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WPGH-TV
Channels
BrandingPittsburgh's Fox 53
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
WPNT
History
First air date
August 1, 1953
(70 years ago)
 (1953-08-01)[a]
Former call signs
  • WKJF-TV (1953–1961)
  • WAND-TV (1961–1965)
  • WECO-TV (1965–1968)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 53 (UHF, 1953–2009)
  • Digital: 43 (UHF, 1999–2020)
  • Independent (1953–1954, 1969–1971, 1974–1986)
  • NBC (secondary, 1953–1954)
  • Dark (1954–1969, 1971–1974)
  • ABC, CBS, and NBC (secondary, 1974–1986)
Call sign meaning
Pittsburgh
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID73875
ERP800 kW
HAAT302.8 m (993 ft)
Transmitter coordinates40°29′43″N 80°0′16″W / 40.49528°N 80.00444°W / 40.49528; -80.00444
Links
Public license information
Websitewpgh53.com

WPGH-TV (channel 53) is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside dual CW and MyNetworkTV affiliate WPNT (channel 22). The two stations share studios on Ivory Avenue in the city's Summer Hill neighborhood, where WPGH-TV's transmitter is also located.

WKJF-TV[edit]

When the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opened up applications for new TV stations after a years-long freeze, in 1952, it allocated three commercial ultra high frequency (UHF) TV channels to the city. The only applicant for channel 53 was Agnes Jane Reeves Greer, owner of WKJF-FM, the city's only standalone FM radio station.[2] The FCC awarded permits for the other two UHF channels, 16 and 47, in December 1952; it deferred action on the channel 53 application until Reeves supplied "further information",[3] granting it on January 8, 1953. Two executives from Pittsburgh's only operating TV station, WDTV, left to take up posts with the new WKJF-TV.[4] Officials expected to be on the air within months based on a prior equipment order.[5] The planned spring date was scrapped when a strike at General Electric delayed fabrication of the antenna, to be fastened to WKJF's tower on Mount Washington.[6] It arrived in July,[7] but a dispute over union jurisdiction held up completion of the job.[8]

On July 11, 1953, WKJF-TV put out its first test picture; it was on for five minutes and still elicited a call from a viewer.[9] A regular schedule of test patterns followed starting on July 14.[10] Days before launching, the station finally secured network programming in the form of a secondary affiliation with NBC. WDTV continued to enjoy right of first refusal to telecast NBC programs in Pittsburgh, so WKJF-TV would only get those programs not aired by channel 2.[11] On July 28, the station initiated its first test programs beyond a pattern.[12] From studios on Grandview Avenue,[13] WKJF-TV began airing regular programming on August 1, 1953. At the end of August, after an AT&T network loop was completed to the Mount Washington facility, the first NBC shows appeared on the station.[14][15][16] In at least one instance, the station also carried a DuMont Television Network program; WDTV passed over DuMont's Boxing from Eastern Parkway Arena to carry Studio One, so WKJF-TV picked it up.[17]

WKJF-TV was one of two UHF stations to start in Pittsburgh in 1953, the other being WENS on channel 16, which operated at much higher power.[16][18] Further, UHF stations performed poorly in rougher terrain.[19] Though Pittsburgh had only one pre-freeze and very high frequency station, WDTV on channel 2, much of the city could receive a second VHF station, WJAC-TV on channel 6. These stations could be received by any set, unlike WENS and WKJF-TV, which required converters to view on many VHF-only sets.[20] On July 2, 1954, the station left the air indefinitely, expressing hope of returning if Congress did something to alleviate the plight of UHF stations;[21][22] it lost $1 million in its operational history.[23] WENS remained on air but struggled to get sponsors despite carrying popular network shows.[24]

A Cleveland mail-order distributor expressed interest in buying WKJF-TV in 1955; he would have renamed the station WDAV and run it for the benefit of disabled veterans.[25] The deal never came to fruition as the owners waited for the UHF situation to change.[26] Rumors circulated that the group putting together Pittsburgh's new VHF station on channel 11 was interested in the property.[27] The call sign on the channel 53 permit was changed from WKJF-TV to WAND-TV on March 13, 1961;[28] the WAND letters had belonged to a Reeves-owned station in Canton, Ohio.[29] The antenna was dismantled in 1962 and replaced with a new FM antenna for the co-located radio station;[30] the former television facility was leased to another tenant.[31]

Overmyer–U.S. Communications era[edit]

A construction project undermined[edit]

In November 1964, the FCC told 29 permittees of inactive UHF stations, including WAND-TV, that they faced losing their permits unless action was taken to put them back into service.[32] Faced with the pressing FCC action, in February 1965, Reeves Greer agreed to sell to the New York–based Overmyer Communications Corporation, owned by Daniel H. Overmyer. The purchase presented a complication for Overmyer, as it was the eighth station he was attempting to acquire and the ownership limit was seven stations.[29] The $28,000 transaction did not include any physical facilities.[33] Overmyer, as well as a group attempting to reactivate WENS, were encouraged not only by the FCC's action but by the All-Channel Receiver Act making all new sets UHF-compatible.[34] The FCC denied Overmyer's petition to waive the ownership rule and returned the original filing as unacceptable.[35] It was refiled and approved by the FCC in July.[36]

On November 30, 1965, WAND-TV became WECO-TV, one of four stations named for Daniel Overmyer's children—in this case, Elizabeth C. Overmyer.[28][37] Overmyer had opted not to lease any facilities from WKJF,[36] By March 1966, Overmyer was preparing to put the station on the air for the fall television season as Pittsburgh's first independent station, with a mix of syndicated shows and network programs preempted by the local affiliates. Even before signing on, the station acquired mobile video tape recording equipment.[38] Overmyer was still promising this in May, along with a series of 22 new warehouses to be located in the Pittsburgh area.[39]

Soon after, Overmyer's quest to build WECO-TV hit a series of snags. The station was on target to launch in September when crews erecting its tower found that the anchor points for two of its three guy wires were over abandoned mine shafts, and a third such tunnel was also found.[40] This forced a change of site for the tower and delayed the prospective launch date to June 1967.[41] The delay prevented WECO-TV from being part of its owner's planned Overmyer Network, which went on the air as the United Network on May 1, 1967. Its lone offering, The Las Vegas Show, aired on WIIC-TV.[42]

Sale to AVC[edit]

Needing financing to finish construction of WPGH-TV and the other station permits he held nationwide, Overmyer agreed on March 28, 1967, to sell 80-percent majority control of his construction permits to the American Viscose Corporation (AVC).[43][44][45] One partner in the investment firm facilitating the sale with Overmyer was a stockholder in WPHL-TV, an existing UHF station in Philadelphia; another partner was appointed to the AVC board of directors after the sale.[46] AVC arranged to merge the Overmyer permits with WPHL's parent company to form U.S. Communications Corporation on June 8, 1967, giving the combined company six television stations in the top fifty markets.[47][b] The FCC approved the sale on December 8, 1967,[48][49][50] waiving a proposed rule in place since 1965[51] that sought to limit television station ownership within the top fifty markets;[52] a practice the FCC had employed before in similar transactions.[53]

Days after the deal was approved, Rep. Harley O. Staggers, chairman of the House Investigations Subcommittee, summoned all FCC members to testify over the decision not to hold hearings.[54][50] FCC chairman Rosel H. Hyde testified that if a hearing had been ordered, the sale would have been abandoned. Hyde stated, "I believe that the possibility of refinancing the UHF stations would have failed had we designated the matter for hearing",[55] and that any hearing "...might very well have defeated this effort to salvage a sinking enterprise."[56] Hyde concluded Overmyer's application was sufficient for approval"[57] and agreed with commissioner Kenneth A. Cox that the true nature of the transaction was to raise funds to save the warehouse business.[58] Cox criticized the submission of out-of-pocket expenses and the loan and option agreement in the transaction, claiming it violated an FCC policy by providing a profit.[59]

When the deal closed on January 15, 1968, Overmyer received the second $1.5 million portion of the total $3 million agreed to in the loan contract.[49] AVC was an investment company with no experience in television broadcasting, thus only provided financing for U.S. Communications, while WPHL was used for leadership: two WPHL executives became part of U.S.'s management team.[60][61][62] Overmyer's role was limited to only his 20-percent stock in the Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Houston permits, with no managerial oversight; U.S. also included a provision that could compel Overmyer to divest his 20-percent interest[49] and an option to purchase it between January 16, 1971, and January 15, 1972.[63] The contract limited the highest purchase price to $3 million, the same amount AVC had loaned to Overmyer; the loan was secured by second mortgages on twenty-three of Overmyer's warehouse properties and his 20 percent interest in the TV stations.[64] U.S. never executed its option to buy the stock,[65] and Overmyer repaid the $3 million loan.[66]

Second on-air stint (1969–1971)[edit]

After the sale to AVC, planning moved forward in Pittsburgh. By July 1968, the firm was still scouting a site for channel 53, which would have a far more powerful signal than the old WKJF-TV.[67] The station set up its studios, offices, and transmitter at 750 Ivory Avenue in the North Hills area;[68][69] the Ivory facility had previously belonged to WENS.[70] The Pittsburgh Ad Club held a contest to select new call letters to replace WECO-TV,[71] taking the call sign WPGH on December 7.[28]

WPGH-TV made its on-air debut on February 1, 1969—the first broadcast from channel 53 in nearly 15 years.[72] Programs included a local version of Bozo the Clown; Dark Shadows and the CBS Sunday Night News, which the local affiliates did not or were about to cease airing;[73][74] syndicated sports heretofore unavailable in Pittsburgh;[75] and daily movies.[74] Local programming included Duquesne Dukes men's basketball;[75] Pittsburgh Penguins hockey;[76] and an interview show, Pittsburgh Now.[77]

U.S. Communications struggled with the station permits it had acquired from Overmyer and built out. In July 1970, WPGH-TV cut back its broadcasting day to start at noon on weekdays, 3 p.m. on Saturdays, and 1 p.m. on Sundays.[78] The company's woes became more acutely felt in 1971. On March 31, due to financial problems, the firm shut down its stations in San Francisco (KEMO-TV) and Atlanta (WATL).[79] On August 5, 1971, The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. Communications had asked the FCC for permission to take WPGH-TV and WXIX-TV in Cincinnati off the air.[80] The two stations, however, got a reprieve because they had instead attracted potential buyers.[81] In the case of WPGH-TV, the reprieve was short-lived. On the afternoon of August 16, 1971, U.S. Communications informed the 48 employees of channel 53 that the station would cease broadcasting at 6 p.m., with the entire staff being laid off.[82]

Crosby and Meredith ownership[edit]

AVC began liquidating the U.S. Communications stations. With the February 1972 sale of WPHL-TV, the only station never threatened with closure, WPGH-TV became the last unsold station.[83] It was instead assigned to a liquidating receiver.[28] A Black-led group, Aquarius Broadcasting, investigated the purchase,[84] but Leon Crosby emerged the winner in a November 1972 bankruptcy court hearing. Crosby, who also bought KEMO-TV in San Francisco from AVC,[83] promised to program WPGH-TV as an independent station with a mix of movies, reruns, children's shows, and sports, as well as local program concepts that had been successful in San Francisco such as a Black variety show.[85] Crosby and his company, Pittsburgh Telecasting, spent most of 1973 awaiting FCC approval; during that time, a tilt in the antenna was identified as a possible cause of signal reception issues in some areas.[70] The commission granted the purchase on December 12, 1973.[28] To get the station back into operating condition, rotting carpets had to be removed from the studio.[86] WPGH-TV returned to the air on January 14, 1974. Like its prior incarnation, it picked up preempted network programs; this time, it added some morning programming from the Christian Broadcasting Network.[87]

The Meredith Corporation purchased WPGH-TV for $12.2 million[c] in 1978.[88] It was the company's first UHF independent station and second total after KPHO-TV in Phoenix.[90] That same year, Pittsburgh gained a second independent in the form of WPTT-TV (channel 22), started by the Baltimore-based Commercial Radio Institute (predecessor to Sinclair Broadcast Group). Though the new UHF outlet initially eroded WPGH-TV's ratings,[91] channel 53 easily beat the comparatively neglected WPGH-TV in the ratings, and when David D. Smith became its general manager in 1984, he readily conceded that even a revived WPTT would be "the fifth station in this market".[92] WPGH-TV responded by becoming an aggressive buyer of programming including shows and movies, pushing costs up.[93] In Meredith's final months of ownership, the station agreed to join the new Fox network when it started providing programming in October 1986.[94] By this time, it was well-regarded in the industry.[95]

Lorimar-Telepictures and Renaissance Broadcasting ownership[edit]

They [Meredith] recognized an opportunity to move on and we recognized an opportunity to move in. We just met at an intersection called Pittsburgh.

Alan Bell, senior vice president, Lorimar-Telepictures[95]

In July 1986, the Meredith Corporation agreed to sell WPGH-TV to Lorimar-Telepictures for $35 million. At the time, Lorimar—a production powerhouse responsible for shows like Dallas, The People's Court, and The Waltons, was breaking rapidly into station ownership with three stations owned and in the process of buying WPGH and eight other stations, including WTTV, an independent station serving the Indianapolis market.[94] Meredith did not have WPGH-TV on the market, but the deal made sense; Pittsburgh was not the kind of growth market Meredith was seeking, while Lorimar found in the city an area that was undervalued nationally.[95] In the months following the purchase's announcement, the independent TV station market soured; a number of stations sought bankruptcy protection, including WTTV,[96] which Lorimar stopped pursuing.[97] The purchase price was cut to $21.25 million by the time the deal closed in January 1987.[98] Less than six months, Lorimar-Telepictures decided to reorganize as a production company solely and divest all its television stations. The small-market holdings were spun off in a management buyout, while Lorimar gave itself 24 months to sell WPGH-TV.[99]

Renaissance Broadcasting, a company formed by Michael Finkelstein, agreed to purchase WPGH-TV in August 1988 for $30 million.[100] Finkelstein was a stakeholder in Odyssey Partners and transferred its two independent stations—WDZL in Miami and WTXX in Connecticut—to the new business.[101] WDZL and WTXX had similar programming philosophies.[100][102] The new owners took control in January 1989.[103] During Renaissance ownership, the station benefited from Fox's surging fortunes as a network and from a far more aggressive approach than that taken under former owners. The station rebranded as "Fox 53" and increased its spending on advertising, rebuilt its afternoon lineup to serve the unserved children's market, and earned notice as an increasing competitor to the traditional network affiliates.[104]

Sinclair ownership[edit]

A controversial purchase and sale[edit]

In January 1991, Sinclair Broadcast Group announced it would purchase WPGH-TV from Renaissance for $55 million. Sinclair already owned WPTT-TV, which it had to put up for sale. Speculation swirled that WPTT would switch to the Home Shopping Network (HSN).[105][106] The buyer for channel 22 was Edwin Edwards, WPTT's station manager and a Black man.[107] For Sinclair, the deal was a trade-up. WPTT-TV had never been a ratings success, and WPGH-TV was closer to Sinclair's cluster of Fox affiliates that included the stations in WBFF-TV in Baltimore and WTTE in Columbus, Ohio.[108] There was a marked difference in financial performance between first-tier and second-tier independent stations, and cost-cutting was seen as useful to WPTT-TV, which had lost $26 million in its 14-year history.[106]

Under the deal, Commercial Radio Institute, the Sinclair subsidiary that had owned WPTT-TV, held $1 million in Edwards's debt as a convertible debenture and received a tax certificate for selling the station to a minority.[108] The deal as originally structured permitted Sinclair to convert that debenture into an 80-percent ownership interest.[109] Mark I. Baseman, a Pittsburgh attorney, filed an objection to the two deals in March, believing the sales gave Sinclair too much influence over WPTT-TV and represented an impermissible duopoly. Baseman also objected to the switch of WPTT-TV to home shopping, which eliminated competition for WPGH-TV.[110] Baseman later revealed the objection was filed on behalf of a client,[111] which was only revealed in January as 1992 as ABRY Communications. ABRY owned WNUV in Baltimore, a competitor to Sinclair's WBFF-TV, and fretted that Sinclair was using its buying power in Pittsburgh to force syndicators to place their shows on WBFF-TV in Baltimore lest they be shut out altogether in Pittsburgh.[112]

The FCC approved the WPGH-TV and WPTT-TV sales in June 1991,[113] and when they closed, on August 30, WPTT switched to HSN on a full-time basis.[114] Threatened by cable systems seeking to drop the all-HSN WPTT, WPGH and Sinclair agreed to purchase and program nine hours a day of airtime.[115] The operating arrangement attracted FCC scrutiny,[116] Litigation resulted from the double transaction.[117]

In 1993, WPGH-TV programmed WPTT-TV daily from noon to midnight. Beginning in 1995, it controlled the entire day's programming on WPTT-TV, except for a few hours in the overnight. WPGH-TV then added more first-run syndicated talk and reality shows along with recent cartoons, and sitcoms, while WPTT-TV ran older classic sitcoms, cartoons, movies, drama shows, and some recent sitcoms.

In 1998, to coincide with the launch of its news department the year prior, WPGH-TV launched a new logo based around the colors of black and gold to match that of the city's local sports teams. The station, under various forms of the logo, still use it today, and would later be copied by fellow Fox affiliate and sister station WTTE in Columbus, Ohio, who in 2000 adopted a similar logo in a scarlet and gray color scheme to match the Ohio State Buckeyes.

WPGH-TV and WPTT-TV (the latter has changed its call letters to WCWB after gaining the WB affiliation from WNPA, channel 19, now WPKD-TV) moved into the same building in 1997 and eventually became officially co-owned by Sinclair in 2000 after the FCC relaxed its media ownership rules to allow one company to own two television stations in the same market, provided the market has at least eight full-power stations and that one or both of the stations involved in the duopoly are not among the four highest-rated.

By 2002, WPGH-TV was no longer running cartoons after the Fox Kids weekday lineup was discontinued around the country. It focused now on court shows, talk shows, reality shows, and off-network sitcoms along with Fox programming. Until 2007, the station served as the de facto affiliate for the Wheeling, West Virginia/Steubenville, Ohio market. Although it is still carried on area cable systems, CBS affiliate WTRF-TV added a primary Fox and secondary MyNetworkTV affiliation on a new digital subchannel; sister station WTOV-TV later acquired the Fox affiliation for their second subchannel in 2014. It can also be seen in some parts of the Clarksburg/Weston/Morgantown, West Virginia market, even though that area is served by WVFX.

On May 15, 2012, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Fox agreed to a five-year extension to the network's affiliation agreement with Sinclair's 19 Fox stations, including WPGH-TV, allowing them to continue carrying Fox programming through 2017.[118]

Since acquiring the rights to the NFL's NFC broadcasts in 1994, WPGH-TV normally airs two Pittsburgh Steelers games each season (when they host an NFC team at Acrisure Stadium). A change in the NFL broadcasting contracts for the 2014 NFL season allowing cross-network flex-scheduling allows WPGH-TV the opportunity to broadcast more Steelers games, but as of 2017, the NFL has not yet cross-flexed a Steelers game from CBS (KDKA-TV, in turn) to Fox (and to WPGH, in turn). The Steelers' 2018 Sunday night matchup with the Oakland Raiders, however, was flexed out into the afternoon and will air on Fox, giving WPGH-TV its first all-AFC Steelers matchup.[119]

News operation[edit]

Under Meredith ownership, WPGH-TV aired locally produced newscasts anchored by Tom Peterson, Mavis Logan, Tim Sohier and others, with varying degrees of success. One such show, Good Day Pittsburgh, aired with a similar format to that of contemporary show Pittsburgh 2Day on KDKA-TV. Some of the staff were alumni of WYTV in nearby Youngstown, Ohio. The newscasts would remain in some form until Sinclair acquired the station and eliminated the news department.[120]

Under Sinclair ownership, WPGH-TV established a news department on January 28, 1997, with the debut of a nightly prime time newscast called the Fox 53 Ten O'Clock News.[121] This program was launched to compete with NBC affiliate WPXI's Pittsburgh Cable News Channel (PCNC), which also offered a 10 p.m. news broadcast in that timeslot. In August 2001, UPN affiliate WNPA launched Pittsburgh's third 10 p.m. newscast, produced by CBS station KDKA-TV.

Sinclair downsized and converted WPGH-TV's news operation into its centralized News Central production on April 21, 2003.[122][123] As a result, the station's weather department was shut down. National news headlines, weather forecasts, and some sports segments originated from Sinclair's corporate headquarters on Beaver Dam Road in Hunt Valley, Maryland. However, local news and sports segments remained based at WPGH-TV's studios.

On January 12, 2006, WPGH-TV shuttered its in-house news department and entered into a news share agreement with WPXI-TV (owned by Cox Media Group) to take over production of the prime time newscast on WPGH. Essentially, PCNC's 10 p.m. show moved over to WPGH-TV.[124] All of WPGH-TV's locally based news staff, except for sportscaster Alby Oxenreiter (who was eventually hired by WPXI full-time), were laid off as a result. The news share agreement with WPXI resulted in WPGH-TV becoming the largest Fox station by market size that outsources its local news programming in lieu of producing its own newscasts; it's also the second largest "Big Four" affiliate (after WPGH-TV's sister station KDNL-TV in St. Louis) that doesn't produce its own newscasts. Channel 11 News on Fox 53 at 10 debuted just over two weeks later on January 30, 2006; the program originates from WPXI's studios on Evergreen Road in Pittsburgh's Summer Hill neighborhood, next to the US 19 Truck/I-279 interchange. It airs Sunday through Friday nights for 45 minutes, followed by a fifteen-minute sports highlight show called Ox on Fox Sports Extra (hosted by Alby Oxenreiter). On Saturdays, the newscast is 30 minutes long. On October 6, 2007, WPXI began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition, the WPGH-TV shows were included in the upgrade.

Unlike other Sinclair-owned stations with outsourced newscasts, WPGH-TV is permitted to air Sinclair's must-run programming as part of the newscasts, but must air them after the WPXI-produced newscast with a brief disclaimer stating that the editorials are from Sinclair and not WPXI; as a result, WPGH does not air Sinclair's must-runs, though it does air other political programming from Sinclair in prime time during election years due to Pennsylvania's status as a swing state.[125] Because WPGH-TV no longer operates its own news department, Pittsburgh is not available as a local option for Sinclair's streaming service Stirr, defaulting to WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., though neighboring WJAC-TV and WTOV-TV are available as alternate options.

Since August 2016, the WPXI newscasts have been repeated at midnight on sister WPNT.[126]

On January 18, 2021, WPGH-TV began airing the Sinclair-produced The National Desk, a national morning news program similar in format to Nexstar Media Group's NewsNation in that it sources its news from local stations within Sinclair. None of Sinclair's must-run editorials will air during The National Desk.[127]

On March 14, 2022, Channel 11 News on Fox 53 at 6:30 debuted, replacing a second hour of You Bet Your Life with Jay Leno.[128]

On January 8, 2024, Channel 11 Morning News on Fox 53 debuted at 7 am, replacing one hour of The National Desk.

Notable current on-air staff[edit]

Notable former on-air staff[edit]

Technical information[edit]

Subchannels[edit]

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WPGH-TV[129]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
53.1 720p 16:9 FOX Fox
53.2 480i Antenna Antenna TV
53.3 Charge! Charge!
22.1 720p 16:9 MyTV The CW/MyNetworkTV (WPNT)
  Broadcast on behalf of another station

Analog-to-digital conversion[edit]

Along with all Sinclair-owned stations, WPGH-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 53, on February 17, 2009, the original date on which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (the deadline was later extended to June 12). The station's digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transition UHF channel 43,[130][131] using virtual channel 53. It was one of three stations in Pittsburgh to discontinue normal programming on their analog signals on the original transition date, alongside sister station WPNT and then-WQED-owned WQEX (now WINP-TV).

As part of the SAFER Act,[132] WPGH-TV and WPNT kept their analog signals on the air until March 19 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters. Due to the early sign-off, this made WPGH-TV one of the only stations broadcasting among channels 52–69 participating in the SAFER Act as that part of the spectrum would be removed from broadcasting use immediately after June 12 to be freed up for other uses.

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ First test pattern on air July 14, 1953. Commercial programming began August 1, 1953, as WKJF-TV and ended on July 2, 1954. The station resumed broadcasting as WPGH-TV on February 1, 1969, and again left the air on August 16, 1971. It returned on January 14, 1974.
  2. ^ In 1967, the American Research Bureau (ARB) ranked the size of the TV viewing audience for the six cities using net weekly circulation: Philadelphia, 4; San Francisco, 7; Pittsburgh, 9; Cincinnati, 16; Atlanta, 19; and Houston, 25.
  3. ^ $11.7 million plus a $500,000 closing bonus if the sale closed prior to December 31, 1978,[88] which it did.[89]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WPGH-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ Clark, Wilbur D. (October 31, 1952). "Seven File For 4 TV Spots Here". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. p. 31. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Two New TV Stations For City in 1953". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. December 24, 1952. p. 3. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "New TV Station to Go on Air Soon: UHF Channel Programs Start in Spring". The Pittsburgh Press. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. January 8, 1953. pp. 1, 10. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "City's 3d UF [sic] TV Station To Go on Air in Spring". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. January 8, 1953. p. 1. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Clark, Wilbur D. (May 24, 1953). "New TV Transmitting Antennas to Arrive Soon: Two More Stations Making Debut Plans". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. p. 5:4. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Broadcasting on Channel 53: City's New TV Station Set To Go on Air Within Week". The Pittsburgh Press. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. July 2, 1953. p. 2. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Labor Pains Keep WKJF-TV Off Air: Rival Unions Fight Over Antenna Job". The Pittsburgh Press. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. July 7, 1953. p. 5. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "UHF Station Test on Air". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. July 12, 1953. p. 1. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "New TV Station Starts Career". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. July 15, 1953. p. 15. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "WKJF-TV To Get Some NBC Shows: New Ultra High Frequency Station Completing Testing". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. July 28, 1953. p. 13. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Clark, Wilbur D. (July 28, 1953). "WKJF-TV To Sign With NBC". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. p. 23. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Block of Mount Washington Property Included: New Television Station to Buy KQV Tower". The Pittsburgh Press. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. March 10, 1953. p. 39. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "TV Channel 53 Debut Tonight". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. August 1, 1953. p. 9. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Picture on Channel 53: 2nd Pittsburgh TV Station Begins Regular Programs". The Pittsburgh Press. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. August 2, 1953. p. 4:14. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ a b "WENS Signal to Improve". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. August 31, 1953. p. 23. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ Clark, Wilbur D. (October 19, 1953). "WKJF-TV Picks Up Boxing". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. p. 23. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "What is the present power of WENS and WKJF-TV?". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. January 23, 1954. p. 19. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Taylor, John P. (September 1952). "UHF in Portland—How is it Doing?" (PDF). RCA Broadcast News. pp. 16–33.
  20. ^ Steinhauser, Si (August 31, 1953). "Pittsburgh TV Scene Is Greatly Changed: Converter Trade Boom Reported". The Pittsburgh Press. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. p. 31. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "WKJF-TV Station To Close July 2: Will Reopen In Fall If Senators Act". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. June 22, 1954. p. 1. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Station WKJF-TV Goes Off the Air". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. July 3, 1954. p. 8. Retrieved April 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
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Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

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