Channel 4

[PHIL Z]

I'm Working on a Research Project and came across some Interesting facts, that have nothing to do with my Project, But would like to Share. Channel 4 was Originally allocated to Irwin Pa.. Due to Short Spacing with Columbus Ohio,Buffalo NY, and Washington DC. WMCK Applied for Channel 4 for Mckeesport,Witch would had worked as the Transmitter had to be Southeast of Pgh. WLOA Applied for Channel 4 in Irwin. But Mayor David Lawrence wanted a 4th VHF for Pittsburgh Proper, and he had the Political Clout to make it so.

WENS TV 16 wanted a VHF Slot But was Unable to Apply [Unknown Reason] WJAS and WWSW Teamed up to Apply for Channel 11. WENS went to the FCC but were not sucessful, WENS also tried to move a VHF slot From West VA. But Again no luck.

WPSL Monroeville won out over 4 Applicants for the 1510 Dial spot. But WMBA 1460 did not Give up tring to get 1510, Because of all the Crourt actions WPSL helped set a Standard for Suburban Radio. When the FCC stated that WMBA wanted 10,000 Watts Aimed at Pittsburgh, Thus becoming the Ninth Pitsburgh Station, While WPSL wanted 250 watts and was Involved in the Community ie Monroeville news, Gateway Sports ect got 75% of it's ad revenue form Monroeville Area. Any Comments or Corrections would be Great. Thank You.

 

[NoTimeForSleep]

WPSL was also owned by the Sylvis family who owned a farm that was most of the property behind Monroeville Mall, hence Sylvis Lane that the station was located on. I think the call letter were after the daughter but hard to remember.

 

[long ago]

WPSL names ... Paul, Sara and I think Larry. The founders?

Do you remember their broadcasting school there? If you went to the broadcasting school, you were automatically put on the air. Some really awful sounding people on the air there.

 

[hypwr]

There was also an 1KW application for Green Tree and a 50KW app. for Pittsburgh on 1510.

 

[ejjeff]

Re: WPSL

I was one of those who went through Broadcast Arts Academy at WPSL. 40+ years later I'm still at it doing middays in Central Pa.

I walked up Sylves Lane in early August and found a total mess. The building is wide open full of trash. There is a homeless person there who just throws all the crap into the building. It's a health hazard and it should be torn down. I have a couple of pictures I'll post later.

There was some talent who went through there including Jay Davis and John Pellegrini during the WPSL days.. Pellegrini has had a long career in Gettysburg. Chauncey Ross was there during the WRUA days and has been very successful in the newspaper business in Indiana, Pa. Sam Mathews was there as well and does fill-in now on the Pirates Network as Michael J Daniels.

 

[FreddyE1977]

WPSL had a loyal and dedicated audience across the road at the old USS Research Facility.

It was the only AM station whose signal could penetrate those bunker-like walls.

 

[PHIL Z]

There was also an 1KW application for Green Tree and a 50KW app. for Pittsburgh on 1510.

Did you know any of the Applicants? On another note, two of the Original Owners of WENS TV were Bob Prince "The Gunner" and Ralph Kiner Outfielder and "Homerun Hitter" for the Pirates.

 

[secondchoice]

There was also an 1KW application for Green Tree and a 50KW app. for Pittsburgh on 1510.

Did you know any of the Applicants? On another note, two of the Original Owners of WENS TV were Bob Prince "The Gunner" and Ralph Kiner Outfielder and "Homerun Hitter" for the Pirates.

Will the 1510 application have more than 1 watt at night. BTW would wouldn't the remote antenna amp meter "eat up" 1 watt?

 

[Parttimer]

This discussion is about the original applicants for 1510 many years ago, not about current applications. 1510 is now part of the WAOB Catholic Radio group.

 

[KeyTimes950]

I've always been intrigued with how Channel 4 went from being an Irwin-assigned channel to a Pittsburgh assignment. Whether or not David L. Lawrence had something to do with it (which certainly isn't out of the realm of possibilities), it went far in the marginalizing of the McKeesport area in the eyes of Pittsburgh TV assignment editors. Channel 4, of course, still has its ties to the Mon-Yough region, including its tower in Elizabeth Township, not far from downtown McKeesport, its studios near the Route 30 exit of the Parkway (where UPMC McKeesport now has a foothold in the wake of the UPMC Braddock closing), and an ability to cover stories down this way that often beats Channels 2 and 11, though it is more likely to be the latest shooting or robbery here, rather than anything that might uplift the image of this area. It also is discussed in Tube City Almanac ...

http://www.tubecityonline.com/almanac/entry_1765.php#comm

By the way, an irony. The McKeesport Daily News used to give special notice to WPCB's listings on its TV page, as Channel 40 is located in a community the paper covers, Wall. Channel 4 didn't get such notice (the reversed color scheme of the channel number inside a tiny tube), but WTAE never has been out of the mindset of the folks at that paper, even if the paper's current parent company has a news exchange with Channel 11.

 

[w9wi]

I've always been intrigued with how Channel 4 went from being an Irwin-assigned channel to a Pittsburgh assignment.

(if this looks familiar, I've posted something similar on another thread)

Can't speak for certain for Pittsburgh, but something similar happened in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee drew two commercial VHF channels (4 and 12) in the initial 1952 table. Channel 6 *almost* fit[0] -- but the city of Milwaukee was something like two miles too close to existing channel 6 station WOC-TV in Davenport, Iowa.

One party succeeded (in 1956) in getting the FCC to assign channel 6, not to Milwaukee but to the suburb of Whitefish Bay, a few miles further north and just barely far enough from WOC-TV. The transmitter would also be located there.

A few years later, the FCC changed the rules. No longer does the city-of-license need to be any minimum distance from any other station on the same channel; only the transmitter needs to be that minimum distance. (and, at that site, the transmitter must provide a strong enough signal across the city-of-license)

In Milwaukee, the channel 6 transmitter was of course far enough from WOC-TV to not cause interference -- and close enough to Milwaukee to provide a strong signal across the whole city -- so the FCC allowed the station to change its city-of-license from Whitefish Bay to Milwaukee. [1] I don't know exactly when this happened but would suspect late 1950s or very early 1960s. (I was born in 1959 & don't ever remember the station IDing as Whitefish Bay so think it would have happened before 1964)

I think you can assume the same thing happened with channel 4 in Pittsburgh, which was a very similar situation.

[0] In the Milwaukee case it was also necessary to swap the channel 6 assignment in Green Bay to upper Michigan, in return for transferring the U.P.'s channel 5 assignment to Green Bay.

[1] You couldn't do that today -- either in Milwaukee or Pittsburgh -- because the FCC won't let you delete a community's only channel assignment.

 

[Troublemaan]

I never knew much about the history of this signal, but I do remember that it had one of the poorest signals in the area in the early 80s as WRUA. I had trouble with it when I lived in Trafford, right down the hill from it. When I moved over to North Huntingdon, it was just barely above the surf.

 

[PHIL Z]

February 1948 Pittsburgh radio Supply House, Then Owners of WJAS 1320/WHJB 620. Had an application for TV Channel 10 Here in Pittsburgh. In the Early 50's they teamed up with WWSW for Channel 11.

 

[cingram]

February 1948 Pittsburgh radio Supply House, Then Owners of WJAS 1320/WHJB 620. Had an application for TV Channel 10 Here in Pittsburgh. In the Early 50's they teamed up with WWSW for Channel 11.

In the old days, Pittsburgh was allocated channels 3, 6, 8, 10, and 12. DuMont applied for, and was granted, a
construction permit for channel 3, which ultimately signed on as WDTV (on 1-11-49); channel 12 was moved to
Wheeling, and later to Clarksburg.

A January 1949 issue of Broadcasting magazine shows DuMont (WDTV) on channel 3, Westinghouse (KDKA) with
an application for channel 6, Allegheny Broadcasting Company (KQV) with an application for channel 8, and FIVE
applicants for channel 10 - Matta Broadcasting Company (WLOA), Pittsburgh Radio Supply House (WJAS), WCAE,
WWSW, and United Broadcasting, which had also applied for a never-granted 5 kw, full-time AM station on 1470.

The TV freeze and subsequent reallocation of channels foiled most of these plans. Pittsburgh ended up with just
two commercial VHF channels (2 and 11, with 4 allocated later), one noncommercial VHF channel (13), and three
UHF channels (16, 47, 53). WKJF-TV lasted about a year on 53; WENS-TV, somehow, held out for four years on
16 until channel 11 signed on. Channel 47 had a construction permit (as WTVQ), but was never built.

C.

 

[w9wi]

The more I read the pre-freeze channel listings, the more I wonder whether they were channel allocations, or just a list of channels that at least one entity had applied for. Or a kind of proposed concept -- "if five firms are interested in doing TV in Pittsburgh, they might use channels 3, 6, 8, 10, and 12".

IOW, I don't think channels 3/6/8/10/12 were ever *allocated* to Pittsburgh, I think it's just that the eight firms you cited had applied for those five channels. (and if the freeze hadn't happened, five of them would have been granted)

The entire concept of a table of allocations was controversial when it happened in 1951/2. Reading the proceedings, I'm pretty sure it was also a new concept -- that there was no table until the freeze lifted.

I am also of the impression that in those times, firms were a lot more likely to apply for something the FCC was not prepared to grant.

 

[cingram]

IOW, I don't think channels 3/6/8/10/12 were ever *allocated* to Pittsburgh, I think it's just that the eight firms you cited had applied for those five channels. (and if the freeze hadn't happened, five of them would have been granted)

There was an allocations table of sorts pre-1948 and those five (reduced to four) channels were assigned to
Pittsburgh. They were, however, allocated on the basis of power levels which were later increased, and the
presumption that television would travel line-of-sight only, not accounting for any atmospheric enhancement.
That, and the morasses concerning UHF and color television, helped to contribute to the "freeze" lasting four
years, a period of time when TV should have been growing by leaps and bounds.

Here's the 1947 allocations table:

http://jeff560.tripod.com/1947tvalloc.html

C.