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WAGA celebrates 60th
- Thread starter Junk Junk
- Start date
As I pointed out on the Classic TV board, if Ch. 5
had not become a Fox o&o it would be the oldest
CBS affiliate south of Washington, DC. As it is, that
distinction belongs to WBTV Charlotte (sign-on date
July 15, 1949), followed closely by WFMY Greensboro,
NC (September 22, 1949). (WTVR Richmond doesn't
count, even though it is the oldest station south of DC
and is a CBS affiliate, because it did not become a CBS
affiliate until 1960, having had previous stints with NBC
and ABC.)
had not become a Fox o&o it would be the oldest
CBS affiliate south of Washington, DC. As it is, that
distinction belongs to WBTV Charlotte (sign-on date
July 15, 1949), followed closely by WFMY Greensboro,
NC (September 22, 1949). (WTVR Richmond doesn't
count, even though it is the oldest station south of DC
and is a CBS affiliate, because it did not become a CBS
affiliate until 1960, having had previous stints with NBC
and ABC.)
Here's your trivia-for-the-day.
Working on the "Dawn of Georgia Television" doc for GPTV, we came across the fact that Storer's WAGA could have been the first TV station on the air south of Richmond, beating WSB TV by several weeks.
In 1948, transmitting and studio equipment had to be rationed because demand outstripped supply. WAGA got the first transmitter allotment in Atlanta, but Storer Broadcasting decided to ship the equipment to WSPD Toledo, which at the time was the company's flagship property. For years, WSPD (named for Storer's gasoline additive product "Speedene") was Toledo's only station and Storer felt the revenue opportunity was greater there.
In the months that followed, WAGA engineers did travel the Georgia countryside in a mobile unit, promoting their impending debut and demonstrating their equipment. They aimed the camera at excited onlookers at places like the University of Georgia, showing people what they looked like on monitors in the truck.
WAGA did finally take delivery of a second transmitter and came to life on March 9, 1949 (5 1/2 months after WSB TV).
And like many stations, technical glitches prevented them from signing on at the appointed hour. They were about 15-minutes late. We learned that WALB Albany never could solve technical issues involving their used equipment on launch day and wound up signing on a day late.
Working on the "Dawn of Georgia Television" doc for GPTV, we came across the fact that Storer's WAGA could have been the first TV station on the air south of Richmond, beating WSB TV by several weeks.
In 1948, transmitting and studio equipment had to be rationed because demand outstripped supply. WAGA got the first transmitter allotment in Atlanta, but Storer Broadcasting decided to ship the equipment to WSPD Toledo, which at the time was the company's flagship property. For years, WSPD (named for Storer's gasoline additive product "Speedene") was Toledo's only station and Storer felt the revenue opportunity was greater there.
In the months that followed, WAGA engineers did travel the Georgia countryside in a mobile unit, promoting their impending debut and demonstrating their equipment. They aimed the camera at excited onlookers at places like the University of Georgia, showing people what they looked like on monitors in the truck.
WAGA did finally take delivery of a second transmitter and came to life on March 9, 1949 (5 1/2 months after WSB TV).
And like many stations, technical glitches prevented them from signing on at the appointed hour. They were about 15-minutes late. We learned that WALB Albany never could solve technical issues involving their used equipment on launch day and wound up signing on a day late.
RichardWarner said:
I've got some trouble with that story, from a technical standpoint.
I can't find 1948 information, but the 1950 Broadcasting Yearbook can be read online on http://www.davidgleason.com/Radio_Archives.htm. The data in this book were collected in 1949. They show WAGA-TV on channel 5 (where it is today) and WSPD-TV on channel 13. (where it also is today, though it changed callsigns to WTVG years ago.)
WIth a fair amount of work, transmitters can be moved between nearby channels. 4 to 6, 13 to 9, etc... A move from channel 5 to channel 13 or vice-versa would require adding frequency-multiplier stages to (or removing them from) the aural and visual exciters, and rebuilding the resonant circuits in the power amplifier stages. It is very possible the tubes used in the channel 5 transmitter simply would not work at the higher frequency of channel 13. (in 1948 it was hard enough making power on channel 5!)
I would suggest that converting WAGA's transmitter for use by WSPD (or vice-versa) would be analogous to converting a school bus into a dump truck. It could be done and you could use many of the parts -- but it would be so much work and would involve replacing so many parts that it really wouldn't make sense.
I might theorize the equipment that was in short supply was studio equipment, or maybe steel for the transmitting tower?
Good one; I sit corrected.
Nix the transmitter part...but other components were moved to Toledo after arriving in Atlanta, which prevented the station from signing on.
This turn of events is outlined in Rhett Turnipseed's Masters thesis, which involved interviews with station personnel and George Storer.
Nix the transmitter part...but other components were moved to Toledo after arriving in Atlanta, which prevented the station from signing on.
This turn of events is outlined in Rhett Turnipseed's Masters thesis, which involved interviews with station personnel and George Storer.
By the way, w9wi, your web site is awesome.
Why was WCON/2 not able to get on before
the Coxes made their pre-emptive strike and
bought the Constitution? Do you realize that
ABC would have been on Ch. 2 from the very
beginning?
Speaking of technical delays, I've mentioned
this before but think it's worth another mention:
WLOF (now WFTV), Ch. 9 in Orlando, was scheduled
to sign on at 5:30 PM February 1, 1958. GM Joe
Brechner had informed ABC that the station might
not sign on on time and that he couldn't anticipate
when it might. Lo and behold, Ch. 9 came on at 6
that evening...some kind of record for the time.
the Coxes made their pre-emptive strike and
bought the Constitution? Do you realize that
ABC would have been on Ch. 2 from the very
beginning?
Speaking of technical delays, I've mentioned
this before but think it's worth another mention:
WLOF (now WFTV), Ch. 9 in Orlando, was scheduled
to sign on at 5:30 PM February 1, 1958. GM Joe
Brechner had informed ABC that the station might
not sign on on time and that he couldn't anticipate
when it might. Lo and behold, Ch. 9 came on at 6
that evening...some kind of record for the time.
RichardWarner said:
(and I fear my message came across as more critical than intended!)
Unfortunately, us engineers aren't very good at keeping records of what we've done (at least not in formats that non-engineers would find readable!), so stories like this generally end up being written on the basis of information gathered, at the time, by people who didn't really understand what they were observing. I'm sure most of us have encountered plenty of non-technical people inside and outside the industry who used the term "transmitter" to refer to something that really *wasn't* a transmitter. (antennas, towers, buildings)
(thanks for the comments on my website!)
w9,
I went on Good Day Atlanta several years ago to do a live segment about HDTV, and pointed to the LCD monitor behind me as an example of an HD screen...but assured viewers they needed an HD set and we would need to be sending an HD signal to get the effect.
Well, the engineer came running out afterward, "no no nooooooo...that is NOT an HD set!" That's the difference. You engineer types have to be right or the signal doesn't work. Us journalists get to fudge
Thanks, Daryll, for the kind words. No the doc hasn't aired. We have done about 40 interviews and have a giant notebook of transcripts that I've started marking.
We have uncovered some AWESOME film clips that I have never seen before, and have the cooperation of the Peabody Collection at UGA as well as most commercial stations around the state. WSB and Gene McHugh at FOX5 have been just great. UGA has a few treasures of local shows that don't exist elsewhere.
Plus we found some WSB TV stuff from 1948; I was like a kid on Christmas morning watching it last night. For a TV history buff, these are the crown jewels.
We still need a few things, so if anyone on this board has thoughts on who we could talk to on-camera, we still have a few weeks of videotaping left.
- WLTV/WLW-A (the precursor of 11Alive): we need someone who worked there that remembers what it was like
- WROM TV Rome: we have a touching story about that station, but the person lives in Virginia and we don't have a budget to travel there...Anybody know someone who worked there?
- WQXI TV 36: Red Jones started there much later and remembers the studio, but we're looking for someone who was part of the 9 months or so they operated in 1954
And anything we're missing. Maybe someone who watched WSB TV sign on...
I went on Good Day Atlanta several years ago to do a live segment about HDTV, and pointed to the LCD monitor behind me as an example of an HD screen...but assured viewers they needed an HD set and we would need to be sending an HD signal to get the effect.
Well, the engineer came running out afterward, "no no nooooooo...that is NOT an HD set!" That's the difference. You engineer types have to be right or the signal doesn't work. Us journalists get to fudge
Thanks, Daryll, for the kind words. No the doc hasn't aired. We have done about 40 interviews and have a giant notebook of transcripts that I've started marking.
We have uncovered some AWESOME film clips that I have never seen before, and have the cooperation of the Peabody Collection at UGA as well as most commercial stations around the state. WSB and Gene McHugh at FOX5 have been just great. UGA has a few treasures of local shows that don't exist elsewhere.
Plus we found some WSB TV stuff from 1948; I was like a kid on Christmas morning watching it last night. For a TV history buff, these are the crown jewels.
We still need a few things, so if anyone on this board has thoughts on who we could talk to on-camera, we still have a few weeks of videotaping left.
- WLTV/WLW-A (the precursor of 11Alive): we need someone who worked there that remembers what it was like
- WROM TV Rome: we have a touching story about that station, but the person lives in Virginia and we don't have a budget to travel there...Anybody know someone who worked there?
- WQXI TV 36: Red Jones started there much later and remembers the studio, but we're looking for someone who was part of the 9 months or so they operated in 1954
And anything we're missing. Maybe someone who watched WSB TV sign on...
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