Alternate TV Channel Lineups

[Mr. Mike]

Some time ago, there was some discussion on how the development of television in the United States (and Canada to some extent) might’ve been different. Among the possibilities brought up was if the FCC had decided to stick with the original compliment of 18 VHF channels (1-18), instead of the present 12 VHF channels (2-13). If that had been so, as had been pointed out, for one thing it would’ve given both ABC and the ill-fated DuMont network a much better shot at some extra affiliates. In my view, at the very least, it would’ve given the three major networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) affiliates in every market. Bear in mind that even if there were 18 VHF channels available (with the removal of channel 1, it would be 2-18), it wouldn’t have been a given that DuMont would’ve lasted past the end of the 1950s.

One thing that hasn’t been brought to the board’s attention, as far as I know, is the matter of geographic separation between both VHF and UHF stations. I happened to find out about it on the Alternate History Discussion message board, where I stumbled onto a thread called simply “Alternate television”. The last post of that thread noted that if the FCC had decided on a lower separation standard with regard to assigning VHF and UHF channels, it would’ve, at the very least, created the possibility of DuMont surviving as a fourth network. According to one of the board's users, the main reason why it took the FCC so long to resolve issues like the ‘48-52 freeze, among other things, was because of the way the FCC allocated TV channels based on a wide geographic separation standard. That last message goes into some detail about how different our separation standard was from the separation standard in Britain, for example.
Here's the web page of that last message of the "Alternate television" threads, for those who are interested:
http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=36529&highlight=uhf&page=2

If there had been both an expanded VHF dial and a lower separation standard used by the FCC, there would’ve possibly been more stations going on air before the end of the pre-1952 freeze period. So does anyone know what the channel lineups for certain markets would’ve looked like, in light of what I’ve mentioned? If you wish, you could post some examples.

 

[w9wi]

Interesting idea.

I did a quick sketch for the Chicago/Grand Rapids/Milwaukee/Madison/Rockford/South Bend region & it superficially suggests the additional five channels, without reducing spacings, would have allowed for four VHF networks throughout the region. (at the expense of one VHF channel in Chicago) To what degree that could be sustained as you tried to mesh in additional markets I don't know. (could you mesh in four VHFs at Indianapolis, Lansing/Jackson, Detroit, Saginaw/Flint, etc., etc.?)

Reducing spacings reduces the useful coverage. You might be able to create more VHF affiliates, but you'd also *need* more. For example, imagine you halved the spacings, allowing use of channels 5, 7, and 9 to provide four VHF affiliates at Madison. Areas like Lake Geneva, Wis., midway between the two and served by network signals from Chicago, would lose that service to interference -- and with channels 6 and 10 added at Rockford, Lake Geneva wouldn't get service from Milwaukee either. You'd have to have four channels transmitting in the immediate Lake Geneva area to provide interference-free service there.

The FCC has long faced a dilemna in channel allotment. Protect a larger radius, and you limit the number of stations possible but provide interference-free service to the rural audience. Protect a smaller radius and you give more choices to urban dwellers but reduce rural options.

 

[Mr. Mike]

Interesting idea.

I did a quick sketch for the Chicago/Grand Rapids/Milwaukee/Madison/Rockford/South Bend region & it superficially suggests the additional five channels, without reducing spacings, would have allowed for four VHF networks throughout the region. (at the expense of one VHF channel in Chicago) To what degree that could be sustained as you tried to mesh in additional markets I don't know. (could you mesh in four VHFs at Indianapolis, Lansing/Jackson, Detroit, Saginaw/Flint, etc., etc.?)

Reducing spacings reduces the useful coverage. You might be able to create more VHF affiliates, but you'd also *need* more. For example, imagine you halved the spacings, allowing use of channels 5, 7, and 9 to provide four VHF affiliates at Madison. Areas like Lake Geneva, Wis., midway between the two and served by network signals from Chicago, would lose that service to interference -- and with channels 6 and 10 added at Rockford, Lake Geneva wouldn't get service from Milwaukee either. You'd have to have four channels transmitting in the immediate Lake Geneva area to provide interference-free service there.

The FCC has long faced a dilemna in channel allotment. Protect a larger radius, and you limit the number of stations possible but provide interference-free service to the rural audience. Protect a smaller radius and you give more choices to urban dwellers but reduce rural options.

Regarding spacing, I think the FCC might've tried something between long and short separation distances, like somewhere in between (100-120 miles to be exact for VHF channels). If they had studied the distances between separation more carefully, at the very least it would've prevented a situation like the 1948-1952 freeze. And if interference problems had come to the surface, the need for UHF translators in rural fringe areas might've been a strong possibility. But as I said, anything's possible.

 

[fybush]

100-120 miles would be very, very short co-channel spacing. That's even shorter than the spacings that proved to be too short before the 1952 freeze - it's about 140 miles, for instance, for each leg of the channel 4 short-spacing that was so problematic (WBZ-TV Boston/WRGB Schenectady/WNBT New York/WGAL-TV Lancaster/WNBW Washington), or the channel 7 spacings (WJZ-TV New York/WDEL-TV Wilmington/WMAL-TV Washington) that were almost as bad.

If the goal had been to make four networks widely successful from the start, I think the only real answer would have been abandonment of VHF and an all-out conversion to UHF. If UHF technology had been a little more advanced in the late 1940s - less-numb receivers, higher-powered transmitters - the TV industry could have jumped forward to an all-UHF, all-color environment much earlier...but of course there was pretty intense opposition to such a move from NBC, and CBS didn't have the political support to make it happen on its own.

 

[KeithE4]

For the record, the 1940 channel allocations were as follows (line breaks show the gaps between channels):

Channel 1: 50-56 MHz
Channel 2: 60-66 MHz, Channel 3: 66-72 MHz
Channel 4: 78-84 MHz, Channel 5: 84-90 MHz
Channel 6: 96-102 MHz, Channel 7: 102-108 MHz
Channel 8: 162-168 MHz
Channel 9: 180-186 MHz, Channel 10: 196-192 MHz
Channel 11: 204-210 MHz, Channel 12: 210-216 MHz
Channel 13: 234-240 Mhz, Channel 14: 240-246 MHz
Channel 15: 258-264 MHz, Channel 16: 264-270 MHz
Channel 17: 282-288 MHz, Channel 18: 288-294 MHz

Big markets (at the time) like NY, LA, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Seattle, St. Louis, Washington/Baltimore, and the like could have had the maximum of 10 channels: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, & 17. Philly, San Diego, and Milwaukee, being so close to NYC, LA, and Chicago, respectively, would have been assigned all or part of 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18. It still would have taken a few years for the almost-UHF upper channels to be used since technology wasn't quite there yet.

In New York during the war, stations were already on the air, or applied for on Channel 1 (WNBT/NBC), 2 (WCBW/CBS), 4 (WABD/Dumont), 6 (WOR/Bamberger), 8 (Metropolitain), 9 (Philco), 15 (ABC), and 17 (MGM-Loews). Bremer Broadcasting of Newark NJ applied for Channel 5, but that wouldn't have worked since it was adjacent to Channel 4. AFAIK, there were never any stations on the air, anywhere in the country, on any wartime channel other than 1 thru 4. I've never seen any evidence that CPs were issued or call letters assigned to Bremer, ABC (at least not until after the war as WJZ-TV/7), Bamberger (ditto, as WOR-TV/9), Metropolitain, Philco, or MGM.

Per the Fall 1945 White's Radio Log, these stations were either on the air or had CPs:

Los Angeles CA: KTSL (W6XAO) Channel 1 (cp)
Chicago IL: WTZR (W9XZV) Channel 1 & WBKB Channel 2
New York NY: WNBT Channel 1, WCBW Channel 2, & WABD Channel 4
Schenectady NY: WRGB Channel 3
Philadelphia PA: WPTZ Channel 3
MIlwaukee WI: WMJT Channel 3 (cp)

Those commercial call letters may have been assigned, but in some cases, they weren't used. Experimental callsigns are shown in those cases but they weren't listed in the book. Frequency bands were listed, rather than channel numbers. In the January 1942 White's Log, there was a KSEE Channel 6 shown as a CP, but AFAIK it never made it on air, either during or after the war. Although not shown in this book, W6XYZ (now KTLA-TV) was also on the air in LA, on Channel 4 beginning in 1942.

FM radio would have either stayed on 42-50 MHz, with additional frequencies at 72-78 and/or 90-96 MHz, or moved elsewhere since 88-90 and 96-108 MHz were allocated to TV.

And I think UHF still would have happened in the '50s, starting with Channel 19 at 470-476 MHz.

 

[Videovet]

Permit me to introduce another way there could have been alternate channel line-ups - legal decisions and mergers, specifically in the Chicago broadcast market.
I submit:
Had the FCC agreed with NBC's 1944 challenge to take over the channel 1 position from Zenith, based on the argument that Zenith was wasting the public airwaves with its pay TV experiments (later known as "Phonevision"), Chicago's pre-1946 line-up may have looked like this-
WNBQ- Channel 1
WBKB- Channel 2
In 1946, WNBQ would move to channel 2 (as W9XZV did) and WBKB would take over channel 4 until 1953 when channel 4 was re-assigned to Milwaukee, moving WBKB to channel 7.
Another scenario:
Had Zenith been granted a commercial license they more than likely would have remained on channel 2. This would have really messed up CBS' chances for an o&o in Chicago. Until 1953 CBS made its presence known through part-time affiliations with WBKB and WGN-TV. With the ABC/United Paramount Theaters merger, CBS lost its WBKB affiliation and still had to share WGN-TV with DuMont. Adding to the dilemma was the FCC's efforts to create order out of the chaos of the VHF/UHF allocations, moving channel 4 out of Chicago. Zenith's loss was CBS' gain. They were able to take channel 2 as their own (after a temporary hold over on channel 4). Had Zenith won, CBS possibly would have ended up on UHF.
We might have had-
WTZR- Channel 2 (Zenith Phonevision)
WNBQ- Channel 5 (NBC)
WBKB- Channel 7 (ABC)
WGN-TV- Channel 9 (DuMont until 1956, then independent)
WTTW- Channel 11 (educational)
CBS would have had to apply for one of the FCC assigned Chicago channels- 20, 26, 32, 38, 44. By 1954 all of those channels except 38 had construction permits issued to various companies or groups.
And for the record- Zenith was never assigned by the FCC the commercial call letters WTZR. That was Zenith's PR people. However there is no reason to believe that had they been granted a commercial license and no one else grabbed it first, they would have been assigned WTZR. During the course of Zenith's Chicago TV history, they were assigned two sets of experimental callsigns- W9XZV and KS2XBS.

 

[KeithE4]

And for the record- Zenith was never assigned by the FCC the commercial call letters WTZR. That was Zenith's PR people. However there is no reason to believe that had they been granted a commercial license and no one else grabbed it first, they would have been assigned WTZR. During the course of Zenith's Chicago TV history, they were assigned two sets of experimental callsigns- W9XZV and KS2XBS.

The 1946 Broadcasting Yearbook shows Zenith's construction permit for a commercial station as having the call letters WTZR assigned, as well as the experimental calls W9XZV (assigned to Channel 2 as of 3/1/46) and W9XZC (no channel assigned). I'm quite sure that Broadcasting Magazine doesn't/didn't print station call letters without checking FCC data for accuracy. Where did you get your info that the FCC never issued those calls? From everything I've ever read on the subject, the FCC did assign WTZR to Zenith, but they never got their commercial license granted, so they were never used on-air.

And if they had, I'd be surprised if WTZR would have survived more than a year as a pay-TV station. Zenith would have had to throw in that sponge and either become an independent or sell Channel 2 to CBS, with WTZR becoming WBBM-TV at that time (1950 at the latest).

Had that occurred, whoever would have been the buyer of WBKB's Channel 4 facilities (instead of CBS) would have either had to move to UHF or either convince the FCC to reallocate Channel 11 for commercial use, or move the Channel 13 allocation from Rockford to Chicago. This would have made Rockford an all-UHF market, and WZZM-TV 13 Grand Rapids would not have been able to go on the air in 1962 (WWTV Cadillac MI would have remained on 13 instead of moving to 9). Channel 4 still would have been reallocated to Milwaukee for WTMJ-TV, so Chicago could have been a 6-VHF-channel market.

 

[ShawnHill1]

Interesting idea.

I did a quick sketch for the Chicago/Grand Rapids/Milwaukee/Madison/Rockford/South Bend region & it superficially suggests the additional five channels, without reducing spacings, would have allowed for four VHF networks throughout the region. (at the expense of one VHF channel in Chicago) To what degree that could be sustained as you tried to mesh in additional markets I don't know. (could you mesh in four VHFs at Indianapolis, Lansing/Jackson, Detroit, Saginaw/Flint, etc., etc.?)

Reducing spacings reduces the useful coverage. You might be able to create more VHF affiliates, but you'd also *need* more. For example, imagine you halved the spacings, allowing use of channels 5, 7, and 9 to provide four VHF affiliates at Madison. Areas like Lake Geneva, Wis., midway between the two and served by network signals from Chicago, would lose that service to interference -- and with channels 6 and 10 added at Rockford, Lake Geneva wouldn't get service from Milwaukee either. You'd have to have four channels transmitting in the immediate Lake Geneva area to provide interference-free service there.

The FCC has long faced a dilemna in channel allotment. Protect a larger radius, and you limit the number of stations possible but provide interference-free service to the rural audience. Protect a smaller radius and you give more choices to urban dwellers but reduce rural options.

This is an interesting topic...I think an affect of having an expanded VHF band would be a less number of television markets. A lot of UHF-only TV markets would have likely never existed in the first place or be collapsed into an already larger near-by market. That's of course due to the fact that VHF signals carry out much further than UHF, at least during the analog days.

I think a good example would be the Birmingham market; their VHF channels are 6 (WBRC), 10 (WBIQ), and 13 (WVTM), and later added UHF channels 42, 21, and 68, plus move-ins from near-by areas, notably channels 17 (which simulcasts 21), 33 and 40. It would have safe to say that the present-day Birmingham-Tuscaloosa-Anniston market would have formed decades sooner if that plan of an expanded VHF band had went into effect. Give them at least two more VHF allocations in the beginning, you would have had another full-service network affiliate (such as the present-day WIAT) and an independent station (likely the present-day WTTO).

 

[RadioDaze]

I can imagine an expanded VHF would have had some interesting implications here in North Carolina as well, where the many moderate-to-large cities in our region considerably close to one another put VHF allocations at a premium. Several of the state's markets ended up with three VHFs (the massive Greenville-New Bern-Jacksonville market with four--2, 7, 9 and 12 and a fifth--channel 8--dropped in at Morehead City in the 80s) Charlotte and Wilmington, for example, got only two VHFs (3 and 9 and 3 and 6, respectively) while Raleigh-Durham -Fayetteville collectively got three (4, 5 and 11), though channel 4 was reserved for non-commercial use. I think VHF 13 was once allocated to Fayetteville briefly before moving to Florence, SC's WBTW so that channel 8 could be allocated to High Point, NC. NBC would have definitely been in a better position in Charlotte and RDU with more VHFs.

 

[Videovet]

This is answering KeithE4 (can't figure out how to do the "quotes")
I have found it wise not to consider any information in the Broadcasting Yearbook (1946 or otherwise) as gospel. That doesn't mean everything you've read is wrong. Most of it is fairly accurate. However when a mistake is made and no one catches it, it just gets reprinted with the next edition. The Yearbook is comprised of info provided to them by the various stations or the companies or individuals that own them. The fact that the call letters WTZR show up at all is due to the suits at Zenith.
In the case of Zenith (or anyone else)- the FCC has NEVER assigned commercial call letters to any entity that did not have a commercial license. It was Zenith's hope and intention to use WTZR (Television from Zenith Radio) and as I said before in all likelihood they would have received the identification. Balaban & Katz did similarly with WBKB. From 1940 through mid-1943 they were legally and officially W9XBK although they were known and referred to informally as WBKB.

I agree with you that WTZR would not have survived as a pay TV station and considering that Eugene MacDonald (chairman of Zenith) loathed commercial TV, he certainly would have sold it. But it would not have helped CBS in '53.

It was unlikely that anyone would have convinced the FCC to change channel 11 to a commercial frequency considering its a VHF channel. In the case of channel 13, it actually was a Chicago channel early on but the city lost it to Rockford. Chicago did have a commercial/educational channel switcheroo once but the opposite way. Westinghouse held a construction permit to build commercial WIND-TV on channel 20. That station was never built. The frequency eventually became home to educational WXXW (owned by the same folks that own WTTW) from 1965 to 1974. Then in 1983, the channel became active once more as WYCC (with no relation to WXXW) and again as a non-commercial educational outlet.

Information regarding the above (and more) on Chicago TV history can be found at my website located at chicagotelevision "dot" com and in the book "Chicago Television" which I co-edited and wrote for the Museum of Broadcast Communications. It is published by Arcadia Publications. I also lecture on the subject.

 

[fortmill]

I can imagine an expanded VHF would have had some interesting implications here in North Carolina as well, where the many moderate-to-large cities in our region considerably close to one another put VHF allocations at a premium. Several of the state's markets ended up with three VHFs (the massive Greenville-New Bern-Jacksonville market with four--2, 7, 9 and 12 and a fifth--channel 8--dropped in at Morehead City in the 80s) Charlotte and Wilmington, for example, got only two VHFs (3 and 9 and 3 and 6, respectively) while Raleigh-Durham -Fayetteville collectively got three (4, 5 and 11), though channel 4 was reserved for non-commercial use. I think VHF 13 was once allocated to Fayetteville briefly before moving to Florence, SC's WBTW so that channel 8 could be allocated to High Point, NC. NBC would have definitely been in a better position in Charlotte and RDU with more VHFs.

Prior to being allocated to Florence SC, channel 13 was allocated to New Bern, in your "massive" Greenville-New Bern-Washington market. In fact, 13 was allocated to New Bern in the 1952 table of allocations and by the mid 50s the CP had been awarded to WNBE-TV. HOWEVER, WVEC/15 in Norfolk saw a chance to move to VHF and requested the allocation table be changed to give Norfolk 13 and change WNBE's permit to 12. When WVEC won 13, this also opened the way for a new 13 allocation further south, but Fayetteville would never have worked since WLVA (now WSET) in Lynchburg would have been way too close. So WBTW moved from 8 to 13, opening up 8 for WGHP in High Point. Meanwhile WOLO/25 in Columbia filed for channel 8, which would have ALMOST worked, and WNBE was left with a real dud of a CP---they fought WRVA/12(now WWBT) in Richmond for years and ended up with a very underpowered station when they finally signed on in 1963 (later rectified through a series of power increases).

 

[RadioDaze]

There's an interesting history of WNBE-TV (now WCTI) on their website http://www.wcti12.com/news/25302120/detail.html, detailing the problems they had during their nine-year process of getting on-air with everything from WRVA-TV to federal and military agencies. Their antenna is to this day well south of the centrally-located Grifton site that supports WNCT and WITN. Petersburg's WRIC kept WCTI's sister station, WFXI-TV 8 way out on the edge of the market in far east Carteret County--the reason they have WYDO in Greenville.

WVEC-TV 13--one of the UHF-to-VHF stories of early broadcasting-- is actually licensed to Hampton, Virginia, not Norfolk. The station that took its spot on channel 15, public broadcaster WHRO-TV, has a dual Hampton-Norfolk COL.

 

[bpatrick]

Putting WOLO on Channel 8 would have created a short-spacing
problem with WGTV Athens, GA, itself the product of a short-spacing
situation. Originally, the FCC assigned Channels 2, 5, and 8 to Atlanta,
then approved a license for WROM-TV Channel 9 in Rome, GA. With the
short-spacing problems on adjoining 8 and 9, 8 was moved to Athens for
noncommercial use, opening up Channel 11 (now WXIA) in Atlanta; 9 was
moved to Chattanooga (now WTVC).

 

[fortmill]

Putting WOLO on Channel 8 would have created a short-spacing
problem with WGTV Athens, GA, itself the product of a short-spacing
situation. Originally, the FCC assigned Channels 2, 5, and 8 to Atlanta,
then approved a license for WROM-TV Channel 9 in Rome, GA. With the
short-spacing problems on adjoining 8 and 9, 8 was moved to Athens for
noncommercial use, opening up Channel 11 (now WXIA) in Atlanta; 9 was
moved to Chattanooga (now WTVC).

If a WOLO/8 TX had been located south of Columbia by 20 miles, say in Calhoun County, such a transmitter would have been shortspaced by only a few miles, and considering the other sportspacings being approved at that time, might have seemed reasonable. As a sidebar, guess where the 13 allocation that was added to Florence came from? 13 had been allocated to Charleston back in 1947 as an educational channel. 7 was substituted for 13 at Charleston, along with commercial allocation 4. Both 4 and 7 would have been shortspaced to Greenville-Spartanburg if they had been built at a more logical inland location, such as the Summerville area, rather than on the immediate coast.

 

[Bob1370]

Getting back to the overall question of how a different channel allocation system might have changed TV's development--and maybe even allowed DuMont to survive and eventually develop into a Fox-like permanent fourth national network 30 years sooner than Fox did--it's interesting to consider, first, if retaining Channel 1 would have made a difference rather than deleting it in 1948. Suppose Channel 1, relocated to 44-50 mHz right after the war, had been retained, and allocated as a full power channel across the country as soon as the old low FM band had been cleared out and moved upstairs to 88-108 mHz. That's another 60 stations across the country if you allow each of them to operate at 100 kW max visual, just like Channel 2. Those stations would have been on the air across the country by 1950-51 and certainly by 1952, situated in markets where either Channel 2 or Channel 3 were also on the air (Channel 1 would have been no closer to Channel 2 than Channel 4 is to Channel 5). All the sets built from 1946 on would have tuned it, meaning virtually all of the installed receiver base out there by the time the "Freeze" came off in 1952.

Suppose further that the TV allocation plan was uniform nationally, with all co-channel stations 170 miles apart. A few more stations (including at least one added "V" on Channel 3 in San Diego, and I'm sure a number of others as well) could have been dropped in.

Finally, suppose some of the channels envisioned in 1940 had been retained in postwar plans, at least a couple between 162 and 174 mHz and seven more between 216 and 258. Now with Channel 1 at 44-50, a new Channels 7 and 8 between 162 and 174, and seven more above 216 mHz (numbered 16-22) we're at 22 channels on the VHF band alone. 4 commercial networks and 1 public national network could have been accommodated in such a situation, with several hundred more possible allocations over and above the roughly 550 that were put on VHF between 1946 and 1966. Woould we have even needed UHF then, or could we have saved it for the wireless broadband data applications for which it's best suited now (but which we couldn't have predicted in 1946)?

 

[Mr. Mike]

For the record, the 1940 channel allocations were as follows (line breaks show the gaps between channels):

Channel 1: 50-56 MHz
Channel 2: 60-66 MHz, Channel 3: 66-72 MHz
Channel 4: 78-84 MHz, Channel 5: 84-90 MHz
Channel 6: 96-102 MHz, Channel 7: 102-108 MHz
Channel 8: 162-168 MHz
Channel 9: 180-186 MHz, Channel 10: 196-192 MHz
Channel 11: 204-210 MHz, Channel 12: 210-216 MHz
Channel 13: 234-240 Mhz, Channel 14: 240-246 MHz
Channel 15: 258-264 MHz, Channel 16: 264-270 MHz
Channel 17: 282-288 MHz, Channel 18: 288-294 MHz

Big markets (at the time) like NY, LA, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Seattle, St. Louis, Washington/Baltimore, and the like could have had the maximum of 10 channels: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, & 17. Philly, San Diego, and Milwaukee, being so close to NYC, LA, and Chicago, respectively, would have been assigned all or part of 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18. It still would have taken a few years for the almost-UHF upper channels to be used since technology wasn't quite there yet.

In New York during the war, stations were already on the air, or applied for on Channel 1 (WNBT/NBC), 2 (WCBW/CBS), 4 (WABD/Dumont), 6 (WOR/Bamberger), 8 (Metropolitain), 9 (Philco), 15 (ABC), and 17 (MGM-Loews). Bremer Broadcasting of Newark NJ applied for Channel 5, but that wouldn't have worked since it was adjacent to Channel 4. AFAIK, there were never any stations on the air, anywhere in the country, on any wartime channel other than 1 thru 4. I've never seen any evidence that CPs were issued or call letters assigned to Bremer, ABC (at least not until after the war as WJZ-TV/7), Bamberger (ditto, as WOR-TV/9), Metropolitain, Philco, or MGM.

Per the Fall 1945 White's Radio Log, these stations were either on the air or had CPs:

Los Angeles CA: KTSL (W6XAO) Channel 1 (cp)
Chicago IL: WTZR (W9XZV) Channel 1 & WBKB Channel 2
New York NY: WNBT Channel 1, WCBW Channel 2, & WABD Channel 4
Schenectady NY: WRGB Channel 3
Philadelphia PA: WPTZ Channel 3
MIlwaukee WI: WMJT Channel 3 (cp)

Those commercial call letters may have been assigned, but in some cases, they weren't used. Experimental callsigns are shown in those cases but they weren't listed in the book. Frequency bands were listed, rather than channel numbers. In the January 1942 White's Log, there was a KSEE Channel 6 shown as a CP, but AFAIK it never made it on air, either during or after the war. Although not shown in this book, W6XYZ (now KTLA-TV) was also on the air in LA, on Channel 4 beginning in 1942.

FM radio would have either stayed on 42-50 MHz, with additional frequencies at 72-78 and/or 90-96 MHz, or moved elsewhere since 88-90 and 96-108 MHz were allocated to TV.

And I think UHF still would have happened in the '50s, starting with Channel 19 at 470-476 MHz.

If it had been in use today, here's what it would've looked like (minus channel 1 for obvious reasons):

Channel 2: 54-60 MHz,
Channel 3: 60-66 MHz
Channel 4: 66-72 MHz,
Channel 5: 72-78 MHz
Channel 6: 78-84 MHz,
Channel 7: 174-180 MHz
Channel 8: 180-186 MHz
Channel 9: 186-192 MHz,
Channel 10: 192-198 MHz
Channel 11: 198-204 MHz
Channel 12: 204-210 MHz
Channel 13: 210-216 Mhz
Channel 14: 216-222 MHz
Channel 15: 222-228 MHz
Channel 16: 228-234 MHz
Channel 17: 234-240 MHz
Channel 18: 240-246 MHz

In all fairness, Channels 4 and 5 would be compatible in the same markets, and the same would go for Channels 6 and 7.

Amd of course, UHF would've started from Channel 19 and ended at Channel 69 (51 in the DTV era).

 

[anotherguyTN]

Another question would be if Dumont was able to survive as a fourth network, or at least merged with ABC, would Fox have come into existence, considering its first stations were made up of former Dumont stations? Also, how would this have affected the later networks like UPN, WB, and CW?

 

[RyanHoward]

For the record, the 1940 channel allocations were as follows (line breaks show the gaps between channels):

Channel 1: 50-56 MHz
Channel 2: 60-66 MHz, Channel 3: 66-72 MHz
Channel 4: 78-84 MHz, Channel 5: 84-90 MHz
Channel 6: 96-102 MHz, Channel 7: 102-108 MHz
Channel 8: 162-168 MHz
Channel 9: 180-186 MHz, Channel 10: 196-192 MHz
Channel 11: 204-210 MHz, Channel 12: 210-216 MHz
Channel 13: 234-240 Mhz, Channel 14: 240-246 MHz
Channel 15: 258-264 MHz, Channel 16: 264-270 MHz
Channel 17: 282-288 MHz, Channel 18: 288-294 MHz

Big markets (at the time) like NY, LA, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Seattle, St. Louis, Washington/Baltimore, and the like could have had the maximum of 10 channels: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, & 17. Philly, San Diego, and Milwaukee, being so close to NYC, LA, and Chicago, respectively, would have been assigned all or part of 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18. It still would have taken a few years for the almost-UHF upper channels to be used since technology wasn't quite there yet.

In New York during the war, stations were already on the air, or applied for on Channel 1 (WNBT/NBC), 2 (WCBW/CBS), 4 (WABD/Dumont), 6 (WOR/Bamberger), 8 (Metropolitain), 9 (Philco), 15 (ABC), and 17 (MGM-Loews). Bremer Broadcasting of Newark NJ applied for Channel 5, but that wouldn't have worked since it was adjacent to Channel 4. AFAIK, there were never any stations on the air, anywhere in the country, on any wartime channel other than 1 thru 4. I've never seen any evidence that CPs were issued or call letters assigned to Bremer, ABC (at least not until after the war as WJZ-TV/7), Bamberger (ditto, as WOR-TV/9), Metropolitain, Philco, or MGM.

Per the Fall 1945 White's Radio Log, these stations were either on the air or had CPs:

Los Angeles CA: KTSL (W6XAO) Channel 1 (cp)
Chicago IL: WTZR (W9XZV) Channel 1 & WBKB Channel 2
New York NY: WNBT Channel 1, WCBW Channel 2, & WABD Channel 4
Schenectady NY: WRGB Channel 3
Philadelphia PA: WPTZ Channel 3
MIlwaukee WI: WMJT Channel 3 (cp)

Those commercial call letters may have been assigned, but in some cases, they weren't used. Experimental callsigns are shown in those cases but they weren't listed in the book. Frequency bands were listed, rather than channel numbers. In the January 1942 White's Log, there was a KSEE Channel 6 shown as a CP, but AFAIK it never made it on air, either during or after the war. Although not shown in this book, W6XYZ (now KTLA-TV) was also on the air in LA, on Channel 4 beginning in 1942.

FM radio would have either stayed on 42-50 MHz, with additional frequencies at 72-78 and/or 90-96 MHz, or moved elsewhere since 88-90 and 96-108 MHz were allocated to TV.

And I think UHF still would have happened in the '50s, starting with Channel 19 at 470-476 MHz.

If it had been in use today, here's what it would've looked like (minus channel 1 for obvious reasons):

Channel 2: 54-60 MHz,
Channel 3: 60-66 MHz
Channel 4: 66-72 MHz,
Channel 5: 72-78 MHz
Channel 6: 78-84 MHz,
Channel 7: 174-180 MHz
Channel 8: 180-186 MHz
Channel 9: 186-192 MHz,
Channel 10: 192-198 MHz
Channel 11: 198-204 MHz
Channel 12: 204-210 MHz
Channel 13: 210-216 Mhz
Channel 14: 216-222 MHz
Channel 15: 222-228 MHz
Channel 16: 228-234 MHz
Channel 17: 234-240 MHz
Channel 18: 240-246 MHz

In all fairness, Channels 4 and 5 would be compatible in the same markets, and the same would go for Channels 6 and 7.

Amd of course, UHF would've started from Channel 19 and ended at Channel 69 (51 in the DTV era).

Channel 5 is 76-82 MHz; Channel 6 is 82-88 MHz.

 

[Mr. Mike]

For the record, the 1940 channel allocations were as follows (line breaks show the gaps between channels):

Channel 1: 50-56 MHz
Channel 2: 60-66 MHz, Channel 3: 66-72 MHz
Channel 4: 78-84 MHz, Channel 5: 84-90 MHz
Channel 6: 96-102 MHz, Channel 7: 102-108 MHz
Channel 8: 162-168 MHz
Channel 9: 180-186 MHz, Channel 10: 196-192 MHz
Channel 11: 204-210 MHz, Channel 12: 210-216 MHz
Channel 13: 234-240 Mhz, Channel 14: 240-246 MHz
Channel 15: 258-264 MHz, Channel 16: 264-270 MHz
Channel 17: 282-288 MHz, Channel 18: 288-294 MHz

Big markets (at the time) like NY, LA, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Seattle, St. Louis, Washington/Baltimore, and the like could have had the maximum of 10 channels: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, & 17. Philly, San Diego, and Milwaukee, being so close to NYC, LA, and Chicago, respectively, would have been assigned all or part of 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18. It still would have taken a few years for the almost-UHF upper channels to be used since technology wasn't quite there yet.

In New York during the war, stations were already on the air, or applied for on Channel 1 (WNBT/NBC), 2 (WCBW/CBS), 4 (WABD/Dumont), 6 (WOR/Bamberger), 8 (Metropolitain), 9 (Philco), 15 (ABC), and 17 (MGM-Loews). Bremer Broadcasting of Newark NJ applied for Channel 5, but that wouldn't have worked since it was adjacent to Channel 4. AFAIK, there were never any stations on the air, anywhere in the country, on any wartime channel other than 1 thru 4. I've never seen any evidence that CPs were issued or call letters assigned to Bremer, ABC (at least not until after the war as WJZ-TV/7), Bamberger (ditto, as WOR-TV/9), Metropolitain, Philco, or MGM.

Per the Fall 1945 White's Radio Log, these stations were either on the air or had CPs:

Los Angeles CA: KTSL (W6XAO) Channel 1 (cp)
Chicago IL: WTZR (W9XZV) Channel 1 & WBKB Channel 2
New York NY: WNBT Channel 1, WCBW Channel 2, & WABD Channel 4
Schenectady NY: WRGB Channel 3
Philadelphia PA: WPTZ Channel 3
MIlwaukee WI: WMJT Channel 3 (cp)

Those commercial call letters may have been assigned, but in some cases, they weren't used. Experimental callsigns are shown in those cases but they weren't listed in the book. Frequency bands were listed, rather than channel numbers. In the January 1942 White's Log, there was a KSEE Channel 6 shown as a CP, but AFAIK it never made it on air, either during or after the war. Although not shown in this book, W6XYZ (now KTLA-TV) was also on the air in LA, on Channel 4 beginning in 1942.

FM radio would have either stayed on 42-50 MHz, with additional frequencies at 72-78 and/or 90-96 MHz, or moved elsewhere since 88-90 and 96-108 MHz were allocated to TV.

And I think UHF still would have happened in the '50s, starting with Channel 19 at 470-476 MHz.

If it had been in use today, here's what it would've looked like (minus channel 1 for obvious reasons):

Channel 2: 54-60 MHz,
Channel 3: 60-66 MHz
Channel 4: 66-72 MHz,
Channel 5: 72-78 MHz
Channel 6: 78-84 MHz,
Channel 7: 174-180 MHz
Channel 8: 180-186 MHz
Channel 9: 186-192 MHz,
Channel 10: 192-198 MHz
Channel 11: 198-204 MHz
Channel 12: 204-210 MHz
Channel 13: 210-216 Mhz
Channel 14: 216-222 MHz
Channel 15: 222-228 MHz
Channel 16: 228-234 MHz
Channel 17: 234-240 MHz
Channel 18: 240-246 MHz

In all fairness, Channels 4 and 5 would be compatible in the same markets, and the same would go for Channels 6 and 7.

Amd of course, UHF would've started from Channel 19 and ended at Channel 69 (51 in the DTV era).

Channel 5 is 76-82 MHz; Channel 6 is 82-88 MHz.

Sorry about that. My error.

Here's the list again, with all errors addressed:

Channel 2: 54-60 MHz
Channel 3: 60-66 MHz
Channel 4: 66-72 MHz
Channel 5: 76-82 MHz
Channel 6: 82-88 MHz
Channel 7: 174-180 MHz
Channel 8: 180-186 MHz
Channel 9: 186-192 MHz
Channel 10: 192-198 MHz
Channel 11: 198-204 MHz
Channel 12: 204-210 MHz
Channel 13: 210-216 Mhz
Channel 14: 216-222 MHz
Channel 15: 222-228 MHz
Channel 16: 228-234 MHz
Channel 17: 234-240 MHz
Channel 18: 240-246 MHz

 

[charlestondxman]

Charleston got very lucky when their channels were assigned. Getting 4 VHFs was big. Charleston's big 3 were all on by 1962, well before most other markets around it.

WUSN cleared almost all of ABC's shows in the early 60s, while NBC was left out to dry except in primetime.

Columbia getting one has hurt that market up until now. You had WIS so dominant because they were the only VHF.