UHF first to air in mixed VHF-UHF markets

[Stanislav]

Working on TDITVH, an item gave me an idea for a topic.....

In which "mixed" (VHF/UHF) TV markets did a UHF station make it to air before any VHF(s)?

The example that prompted the topic idea is in Jackson, Mississippi, where WJTV hit the airwaves first on channel 25 (they would later move to channel 12) some time before WLBT (then WJBT) debuted on channel 3.

I would imagine that in most examples of this phenomenon, the VHF station may well have received a CP first, but took longer to get on the air for whatever reasons. But are there examples of a UHF signing on first in a market when there was an open VHF allocation available? And if so, why would they have chosen to grab the inferior (VERY inferior in the 50's) UHF allocation and not an available VHF?

 

[smedge2006]

Tampa/ St. Petersburg.

First to air was WSUN-TV Channel 38, in 1953.

First VHF in the market (WFLA-TV Channel 8 ) didn't reach air until 1955.

38 had all 4 affiliations until the VHF's arrived and Dumont disappeared. It then became ABC for a decade, until another VHF came on and snatched that affiliation. It then bit the dust a few years later and the license was cancelled. The channel remained dark for more than two decades...

 

[bpatrick]

WNAO/28 was the first station on the air
in Raleigh/Durham (1953). WTVD/11 signed
on in 1954, WUNC/4 (our PBS station) in 1955,
and WRAL/5 in 1956. WNAO was a CBS affiliate,
but reception problems forced viewers in the western
end of the market to watch Greensboro's WFMY/2
for the Eye Network.

Tampa/St. Petersburg was intended to be all-UHF,
and on that basis WSUN/38 signed on in 1953. But
the FCC allocated four VHF channels: 3, 8, 10, and
13 to the market. WEDU/3 was and is noncommercial,
WFLA/8 is NBC, and WTVT/13 started as CBS and is
now Fox (8 and 13 signed on in 1955, making 38 the
ABC affiliate until 1965, when Rahall Communications
beat out four other companies for the Ch. 10 license.
ABC moved to 10, but 10 is now CBS.).

 

[fybush]

Portland, Oregon - KPTV 27 got on the air in late 1952, while the applicants for VHF channels 6 and 8 were still fighting it out before the FCC.

Roanoke, Virginia - WROV-TV 27 made it on the air a few months before WSLS-TV 10, again because the FCC was sorting out competing applications for 10 and 7.

Hartford had several Us before the market was intermixed and channel 3 came on in 1957.

 

[KML0224]

Scott, are you forgetting about the original WNHC-TV channel 6 of New Haven? They came on the air in June of 1948 as Connecticut's first TV station. About 4 years later they were moved to channel 8. Channel 30 of New Britain signed on in February of 1953. I'm not sure about the history of WATR-TV, first as channel 53 and then channel 20 of Waterbury.

 

[C Murder]

Baton Rouge: WAFB signed on April 19, 1953 at channel 28. WBRZ launched channel 2 on April 14, 1955. In 1960, WDAM in Hattiesburg, MS moved from channel 9 to channel 7, allowing WAFB to move down to VHF.

 

[fybush]

Scott, are you forgetting about the original WNHC-TV channel 6 of New Haven? They came on the air in June of 1948 as Connecticut's first TV station. About 4 years later they were moved to channel 8. Channel 30 of New Britain signed on in February of 1953. I'm not sure about the history of WATR-TV, first as channel 53 and then channel 20 of Waterbury.

No, I'm not forgetting WNHC-TV - but I said Hartford, not New Haven. WNHC on channel 6, while it could certainly have been seen in Hartford back then, was far from a local signal.

 

[radiorob2.0]

Evansville, Indiana started as a UHF market. WFIE signed on with Channel 62 and WEHT was on 50 licensed to adjacent Henderson, KY around 1953. WFIE moved to Channel 14 when the Steele family of Owensboro dropped the CP to focus on Channel 9. WTVW began broadcasting on Channel 7 in 1958 after a senator pulled a few strings to move the Louisville educational allocation to Evansville and changed it to commercial. WEHT moved to Channel 25 in the late 60's

Meanwhile, the Channel 9 allocation was switched to non-commercial. The Steele family was so confident of receiving the CP letters of intent for affiliation and a Evansville studio location was established. They fought the commission for years but to no avail. Eventually Channel 9 signed on in 1973. If things had gone the other way, WVJS-TV 9 would have debuted behind WFIE and WEHT and beat WTVW.

At some point the FCC asked WTVW to give up Channel 7 and move to Channel 31 so Evansville would be an all UHF market. WTVW told the FCC they were staying put. WEVV Channel 44 signed on in 1984. Channel 19, another attempt by the Steele's before they focused on cable, was eventually licensed to Madisonville and signed on in the eighties. After years of fire and brimstone preaching the station became part of the Evansville market.

 

[KML0224]

No, I'm not forgetting WNHC-TV - but I said Hartford, not New Haven. WNHC on channel 6, while it could certainly have been seen in Hartford back then, was far from a local signal.

So you're saying that Hartford and New Haven were separate markets at first?

 

[fybush]

No, I'm not forgetting WNHC-TV - but I said Hartford, not New Haven. WNHC on channel 6, while it could certainly have been seen in Hartford back then, was far from a local signal.

So you're saying that Hartford and New Haven were separate markets at first?

I am, and they were.

 

[easttxtv]

I've read that Tyler/Longview had a UHF or 2 (or so) prior to the debuts of KLTV/7 (in 1954) and it's later sister, KTRE/9 (1955) in Lufkin. KTVE/32 began in 1951 at a spot between Longview and Kilgore, according to http://www.chalkhillmedia.org/museum/ktve.htm , but by 1955 it left the air due to the new popularity of KLTV. There was a KETX/19 also (not sure of airdates), but it too, was a casualty. Neither UHF was able to get any network interest or support, compared to what KLTV and KTRE would enjoy, especially for their first 30 years. It wasn't until 1984 before any other UHF would serve the market (KLMG (now KFXK)/51).

The 1951-1955 KTVE isn't related to the current calls-holder, KTVE/10 in El Dorado/Monroe (although if Ch. 32 had lasted, both it and Ch. 10 would have been listed in the same TV Guide 8) )...

 

[Ultimajock]

...add Madison, as WHA-TV/21, WKOW-TV/27 and WMTV/33(now 15) were all on the air years before WISC-TV/3...

 

[Stanislav]

What I'm really curious about is: were there any of these situations in which someone applied for, received a CP, and put a UHF on the air, while all the time there was a vacant VHF allocation that they could (in theory) have applied for? I know there are probably a few, and I still can't imagine WHY, given the problems of UHF reception in the era, someone would have passed up the chance to grab a VHF channel.

 

[fybush]

What I'm really curious about is: were there any of these situations in which someone applied for, received a CP, and put a UHF on the air, while all the time there was a vacant VHF allocation that they could (in theory) have applied for? I know there are probably a few, and I still can't imagine WHY, given the problems of UHF reception in the era, someone would have passed up the chance to grab a VHF channel.

Some of these markets had Vs that had been allocated, while in others the V was dropped in after the fact.

Why apply for a U when there was a V channel available? Simple - the lone V channel usually drew multiple applicants, and this in the era when the FCC actually held lengthy and very detailed hearings to examine the relative merits of competing applications. Applicants had to tell the FCC everything from their programming plans (which almost never came to fruition in the same form in which they were promised!), their proposed equipment and annual operating budgets, their studio plans, you name it. And because the competing applicants were often the most powerful and prominent radio broadcasters and/or newspapers in each market, there were plenty of lawyers to appeal FCC decisions, lobby Congressmen to reverse initial FCC decisions, and just generally gum up the works to delay final grants of construction permits.

That was VHF. Nobody cared about UHF...and so you could pretty much get a UHF construction permit (or an FM!) for the asking, and in some of these markets, it was much quicker to take that route than to wait through years of FCC wrangling in hopes of getting the lone VHF channel in town.

 

[ShawnHill1]

...add Madison, as WHA-TV/21, WKOW-TV/27 and WMTV/33(now 15) were all on the air years before WISC-TV/3...

...and down the road in Rockford, WTVO Channel 17 (then on 39) hit the air in May 1953, and nearly seven months later, WREX Channel 13 came on the air.

 

[joebtsflk1]

In Des Moines, KGTV channel 17 was the first station in that city, starting in 1953...again, there were multiple apps for channel 13, which ended up as WHO-TV and was delayed until 1954. Same story for channel 8, it ended up with The Des Moines Register and Tribune as KRNT-TV (now KCCI), but didn't go on air until 1955.

However, I wouldn't consider DM's KGTV as 1st in mkt. It was the first truly commercial station in the mkt, perhaps. Meanwhile, Des Moines and central Iowa were under the monopoly of "public" television from Iowa State University's WOI-TV channel 4 from early 1950 - 1953, then channel 5 therafter. In those early days, they had the pick of the networks but did a fair amount of local educ. pgms.

Did you know WOI-TV may have been the "nuclear-powered" TV station in the world? It's been strongly suggested the funds to build WOI-TV came from uranium refining for the Manhattan Project.

 

[oburn]

in mobile alabama dumont station wkab tv channel 48 when on air dec 29 1952 later wala tv came on jan 14 1953 an nbc station nearly everone in mobile could pick up uhf wkab tv went off the air aug 1 1954 it was not in dire trouble alot of uhf stations in mixed markets went off the air also in pensacola florida wpfa tv cbs ch 15 went on the air oc 1953 wear tv ch 3 came on jan 1954 wpfa tv was cbs wear tv abc

 

[oburn]

my sources have wsls tv on air 1952 wrov tv 1953

 

[Tim L]

In the 1950's, Akron had channels 49, 55(Educational) and 61 allocated to them, while Cleveland had 3, 5, 8, 19, 25 (Educational) and 65...Massillon had 23 and Canton 29.

In a "Lake Erie Dateline" In the Dec. 11-17, 1953 Lake Erie Edition of TV Guide, There was an article mentioning the coming changeover of WXEL from Channel 9 to 8. This article also predicted the expected TV lineup by the end of 1954..

WNBK Channel 3 Cleveland
WEWS Channel 5 Cleveland
WXEL Channel 8 Cleveland
WHK-TV Channel 19 Cleveland
WKBN-TV Channel 27 Youngstown
WAKR-TV Channel 49 Akron
WERE-TV 65 Cleveland
WFMJ-TV 73 Youngstown (would move to 21 by Summer 1954)

WHK and WERE never made it on the air..Akron's 61 was reallocated to Cleveland, and Massillon's 23 to Akron..

 

[fortmill]

In Columbia SC, both WNOK/67 (now WLTX/19), CBS/Dumont, and WCOS/25 (now WOLO), ABC, came on the air in 1953, a few months before WIS/10, NBC. Due to protests from WNOK and WCOS, WIS was directed by the FCC, to broadcast from a short tower at low power. Supposedly, thanks to appeals to the FCC by then Gov. Strom Thurmond, WIS was soon allowed to build a tall tower (tallest east of the Mississippi). WCOS threw in the towel, leaving a secondary ABC affiliation for WIS, but eventually 25 came back on the air with the same facilities but new calls, WCCA. WLTX and WOLO now have 2000 ft towers and 5,000,000 watt signals--what a change! In Montgomery Al, WCOV/20/CBS (now Fox) was the first station on, beating WSFA/12 by a year or two. The crazy thing is, WCOV's history website claims they originally had a CP for channel 12, but switched to 20 because they couldn't get a channel 12 transmitter!!!!!! Should we believe this? Other cities where UHF preceded VHF:
Knoxville TN: WTVK/26 (now WVLT/8) preceded WATE/6.
Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville/Anderson: WGVL/23/Greenville (now defunct), WAIM/40/ABC-CBS/Anderson (now WMYA MyN), WISE/62/NBC/Asheville (now WYCW/CW, but not connected to original license). preceded WFBC/4, WSPA/7, WLOS/13.
Columbus GA: WDAK/28 (now WTVM/9) preceded WRBL/3.