The Tribulations of KLAC-TV

One day of test patterns was enough for one TV station before it went on the air.

Not only that, the new station was already being sold.

Today that station occupies Channel 13 in Los Angeles.

The FCC received an application for what was to be made KLAC-TV on June 18, 1946. Here’s Variety’s brief blurb.

Thackery Tele Bids
Washington, Jan. 22
Dorothy S. Thackrey, New York publisher, has filed applications for television stations in Los Angeles and Frisco.
Mrs. Thackrey, operator of the New York Evening Post, owns WLIB, New York, and recently purchased standard [A.M.] stations in California. She also has pending applications for FM stations in Los Angeles and Frisco.

Thackery had purchased KMTR Los Angeles, which she renamed KLAC (raising objections at the FCC from KFAC Los Angeles), and KYA in San Francisco.

The Commission began hearings on May 20, 1946 in Los Angeles. Originally, 13 companies had applied for commercial licenses. Five withdrew: Walt Disney Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Fox West Coast Theatres, Warner Bros. Broadcasting Corp. and Consolidated Broadcasting Corp. That left Television Productions Inc. (Paramount), Hughes Productions, Earle C. Anthony, Don Lee System, NBC, the Times-Mirror Co., ABC, and Thackrey vying for seven licenses; Lee was already on the air with W6XAO and Paramount with W6XYZ.

The May 28 sitting of the Commission, setting a resumption date of June 20 in Washington. The Hollywood Reporter noted:

The last of the applications to be heard was that of Dorothy Thackrey, owner of the New York Post and station KLAC here, who read from a prepared statement and said that she was prepared to take a substantial loss in the initial operations of a video outlet here but believed the medium to have a limitless future and one that would become self-sustaining.
Mrs. Thackrey said her primary interest "in television, radio and newspapers is to provide the widest possible public service by utilizing and making available the most effective means of mass communications, and to improve the quality and quantity of public information." She said that a television outlet should serve for effective expression of pertinent shades of viewpoint on current political, economic and social matters, without imposition of partisan views.
Mrs. Thackrey's testimony was abetted and paralleled by the testimony of her husband, Ted Thackrey, and Don Fedderson, vice president and manager of KYA, San Francisco, and KLAC, Los Angeles. The latter will manage the video station if granted.

The Thackreys looked set—when it came to a station in San Francisco. There were six channels available and six applications. The FCC cancelled all hearings, and decided to make an announcement about the Bay Area after the Los Angeles situation was settled. But Broadcasting then reported on Dec. 9, 1946:

TWO TV WITHDRAWLS BY DOROTHY THACKREY
WITHDRAWL of television applications for New York, San Francisco, without prejudice, leaving one for Los Angeles stand, sought of FCC by Dorothy Thackrey interests. Don Federson [sic], vice president-general manager, West Coast operations, said action taken since “full justice could not have been done with all three stations or even two.”
If Mrs. Thackrey obtains Los Angeles grant, he added, “concentrated effort” will be made in that operation. “It is entirely possible that Mrs. Thackrey may later request reinstatement of applications for New York and San Francisco, perhaps one at a time,” said Mr. Federson.

It wasn’t long before an FCC decision came down. On December 20, 1946, the commission granted licenses to Thackrey as well as Earle C. Anthony, the Times-Mirror, Television Productions, ABC and NBC. Thackrey was assigned Channel 13.

Variety reported on March 26, 1947 that KLAC’s television operations were expected to start by year-end with television baseball in summer 1948 (the radio station had rights to air games of both PCL teams). Billboard’s update in its Oct. 18, 1947 issue is that the debut was “still many months away.”

Meanwhile, Dorothy Thackery was having second thoughts about television altogether. Billboard, in a story dated Nov. 29, said MGM had begun talks to buy KLAC and KYA, mainly for the TV license because Paramount had a station in Los Angeles. About a month later, the trade paper said the deal looked dead as MGM lost interest, and an offer from film producer Jack Wrather was turned down since Thackery wanted to see both radio stations and Wrather only wanted KLAC.

With no news about getting the TV station on the air, reports swirled in the early months of 1948 that CBS, oilman Ed Pauley and Warner Bros. were either interested, or in talks, to buy Thackery’s West Coast operations. Variety broke a story on April 28 that Warners had paid $800,000 for the Tv license and the two radio stations. “Ridiculous” and “not a word of truth” was Thackrey’s response (Broadcasting, May 3). Variety came back on May 26, saying the amount was $1.1 million. No comment from Thackery. Finally, Broadcasting reported on June 28 the sale documents had been filed with the FCC the previous week, though it took almost a month for the Commission to announce it. Thackery told the commission she wanted to sell out to devote full time to her newspapers.

There were attempts to stop the sale, but we’ll set aside that story.

The man in charge of the station, Don Fedderson, was known later for syndicating Liberace and making him a household name across the U.S., and then for putting My Three Sons on television. He wasn’t going to waste any more time getting KLAC-TV on the air. First, a report from Billboard, May 1, 1948:

KLAC-TV To Bow In Mid-September
HOLLYWOOD, April 24.—KLAC-TV, local indie owned by Dorothy Thackrey, finally unveiled tele plans this week with the announcement that the station planned to he airborne by mid-September. Station Manager Don Fedderson said the outlet had acquired a new site on Mount Wilson and that construction of the transmitter would begin within two weeks. Plans call for delivery of the transmitter by July 31.
KLAC tele progress has been stymied because the previous transmitter site required considerable work to prevent settling of building and land erosion. New land parcel was leased to KLAC by the U. S. Forestry Service and previously had been earmarked for FM operation of KWKW, Pasadena indie. Because of an application for increased power, now pending before the Federal Communications Commission, KWKW has withdrawn its FM application and relinquished the land.

Variety, on April 28, said construction of the transmitter had begun.

Here’s Broadcasting of July 5:

Start of KLAC-TV Now Set for Fall
IN SURPRISE move last week, Don Fedderson vice president and general manager of KLAC Hollywood and KYA, San Francisco, announced that former station's video station would be on the air by the latter part of September.
Previously the station was not considered likely to be on the air before early 1949.
Summing up the spirit of the push he pointed out that the station's transmitter sight [sic] was underway and that construction costing $65-70,000 would be sped up to meet the new scheduled opening. This, he said, would be finished in 12-14 weeks as against the usual six to nine months required.
Ground was also broken last week for an additional studio on the property of KLAC which will provide an additional 15,000 square feet of space at an estimated cost of $15,000.
To make certain that the stepped-up schedule is met, Mr. Fedderson is headquartering in Los Angeles for several weeks. Engineers of KLAC are already being schooled in video methods by Paul C. Schulz, chief engineer of KYA-KLAC who recently returned from the RCA television school for engineers.
When Mr. Fedderson was queried on the fact that a contract for purchase of the Thackrey stations had been filed with the FCC by Warner Bros., he offered "no comment" pointing out that his only responsibility was getting the station on the air. In August he said the sales staff would begin to seek business and that a strong likelihood existed that advertisers would be offered an AM-television package rate.
As further preparation, he said that James McNamara, news director, and Fred Henry, assistant manager, both of KLAC would spend the month of July looking in on other station operations in the East and Midwest.

An update from Variety on July 28:

KLAC Sets Sights On Sept. Preem; Accent To Be on Disk Jockeys
Hollywood, July 27.