BBI a scam? Who knows. (Re: A look back at Bob Bennett)

["Peter Q. George" <radiojunkie3@yahoo.com>]

The old WHDH-TV (Channel 5) was an innovator itself
during the 15 years it operated.  Some great
television was made there. Some of the people you saw
on WCVB-TV came from the ranks of the old WHDH-TV. 
However, the FCC rules (during that time) clearly
forbid the cross-ownership of an AM/FM and TV station
in the same market as a co-owned daily newspaper (The
Boston Herald-Traveler).  Apparently, WHDH-TV never
had a full-term operating license for that reason. 
Wining and dining an FCC commissioner, (that famous
"lunch") to secure a full license renewal, was a BIG
"no-no"!  It didn't work!  By the time they paid the
check, everybody and his mother wanted the Channel 5
license, almost from the get-go in 1957.  Sadly, this
great locally owned and operated station was dead
meat.  Of course, at 2:30 AM on 3/19/1972... it was no
more.
     As for the Metromedia angle (after 10 years of
BBI ownership), I'm not so sure.  If it IS true,
somebody really did their homework!  I mean, ten years
may seem like a lot of time.... but when your dealing
with the 6th largest TV market, it was a fine
investment.  Obvious Kluge had a lot of patience. 
Bennett got a lot of money after the sale as one of
biggest shareholders, next to Chet and Nat, of WCVB-TV
(BBI) stock!  Not bad for 10 years work! It was just a
case of being in the right place, at the right time. 
You'll never see this happen like this, any time soon.

Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts 

  
--- Kevin Vahey <k-vahey@attbi.com> wrote:
> 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
> 


=====
Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts
                           "Scanning the bands since 1967"
radiojunkie1@yahoo.com
radiojunkie3@yahoo.com
***********************************************************

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more
http://taxes.yahoo.com/