WBCN, Channel-13, and the old Hancock tower

[Maureen Carney]

At the beginning of TV (circa 1948 or 49) WHDH applied for channel 13 with the transmitter on the Hancock Tower. The freeze came along, channel 13 wound up in Portland and WHDH got channel 5.

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  On Sun, Nov 28, 2021 at 9:22 PM, Dave<bostonradio.org-list@wsfd.ath.cx> wrote:   On 11/24/21 12:00 PM, 
boston-radio-interest-request@lists.BostonRadio.org wrote:

 >From: A Joseph Ross <joe@attorneyross.com>
 >Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2021 23:44:19 -0500
 >Subject: Re: RIP Al Perry - former GM of WBCN
 >
 >I wonder if anyone is left who ran the original WBCN and
 >the Concert Network.  I wonder how many people are left,
 >besides me, who were listeners in those days.

Ahhh.  WBCN.

Long time lurker, I'm going to finally crawl out from under this rock.

My father, Jim Bonney was the titular Chief Engineer for WBCN in the 
50's/60's.  And once, while he was on vacation, I made $ subbing in for 
him doing the weekly transmitter checks and log signing on the 27th/28th 
upper equipment floor of the old Hancock tower.  Does that qualify me as 
'working' for WBCN?

As a kid I would frequently accompany him on his rounds when he did his 
weekly station visits.  He built and was full-time Chief Engineer for 
WBUR but also, over the years, had 'Chief Operator' responsibility for 
WBCN, WERS, WPAW/WXTR, the Boston end of the WMTW-TV microwave link, a 
radio-page company, and other stations/facilities too numerous and/or 
lost in my memory to remember right now.

Once at WBCN I even got to stand on top of the Hancock weather beacon 
when the tower monkey's were servicing the antenna.  Going up the stairs 
inside the flashing blue beacon was a memory-maker.

Which brings me around to a Question I've had for years:

On the upper equipment floor of the old Hancock tower, colocated with 
the WBCN transmitter was another, non-operating transmitter.  Which may 
have been a television transmitter.  I have seen an old reference to a 
Boston Channel-13.  Could this have been it?  And can anyone provide 
confirmation?  Was it ever licensed/operational?

Thanx,

Dave