Austin TX VHF and Lyndon Johnson... Conspiracy?

[Gregg]

Our discussion below of how LA and DC missed getting
VHF Educational stations reminded me of what a
friend told me about Austin having only one VHF
station.

He worked in TV news in Austin and said that then-
Senator Lyndon Johnson kept the FCC from allocating
more than one VHF TV station in the Texas capital.

His family owned KLBJ-AM-FM (notice the call letters)
and when TV stations were signing on, he made sure
through his political clout that only he would
have a VHF station in Austin.

Today Ch. 7 is a Fox affiliate, KLBJ-AM 590 is Talk
and KLBJ-FM is Classic Rock, none owned by the
Johnson family. But the ABC, CBS and NBC affiliates
in Austin are all on UHF, as are all other TV
stations.

Austin, so close to San Antonio and 160 miles from
the largest city in Texas, Houston, would likely
not get many VHF stations. But it is uncommon for
a sizable city to get only ONE VHF allocation.
(Columbia SC and Binghamton NY come to mind...
but there aren't many.)




Gregg
[email protected]

 

[bpatrick]

> Our discussion below of how LA and DC missed getting
> VHF Educational stations reminded me of what a
> friend told me about Austin having only one VHF
> station.
>
> He worked in TV news in Austin and said that then-
> Senator Lyndon Johnson kept the FCC from allocating
> more than one VHF TV station in the Texas capital.
>
> His family owned KLBJ-AM-FM (notice the call letters)
> and when TV stations were signing on, he made sure
> through his political clout that only he would
> have a VHF station in Austin.
>
> Today Ch. 7 is a Fox affiliate, KLBJ-AM 590 is Talk
> and KLBJ-FM is Classic Rock, none owned by the
> Johnson family. But the ABC, CBS and NBC affiliates
> in Austin are all on UHF, as are all other TV
> stations.
>
> Austin, so close to San Antonio and 160 miles from
> the largest city in Texas, Houston, would likely
> not get many VHF stations. But it is uncommon for
> a sizable city to get only ONE VHF allocation.
> (Columbia SC and Binghamton NY come to mind...
> but there aren't many.)
>
>
> Lady Bird Johnson was the true owner of KTBC-AM-FM-TV,
although Lyndon was actively involved in its management
as his schedule permitted. KTBC/7 was the only station
in Austin until after he left the White House; soon,
KVUE/24 and KTVV (now KXAN)/36 came on the air; KEYE/42
was much later.

KTBC began in the 1930s as a CBS radio affiliate; the
NBC stations in Dallas/Ft. Worth (WBAP) and San Antonio
(WOAI) were strong enough to get into Austin, but the
CBS ones (KRLD Dallas and KTSA San Antonio) were not.
When KTBC-TV signed on in 1952 it, too, became a CBS
affiliate; KVUE later got ABC and KXAN, NBC. KTBC went
to Fox in the Fox/New World deal of the 1990s, putting
CBS on KEYE.
>
> Gregg
> [email protected]
>

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

Re: Austin, Texas TV Allocations

B. Patrick noted:

> When KTBC-TV signed on in 1952 it, too, became a CBS
> affiliate; KVUE later got ABC and KXAN, NBC. KTBC went
> to Fox in the Fox/New World deal of the 1990s, putting
> CBS on KEYE.

I suspect that KTBC-7 for many years probably carried some NBC and ABC programs, even if it was a primary CBS affiliate.

Wasn't Channel 7 the only commercial TV station allocated to Austin until the late 1960's?? I thought I heard somewhere that the FCC did not give Austin additional commercial TV allocations until just before President Lyndon Johnson left office, with none of those stations able to begin broadcasting until after LBJ left office in January of 1969.

 

[DrBear]

Re: Austin, Texas TV Allocations

Madison WI is another city with just one VHF (Channel 3) and the rest of the stations on UHF.

Sudden thought - it's also a university city; could this be that the FCC thought only "smart" people could tune in UHF stations?

As for Lady Bird owning the stations, there's a great scene in Merle Miller's book "Lyndon" with somebody watching Johnson go over the KLBJ ad logs and noting that a faith healer had canceled her 15 minutes of Sunday airtime. He watched it VERY closely.

 

[bpatrick]

Re: Austin, Texas TV Allocations

> B. Patrick noted:
>
> > When KTBC-TV signed on in 1952 it, too, became a CBS
> > affiliate; KVUE later got ABC and KXAN, NBC. KTBC went
> > to Fox in the Fox/New World deal of the 1990s, putting
> > CBS on KEYE.
>
> I suspect that KTBC-7 for many years probably carried some
> NBC and ABC programs, even if it was a primary CBS
> affiliate.
>
> Wasn't Channel 7 the only commercial TV station allocated to
> Austin until the late 1960's?? I thought I heard somewhere
> that the FCC did not give Austin additional commercial TV
> allocations until just before President Lyndon Johnson left
> office, with none of those stations able to begin
> broadcasting until after LBJ left office in January of 1969.
>
I suspect you're right that KTBC carried all three networks
when it was the only game in town.

I thought I mentioned that 24 and 36 did not come on until
after LBJ left office, but I believe you're right that the
FCC didn't allocate any additional stations to Austin until
late in LBJ's term.

 

[Markxxx]

Re: Austin, Texas TV Allocations

One must remember Austin was not a major city when the FCC allocated channels.

In 1950 Austin was the 73rd largest city in the US. The TX cities over 100,000 in 1950 were as follows

US RANK -- City -- 1950 Population -- (2004 Census Estimate)


14 Houston 596,163 (2,100,000)
22 Dallas 434,462 (1,100,000)
25 San Antonio 408,442 (1,200,000)
38 Fort Worth 278,778 ( 603,000)
73 Austin 132,459 ( 681,000)
76 El Paso 130,485 ( 592,000)
98 Corpus Christi 108,287 ( 279,000)<P ID="signature">______________
Once I figured out the meaning of life....Then I forgot to write it down.</P>

 

[TimInHouston]

> His family owned KLBJ-AM-FM (notice the call letters)...

> Today Ch. 7 is a Fox affiliate, KLBJ-AM 590 is Talk
> and KLBJ-FM is Classic Rock, none owned by the
> Johnson family.

The Johnson family owned the KLBJ radio stations (which included the AM, FM calls and one other station, under Texas Broadcasting Company) until about 3 years ago when they sold them to Emmis. I believe they sold the TV station assets after LBJ passed away in the 70s. As noted below, it is currently owned by Fox Television Stations, Inc.

 

[RadioDaze]

Re: Austin, Texas TV Allocations

Didn't the late Senator Strom Thurmond have something to do with Columbia, SC getting its lone VHF channel, WIS-TV, channel 10?

> One must remember Austin was not a major city when the FCC
> allocated channels.
>
> In 1950 Austin was the 73rd largest city in the US. The TX
> cities over 100,000 in 1950 were as follows
>
> US RANK -- City -- 1950 Population -- (2004 Census Estimate)
>
>
>
> 14 Houston 596,163 (2,100,000)
> 22 Dallas 434,462 (1,100,000)
> 25 San Antonio 408,442 (1,200,000)
> 38 Fort Worth 278,778 ( 603,000)
> 73 Austin 132,459 ( 681,000)
> 76 El Paso 130,485 ( 592,000)
> 98 Corpus Christi 108,287 ( 279,000)
>

 

[Tom_Desmond]

Re: Austin, Texas TV Allocations

> Wasn't Channel 7 the only commercial TV station allocated to
> Austin until the late 1960's?? I thought I heard somewhere
> that the FCC did not give Austin additional commercial TV
> allocations until just before President Lyndon Johnson left
> office, with none of those stations able to begin
> broadcasting until after LBJ left office in January of 1969.

No, this isn't true. Checking old station listings, I see that a station was operating on channel 42 in Austin in 1965. (Note that this particular station subsequently is not related to the current station on channel 42 -- the allocation was vacant through the seventies and first part of the eighties)

Remember that in the sixties Austin was a fairly small town, and it was incredibly difficult for a UHF station to compete against a VHF in those days when most televisions required a converter to receive UHF at all. It was probably just the case that a UHF commercial operation wasn't viable in Austin during that time.

 

[moedog1]

Re: Austin, Texas TV Allocations

> Didn't the late Senator Strom Thurmond have something to do
> with Columbia, SC getting its lone VHF channel, WIS-TV,
> channel 10?

Thurmond was mixed up with the allocation of channel 10 to Columbia SC, but at the time, in 1953, he was governor of SC, I think. Columbia was to have been an all UHF market. WNOK-TV (now WLTX) channel 67 (19, since 1961) was already on the air as SC's first TV station when WIS-AM got channel 10. THe FCC, heeding the pleas of WNOK-TV and the permittee of a second UHF station, required WIS-TV/10 to broadcast at low power so the UHFs could compete. THis did last long as WIS built the tallest tower east of the Mississppi (at the time)in 1959. Nonetheless, UHF survived in Columbia, with a second UHF, channel 25 coming on, making Columbia the first market in the Carolinas to have all three nets on separate channels. But for years there were resolutions before the FCC to delete channel 10 from Columbia and return it to all UHF. By then Senator Thurmond always opposed these moves. BTW, it was not surprising that AUstin TX had only one TV station until the mid 60s. Doubtless, Austin had additional unused UHF allocations, like many or most other TV markets. But since KTBC made it to air first, all the TVs were VHF only in Austin. When the FCC required that all new sets had to recieve UHF (in 1964), KHFI-TV/42 (now channel 36) immediately came on in Austin (long before LBJ left office). KHFI and KTBC both broadcast programs from all 3 networks until KVUE/24 came on about 1969.

 

[Gregg]

Re: Austin, Texas TV Allocations

> UHF survived in Columbia, with a
> second UHF, channel 25 coming on, making Columbia the first
> market in the Carolinas to have all three nets on separate
> channels.


Interesting info. So maybe you know how Charleston managed
to get VHF Channels 2, 4, 5 and 7? Not a big market, yet
it got the four best VHF channels... One for each network
and one for SCETV.

That's a pretty good accomplishment since you say Columbia
was the first SC market to have three commercial channels to
accomodate the three major networks. That must mean two
Charleston commercial VHF stations signed on AFTER the two
Columbia commercial UHF stations did.




Gregg
[email protected]

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

Re: LBJ And KTBC-7

I don't know iof this is true, but I once heard this story about President Lyndon Johnson and KTBC-7 in Austin:

KTBC during the mid/late 1960's had their pick of all three network evening newscasts, but supposedely decided to broadcast the "CBS Evening News".

According to this story, LBJ watched the "CBS Evening News" almost every weeknight because his TV station carried it. It is said that sometime late in his term (was it during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam during early 1968??), he saw a story on the CBS news about the war that infuriated him.

LBJ is said to have called both the CBS newsroom in New York and network vice-chairman Frank Stanton, and told them "Well tonight, you boys s**t (part tense of the "S" word) on the American Flag!".

And after Walter Cronkite's famous commentary at the end of a prime-time special in early 1968 on Vietnam (in which he said that perhaps a negotiated peace was the only realistic way to end this mess), LBJ is said to have told the people watching the program with him: "I've lost Walter Cronkite, and as a result, I've lost Middle America!". Some even claim LBJ's decision a few weeks later not to run for re-election was due in large part to this broadcast.

But despite this, when LBJ decided to appear in a series of interviews after he left the White House to talk about his Presidency, guess who he sat down and talked to?? None other than Walter Cronkite.

And when Johnson died in 1973, an aide to the former President made the first phone call announcing the death not to a wire service, but to the CBS newsroom. At the time, the 6:30 P.M. (EST) feed of the "Evening News" was on the air, and either a commercial or a filmed report from a correspondent in the field was bring broadcast (I don't recall which; I wasn't watching). This allowed the aide's call put through to Cronkite. A few moments later, after either the commercial or filmed report ended, Cronkite came back on and announced "We have sad news just in from Johnson City, Texas. Former President Lyndon B. Johnson has just died...".

President Lyndon Johnson must have had a love/hate relationship with CBS, but a relationship that was probably better after he left office (the Cronkite interviews and the fact that when he died, CBS was first to be notified of the news). Of course, by the time of his death, KTBC had become an exclusive CBS affiliate.

 

[BobbyNBC10]

Re: LBJ And KTBC-7

> I don't know iof this is true, but I once heard this story
> about President Lyndon Johnson and KTBC-7 in Austin:
>
> KTBC during the mid/late 1960's had their pick of all three
> network evening newscasts, but supposedely decided to
> broadcast the "CBS Evening News".
>
> According to this story, LBJ watched the "CBS Evening News"
> almost every weeknight because his TV station carried it. It
> is said that sometime late in his term (was it during the
> Tet Offensive in Vietnam during early 1968??), he saw a
> story on the CBS news about the war that infuriated him.
>
> LBJ is said to have called both the CBS newsroom in New York
> and network vice-chairman Frank Stanton, and told them "Well
> tonight, you boys s**t (part tense of the "S" word) on the
> American Flag!".
>
> And after Walter Cronkite's famous commentary at the end of
> a prime-time special in early 1968 on Vietnam (in which he
> said that perhaps a negotiated peace was the only realistic
> way to end this mess), LBJ is said to have told the people
> watching the program with him: "I've lost Walter Cronkite,
> and as a result, I've lost Middle America!". Some even claim
> LBJ's decision a few weeks later not to run for re-election
> was due in large part to this broadcast.
>
> But despite this, when LBJ decided to appear in a series of
> interviews after he left the White House to talk about his
> Presidency, guess who he sat down and talked to?? None other
> than Walter Cronkite.
>
> And when Johnson died in 1973, an aide to the former
> President made the first phone call announcing the death not
> to a wire service, but to the CBS newsroom. At the time, the
> 6:30 P.M. (EST) feed of the "Evening News" was on the air,
> and either a commercial or a filmed report from a
> correspondent in the field was bring broadcast (I don't
> recall which; I wasn't watching). This allowed the aide's
> call put through to Cronkite. A few moments later, after
> either the commercial or filmed report ended, Cronkite came
> back on and announced "We have sad news just in from Johnson
> City, Texas. Former President Lyndon B. Johnson has just
> died...".
>
> President Lyndon Johnson must have had a love/hate
> relationship with CBS, but a relationship that was probably
> better after he left office (the Cronkite interviews and the
> fact that when he died, CBS was first to be notified of the
> news). Of course, by the time of his death, KTBC had become
> an exclusive CBS affiliate.
>


I have read in David Brinkley's 1995 autobiography where for his evening news program in Austin, LBJ could choose CBS' Walter Cronkite, ABC's John Charles Daly (who also hosted the original B&W version of What's My Line? on CBS) or NBC's Huntley and Brinkley. LBJ picked The Huntley-Brinkley Report,he said, "Because you boys have the biggest audience and Bird likes your program". Bird was Lady Bird,his wife.

I wonder how KTBC scrambled to get the best from NBC,CBS and ABC in it's early years. Did they pick the top shows from each network and leave out the lower rated shows?