Early Days of Television in Mid-Illinois

Hardly any of us now remember what life was like before television. Seventy years ago, in 1953, though, the experience of not having a TV was still what most households across central Illinois faced daily. A poll taken in 1953 among TV dealers determined that only 12-thousand TV sets were sold at the retail level. Of those, only 22 hundred were equipped for all channel VHF-UHF reception. That number would change over a few short years, and it wasn't long before most households recognized local TV personalities' names, faces, and voices.

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WTVP's Loren Boatman, Al Pigg, Kim Wilson, Earl Hickerson, Dale Coleman, Frank Monte, and Marty Roberts.

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WICS's John Begue, Florence Pierce, Malden Jones, Frank Martin, Bernie Johnson, Julie Craig, G.B. Gordon, Pigwell Pete, Bob Warren, Wally Gair, Nick Alexander, Bernie Waterman, Wayne Cox, and Doug Kimball.

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WCIA's Fred Sorenson, Wyndham J. “Mr. Roberts” Roberts, Jack Prowell, Scotty Craig, DiAnne Thomas, Sidney “Sheriff Sid” Fulkerson, Tom Schoendienst, Robert Brown, Ed Mason, Don McMullen, John Coleman, Paul Davis, and Tom Jones.

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WBLN's Fred Muxfield, Esther, Warner Tideman, and Don McKellar.

 

WDAN-TV's Wayne Coady, Bill Houpt, Frank Williams, Max Shaffer, Ralph Webber, Honore Ronan, Jack Singleton, and John Eckert.

 

Many more people contributed in behind-the-scenes roles in ownership, management, sales, and engineering, making Central Illinois Television possible.

 

This is a much-abbreviated story of each heritage station across mid-Illinois. We begin with 1939. The public visiting the World's Fair in New York in 1939 saw television for the first time. President Franklin Roosevelt addressed those watching at the fair via television, as most of the public watched newsreel footage much later. World War II put television research on hiatus. Those working on the development of television at the end of the war tested equipment and receivers, with broadcasts occurring on an occasional basis, mostly in the larger cities of the East. New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. were TV broadcast centers. Still, it wasn't until the mid to late 1940s that other TV stations began to appear in other nearby Midwest cities, like Chicago, St. Louis, and Indianapolis. Channels 2 through 13 were available to a select number of stations that were later interconnected to form networks by NBC, DuMont, and CBS.

 

The FCC, though, “froze” the issuance of additional broadcast construction permits by other companies and entrepreneurs who filed for TV station ownership in 1948. By then, the FCC figured out that the number of anticipated future TV stations would not fit in the constraints of only VHF channels 2 through 13. Plus, testing was already underway for the broadcast of color video, and three color broadcast methods were already being developed. Many other technical standards were needed to ensure that the broadcast industry would produce TVs for the public that would allow all stations to be received in monochrome and color. That was just the beginning, as a new frequency range called UHF broadcasting would open up. The operation of television stations on UHF was different from that of VHF. The advantage of UHF broadcasting included not being susceptible to interference from everything from ignition noise from trucks and cars, electrical RF noise from small appliances and vacuum cleaners to electrical storms. The picture was clearer, crisper, and lifelike than VHF stations. The major advantage for VHF stations was that the reception area for channels 2-13 was many times greater than that of a typical UHF station and at lower power. Thus, TV audiences were bound to be greater for VHF stations, increasing the income potential of VHF stations as advertisers were seeking larger audiences for their commercials.

 

For those of us in Central Illinois, we had the potential of three VHF stations and many other UHF stations. The FCC made VHF channels 2, 3, and 8 available. Channel 2 was designated for Springfield, Channel 3 for Champaign, and Channel 8 for Peoria. The UHF allocations for stations were for various channels in other cities, including some UHF allocations for cities with VHF allocations. All allocations were assigned to reduce station interference and maximize persons' ability to receive more than one station.

 

When the allocations were announced in 1952 as the “freeze” was lifted, Channel 2 had four, then three groups of local radio broadcasting stations in Springfield, WMAY, WTAX, and WCBS(call letters were changed later to WCVS) applying for the VHF station. Peoria had several groups vying for Channel 8 to our north, including two groups that owned separate Peoria radio stations, WMBD and WIRL, and a former Illinois Senator, although he would later bow out.

 

The competition between the groups for Channel 2 and 8 would ultimately delay the issuance of those permits. That delay would allow other groups in nearby St. Louis and Quad Cities markets to apply for those VHF stations and have them moved to their cities. That was supported primarily by ABC, which needed those VHF stations as affiliates to compete equally with already established VHF stations with CBS and NBC affiliations. It may sound simple, but it was far from that, and the fight was far from friendly. The competition for Channel 2 took place between stations in those cities and potential ABC affiliates, the Springfield UHF station WICS-Channel 20 Springfield, various local community and professional groups in Springfield and St. Louis, and, of course, the politicians from those areas. It was so heated that ultimately, the decision of what to do ended up at the Supreme Court, although no decision came from the High Court.

 

Channel 3 had a much different outcome thanks to the wisdom of the president of a newly formed company, Midwest Television. Midwest had several owners, including representatives of the local newspaper, The News-Gazette, which also owned WDWS Radio. As the President of Midwest Television, August Meyer was also an attorney on staff at the News-Gazette. Midwest Television, though, also had some competition for Channel 3 from Illinois Broadcasting Company and its owner, F.W. Schaub. Mr. Shaub also owned the Decatur Herald Newspaper, the Urbana Courier Newspaper, and WSOY-Radio in Decatur.

 

Since each group wanted the “golden egg,” which was a permit for Channel 3, Mr. Meyer had a brilliant idea that might push the application through for approval by the FCC. Any delay would have brought about many FCC hearings and other issues from other markets nationwide. Any delay in coming up with a solution for the ownership of Channel 3 would have ended up similar to the stories from Channel 2 and 8 in central Illinois. So, Mr. Meyer offered Mr. Schaub of Illinois Broadcasting to merge, allowing that company to own 20 percent of Midwest Television if Illinois Broadcasting would withdraw its application. On February 26, 1953, the FCC granted Central Illinois its only VHF commercial station. WCIA, Channel 3, would air on Saturday, November 14, 1953.

 

The other heritage stations on the UHF dial had a simpler filing experience, with only WICS seeing any competition for the construction permit for Channel 20. WCBS, Inc. would modify its TV Station application from Channel 2 to Channel 20 later. WCBS, Inc. would withdraw its application soon after, as it appeared that some kind of arrangement was made between Plains Television and WCBS, Inc. for the rental of tower space and studio space from WCVS RAdio.

 

Channel 20 resulted from a mass application effort of Harry and Elmer Balaban and Transcontinental Properties, a group of Chicago real estate investors. By filing several applications, they would win at least a couple, and they did with permits for Springfield and Rockford. The Balabans owned some outlying movie theaters in the Chicago area, while other Balaban brothers owned some of the most prominent theaters downtown. The other Balabans were also involved in experiential TV in Chicago along with Sam Katz, who began WBKB, Channel 2. Channel 2 was later sold to CBS, and they moved the call letters and their operation to Channel 7. Meanwhile, another Balaban brother, Barney, was the head of Paramount Pictures in Hollywood, which owned many large city movie theaters until the government broke up the company for holding an unfair monopoly on movie production and displaying.

 

WICS, Channel 20 in Springfield, would sign on right before the World Series of 1953, on September 30, 1953. Despite having the only TV signal in the Illinois Capitol City, a dark cloud of uncertainty was over the future of WICS. The ownership knew that and kept expenses low. The station rented a space on a local (friendly-not competitive) radio tower of WCBS, Inc. (WCVS Radio). The tower and facility limited the ability of the station to broadcast much more than 25 miles from Springfield and was hardly seen in Decatur. The studios were also rented from WCVS, located in the annex to the Leland Hotel in downtown Springfield. The station remained without many improvements until the decision to move Channel 2 to St. Louis. Channel 2, if it stayed in Springfield, would have taken the affiliation of NBC away from WICS. Up to that time, WICS was only under contract with NBC on a month-to-month basis. WICS losing NBC, even though the network compensation was extremely low due to the lack of coverage, would have been a fatal blow to the station. There was even talk that Channel 2 could have wiped out Decatur's TV station.

 

When Prairie Television filed the application for Channel 17 in Decatur, it was one of the last companies to file for a central Illinois TV station, but it was the first to go on the air. Prairie Television was primarily owned by William Shellabarger, who owned the Shellabarger Mills, Inc., a local grain processor. It was sold to Ralston-Purina Company, which allowed that investment to be shifted to a broadcast enterprise. One of the major stockholders, Harold Cowgill, was a Decatur native who had different careers in commerce, broadcast law, the FCC, and ultimately in broadcasting by being the station's new general manager with what would become WTVP, Channel 17. After making some changes in the initial application to increase the facility by constructing its studio center and a higher tower/antenna, the station would include the largest employee roster of any station in central Illinois. With one delay from a potential disaster due to a “cracking” of the jin pole that helped to raise the antenna to the top of the tower, the second attempt the next day was successful. WTVP would go on the air on Sunday, August 16, 1953. The station would go through several ownership changes over the years, including that of Metropolitan Broadcasting, later changed to Metromedia, and then LIN Broadcasting in the mid-60s.

 

Peoria would have two UHF stations, which were somewhat under that same dark cloud as WICS, with the prospect of having a major VHF CBS affiliate in their front yard. In early July of 1952, an application was filed with the FCC to allocate Channel 43. The grant was issued in August 1952 for the first Peoria station, WEEK-TV at Channel 43. It was owned by West Central Broadcasting, owned by U.S. Senator Robert Kerr of Oklahoma, who already owned a radio station there and was a Kerr McGee Oil Company principal. Other stockholders also had ties with the oil industry. WEEK, like WTVP, built its studios near one of the high points just east of the Illinois River in Tazewell County. WEEK-TV quickly became the leading station in the market with many upgrades of the transmitter that gained coverage areas with each one. Channel 43 became an NBC affiliate, with some programming being from ABC and DuMont.

 

The second TV station to go on the air in Peoria was Channel 19. It was initially filed by WWXL Radio with the ownership name of Hilltop Broadcasting and granted in December 1952. The call letters of WTVH were granted in February 1953 as the station announced a primary affiliation agreement with ABC. Channel 19, WTVH would go on the air Thursday, September 1, 1953, but within a year, it would take on CBS as its primary network affiliation with ABC as secondary. The battle for Channel 8 directly influenced WTVH to become a temporary CBS affiliate, as it was accepted that if Channel 8 did go on the air, it would become a full-time CBS affiliate. WTVH, like WEEK, would go through several power increases with transmitter add-ons or new transmitters. It still became evident that WTVH was the least significant station on the Peoria television scene. By April 1954, the Peoria newspapers, the Morning Star, and the Afternoon Journal purchased most of the station. The next month, the newspapers would finish the purchase of most of the minority stockholders and held over 90% ownership. The name Hilltop Broadcasting would continue until being purchased by Metropolitan Broadcasting, later changed to Metromedia, and then sold to WIRL Radio in the mid-1960s.

 

Just down the road from Peoria, in Bloomington, another television station was being applied for by Cecil W. Roberts of Missouri. There, he owned a group of small radio stations. He decided to make several requests for radio and television stations in the early 1950s. Locations where he would apply for television stations included St. Louis when he applied for Channel 36. He also applied for Channel 15 in Bloomington, Illinois. His applications for radio and television stations included investments well below the average amount of cash needed to achieve even a small chance of a successful operation. His application for Channel 15 in Bloomington was no exception. His construction cost was $110,000, with expected revenue for the first year set at $120,000. Despite having a lowball investment in a television station, he was granted a permit in March 1953 to construct WBLN, Channel 15.

 

The site for constructing the studio and tower/transmitter was along the U.S. 66 by-pass near the intersection with U.S. 150. Mr. Roberts would lease the site for his TV station. Local construction and electricians' unions challenged the construction and painting of the building's interior. That created a huge public relations problem for his station within the community. There were other delays in equipment delivery and setup, but by Thursday, November 19, 1953, WBLN would go on the air with low power and a test pattern. That would continue for some time, as “problems” with equipment delayed the official sign-on with regular programming. WBLN would eventually go on the air on Sunday, December 6, 1953, to become Central Illinois' 3rd ABC affiliate.

 

WBLN would face many problems from the lack of cash to support the station's losses as ad revenue was not what was expected with the new station. Mr. Roberts, who ran his stations with very little cash flow, quickly found out that it wouldn't improve over time. His ownership would end by July of 1955 as he sold the station to another person, Worth S. Rough, and his company, WBLN, Inc. The station would continue with local religious programming surrounded by a weak ABC program lineup, syndicated fare, and some locally produced studio programs, mostly for kids. By Tuesday, February 5, 1957, WBLN would go dark. It would, though, return for a short period beginning again on December 1, 1957. That return would be minus network affiliation but with more syndicated programming, local religious programming, and many local investors behind the station hoping for a return on their investment. Unfortunately, the creditors of the station lost their investment, as many creditors were making legal claims against the station. Mr. Rough even turned the station over to another inexperienced person, Amos Barton, a construction firm owner and somewhat of a religious leader. On Thursday, June 5, 1958, the station would again go off the air due to equipment failure. It would never return as Channel 15.

 

The final mid-Illinois TV station to go on the air was WDAN-TV, Channel 24 in Danville. Even though it was the first applicant for a UHF station in downstate Illinois, it was the last to go on the air. The application was filed in May of 1952 by Northwest Publishing, owned by Gannett Company, an owner of some newspapers, and had already filed for another station in Elmira, New York. The construction permit was granted in December of 1952, but it would be a year before the station would broadcast.

 

The cost of the station was set at $215,000, with expected revenue at $300,000 for the first year. The work would begin with constructing a new tower that would replace the self-supporting tower/antenna of WDAN Radio. The new $20,000 tower would be a guyed tower with insulators separating the tower's main WDAN Radio antenna section, with the tower's extended height supporting the TV antenna as the mast on top. The elevation of the TV antenna was expected to be near 400 feet. The WDAN Radio studios were expanded in 1948 when the operation moved to the transmitter location from the downtown Wolford Hotel. The studios were expanded again in 1953 to include a limited TV facility. There were many delays in the construction, probably due to the fact that dozens of stations were being built at the time, with the production of all of the electrical components for a TV station not keeping up with demand. After requesting extensions for completion to the FCC, the FCC granted one final extension that would expire on December 20, 1953. With that, WDAN-TV went on the air on December 19, 1953, with only the network feed from ABC to broadcast. The station couldn't broadcast a regular local programming schedule for several weeks as equipment delays were given as the reason.

 

Even while other stations were seeking new transmitters to increase power and their coverage area, the ownership/management of WDAN-TV sought a permit to decrease power a couple of years after going on the air, presumably to reduce the cost of electricity. WDAN-TV would sell the station to the owners of WICS and its low-powered sister station in Champaign, WCHU, that went on the air in 1959. It remained an ABC station for a short time before becoming a full-time translator and an NBC affiliate for WICS and WCHU with the call letters of WICD. In 1967, the two stations in Champaign and Danville would combine as WICD, Channel 15, Champaign.

 

In May of 1955, a national television industry report stated that 80 percent of all UHF stations were near bankruptcy. Not more than 12 or 15 UHF stations were making a true profit, and these stations were without immediate VHF competition. If Channel 2 in Springfield had gone on the air as an NBC affiliate, WICS would have quickly gone dark, if not immediately shut down. WTVP would have been at risk as well. Decatur could have ended up with no local television service, much like what happened to Bloomington.

 

There was even a move in 1955 to allow the FCC to drop VHF allocations across the country. That would have brought Channel 6 to Bloomington, Peoria could have gotten Channel 10 and 13, Galesburg with Channel 11, and Decatur with Channel 7. Fortunately for the stations, the proposal didn't get any traction.

 

This is just a summary of the early years of local TV in Central Illinois, some 70 years ago. I detailed the info above in my book “Pictures on the Prairie: The First Ten Years of Mid-Illinois Television.” Unfortunately, my book is unavailable as my publisher went out of business. I plan on re-publishing my book as an ebook that can be downloaded online. I hope to have that project completed by early next year. I have included more details of TV History on this website at Central Illinois' On-Line Broadcast Museum.

 

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