Heritage Calls

[AdamfromPhilly]

I have a short question. What makes call letters heritage? I read someone call WJJZ a heritage. I am sure it is a very subjective process, but I would like some opinions on the matter.

In Philly I would consider the following current calls heritage-WIP, KYW, WMMR, WYSP, WIOQ, WDAS, WFIL, WPEN. Also former calls of WIBG and WCAU were/are those types of calls.

On this note of call letter, can anyone think of an instance when a call letter was moved in from one frequency to another (in the same market) in such a short time with different owners involved? When WTHK and WPST swapped. it was the same company.

Also anyone know of which frequency in the Philadelphia market has had the most calls? 106.1 seems to have the most in my memory...WQAL to WWSH to WZGO to WTRK to WEGX to WJJZ to WISX...7 different calls with multiple owners.

Ok, maybe it wasn't a short question?

 

[fred flintstone]

I have a short question. What makes call letters heritage? I read someone call WJJZ a heritage. I am sure it is a very subjective process, but I would like some opinions on the matter.

In Philly I would consider the following current calls heritage-WIP, KYW, WMMR, WYSP, WIOQ, WDAS, WFIL, WPEN. Also former calls of WIBG and WCAU were/are those types of calls.

On this note of call letter, can anyone think of an instance when a call letter was moved in from one frequency to another (in the same market) in such a short time with different owners involved? When WTHK and WPST swapped. it was the same company.

Also anyone know of which frequency in the Philadelphia market has had the most calls? 106.1 seems to have the most in my memory...WQAL to WWSH to WZGO to WTRK to WEGX to WJJZ to WISX...7 different calls with multiple owners.

Ok, maybe it wasn't a short question?

"Heritage" is one of those words that gets overused to the point it has become meaningless. There is no agreed on standard or definition. In your list you did not say on what basis you included some calls (and excluded others).

Here's my definition: Heritage calls letters have remained in continuous use under the original license since prior to the Havana Treaty of 1941 (which established current frequency allocations in the standard broadcast band).

By that definition, the heritage calls are:
WFIL 560
WHP 580
WIP 610
WEEU 830
WPEN 950
KYW 1060*
WDEL 1150
WSNJ 1240
WHAT 1340
WEST 1400
WILM 1450
WDAS 1480

For FM, I'd make the cut-off for "heritage" status, call letters in continuous use since prior to the FM 50-50 simulcast rule of 1966.
WXPN
WRTI-FM
WHYY-FM
WJBR
WGAL-FM
WDAS-FM

Some of the stations on Adam's list have changed calls since 1966:
WMMR was WIP-FM
WYSP was WIBG-FM
WIOQ was WFIL-FM


* KYW is listed with an asterix since the calls were used by 1100 WTAM, Cleveland from 1955 to 1964. 1060 AM operated during that period as WRCV. The calls have been in continuous use but not at the same station.

 

[Irishfl]

* KYW is listed with an asterix since the calls were used by 1100 WTAM, Cleveland from 1955 to 1964. 1060 AM operated during that period as WRCV. The calls have been in continuous use but not at the same station.

Shouldn't 560 also get a asterix? From 1989 to 1994, the calls changed to weaz, wbeb, wphy, and back to wfil. So there was a good 5 years of no wfil.

 

[fred flintstone]

Shouldn't 560 also get a asterix? From 1989 to 1994, the calls changed to weaz, wbeb, wphy, and back to wfil. So there was a good 5 years of no wfil.

You are correct.
Good catch.

 

[simonbarrsinister]

Now this is the kind of treads I enjoy. Great stuff!
Thanks Adam....Thanks Fred

 

[odomski]

Even though it wasn't technically a Philadelphia station...what about WAAT? Most recently, those call letters were used on 750 AM in Scranton.

 

[Radiodeity]

Even though it wasn't technically a Philadelphia station...what about WAAT? Most recently, those call letters were used on 750 AM in Scranton.

Again, although not Philadelphia, some of the oldest I can think of on AM are:

KDKA - Pittsburgh
WJR - Detroit
WBZ - Boston
WSB - Atlanta
WLW - Cincinnati (At one time experimental station in the 1940's blowing out 500,000 watts - heard 'round the world. Used during WWII to send coded messages to the Allies.)
WWL - New Orleans

There must be others but I'm too fried at the moment.... :-\

 

[radioskeptic]

The KYW call was on 1060 in Philly BEFORE 1955, too, going back as far as the Thirties, or perhaps even the late Twenties. But KYW-TV was new to Philly in l965. The original channel 3 call was WPTZ-TV (started by Philco in 1941!).

NBC had played hardball in making Westinghouse swap their channel 3 for the one in Cleveland (and swap radio stations,too), threatening to pull the network affiliations if they didn't. They could do that in 1954 because there was a commercial Channel 12 in Wilmington, WDEL-TV, which was an NBC affiliate that covered most of the Philadelphia market with a usable signal. Once NBC's position in Philly was secured, the Wilmington satation became redndant, and went out of business.. Two indy commercial stations fail and the channel was dark for a while before being acquired by WHYY.

A federal case forced NBC to swap back in 1965.

 

[MarcB]

Again, although not Philadelphia, some of the oldest I can think of on AM are:
KDKA - Pittsburgh
WJR - Detroit
WBZ - Boston
WSB - Atlanta
WLW - Cincinnati (At one time experimental station in the 1940's blowing out 500,000 watts - heard 'round the world. Used during WWII to send coded messages to the Allies.)
WWL - New Orleans
There must be others but I'm too fried at the moment.... :-\

WTIC - Hartord, CT
WDRC - Hartford, CT

 

[John1]

WHYY-FM was actually WUHY for many years.

 

[qtpieislit]

Storer broadcasting’s WIBG was originally allocated the Wilmington Channel 12 Wilmington frequency assignment. They subsequently returned the license to the FCC after a limited time on the air.

 

[amfmsw]

I had to laugh when I saw WJJZ referred to as "heritage".

The calls came from the original "Gentle On Your Mind" WJJZ (JerZee) 1460 Mt. Holly, NJ It was a toilet. I worked there. The studios were in the Washington House on High Street. The clapboard sidng was so rotted, we had to put beer 6 pack carriers in the holes in the winter because the toilet would freeze. It was a dive.

The station was licensed for 5kw Da2. It had 4 towers in a dogleg on Burlington Island between Burlington NJ and Bristol PA, and was visible from that bridge. It used a Gates BC5 kw transmitter, which never worked (as long as I was there). You see, the Island was a teenage lawless "Lord Of The Flies" hangout, accessable only by boat. They broke into the transmitter building (as it was), and broke every meter in the xmtr and phasor unit. When it eas signed on the next morning, the breaker didn't trip, causing it to burn. We used it's back-up 1kw unit, a Gates Vanguard 1. And yes, we had to place toolboxes and test equipment in a friggin boat and ROW out to the Island from a marina in Burlington for service. Someone had stolen the motor from the boat, the third one, and the owner refused to replace it..so we rowed. Once there, we tied the boat to a tree, and carried said boxxes and equipment a half mile to the site. If we found out we needed a part, we reversed the ceremony, went to Radio Shack, and repeated the whole blessed ritual. We got $15 combat pay for every trip to the island as a bonus.

The movie "Eddie and The Cruisers" was to have been filmed at the Mt. Holly studios for the radio station scenes, but the power was so poor, it wouldn't handle the lighting! It would have been perfect too, as not one piece of equipment was changed since it began in 1965, including a MASSIVE Gate solidstatesman Presidential board with 16" Gates transcription turntables! So while they were in town to film the High School scenes at Rancocas Valley High School (Rydell High), they had to shoot the radio station scenes at WMID in Atlantic City (note the out of place CCA board and EV DS35 mic...not of the era).

The station lost it's license in 1982, with Uncle Charley stating the owners were "unfit" for testifying with "lack of candor" to the Commission during hearings of bribery to get the station owners the rights to Mt. Holly's Cable system. I personally cut the carrier, and turned off the filaments to the xmtr at sundown, November 1, 1982. It is now WIFI 1460.

 

[fred flintstone]

WUHY was an educational television station, originally on channel 35, which later moved to channel 12.
The affiliated educatonal radio station first signed on as WHYY and then became WHYY-FM.

WAAT was used by a station in Jersey City, NJ from the 20s to the 70s. The station is now 970 WWDJ (owned by Salem).

KYW acquired channel 3 in 1954 and used the KYW-TV calls in Philadelphia prior to the move to Cleveland.

Here are the active call letters in longest continuous use:

KDKA, Pittsburgh (East Pittsburgh) 10/20
WBZ, Boston (Springfield) 9/21
KYW, Philadelphia (Chicago) 11/21* Station moved twice.
KWG, Stockton, CA 12/21
KQV, Pittsburgh 1/22
WHA, Madison 1/22 (p)
WGY, Schnectady 1/22
WOC, Davenport (Rock Island) 2/22
WOR, New York (Newark) 2/22
WHK, Cleveland 2/22
WLW, Cincinnati 3/22
WWJ, Detroit 3/22 (Previously WBL)
KJR, Seattle 3/22
KLZ, Denver 3/22
WGR, Buffalo 3/22
KGU, Honolulu 3/22
WSB, Atlanta 3/22
WKY, Oklahoma City 3/22
KHJ, Los Angeles 3/22* Calls dropped and resumed by same station
WBT, Charlotte 3/22
WIP, Philadelphia 3/22
WEW, St. Louis 3/22
KMJ, Fresno 3/22
KGY, Olympia, WA (Lacey, WA) 3/22
KFI, Los Angeles 3/22
WWL, New Orleans 3/22
WBAA, West Lafayette, IN 4/22 (p)
WDZ, Decatur, IL (Tuscola, IL) 4/22
WBAP, Ft. Worth 4/22
WOI, Ames, IA 4/22 (p)
WBAX, Wilkes Barre, PA 4/22
KNX, Los Angeles 5/22
WJR, Detroit 5/22
WCAO, Baltimore 5/22
WHB, Kansas City 5/22
WCAZ, Carthage, IL (Quincy) 5/22
WDAY, Fargo, ND 5/22

(p) Public radio stations, licensed to Land Grant Universities from first license.

 

[John1]

WUHY was an educational television station, originally on channel 35, which later moved to channel 12.
The affiliated educatonal radio station first signed on as WHYY and then became WHYY-FM.

There were a lot of changes to this over the years. WHYY radio signed on October 20, 1954. They launched Ch. 35 in 1957 as WUHY and changed the radio station calls to WUHY to coincide. In 1964 WUHY-TV moved to Ch. 12 and became WHYY, but the FM station remained WUHY until around the late '70's/early 1980's. (Broadcasting Yearbook 1980 still listed it as WUHY but they were published way in advance so they were usually out of date before they came out.) Anyone know when WUHY-FM became WHYY-FM - it was around the time NPR started providing live programming. (Thanks to Pirate Jim's site for some of these dates.)

 

[fred flintstone]

There were a lot of changes to this over the years. WHYY radio signed on October 20, 1954. They launched Ch. 35 in 1957 as WUHY and changed the radio station calls to WUHY to coincide. In 1964 WUHY-TV moved to Ch. 12 and became WHYY, but the FM station remained WUHY until around the late '70's/early 1980's. (Broadcasting Yearbook 1980 still listed it as WUHY but they were published way in advance so they were usually out of date before they came out.) Anyone know when WUHY-FM became WHYY-FM - it was around the time NPR started providing live programming. (Thanks to Pirate Jim's site for some of these dates.)

The FCC website says the "Begin Date" for the WHYY-FM call sign was 01/26/1983. However, North American Radio TV Station Listings shows WHYY, Philadelphia at 90.9 Mhz as early as 1958. The station website says, "WHYY-91FM began broadcasting on December 14, 1954." The station history adds, "In 1963, the station went through another change -- its call letters became WUHY-FM in order to comply with a FCC dual-license rule." NPR began feeding live programs on May 1st, 1971 (All Things Considered). The station history is inconsistent in references to station call letters. "WUHY" received an FCC indecency fine in 1970 after broadcasting a recorded interview with Grateful Dead singer Jerry Garcia. In describing the launch of NPR in 1971, the station history refers to "WHYY-FM." But also refers to an individual as "WUHY's" station manager from 1978 to 1987 and elsewhere refers to the role of station volunteers at "WUHY" in the 70s.

Full Disclosure: "Pirate Jim" is a former moderator of Radio-Info's New Jersey board under the former management; he now performs a similar role on a message board site set up in opposition to this one.

 

[csp-1]

these are the type postings that make this board SO worthwhile !!!

 

[radioskeptic]

Fred, I can’t recall Westinghouse ever using “KYW-TV” in the 1950’s. Philco had agreed to sell WPTZ-TV to Westinghouse, but as I said, NBC strong-armed Westinghouse into “swapping “ KYW radio and WPTZ-TV (which they were planning to change to KYW-TV) for NBC’s AM, FM and TV O&O’s in Cleveland. NBC wanted to get into Philly in the worst way – and ten years later, in an anti-trust case, a federal court decided that they had done it in the worst way and ordered the deal undone.

Westinghouse might have gone into TV here much earlier, but Philco had beaten them to the punch with an experimental license in 1941, which became commercial after the war.

There was no KYW-FM in the 1950’s either, but Westinghouse had a C-P for one (on 92.5, I think). But just for spite, they surrendered the C-P before the forced “trade” with NBC. Since they already had the transmitter ordered, they had it re-tuned for 90.9 and donated it to the WHYY people. That’s how WHYY was able to go on the air in 1954.

WHYY radio, and later Channel 35, were both WHYY originally. When WHYY acquired Channel 12 in the early 1960’s after the Rollins independent commercial station (WVUE-TV, if memory serves me correctly) failed, both the FM and Channel 35 became WUHY, and WHYY was used only for Channel 12. The organization continued to operate Ch. 35 as an instructional station. Only after letting Channel 35 go dark did they change the FM call back to WHYY.

Note to Sam Lit: Storer’s Wilmington Channel 12 (I can’t remember the call, but I’m almost certain it was not WIBG-TV) FOLLOWED the demise of NBC affiliate WDEL-TV, which became superfluous once NBC’s position in Philly was secured. The Storer operation was on the air, I think, from late 1955 until perhaps 1957. Then Rollins, which owned WAMS (when it was a credible station in Wilmington and a serious competitor to WIBG during the day not only in Delaware but also in parts of South Jersey, mainly Cumberland, Salem and lower Gloucester Counties) owned a station in 1958 and 1959.

One other historical note: WDEL-TV was originally on Channel 7, and WABC-TV/New York was originally on Channel 12. Of course, Wilmington was too close to Washington, and New York to close to a couple of other assignments, for co-channels, and the correction was made in 1951, before the UHF band was approved!

 

[fred flintstone]

Re: NBC-Westinghouse Swap

As I think about this, the story about NBC pressuring Group W into a station swap starts to sound fishy.

In 1954, All Group W radio stations dropped their NBC radio affiliations voluntarily (Westinghouse had been one of the founding partners in RCA and NBC), replacing NBC's line-up of old-time radio dramas, sitcoms and variety shows with a Full Service/Top 40 format.

At that time, a freeze on new TV station licenses was in effect. Philly had three TV stations (The Inquirer owned channel six, which was affiliated with ABC and Dumont, The Bulletin owned channel 10, which was affiliated with CBS). Boston had two stations (Group W's WBZ, an NBC affiliate, and WNAC, which took programs from the other three networks). Pittsburgh had one station, which Group W acquired from Dumont in 1955, which took programs from all four networks. Group W's San Francisco station was a CBS affiliate.

So why didn't Westinghouse tell NBC to shove it? Westinghouse was most vulnerable in Philly. Worst case scenario would have been NBC getting Walter Annenberg to affiliate WFIL-TV with NBC, and Group W ends up with ABC (then the weakest network) on channel 3. (NBC had a full daytime line-up; ABC had nothing in daytime. So, if NBC had gone to channel six, "6NBC" would not have needed an afternoon dance show.) In Boston, Group W could have picked up CBS (then the network with the strongest program line-up). In Pittsburgh, they could do whatever they wanted; they were about to acquire a monopoly. In San Francisco, whatever NBC did would not matter; Group W was already affiliated with CBS. On radio, Group W had already decided the party was over for network radio. So what the bleep did Westinghouse need NBC for? NBC pulls their affiliations? So what?

Also, according to the generally-accepted story, as soon as the deal went though, Westinghouse filed a complaint with the FCC. That's fishy, too. Why wait until afterwards to start complaining about NBC's strong-arm tactics? Could this be classic "swapper's remorse?"

Maybe Group W really thought going to Cleveland sounded OK. The Cleveland stations did much better (in ratings and profits) under Group W than they ever did under NBC (before or after Group W). And the Philadelphia properties foundered under NBC.

 

[BRUSSTAR]

More On Channel 12

Are you sure Rollins ever owned Wilmington's Channel 12? I think you might be confusing Rollins with Paul Harron; the latter did own the station for a short time after the Steinmans. (He re-named WDEL-TV after his initials, and the station became WPFH.) Both the Rollins family and Harron later held cable-TV interests in the area, which might account for any confusion.

I'm pretty sure Storer was the last to own the station, and not the first. I don't see how Channel 12 could ever have been WIBG-TV, as Commission rules at the time would have prohibited two stations from having had the same root callsign with different cities of license (which is the ONLY reason for the WHYY/WUHY changes involving the TV and FM stations despite what many inaccurate website "histories" claim).

Interestingly, the FCC originally allocated Channel 12 for Philadelphia and not for Wilmington. While the Commission had to publicly act as though all of these allocations were based on engineering and population studies, the truth was that markets the size of Philly (third at the time?) were "designed" to have a VHF affiliate for each of the major networks. DuMont would have had a full-time affiliate, and quite possibly an O&O here (and it probably would have been on Channel 12) had it not been stuck with a horrible deal it signed with Paramount (ultimately limiting its VHF O&Os to New York, Washington, and Pittsburgh). DuMont waited for someone, anyone, to sign on Channel 12 as a Philadelphia independent (with which the struggling network would immediately affiliate). But it never happened, and as Fred pointed out, DuMont was stuck fighting with ABC for the scraps of time available on Channel 6 (and this tended to happen in a lot of markets, not just here).

Meanwhile, the Steinmans had been operating WDEL-TV on Channel 7. This was never intended by the FCC to have been a regional allocation, but only a local one. Before the Philly VHFs moved to Roxborough, Wilmington (as well as Reading, Allentown, and Atlantic City) was a TV "no-man's-land". The Commission wouldn't allow the local Channel 7 to increase its power because of New York and DC, so the Steinmans successfully petitioned to have the still unused and unawarded Channel 12 Philadelphia spot re-allocated to Wilmington. Channel 7 was deleted, and WDEL-TV assumed Channel 12. Even though the signal was pretty much the same, it no longer suffered interference from New York and DC. And, the road was paved for an eventual increase in power.

As shortsighted as Storer's decision to ultimately give Channel 12 back to the Commission appears, it was at the time a viable "cutting of the losses". Storer had attempted operating Channel 12 as a Philadelphia independent (WVUE-TV, "The New View!") though it continued to transmit from Wilmington. By this point, Channels 3, 6, and 10 had already moved to Roxborough and NBC had pulled its now unnecessary affiliation with Wilmington. Having no network affiliation, and an inferior signal, Channel 12 was doomed. It became fiscally wise for Storer to simply stop the bleeding, and declare every cent put into Channel 12 a total loss at taxtime.

It's my understanding Channel 12 is still a commercial allocation, and if sold by WHYY, Inc. would easily bring in hundreds of millions. (If I'm wrong on this, someone please set the record straight.) The only truly-designated non-comm for Philadelphia is Channel 35, despite its having been a commercial low-power (under waiver) for a few years in the early 1980s.

With a few short gaps here and there for changes in ownership and license re-allocating, Channel 35 has been on-air (almost) continuously since 1957.

 

[BRUSSTAR]

What If...

On a side note to this side note, one can only imagine what would have happened had Storer been able to operate and market Channel 12 as WIBG-TV before throwing in the towel. This would have been right around the point where WIBG radio was about to EXPLODE in popularity, and "Wibbage TV" despite the inferior signal would have probably been able to overcome this simply because it was on VHF. (Weak VHF signals were watched more than solid UHF ones, as this would have been prior to the impact of All-Channel Legislation.) Perhaps the two stations could have been sold in combination, and cross-promoted. Of course, we'll never know.