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Williamsport Radio...
- Thread starter Vince Sweeney
- Start date
loeper said:
Loeper...Sorry, On December 29, 1949, KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut, became the first UHF television station to operate on a regular daily schedule. The first commercially-licensed UHF television station on the air was KPTV, Channel 27, in Portland, Oregon, on September 18, 1952. This TV station even used much of the equipment, including the transmitter, from KC2XAK. Sounds like Art Carlson was telling you another tall tall by friend. WSBA first commercial station on the air.....NOPE
from Wikipedia, and take it for what it's worth:
The station began broadcasting in December 1952 as WSBA-TV. It was owned by Susquehanna Radio Corporation along with WSBA-AM 910. They were one of the first commercially-licensed UHF stations in the United States just over three months after KPTV in Portland, Oregon first went on-the-air. However, that station moved to VHF channel 12 a few years after taking to the air. This makes WPMT the second-oldest continuously broadcasting UHF station in the country only behind WSBT-TV in South Bend, Indiana. WSBA was originally an ABC affiliate.
The station began broadcasting in December 1952 as WSBA-TV. It was owned by Susquehanna Radio Corporation along with WSBA-AM 910. They were one of the first commercially-licensed UHF stations in the United States just over three months after KPTV in Portland, Oregon first went on-the-air. However, that station moved to VHF channel 12 a few years after taking to the air. This makes WPMT the second-oldest continuously broadcasting UHF station in the country only behind WSBT-TV in South Bend, Indiana. WSBA was originally an ABC affiliate.
warmland....."Art Carlson telling a tall tale"? surely you jest. btw....do you think the "Mr. Carlson" character on WKRP was in any way based on the susquhanna big shot? they did own a station in Cinncinatti at the time that show aired. I know Jennifer was in no way based on any of the women I worked with at WSBA.
Kevin Fitzgerald said:
The Baltimores were very loyal buyers of RCA equipment and articles featuring their stations appeared regularly in the former RCA Broadcast News magazine. This may also explain the strong ties with NBC. I recall reading a interesting story about WBRE-TV's original NBC relay station on Pimple Hill (along Rt 115 about two miles south of Pocono Raceway) where the Channel 4 off air signal from New York was received and then sent by microwave to the transmitter site on Wyoming Mountain. This was the only way to receive a TV network feed in the early '50s until AT&T provided microwave video service to the area.
On the subject of early UHF TV, does anyone here have information on the former WHUM-TV Channel 61 licensed to Reading? When it began operation in February 1953, it was the most powerful TV station in the world, the first to use a high power Klystron amplifier (provided by GE), and one of only three stations with a tower height greater than 1000 feet, so there's some significant history:
http://radiodxer.bravehost.com/WHUM61.htm
The WHUM-TV transmitter site was atop Blue Mountain where Rt 183 passes over, and was intended to provide coverage all the way from Harrisburg to the Lehigh Valley, north to Scranton, and southeast to Philadelphia. But I imagine the multipath in Reading itself was horrible (with Mount Penn serving as a very effective reflector) and that's one reason why the station quickly became a "ghost". I'm not sure how long ago the tower and building were taken down, but several guy anchors are still visible back in the woods. If anyone has pictures of the tower, transmitter, and studio, please let me know. Unfortunately, the Reading Eagle didn't provide much coverage of WHUM-TV, as it competed against the paper's own WEEU-TV 33 which began operation several weeks later and suffered a similar fate.
Re:WBRE TV Facts/WHUM TV
When I worked at WBRE TV in the late 60's we had the most modern television equipment produced by RCA ! The Sr. Baltimore was a close friend of David Sarnoff/chairman of RCA.It was like a proto type station for RCA. We were the envy of stations in Philly and New York.WBRE TV was the first UHF station producing 1 megawatt of power.(1,000,000 watts of effective radiated power.)In the late 60"s we were using Varian Klystrons with a 110KW RCA transmitter and a high gain antenna to produce 5,000,000 watts of effective radiated power.It was one of the most powerful signals in the entire country. ( must get on those distant cable systems ). The old,old timers told me back then that WHUM TV in Reading had severe antenna beam tilt problems among other things.Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Old Timer
Tim Y
When I worked at WBRE TV in the late 60's we had the most modern television equipment produced by RCA ! The Sr. Baltimore was a close friend of David Sarnoff/chairman of RCA.It was like a proto type station for RCA. We were the envy of stations in Philly and New York.WBRE TV was the first UHF station producing 1 megawatt of power.(1,000,000 watts of effective radiated power.)In the late 60"s we were using Varian Klystrons with a 110KW RCA transmitter and a high gain antenna to produce 5,000,000 watts of effective radiated power.It was one of the most powerful signals in the entire country. ( must get on those distant cable systems ). The old,old timers told me back then that WHUM TV in Reading had severe antenna beam tilt problems among other things.Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Old Timer
Tim YI stumbled across this site again today and just a couple of things hit me right away.
1. Almost no mention of Vic Michaels WMLP, back in the late 50's, the 60's and into the 70's they were a powerhouse. Spending my time between WMPT, WLYC/WILA and a short stint at WBPZ no body could compete with "The Mighty Thirteen Eighty," in the Milton, Lewisburg, Sunbury area.
2. Johnny Knight Mentioned Mona (Patt) Fisher as the first female DJ in Williamsport. While she was one of the first, that honor goes WAY BACK to the early days of WMPT with Louise (Weezie) McLaughlin and Connie Hurst and even Joanne Castelbury. I can remember meeting Connie pretty early in WMPT's history, when they were still located in South Williamsport's Borough Hall and spending some time in the Control Room observing her on a Saturday morning. I think I only met "Weezie" once, as she did the Waxworks Show (11:00 PM to 1:00 AM). I believe she came after Woody Langley.
1. Almost no mention of Vic Michaels WMLP, back in the late 50's, the 60's and into the 70's they were a powerhouse. Spending my time between WMPT, WLYC/WILA and a short stint at WBPZ no body could compete with "The Mighty Thirteen Eighty," in the Milton, Lewisburg, Sunbury area.
2. Johnny Knight Mentioned Mona (Patt) Fisher as the first female DJ in Williamsport. While she was one of the first, that honor goes WAY BACK to the early days of WMPT with Louise (Weezie) McLaughlin and Connie Hurst and even Joanne Castelbury. I can remember meeting Connie pretty early in WMPT's history, when they were still located in South Williamsport's Borough Hall and spending some time in the Control Room observing her on a Saturday morning. I think I only met "Weezie" once, as she did the Waxworks Show (11:00 PM to 1:00 AM). I believe she came after Woody Langley.
In 1968 when Dave Castlebury (WMPT) petitioned the FCC for an FM Channel assignment for South Williamsport, under parts 80/90, he was worried that Woddy Ott (WWPA) would cross file once the assignment was granted. The assignments were fair game once granted by the FCC. I can rememebr Woody calling Dave and wishing him good luck as that FM thing wasn't going to last.
A"Woody Ott " reference !!!! wow. having worked at the "twin" during the Woddy Ott era I can truly believe that story about him telling Castelberry that "the FM thing won't work". I worked there from Aug 66 to sept 68 and Woddy Ott and his GM Phil Lane were stuck in 1954. they refused to let us play anything that came close to contemperary music and thought that big 10 minite blocks of CBS network news every hour on the hour was a hudge programing asset...rather than the audiance chaser that it was. those of us who were on air did our best but in the back of our minds i think we all knew that "nobody was listening" I am glad to hear the station turned into something better in the 70s. was that when Bill Ott was owning the station? I worked on Government place and left town before the fire. it would make me sad if 1340 is now dark.
Re:WBRE TV Facts/WHUM TV
I had heard the same was true for WBRE radio (1340). Obviously they weren't a power house, but the mikes and boards were all state of the art for the time, I've heard, because RCA used the WBRE stations to test their new equipment.
In fact, regarding this:
I remember sitting in the Westmoreland Club, as a teen, hearing a discussion about how the first tube used to do this had been custom built for WBRE, and failed, and another one had to be built,
to the dismay of the engineering staff. The conversation was centered around why so much power was needed anyway. I know nothing of the particulars, though.
Tim Y said:
I had heard the same was true for WBRE radio (1340). Obviously they weren't a power house, but the mikes and boards were all state of the art for the time, I've heard, because RCA used the WBRE stations to test their new equipment.
In fact, regarding this:
I remember sitting in the Westmoreland Club, as a teen, hearing a discussion about how the first tube used to do this had been custom built for WBRE, and failed, and another one had to be built,
to the dismay of the engineering staff. The conversation was centered around why so much power was needed anyway. I know nothing of the particulars, though.
Re: Williamsport Radio... and some this and that
I'll throw one more at the folks here. How many people knew that at one time WRAK had a Television construction permit? Yep, Steinman Corp (Think WGAL Ch 8 Lancaster) owned WRAK AM & FM, back in the late 1950's. They had a C.P. for channel 36, the station was never on the air although I heard that the basement on W. 4th Street had a lot of TV gear in it. Anyway, Steinman sold WRAK, to Wright Macky Corp, and the CP died. Channel 36 eventually went to Elmira, N.Y. to Howard Green (WENY). I worked for Howard for 7 years as a DJ and then Station Manager of WLEZ (former WENY FM) until Howard hired and Ex Merv Griffinite, Pat Parish, who went through managers like crap through a goose. Howard lost a lot of good people because of Pat.
Someplace else here I think it was Johnny Knight mentioned that Dave Castelbury (WMPT) was the best guy he ever worked for, I believe he is right in that assessment. Dave did a lot of things for his employees that no one knew about. One example; after the flood of 1972, when WMPT had 9' of water, he kept paying us while the station was off the air.
In the days of no benefits for employees Dave had a great health insurance plan fr us and a retirement plan too.
I'll throw one more at the folks here. How many people knew that at one time WRAK had a Television construction permit? Yep, Steinman Corp (Think WGAL Ch 8 Lancaster) owned WRAK AM & FM, back in the late 1950's. They had a C.P. for channel 36, the station was never on the air although I heard that the basement on W. 4th Street had a lot of TV gear in it. Anyway, Steinman sold WRAK, to Wright Macky Corp, and the CP died. Channel 36 eventually went to Elmira, N.Y. to Howard Green (WENY). I worked for Howard for 7 years as a DJ and then Station Manager of WLEZ (former WENY FM) until Howard hired and Ex Merv Griffinite, Pat Parish, who went through managers like crap through a goose. Howard lost a lot of good people because of Pat.
Someplace else here I think it was Johnny Knight mentioned that Dave Castelbury (WMPT) was the best guy he ever worked for, I believe he is right in that assessment. Dave did a lot of things for his employees that no one knew about. One example; after the flood of 1972, when WMPT had 9' of water, he kept paying us while the station was off the air.
In the days of no benefits for employees Dave had a great health insurance plan fr us and a retirement plan too.
Kelly, you were right about WRAK having a CP for 36.
The tower is still active on Bald Eagle Mountain. Today, it has Bear Country 99.9's simulcast at 92.7. A translator owned by the late Fred Plankenhorn. At one time, WHTM 27 in Harrisburg owned the tower. I don't know if that is still the case.
The tower is still active on Bald Eagle Mountain. Today, it has Bear Country 99.9's simulcast at 92.7. A translator owned by the late Fred Plankenhorn. At one time, WHTM 27 in Harrisburg owned the tower. I don't know if that is still the case.
Are you possibly referring to the old Lycoming TV Cable Tower? Dave Castlebury bought that tower in 1968 when he put 99.3 on the air. The tower became a home for several two way radio antenna's and the receiving antenna's for the Harriburg TV stations for their translators. It would have been the translator site as well, but there was a shadow so they built another tower further down Skyline Drive.
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