Re: WHDH and Blue/ 1956

[Dan Strassberg <dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net>]

At 11:00 PM 6/10/99 -0400, you wrote:

>If NBC could rake in revenue from two networks, why not CBS?  Variety
>says Columbia was considering doing this (3/20/35) by taking over the
>ABC mentioned above and luring away stations unhappy with their NBC
>deals to form its second network.  Didn't happen, of course.
>
I'm a little fuzzy on the details. also the frequency shifts that resulted
from NARBA (3/31/41) complicate the discussion, but I believe that the
several New York City area stations that, in later years, shared time on
what is now 1280 (I think it was 1250 then) started out on what is now 1130
(I think it was 1100 then). And the stations that later were on 1130 (1100)
began life--or had a life--on 1280 (1250). One of the 1280 stations was WNEW
(now WBBR). One of the 1130 stations was WOV (now WADO). Around 1936. Arde
Bulova, who already owned WNEW (and for a time owned WCOP here), bought all
of the other 1280 stations and combined them with WNEW, which became a
full-timer. He then arranged a frequency swap with the 1130 stations. CBS
then tried to purchase WNEW (now on 1130, err--1100) with the idea of making
it the key station of its second network. The deal fell through, the second
CBS network never got off the ground, and WNEW remained an independent.
WNEW's music-and-news format, of which Martin Block's Make-Believe Ballroom
was the mainstay, became the prototype for independent stations in the US
and left an indelible mark on radio.

OK, now can one of you _real_ broadcast historians fix this up so that it's
really correct? 

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Dan Strassberg (Note: Address is CASE SENSITIVE!)
ALL _LOWER_ CASE!!!--> dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net
(617) 558-4205; Fax (617) 928-4205

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