Music Till Dawn on WEEI

[Kevin Vahey]

NBC didn't get 4 in Chicago as WBKB came first. Then in a complicated
move we discussed a few weeks ago. CBS bought WBKB and moved it to
Channel 2 and changed the calls to WBBM. The WBKB calls moved to
Channel 7 and later became WLS.

This all happened for 2 reasons. The FCC had to move WTMJ Milwaukee
from channel 3 as it was to close to another 3 in Michigan. ABC had to
sell either 4 or 7 because of a merger with Paramount and elected to
keep 7 because of the NY connection. CBS only paid 6 million for WBKB
but got the O&O it craved in Chicago.

Having NBC move to channel 4 at that point would have been problematic
as you really couldn't give WTMJ channel 5 as Milwaukee was also
assigned the vacant channel 6 that was held up by the freeze.

Today Channel 6 in Milwaukee is involved in a curious move by FOX as
they are selling a number of the old Storer stations they bought from
New World. Before the sale New World made 6 a FOX affilate dropping
CBS for one reason...to keep the Milwaukee rights to the Packers.


On 2/25/08, Doug Drown <revdoug1@verizon.net> wrote:
> > Obviously it was no accident that NY and Chicago were assigned adjacent
> > clear channels. 660 670, 710 720, 770 780, 880 890 for example.
>
> I had noticed that before, but I assumed it was something the networks had
> arranged. I gather it's also no accident that the original CBS, NBC, and
> ABC television O&Os were given uniform channel allocations (CBS got 2 in NY,
> LA and Chicago, NBC got 4, ABC got 7). Westinghouse and GE also got
> priority; WBZ-TV, Westinghouse's first TV O&O, got 4 and General Electric's
> WRGB originally got 4 in Schenectady. Both were, of course, NBC affiliates.
>
> -Doug
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Doug Drown" <revdoug1@verizon.net>
> To: <kvahey@comcast.net>; "Dan.Strassberg" <dan.strassberg@att.net>
> Cc: "Boston Radio Interest" <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>
> Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 8:38 AM
> Subject: Re: Music Till Dawn on WEEI
>
>
> > >CBC got all the Canadian clears with the exception of French 730 in
> > >Montreal which was one of the few private broadcasters allowed to beam
> > >south. Marconi's CFCF really got hosed considering they were perhaps
> > the first station in North America with a license.
> >
> > CKAC 730, if memory serves, was Montreal's second station and, though it
> > broadcast primarily in French, was bilingual. It was Montreal's CBS
> > affiliate for many years.
> > That may have had something to do with it. -Doug
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: <kvahey@comcast.net>
> > To: "Dan.Strassberg" <dan.strassberg@att.net>
> > Cc: "Boston Radio Interest"
> > <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>
> > Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 12:09 AM
> > Subject: Re: Music Till Dawn on WEEI
> >
> >
> >> OK we know politics played a major role in what stations got favorable
> >> channel assignments. NBC Westinghouse and GE especially were taken
> >> care of.
> >>
> >> Directional patterns arrived in the early 30's after the the test on
> >> 620 that involved Milwaukee and Tampa.
> >>
> >> When did the government then start to calculate patterns across the
> >> board? How did established who got clear channels?
> >>
> >> Obviously it was no accident that NY and Chicago were assigned
> >> adjacent clear channels. 660 670, 710 720, 770 780, 880 890 for
> >> example.
> >>
> >> CBC got all the Canadian clears with the exception of French 730 in
> >> Montreal which was one of the few private broadcasters allowed to beam
> >> south. Marconi's CFCF really got hosed considering they were perhaps
> >> the first station in North America with a license.
> >
>
>