Music Till Dawn on WEEI

[Doug Drown]

My bad.  I had forgotten that WMAQ in Chicago is 5, not 4.  I hadn't known 
about Chicago and Milwaukee's convoluted TV history, either.  -Doug

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kevin Vahey" <kvahey@comcast.net>
To: "Doug Drown" <revdoug1@verizon.net>
Cc: <kvahey@comcast.net>; "Dan. Strassberg" <dan.strassberg@att.net>; 
"Boston Radio Interest" <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 11:16 AM
Subject: Re: Music Till Dawn on WEEI


> 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.
>> >
>>
>>