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109-550: WGAL (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Lancaster, Pennsylvania , United States, serving the Susquehanna Valley region as an affiliate of NBC . Owned by Hearst Television , the station maintains studios on Columbia Avenue ( PA 462 ) in Lancaster Township . Its transmitter is located near US 30 north of Hallam . Largely due to WGAL's licensing, it has been the market leader for most of

218-533: A Fox affiliate. For 50 years, DuMont was the only major broadcast television network to cease operations, until CBS Corporation and Time Warner merged two other struggling networks, UPN and The WB , in September 2006, to create The CW Television Network – whose schedule was originally composed largely of programs from both of its predecessor networks. On February 22, 2018, Lightning One, Inc., owned by Smashing Pumpkins lead singer Billy Corgan , filed

327-552: A barter in some cases. DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also the DuMont Network , DuMont Television , DuMont / Du Mont , or (incorrectly) Dumont / ˈ d uː m ɒ n t / ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks , rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being first overall in the United States. It was owned by Allen B. DuMont Laboratories ,

436-491: A 6 a.m. hour of News 8 Today was added. In February 2010, days before the Winter Olympics , WGAL began using updated tickers for weather warnings, school closings and breaking news to fit 16:9 screens, preventing high definition programming from reverting to 4:3 standard definition when the tickers appeared. Around late October or early November 2010, WGAL's news set was modified with two new flat screen monitors to

545-657: A DuMont public affairs program, was awarded a Peabody Award in 1952 in the Education category. Sheen's Emmy and the Science Review Peabody were the only national awards the DuMont Network received. Though DuMont series and performers continued to win local TV awards, by the mid-1950s the DuMont network no longer had a national presence. The earliest measurements of TV audiences were performed by

654-420: A U.S. trademark application for "The Dumont Network." The application by Lightning One was very likely associated with its ownership of the "National Wrestling Alliance" trademark, the moniker of one of the oldest wrestling promotions in the United States. However, according to the registration filing, the trademark for "The Dumont Network" as owned by Lightning One was allowed to lapse on July 2, 2020, rendering

763-504: A badly needed cash infusion, giving it the resources to mount "top shelf" programming and to provide a national television service on a scale approaching that of CBS and NBC. Through UPT president Leonard Goldenson , ABC also gained ties with the Hollywood studios that more than matched those DuMont's producers had with Broadway. Realizing that ABC had more resources than they could even begin to match, DuMont officials were receptive to

872-454: A collection of programs and promos is available on the Roku streaming channel under the DuMont name. Allen B. DuMont Laboratories was founded in 1931 by Allen B. DuMont with $ 1,000 from a laboratory in his basement. He and his staff were responsible for early technical innovations like the first consumer electronic television receiver in 1938. Their most revolutionary contribution came when

981-449: A considerable loss after attempting to compete with three established VHF stations. The FCC's Hyman H. Goldin said in 1960, "If there had been four VHF outlets in the top markets, there's no question DuMont would have lived and would have eventually turned the corner in terms of profitability." During the early years of television, there was some measure of cooperation among the four major U.S. networks. However, as television grew into

1090-415: A fixed medium, were not eligible for copyright at the time, although films of those telecasts could if they contained a proper copyright notice) or lapsed into the public domain in the late 1970s when DuMont's successor-company Metromedia declined to renew the copyrights. A large number of episodes of Life Is Worth Living have been saved, and they are now aired weekly on Catholic -oriented cable network,

1199-401: A full complement of five O&Os, augmented by nine primary affiliates. ABC also had a radio network descended from NBC's Blue Network from which to draw talent, affiliate loyalty, and generate income to subsidize television operations. However, ABC had only 14 primary stations, while CBS and NBC had over 40 each. By 1951, ABC was badly overextended and on the verge of bankruptcy. That year,

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1308-694: A lease on the Adelphi Theatre on 54th Street and the Ambassador Theatre on West 49th Street gave the network a site for variety shows. In 1954, the lavish DuMont Tele-Centre opened in the former Jacob Ruppert 's Central Opera House at 205 East 67th Street, today the site of the Fox Television Center and home of WABD successor station WNYW. DuMont was the first network to broadcast a film production for TV: Talk Fast, Mister , produced by RKO in 1944. DuMont also aired

1417-417: A makeshift studio outside the building (the station was able to produce a live newscast that was streamed on its website). Area Comcast systems soon piped in either WGAL's Baltimore sister station WBAL-TV or NBC's Philadelphia O&O WCAU in order to restore NBC programming, including the 2014 Winter Olympics . WGAL staff members were allowed to re-enter its studios on the afternoon of February 15 after

1526-495: A merger offer from ABC. Goldenson quickly brokered a deal with Ted Bergmann, DuMont's managing director, under which the merged network would have been called "ABC-DuMont" until at least 1958 and would have honored all of DuMont's network commitments. In return, DuMont would get $ 5 million in cash, guaranteed advertising time for DuMont sets, and a secure future for its staff. A merged ABC-DuMont would have been an entity rivaling CBS and NBC, as it would have owned stations in five of

1635-668: A minority shareholder in DuMont Laboratories when it advanced $ 400,000 in 1939 for a 40% share in the company. Paramount had television interests of its own, having launched stations in Los Angeles in 1939 and Chicago in 1940. DuMont's association with Paramount would later come back to haunt DuMont. Soon after his experimental Washington station signed on , DuMont began experimental coaxial cable hookups between his laboratories in Passaic and his two stations. It

1744-415: A much shorter wavelength, and thus requires a shorter antenna, but also higher power. North American stations can go up to 5000 kW ERP for video and 500 kW audio, or 1000 kW digital. Low channels travel further than high ones at the same power, but UHF does not suffer from as much electromagnetic interference and background "noise" as VHF, making it much more desirable for TV. Despite this, in

1853-451: A profitable business, an intense rivalry developed among the networks, just as it had in radio. NBC and CBS competed fiercely for viewers and advertising dollars, a contest neither underfunded DuMont nor ABC could hope to win. According to author Dennis Mazzocco, "NBC tried to make an arrangement with ABC and CBS to destroy the DuMont network." The plan was for NBC and CBS to exclusively offer ABC their most popular series after they had aired on

1962-492: A radio network from which to draw big-name talent, affiliate loyalty, or radio profits to underwrite television operations until the television medium itself became profitable. Most early television licenses were granted to established radio broadcasters, and many longtime relationships with radio networks carried over to the new medium. As CBS and NBC (and to a lesser extent, ABC) gained their footing, they began to offer programming that drew on their radio backgrounds, bringing over

2071-557: A result of the transition, to its analog-era VHF channel 8 for its post-transition operations. WGAL is carried on cable providers far outside of the Harrisburg–Lancaster–Lebanon–York market including Fulton County (to the west), parts of Chester and Berks counties (to the east), Northumberland County (to the north), and Cecil and Harford counties in Maryland (to the south). In September 2017, Comcast began

2180-412: A small number of surviving episodes released commercially by at least one major distributor of public domain programming. Because so few episodes remain of most DuMont series, they are seldom rerun, even though there is no licensing cost to do so. There also is a small collection of various DuMont programs available via the Roku streaming service. DuMont programs were by necessity low-budget affairs, and

2289-601: A steel column was installed in the room to prop up a sagging roof beam in the affected area of the building, following which the station resumed regular programming. WGAL presently broadcasts 39 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours each weekday, 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours on Saturdays, and three hours on Sundays). In addition to its main studios, WGAL operates bureaus in Harrisburg (on Market Street) and York (on South George Street a.k.a. BL I-83 / Susquehanna Trail ). The station operates

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2398-508: A television equipment and television set manufacturer. DuMont was founded in 1940 and began operation on August 15, 1946. The network was hindered by the cost of broadcasting , a freeze on new television stations in 1948 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and even the company's partner, Paramount Pictures . Despite innovations in broadcasting, and launching one of television's biggest stars of

2507-399: A television network. The decision was made to shut down network operations and operate WABD and WTTG as independent stations . On April 1, 1955, most of DuMont's entertainment programs were dropped. Bishop Sheen aired his last program on DuMont on April 26 but later moved it to ABC. By May, just eight programs were left on the network, with only inexpensive shows and sporting events keeping

2616-425: A variety of ways to generate revenue from television commercials . They may be an independent station or part of a broadcasting network , or some other structure. They can produce some or all of their programs or buy some broadcast syndication programming for or all of it from other stations or independent production companies. Many stations have some sort of television studio , which on major-network stations

2725-496: Is non-commercial educational (NCE) and considered public broadcasting . To avoid concentration of media ownership of television stations, government regulations in most countries generally limit the ownership of television stations by television networks or other media operators, but these regulations vary considerably. Some countries have set up nationwide television networks, in which individual television stations act as mere repeaters of nationwide programs . In those countries,

2834-474: Is best remembered for being used by Jackie Gleason's producers for the 39-half-hour episodes of The Honeymooners that aired on CBS during the 1955–56 television season. In August 1955, Paramount, with the help of other stockholders, seized full control of DuMont Laboratories. Shareholders approved a split of the manufacturing and broadcasting operations of the company in August 1955, and the sponsored shows on

2943-470: Is broadcast via terrestrial radio waves. A group of television stations with common ownership or affiliation are known as a TV network and an individual station within the network is referred to as O&O or affiliate , respectively. Because television station signals use the electromagnetic spectrum, which in the past has been a common, scarce resource, governments often claim authority to regulate them. Broadcast television systems standards vary around

3052-792: Is often used for newscasts or other local programming . There is usually a news department , where journalists gather information. There is also a section where electronic news-gathering (ENG) operations are based, receiving remote broadcasts via remote pickup unit or satellite TV . Outside broadcasting vans, production trucks , or SUVs with electronic field production (EFP) equipment are sent out with reporters , who may also bring back news stories on video tape rather than sending them back live . To keep pace with technology United States television stations have been replacing operators with broadcast automation systems to increase profits in recent years. Some stations (known as repeaters or translators ) only simulcast another, usually

3161-415: Is said that one of those broadcasts on the hookup announced that the U.S. had dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki , Japan, on August 9, 1945. This was later considered the official beginning of the DuMont Network by both Thomas T. Goldsmith , the network's chief engineer and DuMont's best friend, and DuMont himself. Regular network service began on August 15, 1946, on WABD and W3XWT. In November 1946, W3XWT

3270-703: Is still the standard for US TV. It was another two years before the West Coast got live programming from the East (and the East able to get live programming from the West), but this was the beginning of the modern era of network television. The first broadcasts came from DuMont's 515 Madison Avenue headquarters. It soon found additional space, including a fully functioning theater, in the New York branch of Wanamaker's department store at Ninth Street and Broadway. Later,

3379-503: The C. E. Hooper company of New York. DuMont performed well in the Hooper ratings; in fact, DuMont's talent program, The Original Amateur Hour , was the most popular series of the 1947–48 season. Two seasons later, Variety ranked DuMont's popular variety series Cavalcade of Stars as the 10th most popular series. In February 1950, Hooper's competitor A. C. Nielsen bought out the Hooper ratings system. DuMont did not fare well with

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3488-583: The Children's Miracle Network telethon, and the Jefferson Awards . Anchors and other on-air personalities are active in the community as well. WGAL has also been known for installing numerous signs on area highways. Most of these signs consist of the WGAL logo used from 1969 to 1990, the phrase "Drive Carefully" and the borough or township where the sign is located. Although the logo is no longer used,

3597-724: The Eternal Word Television Network , which also makes a collection of them available on DVD (in the biographical information about Fulton J. Sheen added to the end of many episodes, a still image of Bishop Sheen looking into a DuMont Television camera can be seen). Several companies that distribute DVDs over the Internet have released a small number of episodes of Cavalcade of Stars and The Morey Amsterdam Show . Two more DuMont programs, Captain Video and His Video Rangers and Rocky King, Inside Detective , have had

3706-660: The First transcontinental railroad ) was activated. The ceremony, hosted by DuMont and WDTV, was carried on all four networks. WGN-TV (channel 9) in Chicago and WABD in New York were able to share programs through a live coaxial cable feed when WDTV signed on in Pittsburgh, because the station completed the East Coast-to-Midwest chain, allowing stations in both regions to air the same program simultaneously, which

3815-493: The Paramount Television Network , a service that provided local television stations with filmed television programs. Paramount's network "undercut the company that it had invested in." Paramount did not share its stars, big budgets, or filmed programs with DuMont; the company had stopped financially supporting DuMont in 1941. Although Paramount executives indicated they would produce programs for DuMont,

3924-1043: The Tournament of Roses Parade . It has always been an NBC affiliate, but also carried some programs from CBS , DuMont and ABC until 1963 when Nielsen collapsed the Lancaster and Harrisburg–York areas into one large market . The Steinmans also launched WDEL-TV in Wilmington, Delaware , around the same time as WGAL's launch but sold that station in 1955. Over the years, the family purchased three more television stations ( KOAT in Albuquerque, New Mexico , and KVOA in Tucson, Arizona , both of which were sold to Pulitzer Publishing in 1969, and WTEV-TV, now WLNE-TV , in New Bedford, Massachusetts ) as well as several radio stations and newspapers. The Steinmans sold off

4033-716: The UCLA Film and Television Archive in Los Angeles, in the Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia , and in the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago. Although nearly the entire DuMont film archive was destroyed, several surviving DuMont shows have been released on DVD . Much of what survived was either never properly copyrighted (live telecasts, because they were not set on

4142-501: The Yankee Network , and Paramount, were interested in starting television networks, but were prevented from doing so by restrictive FCC regulations, although the Paramount Television Network had limited success in network operations in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Despite no history of radio programming, no stable of radio stars to draw on, and perennial cash shortages, DuMont was an innovative and creative network. Without

4251-405: The broadcast range , or geographic area, that the station is limited to, allocates the broadcast frequency of the radio spectrum for that station's transmissions, sets limits on what types of television programs can be programmed for broadcast and requires a station to broadcast a minimum amount of certain programs types, such as public affairs messages . Another form of television station

4360-573: The channel 9 allocation in nearby Steubenville, Ohio , and move it to Pittsburgh so Steubenville had a chance to have its own television station. As a result, no other commercial VHF station signed on in Pittsburgh until WIIC-TV in 1957, giving WDTV a de facto monopoly on television in the area. Since WDTV carried secondary affiliations with the other three networks, DuMont used this as a bargaining chip to get its programs cleared in other large markets. Despite its severe financial straits, by 1953 DuMont appeared to be on its way to establishing itself as

4469-534: The electricity bill and emergency backup generators . In North America , full-power stations on band I (channels 2 to 6) are generally limited to 100 kW analog video ( VSB ) and 10 kW analog audio ( FM ), or 45 kW digital ( 8VSB ) ERP. Stations on band III (channels 7 to 13) can go up by 5 dB to 316 kW video, 31.6 kW audio, or 160 kW digital. Low-VHF stations are often subject to long-distance reception just as with FM. There are no stations on Channel 1 . UHF , by comparison, has

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4578-599: The 1940s and 1950s, television signals were sent between stations via coaxial cable and microwave links owned by AT&T. The service provider did not have enough circuits to provide signal relay service from the four networks to all of their affiliates at the same time, so AT&T allocated times when each network could offer live programs to its affiliates. In 1950, AT&T allotted NBC and CBS each over 100 hours of live prime time network service, but gave ABC 53 hours, and DuMont 37. AT&T also required each television network to lease both radio and television lines. DuMont

4687-461: The 1950s— Jackie Gleason —the network never reached solid finances. Forced to expand on UHF channels when UHF tuning was not yet standard on television sets, DuMont fought an uphill battle for program clearance outside its three owned-and-operated stations: WABD New York City , WTTG Washington, D.C. , and WDTV Pittsburgh , ultimately ending network operations on August 6, 1956, leaving three main networks other than public broadcasting , until

4796-485: The FCC ruled that Paramount essentially controlled DuMont, which effectively placed the network at the five-station cap. Paramount's exertion of influence over the network's management and the power of its voting stock led the FCC to its conclusion. Thus, DuMont was unable to open additional stations as long as Paramount owned stations or owned a portion of DuMont. Paramount refused to sell. In 1949, Paramount Pictures launched

4905-544: The Stevens House Hotel in downtown Lancaster. WGAL was a major beneficiary of a quirk in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s plan for allocating stations. In the early days of broadcast television, there were twelve VHF channels available and 69 UHF channels (later reduced to 55 in 1983). The VHF bands were more desirable because they carried longer distances. Since there were only twelve VHF channels available, there were limitations as to how closely

5014-559: The U.S., the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is taking another large portion of this band (channels 52 to 69) away, in contrast to the rest of the world, which has been taking VHF instead. This means that some stations left on VHF are harder to receive after the analog shutdown . Since at least 1974, there are no stations on channel 37 in North America for radio astronomy purposes. Most television stations are commercial broadcasting enterprises which are structured in

5123-637: The WGAL radio stations in 1976, but kept WGAL-TV until late 1978, when it sold channel 8 and WTEV to Pulitzer—in the process, earning a handsome return on the original investment they made when they signed on WGAL radio in 1922. The Pulitzer purchase reunited WGAL-TV and WTEV with KOAT (that company spun off KVOA in 1972). Under Pulitzer's ownership, in 1985, WGAL became the first television station in Pennsylvania to broadcast in stereo, beating much larger stations in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Although

5232-462: The area's only live weather radar at its transmitter site known as "Super Doppler 8". As the only VHF station in the area, it has been the market leader for many years. This may also have to do with its newspaper roots, as is typical for many long-standing market leaders in the United States. As of 2013, WGAL's dominance is primarily in Lancaster and York counties, which contain the majority of

5341-518: The battle between the Hearst Corporation (then-owners of WCAE ) and KQV over the channel 4 license that eventually would become WTAE-TV , and -- perhaps the most impactful one to DuMont's future -- locally-based Westinghouse Electric Corporation (owners of radio pioneer KDKA ) battling with local interest groups for the channel 13 license that was intended to be a non-commercial license. The FCC also denied CBS's request to be granted

5450-587: The bigger networks. ABC would become a network of re-runs, but DuMont would be shut out. ABC president Leonard Goldenson rejected NBC executive David Sarnoff 's proposal, but did not report it to the Justice Department . DuMont survived the early 1950s only because of WDTV in Pittsburgh, the lone commercial VHF station in what then was the sixth-largest market in the country after New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Washington. WDTV's only competition came from UHF stations WENS-TV (on

5559-426: The change: none of its shows appeared on Nielsen's annual top 20 lists of the most popular series. The aforementioned Life is Worth Living did receive Nielsen ratings of up to 11.1, meaning that it attracted more than 10 million viewers. Bishop Sheen's one-man program – in which he discussed philosophy, psychology, and other fields of thought from a Christian perspective – was the most widely viewed religious series in

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5668-462: The company announced a merger with United Paramount Theaters (UPT) (the former theater division of Paramount Pictures, which was spun off as a result of the United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. antitrust decision), but it was not until 1953 that the FCC approved the merger. By this time, DuMont had begun to differentiate itself from NBC and CBS. It allowed its advertisers to choose

5777-466: The evacuation of the remainder of the station's 100 employees after Lancaster Township Fire Department officials examined the structural stability of the facility. Fire officials determined that a concrete support beam and slab in an adjacent studio that is no longer used by WGAL had shifted and dropped. As a result, with its master control unstaffed, the station went off the air, scuttling plans to broadcast its 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m. newscasts that evening out of

5886-440: The existing system of allocation and control of television broadcast stations and affiliations". The name was later changed to "Metropolitan Broadcasting Company" to distance the company from what was seen as a complete failure. In 1958, John Kluge bought Paramount's shares for $ 4 million, and in 1961 renamed the company Metromedia . WABD became WNEW-TV and later WNYW . WTTG still broadcasts under its original call letters as

5995-522: The first TV situation comedy , Mary Kay and Johnny , as well as the first network-televised soap opera , Faraway Hill . Cavalcade of Stars , a variety show hosted by Jackie Gleason , was the birthplace of The Honeymooners skits (Gleason took his variety show to CBS in 1952, but filmed the "Classic 39" Honeymooners episodes at DuMont's Adelphi Theater studio in 1955–56). Bishop Fulton J. Sheen 's devotional program Life Is Worth Living went up against Milton Berle in many cities, becoming

6104-399: The first U.S. TV show to star an Asian American person; and The Hazel Scott Show , starring pianist and singer Hazel Scott , the first U.S. network TV series to be hosted by a black woman. Although DuMont's programming pre-dated videotape , many DuMont offerings were recorded on kinescopes. These kinescopes were said to be stored in a warehouse until the 1970s. Actress Edie Adams ,

6213-555: The first show to compete successfully in the ratings against "Mr. Television". In 1952, Sheen won an Emmy Award for "Most Outstanding Personality". The network's other notable programs include: The network was a pioneer in TV programming aimed at minority audiences and featuring minority performers, at a time when the other American networks aired few television series for non-whites. Among DuMont's minority programs were The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong , starring film actress Anna May Wong ,

6322-545: The format (its field video continues to be presented in enhanced definition widescreen). On February 4, 2013, WGAL debuted a nightly half-hour 10 p.m. newscast on its then This TV (now MeTV) affiliated second digital sub channel. On August 22, 2016, WGAL debuted an hour long newscast at 4 p.m. This coincided with the cancellation of The Meredith Vieira Show . The station's signal is multiplexed : On January 1, 2009, WGAL began carrying This TV on digital subchannel 8.2. On December 29, 2014, it switched to MeTV , which

6431-782: The former. It also would have had to sell two other stations – most likely ABC's two smallest O&Os, WXYZ-TV in Detroit and KGO-TV in San Francisco (both broadcasting on channel 7) – to get under the FCC's limit of five stations per owner. However, Paramount vetoed the plan almost out of hand due to antitrust concerns. A few months earlier, the FCC had ruled that Paramount controlled DuMont, and there still were some questions about whether UPT had really separated from Paramount. With no other way to readily obtain cash, DuMont sold WDTV to Westinghouse for $ 9.75 million in late 1954, after Westinghouse decided to give public backing to

6540-448: The founding of Fox in 1986. DuMont's obscurity, caused mainly by the destruction of its extensive program archive by the 1970s, has prompted TV historian David Weinstein to refer to it as the "forgotten network". A few popular DuMont programs, such as Cavalcade of Stars and Emmy Award winner Life Is Worth Living , appear in television retrospectives or are mentioned briefly in books about U.S. television history. In addition,

6649-441: The frequency now occupied by WINP-TV ) and WKJF-TV (now WPGH-TV ) and distant stations from Johnstown, Pennsylvania , Youngstown, Ohio , and Wheeling, West Virginia . There also were external factors such as the FCC's freeze on licenses and intense competition for the remaining VHF licenses in Pittsburgh, including WENS-TV appealing the FCC's granting of the channel 11 license that was eventually affirmed for WIIC-TV (now WPXI ),

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6758-420: The highest point available in the transmission area, such as on a summit , the top of a high skyscraper , or on a tall radio tower . To get a signal from the master control room to the transmitter, a studio/transmitter link (STL) is used. The link can be either by radio or T1 / E1 . A transmitter/studio link (TSL) may also send telemetry back to the station, but this may be embedded in subcarriers of

6867-704: The history of television. 169 local television stations aired Life , and for three years the program competed successfully against NBC's popular The Milton Berle Show . The ABC and CBS programs that aired in the same timeslot were canceled. Life is Worth Living was not the only DuMont program to achieve double-digit ratings. In 1952, Time magazine reported that popular DuMont game show Down You Go had attracted an audience estimated at 16 million viewers. Similarly, DuMont's summer 1954 replacement series, The Goldbergs , achieved audiences estimated at 10 million. Still, these series were only moderately popular compared to NBC's and CBS's highest-rated programs. Nielsen

6976-443: The honors. Sheen also was nominated for Public Service Emmys in 1952, 1953, and 1954. DuMont received an Emmy nomination for Down You Go , a popular game show during the 1952–53 television season (in the category Best Audience Participation, Quiz, or Panel Program ). The network was nominated twice for its coverage of professional football during the 1953–54 and 1954–55 television seasons. The Johns Hopkins Science Review ,

7085-414: The last broadcast of Monday Night Fights .) According to one source, the final program aired on only five stations nationwide. It appears that the boxing show was syndicated to a few other east coast stations until 1958, but likely not as a production of DuMont or its successor company. Likewise, the remains of DuMont were used to syndicate a high school football Thanksgiving game in 1957; that telecast,

7194-436: The left and right of the set, and an additional flat screen monitor was added to the front of the new anchor desk. On December 13, 2010, starting with its 5 p.m. newscast, WGAL became the first television station in the Harrisburg–Lancaster–Lebanon–York market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in widescreen standard definition, and also introduced updated on-screen graphics. Before WGAL's switch to widescreen newscasts,

7303-400: The local television station has no station identification and, from a consumer's point of view, there is no practical distinction between a network and a station, with only small regional changes in programming, such as local television news . To broadcast its programs, a television station requires operators to operate equipment, a transmitter or radio antenna , which is often located at

7412-472: The locations where their advertising ran, potentially saving them millions of dollars. By contrast, ABC followed NBC's and CBS's practice of forcing advertisers to purchase a large "must-buy" list of stations, even though it was only a fourth the size of NBC and CBS. ABC's fortunes were dramatically altered in February 1953, when the FCC cleared the way for UPT to buy the network. The merger provided ABC with

7521-419: The main broadcast. Stations which retransmit or simulcast another may simply pick-up that station over-the-air , or via STL or satellite. The license usually specifies which other station it is allowed to carry. VHF stations often have very tall antennas due to their long wavelength , but require much less effective radiated power (ERP), and therefore use much less transmitter power output , also saving on

7630-570: The market was the largest Nielsen television market in which all of its stations did not broadcast their local newscasts in either high definition or 16:9 widescreen (as of January 2014, the largest market that does not currently have HD or widescreen newscasts is Chico – Redding, California ). On August 29, 2011, WGAL became the second station in South Central Pennsylvania (behind Fox affiliate WPMT ) to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. The news open

7739-450: The market's population. Starting in 2012, WGAL began experiencing declines in news viewership, the largest occurring in May 2013 That July, WHTM-TV beat WGAL for the first time at 5 p.m. among adults 25–54. WGAL lost ground in other time periods, including at 6 p.m., and fell to a virtual tie with WHTM at noon. On September 30, 1995, weekend morning editions of News 8 Today premiered. In 2010,

7848-510: The most popular radio stars. Early television station owners, when deciding which network would receive their main affiliation, were more likely to choose CBS's roster of Lucille Ball, Jack Benny , and Ed Sullivan , or NBC's lineup of Milton Berle and Sid Caesar , over DuMont, which offered a then-unknown Jackie Gleason and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen . In smaller markets, with a limited number of stations, DuMont and ABC were often relegated to secondary status, so their programs got clearance only if

7957-514: The network five owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), the maximum allowed by the FCC at the time. However, DuMont was hampered by Paramount's two stations -- KTLA (channel 5) in Los Angeles and WBKB (channel 4, now WBBM-TV on channel 2) in Chicago – the descendants of the two experimental stations that rankled DuMont in 1940. Although these stations generally did not carry DuMont programming (KTLA did for just one year, 1947 to 1948), and, in fact, competed against DuMont's affiliates in those cities

8066-477: The network received relatively few awards from the TV industry. Most awards during the 1950s went to NBC and CBS, who were able to out-spend other companies and draw on their extensive history of radio broadcasting in the relatively new television medium. During the 1952–53 TV season, the aforementioned Bishop Sheen won an Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Personality . Sheen beat out three CBS nominees -- Arthur Godfrey , Edward R. Murrow , and Lucille Ball -- for

8175-556: The network were discontinued. The last non-sports program on DuMont, the game show What's the Story , aired on September 23, 1955. After that, DuMont's network feed was used only for occasional sporting events. The last broadcast on what was left of the DuMont Television Network, a boxing match , aired on August 6, 1956. (The date has also been reported as September 1955, November 1957 or August 4, 1958, with

8284-586: The networks relied on separate regional networks in the two time zones for live programming, and the West Coast received network programming from kinescopes (films shot directly from live television screens) originating from the East Coast. On January 11, 1949, the coaxial cable linking East and Midwest (known in television circles as "the Golden Spike", in reference to the golden spike that united

8393-554: The only DuMont broadcast to have been sent in color, was a personal project of Allen DuMont himself, whose hometown team in Montclair, New Jersey , was contending in the game for a state championship. DuMont spun off WABD and WTTG as the DuMont Broadcasting Corporation; in requesting the FCC's approval of the reorganization, it told the commission that the network "could not be operated profitably under

8502-566: The original 1937 acquisition proposal required Paramount to expand its television interests "through DuMont". Paramount representative Paul Raibourn, who also was a member of DuMont's board of directors, denied that any such restriction had ever been discussed, but Dr. DuMont was vindicated by a 1953 examination of the original draft document. DuMont aspired to grow beyond its three stations, applying for new television station licenses in Cincinnati and Cleveland in 1947. This would have given

8611-790: The picture quality was marginal at best, depending on geographic location. (see also: UHF television broadcasting § UHF reception issues ) . Tied to this was a decision to restrict VHF allocations in medium- and smaller-sized markets. Meanwhile, television sets would not be required to have all-channel tuning until 1964, with the passage of the All-Channel Receiver Act . Forced to rely on UHF to expand, DuMont saw one station after another go dark due to dismal ratings. It bought small, distressed UHF station KCTY (channel 25) in Kansas City , Missouri , in 1954, but ran it for just three months before shutting it down at

8720-454: The practice of blacking out all NBC network programming on WGAL in the Philadelphia market claiming they are complying with a request from WCAU (which is in fact also owned by Comcast through its NBCUniversal subsidiary). Television station The Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow ( TV Station Paul Nipkow ) in Berlin , Germany , was the first regular television service in the world. It

8829-466: The primary network was off the air or delayed via kinescope recording ("tele-transcriptions," in DuMont parlance). Adding to DuMont's troubles was the FCC's 1948 "freeze" on television license applications . This was done to sort out the thousands of applications that had come streaming in, but also to rethink the allocation and technical standards laid down prior to World War II. It became clear soon after

8938-476: The programmes seen on its owner's flagship station, and have no television studio or production facilities of their own. This is common in developing countries . Low-power stations typically also fall into this category worldwide. Most stations which are not simulcast produce their own station identifications . TV stations may also advertise on or provide weather (or news) services to local radio stations , particularly co-owned sister stations . This may be

9047-453: The public interest groups for the channel 13 allocation in Pittsburgh, allowing the station to launch that spring as educational WQED . While this gave DuMont a short-term cash infusion, it eliminated the leverage the network had to get program clearances in other markets. Without its de facto monopoly in Pittsburgh, the company's advertising revenue shrank to less than half that of 1953. By February 1955, DuMont realized it could not continue as

9156-500: The radio and television stations had gone their separate ways 15 years earlier, channel 8 dropped the "-TV" suffix from its callsign in 1992. Pulitzer sold its entire television division, including WGAL and KOAT, to what was then Hearst-Argyle Television in 1998. The station is known for being a community service leader in the market and holds the Salvation Army Coats For Kids drive and telethon , and airs

9265-412: The radio revenues that supported mighty NBC and CBS, DuMont programmers relied on their wits and on connections with Broadway . The network largely ignored the standard business model of 1950s TV, in which one advertiser sponsored an entire show, enabling it to have complete control over its content. Instead, DuMont sold commercials to several different advertisers, freeing producers of its shows from

9374-402: The remains of the network going through the summer. The network also largely abandoned the use of the intercity network coaxial cable, on which it had spent $ 3 million in 1954 to transmit shows that mostly lacked station clearance. The company only retained network links for live sports programming and utilizing the company's Electronicam process to produce studio-based programming. Electronicam

9483-513: The signs are still commonplace around the market, and are occasionally updated so as to be more visible to motorists. On February 14, 2014, a portion of the roof at WGAL's Columbia Avenue studio facility collapsed due to heavy accumulations of snow and ice caused by a winter storm that moved through the Eastern United States earlier that week. This caused the newsroom on the second floor of the building to be evacuated, followed by

9592-428: The six largest U.S. television markets (excluding only Philadelphia) as well as ABC's radio network. It also would have inherited DuMont's de facto monopoly in Pittsburgh and would have been one of two networks, along with NBC, to have full ownership of a station in the nation's capital. However, it would have had to sell a New York station – either DuMont's WABD or ABC's flagship WJZ-TV (channel 7, now WABC-TV ), probably

9701-459: The south. This created a large "doughnut" in South Central Pennsylvania where there could be only one VHF license. In 1952, WGAL increased its power from 1,000 to 7,200 watts . On December 31, 1952, the station moved to channel 8 as a requirement by the FCC in order to prevent interference with WRC-TV in Washington. On January 1, 1954, WGAL presented its first color television broadcast of

9810-631: The station moved to Manhattan as W2XWV on channel 4 and commenced broadcasting on April 13, 1940. Unlike CBS and NBC , which reduced their television broadcasting during World War II, DuMont continued experimental and commercial broadcasts throughout the war. In 1944, W2XWV received its commercial license, the third in New York, under the call letters WABD (derived from DuMont's initials). In 1945, it moved to channel 5. On May 19, 1945, DuMont opened experimental W3XWT in Washington, D.C. which became commercial station WTTG . Paramount Pictures became

9919-670: The stations could be spaced. After the FCC's Sixth Report and Order ended the license freeze and opened the UHF band in 1952, it devised a plan for allocating VHF licenses. Under this plan, almost all of the country would be able to receive two commercial VHF channels plus one noncommercial channel. Most of the rest of the country ("1/2") would be able to receive a third VHF channel. Other areas would be designated as "UHF islands" since they were too close to larger cities for VHF service. The "2" networks became CBS and NBC, "+1" represented non-commercial educational stations, and "1/2" became ABC (which

10028-507: The studio never supplied the network with programs or technical assistance. The acrimonious relationship between Paramount and DuMont climaxed during the 1953 FCC hearings regarding the ABC– United Paramount Theaters merger when Paul Raibourn, an executive at Paramount, publicly derided the quality of DuMont television sets in court testimony. DuMont began with one basic disadvantage: unlike NBC, CBS and ABC, it did not have

10137-635: The team extended the life of a cathode-ray tube from 24 to 1,000 hours, making television sets practical for consumers. The company's television receivers soon became the standard of the industry. In 1942, DuMont worked with the U.S. Army in developing radar during World War II . This brought in $ 5 million for the company. Early sales of television receivers were hampered by the lack of regularly scheduled programming. A few months after selling his first set in 1938, DuMont opened his own New York-area television station (W2XVT) in Passaic, New Jersey . In 1940,

10246-528: The third national network. despite a smaller footprint than ABC. While DuMont programs aired live on 16 stations, the network could count on only seven primary stations – its three owned-and-operated stations ("O&Os) plus WGN-TV in Chicago, KTTV (channel 11) in Los Angeles, KFEL-TV (channel 2, now KWGN-TV ) in Denver , and WTVN-TV (channel 6, now WSYX ) in Columbus, Ohio . In contrast, by 1953 ABC had

10355-575: The time since records have been kept. During the analog era, it was the only commercial VHF station in eastern Pennsylvania licensed outside of Philadelphia. The station first signed on the air on March 18, 1949, originally broadcasting on VHF channel 4. It was the fourth television station in Pennsylvania and the first to sign-on outside of Philadelphia , beating WDTV (now KDKA-TV ) in Pittsburgh which began operations in November of that year. It

10464-491: The trademark dead. All three DuMont-owned stations still are operating and are owned-and-operated stations of their respective networks, just as when they were part of DuMont. Of the three, only Washington's WTTG still has its original call letters. WTTG and New York's WABD (later WNEW-TV, and now WNYW) survived as Metromedia-owned independents until 1986, when they were purchased by the News Corporation to form

10573-606: The veto power held by sole sponsors. This eventually became the standard model for U.S. television. Some commercial time was sold regionally on a co-op basis, while other spots were sold network-wide. DuMont also holds another important place in American TV history. WDTV's sign-on made it possible for stations in the Midwest to receive live network programming from stations on the East Coast , and vice versa. Before then,

10682-496: The war that 12 channels (" channel 1 " had been removed from television broadcasting in 1948 for allocation to land-mobile radio) were not nearly enough for national television service. What was to be a six-month freeze lasted until 1952, when the FCC opened the UHF spectrum. The FCC, however, did not require television manufacturers to include UHF capability. To see UHF stations, most consumers had to buy expensive converters . Even then,

10791-664: The war. ABC had just come into existence as a radio network in 1943 and did not enter network television until 1948 when its flagship station in New York City, WJZ-TV ( WABC-TV ), began broadcasting. CBS also waited until 1948 to begin network operations, because it was waiting for the Federal Communications Commission to approve its color television system (which it eventually did not, due to its mechanical nature and incompatibility with black and white receivers). Other companies, including Mutual ,

10900-493: The wife of comedian Ernie Kovacs (both regular performers on early television) testified in 1996 before a panel of the Library of Congress on the preservation of television and video. Adams claimed that so little value was given to these films that the stored kinescopes were loaded into three trucks and dumped into Upper New York Bay . Nevertheless, a number of DuMont programs survive at The Paley Center for Media in New York,

11009-399: The world. Television stations broadcasting over an analog system were typically limited to one television channel , but digital television enables broadcasting via subchannels as well. Television stations usually require a broadcast license from a government agency which sets the requirements and limitations on the station. In the United States, for example, a television license defines

11118-623: Was founded by the Steinman family, owners of WGAL radio (1490 AM, now WRKY , and 101.3 FM, now WROZ ) and Lancaster's two major newspapers, the Intelligencer Journal and the Lancaster New Era . At the time, Lancaster was the smallest city in the country with a television station. The station's first formal program was shown on March 22 to a group of RCA executives, television dealers, and radio station personnel at

11227-531: Was granted a commercial license, the capital's first, as WTTG , named after Goldsmith. These two DuMont owned-and-operated stations were joined by WDTV (channel 3) in Pittsburgh on January 11, 1949. Although NBC in New York had station-to-station television links as early as 1940 with WPTZ ( KYW ) in Philadelphia and WRGB in Schenectady, New York , DuMont received its station licenses before NBC resumed its previously sporadic network broadcasts after

11336-529: Was modified to include the station's legacy logos, while the set remained unchanged until newscasts returned to Studio B with a new set on February 5, 2012. As of April 14, 2012, with WHP-TV 's upgrade to HD newscasts, all four major stations in the Susquehanna Valley (WGAL, WPMT, WHP-TV and WHTM-TV ) now air their local newscasts in HD; however, unlike the other three, WGAL airs only in-studio segments in

11445-501: Was not the only company to report TV ratings. Companies such as Trendex , Videodex , and Arbitron had also measured TV viewership. The chart in this section comes from Videodex's August 1950 ratings breakdown, as reported in Billboard magazine. DuMont struggled to get its programs aired in many parts of the country, in part due to technical limitations of network lines maintained by telephone company AT&T Corporation . During

11554-618: Was on the air from 22 March 1935, until it was shut down in 1944. The station was named after Paul Gottlieb Nipkow , the inventor of the Nipkow disk . Most often the term "television station" refers to a station which broadcasts structured content to an audience or it refers to the organization that operates the station. A terrestrial television transmission can occur via analog television signals or, more recently, via digital television signals. Television stations are differentiated from cable television or other video providers as their content

11663-400: Was previously a subchannel of WGCB-TV . WGAL discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 8, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television . The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 58, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as

11772-541: Was the only television network without a radio network, so it was the only network forced to pay for a service it did not use. DuMont protested AT&T's actions with the Federal Communications Commission, and eventually reached a compromise. DuMont's biggest corporate hurdle may have been with the company's own partner, Paramount. Relations between the two companies were strained as early as 1939 when Paramount opened experimental television stations in Los Angeles and Chicago without DuMont's involvement. Dr. DuMont claimed that

11881-556: Was the weakest network usually winding up with the UHF allocation where no VHF was available). What would become the Harrisburg –Lancaster– Lebanon – York market, however, was sandwiched between Philadelphia (channels 3 , 6 , 10 , and 12 ) to the east, Johnstown – Altoona – State College (channels 6 and 10 ) to the west, Scranton – Wilkes-Barre (a UHF island) to the north, and Baltimore (channels 2 , 11 , and 13 ) and Washington, D.C. (channels 4 , 5 , 7 , and 9 ) to

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