time commercial station. When Fox bought Chris Craft channel 43 was spun off to Paramount/Viacom which merged with CBS and now 43 is owned by CBS and run as a UPN station. I think (it may have been since sold)

 

[TonySantiago]

> WPXN 31 in New York City was also non-comm PBS WNYC for many
> years.

Before it was PAX, WPXN was WBIS+, (S-Plus), which was supposed to be a local news/business channel. Tony Guida and Carol Martin were anchors there. That was the flip when WNYC was sold.

 

[KMRichards]

Related question

I think the key point in this discussion is that not all non-comms are operating on channels reserved for non-comm use, and those stations can revert to commercial status with very little difficulty.

A question I would have -- and am not sure how to find out -- is whether the digital channel allocation for such a station would become a reserved allocation or whether the station would retain its legal ability to go commercial in the future.<P ID="signature">______________


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[wxctintern]

If I'm not mistaken the America's Store Network (HSN's secondary network) is paying WQED for the airtime on Channel 16 in P-Burgh.

 

[rugrats1]

> Actually, KAUT went from commercial (under Gene Autry's
> ownership) to non-commercial after it was sold (or donated?)
> to local public broadcasters, and then back to commercial.

At the time the switch was made in the early-1990s, KAUT's owners at the time, Heritage Broadcasting, swapped stations with KOKH, then KAUT's new owners sold the station to OETA (the state-run PBS network), which used the channel as a secondary PBS outlet. They also had new calls -- forgot what they were, but they were something like "K?LC".

This lasted only a couple of years, when OETA sold the station to Viacom, then relaunched around 1995 or 1996 as KPSG, then reverted soon after back to KAUT.

 

[rugrats1]

> Channel 43 would go educational in 1991 as "The Literacy
> Channel".

What was The Literacy Channel's programming like? Was it only (or mostly) literacy programs, or was it merely a secondary PBS station? Also, was it a statewide network (with 43 the only OTA outlet), or was it just a OKC thing?

 

[rugrats1]

> If I'm not mistaken the America's Store Network (HSN's
> secondary network) is paying WQED for the airtime on Channel
> 16 in P-Burgh.
>

Prior to that, WQEX simulcasted WQED, while waiting for a channel swap with WPCB ch.40 and a deal with Pax -- which would never come, due to alot of regulatory red tape.

 

[Tom_Desmond]

KCPQ Tacoma/Seattle, KOKH Oklahoma City

> I do not remember what happened with KCPQ 13 Seattle/Tacoma.
> All I know was they began commercial operation in 1980.

They resumed commercial operation in 1980.

Channel 13 had been a commercial station under the KMO and KTVW call letters from 1953 until 1974, at which time they were ordered off the air by a bankruptcy court.

With the help of a generous cash donation from Gaylord Broadcasting (then owner of KSTW/11, the other independent television channel in the market), the Clover Park School district bought channel 13 in the bankruptcy auction for $378,000. Clover Park signed channel 13 back on the air in January 1976 as a public TV station under the KCPQ call letters.

The economy improved, and in late 1978, Clover Park received an unsolicited bid from Roadrunner Broadcasting (owners of KZAZ/11 in Nogales/Tucson) to buy KCPQ for $6 million. Kelly Broadcasting offered a higher bid of $6.25 million and ended up buying the station. The agreement was reached early in 1979.

After a somewhat lengthy battly, the FCC approved the sale a year later, leading to Kelly's takeover of the station in 1980. Kelly took the station off the air in order to upgrade to a better transmitter site, and returned it to the air on November 4, 1980.

That, briefly, is the story of channel 13 in Tacoma/Seattle.

> KAUT 43 though signed on with Business News by day and
> Subscription TV by night back in 1979 the same month 2 other
> independent stations 25 KOKH and 34 KGMC signed on (34 is
> now WB and 25 is now Fox).

Actually, KOKH is much older than that. Checking a copy of the listings from an old edition of Broadcasting Yearbook shows that KOKH signed on in 1959 as an educational TV station. Ownership is listed as "Independent School District #89". 1979 apparently marks when the station was sold into commercial operation.

 

[Tom_Desmond]

Re: Related question

> I think the key point in this discussion is that not all
> non-comms are operating on channels reserved for non-comm
> use, and those stations can revert to commercial status with
> very little difficulty.

Today that is generally true.

In the past, the conversion of a non-commercial station to commercial operation could be contentious even if the station was on a commercial allocation.

When KCPQ/13 in Tacoma/Seattle resumed commercial operation, there was fierce opposition in Tacoma to the sale.

 

[tvobserver]

Re: KCPQ Tacoma/Seattle, KOKH Oklahoma City

>
> Actually, KOKH is much older than that. Checking a copy of
> the listings from an old edition of Broadcasting Yearbook
> shows that KOKH signed on in 1959 as an educational TV
> station. Ownership is listed as "Independent School
> District #89". 1979 apparently marks when the station was
> sold into commercial operation.
>

Correct-KOKH Channel 25 was originally owned by the Oklahoma City public school district, before becoming a commercial station. Independent School District #89 would be school district's official name.

Growing up around 40 miles outside of OKC, we could not get the original channel 25, owned by the school district. Once they went commercial, they increased their power, and we were able to receive it with a UHF antenna.

 

[tvobserver]

>
>
> Channel 43 would go educational in 1991 as "The Literacy
> Channel". KOCB 34 was the WB station so Oklahome City lacked
> a UPN station. In 1997 OETA sold 43 to Chris Craft. At that
> point they kept educational programming until 3 PM and
> general entertainment independent scheduling plus UPN after
> 3 PM. Eventually the daytime lease with Oklahoma Educational
> expired and 43 became a full time commercial station. When
> Fox bought Chris Craft channel 43 was spun off to
> Paramount/Viacom which merged with CBS and now 43 is owned
> by CBS and run as a UPN station. I think (it may have been
> since sold)
>

You are correct. KAUT-43 was recently sold to the New York Times Company, creating a duopoly with KFOR-4, the NBC affiliate.

 

[fybush]

> Add to the list Independent WUSQ-45 in Albany, became PBS
> WMHQ, then became WB WEWB.

Actually, that was WUSV - "Union Street Video" - which never made a dent in the market during its few years of commercial operation in the eighties. WMHT took it over as a secondary outlet, initially as WMHX. Then WMHT hit financial bumps of its own and shut the station down. The calls went elsewhere, and when it came back on the air in the early 90s, it was WMHQ, which was a pretty minimal operation - only on the air a few hours each evening, with just static slide IDs between shows. With DTV on the horizon, WMHT sold channel 45 to Tribune and used the money to build a new studio facility and to build WMHT-DT.

> WQEX-16 in Pittsburgh, formerly a secondary PBS to WQED-13,
> is now doing Home Shopping.

This one started commercial as well - it was WENS, in 1953. A storm knocked WENS off the air not long after it started, and the WENS license was later moved to channel 22, with 16 being donated to WQED along with the WENS transmitter. WENS never came back, but channel 22 was reactivated in 1978 as indie WPTT.
>
> WNED-17 in Buffalo was originally an NBC O&O but was donated
> to non-comm after a third VHF was added to Buffalo. WNEQ-23
> in Buffalo became a secondary PBS. WNED convinced the FCC
> to trade the reserved status from 23 to 17 and sold WNEQ to
> LIN, who made it WNLO, UPN23.

Actually, WBUF-TV 17 was a commercial station several years before NBC bought into it. It was the second station on the air in Buffalo, after WBEN-TV 4, and did pretty well...until two more Vs came on in 1954 and 1958. Ironically, the building NBC started building for WBUF in 1958 ended up getting sold to WBEN and, after being completed in 1960, has been home to channel 4 ever since.

A few more that made the transition, in the other direction:

What's now WHYY-TV 12 in the Philadelphia market began as WDEL-TV 7 Wilmington DE, then moved to channel 12, becoming indie WVUE. Storer couldn't make a go of it, and ended up donating the facility to public TV WHYY (then on channel 35) in 1963. 35 became WUHY, a secondary station, and is now WYBE under different ownership.

In Chicago, the channel 20 CP was originally held by commercial WIND-TV, before being donated to WTTW to come on the air as WXXW (now WYCC, under different ownership).

Boston's WGBX 44 began as commercial CP WJDW, owned by Texas entrepreneur J.D. Wrather, who also owned Muzak and the Lassie franchise. WJDW was never built, and the CP was donated to WGBH in the mid-sixties.

In San Francisco, channel 32 began as commercial KNEW-TV before being donated to KQED and becoming KQEC (now KMTP, under different ownership.)

In Lansing, Michigan, channel 10 was once shared by noncommercial WMSB at Michigan State University and commercial WILX. WMSB (which had started as a standalone U on 60) eventually returned to UHF as WKAR-TV 23.<P ID="signature">______________
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[Markd]

Re: Related question

> A question I would have -- and am not sure how to find out
> -- is whether the digital channel allocation for such a
> station would become a reserved allocation or whether the
> station would retain its legal ability to go commercial in
> the future.

I am told that when an educational station such as WNET Channel 13 Newark/New York City which is a commercial license but runs educational non commercial programming that their new digital station will also be a commercial license.

But 13 WQED Pittsburgh which is an educational license will also have a digital educational license.

All the move to digital will do is merely move channel numbers but wont redesignate their licenses.

And as for the difficulty...today its still almost impossible if not impossible to redesignate an educational license (not a commercial license used as educational though) for commercial broadcasting. The only way to redesignate an educational license to commercial is to redesignate a co-located commercial license to educational which happened in Buffalo. I believe Pittsburgh though somehow someway got WQEX 16 redesignated as a commercial license. But how? I cant figure that one out.

 

[Markd]

Re: WPXN

> > WPXN 31 in New York City was also non-comm PBS WNYC for
> many
> > years.
>
> Before it was PAX, WPXN was WBIS+, (S-Plus), which was
> supposed to be a local news/business channel. Tony Guida and
> Carol Martin were anchors there. That was the flip when
> WNYC was sold.
>

ACtually WNYC TV was commercial part time after 8 PM since the early 1980's. The City Of New York owned the station and used it as an educational full time until then. Beginning in the 1980's WNYC TV was brokered to Asian broadcasters which contained commercials so WNYC TV resumed commercial operation part-time prior to being sold in 1995.

In May of 1995 Dow Jones and ITT each bought 50 % of Channel 31. The closing occurred on July 1 of 1996. Some of The ethnic brokered programming went to 63 WMBC out of Newton NJ. WNYC TV was renamed WBIS and ran paid programming during the day and ESPN Classic Sports at night starting in the Summer of 1996.

In January of 1997 Dow Jones began operation of WBIS producing Business News until 7 PM. ITT began operation at night at the same time with various New York Sports Teams play by play action along with Sports news.

The format was short lived. ITT and Dow Jones sold out to Paxson in May of 1997 and in June WBIS shut down running reruns of WBIS programming. In July of 1997 the station became WPXN and ran Bloomberg Business News during the day and Fox Sports Programming at night as well as infomercials on overnights.

From the Fall of 1997 to the Summer of 1998 WPXN began running new cable networks in prime time switching every few weeks. On August 31, 1998 Paxson launced Pax TV which WPXN picked up at that point.

 

[fybush]

Re: Related question

> And as for the difficulty...today its still almost
> impossible if not impossible to redesignate an educational
> license (not a commercial license used as educational
> though) for commercial broadcasting. The only way to
> redesignate an educational license to commercial is to
> redesignate a co-located commercial license to educational
> which happened in Buffalo. I believe Pittsburgh though
> somehow someway got WQEX 16 redesignated as a commercial
> license. But how? I cant figure that one out.

There was nothing to redesignate. 16 was never reserved noncommercial; it was just being operated that way.

You may recall that WQED was close to a three-way deal that would have traded the reservation on channel 40 (Cornerstone's WPCB) for 16. WPCB would have moved to 16, operating noncommercial on a reserved channel, while 40 would have gone commercial and been sold to Pax. That was held up by community protests, and the noncommercial reservation remained on 40, instead of 16.
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