The Old WHDH-TV Channel 5 equipment (was Re: The courtship of NBC by the Herald-Traveler)

[Maureen Carney]

What I never understood is if the H-T had issues why did they get the license in the 1st place? The initial contact the H-T people had with the FCC was mild compared to other applicants, and there was no proof of a payoff. The structure of how ad time was sold (an advertiser had to buy space in the Herald and Traveler, as well as time on 850, 94.5 and channel 5) would seem to be more trobulesome but did not come up initially. There were other applicants for channel 5, including Springfield Television (owners of WWLP), DuMont and a local group with limited broacasting experience (IIRC Dom DiMaggio was one of the investors in that group). Each one of those applicants had pros and cons (especially DuMont). Was the FCC really hung up about applicants who already owned a local AM and/or FM station being "better" because of a track record?