A TV Home For the Hens

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

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

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

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

On December 7, 1946, we learn:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From Nov. 13, 1947:

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

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

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

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

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

A different kind of TV programme was unveiled by Billboard:

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

Broadcasting, July 10, 1948:

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

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

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

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

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

Here’s the Blade’s preview:

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

The Blade reported the next day:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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