WBCN, Channel-13, and the old Hancock tower

[A Joseph Ross]

I remember WRGB's move.  We moved from Allston to Albany just after 
Thanksgiving 1953.  At that time, WRGB, channel 4, was the only VHF 
station and the only one we could watch.  Albany's first UHF station, 
WROW-TV, channel 41, was on for limited hours, but WRGB, nominally an 
NBC affiliate, carried programs from all four networks, sometimes at 
strange times.  CBS's Ed Sullivan Show (originally called "Toast of the 
Town") was shown on Friday evening.  Bishop Fulton J. Sheen's Tuesday 
night show on DuMont was on Sunday afternoon, as was Jack Benny (CBS).  
Those shows were by kinescope and were often a couple of weeks late.  I 
seem to remember some Christmas shows in mid-January.

This also sometimes produced some unintended humor.  One time the WRGB 
announcer said "The following is a kinescope recording."  This was 
immediately followed by the TV show starting with someone shouting "Live 
from Hollywood!"  My sister and I thought that was awfully funny.


On 11/28/2021 11:58 PM, Garrett Wollman wrote:
> <<On Mon, 29 Nov 2021 02:29:12 +0000 (UTC), Maureen Carney via Boston-Radio-Interest<boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org>  said:
>
>> 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.
> Of course, channel 13 was only possible in Boston because WJAR was on
> channel 11 in Providence (one of many stations that proved to be
> short-spaced to New York City).  After the freeze, WJAR moved from 11
> to 10, allowing 12 to be allocated in Providence for what would become
> WPRO-TV, requiring channel 13 to be moved farther away (and opening up
> channel 11 on the NH Seacoast).  Similarly, WNHC-TV moving from
> channel 6 to channel 8 allowed a new channel 6 allocation in New
> Bedford (as well as WRGB's move from 4 to 6 in Schenectady.
>
> -GAWollman
>

-- 
A. Joseph Ross, J.D. · 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 · Newton, MA 02459
617.367.0468 · http://www.attorneyross.com