Boston CBS affiliations of long ago (Was Re: 1939...)

[mwaters@wesleyan.edu (Martin J. Waters)]

>David W. Harris wrote:
>It turns out WLAW was with ABC from the network's Day 1.  RCA had sold
>off the Blue Network in 1943 but it continued to be known by its old
>name until Friday, June 15, 1945, when the network formally became the
>American Broadcasting Company.  That day also marked affiliation changes
>for WLAW and WFEA.  'LAW went from CBS to ABC while 'FEA dropped >NBC for CBS.
<snip>

        It seems a little strange to me that back at that time CBS would
have given an affiliation to WLAW rather than protect the territory for its
own o-and-o, WEEI/590. As of 1945, I believe I recall from info. supplied
by Dan Strassberg and/or other knowledgeable people,WLAW already had been
at the present WRKO antenna site in Burlington, with 5 kW, for at least
several years. So you basically had two CBS stations in the same market for
whatever period up to June 1945 that WLAW was with CBS.
        What was that about, I wonder? Did they want the WLAW signal in
southern New Hampshire, where 590 gets weak, and didn't care about the
duplicating signal in the Boston area? Or was CBS forced to grant an
affiliation because WLAW was still licensed to Lawrence? I don't see why --
that's really part of the Boston market. I know that until two years ago
CBS never gave an affiliation in New Haven, 80 miles from Manhattan, to
protect the territory for WCBS. Certainly 590 has a signal as good in
Lawrence-Lowell as WCBS does in New Haven, if signal strength was some
basis for being able to give a network affiliation territory excusively.

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