Television Articles

It was announced recently that KXOK, Inc., St. Louis, Mo., has applied for permission from the Federal Communications Commission to operate a commercial television station in St. Louis on Channel No. 4. The applicant is the licensee of standard broadcasting station KXOK and frequency modulation station KXOK-FM. KXOK-FM is the only commercial frequency modulation station remaining on the air in St. Louis, the four other frequency modulation broadcasters having voluntarily surrendered their licenses.

KXOK was one of the first applicants for television in St. Louis, having applied originally in 1944. Today’s filing of an application by KXOK, Inc. was in accordance with a ruling by the FCC that all applicants must reapply using new forms.

The proposed new station will use the tower owned by KXOK, Inc. atop the Boatmen’s Bank Building, Broadway and Olive Streets, St. Louis. This structure is the tallest broadcasting tower currently erected in the city. The tower, 565 feet above street level, is now being used by KXOK-FM and Transit Radio. It rests on the 21st floor of the building, in the penthouse of which will be located the television transmitter if FCC approval is given.

An RCA television transmitter has been purchased by KXOK to insure prompt inauguration of service if and when the grant is received. The main portion of the transmitter is stored in the RCA warehouse in Camden, N.J., but part of the studio equipment is storied in the KXOK Building at 12th and Delmar in St. Louis where the general offices and radio studios are housed. The building, a modern five-story structure with three basement levels, is completely air-conditioned.

(Originally published in the Ad Club Weekly 7/7/1952).

KSD-TV-AM have moved into a new $1,000,000 home in downtown St. Louis. The building, formerly the mechanical annex of the Post-Dispatch, was extensively remodeled for the stations, which occupy the first two floors. The newspaper vacated the building two years ago. The new studios are among the most modern in the midwest, according to General Manager Harold Grams.

(Originally published in the Ad Club Weekly 11/26/1962).

Station’s New Broadcast Day Runs 18 Hours

KWK-TV has started all-day programming. The new line-up will feature six CBS-TV dramatic serials along with popular audience-participation and variety shows for the Monday through Friday viewing fare.

“Recallit and Win,” a long-time KWK radio favorite, has made its TV debut with Tom Dailey hosting the nostalgic musical quiz.

Other St. Louis personalities, including Gil Newsome and Ed Wilson, plan to bow in soon on KWK-TV. Besides the new local features, KWK-TV now offers popular CBS Television shows and choice ABC Television productions in addition to selected film programs such as the “All-American Game of the Week” and popular mystery series.

(Originally published in the Ad Club Weekly 10/4/1954).

The Federal Communications Commission has announced the grant of a new television station to serve this area. It is UHF Channel 54 assigned to the Signal Hill Telecasting Corporation of Belleville, Illinois with call letters WTVI. This is the largest market in the United States to receive a UHF grant.

The new station will be one of the most powerful in the world. Its power is greater than the combined power of all the television stations in either New York, Chicago or Los Angeles.

Studios will be erected at 10200 West Main Street, Belleville, with transmitter and tower on acreage nearby. Construction will start immediately. Corporation members expect to have their station on the air by May 1, 1953.

Officers of the Signal Hill Telecasting Corporation are Bernard T. Wilson, president and general manager; John I. Hyatt, vice president in charge of sales; Ted Wescott, vice president in charge of programming; H.M. Stolar, secretary; Paul E. Peltason, treasurer; and Harry Tenenbaum, assistant secretary-treasurer.

New model TV sets are said to be already equipped to receive the UHF station and most recent model sets sold in 1951 and 1952 will require a plug-in attachment which set owners can put on themselves. Older sets will require an inexpensive converter, which can be installed in one service call.

(Originally published in the Ad Club Weekly 12/8/1952).

Television stattion WTVI, Channel 54, scheduled to go on the air in May, is putting its 600 foot tower into place. The tower, twice as high as the Park Plaza Hotel, is adjacent to the station’s studio and transmitter building atop Signal Hill (Belleville), highest ground in the St. Louis area, 1,150 feet above sea level.

WTVI will carry all Dumont Network shows, including wrestling from Marigold Gardens, Chicago, boxing from New York with Ted Husing, and other major sports, variety, mystery and film shows.

(Originally published in the Ad Club Weekly 4/6/1953).

Television Station KACY expects to start its test pattern Oct. 25 [1953], according to Ken Atwood, an official of the new UHF outlet here. After three weeks of 12 hours daily testing “so that the advertising agencies will know what they’re selling,” Ken says, the station will begin commercial telecasting in November. From the start, all telecasting will be done with full power.

This new outlet expects to produce an output of 350,000 to 500,000 watts of effective radiated power, although the transmitter has been tested at an output up to 540,000 watts. It is described as “the most powerful station in America.” The transmitter is here now, and all that remains “is to hook it up.”

Perhaps the most potent point of the whole operation is that KACY can be received on a $5 inside antenna, it is said. UHF reception also requires an adaptor or converter. An official of Artophone Corporation made a series of TV tests with a cheap antenna in another UHF area. He reported that reception was excellent, and on the basis of those tests, expects KACY to boom the UHF industry here because of its terrific output.

The tower of the new station is another story. Station officials told the Ad Club Weekly that the tower was actually erected in four days!
(Photos courtesy Leo Tevlin)

Height of tower: 688 feet! Reason: It’s what they call a “guided tower,” and is put up in sections.It was done at KACY’s site because of the immense space around the tower foundation. “It takes about 25 or 30 acres in which to lay out the cables and equipment,” explained Mr. Atwood. “It probably would not be possible in the city,” he added. Tower contractor is Johnnie Andrews of Fort Worth, Texas.

 Officials of the new UHF station are stressing the point that a high-priced antenna is not necessary when you have plenty of power from the transmitter. Some confusion has been apparent because outdoor UHF antenna installations have ranged from $60-$125 and higher. But it must be remembered that WTVI in Belleville, Ill., now telecasting on limited power, and KSTM, will not have full power for a time. Therefore no immediate conclusions can be drawn until they are on full power.

 (Originally published in the Ad Club Weekly 10/26/1953).