30-years ago

[mdamico23]

August 30th marks the 30th anniversary of the departure of WKBS-TV, Channel 48 from the airwaves of Philadelphia. Does anyone remember watching the last days of Channel 48? I was only 11 at the time, but WKBS was my favorite station at the time- I do not recall seeing the signoff, but I do remember watching the "The Flintstones" on the last day. I believe the last program ever aired on Channel 48 was the Penn State- Nebraska "Kickoff Classic" which was played on the evening of August 30th. I believe Channel 48 used ESPN's feed of the game.

For me one of the most interesting things about the demise of Channel 48 was the independent stations it spawned that attempted to be "replacements" such as Channels 57, 61 and 65. WGBS/57 was the most successful out of the group, but even they went bankrupt by 1988, although that had more to do with its parent company overspending for programming in other markets where they owned stations.

Channel 48 would return to the air in 1992, but WGTW never really established itself as a market leader. Times and tastes had changed and Dorothy Brunson simply did not have the money to make it competitive with the other stations in the Philadelphia market.

Had Channel 48 hung on a few more years, I think it would have eventually become Philadelphia's Fox Station, but we will never know for sure.

RIP- WKBS-TV- 1965- August 30, 1983....

-Mike

 

[perfidia08]

As a 14 year old, I watched at the bitter end. After the Kickoff Classic GM Vince Barresi gave a final editorial (which you can read at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WKBS-TV_(Philadelphia) under "Closure") came a farewell video set to Simon & Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence", including the Sierra Club SSB film. Then off into eternal snow...well, until WGTW signed on.

As the final ad in TV Guide said, "To All of Our Friends, Thanks For Your Support"...

---[Perf]

 

[FredLeonard]

Of the remaining four Kaiser/Field stations, three are CW affiliates (two of them owned by CBS) and one is a Fox affiliate (owned by News Corp).

Too bad Field couldn't hold on a little longer. WKBS was the second Philly station which could have made it had they not bailed out too soon. The first was WVUE, channel 12. Indie VHF stations made it in other major markets in the 50s and 60s but Storer was too cheap to invest and then wait for the investment to pay off.

 

[ding12]

Had Channel 48 hung on a few more years, I think it would have eventually become Philadelphia's Fox Station, but we will never know for sure.

RIP- WKBS-TV- 1965- August 30, 1983....

-Mike

I assume you mean had WKBS hung on for a few more years... not Brunson operating WGTW, even though the paragraph above was on WGTW/Brunson. I think even if Brunson had the money, it would have been difficult being competitive. Part of the problem was the limited amount of syndicated content that would have to be stretched between 3 6 10 17 29 48 and 57, and 48 getting the scraps. The root issue is in NYC: syndie fare was split amongst 6 commercial stations, not 7. Similar with most of the other east coast markets, including DC. If the top market just has 6 commercial stations, less syndie programming gets distributed, and more programming is available to cable.

 

[jamesjimcie]

Vincent Vince Barresi is currently General Manager of NTV(KHGI/KWNB) ABC/KFXL FOX Nebraska in the Kearney/Axtell Nebraska area.

I honestly do still have feared that NTV.KFXL may be the next stations he'll have to deal with if those stations are at greater risk of going off the air/going dark next year on June 1 2014 when their current broadcasting license expires next year if Harry Pappas/Pappas Telecasting attempts to find a buyer for those stations before the expiration date of their current term of license is fully unsucessful.

KHGI/KWNB LMA partners KSNB before it was bought by current owner 10/11 and Gray Television and KTVG already been dark since December 2009.

NTV is fully own by Harry Pappas/Pappas Telecasting and manages KFXL FOX Nebraska under Lincoln Broadcasting as the broadcast license holder.

In December 2011, Pappas planned to having his assets with NTV KHGI and KFXL along with KSWT going into a liquidating trust fund under Harry Pappas:

http://houstondtv.wordpress.com/2011/12/27/kvvv-heads-to-liquidation-trust/

Unfortunately, Harry Pappas and his Pappas Telecasting failed to make the payment and to reinvest the assets within Harry Pappas under his liquidating trust fund and it does meant that NTV and KFXL is actually currently under the receivership of trustee Lee Shubert.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/lee-shubert/3/9b2/625

http://www.modestoradiomuseum.org/kmph lost to recieivers.html

I'm aware NTV's sister station KSWT was just planing to get bought out by Brian Brady and merge it with KYMA under the Blackhawk Broadcasting license.

Here is where KSWT license changing hands:

http://data.fcc.gov/mediabureau/v01/tv/application/1562224.html

Here is where Blackhawk is getting a waiver to own both KYMA and KSWT and mentions Lee Shubert having difficulties getting a buyer for KSWT and I feel it also can be applied to NTV(KHGI/KWNB) as well:

https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS...?appn=101562224&qnum=5170&copynum=1&exhcnum=1

I know this is out of topic but it does relates to Vincent Vince Barresi anyway.

 

[stevations]

There are about a dozen short clips of WKBS on youtube. I remember in the mid 60s some of their programs were....Dobbie Gillis, Roller Derby, Soupy Sales and You Asked For It. Does anyone remember what other shows they had back in the old days?
Also their theme song during IDs was That Happy Feeling by Bert Kaempfert. During the 70s they would sign on around 11am weekdays. A converter box was used to convert vhf to uhf since most tvs did not get uhf. Anyone remember ....Captain Philadelphia? Also, during the Flintstones a fm station, I think it was a pbs fm station, would play the Flintstones audio and help explain the plot to kids so they could learn more from watching cartoons.

 

[John Fenner]

I still remember the early 80s. Cable comes to Keansburg, NJ. My parents subscribe almost immediately. The three Philadelphia independents were carried on the system. I thought, how cool is this, something other than channels 5 and 11 for cartoons. WKBS was by far my favorite indy station between the NYC and Philly indies back then. I remember the night they went dark, the cable company would actually display snow in the channels place for a few seconds before a message came up, announcing the station was no longer in operation and that the spot would be filled by a replacement soon (WTAF would go on to take over the spot as my favorite indy). Channel 48 had the best shows, from the cartoons to great fare like All in the Family, Dennis the Menace, Sanford and Son, Odd Couple, Etc. The ironic thing is that the 30th anniversary of WKBS' demise came just days before I would have full time access to Philly stations again for the first time in 23 years (WTXF and WPHL were removed from the system in Keansburg in 1990, living in Ocean County now, where we have all the NYC and Philly stations in HD on Comcast). But I digress, RIP to a great station.

 

[Richard Lewis]

A long time ago I used to watch Hy Lit's TV show on Channel 48. This was in the underground days at Channel 48. Look at Channel 48 now. Like a lot of stations TBN picked up Channel 48 and from I get from Paul Crouch they are broadcasting TBN and the rest of the Christian Channels they carry.

 

[marklungo]

I'm not from Philadelphia, but I live in a city (Cleveland) where we also lost a Kaiser station (WKBF Channel 61). What really bothers me about the demise of WKBS is that it was so avoidable. According to the Wikipedia article inked above, the whole affair boiled down to a family dispute, compounded by the brother who won the dispute charging too much to prospective buyers.

 

[Fakeem]

Why won't this site let you delete posts?

 

[Fakeem]

There are about a dozen short clips of WKBS on youtube. I remember in the mid 60s some of their programs were....Dobbie Gillis, Roller Derby, Soupy Sales and You Asked For It. Does anyone remember what other shows they had back in the old days?
Also their theme song during IDs was That Happy Feeling by Bert Kaempfert. During the 70s they would sign on around 11am weekdays. A converter box was used to convert vhf to uhf since most tvs did not get uhf. Anyone remember ....Captain Philadelphia? Also, during the Flintstones a fm station, I think it was a pbs fm station, would play the Flintstones audio and help explain the plot to kids so they could learn more from watching cartoons.

I think you meant AM, I remember that as well. I think the black weatherman from Channel 3 was the host for the simulcast. Until you wrote about it, I thought I was the only person to know about it, as no one in my peer group knew about it or listened.

 

[Fakeem]

There are about a dozen short clips of WKBS on youtube. I remember in the mid 60s some of their programs were....Dobbie Gillis, Roller Derby, Soupy Sales and You Asked For It. Does anyone remember what other shows they had back in the old days?
Also their theme song during IDs was That Happy Feeling by Bert Kaempfert. During the 70s they would sign on around 11am weekdays. A converter box was used to convert vhf to uhf since most tvs did not get uhf. Anyone remember ....Captain Philadelphia? Also, during the Flintstones a fm station, I think it was a pbs fm station, would play the Flintstones audio and help explain the plot to kids so they could learn more from watching cartoons.

I think you meant AM, I remember that as well. I think the black weatherman from Channel 3 was the host for the simulcast. Until you wrote about it, I thought I was the only person to know about it, as no one in my peer group knew about it or listened.