Boston and ABC Radio

[Dan.Strassberg]

Years before the NBC Blue Network became first a company that was
separate from RCA and then renamed itself ABC, WBZ was a Blue Network
affiliate. When RCA spun off the Blue Network in 1943 (it was forced
to do so by either a law or an FCC regulation that prohibited
duopolies), WBZ became Boston's NBC Red Network affiliate. When I
first visited Boston in 1947, there were TWO ABC affiliates, both
full-time affiliates. The reason this was possible was that one of the
stations was licensed to a different city. The ABC affiliate that was
licensed to Boston was WCOP 1150. The one with the good signal was
WLAW Lawrence on 680. I don't know how long the two-ABC-affiliate
situation lasted, but it might well have continued until 1953, when
General Tire bought WLAW and moved WNAC 1260 and its Yankee
Network/Mutual affiliation to the 50-kW 680 frequency. At
that time, 1260, which had been WNAC, was sold to Pennsylvania
broadcaster Vic Diehm, who renamed it WVDA (for Vic Diehm Associates).
I believe that WVDA continued for a while as Boston's ABC affiliate,
but since it was licensed to Boston, either it or WCOP had to drop the
ABC affiliation. I didn't arrive in Boston until 1956, so I have no
first-hand knowledge of what happened to the network affiliations in
1953. WVDA may still have been an ABC affiliate in 1956; not sure. I
don't think WCOP was. Plough Broadcasting from Atlanta, which had
bought WCOP, was heavily into Top-40 and Top-40 was not thought to be
compatible with network affiliations. Shortly after I arrived in
Boston, Diehm sold WVDA to Air Trails of Dayton OH, which renamed the
station WEZE. The station kept the WEZE calls though several owners
and when Salem bought 590 and moved its Christian preaching/teaching
format there, the WEZE calls moved with the format.

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

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <revdoug1@myfairpoint.net>
To: "=?utf-8?b??=" <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Friday, May 14, 2010 12:44 PM
Subject: Boston and ABC Radio


> Just curious:  Has Boston ever had what could legitimately be called
> a long-term ABC Radio affiliate?  I'm thinking of all the stations
> that I think (perhaps mistakenly) have been with ABC at one time or
> another:  WBZ, WRKO, WORL, WHIL, WBOS . . . WBZ has been with the
> network since the '80s, but did the city ever have an American
> Contemporary Radio affiliate or a station that really touted its ABC
> connection prior to that?  Did ABC ever express an interest in
> purchasing a Boston station before buying WEZE (WMKI) for Radio
> Disney?
>
> -Doug
>
>