TV For Shepard Wasn't As Easy as Pie

It took 20 years, but John Shepard the 3rd got his TV station.

Shepard was the owner of pioneer radio station WNAC in Boston. In late 1928, he tried, and failed, to get a license for a television station. After the death of mechanical television, he tried again. WNAC-TV finally reached Bostonians in mid-1948.

The Yankee Network of radio stations was founded by Shepard around 1930. During World War Two, it joined the large number of companies that wanted to take a risk and get into television. The Christian Science Monitor reported on September 1, 1944.

Boston Radio Seeks Permit For Television
A Yankee Network radio official today said that the current modern studios of the regional chain at Kenmore Square in Boston would be adequate to take care of the initial stages of television in its present state of development. The Network, which operates Station WNAC in Boston, WEAN, Providence, R. I., WAAB, Worcester, and WICC, Bridgeport, Conn., yesterday [Aug. 31] applied for a permit from the Federal Communications Com-mission for television station in Boston. The application asked for Channel 2 in the current television band, between 60 and 66 megacycles.

Shepard talked to the Monitor about the problems of television. Here’s part of a story from Sept. 13, 1944 where his predictions were extremely accurate when it came to WNAC-TV.

Though he placed high hopes in the future of both frequency modulation radiocasting and television, John Shepard, III, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Yankee Network in Boston, held to the opinion of many observers in the radio industry that it will be from one to five years after the war before television will emerge as a household feature.
Mr. Shepard, whose network applied recently for a television license for Station WNAC in Boston, was inclined to favor the prediction of T. A. M. Craven, Federal Communications Commissioner, who has stated his opinion that it will be two years before television is an accepted commercial proposition.
After disclosure of plans to apply for television licenses for network stations in Providence, R. I., and Hartford, Conn., Mr. Shepard explained that the tremendous cost of television programs would invariably [sic] slow up progress. He declared that costs would force individual stations into networks in order to average off, and hazarded the opinion that stations would be on the air for possibly not more than two hours a day for quite a period. The inaugural output of network television stations would probably consist mostly of films, occasional live shows, and an occasional sports pickup, he said.

The application turned out to be a false start. Here’s Broadcasting magazine, March 25, 1946:

ENTHUSIASM of many television applicants has been cooling, for two major reasons.
1. The campaign of CBS in behalf of ultra-high frequency color video.
2. The cost, as evidenced in FCC hearings. ...
John Shepard 3d, chairman of the board of Yankee Network, said Yankee had withdrawn its Providence application and planned to withdraw from Boston and Hartford because “we feel that the future of television lies in the ultra-high frequencies with color and finer definition in black and white...Also in cities where television broadcasting has not yet been established, we do not think we should encourage the public to buy receivers which in our opinion under those circumstances would be obsolete in two years’ time.”

The application was withdrawn April 5, 1946.

Things settled down, and some of the companies that decided to get out of the TV business decided to get back in. Broadcasting of June 9, 1947 reported:

YANKEE AGAIN SEEKS BOSTON TV STATION
YANKEE NETWORK applied to FCC last Thursday [5] for a new television station at Boston. It requested Channel 7.
Yankee had previously filed for a video affiliate of its WNAC Boston, but withdrew with the intention of entering the color television field if FCC approved commercial color operations. It withdrew applications for Hartford and Providence at the same time.
Five video channels have been allocated to the Boston area. Two of these have been assigned: One to Westinghouse Radio Stations Inc. for WBZ-TV Boston and one to Raytheon Mfg. Co. for WRTB Waltham. In addition to the Yankee Network application, which was filed by Thomas N. Dowd of the Washington law firm of Pierson & Ball, New England Theatres Inc., is seeking a television station at Boston.

The FCC made a decision several months later. From Broadcasting, Oct. 6, 1947:

A GRANT to Yankee Network for a new television station at Boston was issued by the FCC last Thursday [2]. The permit authorizes use of Channel 7 (174-180 mc) with 32.7 kw visual and aural power and antenna height 566 feet. The network, which is licensee of AM station WNAC Boston, estimated construction costs at approximately $280,250. It plans to operate the station 28 hours weekly.

Now it was a matter of getting equipment and some programming. The latter was made easier when a series of relay stations linked Boston with TV-producing networks. That happened about a month later.

New Television Circuit Links Capital, New York, Boston
NEW YORK, Nov. 13 (U.P.)—Television was sent over a 500-mile wire-radio circuit today, linking Washington, New York and Boston. It marked another step toward coast-to-coast television network programs.
The new system, opened experimentally today, will enable Boston to share New York's and Washington's television programs. In all, it is expected that 25,000,000 persons will be able to see television.
Officials of the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. and the Bell Laboratories which developed the system, said that a network to Chicago is now being constructed and should be in operation by spring. This will enable millions more to be included in the television luxury.
The system demonstrated today included use of the coaxial cable between New York and Washington, and a new microwave radio relay between New York and Boston.
The Boston part of the program was broadcast by an experimental station, with the signals being transmitted through a series of hilltop repeater stations. These are located at Bear Hill, Waltham, Mass., Asnebumskit Mountain, northwest of Worcester, Mass.; Bald Hill, east of Stafford Springs, Conn., John Tom Hill, Glastonbury, Conn., Spindle Hill, north of Waterbury, Conn., Birch Hill, about three miles south of Pawling, N. Y., and Jackie Jones Mountain, west of Haverstraw.
These stations, located about 20 to 30 miles apart, are necessary to television which does not follow the curvature of the earth. With the stations operating automatically, the television signals are picked up before they shoot off into space, and are relayed on to the next station. The demonstration today showed that pictures could be sent by the radio relay as clearly as they can by the coaxial cable, which has been in operation between New York and Washington for some years.
Walter S. Gifford, president of the A. T. & T., said the radio relay also would be used for the transmission of telephone communication. He and other company engineers said many thousands of telephone calls might be made over the relay at the same time.
The microwaves, used in the transmission, are of high frequency, and are not interrupted by storm or magnetic disturbances to a great degree. Static also is eliminated.

From the Boston Globe, Nov. 22, 1947:

WNAC Signs for TV Equipment
John Shepard 3d, chairman of the board, Yankee Network, signed contracts this week with R. L. Hans, New England manager of the General Electric Electronics Dept.; William C. Jaeger, district representative, and A. A. Brandt, general sales manager of G. E. WNAC will use complete G. E. transmitting equipment for its new television station. Transmitting facilities will be located at Medford. WNAC plans to be on with television early in 1948.

A report on March 8, 1948 from the FCC said a petition had been made to drop requests for a modification of WNAC-TV Boston construction permit. The station sought to switch from Channel 7 (174=180 mc) to Channel 13 (210-216 mc).

From Broadcasting, April 12, 1948:

TEN TELEVISION receivers will be awarded as prizes in contest being conducted by WNAC-TV Boston, in co-operation with Boston Daily Record, American and Sunday Advertiser, and Electric Institute of Boston. Receivers will go to writers of ten best letters of 50 words or less on, "I would like a television receiver in my home, because . . . " Contest, which started April 1 and will run until April 22, is being promoted on the air by WNAC and in daily features by the newspapers. Prize receivers also were on display April 3-10 in the WNAC-TV booth at First Annual Electric Show in Boston's Mechanics Bldg. WNAC-TV is scheduled to go on the air in June.

And local sports clubs were anxious to be seen in homes, too. Broadcasting reported on May 3, 1948:

TV RIGHTS FREE
3 Sponsors for Boston Baseball Telecasts
IN A GESTURE unprecedented in major league baseball advertising the Boston teams (Braves and Red Sox) have granted television rights without charge to the Atlantic Refining Co., Narragansett Brewery, which co-sponsors the baseball AM broadcasts, and the Boston Herald-Traveler, it was revealed last week at a meeting of the principals.
The three advertisers were reported to have previously offered an estimated $30,000 for television privileges, but both Tom Yawkey, president of the Boston Red Sox, and Louis Perini, president of the Boston Braves, turned down the bid. They explained that they had investigated television and had decided that there were an insufficient number of sets in Boston.
However, Mr. Perini maintained that they were so pleased with the AM broadcasts and the way the advertisers and WHDH Boston were handling them that in "fairness to the sponsors" they were giving them the video rights free of charge.
In granting the free telecasts Mr. Yawkey told the sponsors, "We feel we like to help speed the growth of television ... and render a service to the Boston fans." The baseball president went on to as-sure the advertiser representatives that the baseball telecasts would be in "their hands."
Thus, effective May 20 the games will be seen on WBZ-TV Boston (which goes on the air for the first time the day before, May 19) sponsored by Atlantic Refining, the brewery and the newspaper. The games are also scheduled to be carried on WNAC-TV when that station takes the air.

Christian Science Monitor, June 8, 1948:

Yankee Network Pictures Early Television Debut
While a definite date has not been set for the debut of the Yankee Network's television station WNAC-TV, work at the site in, Medford, on the Malden line, is progressing rapidly.
Linus Travers, Executive Vice-President and General Manager of the Yankee Network, disclosed that Boston's second television station will offer a varied program of network and local television programs.
WNAC-TV, Mr. Travers disclosed, will exchange television programs with WCBS-TV, the Columbia Broadcasting System's station in New York, on an experimental basis. Local lookers-in he said, will have available all the CBS network programs sent over the Eastern Seaboard Network.
The summer dramatic productions at the Wellesley College Summer Theater will be relayed exclusively by WNAC-TV, Mr. Travers disclosed. Noted Broadway and Hollywood actors, and students will take part in the series which runs for five weeks from July 5 to Aug. 14.
Lester Smith, Yankee's director of special events, will give the color and commentaries at the home games of the Red Sox and Braves which will be telecast in conjunction with WBZ-TV from Fenway Park and Braves Field. Transformation of Yankee Network's old Studio One at the Hotel Buckminster into a new television studio is nearly completed, Mr. Travers said.
In addition, Yankee Network will relay its frequency modulation (FM) programs from the new location in Medford. A pioneer in FM radiocasting, the new station will be the Yankee Network's third station radiocasting in this medium.
WNAC-TV, according to Mr. Travers, will serve the metropolitan area of Boston and an outlying area hounded approximately by the New Hampshire-Maine state lines on the north, on the west by Worcester, to Providence on the southwest, and to the southeast of Plymouth or approximately 49 miles from Boston.

Finally the station was set to take to the air with programmes, just in time for the Republican Convention in Philadelphia. The Boston Globe reported on June 19, 1948.

Both WNAC and WBZ to Televise Convention
Boston's second television station, WNAC-TV, will be on the air today with test patterns on Channel 7. And on Monday, WNAC-TV will join WBZ-TV in bringing the highlights of the Republican National Convention opening in Philadelphia. Thereafter daily events of interest at the Convention will be seen by television.
However, WNAC announces Monday will not be its "T-Day." Formal dedication of WNAC-TV will take place in the middle of August, when a gala celebration will mark the official opining of television for the Yankee Network. Linus Travers, vice president and general manager, says the telecasting of convention activities is for test purposes.
All told, 18 stations along the East Coast will be hooked up with the convention through television, extending from Richmond, Va., to Boston. Operation will be under a pool arrangement with NBC. CBS, ABC and DuMont Stations throughout the Middle West and on the Coast will get their convention scenes by film because network hookups are not yet extended that far and won't be until 1952.
Telecasts of the convention will come to Boston over the microwave system from New York. Only one Boston television station can use it at a time. When WBZ-TV is on with convention pickups, WNAC-TV will resort to test patterns.

The programming week looked like this:

MONDAY, JUNE 21, 1948
Republican Convention pickups, times indefinite.

TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 1948
10-10:45 a.m.—Test Pattern. 10:45-11:15—Republican Convention. 8-8:45 p.m.—Test Pattern. 8:45-11:15—Republican Convention.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 1948
(Informal Program Schedule)
10-10:45 a.m.—Test Pattern. 10:45-1:15 p.m.—Republican Convention. 8:30—Test Pattern. 9:00—Convention. 10:00—Indefinite. 10:30-midnight—Convention.

THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 1948
10:15-10:45 a.m.—Test pattern. 10:45-1:30 p.m.—Republican Convention. 1:45-2:15—Test pattern. 2:15-5:15—Republican Convention. 8:30-9:00—Test pattern. 9:00-10:00—Republican Convention. 10:00—Joe Louis-Jersey Joe Wolcott fight. 10:30-2 a.m.—Republican Convention.

FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 1948 through MONDAY, JUNE 28, 1948
No schedule available.

WHAC-TV didn’t have any studio programmes for the nonce (do people still say that?), so it found some more outside sources. Broadcasting, June 28, 1948:

WNAC-TV Boston Starts Experimental Programs
WNAC-TV Boston has announced plans for formal opening August 15 with a full schedule of video programs.
First test pattern was carried June 19 according to Linus Travers, executive vice president and general manager. Experimental programming last week included pooled broadcasts from Republican Convention and interviews with leading candidates which were filmed by Life magazine.
WNAC-TV is on Channel 7 (174-180 mc), with transmitter and tower located at Medford, Mass. Licensee is the Yankee Network.

The Christian Science Monitor, July 1, 1948:

WNAC-TV Arrange 2 Network Deals
Completion of agreements for the temporary telecasting affiliation of WNAC-TV with both the Columbia Broadcasting System and the American Broadcasting Company picture networks, was announced today by Linus Travers, Executive Vice-President and General Manager of the Yankee Network.
Effective tonight, WNAC-TV of the Yankee Network will telecast programs of both networks during its present period of informal programming. WNAC-TV has been relaying CBS television programs.
Tonight the local station will carry three programs of the ABC network from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m.
The formal dedication of WNAC-TV is scheduled for about the middle of August, Mr. Travers said. The Yankee Network is affiliated with the Mutual Broadcasting System for standard (AM) and FM (frequency modulation) programs. Mutual's telecasting plans are in the formative stage.

Once it was ready, the station split Boston baseball play-by-play with WBZ-TV, which went on the air less than two weeks before WNAC-TV. The Globe also had specifics of its first day of network programming, convention aside.

TUESDAY, JUNE 29, 1948
8:00—Test Pattern. 8:30—Boston Braves vs New York Giants at Braves Field.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 1948
8:00—Test Pattern. 8:30—Boston Braves vs New York Giants at Braves Field.

THURSDAY, JULY 1, 1948
10-noon—Test Pattern. 3:30-4:30—Test Pattern. 5:30-6:00—What’s New? (ABC/WFIL-TV) 6:45—CBS Film. 7:00—Fabrielle, songs (ABC/WFIL-TV). 7:15—Face the Music. (CBS). 7:30—CBS Television News (CBS). 9:00—Presidential Timber: Henry Wallace (CBS). 9:30—Winner Take All (CBS).

WNAC-TV wanted additional programming, meaning the test phase would have to continue. Variety, July 14, 1948:

DuMont Network is building its own relay system on the way to Boston. The DuMont relay already extends to New Haven, Conn., where the web’s affiliate, WHNC, has been receiving programs for several weeks.
DuMont starts feeling programs to WNAC-TV, Boston, this Sunday (17), but over AT&T’s microwave relay.

Broadcasting, July 1948:

BOSTON YANKS TO BE ON TV
Owners of Boston Yanks pro football team have agreed to permit television coverage of home games by WNAC-TV Boston, starting with season opener against Green Bay Packers night of Sept. 17. Agreement is for 1948 season only as is in nature of trial run.

Billboard, Aug. 28, 1948"

Second N. Y.-to-Boston Relay To Be Opened in September
BOSTON, Aug. 21. — Additional television network productions are virtually assured for this area as the result of a decision by American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) to permit use of the protection circuit in the New York-to-Boston microwave relay system for relaying two different video programs at the same time.
In effect, the agreement reached between AT&T and WBZ-TV and WNAC-TV officials enables both stations to take eight hours of network relays a day instead of the present arrangement of sharing eight hours between them. The project is expected to go into effect sometime in September and continue thru November and will be operated on an un-protected basis.
Up until now one of the two circuits north to Boston has been utilized as a spare, over which television programs have been automatically switched when trouble developed in the overland relay system. While telephone and video engineers are inclined to discount the possibility of any serious break in the service, disruption of either circuit might wreck a telecast until engineers at any one of the seven intermediate radio relay stations between the two cities could restore normal service.
The move to turn over the protection circuit for added relays was deemed necessary to avoid an impending wrangle over the allotment of the facilities. WBZ-TV, tied in with the National Broadcasting Company, was obliged to struggle along with about one-quarter of the eight hours a day, while WNAC-TV, still operating on an informal schedule, had title to the remaining time by virtue of their interim affiliation with DuMont, the American Broadcasting Company and Columbia Broadcasting System television networks.
Telephone officials intimated that a new protection circuit should be in operation around November 1.

The formal debut of the station was supposed to be Oct. 3, “but Hub newspapers, which use any excuse these days to get out video supplements, couldn’t cover the ad field in time,” Variety told readers. “Sunday papers for Oct. 10, however, bloomed with special video spreads, Herald, Post, Globe, Advertiser and Christian Science Monitor publishing video sections.”

WNAC-TV staff and viewers may not have been concerned about the delay. They were handed a programming gem—the 1948 World Series between the Boston Braves and the powerhouse Cleveland Indians. WNAC-TV produced all three broadcasts from Braves Field. Unfortunately, there was no cable link between WEWS in Cleveland and the eastern stations, and the Stratovision system of relaying signals from airplanes was ruled out because of possible interference, so fans had to rely on radio for the two games from Cleveland (Variety, Oct. 6).

Here’s a preview column from the Christian Science Monitor, Oct. 9, 1948:

Hub Television Network To Begin 7-Day Schedule
By Albert D. Hughes
Radio Editor of The Christian Science Monitor
WNAC-TV, the Yankee Network's television station in Boston on Channel 7 will inaugurate a seven-day schedule of programs with its formal opening on Sunday [10].
The station has been operating for more than three months with an informal schedule of approximately five hours daily of programs.
Formalization of station operations will not at first imply that the Yankee Network is undertaking a larger program schedule. Rather it does mean that the station management is now definitely committing itself to a program schedule. A slogan of "Seven on Seven" adopted by the Yankee Network indicates that programs will be telecast seven days on Channel 7.
CBS One Big Source
WNAC-TV will, as it has in the past weeks, continue to retelecast programs from the Columbia Broadcasting System, American Broadcasting Company and DuMont television network. The network shows will be supplemented with extensive local sports pick-ups.
These will include Harvard, Boston College and Holy Cross football games, the Boston Yanks Pro football, the Manning Bowl high school football games from Lynn, boxing and wrestling.
The Yankee Network has nearly finished the reconversion al a large sound radiocasting studio in the Buckminster Hotel into a television studio for local picture programs.
Relay From Medford
The television programs are relayed from a new station in Medford near the Malden line. From the same location the FM (frequency modulation) staticless programs of WNAC-FM also are radiocast. The programs emanate from an antenna located at 509 feet altitude, thus providing a good signal in an area of approximately 50 miles radius from the transmitter. The video, or picture signal, is transmitted with a power of 26:6 kilowatts and the audio, or sound, is radiocast with a power of 13.3 kilowatts.
Among the network television shows scheduled for the opening Sunday telecasts on the formal schedule include: the Original Amateur Hour, 7 p.m.; Actors Studio, 8:30 p.m.; Ed Sullivan's "Toast of the Town," 9 p.m.; and the Gallup Election Poll, 10 p.m.

The Globe had no fewer than nine stories (and plenty of photos) about WNAC-TV when it formally began broadcasting on October 10, 1948. Here is the main story.

WNAC-TV Presents Video Magic
WORLD SERIES GAMES HERE STEM FROM YANKEE T-V STATION
Boston Station Formally Launches Channel 7
Tele Formal announcement today that WNAC-TV the Yankee Network's television station, is launching a broad program of informative, educational and entertaining programs places Boston among the top television cities in America.
With WNAC-TV a fall-fledged Metropolitan class television station, this city now has two of the 37 stations in the entire country as of early October. It is estimated that there are 16,4000 television receiving sets in Boston, in excess of 6000 more than Detroit, for example.
"Our interim affiliations with the Columbia Broadcasting System; American Broadcasting Company and DuMont Television gives us a wider variety of programs than is telecast by any other station, and as full a schedule as is seen in any television city in the country," said Linus Travers, vice president and general manager of WNAC-TV.
The WNAC-TV executive disclosed that the station will telecast a total of approximately 63 hours each week. Already he stated an abundance of requests for types of programs desired by tele-viewers have been received. Placing emphasis on sports, which, he said, lead all television popularity polls, Mr. Travers commented:
"WNAC-TV takes its place as Boston's station for sports events. We'll have the World Series, Callahan A. C. boxing bouts, Paul Bowser's wrestling matches and Boston College, Harvard and Holy Cross football games.
"WNAC-TV will telecast the Manning Bowl high school football games. In the professional ranks, we’ll telecast the Boston Yanks home games. And we are negotiating in addition for the final period of the Bruins Boston Garden hockey games.
"Whenever our schedule permits, we also include nationally-originated fights, football games, tennis, polo and wrestling. During one tele-cast day, for example, we gave our audience a local baseball game, a local football game and the tennis matches from Forest Hills. That night, for good measure, we added two of New York's highest-rated talent shows, Dumont's 'Ama-teur Hour,' and Columbia's ‘Talk of the Town.’"
The things that can and can't be done in television rapidly are being learned through the trial and error method, Mr. Travers pointed out. Elaborating on the subject, he explained.
"The dramatic nature of the system, and the vast amount of publicity it has received have combined to give the owner of a television set an inflated expectation of what the industry can do at the present time.
"With the cooperation of the set distributors and installation crews we have been making every effort to give the un-colored facts about television to viewers in Boston and the surrounding communities. Once the set owner is given these facts, we have found him mast understanding and helpful in developing the art.
"The television set owner never is casual. He is intense, critical and full of suggestions for which we are most grateful. The requests for types of programs have been most helpful to our planners, who already have put into production study a half-dozen which originated with our audience."
Continued expansion of WNAC-TV's television program will, Mr. Travers asserted, involve installation of equipment, training of personnel, clearances of film, music copyright and union negotiations "However," he put it, "current enthusiasm of set owners is high, and serves as an incentive for continued efforts by our staff and management to increase our service."
WNAC-TV studios are at 21 Brookline av. Its transmitter is at Medford.
The Yankee Network Institute, familiar to New England listeners over the last two years, is planning extensive television activities over WNAC-TV.
Jurists, lawyers, medical men, educators and scientists heard on its award-winning radio shows now are to be seen on the television screen during the "Medical Center of the Air" and other panels. A Mental health series for television also is being considered. The institute is making plans or television appearance of the country's greatest psychologists and psychiatrists. James S. Powers, director of the institute, sees in WNAC-TV a fine opportunity to extend its social usefulness.
In announcing its broadened television program, WNAC-TV, the Yankee Network's television station, makes profitable use of the opinions exchanged and views !expressed during its Yankee Network Television Clinic, sponsored earlier this year.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1948
1:45—Test Pattern. 2:15—Football Game Manning Bowl, Malden Catholic High vs. St. Mary’s High, Lester Smith. 6:00—Scrapbook Junior (CBS). 6:30—Key to the Missing (DuMont). 7:00—“Original Amateur Hour” with Ted Mack (DuMont). 8:00—“Hollywood Screen Test,” Elissa Landi, Neil Hamilton with ten-year-old Jimsey Somers (ABC). 8:30—The Actors’ Studio, “The Giants’ Stair” with Michael Strong, Peggy Meredith and Julie Harris. (ABC). 9:00—Toast of the Town with Tony Canzomeri, Mark Plant, Joey Adams, comedy; Mayo Brothers, Deep River Boys, Hammond’s Birds, Don Henry Trio, Bill Robinson and host Ed Sullivan. (CBS). 10:00—“America Speaks,” George Gallup Election Report (CBS).
A unique feature of the football telecasts done by WNAC-TV on Channel 7 each week from the Manning Bowl in Lynn, the largest schoolboy stadium in the East, is the live lineups.
At most games an announcer reads the lineup. Fred Foye, who assists Les Smith by giving color and doing interviews at the game, has each boy come to the microphone, give his name, number and position. This gives the people at home a chance to make their own score card and chart and at the same time see what the lads look like.
After the game Foye takes part in another unusual telecast. He interviews the “Men of the Game,” boys who have been outstanding on the field of play for that particular game.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1948
10:00—Test Pattern. 12:45—World Series Game Six, Cleveland vs. Boston at Braves Field. 5:15—Test Pattern. 5:30—Cartoon Teletales (ABC). 6:00—“Small Fry Club” with Bob Emery (DuMont). 6:30—Russ Hodges’ Scoreboard (DuMont). 6:45—Film shorts. 6:50—“Shawmut Nightly News Teller” newsreel. 7:00—“News and Views,” Gordon Fraser, H.R. Baukhage and Jim Gibbons. (ABC). 7:15—“Places Please” with Barry Wood (CBS). 7:30—CBS Television News (CBS). 7:45—“Face the Music” with Johnny Desmond, Tony Mottola Trio, Sandra Deal (CBS). 8:00—“Quizzing the News,” Alan Prescott and guests (ABC). 8:30—“Swing Into Sports,” Wendell Rollins and Reggie McNamara, cyclists (DuMont). 9:00—Film shorts (DuMont). 9:30—“Court of Current Issues” (DuMont).

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1948
1:00—Test Pattern. 2:15-4:30—Football game at Manning Bowl, Somerville vs. Lynn Vocational High School. 5:15—Test Pattern. 5:30—Ireene Wicker, the Singing Lady (ABC). 6:00—“Small Fry Club” with Bob Emery (DuMont). 6:30—Russ Hodges’ Scoreboard (DuMont). 6:45—Film shorts. 6:50—“Shawmut Nightly News Teller” newsreel. 7:00—“News and Views,” with George Hicks; Sports. (ABC). 7:15—Film Shorts; West Point (ABC). 7:30—CBS Television News (CBS). 7:45—“Face the Music” with Johnny Desmond, Tony Mottola Trio, Sandra Deel (CBS). 8:00—“Operation Success” (DuMont) 8:30—Film shorts (DuMont). 9:00—“We, the People” (CBS). 9:30-10:00—“The People’s Platform—Straws in the Wind,” Lyman Bryson, Elmo Roper and guests (CBS).

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1948
10:00-noon—Test Pattern. 1:00-4:30—Test Pattern. 5:30—Cartoon Teletales (ABC). 6:00—“Small Fry Club” with Bob Emery (DuMont). 6:30—Russ Hodges’ Scoreboard (DuMont). 6:45—Film shorts. 6:50—“Shawmut Nightly News Teller” newsreel. 7:00—“News and Views,” with George Hicks; Sports with Joe Hasel. (ABC). 7:15—“Places Please” with Barry Wood (CBS). 7:30—CBS Television News (CBS). 7:45—“Face the Music” with Johnny Desmond, Tony Mottola Trio, Sandra Deel (CBS). 8:00—Gay Nineties Revue with Gus Van, Lulu Bates and others (ABC). 8:30—“Winner Take All” with Bud Collyer (CBS). 9:00—Wrestling Matches from Turner’s Arena, Washington (ABC).
Two unblemished local records will be threatened tonight at Turner’s Arena where Bibber McCoy seeks his fourth straight victory in the feature wrestling bout with Laverne Baxter and the Golden Superman attempts to keep his slate clean in a special match with Gino Garibaldi.
The headlined Baxter-McCoy bout is a grudge battle of villains. McCoy was the top mat meanie here several years ago until he rassled a bitter draw with Baxter and then went into the service. Since then Baxter has been the No. 1 villain here. The bout tonight should settle the question of supremacy among the bad men of the mat. (Washington Star)

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1948
10:00-noon—Test Pattern. 1:00-4:30—Test Pattern. 5:30—Film shorts. 6:00—“Small Fry Club” with Bob Emery (DuMont). 6:30—Russ Hodges’ Scoreboard (DuMont). 6:45—Film shorts. 6:50—“Shawmut Nightly News Teller” newsreel. 7:00—“News and Views,” G. Fraser; Sports, Hasel (ABC). 7:15—Film shorts: “Football 40 Years Ago” (ABC). 7:30—CBS Television News with Douglas Edwards (CBS). 7:45—“Face the Music” with Johnny Desmond, Tony Mottola Trio, Sandra Deel (CBS). 8:00—“To the Queen’s Taste” with Mrs. Dione Lucas (CBS) 8:30—“Club Seven” with Johnny Thompson (ABC). 9:00-11:00—World’s Championship Rodeo, Madison Square Garden (CBS).

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1948
10:00-noon—Test Pattern. 1:00-4:30—Test Pattern. 5:30—Film shorts. 6:00—“Small Fry Club” with Bob Emery (DuMont). 6:30—Russ Hodges’ Scoreboard (DuMont). 6:45—Film shorts. 6:50—“Shawmut Nightly News Teller” newsreel. 7:00—“News and Views,” Pauline Frederick; Joe Hasel, sports (ABC). 7:15—“Places Please” with Barry Wood (CBS). 7:30—“Touchdown,” film. 8:00—“Sportsman’s Quiz,” film short. 8:15-11:00—Boston College-Villanova football.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1948 No programming.

Vaudeville vs Berle

ABC has the distinction of being the only company for several years to have a TV network, but no flagship station in New York.

NBC, CBS and DuMont had a bit of a head start. They had television stations in 1941. But at the time ABC was still part of NBC, which didn’t sell what had been the Blue Network until 1943. That included New York radio station WJZ. After a squabble with a company in the Midwest, Blue changed its name to the American Broadcasting Company.

Now it looked to television. In a Billboard story dated Sept. 23, 1944, it was revealed the Blue Network has filed for TV permits in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. They were placed in the “pending” file. But a little thing like not having a station wasn’t going to stop ABC from getting into the television programming business, which was emerging from the doldrums caused by the war. The company announced it would put shows on stations owned by others. It put the first of its TV shows on WRGB in Schenectady on Feb. 25, 1945. It was Johnny Olson’s audience participate show, Ladies Be Seated.

Meanwhile, the FCC announced on Feb. 1, 1946 that a hearing would take place for the four available New York-New Jersey channels from the American Broadcasting Co. and the following: Bamberger Broadcasting (WOR), Bremer Broadcasting (WAAT Newark), Debs Memorial Radio Fund (WEVD), Palmer K. and Lois C. Leberman, Marcus Loew Booking Agency (WHN), Metropolitan Television, News Syndicate Co., Philco Radio & Television, Raytheon Mfg. Co., Sherron Metallic Corp., Twentieth Century-Fox, Westchester Broadcasting (WFAS, White Plains) and WLIB, Inc.

Testimony opened on June 3. The list had been cut down to ABC and five others. Broadcasting magazine of the 10th had an excellent summary of the hearing.

As first witness for ABC, Mark Woods, president, emphasized the network's need for a New York television station to feed programs to ABC affiliates, to draw on the abundance of New York talent and to telecast to the large audience.
Nationwide service, he said, would be provided through coaxial cable, relays and film. ABC has authorized $1,750,000 for purchase of equipment and erection of a tower on the GE building for the television station, he said. . . .
Only other witness for ABC was Paul B. Mowrey, the network's national director of television, who emphasized the experience gained by ABC in producing television programs regularly on three stations: WRGB Schenectady, WABD New York, and WPTZ Philadelphia.
ABC television staff members, he said, "are the only broadcast interests in television who have worked with three different types of television equipment and likewise three different groups of television personnel."

The Commission granted a license on May 14, 1947 to ABC and assigned the company Channel 7 (Bids by Bamberger, Bremer and the Daily News were also approved).

WJZ-TV now had a problem. It found a temporary solution, reported by Variety on Dec. 10:

ABC, after prowling almost a year for a suitable television transmitter site in N. Y., now plans to get together with CBS for joint use of the Chrysler building tower for its WJZ-TV and CBS' N. Y. outlet, WCBS-TV. Move would mark the first time in television's history that two competing stations have used the same transmitter site and will give ABC its long-awaited go-ahead for the web's full-five-station operation. . . .
Once the transmitter arrangements have been completed, ABC plans to up the full speed ahead sign for construction of WJZ-TV and to begin broadcasting by the middle of next summer on channel No. 7. Order has already been placed for transmitter and studio equipment and ABC plans to spend $356,000 before hitting the air.

ABC also asked the Commission to extend the specified completion date for WJZ-TV from Jan. 8 to Sept. 1, 1948.

At this point, the company wasn’t even in the programming business. A March 31, 1948 Variety story announced:

ABC television will resume production of video shows in more than a year. With WJZ-TV, its N. Y. outlet, still under construction and not expected to take the air before early summer, the web will do its programming in WFIL-TV, recently signed affiliate in Philadelphia, and WMAL-TV, Washington. Reason for the early production is to get a line on potential sponsors for the budding network, as well as to give the N. Y. production crew a chance to keep its hand in. . . .
ABC has reserved the 6-6:30 p.m. slot Sunday nights [on the coaxial cable connecting Washington and Philadelphia] on WFIL-TV and WMAL-TV for its programming. It will also pick up the 8-8:30 p.m. slot Thursdays and the 9:30-10:30 segment Saturday nights on the same two stations. Shows will be programmed weekly, but definite plans for the tee-off program haven't yet been set. Move marks the return of ABC to its programming operation last year, when it bought time on four different east coast stations.

The Associated Press gave an August 1st start date for WJZ-TV in a column on April 14, but Billboard of the same date pointed out the station didn’t even have studios and was looking at taking over a riding academy on West 66th Street to give it a 200 by 150 foot studio. A purchase was worked out on July 19. In the meantime, ABC worked out a deal to air programming on WATV in Newark, which was set to go on the air in mid-May. It was still putting some shows on WABD.

The station finally found a transmitter site. A deal was closed May 11, according to the next day’s Variety, to put it atop the Hotel Pierre at 5th Avenue and 61st Street. Construction started, said the Hollywood Reporter on June 17.

And WJZ-TV started signing other deals. On May 17, it inked a contract to air the New York Knicks home games. The New York Giants football club did the same. And within days, Illnois Meats became its first sponsor, agreeing to advertise its Broadcast brand corned beef hash three times a night for 52 weeks. Other contracts followed that month for Peter Paul, Old Dutch Coffee, Beam Products (silver cleaner), and Schaeffer Brewing. ABC continued to sign affiliates, though there was no cable to reach them. By July 28, the company had a half million dollars in ad contracts. Newspapers started carrying listings for the station. The New York Times reported:

The ABC network’s New York television station, WJZ-TV, went on the air yesterday with the first of its regular transmissions of test patterns. It will operate from 10 A. M. to 10 P. M. weekdays and from 10 A. M., to 6 P. M. Sundays. WJZ-TV has been assigned Channel 7.



Talent for opening night was being lined up—at no less a venue than The Palace, the erstwhile showcase of vaudeville. The Hollywood Reporter quoted “Brother Everett” as saying Bing Crosby had been offered $10,000 to appear. He turned it down. It wasn’t worth his while interrupting his holiday. Variety said in its Aug. 3 issue both George Jessel and Jimmy Durante turned down appearances.

Nevertheless, the New York newspapers and the trade papers made great to-dos about WJZ-TV’s premier programming on August 10. We’ll skip past them and bring you a couple of reviews from the next day.

Here’s what Broadcasting wrote on August 9:

WJZ-TV STARTS Elaborate Inaugural Program
WJZ-TV New York, ABC's first owned and operated television station and the sixth video outlet to begin operations in New York, opened for business last week amidst festivities reminiscent of the gayest Hollywood movie premiere.
Its inaugural program ran from 7 until 11:40 p.m. Aug. 10 and included everything from Beatrice Lillie, one of the world's great comediennes, to fragments left over from a recent Fifth Ave. parade.
Civic, religious and business leaders participated in the opening ceremonies. More than 100 executives of ABC affiliated stations were invited and came to New York to see the show, and the network sales department staged a debut party for scores of advertisers and agencies.
Early in the inaugural show ABC presented a "creed" which it, plans to follow in its television broadcasting. The creed:
The American Broadcasting Co. is deeply aware of a high responsibility to the people in its approach to television. We are also deeply aware of a grave responsibility to ourselves. We shall, therefore, do our utmost to bring into your home the kind of programs we would want in our homes. We believe television will become one of the great forces in the world, and for that reason we regard our role not only as a privilege but also as a challenge. Thus, television imposes on us the profound obligation to use it with dignity, with skill, with honesty and care. We shall discharge that high obligation to the very best of our ability.
Edward J. Noble, chairman of the ABC board, and Mark Woods, the network's president, were televised in greetings to the WJZ-TV audience. Grover A. Whalen, chairman of the mayor's committee for the reception of distinguished guests, appeared as special representative of New York's Mayor William O'Dwyer who was absent on official business.
At the conclusion of these opening talks, the cameras went to the streets of Rockefeller Plaza, outside the RCA Bldg. where ABC is housed, to pick up various elements of a parade which was a feature of New York's summer-long golden anniversary celebration.
Kiernan Describes Parade
The televised parade included policemen dressed in uniforms of 50 years ago, carriages drawn by horses, some marching societies, bands, drum corps and fire fighting equipment. Walter Kiernan described the parade.
The program then returned to ABC studios. Following this Wayne Coy, FCC chairman, spoke from Washington, predicting that "in two years from now I expect to see 400 stations either in operation or under construction." He added: "We are and will continue to be years and years ahead of any other nation in the employment of this magical electronic instrument."
This was followed by a half-hour television presentation of Candid Microphone, an ABC sound broadcasting feature, and a preview of several video features which will be on the station regularly. At 9 p.m., the show moved to the Palace Theatre, now a movie house but formerly one of the biggest vaudeville theatres in the city. The program was almost pure vaudeville, with performers doing their specialties in turn. Ray Bolger, famed dancer, was m.c.
Among the outstanding performers at the Palace were Mr. Bolger, who in addition to his duties as an introducer of the other acts, did a few turns of his own; Beatrice Lillie, star of the current Broadway hit, "Inside U. S. A." James Barton, actor and one-time vaudevillan; Ella Logan, singer, Mary Raye and Naldi, ballroom dancers, Pat Rooney Sr., a vaudeville dancer and Paul Whiteman, ABC vice president and musical director, who led an orchestra in "Rhapsody in Blue."
Folk Dancing, Too
During an intermission at the Palace, the program returned to the ABC studios for half an hour of folk dancing by various national groups. This event had been originally scheduled for either Times Square or Duffy Square, but the police and fire departments did not approve.
Before the start of the Palace show at 9 p.m. the more than 100 station executives attended a buffet supper in the Hotel Astor. They then went to the Palace for the show. The several score advertiser and agency representatives were feted at a buffet in the Waldorf-Astoria. A large crowd of press was fed in the Rainbow Room lounge atop the RCA Bldg. and they watched the entire evening's program on special receivers installed there.
Following its mammoth debut program, WJZ-TV, which operates on Channel 7, took up routine programming Aug. 11, the next day. The schedule for Aug. 11 was: 5:30-6 p.m., Cartoon Teletales; 7-7:15, News and Views; 7:15-7:30, Three About Town; 7:30-8, film; 8-8:30, Gay Nineties Review, and 8:30-9, film.

Variety’s review was published Aug. 18.

WJZ-TV INAUGURAL
With Beatrice Lillie, James Barton. Ella Logan. Paul Whiteman. Henry Morgan. Pat Rooney. Sr.: Ray Bolger, Gus Van: Willie, West & McGinty; Buck & Bubbles; Walter Dare Wahl & Joe: Carlton Emmy's Mad Wags. Mary Raye & Naldi, Jules Lenzburg & orch, all from stage of Palace theatre; Edward J. Noble, Mark Woods, Grover Whalen, Wayne Coy, other officials; "Hayloft Hoedown," Allen Funt's "Candid Microphone." "Hollywood Screen Test," "Cartoon Telenews," other sample programs; New York City Golden Jubilee parade; dancers and singers of foreign nationality groups; virtually all of ABC's commentators and many program stars; George Hicks, Milton Cross, Walter Kiernan. Pauline Frederick, Romo Vincent as emcees
Producer: Paul Mowrey, assisted by Burke Crotty
Palace show producer: Larry Puck
Technical Supervisor: George Milne
4 Hrs., 37 Mins.; Tues., (10), 7 p.m.
Sustaining ABC-TV, from N. Y., Philadelphia, Washington
ABC Pulls Out All Stops for Its TV Inaugural with 'Dream' Vaudeo
By DICK DOAN
In keeping with what seems to have become the standard pattern for launching a TV station, ABC last week pulled out all the stops for the getaway of its first owned and operated station, WJZ-TV, N. Y., the sixth video outlet to hit the air in the Gotham area. It was a grandiose affair, built on high intentions, with some bold pretensions. It had some moments of high dramatic and entertainment value, notably during its airing of a two-part dream show as it might have played the old Palace theatre. Televiewers have never before seen a show quite matching that one, and possibly never will again.
Best function of the remainder of the long evening's agenda was its showcasing of the Station's future fare, with top billing in this sequence going, deservedly, to Allen Funt's "Candid Microphone." Slices of other stanzas were somewhat less promising. The formalities attendant and apparently necessary to the occasion—remarks by ABC toppers Edward J. Noble and Mark Woods, city greeter Grover Whalen, FCC Chairman Wayne Coy (picked tip from Washington) and others—were commendably brief. The program's weakest segments were those saluting the city's Golden Jubilee. Civic-minded as this tie-up was, and perhaps spectacular on paper, it jelled into nothing more than a couple of fillers. (It must be noted that, due to unexpected last minute obstruction by the gendarmes, ABC had to move its "block party" sequence from Duffy Square, where it might have bad more color, into a bare studio where it came off as a formless run-through of polyglot song and dance numbers. It was a discordant amateurish interlude amidst the wealth of expert professional talent.)
The presentation of ABC's battery of gabbers, seated around tables in a restaurant setting, was stiff and lacking in showmanship. The sampling of shows had an unrehearsed, thrown-together air. The lighting, staging, camera work were occasionally faulty. But, considering all things—that TV techniques are everywhere still in an experimental stage at this point; that ABC was badly handicapped by shortage of studio space; that the long array of sequences represented an immense amount of mobilization and coordination—the teeoff came across amazingly well, with nothing worse than minor hitches. Web's video director Paul Mowrey and his crew rate an A-plus for effort and plenty of kudos for overall performance.
The Palace bill, aside from its sock entertainment payoff as a nostalgic revival of the top vaude fare of yesteryear, presented for trade observers some interesting developments. Acts by singles and duos were comparatively simple TV pickups; offering televiewers an even closer than front-row seat closeup of performers' facial expressions. On the other hand, the closeup camera (several rows back from the orch pit), possibly due to its from-under angle, squashed some of the stars' images (notably Ella Logan and James Barton) with murderously unflattering effect. Also, the cameras had an exasperating way, it was found, of often ogling the wrong person—or part of a person—that the viewer wanted to see. (I.e., the pickup would switch to a long shot mid-way through a closeup sequence you wanted to see; two performers would be bantering and you only saw one; Ray Bolger's feet were dancing and you only saw his face, or vice-versa.) The fault seemed to lie in too frequent camera switches, striving for variety and action when both of these were inherent in the act itself, and often ill-timed or poorly selected switches.
As for the calibre of the Palace bill—what can be said of such top acts as Bea Lillie, Barton, Miss Logan, Bolger, et al., that hasn't been said before? It was terrific entertainment. Pat Rooney, Sr., was absolutely inspired. Bolger handled his difficult emceeing role with a thoughtful checkrein on nostalgic emotion. The brief revival of vaudeville's heyday was complete even to Jules Lenzberg batoning the pit orch.
It was a bill to end all Palace bills from a talent cost standpoint, too. ABC laid out $14,000 for the one-nighter's acts, not including Paul Whiteman's band and the pit orch, whereas the total cost of a week's acts in the Palace's best years usually hovered around $10,000.
For some unapparent reason, the director of the Palace pickups favored two cameras, the closeup, which at times seemed almost too intimate, and a side balcony ike which seemed too far away on most occasions. A third camera, in center mezzanine, which afforded an undistorted and middle-distance view, was seldom used.
Another discovery: all-over-the-stage acts like the Willie, West & McGinty bricklayers' farce are difficult pickups. The ike ogling the whole scene is too far back in the house to effectively display the act when it's reduced to a tiny tele-screen, and closeup shots are bound to miss 25 to 50% of the gags. It seems doubtful that a director, even if he knew the act as well as the performers themselves, could satisfactorily project it on TV as it is traditionally performed. (On the other hand, the ikes were able to do beautifully by Carlton Emmy's dog act.)
As TV material, the Palace bill put together by ABC's Larry Puck, who knows his way around in show-biz, only verified what the "Texaco Star Theatre" is proving every week: vaudeo has solid value in video.

Ah, yes. The Texaco Star Theatre with Uncle Milty. It seems fool-hardy putting an extravaganza like this against the Number One Show in television. Sponsor magazine, in its September 1948 issue, had this to say:

STAR THEATER HOT COMPETITION FOR WJZ-TV BOW
Viewing habits are developing quickly in TV. Despite tremendous program which ABC staged for opening of WJZ-TV (New York) with first hour (7-8 p.m.) television Hooperating 32.7, almost half station's viewers switched over to WNBT for 8 to 9 hour "Texaco 's Star Theater" is telecast. When "Star Theater" left air viewers returned to WJZ-TV which received a rating of 33.2 for 9-10 p.m.

The broadcast almost didn't get on the air. The New York Herald Tribune explained in its August 10 edition:

WJZ Television Debut Assured As Injunction Halts Union Row
Judge Samuel H. Kaufman insured the opening tonight [10] of television station WJZ-TV at the Palace Theater by signing a temporary injunction yesterday in United States District Court against a theatrical union which threatened to strike because of a jurisdictional dispute over the manning of television cameras.
The order restrains the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Motion Picture Operators Union from interfering with the inaugural broadcast and calls on union officials to show cause on Thursday why they should not be permanently enjoined. Violation of the order would make the union guilty of contempt.
The American Broadcasting Company, operators of the sixth and newest television station in New York, filed a charge of unfair labor practices against the I. A. T. S. E. with the National Labor Relations Board last Friday. After investigation, the N. L. R. B. filed a petition requesting the injunction.
The petition stated that the dispute involved the American Federation of Labor affiliate and an independent union, the National Association of Broadcasting Engineers and Technicians, and that A. B. C. was "an innocent victim of a jurisdictional dispute."
The broadcasting company was bound by contract to give jurisdiction over all technical equipment, including television cameras, to N. A. B. E. T. The I. A. T. S. E., according to the petition, demanded that 50 per cent of the jurisdiction over television cameras be given to their union because the cameras were being set up in a theater.
Secondary Boycott Alleged.
The N. L. R. B. petition charged that the I. A. T. S. E. was "inducing and encouraging" other union employees to strike and said the union tried to influence workers for the New York Telephone Company and of the Palace Theater. The union, it charged, also had threatened to refuse to furnish stagehands for the opening.
The N. L. R. B. charged that the I. A. T. S. E. had violated the secondary boycott and jurisdictional dispute provisions of the National Labor Relations Act.
The N. L. R. B. told Judge Kaufman that unless a temporary restraining order were issued the broadcasting company would suffer "irreparable injury," including "a direct loss of $29,000" involved in preparing for the opening, and "impair its investment of more than $3,000,000 over the last four years."
Two Unions To Be Used
Informed of the decision, Mark Woods, A. B. C. president, said last night the program will open over Channel 7 at 7 p. m. with N. A. B. E. T. engineers manning the television cameras. The I. A. T. S. E. will be used for other duties at the opening. After the initial broadcast all other television programs of the new station will emanate from A. B. C.'s studios in Radio City or in the company's new television center at Central Park West and Sixty-sixth Street.
Here’s what was on Channel 7 that week.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 10
7:00—Opening night ceremonies, Mayor O’Dwyer, Edward J. Noble, Grover Whalen. 7:10—“Fifth Years of New York City’s Progress”; film with Milton Cross. 7:15—Interviews with celebrities entering Palace Theater. 7:40—Talks by Mark Woods, religious leaders, state and Federal officials; Bert Parks interviewing Arlene Francis, Elmer Davis, Drew Pearson, H. R. Baukage, Earl Godwin, Martin Agronsky, Ted Malone, others. 8:00—A film of “Candid Microphone,” with Allen Funt. 8:30—“You’re Invited,” preview of WJZ-TV programs. 9:00—Stage of Palace Theater—All-star vaudeville program, with Ray Bolger, m. c.; James Barton, Buck and Bubbles, Carlton Emmy, Ella Logan, Beatrice Lillie, Mary Raye and Naldi, Pay Rooney, sr., Willie West and McGinty and Paul Whiteman. 9:45—Duffy Square—Block party and pageant. 10:15—All-star vaudeville show from stage of Palace Theater. 11:30—Pickups from Broadway, Times Square, Duffy Square.
Candid Microphone
Reviewed Tuesday (10), 8 to 8:30 p.m. Sustaining via American Broadcasting Company television network. Producer, Nat Fowler. Emsee, Allen Funt. Style, Interview.
Man's inhumanity to man is nowhere better illustrated than on the tele version of Candid Microphone, which had its premiere as part of the opening night bill of WJZ-TV. For the sadistic of heart, who dote on watching an unsuspecting subject being edged on to a state of hypertension, this show probably supplies the perfect outlet. For the general public, that section which enjoys practical jokes should buy Candid Mike with no qualifications. The remainder will find portions to be hilarious, and other parts which smack of bad taste.
The 30-minute program is a counterpart of the radio version, with a hidden camera tossed in. As a result, the efforts of emsee Allen Funt to goad five selected victims into a reaction were captured, not merely on a platter for sound but on film, as a visual record. Some of the film was shot silent, with Funt commenting on the developments.
The only sequence which did not follow the usual victim-baiting pattern was shot silent in a spaghetti emporium. Here the camera showed the techniques of spaghetti slinging as practiced by lovers of the pasta. It proved quite amusing, altho it was a trifle long.
In each of the other episodes, somebody suffered. In the case of a gal in a reducing salon who was put thru some extra-curricular exercises, or in the instance of a man in a tailor's booth who was informed his trousers had a huge rip, not much sympathy was aroused, and one could enjoy the gag for its own sake. But the other two were hard on the soft-hearted.
In one case, a man checking a bag at a railway terminal was told everything must be examined, and the contents were gone over one item at a time, with the feminine apparel therein causing more than a modicum of embarrassment. Later, with Funt in the role of a still photographer, a schmoe-type character who wanted to pose with his fiddle was needled almost to the busting point, with Funt insisting that the poor devil didn't look serious enough. The sympathy here was all with the victim.
It's unlikely that any of this is done with the intent to injure. But the result is likely to be hard on sensitive viewers. What the show can get away with on radio may become too rough for video, where the impact is far greater. However, should great care and selectivity be employed in gathering material, the format and the idea provide good possibilities for a genuinely humorous program. Sam Chase. (Billboard, Aug. 21)

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11
5:30—Cartoon Teletales. 7:00—News. 7:15—Three About Town. 7:30—The Fitzgeralds with Ed and Pegeen Fitzgerald. 7:45—Film. 8:00—You’re Invited. 8:30—Miss Rheingold Candidates. 8:55—Quizzing the News. 9:00—Wrestling, from Washington (WMAR-TV)
NEWS AND VIEWS
With Walter Kiernan, guests
Director: Bob Doyle
Producer: John Madigan
15 Mins.; Wed., 7 p. m.
Sustaining WJZ-TV, N. Y.
The search for a wholly satisfactory method of presenting news on tele, other than via newsreel, is still on. And WJZ-TV obviously hasn't found it in this stanza. The viewer doesn't get much news, or many views, either, despite the fact that the format seems to contain the germ of a good program idea.
Getaway sequence last week (11) opened with Walter Kiernan pointing to a world map showing where ABC's news correspondents were stationed. Then he sat himself behind a small desk authentically cluttered with books, papers, etc., and introduced, sitting on either side of him, a couple from Connecticut and a gentleman from Missouri. It turned out they were passersby, plucked out of a group touring the broadcasting studios. Kiernan would read a dispatch (or, rather, just the lead of it) from the ticker machines, then try to draw comments from his guests on the subject. As might be expected on such chance selection, they didn't prove any too articulate. The only action involved was the appearance of a copyboy to spike some late dispatches on Kiernan's desk and the amusing departure of the Missourian ("I have to continue my tour") followed by his replacement by schoolmarm from Virginia.
The camera viewing the whole scene was so close up that the Missourian and his replacement never more than barely showed in the picture. Unaccountably, too, this camera seemed immobile, with the result that only the forearm of the Virginia schoolteacher was visible when she shook hands with Kiernan. Kiernan got to about half a dozen news leads during the sequence, but it could hardly be said that the viewer learned much more than he would by a 10 second kibitz of somebody's newspaper in the subway.
No question, though, but that ABC has a most engaging and capable guy in Kiernan. He's smooth on the adlib, pleasant of voice and appearance, and equally at home in the roles of newscaster, interviewer and emcee. ABC should make good use of him. Doan (Variety, Aug. 18)

THURSDAY, AUGUST 12
5:30—The Singing Lady. Ireene Wicker invites four little children each week and tells them Fairy Tales which are acted out with puppets and a piano accompaniment. 7:00—News. 7:15—Buddy Weed Trio. 7:30—Film. 8:00—Gay Nineties. 8:30—Film. 9:00—Film. 9:30—Thompson’s Talent Show. 10:00 to 11:00—Boxing, from Philadelphia (WFIL-TV).

FRIDAY, AUGUST 13
5:30—Film, “Historic Switzerland.” 7:00—News. 7:15—Film, “Skiing on Your Feet.” 7:30—Teen-Age Book Club. 8:00—Film, “Tavern in the Town.” 8:30—In the Kitchen. 9:00—Film, “Blue Harlem.”

SATURDAY, AUGUST 14
7:00—News. 7:15—Film. 7:30—Sports Review. 7:45—Film. 7:55—Miss Rheingold Candidates. 8:00—Sing For Your Supper. 8:15—Three About Town. 8:30—Film. 9:00—Film. 9:30—“Hayloft Hoedown,” from Philadelphia (WFIL-TV)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 15
2:00—Southernaires. 3:00—Film. 3:15—Polo from Bostwick Field, Westbury, L.I. 7:00—Pauline Frederick’s Guest Book, interview. 7:15—Film. 7:30—“Hollywood Screen Test,” with Neil Hamilton, Mimi Benzell, Claire Niesen. 7:55—Favorite Girl. 8:00—“Candid Microphone,” with Allen Funt. 8:30—Variety. 9:30 to 10:30—Feature Film.

MONDAY, AUGUST 16
5:30—Cartoon Teletales. 7:00—News and Views. 7:15—Film. 7:30—Quizzing the News. 8:00—Kiernan’s Korner,” with Walter Kiernan. 8:30—Film. 9:00—You’re Invited.

A TV Home For the Hens

Ohio’s third television station had the same problem at the beginning as the other two. None were able to connect with any of the four networks, so they had to fill time on their own.

Cincinnati went on the air first. Cleveland was next. Toledo followed in 1948.

The Toledo Blade followed the station’s progress. First, a story from Feb. 21, 1946.

RADIO STATION SEEKS TELEVISION PERMIT
The Fort Industry Co., operators of radio station WSPD and others, yesterday [20] applied to the Federal Communications Commission for authority to operate here a commercial television station, it was announced today. E. Y. Flanagan, manager of WSPD, said the company expects to spend $200,000 on equipment if the permit is granted.

On December 7, 1946, we learn:

Television Station Planned By WSPD
FCC Grants Permits For Construction
Construction permits for a commercial television station and a frequency modulation broadcasting station in Toledo were granted the Fort Industry Co., operators of WSPD, yesterday [6] by the Federal Communications Commission.
J. H. Ryan, vice president and treasurer, said plans have been made to construct new studios in Superior St., between Lafayette and Markets Sts. A television tower more than 500 feet high will be erected.
Mr. Ryan said the building program would depend upon priorities, but it is hoped the FM broadcasts will be in operation within a year and television broadcasts within two years. The call letters WTVT have been assigned to the station.
The entire project is expected to cost $453,000.
The FM and television broadcasts will have no effect upon standard broadcasts, officials said.

There was a call-letter change to match the AM and FM stations, as readers of Broadcasting magazine were told on December 23, 1946:

WSPD VIDEO ORDER
FILM ORDER for approximately $200,000 in RCA television equipment placed Friday by Fort Industry Co. for WSPD-TV Toledo with P. B. Reed, RCA Victor Washington representative. Order covers type TT5-A transmitter (5 kw video, 3 kw audio), plus antenna system, four image orthicon cameras for field and studio use, control equipment for field and studio, and motion picture projection equipment for both 16 mm and 35 mm projection. WSPD-TV assigned channel No. 13 (210-216 mc).

Fort needed more space. This Blade story is from February 1, 1947

Permit Issued On Radio Tower
FM And Television Facilities Planned
Building permits for a commercial frequency modulation and television radio station and tower at 117 South Superior St. were issued [Jan. 31] yesterday to the Fort Industry Co., owners and operators of WSPD.
E. Y. Flanigan, managing director of the station, said that while equipment has been ordered, an actual construction date could not be set, although it is hoped to have the 500-foot holding tower and transmitter house up by early summer.
Television, Mr. Flanigan predicts, definitely will be available in Toledo in 1948, provided the government's estimate of 2,200 receiving sets for Toledo is reasonably accurate. He estimates perhaps 5,000 to 6,000 FM sets for next year also.
The Fort Industry Co. has been assigned the letter's WTVT for its television station. The FM call letters will be WSPD-FM.

Despite the fact the station was nowhere near on the air, Fort started signing advertisers. This story is from October 20, 1947:

Television Contract Signed By Toledo Firm
Lee Motors is the first firm in Toledo to sign a contract for sponsorship of a television program to be beamed from the new Fort Industry station which will begin operations next April, the Wendt Advertising Agency said today.
The hour of the program has not been set, but Matt Tank, Lee Motors president, said it probably would be early each Monday evening. Arrangements are being made with motion picture companies to supply cartoon films for the program.

From Nov. 13, 1947:

First Television Unit Contract Let By Fort Industry
Contract for the first unit of the new television and FM studio of the Fort Industry Co., owner of WSPD and other radio stations, was awarded today to the J. H. Berkebile & Son Co. The $40,500 unit to be built now, representing less than one-quarter of the total cost of the development, will be at 117 South Superior St. This lot, also, will house the more than 500-foot tower which is nearing completion and is due to be shipped from Pittsburgh the latter part of this month.
J. Harold Ryan, head of the Fort Industry Co., said the work to be done in the first unit will consist of transmitter rooms, offices and quarters for engineers. The building, when completed, will cover the entire lot. John Richards, of Bellman, Gillette & Richards, drew plans for the development.

Broadcasting (and other trade journals) got an idea when the company hoped the station would be broadcasting. This is from Feb. 16, 1948.

WSPD-TV Toledo Plans To Be On the Air by May ’48
PLANS are being completed for WSPD-TV Toledo to go on the air in May, according to E. Y. Flanigan, vice president in charge of the Toledo operations for the Fort Industry Co. The station is augmenting its present staff with specialists in various television departments.
Latest addition to the staff is Steve Marvin, television studio production director. He was formerly producer-director of WWJ-TV Detroit. Prior to that time he had been producer-director with CBS TV New York.

Sports was a huge part of television in the mid-to-late 1940s. The Blade reported on April 2, 1948:

Mud Hen Games To Be Televised
Home games for the Toledo Mud Hens will be televised by Station WSPD-TV, according to an announcement made yesterday [1] by E. Y. Flanigan, vice president of the Fort Industry Co. which operates the station.
The television station will be ready to operate in May or early June according to Flanigan. The contract for the television broadcasts was signed recently by Waldo Shank, while he was acting president of the Toledo Baseball Club and Flanigan. The club will receive 25 per cent royalty on the commercial time per game. No sponsor has been signed as yet.

A different kind of TV programme was unveiled by Billboard:

Sharpen Pencils---And Wits---Men!
TOLEDO, May 29.—A deal has been set by WSPD-TV, Fort Industry video station here, for broadcast of a weekly crossword puzzle, adapted for video. Production director Steve Marvin is said to be readying a new technique which will permit tele’s initial use of the feature when the station debuts about July 1. The station has contracted with Harle Publications, New York, publisher of two crossword periodicals, for material to be used.

Broadcasting, July 10, 1948:

WSPD-TV, Toledo, the Fort Industry station, has signed with Publishers Syndicate of Chicago for video rights to the comic strip Kerry Drake. The strip has never run in the Toledo area, and the station plans to utilize a special technique in its production.

And one other programming piece was picked up. The International News Service “Telenews” weekly newsreel became part of the schedule, sponsored by the local Chevrolet dealers.

July 19, 1948 was the premiere day. Here’s how Broadcasting’s publication on that date looked ahead:

WSPD-TV Begins Telecasting Today
Fort Industry Outlet Is Epuipped [sic] At Half-Million Dollar Cost
WSPD-TV TOLEDO, equipped at a cost of $500,000, was slated to take the air today (July 19) with the first telecast of baseball in Toledo.
With a 655-foot antenna tower in the heart of the city, the station expects to cover a radius of 45 miles. It is assigned Channel 13 (210-216 mc). By fall, WSPD-TV hopes to be linked by coaxial cable and radio relays with St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo and New York.
It is planned to use $30,000 video equipment in covering games of the Toledo Mudhens from Swayne Field. In order to protect the equipment a special platform on the second deck of the stands has been partially enclosed by heat-tempered plate glass through which the cameras will shoot most action.
Made by Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Co., the glass is a plate 4x9 feet and one-half inch thick. It provides clear vision and is said to be five to seven times stronger than ordinary plate glass with greater resistance to shocks.
Completion of the production staff of the Fort Industry station was announced by E Y. Flanigan, general manager.
Steve Marvin, who started in video in 1940 at WCBS-TV New York, is production director. Film director is Elaine Phillips, who started in TV in 1943 at WBKB Chicago and set up and directed the film department at WWJ-TV Detroit. Ashley Dawes is remote director. He entered TV in 1943 at WRGB Schenectady and worked there until joining WSPD-TV in May. The art director is Jerry Peacock, who entered video in 1947 doing free-lance art work for WWJ-TV while working for a local agency. Mr. Peacock joined WSPD-TV in May.

The Mud Hens didn’t make their Toledo TV debut that day. For one thing, their game was rained out. For another, it was in Kansas City, and there was no video link between the two cities.

Here’s the Blade’s preview:

Television Will Be 'On Air' In Toledo First Time Tonight
Initial WSPD-TV Presentation Slated For 6 O'Clock; Mayor Will Be Speaker Television will be "on the air" for the first time in Toledo tonight with the formal dedication of the WSPD-TV, the first station in this city and the third in Ohio. The station regards its "primary coverage" area as the territory within a 45-mile radius from Toledo, but during tests last week its signals were received as far away as Fort Wayne, Ind. First WSPD-TV presentation, at 6 tonight, will be the station's "time pattern." At 6:30 the first video program, a children's show with western films and cowboy songs by studio entertainers will begin, said Glenn C. Jackson, program director. From 7 to 8 p.m. the station will present a variety program made up of typical excerpts from the shows it will offer. Mayor Michael V. DiSalle will speak at the formal dedication of the station at 8 p.m., followed by an explanation of how television works and, weather permitting, televising of the harness races at the Fort Miami Raceway. WSPD-TV will be on the air every night Monday through Friday, starting at 6:30. It has no network commitments, a spokesman said.

The Blade reported the next day:

Television Debut In Area Praised
Reports Received Of Good Reception
Reports of good reception of Toledo's first television program last night came [21] from points as far distant as Detroit, Lima and Archbold, Glenn Jackson, program director of WSPD-TV, said today.
Mayor Michael V. DiSalle last night spoke on the first program.
Officials of the Fort Industry Co., which operates WSPD-TV, estimate that there are now about 500 television receivers in the immediate Toledo area, with the number growing rapidly.
Televising of the harness races at the Fort Miami Raceway was hampered last night by ground haze and light conditions. The Water Follies at the Sports Arena will be shown tonight.

In Woodville, Ohio, television dealer D.R. Bruns invited friends and neighbours to watch his set. A columnist in the local paper gave this brief review in the issue of the 23rd:

The broadcast was very interesting and the pictures came through very clear and sharp. The mobile transmitting unit did a very good job in picking up the horse races at Ft. Miami track. It was almost the same as sitting in the grand stand at the track. Introduction of staff membeds [sic] of WSPD was also very interesting.

The big hit, according to Variety of July 28, 1948 was something else.

`TELESCRIBER' ON WSPD-TV PREEM
Toledo, July 27.
Hit of WSPD-TV's opening-night show last Wednesday (21) was a "telescriber," invented by the Fort Industry station's staff, which permits writing or drawings to be done "live" on the tele screen without showing the artist's hand or pen or any shadows from either.
Lines or letters appear as if from nowhere and form themselves before the viewers' eyes. Opening-night telelookers were mystified, many thinking it was done with film. Gadget was designed by production director Steve Marvin, art director Jerry Peacock and floor manager Al Ruhfel, and has many uses. It's possible, for instance, to move the paper on which the drawing or writing is appearing, up, down or sideways, smoothly while the telescriber is on the air.
Marvin is planning to use it for a weekly cartoon show, for live commercials, for the station's nightly "coming attractions" segment, and elsewhere. Name "telescriber" is being copyrighted and the gadget itself is to be patented.

A network feed was on the way. Broadcasting mentioned on July 26, 1948:

WSPD-TV TOLEDO, owned by Fort Industry Co., signed as an NBC television affiliate. Station went on the air July 21. It will become inter-connected with the NBC Midwest video network Sept. 20.

This was no surprise. WSPD-TV was included in the NBC rate card published in Billboard on July 3. The Midwest network began on schedule; Broadcasting of Sept. 27 aired the NBC programming, which started at 7 p.m.

The Blade published the station’s schedule mid-way through its first week.

SATURDAY, JULY 24 and SUNDAY, JULY 25
Off the air.

MONDAY, JULY 26
6:00—Time Pattern. 6:30—TV Ranch. 6:55—Program Preview. 7:00—Sports. 7:10—Kerry Drake. 7:20—Americana. 7:50—News Reel. 8:00—Theater Time.

TUESDAY, JULY 27
6:00—Time Pattern. 6:30—TV Ranch. 6:55—Program Preview. 7:00—Music at Seven. 7:10—World Neighbors. 7:30—Tomorrow’ Talent. 8:00—Newsreel. 8:10—Remote.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 28
6:00—Time Pattern. 6:30—TV Ranch. 6:55—Program Preview. 7:00—Music at Seven. 7:20—Drawing for Fun. 7:20—Snapshots, produced by Telefilm, Inc. 7:30—Crossword Puzzle. Puzzles made available by publishers of “Dime and a Half Crosswords” and “Handy Crosswords.” 7:50—Newsreel. 8:00—Barbershop Harmony. 8:10—Baseball, Louisville Colonels at Toledo.

THURSDAY, JULY 29
6:00—Time Pattern. 6:30—TV Ranch. 6:55—Program Preview. 7:00—Views of the News. 7:10—Talk of the Town. 7:30—Telenews Digest. 7:59—Views of Science. 8:00—Woman Speaks. 8:10—Baseball, Louisville Colonels vs Toledo Mud Hens.

FRIDAY, JULY 30
6:00—Time Pattern. 6:30—TV Ranch. 6:55—Program Preview. 7:00—Views of the News. 7:10—Animal Kingdom. 7:20—Cartoon Parade. 7:30—Tennesseans. 7:50—Newsreel. 8:00—Music at Eight. 8:10—Harness Racing.