WISN-TV's 50th Anniversary

[John L]

Man I remember that Gold cube ch. 18 along with the tarantula for Shock theatre.

BTW: Some guy on radio-info.com board has been posting a history chronology about ch. 18 when it was WXIX.  It's on radio-info.com in the Classic TV board.

He has 4 (parts) different messages about WXIX-TV.

-John L.
 www.radio-info.com/index.phtml

[Dick Nitelinger]

I've been looking for a still of the WVTV "Shock Theater" opening  for a number of years now, and have had no luck. The videotape was erased many years ago.

Hal Erickson is a friend of mine, who has been posting the history of WXIX/WUHF on Radio-Info. He has a collection of TV Guide which is almost complete, and many of the ads you see on my website were scanned from his originals. He also contributed some information of "The Big Movie" and "Movies From Tomorrow".

He is in love with the independent channel 18 as it existed prior to the sale to WKY.

- Dick

[John L]

Originally posted by Dick Nitelinger
He is in love with the independent channel 18 as it existed prior to the sale to WKY.

Well I was  born on May 21, 1959. Obviously ch. 18 was off the air at the time but was currently in a transition of ownership change and probably change in studios from 5445 N. 27th to the what was then Shroeder Hotel which all I remember was the Marc Plaza Hotel.  Being very young and a toddler I don't recall whether our large B&W console TV had a UHF tuner on it or not.  I seem to recall knowing chs. 4, 6, 10, and 12.  I remember ch. 10 was dark on weekends. But it wasn't until we got a new TV in 1965 that had UHF, but then I don't recall getting addicted to ch. 18.  It wasn't until about 1971, especially when ch. 18 was going thru sever cuts in programming and operation.  I used to remember "Funhouse 18" on at 7:00 weekday mornings.  I guess I got interested when all of a sudden that show along with "Romper Room" got dropped and on-air time changed from 7:00 am to 1:30 pm.  This is where I started to learn about the business reality of society, and how businesses make profits and suffer.  I guess that meant that channel 18 had hard time making profits.  I guess what really didn't help was the fact they were on UHF.  But I am sure it was other things.  Maybe most people don't get the thrill of watching a independent station as opposed to a Network station.  But what I loved about ch. 18 is airing syndication of old shows.  Also "Bowling for Dollars" and "Bowling Game" hosted by the late Lee Rothman.

-John L.

[Nels Harvey]

Back in 1970, Ibegan to work at Ch. 10/36 as an engineer.  We signed on Ch. 10 about 8:00 A.M. and went off about 11:00 P.M. or 11:30 P.M.  On Fridays, we went off right after the David Susskind show, usually about 10:20 P.M.

Ch. 36 would go on about 8:00 am, then off at about 10:30 A.M. after showing some locally produced school programming for MPS.  It usually signed on again about 5:00 P.M. until perhaps 11:00 P.M. during the week.

On weekends, the engineers had a rotating list for who would sign on Saturday morning for overtime!  We didn't even have a regularly scheduled crew for the weekends!  Usually, Ch. 36 would sign on about 5:00 P.M. for Saturday evening, and in the Fall, aired Badger Football.  Often this would take until 1:00 A.M. or even later, and Ch. 10 would be already off the air.

It's a lot different now that I've retired from there.  Now, there are 10 different program sources coming from that facility, with usually only two engineers holding down the fort!  It's all computer driven!  How would you like to have DVR's like they have for your delays?

Nels....

[John L]

Originally posted by Nels Harvey

It's a lot different now that I've retired from there.  Now, there are 10 different program sources coming from that facility, with usually only two engineers holding down the fort!  It's all computer driven!  How would you like to have DVR's like they have for your delays?

Nels....

I take it there wasn't much in the way of "automation" back then?

I take it today most switching and getting programs on the air is done by computers now that it is programmed ahead.

Surely there always has to be some people operating chs 10/36 around the clock as they are now both on the air 24 hours a day.  But with computers and the equipment designed for automation I am sure there is less work for the production person.

-John L.

[Nels Harvey]

Originally posted by John L
I take it there wasn't much in the way of "automation" back then?

I take it today most switching and getting programs on the air is done by computers now that it is programmed ahead.

Surely there always has to be some people operating chs 10/36 around the clock as they are now both on the air 24 hours a day.  But with computers and the equipment designed for automation I am sure there is less work for the production person.

-John L.

Ch. 10/36 was pretty poor then.  The switchers, distribution amplifiers, and various routers were all home brew!  There were a lot of 24 V. relays in the system.

They have an all night person watching over the whole show now.  The programs are backed up on digital video tape (D-2 format), and if it burps, the person will run the tapes.  It doesn't happen very often.  Primarly they just watch, and sign the log for the transmitters from the remote control.

We used to have five, or more,  people to run 2 transmitters and Master Control.  The programming by computer gets by with fewer mistakes now, because it can be planned ahead, rather than doing it live.  Gosh knows I managed to screw up enough when I was there!:)

Nels....

[Dick Nitelinger]

It turns out that channel 3 was assigned to Madison as a part of the post-freeze assignments in the FCC's Sixth General Order and Report in 1952. It was assigned for commercial use, which led to quite a bit of controversy.

In Milwaukee, channel 10 was assigned to non-commercial, educational use, and that was opposed by Hearst (who had applied for the channel before the freeze of 1948). That left one commercial VHF station available (channel 12, channel 4 was assigned to WTMJ-TV) and three UHF's (channels 19, 25 and 31).

In Madison the opposite occurred. Whoever got the commercial VHF would be at an advantage. There were numerous applicants, and even a petition to have chanel 21 designated as commercial and 3 as non-commercial, educational.

The battle for channel 3 took some time. During the 50's and early 60's, the FCC floated various deintermixture plans, and Madison was included as late as 1962. (It would have become an all UHF city. As you can guess, WISC opposed the plan, while the UHF stations supported it.) The FCC used those plans as leverage to eventually get the all-channel bill passed, which made it a requirement that all TV's shipped in interstate commerce have the ability to receive all channels - UHF as well as VHF.

WISC-TV certainly came later, but I don't know that it was in the works in 1952, when the FCC lifted the freeze. As late as May, 1956 Madison was an all-UHF city, with WHA on channel 21, WKOW on channel 27 and WMTV on channel 33. By January, 1957, WISC was on the air.

It might have been a part of the post-freeze channel assignment scheme, but I don't know that. It must have taken a LONG time for the license hearings to be resolved as well.

Is there anyone who knows?

- Dick

[John L]

I have an old TV Guide from the late 50s that WMTV on ch. 33 as opposed to ch. 15.

-John L.

[Dick Nitelinger]

I have an old TV Guide from the late 50s that WMTV on ch. 33 as opposed to ch. 15.

Yes, the post-freeze channel assignments for Madison were 3, 21, 27 and 33. Channel 21 was designated as non-commercial/educational.

The original construction permit for channel 33 was granted to Bartell Broadcasters - before they received the CP for channel 19 in Milwaukee. They sold the station (WMTV) in 1957, and it has been sold several times since. The frequency was shifted from channel 33 to channel 15 in the early 60's (If my memory is correct.)

By the way, it was WISC that filed the petition to have channel 3 designated as non-commercial/educational and channel 21 as commercial. They later wound up with the grant! Of course once they had the only VHF commercial station in the city, they fought the FCC's plans for deintermixture!

- Dick  :OnAir:

  http://www.milwaukee-horror-hosts.com

[Dick Nitelinger]

By the way, WMTV's switch from channel 33 to channel 15 took place in late October of 1961.

- Dick

[Dick Nitelinger]

I discovered some new information within the last month, which is now up on the Milwaukee TV history page of my website:

Hearst Radio, Inc. (WISN in Milwaukee) filed an application for television channel 4 (which at the time was 78-84 MHz) on 13 June 1945. All television was frozen by the FCC and the War Production Board, but Hearst filed anyway in anticipation of the freeze being lifted.

The Journal Co. still had a construction permit for channel 3 (WMJT). Back then it was 66-72 MHz. At the time there really weren't any hard rules re: adjacent channels. Later that year, the FCC released revised channel assignments as well as rules and regulations for TV (and FM). The channel assignments for Milwaukee and Madison were changed a few times. In the first draft, the chanels assigned to Milwaukee were 3, 5, 8 and 10. Madison received channel 3. After discussion, Milwaukee lost channel 5, with Madison receiving channel 6 in order to eliminate co-channel interference. By the time the final rules were announced in November of 1945, Milwaukee had received channels 3, 6, 8 and 10, while Madison received channel 9. Racine-Kenosha received channel 1.

Hearst applied for channel 6 in 1948. The sole out-of-state applicant had their application dismissed before the start of consolidated hearings, and WEXT (later WOKY) did the same immediately after them. That left three applicants and three channels. They petitioned the FCC for immediate grants, but the 1948-52 "freeze" was imposed shortly thereafter, and they never received them.

For details, please see the website.

- Dick  :OnAir:
  http://www.milwaukee-horror-hosts.com