Station Three on Nine For Los Angeles

NBC radio in Los Angeles had huge stars on the air—Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen, Burns and Allen, Fibber McGee and Molly, Al Jolson, the guest actors of the Screen Guild Theatre, and many more. When NBC’s radio station in Los Angeles went full-time into television the biggest star they could drum up for a regular show was—the guy who played Charlie Weaver, Cliff Arquette.

To be fair, KFI was an affiliate of NBC; a local station. The station and the network had studios in different locations. And when KFI-TV held its “opening night” on October 6, 1948, it was not an NBC affiliate. Even if it was, there was no way it could connect to the company’s television network, which was linked to cable and relay stations that went only as far as St. Louis.

KFI-TV was Los Angeles’ third to go on the air. That October, its competition was Don Lee’s KTSL, which was still officially the experimental station W6XAO, and Paramount’s WXYZ.

The owner of KFI decided in 1939 to get into television. Broadcasting of April 1 reported:

Anthony Seeks Television
EARLE C. ANTHONY Inc., operating KFI and KECA, Los Angeles, made known its intention of entering the television field March 25 when the FCC announced its application for an experimental visual broadcasting station to operate with 1,000 watts on 42000-56000 kc. The station would be located at a site to be determined in Los Angeles. RCA equipment would be used. The Anthony television application is the fifth now pending before the FCC's television committee, the others being those of WTMJ, Milwaukee; Crosley Radio Corp., Cincinnati; Don Lee Broadcasting System, San Francisco, and KSTP, St. Paul. All of the applications have been referred to the FCC television committee.

On November 15, 1940 the FCC granted a construction permit to Anthony to operate on Channel 6 (96,000 to 102,000 kcs.) at one kilowatt; Variety of November 20 said the station’s purpose was “for a study of the effect of ignition and diathermy interference, and transmission over salt water to Catalina Island.”

Anthony submitted a new application for a commercial television station on Channel 6 on August 18, 1941, and a construction permit was awarded on Sept. 16, 1941. A story in Variety dated Sept. 30 said the call letters would be KSEE. A completion date on Jan. 15, 1942 was approved by the FCC. But the war got in the way, and Broadcasting magazine of June 29, 1942 mentioned “inability to obtain materials necessary for building has promoted abandonment of immediate plans for the new KSEE.”

With the war nearing an end, KFI made another move. Television magazine of May 1945 revealed:

Earle C. Anthony, 141 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles
They are requesting reinstatement of a construction permit for commercial television station KSEE which Anthony allowed to expire. At the same time he wants to modify the terms of his construction permit to give 95% coverage of the Los Angeles metropolitan area rather than the 91% possible at the transmitter site and with the aural equipment he proposed using originally.
Anthony is asking for Channel No. 6 (96-102 mc), and plans to use RCA-transmitter equipment with visual power at 3 kw and 1kw aural. He hopes now to locate his transmitter either on Mt. Wilson in the San Gabriel range at an elevation 5728 feet or on Mt. Harvard at an elevation of 5440 feet.
Both sites are about 16 airline miles from the center of Los Angeles, about 115 miles from San Diego and 93 miles distant from Santa Barbara. Either site would give line-of-sight coverage of greater portion of metropolitan Los Angeles and most of the inhabited region within a 130-mile radius. His application estimates total cost of KSEE at $163,000, with a monthly operating cost of $9,250.
Anthony is licensee of KFI in Los Angeles and is also in the automobile finance and insurance business.

When the application was filed with the FCC on June 6, 1945, the Hollywood Reporter and other media reported it was to operate on Channel 2 (60 to 66 mcs.).

It was almost a year later before hearings on applications for TV stations in Los Angeles began. There were several hearings involving KSEE and seven other applicants beginning May 20, 1946. The Los Angeles Times on May 22 outlined Anthony’s testimony.

ANTHONY REVEALS PLAN FOR TELEVISION STATION
Some of the fine points of what will be offered the public over television in the future were disclosed yesterday [21] by agents of Earle C. Anthony, Inc., at a hearing in the Federal Building, where seven applicants are seeking television permits.
For one thing, the housewife will be able to turn on her television set and see previews of the latest in household gadgets and at a later hour the latest fashions of various department stores modeled for her approval.
Varied Programs Planned
Also there will be programs for the children with puppeteers, technical demonstrations for farmers of how to treat diseased citrus trees or improved methods of budding, grafting or pruning.
There will be newsreels, too, according to the proposed schedule, along with news commentary with still pictures of persons prominent in current events.
Earle C. Anthony, in person, was the key witness at the hearing which is being conducted by Harry Plotkin, assistant chief counsel for the Federal Communications Commission.
Initial Loss Expected
After telling the aims of his organization, Anthony was asked by an attorney for the Hughes Tool Co., another applicant, if he was willing to spend $1,800,000 for his television plant.
"I'm willing to spend enough," Anthony answered.
"How long would you be willing to operate your station at a loss of $400,000 a year?" the attorney continued.
"That depends upon the income from KFI," Anthony said.
Costs In Doubt
Anthony pointed out that it was impossible to estimate accurately the cost of the project, but he said his firm would be willing to meet all reasonable expenses and expects to operate at a loss for some time.
The principal owner of radio station KVI added he does not expect television to become profitable for several years until receiving sets are made available to everyone at reasonable prices.
Five additional applicants for the seven available permits still are to be heard by the government, which is holding hearings in Room 324 in the Federal Building. The hearing probably will last another week.

The FCC approved seven construction permits on December 19; KFI was given Channel 9 despite requesting Channel 4 (NBC got Channel 4). Variety of Dec. 25 pointed out: “A split FCC vote of 4-2 was cast on the Anthony grant, with Commissioners Clifford J. Durr and Rosel Hyde voting to defer action until the commission decides whether or not to renew the license of his station KFI, Los Angeles KFI is on the hook because of protests against its firing of six commentators in 1945 and a new policy requiring all commentators to be employees.” There was no mention of the KSEE call-letters in any of the available media reports.

1947 came and went. The first real news about KFI-TV came in April when it was announced the station would televised Los Angeles Rams football with Union Oil putting up $40,000 in sponsor money. The Hollywood Reporter of April 28 also mentioned away games would be filmed for later broadcast. A United Press dispatch of June 28 reported former Rams star Tommy Harmon had been hired to do the play-by-play.

Test patterns had been expanded starting Tuesday, June 13 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Fridays. Listings in the Citizen-News said they were accompanied with music. And actual programming was getting closer. Variety has this on Aug. 4, 1948.

KFI-TV BOWS AUG. 25 WITH FOOTBALL REMOTE
Hollywood, Aug. 3.
KFI-TV will be on the air this week over channel nine with program tests. Tele station will start broadcasting regularly with remotes of the Los Angeles Rams football games sponsored by Union Oil of California. First tilt will be televised on Aug. 25.
KFI's program tests to go on this week will be of the Los Angeles baseball games at Wrigley field. Games, up to this time, have been broadcast exclusively by Paramount's KTLA but station does not have the exclusive rights to games according to KFI. Earle C. Anthony station has had an arrangement with Wrigley Field to pick up the games for televising when they found themselves ready. Station has been running a series of closed circuits tests now to break in a green camera crew.

KFI took out a full-page ad in Broadcasting of Aug. 16 in a newspaper story format.

KFI BEGINS COMMERCIAL SHOWS THIS MONTH
AS ITS six-week test programming period nears completion, KFI-TV, Los Angeles, will embark on commercial telecasts late this month. First commercial series will be the Union Oil-sponsored Los Angeles Rams intra-squad game.
Formal dedication of the TV station's new studios and official opening date has been set for October 6.
A heavy promotional barrage, which began this month, will reach its climax during the week of the official opening with the publication of a special television issue of the Los Angeles Downtown Shopping News. The Shopping News with a circulation of more than 500,000 copies, twice weekly, cooperates with KFI on a continuous mutual promotion.
The station's new television studios, immediately adjacent to the standard broadcast studios, were completed in late July and all equipment will be installed and tests completed before the final week in September. KFI-TV's main studio, measuring 40 by 70 feet, will be supplemented by remote studios.
Initial broadcast schedule will be 16 hours weekly with a large share of this programming allocated to Saturday and Sunday. At first the Earle C. Anthony outlet may operate on a five-day schedule starting Wednesday of each week.
Opening of the station will cap two years work by KFI organization, highlighted by intensive tests of the all-new RCA equipment in recent months.
First test pattern [15 minutes in length] went out June 21, three weeks ahead of schedule, from the station's Mt. Wilson transmitter. Since that time thorough tests of all remote points in the vicinity have been made as reports from San Diego to Ventura flowed in that KFI-TV's pattern was being well received.
Close to four and one-half million persons will be in the KFI-TV service area, first estimates indicate.

As promised, the station began commercial programming on Aug. 25, 1948. Here’s the Hollywood Citizen-News preview.

Preliminary Testing Is Over For Los Angeles' Third Video Station
By ZUMA PALMER
Television set owners will now have more programs from which to choose because KFI-TV will transmit approximately seven hours a week beginning today—12 or more starting Oct. 6.
"Picture Lady," an hour's show for children at 7 with Caroline Burke at the helm, will open the bill. With her will be the Nick Nelson puppets, Chief Wah-nee-ota, who will talk about Indian lore, and Roy Gordon, who will tell in words and drawings the story of Emo the Elephant.
Pat Bishop, KFI news editor; Tom Harmon, the station's sports director, and Kathleen Wilson Stockwell, newspaperwoman, will have a half hour at 8. A concert by Bob Mitchell, KFI music director; Paul Owen and Buddy Jobe of "Ladies Day" and Betty Mills, harpist, will be telecast at 8:30.
Bridge fans will learn about the game from Robert Lee Johnson at 9. Jose Rodriguez, an authority on subjects musical, and John Crown, pianist, will be on your screen at 9:15 if you so elect. A 45-minute version of Gilbert & Sullivan's "Mikado" by the California Light Opera Co. is scheduled for 9:30.
These are all experimental programs so their length of life has yet to be determined.

And Broadcasting of Aug. 23 added some information.

TV Is Starting With 6-Hour Week
To Begin 12-Hour Schedule Oct. 6 At Formal Opening
KFI-TV Los Angeles will start its programming Aug. 25 on a six hour per week basis, according to William B. Ryan, general manager. Through special authorization from the FCC, the station will not reach the level of 12 hours weekly until Oct. 6, date scheduled for the station’s formal opening.
Opening week will be divided upon a Wednesday, Friday, Sunday basis, according to Mr. Ryan. Two of the days will consist of remotes with the first comprising a children’s hour, news and sportscasts, music appreciation, a forum and light musical; according to Ronald C. Oxford, executive producer.
Mr. Ryan advised BROADCASTING, “We have developed a great many program ideas and formats during the past few months. Many of them have been auditioned on camera. Now we expect to ‘audition’ some of them for the television audience before our program schedule actually takes shape.”

The next day of programming was Aug. 27. The Pasadena Star-News explains what was on:

Electric Exposition on Television at 8
KFI-TV, television station now in operation on a test basis, will transmit a two-hour program from the Electrical Exposition at Pan-Pacific Auditorium tonight starting at 8. The station, on Channel 9, will be on the air on a test basis from 3 until the program time. The program will include a video tour of the exposition, music by the Belmont Shores Fiesta Quartet, Pat Bishop and the news, Tom Harmon interviewing Glenn Davis, Comedian Duane Truax, Joan Schafer and her "Canine Court," Leonora Conn and her "Mail Bag of Household Tricks." Bob Moon will be m.c. and Helen Parish, Miss Television of New York in 1947, will be mistress of ceremonies.

Looking at the first two weeks of programming, there are some remotes and that’s it.

Aug. 28: to 6:00—Tests and Records.
Aug. 29: 7:00—Tests and Records; 8 to 11—Aqua Gala, swimming show from Coliseum Swimming Stadium.
Sep. 2: 4:00—Tests and Records; 7 to 10—Experimental Program from Wrigley Field. Charity football game, Rams vs. Washington, sponsored by Rexall.
Sep. 3: 4:30—Tests and Records.
Sep. 4: to 6:00—Tests and Records.
Sep. 5: 5:00—Tests and Records; 7 to 10—Experimental Program.
Sep. 9: 12:00—Tests and Records; 2:00—Program; 3 to 5—Tests and Records.
Sep. 10: 3:15—Tests and Records.
Sep. 11: 12 to 6—Tests and Records.
Sep. 12: 2:00-2:30—Tests and Records; 2:30 to 5—Aquacade and Fashion Show from Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

Incidentally, another station began tests on Sept. 15—Channel 13, KLAC, was on the air from 6 to 9. It was their only day of testing, but that’s a story for another time.

Finally, the station was ready for an official, formal sign-in with an actual studio programme. Here’s a summary from the Wednesday, Oct. 6, 1948 edition of the Citizen-News looking at the evening’s telecast”

Adolphe Menjou Unofficial Host At KFI-TV ‘Opening Night’ Party
By ZUMA PALMER
Billie Burke, Martha Tilton, George McManus, creator of Maggie and Jiggs; Lois Butler, Meredith Willson, Art Baker, Mayor Fletcher Bowron, Supervisor Raymond V. Darby and Earle C. Anthony will salute the start of regular programming by KFI-TV. They will be seen in the "Shall We Join the Party" 8:30 to 10:15 section of a three hour live show.
The first feature, at 7 p.m., will be "Buffalo Billy," a film for children about a three dimensional Character. Cliff Arquette at 7:15 will preview his forthcoming "Television Talent Test" and Robert Armbruster, NBC "Music Hall" conductor, will be the quizmaster of his own show "Let's Face the Music." Constantin Bakaleinikoff, RKO music director; Soulima Stravinsky, concert pianist, and Eula Beal, San Francisco Opera contralto, will be his guests at 7:30.
Tom Harmon, whose Hoffman Huddle, is scheduled for 8, was called East by the illness of his father. Ted Meyers and Bob Waterfield will take over.
KFI-TV, which went on the air with a test pattern June 21 and with experimental programming on Aug. 25, will telecast programs Wednesday through Friday from 7 p.m. to 10 approximately. It has three studios and all RCA equipment. Cool lights, which must be a joy to the entertainers and technicians, are used.
STAFF
The staff includes Haan J. Tyler, program director; Ronald C. Oxford, executive producer; Robert Livingstone, remote program director; James Leaman, Bob Hiestand and Ken Higgins, directors; Lumir Mathauser, production facilities manager; Tom Harmon, sports director; James Love, film editor; and H. L. Blatterman, Curtis Mason, Seymour Johnson and Bryan Cole, engineers. Kevin B. Sweeney is sales manager.
William B. Ryan, general manager, said that KFI-TV will have an affiliation with a San Diego and Santa Barbara station and probably with one in San Francisco. The Southern California stations will be able to take programs directly off the air from KFI-TV and put them on their own channel.

More from Broadcasting, Oct. 11:

1/2-Hour Broadcast Marks KFI-TV Bow
KFI-TV Los Angeles, owned and operated by Earle C. Anthony Inc., made its formal bow Oct. 6, presenting three and a half hours of programming with Adolphe Menjou as m.c. On air since August with six hours weekly, the station will now broadcast 12 hours. It is on Channel 9 (186-192 mc). Coincident with kickoff, William B. Ryan, general manager of KFI's AM, FM and TV operations, announced that KFI-TV is open to television network possibilities other than NBC. The fact that NBC already has a TV outlet in Los Angeles, makes a TV affiliation with NBC unfeasible, Mr. Ryan said. Station continues, however, as NBC standard affiliate.
Expanding on this, Mr. Ryan felt that a regional network might take the form of a "voluntary chain deal rather than one dominated by KFI." He suggested the possibility of a mutual agreement for relay and/or kinescope networking between stations north of Santa Barbara and San Francisco and south to San Diego. He felt that KFI might aid in sales and programming for member stations of such a network.
"KFI-TV is the only local TV station in Los Angeles," Mr. Ryan told BROADCASTING. Referring to the other stations he said:
"If their TV interest is not national, then their parent company is national."
In viewing the future of television development in Los Angeles, he felt that a purely local station could operate programming and overall policies in more elastic fashion to meet needs of agencies and their clients.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 6
7:00—“Buffalo Bill.” 7:15—Cliff Arquette. 7:30—“Let’s Face the Music.” 7:50—News. 8:00—“Sports Huddle.” 8:15—Film on Video. 8:30—“Shall We Join the Party.”

THURSDAY, OCT. 7
11:30-5:00—Tests. 7:00—Electrostatics. 7:10—Witness Chair. 7:35—Mary and Harry. 7:50—News. 8:00—Mitchell Boy Choir. 8:20—Maritime Provinces of Canada. 8:30—Treasures of Literature.

FRIDAY, OCT. 8
11:30-5:00—Tests. 7:00—For Children Only. 7:30—Three Fellows. 7:50—News. 8:00—Press Women in the News. 8:15-9:00—Home Town.

SATURDAY, OCT. 9
7:00—Cartoons. 8:00—Football, Pepperdine vs. San Jose State.

SUNDAY, OCT. 10
7:00—Ladies’ Day. 7:20—Film, “High Plain.” 7:40—Shopping Quiz with the “Mail Bag.” 7:50—News. 8:00—Viewpoint Unlimited. 8:30—Dr. Handy. 8:50—Film, “Robin Red Breast.” 9:00—Amiable Detective.

MONDAY, OCT. 11 and TUESDAY, OCT. 12
No programming.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 13
11:30-5:00—Tests. 6:45—Tests. 7:00—Julian Brian, Travelogue. 7:20—Mitchell Boy Choir. 7:50—News. 8:00—Trick of the Week. 8:05—Bridge Club. 8:15—Tom Harmon.

The picture below was taken Oct. 10, 1948 at the dedication of the new Times-Mirror building. When the footage aired on KFI-TV is unclear.

New York Gets Independent TV

Three television stations weren’t enough for New York City.

In 1948, the number doubled to six, though one was not technically in New York State.

At the start of the year, the city had the flagship stations for NBC (WNBT), CBS (WCBS) and Du Mont (WABD). Then two independents popped up. The first was WATV on Channel 13, owned by Bremer Broadcasting, the operators of WAAT radio. The station’s license was to serve Newark, N.J., but its transmitter was in West Orange.

There was an incredible competition for licenses to serve the New York area. On June 19, 1944, Broadcasting magazine stated Bremer had applied for a construction permit for a station to operate on Channel 5 (84,000 to 90,000 kc.).

In the first part of June 1946, the number of applicants for a new station in New York had dropped from 13 to six. Bremer was still in the running and made its case at an FCC hearing. On April 14, 1947, the Commission approved four new stations for New York-Northeastern New Jersey: Bamberger Broadcasting Service (Channel 9), American Broadcasting Co. (Channel 7), News Syndicate Co. (Channel 11) and Bremer on Channel 13 (an application from Debs Memorial Radio Fund was denied; WLIB withdrew its application). The channels were assigned May 14.

There were the usual delays. There was also a casualty to WATV’s impending arrival. Billboard of March 6, 1948 reported:

WATV, Newark, Begins Test, Forcing W2XJT To Close
NEW YORK, Feb. 28—With Bremer Broadcasting Company’s Newark video outlet, WATV, trying out its test pattern transmission this week on Channel 13, the colorful career of William B. Still’s experimental W2XJT, Jamaica, L.I. began to draw to a close. Still, the Negro engineer who put together an efficient homemade transmitting unit virtually on a shoestring, is expected to be notified to vacate the same channel shortly by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). WATV on Monday (1) will begin regular test pattern transmissions between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., and expected to begin programming within eight weeks.

Variety of March 3, 1948 updated:

WATV (Newark) Sets Cap for Major N.Y. Market in Preem 3 Weeks Hence
With equipment tests already being made from the transmitter station atop First Mountain, West Orange, N. J., WATV television station in Newark, N. J., expects to start remotes within the next three or four weeks. WATV studios should be ready for use by April 15. Television layout will cost upwards of $600,000 when fully completed.
The transmitter, which was already sending out a test pattern last week, is situated on an elevation of about 600 feet above sea level. With the tower, this gives the station an antenna height of 800 feet. Another antenna, 100 feet high, is going up atop the Mosque theatre building, Newark, where the television studios now are nearing completion.
Television plans for the Mosque, which is owned by WATV and WAAT, indie radio station, call for two smaller tele studios besides the main one, which, will be 84 feet by 82. This main studio has a 25-foot ceiling, making it possible to use sets higher than one floor.
The studio has a lighting system designed to provide uniform light intensity at all points with necessary high-lighting supplied by spotlight banks. Use of fluorescent lighting, coupled with the vast light sensitivity of the image orthicon cameras to be used, enables a pick-up even by the light of a single candle.
Station setup is such that WATV will have its own theatre television when the time time is ripe via the big Mosque theatre, immediately adjacent to the new WATV studios. This 3,500-seat house soon will be running on a film policy. At present it is used about once a week for concerts.
Television lineup for the main studio calls for offices on two sides of the big stage space and dressing rooms on the main' floor. Guests at telecasts will be seated behind a vast glass window stretching about 70 feet. When viewers are desired for aud participation shows, they will be escorted from this section, seating about 200, and taken up to the mikes. On opposite side of this main studio is the show's operations panel, an announcer's booth, and a film room.
A 24-sheet poster campaign in 41 locations will tell the public about WATV from March 1 to April 22. The arrival of the new tele station also is being broadcast dally over WAAT. Understood that opening of main tele studios will be preceded by a radio broadcast from the Mosque theatre stage, with New Jersey state officials invited to special televised program immediately following in the adjacent WATV studios. It's likely that the entire radio show will pick up on film and subsequently shown as part the telecast.

On April 7, the AP’s C.E. Butterfield’s column said “WATV of Newark, N. J., which still is in its test period, presented a pre-inaugural program of slides to help out in the demonstration of a new set.”

Variety on Apr. 14 noted:

WATV Set to Go May 1
WATV, Bremer Broadcastings television station in Newark, N. J., expects to take the air now with remote pickup and film shows about May 1 and will swing into full studio production a month later.
Station originally expected to be in full operation about April 1 but has been stymied by the slow delivery of equipment. It’s not on the air with a test pattern several hours daily. Studios are about two-thirds completed.

The New York Herald Tribune published this “special” on April 18. “State” is misleading; it does not refer to the state government.

State of N. J. Soon to Operate WATV, Own Television Station
NEWARK, N. J., April 17.—In. exactly two weeks the State of New Jersey, where a considerable amount of research on television has had its home, will go on the air regularly with a television station of its own. The new station, which is already on the air on a test basis from its transmitter tower on the Watchung range in West Orange, will be operated by station WATV, the Bremer Broadcasting Corporation, owner and operator of, station WAAT and WAAT-FM.
Adjoing [sic] the tower—which supports a post-war R. C. A. six-section super-turnstile F. M.-TV antenna—is a two-story brick structure designed to house frequency modulation and television transmitting equipment. An auxiliary tower atop this building, in conjunction with a 100-foot tower atop Television Center, Newark, and a completely equipped mobile unit, will utilize a microwave relay system for transmitting programs from the center's studios and from remote locations.
WATV, with 50.000 watts effective radiated power, is the first commercial television station in the nation to operate on Channel 13, occupying the 210-216-mega-cycle portion of the band. Test patterns are currently on the air from noon to 7 p. m. daily, with program operations expected to begin about May 1. The Newark station will serve 13,000,000 residents of the New York-northern New Jersey metropolitan area.
According to Frank V. Bremer, vice-president in charge of engineering, the WATV image will appear on sets in the area bounded on the north by Middletown. N. Y., and on the south by Point Pleasant on the New Jersey shore, and from the Delaware River east to Bay Shore, L. I.
The six-story Mosque Theater building in Newark—newly named Television Center—will provide the main arena for WATV's television programs. Dramatic, variety and fashion shows will originate from the center, which contains the world's largest television studios, augmented by two other studios and additional facilities including spectator and sponsor galleries.

Through all this, ABC did not have a TV station. It worked out a deal to piggy-back on WATV’s airtime, including its coverage of the Republican and Democratic conventions. A story in Variety on April 21 announced the station “is slated to go on the air about May 15.”

Three days before air, Variety outlined what viewers would—and wouldn’t—see.

WATV, NEWARK, SET FOR PREEM SAT. (15)
After several delays, WATV, Bremer Broadcasting's Newark television outlet, takes the air Saturday (15), but its new studios, now under construction in Newark's Mosque building, won't be ready for occupancy until fall. Station will tee off, consequently, with five-and-a-half hours of programming devoted almost exclusively to film.
Scheduled for daily programming are an hour of short musical films, tied together by an emcee working live in front of one camera, from 4 to 5 p.m.; a kids' show including 40 minutes of filmed cartoons from 5 to 6; a western film, from 6 to 7; film shorts from 7 to 8, and a feature film from 6 to 9:30. Station's almost total dependence on film points up the ready Market available for film distribs in the number of new tele outlets scheduled to take the air within the next year.
WATV program chief Paul Belanger plans a full schedule of live studio shows once the studios are ready.

Billboard added this in its issue of May 15:

NEWARK, N. J., May 8.—The Bremer Broadcasting Corporation’s video outlet, WATV, skedded to debut next Saturday (15) on an all-film programing basis, will introduce a video equivalent for the disk jockey. The station has contracted for 1,200 soundies and film shorts during the next year, and will run them off in a 60-minute stretch each afternoon. WATV will commence studio operations about September 1. Until then, it will carry some live shows via its deal with American Broadcasting Company (ABC), but which it will serve as New York outlet for the web until the ABC station begins airing in August.

The schedule on opening day, Saturday, May 15, isn’t clear. The New York Times gave it as:
4:10—Racing, from Garden State Park, N. J. 4:45—Variety and Films. 9:00—Film Shorts. 9:30—Hayloft Hoedown [ABC, originating from WFIL-TV, Philadelphia].

The Daily News gave it as:
4:00—Musical Varieties. 4:10—Horse Races from Golden State Park, Camden, N.J. 5:00—Junior Frolics [cartoons and shorts]. 6:00—Western Film. 7:00—Camera Highlights. 7:45—Feature Film.

The Patterson Morning Call added to that:
5:40—Serial Episodes. 9:00—Film Shorts.

The Herald Tribune didn’t mention the station at all. As no newspaper we’ve found reviewed the first day’s programming, it’s impossible, for now, to say what aired. But Sidney Lohman in his Along Radio Row column in the Times on May 23 reported problems.

THE opening of a regular program service last week by WATV, Newark, brought with it an unpleasant surprise to a number of owners of home television receivers. They discovered that they could not tune in the station's programs on channel 13.
Inquiry into the problem last week among engineers and trained observers produced the consensus that the flaw in reception would be found to lie principally in the antennas. Corrective measures, it was also agreed, would depend upon the shortcomings inherent in the respective antennas as they are now rigged.
The problem was created, it was explained, by a video station operating in the upper reaches of the spectrum, or path through the air, assigned to television. Up to WATV's advent, all the local telecasters were using the lower channels. For the technically minded, WATV operates in the high band, specifically from 210 to 216 megacycles. WCBS-TV, WNBT and WARD, respectively, on Channels 2, 4 and 5, are in the low band, which extends from 44 to 88 megacycles.
Where all-band antennas, those capable of picking up signals from both ends of the spectrum, are installed, it was said, there is little likelihood of defective reception. The only trouble envisaged for set owners with this installation is one of location. There are some isolated spots around town which are "blind" to a given signal, where nothing will help.
A heartening note reported is that numerous existing antennas can be adjusted to pick up the evasive signal. According to the individual cases, the solution might be in reorientating the antenna, or pointing it so that it also becomes sensitive to WATV's beam; or in adding extensions to the mast, in effect, the equivalent of another antenna, designed to catch the high signal. In extreme cases, in localities not beneficial to reception, another antenna might have to be installed, it was said.
There will be cases, it was continued, where antennas attuned only to the low band have been put up. Two reasons are advanced for these installations: either the type had to be used to get existing stations without "ghosts," or double images caused by reflections from tall buildings; or they were considered adequate at the time because there were no stations on the high band about which to be concerned. In either case, the prescription recommended is the same. An antenna capable of catching WATV's signal must be installed.
The observation also was made that there will be instances where no amount of antenna adjustment or addition will help. That would be where the home receiver itself does not contain provision for channel 13.

The Times schedule for the rest of the week looked like this:

Sunday, May 16
4:00—Musical Varieties. 5:00—Junior Frolics. 6:00—Western Feature. 7:00—Film Shorts. 7:45-9:00—Feature Film [sponsored by American Shops].

Monday, May 17 and Tuesday, May 18
No programs scheduled.

Wednesday, May 19
4:00—Musical Varieties. 5:00—Junior Frolics. 6:00—Western Feature. 6:55—News [Daily News listing]. 7:00—Film Shorts. 7:45—Feature Film. 9:00—Wrestling, from Washington [from WMAL].

Thursday, May 20
4:00—Musical Varieties. 5:00—Junior Frolics. 6:00—Western Feature. 7:00—Film Shorts. 7:45—Feature Film. 8:30—Hollywood Screen Test [ABC, with Burt Lytell from WFIL-TV, Philadelphia].

Friday, May 21
4:00—Musical Varieties. 5:00—Junior Frolics. 6:00—Western Feature. 7:00—Film Shorts. 7:45—Feature Film.

Saturday, May 22
4:00—Film Shorts. 4:10—Racing, from Garden State Park, N. J. 4:45—Musical Varieties. 5:00—Junior Frolics. 6:00—Western Feature. 7:00—Camera Highlights. 7:45—Feature Film. 9:00—Shorts Subjects. 9:30—Hayloft Hoedown.

After a purchase by syndicator NTA, the station was sold again to finally become an educational television outlet in 1962. It remains one, as WNET, to this day.

Television For Minnesota

Jack Benny first appeared on television in a place and time you wouldn’t think.

No, it was not when his show debuted in 1950. It wasn’t in some telecast from Los Angeles or in the mechanical TV days of the early ‘30s in New York.

It was in Minnesota in 1939.

Actually, the city didn’t have a station then. But a company had applied for a license and Benny happened to be there when some test telecasts were being transmitted, so he got stuck in front of the camera.

The station later became one of many to formally debut in 1948—KSTP in St. Paul.

First, some pre-history.

In the mechanical days, the owner of WDGY in Minneapolis, Dr. George W. Young, was granted a license for W9XAT. The station started its life on August 4, 1933 when a picture of WDGY personality Clellan Card and Minneapolis Mayor William F. Kunze shaking hands was transmitted to a receiver at the Minneapolis courthouse. (Media Tales: Stories of Minnesota TV, Radio, Publications, and Personalities by Sheri O'Meara). The Aug. 1938 issue of Radio-Craft magazine reported the station had an approximate schedule of 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, airing film with sound on WDGY. But it also said the license had been defaulted at a hearing called for May 13, 1938.

Enter the National Battery Co.’s KSTP radio in St. Paul. It applied to the FCC for a permit for a new station on December 20, 1938 after RCA announced it would make transmitters available for sale. A construction permit was granted on May 8 and a transmitted ordered from Camden, N.J.

But KSTP couldn’t wait. It arranged a closed-circuit demonstration. The Minneapolis Star-Journal reported on August 3, 1939:

LEGION PARADE TO BE MARKED BY TELEVISION
A pre-convention parade of the American Legion will be "televised" Saturday afternoon [5]. Totton Heffelfinger, president of the convention corporation, announced today after arrangements with Stanley E. Hubbard, president and general manager of KSTP.
• • •
The parade sponsored by the Fifth District Commander Russell F. Bertelsen will start at Pioneer square at 3 p.m. Saturday and will go up Nicollet, then cross on Seventh street, where the television camera will be mounted in front of legion registration headquarters at Radisson hotel.
• • •
Receiving sets will he placed in the Flame Room of the hotel where the marching units will be heard and seen at the same time.

As a side-note, WCCO radio in Minneapolis staged “a tabloid show” (singer, magician, newscaster and comedian) in front of several hundred people in the station auditorium the previous May 4. This involved a portable system set up by Philco.

KSTP decided to try it again. The Star-Journal reported on August 22:

Television Demonstration To Be State Fair Feature
Equipment to Duplicate RCA Faculties in New York
A television demonstration, with equipment and complete production facilities identical to those in the RCA Studios in New York, will be on display as an added feature of the Minnesota State fair, opening Saturday [26].
The demonstration will make this one of only four cities in the United States where such exhibitions are being presented this season.
• • •
The equipment, augmented for state fair showing, will include the latest in television cameras and receivers, all in actual operation. Included in the exhibit will be a complete television show, including many of the fair's highlights.
• • •
At the same time, Raymond A. Lee, secretary, announced that, because of the record number of exhibits arriving for the exposition, judging in four divisions will get under way Wednesday.
• • •
The finest artist in Minnesota; the state's champion home-canners; the leading butter and cheese-maker and the outstanding work of school students will be selected.
The television show will he presented by station KSTP and Stanley R. Hubbard, president.
• • •
"Patrons will have an opportunity to see the finest television show in the nation, with the latest in RCA equipment," Mr. Hubbard said.

More from the paper’s Aug. 25 edition.

Minnesota Has First State Fair to Present Television
Only Two World's Fairs Have Had Radio Show
The Minnesota State fair will be the third fair in the United States to present television to visitors, Stanley E. Hubbard, president and general manager of KSTP, announced today.
KSTP will install complete RCA equipment on the grounds in time for the opening of the Fair Saturday.
The New York World's fair was the first ever to be televised, he said, and television demonstrations likewise were held at the San Francisco fair.
Minnesota thus will be the first state fair ever to offer television to visitors, according to Mr. Hubbard.
The equipment will be set up in a special educational exhibit adjacent to the grandstand. Plans call for televising visitors through the long range lens of the huge television camera, just as radio stars, or entertainment features are being broadcast in New York.
• • •
Special events at the fair, distinguished visitors and others will be brought before the television camera and their images reflected on the silver screens.
• • •
In addition to the television camera and receivers, KSTP also will have a special radio exhibit showing the evolution of receiving equipment from the earliest sets down to the present day.

More from the paper’s Aug. 27 edition.

Television Shown at State Fair
More than 25 broadcasts will be carried by KSTP this week as a part of its extensive coverage of the activities of the Minnesota State fair.
Many of them will originate from the station's sensational 'Television Tour" where visitors will be able to see as well as hear the broadcasts in special television receivers.
The KSTP television demonstration is a duplicate of the exhibit which is drawing thousands daily at the New York World's fair.
Visitors will see the television camera, the control room and the latest models of home receivers. Fifteen television experts from the KSTP engineering staff will be on hand to explain the operation.
The other broadcasts will come from all portions of the fair, from the noisy midway to the educational exhibits. The KSTP special event staff will carry the pack transmitter and mobile transmitter behind the scenes to give listeners an inside picture of the people behind the fair.

Experiments continued. On Sept. 10, the University of Minnesota Gophers scrimmage at Northrop Field was televised, apparently the first time football had been put on television. Radio stars Vic and Sade were part of a TV demonstration on to mark the Minneapolis Century celebration on Oct. 7. There was also talk about televising a performance of “What a Life” starring Jackie Coogan from the Alvin Theatre on either Nov. 10 or 11, but it’s unclear whether it happened.

Back at the FCC on Apr. 12, 1940:

KSTP REQUESTS RIGHT TO BUILD TELEVISION UNIT
KSTP has filed application with the federal communication commission at Washington for permission to build a television transmitter in the Twin Cities.
If the permit is granted, Kenneth Hance, vice president, said, a completely new transmitter will be erected at a probable cost of $350,000.
The communications commission has held up issuance of television licenses pending a hearing at Washington next week to determine its future policy, Hance said, and KSTP will make no plans until conclusion of this hearing and determination of policy. (Star-Journal, Apr. 13)

Nothing happened until June 1945, when KSTP requested 50 to 56 mc. (Channel 1) for a commercial TV station. in April 1946, it amended that to 76 to 82 mc. (Channel 5). Finally, the Commission made a decision. This is from the Minneapolis Morning Tribune, May 18, 1946.

KSTP TELEVISION PLEA APPROVED
Telecasting Awaits Equipment Arrival
Television broadcasts for the Twin Cities moved a step nearer Friday [17] with approval by the federal communications commission of radio station KSTP's television application.
Stanley E. Hubbard, president and general manager of KSTP, Inc., said, however, actual production of television broadcasts is dependent on receipt of equipment ordered before the war but still not delivered.
He hopes, he added, most of the equipment will be installed by August. Plans also call for erection of the 840-foot transmission tower at a site on Snelling avenue, St. Paul.
Hubbard said his station's television broadcasts will cover a 60-mile radius.
KSTP also expects to have its full frequency modulation facilities in operation by Sept. 1, Hubbard added.

The station’s next big event wasn’t until the following year. Here’s Bob Muprhy’s column in the Star-Journal of Jan. 18, 1947.

KSTP Television Sets to 'Scan' Carnival Parade
THE TECHNICIANS OVER AT KSTP have been having a lot of fun testing out a couple of brand new items of equipment which will be used to give the public a new look at television soon.
KSTP has acquired two $15,000 image-orthicon television cameras, the latest type of equipment, and will use them to televise the St. Paul Winter carnival parade Feb. 6. If no actual on-the-air broadcast is arranged, the cameras will be linked by coaxial cable to receivers to give the same effect.
They also will he used soon in a demonstration before the Advertising club, when the types of commercials possible with television will he shown. A coaxial cable link probably will be used there, too.
The camera tests have been revealing a wide latitude of versatility. Using a 25-inch lens—about the equal of a 100-inch lens on a Speed-Graphic camera—one of them, from St. Paul hotel, picked up clearly the images of people on the steps of the state capitol.
The cameras are of the type which can shoot in any light, obviating the huge banks of very hot lights necessary with ordinary television cameras. And they are adaptable to infra-red pickup, with the use of filters. When the St. Paul parade is shot in the arena, most of the light, naturally, will be concentrated on the parade. Interviews, however, will be conducted with spectators in illumination much below normal.
They will be specially lighted, but they won't know it. "Black light"—infra-red—will be focused on the interviewees and the camera's infra-red filter will pick them up.
Each camera is equipped with a four-lens turret permitting switching of lenses, for close-up or distant views, in a fraction of a second. The cameras are about the size of studio type motion picture cameras.
The new Items of equipment are a long advance over the cameras with which KSTP previously had experimented. The station for the last 10 years has been testing television setups getting ready for the inauguration of regular picture broadcasts next fall.

The next big event was the Aquacentennial on July 23. The big guests were Joan Blondell and her husband, Mike Todd. She took part in a TV demonstration. The next month, new property was purchased to house KSTP’s operations, with a 6,350-foot antenna for TV and FM. Later in the month, the FCC approved a coaxial cable between the Twin Cities and Des Moines, which had no television. Also in August, KSTP demonstrated television at the Minnesota State Fair.

Will Jones’ column in the Tribune of Sept. 3 had these anecdotes.

Television Finds a Boy
Tired of training his television camera on weary-looking state fairgoers, engineer John Klug started getting fancy.
From his perch atop the KSTP mobile unit beside the grandstand ramp, Klug began to look for human interest.
Across the street, he spotted a little boy, crying.
"Ah!" he said to himself. "This is it."
Klug slipped the telephoto lens into place on the camera, trained it on the howling lad. The little fellow's twisted features showed up big and clear on the demonstration television screens under the canopy.
From the midst of the crowd, there was a squeal. A woman shoved her way out of the gathering, raced across the street to the crying boy.
Her lost son had been found.
Television, until now largely experimental in the Twin Cities, got in its first lick at public service.
Strictly Bull
John Pricker, KSTP's head television engineer, tried to claim another first for his television unit.
He said they televised a champion bull, making it the first bull ever televised.
"There's been lots of bull on television, but this is the first time there's ever been a real one." he said.
He stuck with that story until he was reminded that bullfights had been televised in Mexico City.
“Oh well,” he retreated, “we televised the first non-fighting bull.”
Next, the RCA travelling road show pushed their wares in Minneapolis. The Tribune of Oct. 10 reported on it. A few years earlier, director Lou Sposa helped his brother get a job at Du Mont. His brother was Dennis James.

3-Year-Old Blond 'Actress' Gets Television Spotlight
Three-year-old Mary Ann Steffes joined the ranks of television pioneers at the demonstration of equipment by the RCA Victor television caravan in the L. S. Donaldson Co. store Thursday [9].
On a shopping trip to Minneapolis with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Rodney Steffes of Rochester, Minn., the little blond smiled politely for the cameras while her parents simultaneously watched her performance on the television screen.
A bag of candy was her reward for the team act with Irene Murphy of New York, one of the caravan actresses.
The staff of nine caravan technicians and actors will complete their three-day series of shows at Donaldson's today. Performances under the direction of Louis A. Sposa, New York, one of the country's leading television technicians, will begin at 11 a.m.
Highlight of today's shows will be the appearance of James Melton, Metropolitan Opera tenor, before the cameras at 2 p.m. Mellon is here for a concert at St. Paul auditorium Tuesday.
The shows, a combination of commercial demonstrations of new Donaldson store merchandise and a local talent tie-in with radio station KSTP, are typical of what Minneapolis will see on home television sets within a year or two, Sposa predicted.
He and the caravan have presented their RCA Victor demonstrations in 21 cities in the last 21 weeks before audiences totaling more than 1,500,000 persons. Their equipment is valued at $150,000.
Home television sets on today's market sell all the way from $169 to $2,495, with screens ranging in size from five to 20 inches wide.

Variety of Dec. 17, 1947 reported on the end of a dispute over a federal ruling permitting KSTP to build a 568-foot tower; it had been using a temporary 75-foot transmitter pole until this.

At this point, there wasn’t much of an audience for the station’s sporadic programming, as Bob Murphy in the Star revealed on Dec. 23.

Television to Sprout in Minneapolis Soon
AS OF TODAY, THERE ARE 16 television receiver sets in Minneapolis, four of them in private homes.
But after Jan. 1, look again.
The experts tell me the rush will be on. KSTP will begin broadcasting television shows from its new tower in April. Plans call for 30 hours a week of broadcasting. Up to now, it has been broadcasting experimentally.
By April, it is expected several hundred sets will be sold, installed and ready. Installing a television set is a bit more complex than moving a new radio into your living room.
You have to have an antenna, and an expert hooks it up. Dealers are now getting their sample sets. KSTP already has lined up first call on televising auditorium prize fights, but with a gimmick.
Television of fights is all right as long as it doesn't hurt attendance.

On January 15, 1948, Murphy quoted the station’s engineer as saying a test pattern would be broadcast starting March 1 with regular programming on April 27. But KSTP-TV’s mobile unit was put to use on January 28. Jack Horner called the play-by-play. The Tribune’s Jones reported on Jan. 29:

NOW WELL SEE IF IT'S TRUE
Television Comes to Twin Cities
In assorted sizes, and at prices ranging from $169.50 to $1,195, television made a shaky but promising bow in the Twin Cities last night [28].
Some 600 people—most of them radio dealers and their families—crowded into rooms in three hotels to watch a basketball game on television receivers.
In a handful of stores and private homes where private sets have been installed, smaller groups watched.
It was the fast telecast made to any kind of a large audience here. Station KSTP, which expects to start regular video broadcasts in April, set up a special transmitter in Minneapolis auditorium to broadcast the Minneapolis Lakers-Rochester Royals game.
TROUBLE REARS
Originally they planned to relay the images from the auditorium to the Rand tower, from there to the regular transmitter in Midway, and from there to receivers in this area. But engineers had trouble with the microwave relays. So the 500-watt transmitter was lugged from its Midway location to the auditorium and set up there. An 18-foot steel pipe was set up on the roof of the auditorium for a broadcasting tower.
The whole affair was arranged for the benefit of distributors of television sets, who were showing off their models for dealers.
RCA-Victor distributors had five sets going in the ballroom of The Leamington. There were three Stewart-Warner models set up in a suite on the 12th floor of the Curtis. At the Radisson, two Admiral receivers were installed in a room on the 10th floor.
Even more dealers are expected to watch similar demonstrations when prizefights [Jackir Graves vs Eddie Dumzel; Horner calling the bout] are telecast from the auditorium tonight.
BATTLE SEEN
From the dealers' standpoint, it looked as though a "Battle of Television" was shaping up in the Twin Cities. At all the demonstrations there was more talk of prices, delivery dates, sales angles, production figures.
And if the number of generals in the field means anything, the RCA-Victor people seemed to have the edge in this battle. Before they turned on their television sets, eight gentlemen with fancy titles—including a couple of vice presidents—made talks.
They talked so long about television that the basketball game was half over before the curious visitors got to see what it looked like on a television screen.
On the 10 sets used for the hotel demonstrations, results ranged all the way from poor to excellent. How the sets were installed had a lot to do with it.
CHEAP SET SCORES
Strangely enough, the best images were on the cheapest set and the most expensive one. The $1,195 job had a large screen, which made it easier to distinguish players' numbers. But the cheap set, with its small screen, came up with better images than some of the more expensive models.

The test patterns began on schedule but Jones, in his column of March 3, 1948, noted they weren’t satisfactory.

KSTP has what it probably television’s first Miss Hush. Every day, the station sends out an experimental television signal. It's so dealers can tune up the television sets they're installing.
At first the station telecast a slide that had a lot of geometric curleycues on it. That got to be kind of dull. So they rounded tip a brunet cutie. Every day at 3:55 they put her in front of the tele camera and have her smile for the customers.
People with television sets like the idea of having the same nice face show up on their screens each day. They're beginning to wonder who she is.
I'm saving you a couple hundred bucks today by reprinting the mystery girl's face here. You don't have to buy a television set to see it now.
But I can't reveal name or phone number. Reveal it? I can't even GET it.

The station was offering more than this by mid-month and was set to expand its test programming. Jones wrote in his March 18 column:

First Video Contract
Stan Hubbard, president of KSTP, yesterday [17] signed up KSTP-television as an affiliate of NBC-television.
Then there was shaking of hands and popping of flash bulbs in NBC's New York offices. It was, they said, the first such contract in television history. Until now, television networks have either been owned entirely by the parent company, or independent stations have been linked with the network on an informal, no-contract basis.
NBC will service KSTP by air with news and feature films starting next week. A direct hook-up with the east coast network will have to wait until a coaxial connection can be made with Minneapolis.
• • •
KSTP this week moved its video transmitting equipment to a permanent University avenue location on the Minneapolis-St. Paul line.
Starting next week, two telecasts will be aired daily from the new location. One will be in mid-afternoon, one in the evening. About 100 feet of the projected 568-foot tower has been completed. So the daily broadcasts will be made via a temporary antenna atop the partially-completed tower. As the tower goes up, the antenna will be moved up.
Until regular broadcasts begin in April, programs will he devoted largely to Twin Cities sports events and the NBC films.
The Star published photos on March 23, saying the “first regularly scheduled television programs start tonight.” But Jones in the Tribune reported the next morning on a series of 12-minute packages:

Although T-Day—the day television makes its big bow—is officially April 27 in the Twin Cities, the first sponsored television program will start next Monday [29]. Philco Corp. will bankroll a series of films to be flown from the spring training camps of nine major league baseball teams. The series, “1948 Baseball Preview,” will be narrated by Bill Slater. KSTP-television will carry the films Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8 p.m.

The papers weren’t carrying the experimental schedules, but Tribune’s George Grim describes what he watched on KSTP-TV on March 29 in his column two days later.

Television Preview: It's Good If It Behaves
I’ve just heard a distant rumble—heard it from a comfortable chair in the living room of a friend who has a television set. We had dropped over to see one of the experimental telecasts of KSTP-TV.
"Remember, the tower isn't up yet," said the friend, who also happens to be a KSTP executive. "And we don't start boasting about our pictures until April 27, when we start officially. But take a look anyhow."
It was 7:50 p.m. and there was music playing in the background for a black-and-bluish thing called a "test pattern." It has lots of lines and crosshatches in it so you can tune your set.
Like the Old Movies
That's something to watch. What appears on the little screen is what, when you were a kid, caused you to whistle at the operator in the local movie theater. Curved lines were succeeded by a jumping image which then locked itself into place and turned into the beginning of a newsreel.
In rapid succession, we saw King Michael of Romania flying his plane over New York . . . Jane Fromen's wedding . . . Mrs. Lee Hutton of Excelsior talking to President Truman.
That was the newsreel. At Intervals, the picture seemed as though you were looking at it through the thin seat of an old pair of herringbone trousers. "Remember, this is experimental," said my friend.
(And, having seen television in England and New York, I agreed: the picture, when all the machinery runs right, is about the same as a good home movie in quality.)
Next came the television commercial . . . a demonstration of a record player that played records without anybody watching. While the girl poked the record into a machine, a gentleman put his arm around her and said, "Let's dance."
Baseball, and Barn Dance
Next was a baseball picture from a training camp. We saw Florida palm trees and group pictures of the players . . . individual shots of old timers and rookies. It was a warmup to the St. Paul Saints games which will all be played in your living room—if you have a television receiver.
After that came the first television appearance of Dave Stone's KSTP barn dance unit. Now, I'm not a fan of hillbilly entertainment—but these people just ignored the cameras and had a wonderful time. They told corny jokes and tap danced. Billy Folger sang a couple of ballads, and Dave carefully showed you the songbook the boys sell.
Somehow, it was all very friendly and very informal. It gave you a preview of something television could do: come down off its high horse and just act like someone having fun in your amusement room.
That lasted for half an hour. Then it was over for the evening.
You heard the distant rumble of a new form of entertainment.
You felt, too, the dangers television faced. It was so personal, there in your house. It had to behave like a guest or else. If it behaved, it would become a member of many a family. If not . . .

The last bit of news before the start of regular programming came on April 22, when an agreement was signed to air games of the American Association’s Minneapolis Millers. The deal affected all home games except on Sundays and Holidays. Minneapolis Ford picked up sponsorship, the reason the station gave for dropping plans to broadcast games of the rival St. Paul Saints.

This was a complete turnaround for Millers’ General Manager Rosy Ryan told KSTP-TV its cameras weren’t welcome. Why the change? He explained to the Trib’s Joe Hendrickson:

"A year ago I didn't know much about television so I refused to give the okay pending a survey the New York Giants were taking,” Ryan declared.
"They discovered that television has not hurt baseball attendance, and they suspect it has helped it.
"With a strong 50,000 watt station like KSTP doing the job, it is probable our games will reach many of the rural communities of Minnesota which cannot get our regular broadcast. I am hoping that the interest stimulated by this television spread throughout the state will help our drawing power. It will make more people interested in baseball and bring more people to Minneapolis.
"We are willing to pioneer in KSTP’s project. If television is the coming thing in radio, we want to go along with it.
"We did not go into it for the money we will receive for the contract."

Newspapers jumped to sell space to stores either selling TVs for able to fit TV into their ads. There were lots of television stories as well the day before The Big Day. Jones’ wrote a feature story for Aug. 26.

DIRECT NETWORK LINK STILL IN FUTURE
Telecast Fare to Range From Fights to Drama
No matter how much you pay for a television set, how big the screen is, or how bright the picture, the most important thing anybody wants to know about a set is:
What kind of programs are going to come out of the thing?
Until late this year, at least, the answer to that question can come only from the program department of KSTP-TV.
After its T-day opening, with a Minneapolis-Louisville baseball game, the KSTP television station will broadcast some 12 to 14 hours a week, Monday through Friday.
HOPE FOR INCREASE
After that, the station hopes gradually to increase the number of hours it is on the air. Some 18 to 25 hours of weekly programs should be available during the summer.
The exact number will depend upon the Millers' baseball schedule. Eventually the station hopes to offer about 30 hours of programs a week.
Baseball telecasts are scheduled every afternoon during the first week of KSTP's operation. Evening programs will be divided about 50-50 between films and programs originating in the studio.
Studio programs include a half hour with the Sunset Valley barn dance gang, a program on which hobbyists are interviewed, an amateur half-hour under the heading "Television Audition," a couple of scenes from Shakespeare by a Macalester college drama group, a program on which a family is interviewed and a wacky disc jockey program.
NEWSREELS PLANNED
Films scheduled the first week include a 10-minute daily newsreel, possibly a half dozen short subjects and a western.
That lineup is pretty much the same as the television fare offered in other cities. Quiz shows and how-to-do-it programs for housewives undoubtedly will be developed. Puppet shows for children are planned. Television crews will be sent out to pick up special events whenever possible. KSTP also will air a newsreel of Twin Cities events twice a week. Other newsreels will be supplied by NBC.
The day when you'll be able to sit at home and watch a three-act play or a brand new Hollywood movie still is some time away, however. The same goes for big-time musical and variety programs originating at network studios in New York and Hollywood.
It will be two years before local stations can be linked with the east via a direct network. It will take that much time to install necessary cables and relay systems to bring programs to the Twin Cities.

Jones’ column that day in the Trib profiled the “wacky disc jockey.” It was KSTP “Clock Watcher” morning man Roch Ulmer.

Jockeying records for television presents a problem. You can't just sit there and talk about records. People have to have some reason to watch you, too.
Ulmer has attacked the problem directly. I'm not sure he has come up with a real reason for watching him. But at least he has figured out a number of things to do in front of a television camera which are watchable.
Watch Him Crank
He plays the records on a battered old victrola. It has to be cranked. You can watch him crank it.
He has a table full of assorted junk with which he plays while the records are spinning. His costume is a derby hat and a set of white grease monkey overalls. He introduces himself as "scientist, inventor, lecturer."
He was working on a complicated record-tipper all during the pre-T-day program that I watched. It was made of two-by-fours.
He'd place a record on one end of the contraption, slam his foot down on the other end. It would flip the record into the air.
Sometimes he caught the record in mid-air. Sometimes the record crashed to the floor. It never flipped onto the victrola.
Ulmer's deadpan clowning was at least as amusing as in Edgar Kennedy short subject, and much quieter.
He Hammers
He got noisy a few times. Once he had to saw a piece of wood. The sawing all but drowned out the record which was playing. The record was "Babyface," I think, so it wasn't any real loss. Later Ulmer indulged in some loud hammering. That didn't disrupt any important music, either. Now that I think it over, none of the music he played could be hurt by any amount of noise.
Ulmer also managed to show off a couple of other inventions. One was a "safety cigar lighter." It was designed, he said, "with the cooperation of the Minneapolis and St. Paul fire departments."
It was a fire siren. He turned a crank. The siren screamed. He placed a kitchen match against the whirring wheel inside. The match ignited. Ulmer lighted his cigar.
Safety Cigar
The cigar was his own invention too. It had a piece of rope and a piece of rubber wrapped near the mouth end.
"If you fall asleep with the cigar in your mouth,” said Ulmer, “you don't have to worry about burning yourself.
"When the cigar burns down so far, the rope burns. The smell of burning rope wakes you up. If that doesn't work, the rubber burns. The smell of burning rubber is sure to wake you up."

Another Trib story pointed out:

TOWER WILL BE READY
When KSTP-TY makes its formal bow tomorrow [27], it is expected that some 2,500 television receivers will have been installed in the Twin Cities area.
The station's 568-foot transmitter tower at 3415 University avenue is being finished in time for the opening. In its first weeks of operation, however, the station will use a temporary 500-watt transmitter.
It will take several weeks for engineers to finish the 27,000-watt transmitting equipment to bring the station to its full power. The equipment was designed by John Fricker, technical director.
A new $500,000 studio plant is under construction at the University avenue address. It straddles the Minneapolis-St. Paul city line.
TWO ROOMS COMPLETED
Only two large rooms of the studio have been completed. They are in use now for television broadcasts.
By fall, KSTP hopes to have the studio building finished to the point where offices and regular broadcasting studios can be moved to the University avenue site. Present offices and studios in the Radio City theater will be vacated.
For covering sports events and affairs away from the studios, the station uses a large specially-equiped bus.
Dorothy Spicer has been named television program director, Hubbard said. Don Hawkins, until now an announcer and disc jockey, is the television producer.
Television news coverage is directed by Walt Raschik, head of the KSTP news room. The news staff will use 16-millimeter movie equipment to cover news events, as well as television cameras for on-the-spot coverage.

The only newspaper reviews after the first day of broadcast involved the baseball game, being the season opener. The Star declared: “Visually, reception was reported varied, from needle-sharp in some localities to fuzzy in others. In a more general aspect, reception was excellent.” The Trib’s Hugh Harrison talked about the reception in bars and taverns: “In some, the players were pin-point clear. In others, the screen was so blurred that it was impossible to tell second base from the umpire’s whisk broom. Patrons at the Andrews hotel saw both extremes. Those sitting in the cocktail lounge found it difficult to follow the game on the large projection-type screen, but those standing at the bar saw it clearly on a small direct image screen. The way the television camera was operated made a difference, too. A neat double play by the Millers brought gasps of admiration at the Dyckman hotel, not only for the players’ skill but also for the accuracy with which the camera operator followed the play.” He added sometimes the ball’s travels could be seen on the screen, but sometimes not.

Despite the newspaper hoopla, none of the papers immediately added TV listings to their radio schedules. However, the Star published a list for the week.

MONDAY, APRIL 27
7:15-7:30—Test pattern. 7:30-8:00—T-day banquet, Prom ballroom. 8:00-9:00—Floor show, Prom ballroom.

TUESDAY, APRIL 28
2:30—Test pattern. Baseball—Louisville at Minneapolis. 7:30-7:50—Test Pattern. 7:50-8:00—Local news. 8:00-8:30—Sunset Valley Barn Dance. 8:30-9:25—Knights of the Plains, (Paramount, 1939).

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29
2:30—Test pattern. Baseball—Louisville at Minneapolis. 7:30-7:50—Test Pattern. 7:50-8:00—National news. 8:00-8:20—What’s Your Hobby? with Jimmy Valentine. 8:20-8:30—Jungle Playmates, (Van Beuren, 1937). 8:30-9:00—Daffy Disks with Roch Ulmer.

THURSDAY, APRIL 30
2:30—Test pattern. Baseball—Louisville at Minneapolis. 7:30-7:50—Test Pattern. 7:50-8:00—Local news. 8:00-8:30—Television auditions. 8:30-9:00—Film feature.

FRIDAY, MAY 1
2:30—Test pattern. Baseball—Columbus at Minneapolis. 7:30-7:50—Test Pattern. 7:50-8:00—National news. 8:00-8:30—Pencil Mania, cartoon, (Van Beuren, 1932). 8:10-8:30—Dramatic Vignettes, scenes from “Twelfth Night.” 8:30-8:40—Pack and Saddle, Grantland Rice Sportslight, (Van Beuren, 1931) 8:40-9:00—At Home With Your Neighbors, with Ben Leighton.

KTSL is Finally Here

Los Angeles got a new TV station on May 6, 1948.

It really was an old one.

The local papers all covered the story. Here’s the Hollywood Reporter’s version from the next day:

Don Lee Given Commercial Greenlight For TV Station
Don Lee's W6XAO went commercial yesterday, giving Los Angeles its second commercial television outlet. Notification came by telephone to Lewis Allen Weiss, Don Lee vice-president, from the firm's Washington, D. C., attorneys, and will be followed by a confirming wire. Okay was effective immediately, making for a newly titled KTSL.
Long-awaited FCC green light will mean immediate activation of expansion plans, said Weiss last night. Within days the commercial and production heads will be named, with Carlton Winckler reportedly set for the latter post, and the technical operation continuing under director Harry Lubcke.
Lee will spend $250,000 for equipment now on order and transfer its transmitting operation to a 120-acre site at Deer Park, Mt. Wilson. Another $75,000 will be spent on buildings there. The present Mt. Lee studios in cresting the Hollywood Hills will also be retained for programming space, relaying to Mt. Wilson like the new Vine Street studios now under construction. Weiss characterized the move as "a blue chip deal," adding that nothing would be spared to get the revitalized unit into top shape and class "A" operation. As soon as contractors can be set the expansion will get underway, he said.
The station's programming schedule will be increased instantly, it was indicated, rather than wait for any physical improvements or expansion, with the schedule to be hypoed to a daily presentation. The first two probable commercials will be "Queen For a Day" and "Heart's Desire," both of which have been experimented with for some time. Six months after work starts it is likely that the entirely new operation will be rolling, giving Don Lee a class "A" permanent set-up as of the end of this year. New film channels are expected momentarily, to be followed by added cameras and a brand new transmitter.

There was a little more going on. Broadcasting of May 10 revealed the station only received…

…special temporary authority to operate commercially 90 days. It must use the present experimental call, not KTSL which it sought.
Grant conditioned on ultimate FCC decision on Don Lee AM and FM renewals.

Don Lee Broadcasting had put W6XAO on the air on December 23, 1931, airing between 6 and 7 p.m. with “a regular daily television service using electrical scanning” for the first time in the U.S., as the company announced at the time. The company was granted a commercial license for KTSL on Channel 1 in 1941 but gave up the license, continuing to keep the experimental, non-commercial W6XAO on the air.

In August 1945, it reapplied for a commercial construction permit, but the application got bogged down in hearings, while other companies were given commercial TV licenses for the city and began signing on through 1948 and early 1949. The problem, as Variety reported on Feb. 20, 1946:

A sweeping investigation of the net practices of the Don Lee Broadcasting System was ordered yesterday (18) by the FCC. The commission will look into the Pacific Coast regional net’s contracts for alleged violation of the FCC anti-monopoly rules on time options and exclusivity.

The FCC was loath to give Don Lee a commercial TV license until the radio situation had reached a conclusion. The situation still wasn’t resolved at the time the commercial license was temporarily granted.

“Temporary” was, in reality, permanent. The station never stopped running commercials and, for almost two years, used both sets of call-letters.

Who was the first sponsor? The Hollywood Citizen-News’ Zuma Palmer stated in her May 15, 1948 column it would be the “Fight For Lives” benefit boxing card for the Duarte Sanitarium that evening.

It looks like that equipment KTSL ordered got to Los Angeles post haste. Allen Rich, in the Valley Times of May 17, 1948, said some of it was on display in the Biltmore Hotel ballroom and that it was “open for public inspection.”

KTSL was named for Thomas Stewart Lee, Don Lee’s son. His end was truly unfortunate. After battling in court for 14 years over his inheritance and being awarded $5,000,000 in July 1948, he was declared mentally ill less than three months later and forced to hand over his broadcasting and car businesses to two court-appointed guardians. Lee died at the age of 43 after falling from the 12th floor of a building on Wilshire Boulevard.

The first week’s schedule for KTSL likely looked like this, judging the Los Angeles press. It would appear the station left evening programming, much of the time, to KTLA.

FRIDAY, MAY 7, 1948
10:30 a.m.—Test Pattern, music. 11:00—“Queen For a Day.” 11:30 to 11:45—Test Pattern, music. 1:00—Test Pattern, music. 1:15—“Heart’s Desire” with host Ben Alexander and announcer Cliff Johnson. 1:45 to 2:00—Test Pattern, music or Telenews. 7:30—Test Pattern, music. 8:15—Telenews. 8:25—V. A. Report. 8:30—Boxing from the Hollywood Legion Stadium, Earl Turner vs. Jackie Wilson, 190 pounds, 10 rounds; Lou Filippe vs. Lem Thomas, 136 pounds, six rounds; four bouts on the under-card.

SATURDAY, MAY 8, 1948
Off the air.

SUNDAY, MAY 9, 1948
Off the air.

MONDAY, MAY 10, 1948
7:30—Test Pattern and Music. 8:00—Wrestling Card 8:15—News. 8:30—Wrestling Matches at the Hollywood Legion, Prince Mikalaskis vs. Honest John Cretorio; crowd picks tag-teamers in tournament.

TUESDAY, MAY 11, 1948
10:30 a.m.—Test Pattern, music. 11:00—“Queen For a Day.” 11:30 to 11:45—Test Pattern, music. 1:00—Test Pattern, music. 1:15—“Heart’s Desire” with host Ben Alexander and announcer Cliff Johnson. 1:45 to 2:00—Test Pattern, music or Telenews.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1948
10:30 a.m.—Test Pattern, music. 11:00—“Queen For a Day.” 11:30 to 11:45—Test Pattern, music. 1:00—Test Pattern, music. 1:15—“Heart’s Desire” with host Ben Alexander (right) and announcer Cliff Johnson. 1:45 to 2:00—Test Pattern, music or Telenews.

THURSDAY, MAY 13, 1948
10:30 a.m.—Test Pattern, music. 11:00—“Queen For a Day.” 11:30 to 11:45—Test Pattern, music. 1:00—Test Pattern, music. 1:15—“Heart’s Desire” with host Ben Alexander and announcer Cliff Johnson. 1:45 to 2:00—Test Pattern, music or Telenews.

FRIDAY, MAY 14, 1948
10:30 a.m.—Test Pattern, music. 11:00—“Queen For a Day.” 11:30 to 11:45—Test Pattern, music. 1:00—Test Pattern, music. 1:15—“Heart’s Desire” with host Ben Alexander and announcer Cliff Johnson. 1:45 to 2:00—Telenews. 7:30—Test Pattern, music. 8:15—Telenews. 8:25—V. A. Report. 8:30—Boxing from the Hollywood Legion Stadium, Tommy Campbell vs. John L. Davis, 135 pounds, 10 rounds; Gene Loughridge vs. Joe Hartfield, 160 pounds, six rounds; four on the under-card.