Hi Folks,
Back in the summer of 1990, when I was living in New Jersey, I actually wrote a letter to Brunson Communications asking them about their proposed schedule and technical details, and I got a nice note back from Ms. Brunson. She said their target "on-air" date was supposed to be September 1, 1990. That didn't happen, and it ended up (I think) being on air in the Summer of 1992.
In the pre-internet days, there was not much info about Channel 48, especially in Monmouth County, NJ which is not in the Philly market, but where most of the Philly stations were quite watchable especially with a good antenna and tuner. One day in the Summer of 1992, I was browsing through the UHF channels and found that there was a test pattern on Channel 48. I couldn't believe it-by this time it had been almost 9 years since WKBS went off the air.
In the days before regular programming started, all WGTW aired was a cheaply computer generated station ID- "WGTW-Burlington, NJ". After a week or so, their programming was all taken from various satellite services- I remember they carried a NECN (Boston) sportshow hosted by Mike Addams. I remember thinking- why would anyone from Philadelphia be interested in Boston sports. They also showed various movies from FamilyNet and others. (Think low-powered LPTV programming). The technical aspects of the station were less than great- commericals cutting on and off, and a very-cheaply produced station ID. Years later, I read in Scott Fybush's NERW, that even the equipment was second-hand, as Ms. Brunson purchased the transmitter last used for WRET/36 Charlotte, NC in the late 1970s.
As the 90s wore on, WGTW added some syndicated programming- alot of it shows that aired on its predecessor WKBS-TV a generation before (Hawaii Five-O, Cannon, Perry Mason etc). I thought this iteration of Channel 48 was cool. Even as programming improved, there were still alot of technical glitches. And, no local commericals. The station did attempt some live programming during this time- "48 Update" was a news show produced on the cheap. They were the complete opposite of when WGBS/57 came on the air. WGBS outglitzed even the major stations with (then) state of the art CGI graphics, entertaining promos and a full schedule of good reruns, plus a cactchy station ID jungle which proclaimed "Philly's Own Super Station."
It wasn't surprising that Dorothy Brunson sold out to TBN. I'm sure that WGTW wasn't making much (if any) money. There was no way that they could compete with the other stations in the market- especially WPHL, WTXF, and WGBS/WPSG. All of them had corporate owners with very deep pockets.
If one was to make an analogy of the independent stations in Philadelphia in the 80s and 90s, the owners of WGTW/48 would be driving an old beat up Chevy, whereas Grant Broadcasting, the owners of WGBS/57 would be driving a Porshe (but then the owner couldn't afford the car payment) and it got repossessed.
For all its flaws, WGTW was probably the last time the Philadelphia market will ever have a true independent TV station. RIP- Dorothy Brunson.
-Mike
