Texas Tee-Vee

The distinction of the first city in Texas to have TV sets beaming signals into its homes was Fort Worth. Take that, Dallas!

The owner of radio station WBAP and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram decided to expand into the television business. We’ll use the paper’s files to follow the story.

On May 12, 1946, it announced:

WASHINGTON, May 11—The Federal Communications Commission Friday accepted an application of Carter Publications, Inc., of Fort Worth, requesting permission to construct a new commercial television broadcast system to cover 5,000 square miles.

It didn’t take very long for the FCC to act. This story is from June 22.

WBAP Given Permit for Television
Carter Publications Friday [21] obtained a permit giving Fort Worth the first television station in the Southwest—one with sufficient power to cover all of Tarrant and Dallas Counties.
The permit granted by the Federal Communications Commission in Washington calls for 30.4 kilowatts power, one of the biggest power allocations made in the nation and approximately equivalent to 100.000 watts power in conventional broadcasting equipment.
The station, which is planned to be in operation within one year and in time for next year's baseball and football games, will operate on Channel 5, the center channel and generally considered most desirable for television reception.
Televising will be done from a 500-foot antenna to be located in the Meadowbrook area near White Lake Dairy and five miles east of Main and Seventh Sts. The station's call letters have not been assigned.
Fort Worth is among fortunate inland cities which will have early television facilities since it is located on the American Telephone and Telegraph Company's new coaxial transcontinental cable. Many cities, including Kansas City and St. Louis, are not served by the cable.

The station received the call letters KCPN.

It took a while to sort out some things. A building permit for the station’s transmitter wasn’t issued until August 27, 1947.

The call letters were changed. Television Digest of November 29, 1947 reports:

Six-letter calls received FCC blessing this week, when it permitted Scripps-Howard’s TV and FM stations in Cleveland to be known officially as WEWS-TV and WEWS-FM — even though stations have no AM. Practice of using “TV” or “FM” after AM call letters has grown in popularity during past year. Most recent changes in TV field were Ft. Worth Star-Telegram's WBAP-TV and Baltimore Sun’s WMAR-TV. Previously, non-AM grantees had to use 4-letter combinations, without TV or FM tag.

Football is big in Texas. Baseball has its fans in the state. The station started lining up play-by-play broadcasts as it set a date to get on the air. The Star-Telegram, May 16, 1948:

The [Texas Tech] faculty committee approved a one-year experimental contract with the Humble Oil & Refining Company, holder of radio rights for football, for television broadcasts through WBAP (TV), Fort Worth.

The Star-Telegram, June 3, 1948:

Television Station May Open Sept. 15
Plans Being Made To Put Some Dixie Ball Games on Air
Fort Worth's television station, WBAP-TV, should be on the air about Sept. 15, Harold V. Hough, director of WBAP-TV, told the Advertising Club Wednesday [2] at the Blackstone Hotel.
Plans are being made for putting some of the Dixie Series baseball games on the air if Fort Worth is in the series, he said.
The first football game to be televised in Texas is scheduled from TCU Stadium Saturday night, Oct. 2, between TCU and Arkansas. Some high school games from Farrington Field are to be shown also.
Television transcriptions will be used to bring major network programs from New York and Hollywood to Fort Worth, Hough said, until such time as the coast-to-coast coaxial cable is ready.
Television is a medium with ''terrific impact" he told the advertising men and advised them to begin studying now how to adapt their clients' needs to the new medium.
An 18-minute television sound film of Toscannini directing the NBC Symphony in the final movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was shown after Hough’s talk.

The same paper, June 20:

Assembly Work to Start On Television Transmitter
Assembly of the Southwest's first television transmitter, which will bring "video" to the Fort Worth-Dallas area on or about Sept. 15, will start Monday [21] at the new $1,500,000 radio center being constructed by Station WBAP in the Meadowbrook area.
Fort Worth's first frequency modulation station, also being erected at the center, will go on the air shortly thereafter.
The 502-foot tower for the television and frequency modulation antennas will be completed within two weeks.
The sprawling two-story radio center, the largest and most modern in the Southwest, also will house WBAP's standard band stations—WBAP-820 and WBAP-570 —in its nine studios and 400-seat auditorium, located just north of Meadowbrook Dr., three miles east of downtown Fort Worth.
First unit of the center, a one-story building for film laboratories, engineering worshops [sic] and garage space for the mobile television equipment that will pick up events from any spot in Fort Worth and Dallas, already has been finished and workmen are speeding to completion the second unit, containing the television transmitter room and one studio.
The third and fourth units, containing offices, studios, control rooms and the auditorium, will increase the total floor space in the radio center to 74,570 square feet.
All WRAP operations—WBAP-TV, WRAP-FM, WBAP-820 and WBAP-570—will be housed at the center, although the standard transmitters at Arlington and Grapevine will remain at their present sites.
WBAP-TV will go on the air for an as yet undisclosed number of hours each broadcast day with Texas League baseball games, Southwest Conference football games, the finest television films now available, special event and spot news coverage and other features.
Its reception will include all the metropolitan areas of Fort Worth and Dallas, and engineers guess that due to terrain and the use of the best transmitting equipment now made WBAP-TV may be picked up as far distant as Waco and Wichita Falls.
The huge tower, held aloft by three cables each anchored in 100 tons of concrete, was designed to be increased in height to 800 feet if necessary.
The television station, for which planning was started by WBAP officials more than three years ago, was designed by Joe Pelich. Thomas S. Byrne is the contractor.
The station found other ways to fill air time, as this wire service story shows:

WBAP-TV Is First to Sign Dual Network
NEW YORK, July 16 (AP).— The first dual network affiliation of a television station has been signed by WBAP-TV of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, which expects to open in September.
First to announce the station's affiliation was ABC. Then NBC said it also had signed. Neither network, however, in reporting the development, gave any indication that the other also was interested.
This double (maybe even triple) affiliation trend, apparently is to become more general in television than it has, in radio, where it prevails only in a few instances. This would be due largely to the limitation in the number of stations in immediate prospect. At the same time it would permit wider selection of programs by the local station.
Eastern stations now served direct by network relay already have begun to carry programs from more than one network, but so far primarily under a "gentleman's agreement." As a rule they affiliate only with one network although taking programs from others.
WBAP-TV will be served by the two networks on a non-relay basis until facilities are ready for the southwest.

RCA dealers came to town on July 20 and were entertained with what the Star-Telegram called “the first television presentation by WBAP-TV.” That’s only technically correct as the strong band being broadcast “was fed by a WBAP television truck into the RCA demonstration sets in the hotel’s Keystone Room. It was closed circuit affair. Carter Publications v-p Harold V. Hough described some of the coming programming:

Football broadcasts planned by the station include TUC-Oklahoma, SMU-TCU, Texas-Oklahoma, the Cotton Bowl and Fort Worth high school games, Hough stated.
News coverage by the eyewitness broadcasts will include all outstanding events within a 100-mile radius of Fort Worth.
Arrangements already have been completed for a week-night “theater club” when the station will broadcast a series of film epics, Hough said.
Top stage attractions can be televised in Fort Worth a day after showing in New York by a special film process which has been perfected.

More from the Star-Telegram on football, and a date to sign on, Aug. 6, 1948:

Four Frog Grid Games Here to Be Televised
TCU's four home football games this fall will be televised by WBAP-TV under sponsorship of the Humble Oil & Refining Company, George Cranston, WBAP manager, disclosed Thursday [5].
Humble's regular sportsmaster, Kern Tips, will provide commentary for the games scheduled at TCU stadium, beginning with the Southwest Conference fracas with Arkansas Oct. 2.
Other contests to be offered video customers include: Oct. 23, Oklahoma University; Oct. 30, Baylor; and Nov. 13, University of Texas.
WBAP-TV is pioneering the new medium in the Southwest and will be the only television station of the area in operation this fall. WBAP-TV expects to begin operation about Sept. 29.

Another football sponsor. From the Star-Telegram, Aug. 15, 1948:

Armchair quarterbacks came into their own last week when Leonard’s Department Store signed contracts for televising Fort Worth high school football over WBAP-TV. The television station will make home games regular Thursday, Friday and Saturday features after it goes on the air about Sept. 29.

That favourite of 1940s and ’50 television, “Test Pattern” was about to debut. The paper reported the previous day, Sept. 14:

First Television Tests to Be Made Here Tomorrow
Television set owners in the Fort Worth area will have the first opportunity to test their sets Wednesday [15] when television station WBAP-TV goes on the air with patterns from 11 a. m. until noon and from 4 to 5 p. m.
Tests will consists of a stationary artist's design with WBAP-TV call letters and "Channel 5" worked in, accompanied by a musical background. Station management emphasized that this is not a television program.
The announcement was made by R. C. Stinson, the station's director of engineering. The Federal Communications Commission granted permission for the tests Saturday.
Dealers will be able to adjust TV sets for best reception. Actual program on the Southwest's first television station will begin on WBAP-TV Day, Sept. 29.
Commercials for Humble Oil & Refining Company, sponsor of televised Southwest Conference football games, were shot last week. An aid to sports telecasts, the Zoomar lens, was installed last week on a station camera. The $7,500 lens enables the camera to "zoom" in and out on an object.
Work on the television section of the new radio center in east Fort Worth is nearing completion. Roofs now are on the three studios. The transmitter is wired and connected to the 502-foot transmission tower.

As you might expect from a Star-Telegram paper, it raved about the test pattern sent out by its radio station the following day, September 16.

Television Tests Draw Acclaim From Big Area
A new era in entertainment for the Southwest was heralded Wednesday [15] in Fort Worth of the region’s first telecast.
Beamed from the station’s partially completed plan at 3900 Barnett was a test pattern with a musical background. The pattern was received in Fort Worth, Dallas, Denton, Waxahachie and McKinney, officials announced in reporting success of the test.
WBAP-TV's initial test patterns, which began ... at 11:21 a. m. [and continued through the afternoon,] have been an outstanding success with reported good reception as far away as De Leon, 87 air miles away. Carl Simpson reported the reception in De Leon. He was using an extended antenna. ...
These preliminary reports were received by telephone and telegrams Wednesday by station management and set distributors.
Ordinary good coverage by stations operating in the East run between 35 and 40 miles radius. From all indications, WBAP-TV will outstrip this average.
The test pattern consists of a stationary picture with a musical background. Programs are slated to begin Sept. 29.
Wednesday's transmission of the test pattern was the first telecast to be aired south of St. Louis. It will be on the air daily from 11 a. m. to noon and from 4 to 5 p. m. up until and after the station goes on the air with programs.
Television for the Southwest has arrived.

The paper previewed its programming in its Sept. 17 edition.

WBAP-TV Will Launch Outstanding Television Program September 29
An outstanding television program line-up covering sports, drama, variety, news and special events will be launched by WBAP-TV on Sept. 29 to an estimated 1,000 set owners in Fort Worth and Dallas.
With successful test pattern airings under way and good reception assured, this audience, averaging four to six persons to a set, will be enjoying the pleasures of a medium entirely new to the Southwest.
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights they will see and hear all high school football games played in Fort Worth. Gridiron plays will be brought into sharp scrimmage-line focus by television cameras. In many instances "viewers" will see much more than if they were at the game in person.
On Saturdays, all TCU home games will be televised. If the game is played at night it will supersede the high school football game. On Oct. 9 WBAP-TV will televise the University of Texas-University of Oklahoma game in Dallas.
Wednesday night on WBAP-TV is family night, featuring full length Alexander Korda pictures. The "Scarlet Pimpernel," starring Merle Oberon and Leslie Howard, will be transmitted on opening night.
In addition, there will be film-recorded local newscasts of headline events. National newscasts also are being considered. Special events such as the Southwestern Exposition & Fat Stock Show & Rodeo will be televised.
Ever-popular children's shows and variety programs will have a place on WBAP-TV's schedule.
NBC and ABC top network programs shown in the East will be filmed by a special "kinescope" method and flown into Fort Worth for telecasting.

The station then had a stroke of really good luck. They were able to televise an unexpected guest—no less a person than the President of the United States. The Star-Tribune reported on Sep. 21, 1948:

WBAP-TV Will Televise Truman's Visit Sept. 27 President Truman's visit to Fort Worth Monday, Sept. 27, will be televised by WBAP-TV, Harold Hough, director of the station, said Monday [20]. The telecast, the Southwest's first, will be a prelude to WBAP-TV Day, Sept. 29, when actual programing will begin.
Truman is also scheduled for a radio address that will originate over WBAP-820 and be carried by numerous Texas radio stations and networks. Both telecasts and broadcasts are scheduled for 2 p. m., when Truman's train is due in Fort Worth.
Meanwhile, activity at the new television plant is at a peak. WBAP-TV's test pattern has been increased to run from 10 a. m. to noon and from 3 p. M. to 5 p. m. Monday through Saturday. This was done to expedite set installation service, now in full swing in both Fort Worth and Dallas.
Technical tests will be made at Farrington Field this week during high school football games. First chance for viewers to see and hear a game through the new medium will be Friday. Oct. 1, when Paschal clashes with Amarillo. Leonard's Department Store is the sponsor.
The game will be picked up on-the-spot by a WBAP-TV mobile unit, transmitted to the top of the Fort Worth National Bank Building and relayed to the main plant by a micro-wave transmitter. Despite this intricate procedure, set owners will receive the action almost instantaneously.

The Sept. 23 issue of the paper unveiled programming for the first week.

WBAP-TV Premiere Will Begin at 7 P. M. Sept. 29
WBAP-TV's premiere telecast on Sept. 29 will be a three and one-half hour program beginning at 7 p. m.
The program will be opened by Amon Carter. Harold Hough, station director, will make the introduction. George Cranston, station manager, will present R. C. Stinson, director of engineering; Seymour C. Andrews, program director, and Robert Gould, chief producer.
An NBC dedicatory program will be presented at 7:10 p. m. followed by "The Flying X Ranch-boys" at 7:40 p. m. The main feature, Alexander Korda's “The Scarlet Pimpernel," starring Merle Oberon and Leslie Howard will go on the air at 8 p. m. It has a running time of one hour and 40 minutes and will be presented by W. C. Stripling Company.
From 9:40 to 9:50 p. m., an NBC newscast will go on the air. After the newscast there will be a 20-minute picture comedy. A local newscast beginning at 10:10 will round out the program.
WBAP-TV will be off the air Sept. 30, returning on Friday to show the Paschal-Amarillo football game. The T. C. U.—Arkansas game will be televised the next night.
The Oct. 3 schedule will begin at 6 p. m. with a special "kinescope" picture of Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's “Ninth Symphony." The program will last an hour and a half and will be followed by English moving pictures. "Tom Brown's School Days," starring Freddie Bartholomew, is scheduled at 8 p. m. and will conclude Sunday's schedule.
After the first week, WBAP-TV, will be on the air approximately four hours a night, Wednesday through Sunday.

President Truman arrived in Fort Worth on September 27, two days before WBAP’s official sign on. The station’s mobile unit was ready. The Star-Tribune had different stories for the morning and evening editions the next day. We’ve combined them.

PRELUDE TO PREMIERE
President Truman Seen On First Telecast Here
Two muffled rings on a portable telephone in WBAP-TV'S unit Monday [27] gave the signal to from Fort Worth and Dallas were start the Southwest's first television program—President Truman's Fort Worth appearance.
At the control panels inside the unit there was a moment of silence, broken sharply by Director Larry DuPont's, "We're on the air."
From different vantage points, Cameramen John Smith, Bill Laurtizen and Marion Crawford swung into action. The first picture seen by set owners was a crowd shot, taken a short distance west of the speaker's platform. The telecast went on the air at 1:58 p.m. and for the next 49 minutes gave viewers a complete coverage of all the action. President Truman first appeared on the screen at 2:18 p. m. as he come out of the west entrance of the station and mounted the speaker's platform. The last shot showed the president waving to the crowd from the rear seat of the automobile taking him to Dallas.
The success of this first telecast was never left in doubt. Congratulatory messages and wires from Fort Worth and Dallas were still coming in late Monday. The telecast was a prelude to WBAP-TV's premiere which be-gins at 7 p. m. Wednesday.
Telecast of Truman Seen For 30 Miles
Persons sitting in their homes 30 miles away saw President Truman Monday [27] before the main crowd at T&P Terminal had its first glimpse of him.
The WBAP-TV television unit did the trick with a camera perched atop the terminal.
With its broad view of the entire terminal area, the camera enabled WBAP-TV to telecast Truman's walk from the train. Only the official welcoming committee and a small part of the crowd was at that scene. The main crowd was out of sight on the far side of the terminal.
New Lens Used.
To bring the television scenes "close up," the station used a new $7,500 Zoomar lens, one of 14 in use in the nation.
WBAP-TV was on the air 49 minutes with President Truman's visit—the Southwest's first television program. The telecast ended as the president stepped into a car for Dallas.
George Cranston, station manager, said Tuesday that letters from Dallas and Fort Worth had hailed the event as an outstanding success.
All Angles Covered.
Residents of both Fort Worth and Dallas wrote that the reception was very good, Cranston said. Radio dealers in both cities reported that their business places were jammed with spectators witnessing the telecast. Three cameras were used in the telecast to cover the scene from all angles.

The cheery boosterism by the paper of its own radio station was dulled a bit after opening night, September 29, 1948. Things didn’t go as planned, mainly due to something out of the station’s control. There were different stories in the morning and evening editions the next day. We’ll give you both.

TELEVISION'S FIRST PROGRAM MAKES FORT WORTH HISTORY
BY C. L. RICHHART.
Fort Worth SAW its first full program of radio Wednesday night.
It was just like when Fort Worth HEARD its first movies back in the twenties, remember? Some will say it was better, some will contend it was not so good as the first sound movies. But all will agree it was interesting, even fascinating.
There was a slight interruption due to a power failure, and some of the projections were better than others, depending perhaps on how good or how well-installed your television set happened to be—but all in all, the evening's telecasts made history for Fort Worth and vicinity.
WBAP-TV, the television service of the Star-Telegram, actually is the nation's 25th station to go on the air. But it is the first station to operate east of Los Angeles and south of St. Louis, thereby earning the unchallenged credit for the first television projection in the Southwest. To the Southeast, New Orleans and Richmond, Va., are the only other cities to come into the television picture.
Television for the Southwest had its rough spots, naturally enough, and that wasn't any surprise to its producers and sponsors, for they expected that there might be some stormy interludes in the beginning.
The surprising thing about it all, the television authorities said, was that everything went off smoothly as it did. They really had been prepared for more trouble than they experienced.
The inspection of facilities of WBAP-TV Wednesday afternoon [29] by newspaper, radio and television representatives brought forth many expressions of surprise at the size and complete preparations of the plant for the new field of television and its expanded facilities for radio. The press representatives later were guests of WBAP-TV for refreshments at Hotel Texas, where they also viewed the initial telecasts.
Everything went off smoothly in the preliminary presentation of the television program, including the welcoming remarks of Harold Hough, vice president and director of radio and television for Carter Publications, Inc.; a review by Amon Carter of the development of the Star-Telegram's radio facilities from a two-watt station to the present television plant, and comments by George Cranston, station manager, and R. C. Stinson, head of the technical division.
Staff Relieved.
The first hint of difficulty came when a newscast suddenly blacked out. But just like in the movies, when it came back on the picture took up right where it left off.
It was a relief to the production and technical staff of the station to know that the break in the program was the result of a traffic collision and a power line break and not some mistake in the studio. They had a few other minor miscues for which they willingly took the blame, but a few mistakes were expected.
Reports were the same all over the city—every television set in operation had a good audience.
Calls and messages expressing congratulations poured into the station by telephone and telegraph. These included:
Edward J. Noble, chairman of the board of American Broadcasting Co.—"May I wish you every success today on the opening of your television station WBAP-TV. The people of Fort Worth can be proud that you are extending this great additional service to the community."
Step Forward.
Mark Woods, president of American Broadcasting Company —"The opening of your television station represents a great step forward and you can be proud that you are the pioneer in bringing this great additional public service to Fort Worth."
Similar messages came from Robert E. Kintner, executive vice president of American Broadcasting Company; Sheldon B. Hickok Jr., manager of station relations department, National Broadcasting of New York; Easton C. Woolley, director of stations departments, National Broadcasting Company of New York, and many others.

Trail Blazing Television Event From WBAP-TV Reaches 160 Miles
BY GITA BUMPASS
Television, the trail blazer that adds sight to sound in radio, made its debut in the Southwest Wednesday night [29] from the Star-Telegram station, WBAP-TV, and reception was recorded 160 miles away.
The first regular program of the station was registered on the video screen of Lynn Roy of Henderson, and perfect reception was reported at De Leon, Arlington, Cleburne, Grapevine, Bowie, Kennedale, Denton, Handley, Rockwall, Lancaster and Dallas.
Fort Worth fans who clustered around an estimated 1,000 screens in homes, restaurants, clubs, theaters and downtown store windows were enthusiastic. Radio Start Compared.
Amon Carter, speaking to this new audience, compared the beginning of television to that of radio. He said he remembered when he had considered radio "not necessarily necessary."
"But we set aside $300 to Lunch a station, anyway,” he said. "When it opened. I talked a little and didn't know if anybody listened or not. Then, one day, a card came from as far away as Mineral Wells.
"Now we are sending world pictures into your home, adding sight to sound."
The debut became official at 7 p. m., when Announcer Frank Mills pronounced the station call letters and introduced Harold Hough, director of radio activities for the Star-Telegram.
Welcomed as First.
The opening live telecast brought to the screen George Cranston, station manager; R. C. Stinson, director of engineering; Andy Andrews, program director, and Robert Gould, chief producer.
An NBC dedication film presented President Niles Trammel, welcoming WBAP-TV to network television as the first in Texas.
Flying X Ranchboys, who were heard under other names in the early days of radio, played and sang western numbers from the studio. "Scarlet Pimpernel," full-length movie sponsored by W. C. Stripling, comedy and newscasts rounded out the almost four-hour long program.
Visual effects and sound were excellent, but a power failure in the Meadowbrook area interrupted transmission for 17 minutes.
The power failure resulted from the crash of a truck into a power line pole in the 900 block of Collard shortly after 5 p. m. The Negro driver of the truck lost control. The machine crashed into the pole, knocking it to the street with its two transformers and its load of main feeder and secondary wires.
Service Restored.
All current in the area was cut off at 7:26 p. m. but Texas Electric Service Company workmen completed the job of elevating the lines and service was restored at 7:43 p. m.
Spot commercials were sponsored by Stuart Nursery, Ryan Motor Company, Nicolson-Jones Motor Company, Motorola Radio, Chesterfield cigarets, Walco Lens Company and the U. S. 4th Army.
Before the show, a tour of the partially completed radio-television center was made by writers representing the Associated Press; United Press, International News Service, Dallas News, Tide Magazine, Variety, Southwestern Advertising and Broadcasting Magazine.
Frank King, AP bureau chief, and Don McIver of the Dallas News found special interest in "video lane," WBAP-TV expression for the large doorways that open into the studio to allow parades, herds of cattle or horses to pass before television cameras.
Hough told the writers they could expect formal opening of the center within 60 days.
Congratulatory messages were received from Edward J. Noble, chairman of the board of American Broadcasting Company; Mark Woods, president of the company; Robert E. Kintner, executive vice president; Sheldon B. Hickcok Jr., manager of station relations, National Broadcasting Company, and Easton C. Woolley, director of stations departments of NBC.
The station will not be on the air Thursday [Oct. 1], but will return Friday at 7 p. m. with NBC news, followed at 7:10 p. m. by the Flying X Ranchboys. The Paschal-Amarillo football game will begin at 7:45 p. m., the first game in the Southwest to be televised.
In the future, WBAP-TV will function Wednesday through Sunday, approximately four hours a night. Test patterns will be aired 15 minutes before program time, in addition to tests from 10 a. m. to noon and from 3 p. m. to 5 p. m., Monday through Saturday.

'BEST WISHES' FROM NBC HEAD
Niles Trammell, president of the National Broadcasting Company, Thursday [30] congratulated officials of WBAP-TV on the station's debut.
"The inauguration of television broadcasting over WBAP-TV marks another milestone in the service which you and your group have provided to radio listeners in the Fort Worth area for many years. We shall look forward to working with you and providing your listeners the finest type of programs avail-able," Trammell said in a telegram.

Here is the week's schedule. Sponsors listed when known.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1948
7:00—Opening. 7:10—NBC Dedication Film. 7:40—Flying X Ranchboys. 8:00—Film, “The Scarlet Pimpernel.” 9:40—NBC News, sponsored by William Cameron and Co. (film). 9:50—Comedy film, “Lucky Beginners” with Our Gang (MGM/Hal Roach, 1935). 10:10—Local Newscast, sponsored by the Fort Worth & Denver City Railroad.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1948
Off the air.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1948
6:45—Test Pattern. 7:00—NBC News. 7:10—Highlights of Last Week’s Football: Yale vs. Ohio, Navy vs. Califonria, Notre Dame vs. Purdue, sponsored by Burwell Thompson Shop. 7:30—TV Close-Ups. 7:35—Texas News Review, sponsored by Texas Electric Co. 7:45—High School Football, Paschal vs. Amarillo, Farrington Field, sponsored by Leonard’s. 10:00—Musical Miniatures. 10:20—Today’s News Pictures (WPIX film).

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1948
7:00—Texas News Review, sponsored by Texas Electric Co. 7:10—Howdy Doody with Buffalo Bob Smith (NBC film) 7:45—Football, Texas Christian vs. Arkansas, TCU Stadium, sponsored by Humble Oil. 10:10—WPIX News.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1948
6:00—NBC Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony conducted by Arturo Toscanini, with the Robert Shaw Collegiate Chorale, soloists Ann McKnight (soprano), Jane Hobson (contralto), Irwin Dillon (tenor), Norman Scott (bass). (NBC kinescope) 7:12—Texas News Review, sponsored by Texas Electric Co. 7:22—America’s Songs. 7:42—Invitation to the Nation. 7:52—Touchdown Thrills, 1947. 8:01—Feature Film: “Tom Brown’s School Days” with Freddie Bartholomew.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1948
Off the air.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1948
Off the air.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1948
7:00—NBC News. 7:10—Flying X Ranchboys. 7:35—Texas News Review, including highlights of the Dixie Series, sponsored by Texas Electric Co. 7:45—Television Close-Ups. 7:50—A Helping Hand. 8:00—Stripling Television Theatre, “Men Are Not Gods” with Gertrude Lawrence, Rex Harrison, Miriam Hopkins, sponsored by Stripling’s. 9:20—Comedy Film, “What Price Taxi” with Franklin Pangborn (MGM, 1935).

Baltimore's Second Station

You would think putting a brand-new television station would be easy when it was on the coaxial cable. That wasn’t altogether the case in 1948 in Baltimore.

Let’s go back to 1945. The Baltimore Sun of Oct. 13 revealed the city had been assigned three channels by the FCC, which had four applications on file. One was from Hearst Radio, Inc. The Commission announced a decision the following May 6:

Video—198-204 mc
Hearst Radio Inc., Baltimore, Md.—CP [construction permit] new commercial television broadcast station to be operated on channel 6, 96 - 102 mc and ESR of 1800—AMENDED: to change frequency from channel 6, 96-102 mc to channel 11, 198 - 204 mc, ESR from 1800 to 2370, transmitter location and studio location. Change type of transmitter and antenna system.

An FCC ruling of Aug. 13, 1946 mentioned the call-letters WWBT had been assigned. The Commission approved a modified construction permit on July 21, 1947 and allowed a change of call-letters to WBAL-TV.

NBC was getting set to broadcast from that city. Two days later, a Variety story outlined the network’s TV football schedule and mentioned three games to be played in Baltimore—the first one on October 11. The story goes on to say “WBAL-TV, NBC’s Baltimore tele-affiliate, [is] expected to be on the air at that time.” But the FCC decided on July 29 to extend the completion date to Jan. 21, 1948.

HAROLD SEE TO WBAL AS VIDEO MANAGER
Baltimore, Aug. 26
Harold P. See, operations supervisor of NBC’s new Washington, D. C. television station, WNBW, will exit that post next month to come here as manager of WBAL's new video affiliate, WBAL-TV. The appointment was annuonced [sic] yesterday (Mon.) by Harold C. Burke, general manager of WBAL.
See has been active in all phases of television development for the past 11 years, most of that time with NBC’s pioneering N. Y. station, WNBT. He is credited with being responsible for development of several technical advances and tele techniques.
Burke reported that See will take over his new job Sept. 15.
WBAL-TV's studios and transmitters are under construction and the station is expected to make its debut about Nov. 1. It will be an affiliate of the NBC tele network.

Nov. 1 came and went. When did the station put a signal on the air? This story appeared on the wire on Jan. 2, 1948:

NBC to Add Video Outlets

Television For Buffalo

When it came to television, the Buffalo Courier-Express couldn’t have been more wrong.

The paper published a story on Nov. 23, 1945 reading:

Washington, Nov. 22—One of the four commercial television channels assigned the Buffalo-Niagara Falls area likely will be allocated to The Courier-Express Station WEBR, it was believed here tonight. WEBR made the first bid for a Buffalo television channel months ago. The only other application from Buffalo was recently filed by WBEN.

“Believed?” Believed by whom?

WEBR’s application had been sitting in a file since at least June 1944, when it asked the FCC to award it Channel 1. Then came the re-allocation mentioned above. The Courier-Express noted on Nov. 15, 1945:

Television OK Asked
Washington, Nov. 15—The Federal Communications Commission said today it had received an application from Radio Station WBEN, Buffalo, to operate a commercial television station on “channel three—60 to 66 megacycles.”

When a hearing finally took place, the Courier-Journal was out of luck. It doesn’t look like the company ever got a TV station, even after its application changed to Channel 7 when 1 disappeared. But we learn from the Evening News of August 16, 1946:

TELEVISION PERMIT GRANTED TO WBEN
WASHINGTON, Aug. 16.—The Federal Communications Commission Thursday [15] granted WBEN, Buffalo, a construction permit for a new television station to be located in Buffalo. The commission ruled that the station could operate on 66 to 72 megacycle, assigned to Channel 4, with 14.4 kilowatts visual power and 7.2 kilowatts aural power. The permit also allows for erection of a 378-foot antenna.

The station was nowhere near ready to go on the air. A year later, in its Sept.8, 1947 issue, Broadcasting magazine gave a progress report.

WORK IS COMPLETED ON WBEN-TV ANTENNA
CONSTRUCTION was completed last week on the television antenna for WBEN-TV Buffalo, which expects to take the air early this winter.
The 122-foot RCA three-bay super-turnstile antenna will be located atop Hotel Statler, 385 feet above street level. The station's transmitter will also be placed in the Statler, which now houses WBEN studios and the WBEN-FM transmitter. Work on the video studios is now underway and installation of the transmitter will begin in the fall.
WBEN-TV is owned by the Buffalo Evening News and will operate on Channel 4 or 66-72 mc. with power of 5 kw video and 2.5 kw audio.

A staple of late 1940s television was the first thing brought to viewers in Buffalo: professional wrestling. The telecast was Feb. 13, 1948. The next day’s News:

WBEN-TV BROADCAST OF WRESTLING MATCHES OPENS NEW RADIO ERA
By ED KELLY
Radio entertainment in the Buffalo area entered a new and exciting era Friday night [13] when 400 fascinated spectators in Hotel Lafayette "watched" wrestling matches from Memorial Auditorium as WBEN-TV broadcast the first television program in the city's history.
Viewed from the screens of 13 receiver sets, the 75-minute show brought ringside thrills to radio dealers and press and radio representatives at a "television introduction" meeting sponsored by Bickford Brothers Company, distributor for RCA Victor. President Paul Wolk conducted the historic meeting.
As the slam-bang action of the Sexton-Managoff and Von Schacht-Thesz bouts was mirrored on the RCA Victor sets in the hotel's ball-room and Orchard Room, here's what was happening:
Picture Images Converted
1—WBEN-TV Technicians Philo Stevens and Jack Elliott, manning two electronic television cameras in the auditorium stands, were photographing the ring action and views of the 5125 spectators cheering the event.
2—These cameras were picking up the scenes on a camera tube and converting the picture images into electronic impulses.
3—The impulses, in turn, were sent by a TV relay—which functions as a miniature transmitter—through the night air to the WBEN-TV station atop Hotel Statler. They were captured there by a pickup mechanism, resembling a large dish balanced on its edge.
4—At the station, these electronic impulses—which, remember, were really the photographs taken at the ringside and converted — were amplified, then sent out again through the air. This time, an antenna atop Hotel Lafayette picked them up.
Field Equipment Used
5—From the antenna, the impulses traveled downward through the hotel and into the television sets. Here the kinescope, or picture tube, reconverted the electrical impulses into the same pictures seen by the television camera tube in the auditorium seven blocks away. The picture was then flashed to the screen of the receiving set.
Although the process sounds lengthy, actually the wrestling scenes traveled from the auditorium to the television receivers at the incredible speed of 166,000 miles a second!
The cameras wed in the broadcast were field equipment of RCA and similar to cameras to be used by WBEN-TV when it begins its regular programs.
As 9:30 o'clock approached—time for the beginning of the telecast—the spectators at the Lafayette pulled their chairs into semicircles around the receiving sets and awaited, with keen anticipation, what was for most of them their first glimpse of the new entertainment wonder.
Applause Spontaneous
Punctually, the screens came to life, images leaped to focus and the audience was not only hearing Ed Reimers, WBEN-TV production staff member, announce the match between Frederick Otto von Schacht and Lou Thesz—it was seeing him (as the television camera photographed him). A spontaneous wave of applause swept the audience as the telecast began.
The scene changed. Now there was a "long shot" of the ring, the two wrestlers and Referee Teddy Thomas moving nimbly about as the bout progressed from feinting to grappling to contortions on the canvas.
The scenes, changing frequently from long shots to closeups as the cameraman pressed a button, unfolded to the sound accompaniment of the cheers, boos and applause that swept the auditorium.
Eyes Riveted on Screen
Spectators in the hotel leaned forward tensely as the action grew more violent. Involuntarily, many moved to the edge of their chairs. All eyes were riveted to the animated screens.
The bout was over. With the intermission preceding the main event, the “eye” of the electronic camera swung slowly over the throng with panoramic effect. Members of the auditorium crowd were seen rising. Stretching, smoking. White-coated refreshment vendors crossed the screen, hawking their wares.
Again the camera picked up Mr. Reimers, this time with Ed Don George, wrestling immortal, at his side. The interview ended as Frank Sexton and Bobby Managoff climbed into the ring, with the cameras picking up the introduction of the principals as Mr. Reimers resumed the narration.
Sound Relayed Accurately
New wrestling fans were made at the telecast. Several youngsters leaped impatiently from their chairs to shout encouragement to their favorites as the tempo of the action became more violent. The pictures of the opponents hurling each other to the canvas with audible thumps drew "oohs and aahs" from the hotel spectators as well as those at the ringside.
With the bout ended, again the camera traveled over the crowd showing spectators rising, donning their hats and coats and filing to the exits. Another shot showed the rows of empty seats and the after-the-event litter cluttering the auditorium floors.
During the meeting preceding the telecast, Vice President Joseph B. Elliott of Radio Corporation of America, in charge of the Home Instrument Division, predicted that the industry, which produced and sold nearly 180,000 television sets in 1947, will produce about 750,000 this year.
Sets Will Be Available
The RCA sets installed for the test broadcast ranged from the $325 table model to the $1195 de luxe floor model. The screen on the former is 52 square inches; on the latter, 300 square inches. The de luxe model screen, 15 by 20 inches, is approximately the size of a newspaper page.
Mr. Elliott told the dealers that sets will be available for consumer purchase on "T Day"—when WBEN-TV officially goes on the air with commercial programs.
Television Director J. Woodrow Magnuson of the station said that WBEN-TV expects to begin commercial operation in the Spring.
Other speakers of RCA Victor were Dan D. Halpin, television receivers sales manager; Henry G. Baker, general sales manager, and, Jack Williams, advertising and sales promotion manager of the Home Instrument Division.

The next test show was the following Tuesday the 17th, a 10-act variety show for Philco dealers; the station was using Philco field equipment.

A sight familiar to those of us of a certain generation appeared on Buffalo’s televisions on Feb. 27—the Indian Head Test Pattern. The News told readers more than they probably wanted to know about it.

WBEN-TV Pattern-Testing Transmissions Are Underway
Fixed Picture Will Be Used as Guide for Radio Servicemen
By JOE HAEFFNER
This morning at 10 o'clock WBEN-TV started telecasting a fixed test pattern to guide radio servicemen in the installation of television sets in the Buffalo area.
The start of the test telecast climaxed a week of intensive, inch-by-inch inspection of the intricate mechanism and replacement of a defective link in the coaxial cable running from the transmitter to the antenna atop Hotel Statler.
The pattern hereafter will be on the air regularly Monday through Friday from 10 A. M. to noon and from 3 to 5 P. M. It also will aid radio dealers in demonstrating a "picture" on sets for prospective customers in their stores.
The pattern will be broadcast for a period of from 60 to 90 days, along with frequent announcements so that both audio (sound) and video (picture) portions of WBEN-TV may be effectively tested. At the conclusion of this test period, when studio equipment is expected to arrive, The Buffalo Evening News television station will begin a regular schedule of commercial programming. Broadcasting of the test pattern then will continue for aid in installation and proper tuning of receivers.
Station operates on Channel 4
The pattern is a fixed "picture" on a tube at the WBEN-TV transmitter on the 18th floor of the Statler, where the station's studios are being completed. The station is on Channel 4 (66-72 megacycles).
First, let's understand that all television pictures are based on a ratio of 4 to 3, so the width of the pattern is 1.33 times the height. This ratio long ago was established as more pleasing to the eye than a square picture. Before the "picture" on the receiver is properly adjusted, the object may be distorted in width or height, something like the reflections of persons looking into trick carnival mirrors.
The circle in the pattern may come in like a large capital "O" or it may be flattened to a short-and-stout Mr. Five-by-Five appearance. Adjustments can be made by radio servicemen to get the true perspective.
Circle Shows Uniformity
The large circle in the center indicates linearity or straightness of the cathode ray scanning beam used in transmission, and shows that the picture is being transmitted with true uniformity. That is, the proper height to the proper width.
The diameter of the large circle is three-fourths the pattern height. When the deflection is adjusted to give a true or undistorted form to this circle, the standard aspect ratio of 4 to 3 is established.
The cathode-ray scanning beam "scans" the picture from side to side at the rate of 525 times in one-thirtieth of a second. Much like newspaper halftone pictures are broken up into tiny dots (The News uses 75-line screen), so the television picture is a series of "lines," individually invisible to the naked eye.
"Wedges" Guide Adjuster
The sets of horizontal and vertical "wedges" in the center circle are calibrated in what engineers call number of "lines resolution," that is, the numbers indicate the total number of alternate black-and-white lines of equal width which can be contained in the height of the picture.
The figures in the wedged circle are to be multiplied by ten. At the point where "35" is indicated, it means that it would take 350 lines of that width to make the entire picture, top to bottom. Naturally, the higher the number of lines that can be "picked out" by the eye, the finer the adjustment of the receiver.
The principal set of wedges in the central part of the pattern and those in each of the four corners provide an indication of the quality of focus. This applies particularly to the corner wedges where defocussing is most likely to prevail.
Who Let the Indian In
The diagonal wedges simulate a density range extending from black towards white. With the brightness adjusted so that the innermost portion is black, or 100%, the remaining three sections of each wedge are respectively 75, 50 and 25% of black. Transmission of these sections will indicate how much picture detail is being transmitted.
The thin-line grids extending over the pattern provide an additional check on the horizontal and vertical "deflection" linearity, for instance, from the solid black of a gown down to the highlights in a person's eyes.
The flat heavy lines at the bottom indicate how the "low frequencies" or picture images with very little detail are received.
The Indian? Nobody—including Robert G. Beerbower, RCA Service Co. engineer from Camden. N. J., who has supervised the WBEN-TV testing—knows exactly how he got into the picture, but somebody suggested it might be Chief Red Jacket, also a pioneer in these parts.

Since the Buffalo News owned the station, there was an almost-daily parade of little stories about it as the time approached for full programming. Here is a sampling.

March 13th:
WBEN TV Applies For Relay Station
WASHINGTON, March 13.—The Buffalo Evening News' television station, WBEN-TV, has applied formally to the Federal Communications Commission for permission to operate an experimental television relay broadcast station. This is the unit that will permit WBEN-TV to pick up "on-the-scene" television shows around Buffalo, such as at Civic Stadium and Memorial Auditorium, and then relay them to the station's main transmitter atop Hotel Statler.
According to the application reported Friday [12] by the FFC, the re-lay station would operate within the 6950-6975 megacycle band with power of one-tenth watt.

March 24th:
WBEN-TV Televises Broadcast Cartoon
WBEN-TV continued its experimental tests early this afternoon, telecasting buildings and traffic in downtown Buffalo. The cameras were trained from windows in Hotel Statler, where the station's studios are located. A studio-to-receiver story of the course of a television show was cartooned and a sample of pictorial newscasts was telecast Tuesday afternoon [23]. Also, questions often asked about WBEN-TV and its programs were answered, and members of the administrative, technical and production staffs of the station were tele-viewed briefly.
The cartoons showed the path of a telecast, starting with an artist in the studio and proceeding with the director in charge, the control room with a busy producer in command, the transmitter, the coaxial cable leading to the station antenna, the tele-viewer's home with dipole antenna and the picture on the home receiver.
Photos of Secretary of State Marshall and other news figures and ballplayers in Spring-training action were televiewed, with oral descriptions.

March 26th:
'Live' Telecasts Due On WBEN-TV Monday
WBEN-TV today finished a week of varied test telecasts, including circus folk, a lion, shots of down-town and outlying buildings, cartoons, a marionette act and interviews with station personnel. Next week the station will continue or a schedule of tests, with "live" telecasts scheduled sometime between 2 and 4 P. M.
Television cameras were taken to the roof of Hotel Statler Thursday afternoon [25] and close-ups were shot of the WBEN-TV antenna. Then telephoto lenses brought the Central Terminal, St. Michael's Church, the Masten Avenue Armory, the Buffalo General Hospital and Masten Park High School and other buildings into focus.
WBEN-TV is on the air Monday through Friday from 9:30 A. M. to noon and from 2 to 5 P. M., with a test program occupying the morning schedule and some of the afternoon period.

March 30th:
BULOVA FIRST TO BUY TIME ON WBEN-TV
The Bulova Watch Company, the first sponsor when the standard broadcast station started in 1930, is the first advertiser to contract for time on WBEN-TV, station officials said today.
Bulova will make nightly time announcements over The Buffalo Evening News television station when it begins regular commercial programming in the late Spring.
WBEN-TV already has issued a television rate card and a list of local programs available for sponsorship.

March 31st:
WBEN-TV Plans Expanded Schedule
WBEN-TV today [31] announced a new schedule of experimental programs to be included in the station's 9:30-to-noon and 2-to-5 P. M, test periods, Monday through Fridays.
Scenes in downtown Buffalo and in outlying sections will be televised afternoons from 2:30 to 3 P. M. The station's cameras will be pointed from various windows of Hotel Statler, with telephoto lenses bringing buildings and traffic several miles away into focus.
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon at 3:30 there will be studio shows. Available talent will perform and there will be pictures of events in the news and explanations of television techniques. Performers from the Shrine Circus and the Midwest Sports & Boat Show, current in Buffalo, have entertained during the last few days.
WBEN'S sports director, Ralph Hubbell, was scheduled to give his predictions on current sports late this afternoon, with emphasis on hockey and baseball. Action photographs were to intersperse his interview with Announcer Ed Reimers.
The test pattern, which radio servicemen use as a guide when installing television receivers, will comprise the morning period and those portions of the afternoon schedule when street traffic and studio shows are not being televised.
WBEN-TV expects to begin regular commercial programming in the late Spring.

April 8th:
WBEN-TV Audience Sees Vaughn Monroe
Vaughn Monroe appeared in person on television Wednesday afternoon [7], but his singing voice didn't—that was recorded.
The singing bandleader, in Buffalo for a concert at Kleinhans Music Hall Wednesday evening, appeared on a WBEN-TV test telecast from the station's studios in Hotel Statler. He was interviewed by Ed Reimers.
When Ed called for a song, a technician started an RCA-Victor recording of Vaughn's late release of "Matinee," with brilliant orchestra accompaniment, and Mr. Monroe went through the lip motions. He also did a few bars of his theme song, "Racing With the Moon." The illusion was nigh-perfect.
From Michigan to Buffalo to Rhode Island in overnight hops is suite a tour of one-night stands, but Vaughn explained to Ed that his orchestra travels on his own plane, a Lockheed Lodestar.
The WBEN-TV schedule Wednesday afternoon also included a brief newscast illustrated with photographs, including shots of the Stassen-MacArthur-Dewey preferential primary in Wisconsin.

April 10th:
Mazurki ‘Pins’ Hubbell For WBEN-TV Mat Fans
Mike Mazurki, 240-pound wrestler from Hollywood, demonstrated various holds for the benefit of WBEN-TV audiences Friday [9] afternoon. The 240-pound Mazurki’s “opponent” was Ralph Hubbell, WBEN’s 140-pound sports director. Hubbell also interviewed Ed Don George, former world mat champion and present matchmaker for Upstate A.C.

April 24th:
WBEN Plans Same Program Tonight on TV, FM and AM
For the first time in Buffalo radio history, a program will be broadcast on television, frequency-modulation and standard-broadcast this evening. The University of Buffalo Round Table will be on WBEN, WBEN-FM and WBEN-TV at 7:30.
The topic. "The Movies and Social Problems," will cover polities, anti-discrimination, housing and other social aspects which recent motion pictures have featured.
Participants will be Dr. Nathaniel Cantor, head of the department of sociology and anthropology at U. B.; Dr. Willard H. Bonner, professor of English at the university, and Michael Simon, Western New York sales manager for Paramount Pictures. Dean Claude E Puffer will be moderator.
The television portion was first planned as an in-the-studio test, with the picture only on studio monitors and receivers. However, WBEN-TV officials explained that while the telecast may be rough in spots, the television audience will understand that the program is merely of an experimental nature.
It is another in the series of tests being conducted before the station begins regular programming in the late Spring. The television operations this evening will in no way interfere with the regular program on WBEN.

April 26th:
WBEN-TV TO START EVENING TELECASTS
Starting tonight, WBEN-TV will be on the air with a test pattern from 7 to 9 o'clock, Monday through Thursday, as an additional service for radio technicians and dealers. The evening service is being added, with music and announcements, so the effectiveness of sets may be demonstrated in homes and stores.
The local television station will continue its daytime schedule of test patterns Monday through Friday, with a pictorial newscast and other test shows starting at 2:30 in the afternoon.
The WBEN-TV crews of producers, announcers and technicians have been getting varied experience in the handling of cameras and mikes during the past several days, with a variety of test telecasts.
Saturday evening, the University of Buffalo Round Table was televised on WBEN-TV as well as broadcast over WBEN and WBEN FM.
The first weekend telecasts included a conservation talk, and Eskimos from the Buffalo Sportsmen's & Boat Show Saturday, and archers and Indians Sunday.
Other telecasts of the past several days featured pictorial newscasts, Model Candy Jones and other acts from the Sportsmen's & Boat Show, including a slingshot artist, animal hunters, lariat and whip experts, a ventriloquist, bird imitator and comic tumblers.

April 29th:
WBEN TO TELEVISE MAY DAY CEREMONY
WBEN-TV will televise a Diocesan Catholic function for the first time Saturday noon—the second annual May Day ceremony in Lafayette Square. The Most Rev. John F. O'Hara, CSC, bishop of the Buffalo Diocese will speak. The program, sponsored by the Holy Name Societies, will feature prayers for Russia and Soviet-dominated countries. Bishop O'Hara and other Holy Name leaders—the Rt. Rev. Joseph E. Maguire, spiritual director, and Stanley C. Collins, president—emphasized that non-Catholics are welcome.
Mr. Collins will be marshal of a parade that will leave the City Hall at 11:30 A. M. The general chairman is Austin J. Roche, with the Rev. Francis A. Growney special spiritual director.

There was also a Buffalo-Cleveland hockey game and a performance by Jimmy O’Neil, later of Shindig fame.

Finally, Friday, May 14, 1948 arrived, the official first day of regular programming. The News was filled with next-day coverage, including the text of every speech made on camera. We’ll skip all that and give you the long front-page story.

Excited Thousands See WBEN-TV Inaugurate Television for Buffalo
Sets Throughout City and Surrounding Communi-ties Attract Viewers; 3-Hour Entertainment Follows Brief Dedicatory Program
By ED KELLY
Television came to Buffalo Friday night [14] and—in excited thousands—Buffalo came to television.
Throughout the city and in surrounding communities, marveling throngs gathered before TV receiving sets to witness the dawn of a new entertainment era as WBEN-TV formally inaugurated a regular-program schedule.
There were excited spectator-audiences everywhere.
They gathered at "television parties" in the homes of set owners; they packed the showrooms of nearly every radio dealer in the downtown area and neighborhoods who held "open house' for T-day; they clustered expectantly about viewing screens in scores of public places; they lingered by the hundreds on sidewalks outside of display windows featuring television sets.
Electric Expectancy in Air
Throughout the station's 15-minute dedication program and the three hours of variety acts, films and wrestling exhibits that followed, scores of persons sat on chain in front of a music-shop window in the Elmwood-Utica section. In the Broadway-Fillmore area an audience stood curb-deep outside of a department store to view the proceedings on four large screens. Passing autos snailed by as their occupants craned for a glimpse of the telecast. In the veranda of Hotel Statler scores of onlookers were riveted to the screens of two receivers.
In WBEN-TVs blue-and-silver-draped temporary studio at Memorial Auditorium, there was an air of electric expectancy as the moment of television's official debut drew near.
Powerful banks of floodlights bathed the scene of the dedication ceremony, cameramen made final adjustments to the two electronic field cameras.
3 Years in Preparation Producer
John L. Hutchinson signaled all in readiness and promptly at 7:30 o'clock, the show went on —culminating three years of preparation and three months of experimental telecasting.
Viewing screens everywhere glowed to life. Watchers saw an envelope appear, saw its flap lifted and an invitation card slowly withdrawn until its message was visible:
“The Buffalo Evening News cordially invites you to the dedication ceremony of WBEN-TV.”
The scene shifted to Announcer Ed Reimers who introduced Edward H. Butler, editor and publisher of The Buffalo Evening News and president of WBEN whose remarks formally launched the new enterprise.
“We are making history tonight," Mr. Butler told the television audience. "I hope all who hear, and for the first time also see, this program share the elation that we in the studio feel.
“We are inaugurating regularly-scheduled television programs. In addition, we are dedicating Buffalo’s pioneer television station to serve you and the thousands of others who will become television [remainder of quote missing].
"Finest" Service Assured
A few minutes later, Vice President Sidney N. Stroll of the National Broadcasting Company declared: "Tonight it is my pleasant duty to welcome WBEN-TV as the newest affiliate of the rapidly-growing NBC television network. We look forward with pleasure to this association ... We salute them (officials of The News and WBEN) for their enterprise in bringing television to Buffalo.
“Under their guidance, we are confident that you, who are and will be the television audience of WBEN-TV, are assured of the finest possible service that this new medium can bring to you."
Other speakers on the dedicatory program, representing federal, state, county and city governments, were Federal Judge John Knight, Supreme Court Justice R. Foster Piper, dean of the judges in the Eighth Judicial District; Chairman Roy R. Crockett of the Board of Supervisors. Mayor Dowd and Council President Peter J. Crotty.
All in Front-Row Seats
Mr. Reimers read congratulatory telegrams from Chairman Wayne Coy of the Federal Communications Commission, President Niles Trammell of NBC, Frank M. Folsom, executive vice president of the RCA Victor Division of the Radio Corporation of America and others.
WBEN-TVs first public service program—three brief messages from YMCA officials in behalf of their organization's fund-raising campaign—followed. The telecast was then returned to the station's projection room in Hotel Statler where a film explaining television was shown.
Ten minutes later TV audiences were back in their front-row "seats" as the curtain went up on a glittering variety show, originating in the auditorium studio.
With pert Mary Jane Dodd, network singing star from Chicago, effervescing through the proceedings as mistress of ceremonies, TV viewers were treated to the nimble stepping of the "Adorables," the Town Casino's chorus line. Interested watcher, on sets at the Casino, were the co-owners, Harry Altman and Harry Wallens, through whose efforts the entertainers were obtained.
Action Followed Closely
From the station's mobile unit—a complete control-room-on-wheels—parked at the south end of the auditorium. Producer Ed Wegman watched the monitoring screens which recorded what each of the cameras was "seeing" upstairs in the studio. From group shots of the dancing line, he switched to close-up views for solo routines and ordered the cameras, in close for shots of a chorine's fast-stepping feet.
The three De Castro Sisters—one of them more telegenic than the next, as the sighs from the men in the TV audiences indicated—provided a gay Latin number. The "eyes" of the TV camera turned evenly back and forth to follow the gyrations and acrobatics of Dancer Dorothy Deering. Younger TV watchers were gleeful over the antics of Danny O'Day, the wooden upstart who behaved incorrigibly for his manipulator. Jimmy Nelson, youthful ventriloquist.
Newscast Is Included
The picture signals, meanwhile, were flowing by coaxial cable to the WBEN-TV microwave transmitter on the auditorium roof. From the transmitter they went through the air to the receiver atop Hotel Statler. They then were radiated by the transmitting antenna to TV sets throughout the area.
The variety show concluded, WBEN-TV crews swiftly moved their equipment from the studio rooms to the "blue seats" in the arena, preparatory to televising the wrestling an hour later.
Meanwhile, the program was returned to the projection room in the hotel studios and viewers saw an INS newsreel, a sports film, a melodious Stephen Foster musical presentation, a newscast in which still photographs were accompanied by an up-to-the-minute commentary, and several short educational and commercial films.
Climax Is Thrilling
Television audiences were whisked back to ringside in Memorial Auditorium in time to watch Wrestler Lou Thesz vanquish Tommy O'Toole with an airplane spin and body slam, the TV camera faithfully recording every grimace and framing the participants in an exciting dissents for the slam-bang finish WBEN's Ralph Rtthholl announced the telecast. A picture of Ed Don George, Upstate A.C. matchmaker, flashed on the screen. A few minutes later, after the cameras swept slowly over the auditorium to show TV audiences the jam-packed arena during intermission, the telecast —thanks to Wrestler Gorgeous George, a "natural" for television if ever there was one—reached its thrilling and hilarious climax.
Into view on the TV screens stalked the valet of Gorgeous, the marceled mauler who faced Jack Page in the finale. The arena audience howled—and so did the TV watchers—as the slender valet, dead-pan and stiffly formal in a frock coat, put on the famous act that has caused sensations in wrestling rings. Out came the squirt gun and the valet proceeded to spray the ring with disinfectant —for Gorgeous, though fearing no fellow grappler—quakes at the thought of germs.
Every Move Recorded
Suddenly the ringside audience stood, craning for its first peck at the goldenlooks [sic] of George. The TV camera turned too, and picked up the perfumed, manicured mauler as he marched aloofly toward the ring, resplendent in his silk-and-sequin robe.
Oblivious to the hoots, cat-calls, hisses and boos, he posed in the ring, primping his golden locks daintily and displaying haughtily his Grecian profile as the TV cameramen recorded his every gesture.
For the madcap antics that climaxed the show—Gorgeous having his hand disinfected after the referee touched it. Gorgeous giving a final look in the mirror at his new marcel before squaring off. Gorgeous patting his curls back into place after sis opponent mussed his hair in the first grapple—TV watchers were in the “front row,” as they had been all evening.

The News had been publishing WBEN-TV listings in the test stage. Here is the first week’s programming:

FRIDAY, MAY 14
7:30—Dedication Ceremonies from Memorial Auditorium—radio and public officials. 7:45—YMCA Public Service Program. 7:50—Magic in the Air", film. 8:00—Town Casino Variety Show—dancers, singers, ventriloquist. 8:30—INS Newsreel. 8:38—Stephen Foster Melodies, film. 8:49—Sports Around the World, film. 9:00—The News in Pictures. 9:10—Special Edition. Film; Soundies. 9:30—Wrestling Matches, Auditorium. 11:00—Sign off.

SATURDAY, MAY 15
5:00-6:00—Poochie’s Party—Magic, comedy and movies for girls and boys. 7:30—U. B. Round Table—“Buffalo Looks to the Future.” 8:00—Today’s News Pictures; Playbill. 8:15—Barbershop Quartet. 8:30—INS Newsreel. 8:37-9:50—Western Theater—Moonlight on the Range.

SUNDAY, MAY 16
3:30-4:30—Midget Auto Races from Civic Stadium. 8:00—News in Pictures; Soundies. 8:15—Here Comes the Circus. 8:30—INS Newsreel. 8:37—Let’s Look at Sports, with Ralph Hubbell. 9:00-10:15—“It Happened Tomorrow,” with Dick Powell

MONDAY, MAY 17 and TUESDAY, MAY 18
11:00-noon—Test Pattern. 1:00-5:00—Test Pattern. 7:00-9:00—Test Pattern.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 19
11:00-noon—Test Pattern. 1:00-5:00—Test Pattern. 8:00—News in Pictures; Playbill. 8:15—“On Two Wheels,” film. 8:30—INS Newsreel, Industrial Exposition. 9:00-10:00—Four Film Featurettes.

THURSDAY, MAY 20
11:00-noon—Test Pattern. 1:00-5:00—Test Pattern. 8:00—News in Pictures; Playbill. 8:15—“Land of the Skylarks,” film. 8:26—Soundies, film. 8:30—INS Newsreel, Tune Topics, cartoon. 8:45—“It’s Wanton Murder,” film. 9:00—Variety Show with Clint Buehlman. 9:30—Weather.

FRIDAY, MAY 21
11:00-noon—Test Pattern. 1:00-5:00—Test Pattern. 8:00—News in Pictures; Playbill. 8:15—Baseball film. 8:26—Soundies, film. 8:30—INS Newsreel. 9:30-11:00—Wrestling.

There was no connection to NBC between Buffalo and Schenectady, so no network programmes aired. It was a matter of time. The News reported on May 15:

WBEN-TV Signs Contract for NBC Network Service
WBEN-TV will be part of the NBC television network. Contracts to make this a part of television development in Buffalo were signed this week by the station and the National Broadcasting Company. Thus WBEN-TV becomes one of the first independent stations to join the NBC network.
Initial network service will be delivered by film. By the end of this year the coaxial cable network, connecting this area with the East Coast, will be in operation and will transmit programs regularly to WBEN-TV. Network service, making program material in many cities available to the inter-connected television stations, is a reality now. Microwave radio-relay systems link Boston, Schenectady and New York. Philadelphia, and the other cities are connected by coaxial cable.
A television network via coaxial cable will be in operation this Fall between St. Louis, Chicago, Toledo, Cleveland and Buffalo. This will carry some Midwest football telecasts. This service will be inter-connected with New York by way of Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia.

The station connected with NBC on Sept. 20, but not with New York. Using cable and relay stations, an NBC Mid-West Network was cobbled together with stations in St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Toledo, Detroit and Cleveland. ABC had its own counterpart in Cleveland, Milwaukee and Chicago, and WBEN-TV took advantage of both of them on the 20th.

WBEN-TV TELECASTS HALF-HOUR SALUTE AS MID-WEST NET OPENS
At 11:22 Monday night the figure of Broadway's ageless Willie Howard reluctantly faded from the television screen, triumphantly climaxing four entertainment-packed hours that launched WBEN-TV and Buffalo into network television.
Stars of Buffalo and ballet, radio and rodeo, sports and Shakespeare and of other entertainment media passed clearly before our home receiver and before thousands of other screens as far apart as Tennessee and Ontario.
Those twin miracles of modern communication, television and the coaxial cable, combined for the inaugural of the NBC Mid-West Television Network—a one-time, star-studded showcase that gave television a mighty push forward. There was no perceptible difference in clarity between Buffalo-originated programs and shows that first had to travel hundreds of miles underground by cable.
Football Telecast Saturday
Preceding the NBC-TV opening gunnery was a Admiral Radio's mountain-music melee, in which WBEN-TV joined three American Broadcasting Company stations. An Admiral spokesman said the company, soon to turn out 5000 sets a week, was showing its faith in network television by sponsoring the Notre Dame football telecasts, which start on WBEN-TV with Saturday's Purdue game.
The first half-hour and the last 82 minutes of the three-hour-plus NBC salute came from St. Louis' Opera House, where the comely Jinx Falkenburg guided the precedent-packed proceedings. At the start she asked Willie Howard whether television would bring back vaudeville. "Vaudeville will bring back television," said Willie, who later tried to prove it with a mighty one-man boost.
Film Story of Cable Shown
NBC President Niles Trammell, predicting the linking of East and West networks "around Christmas time," said: "To bring American people closer together, for a fuller enjoyment of life . . . for the better education of our children. NBC tonight dedicates its Midwest network."
Following the filmed story of the tremendous task of "sewing" the coaxial cable 30 feet underground came the NBC television-recorded parade of past achievements, heralding network fare to come: Ballet dancers, the Dewey and Truman convention speeces [sic], Ben Grauer's high school quiz, Buffalo's Bob Smith and his Howdy Doody puppet, "Television Screen Magazine." a scene from "Henry V" and a telecast from the carrier Leyte.
In an artfully-contrived night-club setting, WBEN-TV presented its local salute, with Clint Buehlman as roving emcee and with Max Miller's music.
Crotty Speaks
Seen-and-heard performers were the Arthur Murray dance team of Ryan and Williams, Vocalist Marian Sanders, Cartoonist Stu Hample and Accordionist Oakley Yale.
Council President Peter J. Crotty, who spoke informally from his table, lauded the planners of the “network linking Buffalo with its sister cities of the lakes and with St. Louis” and called it "a tribute to engineering skill." Around the tables were such old radio hands as Ralph Hubbell, Sally Work, Jim Trantcr and Ironic Joe Wesp who, always in character, claimed that the boiling Kleig lights were causing him to see Buehly through fog-covered glasses. WBEN's Ed Wegman read a telegram from Edward H. Butler, editor and Publisher of The Buffalo Evening News and president of WBEN.
French in Three Languages
From St. Louis came a smoothly-paced show—roller-skaters, the Van Damme swing quintet, the ludicrous Jerry Bergen, Andre and his stiff-jointed human mannequins, Buck and Bubbles of Broadway dance-and-comedy fame, Vocalist Jane Pickens and—Willie Howard.
Prof. Howard, who claimed he taught French in three languages, admitted an affliction in his diction. He gave priceless imitations of Chevalier and Jolson and was ably abetted by double-talking Harold Gary. At one point Jinx said that nearly every city but Toledo and Buffalo had phoned. Immediately WBEN's switchboard was swamped with requests for Jinx's address. Later she rmearked [sic] that calls had come in from Buffalo, East Aurora, Auburn and “Ontario, Canada,” all in the WBEN-TV orbit. Mr. Howard also announced that a group of "500 were listening in Buffalo."
Although a definite network schedule has not been announced, a portent of good things to come was that welcome sound at station-break:
“This is NBC in Buffalo—WBEN-TV.”
Regular Schedule by Christmas
The opening of television network service to Buffalo "means new programs, bigger programs and more programs," Mr. Butler said in the telegram.
"From here on an increasing number of network programs will augment the local shows on WBEN-TV," he wired from out of town. "By Christmas-time, dependent upon final completion of coaxial cable facilities, we expect to telecast a regular schedule of network programs in addition to continual programs in locally-originated programs.
"Since WBEN-TV was dedicated . . . we have developed many program sources. Alert advertisers have made the acquaintance of this new medium. WBEN-TV is proud to be associated with the pioneer NBC television network. To take advantage of all the network and local programs which will be offered. I again want to suggest that this is the time to get your television receiver . . . There will be too many fine programs of all kinds to miss."

The first New York-based NBC shows to appear on WBEN-TV were recordings of Stop Me If You’ve Hard This One, followed by Philco Television Playhouse, starting Sunday, Oct. 31, 1948. Election results on November 3 originated from the NBC affiliate in Cleveland. WBEN-TV also picked up football games from the ABC Midwest network.

Finally, NBC joined its two regional networks for a first combined broadcast on January 11, 1949. We have omitted comments from political and network talking heads contained in the News story the following day:

WBEN-TV OPENS VISTA TO NEW WORLD WITH NETWORK TELEVISION
WBEN-TV opened new windows to the world for the Buffalo area Tuesday [11] on television's biggest technical night—a night that turned out to be a milestone in entertainment, too.
Network television, hailed as the most important entertainment development since the invention of the talkies—began as topnotch artists performed and officials of government and industry hailed the linking of the East and Mid-west networks of the Bell System, connecting 32 stations in 14 cities.
The 2100-mile cable and radio-relay network covers an area in which one-fourth of the nation's population lives. Speakers foresaw an Atlantic-to-Pacific hookup by 1950.
It was a night that glorified that magic thread—the coaxial cable —and the A T & T film that deftly explained its marvels was as fascinating as the parade of diversified entertainers who used it.
Whole Program Traced
The progress of a program was traced from studio via camera and electric impulses to Bell System wire to underground cable to telephone buildings to each of the 14 cities via cable and radio relay towers — all the way from New York City to a home receiver in Walkershaw, Wis. And all in less than 1/200th part of a second. Actual TV pictures of ballet dancers were traced through all the devious routes.
Each network using the system furnished a quarter-hour of entertainment. Arthur Godfrey, in as plain a setting as his old-shoe patter, started off for CBS, with orchestra, vocalists and a really amazing marionette-puppet act called the Lucky Pup Show. Godfrey's parting news flash: “Gov. Warren of California has given the weather 24 hours to get out.”
Dumont Network builts [sic] its show in a more decorative setting around Maestro-Singer Ted Steele, a clever, unnamed girl dancer and a literally long-haired violinist, with the orchestra featuring "Warsaw Concerto."
Berle & Richman
NBC's was a two-man show—but what a duo! Milton Berle, proving by his ad-libbing why he is television's No. 1 star, shared billing with Harry Richman. Harry, with inevitable top hat and cane, sang the inevitable "Putting on the Ritz" and—also inevitably—donned blackface before your eyes and impersonated Al Jolson in "April Showers "
Berle, speaking in behalf of NBC (“and HOW I'd like to be half of NBC”), twitted audience and musicians alike. Of his unseen band-leader, Allen Roth, he remarked: "If he's a conductor, I want a transfer." The finale was a blackface, straw-hat vaudeville throwback with Richman.
ABC gave the best sample of TV technique-to-come, with a whodunit involving four theatrical people implicated in a compatriot's murder. An inquiring inspector, was out of sight most of the time, in the approximate position of the home viewer, with characters handing him varied murder exhibits. . . .
Preceding the inaugural, Announcer Ward Fenton, spokesman for WBEN-TV, traced outstanding local shows since the station's inception in May, pointing out that the more-than-10,000 receivers purchased since then bespoke the Buffalo area's faith in the station and television.
WBEN-TV begins regular network service this afternoon at 5:45 with Buffalo Bob Smith's Howdy Doody Show from New York, with the Kukla-Fran-and-Ollie puppet program, Camel Newsreel and Kraft Television Theater on the evening's NBC fare.

Toronto Radio Executives See WBEN-TV's Hookup
TORONTO, Jan. 12.—More than 100 members and guests of the Toronto Radio Executives Club saw the East-Midwest network inaugural show over WBEN-TV Wednesday night on receivers installed in the King Edward Hotel. The TV sets were placed by Harry Dawson, director of the special projects department of Canadian General Electric. Sidney Lancaster is president of the executives' club.

Burglar Alarm Set Off By Television Fans
An ADT burglar alarm sounded at 9:54 o'clock Tuesday evening at the S. W. Miner Motor Corporation, 1563 Main St., bringing four police cars to the scene. The report: "Nothing to it—just employes returning to the store to see the television show."

The day’s programming:

6:30—Test Pattern. 6:45—Musical Interlude. 6:55—The Playbill, preview. 7:00—Kukla, Fran and Ollie, RCA Show (NBC Midwest Network). 7:30—Telenews Daily, Martino Reel. 7:40—Musical Interlude. 8:00—The Day’s News in Pictures. 8:07—Harry Miller, the Piano Man. 8:20—“Who’s Who,” with Joel Warren Spiegelman, 16-year-old piano prodigy. 8:30—The New Thrill, film—Oldsmobile program. 8:59—Bulova Tie, correct to second. 9:00—Behind Your Radio Dial, film. 9:30-11:00—Network Dedicatory Program—Addresses by FCC Chairman, Wayne Coy; President Leroy A. Wilson of AT&T; and presidents of NBC, ABC, CBS and Dumont; NBC Variety Show, starring Milton Berle; CBS program with Arthur Godfrey; Dumont Salute with Ted Steele; ABC Mystery Program, “Stand By for Crime” (East and Midwest linking).

Meanwhile, that sure bet, the bid for a station by the Buffalo Courier-Journal, wasn’t going anywhere.