FCC Says No to Appeal for a New AM in L.A.

[DrAkbar]

Maybe they could try to get the KPOL calls. 1540 did start out as a polka station after all.

Yes indeedy, an el Lay heritage station. AM, FM, and TV. And to think blocks of Polka music started it all.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Yes indeedy, an el Lay heritage station. AM, FM, and TV.

Although, in the grand scheme of things, KPOL-TV didn't last all that long.

After about ten years transmitting nothing more than a test pattern (and that was via an etched image onto the face of a video imaging tube) and one year as "racially integrated" KIIX before going dark in March 1964, KPOL-TV signed on March 29, 1965 with a schedule of movies and old syndicated series which could have already been described as "ancient" ... before signing off four days later due to a strike by AFTRA-IBEW. The TV station resumed operation one month later (KPOL-AM/FM stayed on the air with a skeleton non-union staff), but when Capital Cities bought the radio stations a year later they were not interested in the television station.

So the television side of KPOL was spun off to some of the investors in the license corporation and relaunched November 7 of that year as KWHY-TV, including the innovative stock market coverage that lasted some 33 years. In fact, during the first few years there were periods when the station signed off after the financial news! It wasn't until 1972 (after another ownership change, to Harriscope) that the weekend and evening hours started bringing in revenue from leasing time to Korean, Japanese and Spanish-language programmers.

Of course, KPOL-TV was channel 22. And now, as Paul Harvey would have said, you know ... the rest of the story.

 

[ZantennaG1]

Since the subject changed to listing unusual call signs, how about 1340 WHAT Philadelphia, 97.7 KOAX in Texas back in the 90's, and 106.3 WOAH in Georgia, if I recall correctly.

 

[Frequency1]

This from Wikipedia in the early channel 22.

KWHY-TV - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Hole in your radio]

Some of them are, some aren't. Scott Fybush's bunker report is an interesting read: A selection from a decade of visits to tower and studio sites in the Northeast and beyond

Scott's article shows the KRTH aux in a little closet sized room. He wonders if the room was the KROQ studio when the AM broadcast from the bunker (in 1976 while the Pasadena studio was being installed). It wasn't. A makeshift "studio" (board, mic, 2 turntables and a cart machine (for jingles) was in the main room within arm's length of the 1kw Sparta. I worked there for a few weeks and saw a broken (literally) toilet on its side in that room. So, this eyewitness can attest that the KRTH aux transmitter is in an old bathroom. Common joke among the staff was, "I've worked in some toilets, but this is ridiculous!

 

[K.M. Richards]

This from Wikipedia in the early channel 22.

A large part of the Wikipedia entry came from the article I wrote on the History of UHF Television website, but only four statements cite that as the source (even though one can see how much verbiage was lifted from it, with little or no changes).

My article includes the schedule of that ancient programming they ran in 1965 ... and it has pictures, too.

 

[TomásEstefan]

Although, in the grand scheme of things, KPOL-TV didn't last all that long.

After about ten years transmitting nothing more than a test pattern (and that was via an etched image onto the face of a video imaging tube) and one year as "racially integrated" KIIX before going dark in March 1964, KPOL-TV signed on March 29, 1965 with a schedule of movies and old syndicated series which could have already been described as "ancient" ... before signing off four days later due to a strike by AFTRA-IBEW. The TV station resumed operation one month later (KPOL-AM/FM stayed on the air with a skeleton non-union staff), but when Capital Cities bought the radio stations a year later they were not interested in the television station.

So the television side of KPOL was spun off to some of the investors in the license corporation and relaunched November 7 of that year as KWHY-TV, including the innovative stock market coverage that lasted some 33 years. In fact, during the first few years there were periods when the station signed off after the financial news! It wasn't until 1972 (after another ownership change, to Harriscope) that the weekend and evening hours started bringing in revenue from leasing time to Korean, Japanese and Spanish-language programmers.

Of course, KPOL-TV was channel 22. And now, as Paul Harvey would have said, you know ... the rest of the story.

I remember regularly watching an ancient TV spy show on Ch 22 back then that was hosted by Boris Karloff! We picked up early UHF stations back then using a UHF Converter Box that was essentially a UHF tuner that down converted the band to a Ch 3 or 4 signal.

 

[K.M. Richards]

I remember regularly watching an ancient TV spy show on Ch 22 back then that was hosted by Boris Karloff!

Indeed! That would have been Colonel March of Scotland Yard, a British series from 1956-57 that KPOL-TV aired on Friday evenings.

 

[TomásEstefan]

Indeed! That would have been Colonel March of Scotland Yard, a British series from 1956-57 that KPOL-TV aired on Friday evenings.

Thank you that was it! Just couldn't remember the name of the show. We didn't have UHF capability at the time Ch 22 was KIIX TV, and I have always been curious about the special "Black" programming that was aired...was any of it taped or kinescoped?

 

[TomásEstefan]

I should clarify that I watched the Karloff series on KWHY-TV during the daytime. I never saw "KPOL-TV" nor "KIIX-TV" we didn't have UHF capability then. My dad bought the converter to watch the fledgling KCET

 

[K.M. Richards]

Thank you that was it! Just couldn't remember the name of the show. We didn't have UHF capability at the time Ch 22 was KIIX TV, and I have always been curious about the special "Black" programming that was aired...was any of it taped or kinescoped?

KIIX was a low-budget operation. Everything was live, other than an occasional filmed feature from outside the station. Although I cannot say for certain (nothing in my research indicated one way or the other) I doubt they had a VTR or kinescope recorder. I would say that they probably did not, else they would have repeated old programs when they ran into financial problems and cancelled the live schedule instead of going to all-film operation.

I did provide a overview of the live programming in my article, which I put together from newspaper articles about the station at the time.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

I should clarify that I watched the Karloff series on KWHY-TV during the daytime. I never saw "KPOL-TV" nor "KIIX-TV" we didn't have UHF capability then. My dad bought the converter to watch the fledgling KCET

They played some righteous music videos during the afternoon in the mid 80s, so if your parents were too cheap to get cable, well, at least you had that!