...and speaking of anniversaries...

[Dan.Strassberg]

If you are referring to the station best known as WAST and currently
(well, it WAS currently yesterday, 6/11/09) on Channel 13 in Albany,
it took to the air after the freeze (1954?) on Channel 35 as WTRI (TV)
and transmitted from Bald Mountain, north of Troy. The studios could
well have been in Menands. Dunno. What I do know is that the only TV
in Albany-Schenectady-Troy in 1952 was General Electric's WRGB (TV)
Schenectady, which at that time may still have been on Channel 4. Even
then, however, I'm pretty sure that WRGB transmitted from the
Helderbergs. The first time the Tri Cities had more than one
over-the-air TV signal was after the freeze was lifted. I doubt
whether that was earlier than 1953.

-----
Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
eFax 1-707-215-6367

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Doherty" <dave@skywaves.net>
To: "A. Joseph Ross" <Joe@attorneyross.com>; "Dan.Strassberg"
<dan.strassberg@att.net>
Cc: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2009 11:26 PM
Subject: Re: ...and speaking of anniversaries...


>I think  WOKO was an ABC affiliate prior to that big swap.  I had
>some correspondence from the early 50's indicating that the buildout
>in Delmar was conditioned on a network affiliation with ABC. Prior to
>that, the transmitter was on the north side of Albany, maybe in
>Menands. They built the site in Delmar about 1952, so it seems they
>must have been affiliated with ABC - or somebody - prior to the
>shakeup.
>
> -d
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "A. Joseph Ross" <Joe@attorneyross.com>
> To: "Dan.Strassberg" <dan.strassberg@att.net>
> Cc: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
> Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2009 4:14 PM
> Subject: Re: ...and speaking of anniversaries...
>
>
>>
>> On 11 Jun 2009 Dan.Strassberg wrote:
>>
>>> IIRC (I think it was in the spring of 1956 but it could have been
>>> a
>>> year or more earlier than that), CBS radio switched from WTRY (AM)
>>> to
>>> WROW (AM) and CBS TV switched at the same time from WTRI-TV
>>> Channel 35
>>> to whatever the station on channel 41 was then called (maybe still
>>> WROW-TV).
>>
>> I think it was earlier than that.  It was sometime in 1956 that
>> WTRI
>> returned to the air as an ABC affiliate, and for the fall TV season
>> that year, for the first time in that market, each network had its
>> own station.
>>
>>> However, by the time of the switch (or AT the time of the switch),
>>> WTRY (AM) changed hands. I think Channel 35 stayed with the former
>>> owners of the AM but the AM was sold to a Providence RI-based
>>> group
>>> that also owned WEAN there. The guy who headed the group was a
>>> fellow named Mowry Lowe. Lowe was a strong believer in independent
>>> stations and music-and-news formats (later known as MOR and
>>> Top-40). Instead of picking up the ABC Radio affiliation that WROW
>>> (AM) was dropping, WTRY became an independent and continued to do
>>> very well both in ratings and sales. I think ABC radio then moved
>>> to WPTR.
>>
>> Yes, there was a big network shift at that time.  CBS went to WROW,
>> ABC went to WPTR, and Mutual, formerly on WPTR, moved to WOKO.  The
>> only affiliation that stayed the same was NBC on WGY.
>>
>> -- 
>> A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                   617.367.0468
>> 92 State Street, Suite 700            Fax: 617.507.7856
>> Boston, MA 02109-2004           http://www.attorneyross.com
>>
>>
>>
>