Re: 1939...

["David W. Harris" <dwh@totalnetnh.net>]

Trying to clear up several affiliation questions which arose from the
1939 post a couple weeks ago...

Martin J. Waters wrote: "It's interesting to note the huge territory WBZ
(with WBZA, Springfield, of  course) had for its Blue affiliation. In
the 1936 list, there is no other Blue affiliate in the six New England
states..."

The syndicated network program listings carried by Foster's Daily
Democrat (Dover NH) indicate that by the start of 1938 WEAN and WICC
were NBC-Blue while WFEA used Red and Blue interchangeably.

Dan Strassberg asked: "Well, wasn't WBZ the local NBC Red Network
affil?"

Not until Monday, June 15, 1942.  NBC-Red was carried by WEEI until
Sunday, September 27, 1936, when it moved to WNAC.  The day WBZ changed
colors involved some major musical chairs activity, leaving out only
WEEI, which stayed with CBS:  "Several major network changes were made
by Boston radio stations today.  WBZ has joined the Red network of the
National Broadcasting company, while WNAC is now on Mutual.  WAAB,
formerly Mutual station in Boston, has moved to Worcester, Mass., where
it will open shortly.  WHDH, formerly a local Boston station located at
the Hotel Tourraine, is now affiliated with the Blue Network."
(Portsmouth [NH] Herald 6/15/42.)  I don't know if there's any
connection, but this was about the time NBC was beginning to divide the
property of its networks in anticipation of forming a separate
corporation--The Blue Network--which was sold the following year.

Martin J. Waters:  "As to the earlier question about WLAW: Was it a
Mutual affiliate..."

A previous post has noted that WLAW became an ABC station on June 15,
1945.  What was not established in that post was how long WLAW had been
with CBS prior to that.  I haven't been able to verify the exact date
because the newspapers I've checked didn't include WLAW in their program
listings at the time, but all signs point to the end of November, 1940,
as the start of 680's life as a network affiliate.  This is from The New
York Times of 11/9/40:  "Station WLAW, Lawrence Mass., will join the
basic supplementary group of the Columbia Broadcasting System on Nov.
17, bringing the total number of affiliated stations to 122 in 121
cities."  Display ads in southern New Hampshire papers, however,
indicate that the actual start date may have been Saturday, November 30,
1940.

Columbia had already been on WEEI for 4 years.  Perhaps they thought the
Lawrence signal would help reach into NH, where there were no CBS
stations outside of WKNE (which was still in Vermont until the end of
1940, but that's another story).  Although the 590 signal has been
praised by some quarters on this list, consider this item from the radio
page of the Concord (NH) Daily Monitor of 10/2/44:  "WCAU
(1210)--powerful Philadelphia station--may be dialed for CBS programs
when there is interference on WEEI, likewise, WOR, when WNAC does not
come through clear, for Mutual network."   Although the Manchester Union
did not list 680 when it first joined Columbia, after awhile it dropped
WEEI from its radio page in favor of WLAW.

A clear signal was stressed in a series of ads that ran in the Union,
Portsmouth Herald, Nashua Telegraph, and possibly other papers.  The
tease began 11/27/40 (the day before Thanksgiving) with a small ad that
read "680 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER/WHAT DOES IT MEAN?".  On 11/29:
"Sh-h-h-THE MAGIC NUMBER IS 680/SEE TOMORROW'S PAPER."  A larger display
ad appeared 11/30/40: "Tune in the 'MAGIC NUMBER'/680 on your dial/The
NEW WLAW/Now operating on Full Time *5000 WATTS--Columbia programs./GOOD
SHOWS--CLEAR RECEPTION.  [the following in small print] *C.P. issued and
construction of directional antenna nearly completed."  Over the course
of the next few weeks there were more small ads, all different but all
pushing the basic points stressed in this one appearing 12/4:  "CLEAR
RECEPTION/The NEW WLAW/680 on your dial/FULL TIME/5000 WATTS/COLUMBIA
AFFILIATE."

Mr. Waters: "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."

Apparently they did things differently in the '30s...Bridgeport is a lot
closer to Manhattan than New Haven is, yet WICC was a Columbia station
until sometime in 1937 when it turned Blue.

In light of the questions generated by the 1939 post, methinks the
Boston Radio Archives could benefit from a chart which tracks network
affiliations in Boston if not all of New England.  I've done some
research but it's mostly limited to the information carried in NH
newspapers archived in the NH State Library, which is right down the
street from me.  Anybody else game for this?  Write to me off-list.

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