A look back at Bob Bennett

["Kevin Vahey" <k-vahey@attbi.com>]

Looking for somehing else I stumbled across this link about former WCVB 
GM Bob Bennett. It brings back memories of one of the greatest frauds 
ever pulled on the FCC the creation of WCVB.

I say fraud because all the good BBI Boston Broadcasters did between 
1972-1982 was wiped away by selling WCVB to Metromedia in 1982 which I 
have long suspected was the plan from Day 1.

You have to remember that BBI won the license on their promise of LOCAL 
ownership and no other media holdings which finally cost the Herald 
Traveler the license they were granted briefly in 1957. The roles that 
the Globe and Kennedy family played in the old WHDH-TV saga are well 
documented.

BBI did deliver for a decade but then cashed in by selling to 
Metromedia. There was no outcry at the time since WNAC was being awarded 
to WNEV and Boston still had local ownership of a major VHF.

WNAC deserved to lose license. It is mind blowing that in the almost 10 
years they had as one of only two commercial VHFs in Boston they totally 
ignored local and let WBZ set the standard. WHDH-TV however spent a 
fortune from day 1 to serve the community. It has been long forgotten 
how they were one of the first stations in the US to have color studio 
cameras and film chains. They proved they deserved the license.

The final insult came when Metromedia sold out to Rupert Murdoch and 
WCVB was sold off to Hearst to help fund the FOX network.

The irony of this is the Herald without WHDH-TV sold out to Hearst who 
then sold the paper to Murdoch.

http://www.mdausa.org/publications/Quest/q73bennett.html