WTAO-TV, Channel 56 (ABC/DuMont)
Cambridge, Massachusetts (1953-1956)
Owned by Middlesex Broadcasting Company
(a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvey Radio Laboratories)
WTAO-TV was owned and operated by Harvey Radio Labs through a
100%-owned subsidiary, Middlesex Broadcasting (Frank Lyman was Harvey's
main owner) Company, owner of WTAO-AM and WXHR-FM.
Studios and transmitter were at the WXHR-FM transmitter site in Woburn.
WTAO-TV was scheduled to begin regular programming on September 28,
1953, but went on a day early to carry an ABC network (more about that
later) presentation of football. During the 1953 season, ABC would send
mobile units to Notre Dame football games (home and road), make
kinescope recordings, and edit them down to 75 minutes (including
commercials) for Sunday-night showing. Commentator was Harry Wismer, who
did play-by-play as a voice-over, watching the kinescope recording on a
TV monitor on Sunday as the film of the game was being broadcast. It
must be remembered that ABC couldn't carry Notre Dame football live in
1953 because the NCAA had a contract with NBC giving NBC exclusive
rights to LIVE broadcasts of college football games.
WTAO had DuMont and ABC affiliations, but didn't take very many
programs from either network. (I wonder why). It did fill-in with such
fare as old movies (during the fall of 1953, WTAO had movies from 6:15
to 7:30 and 9 to 10:30 P.M. most weeknights), some syndicated fare, and
cheap travelogue films. During 1953-54, WTAO did carry "Captain Video",
one of TV's pioneering science-fiction shows (done live except for some
pre-filmed special effects and done on an awfully-small budget) from
DuMont and a couple of ABC shows.
WTAO did have local news in the fall of 1953 at 6 and 10:30 P.M.
(both 15 minutes). I would think they had no newsfilm--just a man
reading news into a camera (Bob Merhmann, later at the old WJIB-FM, and
host of WUMB-FM's "Commonwealth Journal" until throat cancer forced
retirement, was the "anchor"). An ad in a Boston newspaper in September,
1953 referred to the newscast as " 'United Press News'--First With the
News", so "United Press News" was probably just 15 minutes of reading
wire copy from the old United Press (the same wire service Walter
Cronkite and David Brinkley began their journalistic careers with; it
lated merged with the International News Service [INS] to form today's
UPI)!
During the fall of 1954, WTAO carried DuMont's Monday-night boxing
show from St. Nicholas Arena in New York (a St. Nicholas show in August,
1956 was DuMont's last-ever network program, although the re-named
WNEW-TV 5 (now WNYW-TV,"FOX 5")) in New York continued to air the St.
Nicholas fights locally through 1958); DuMont's Sunday-afternoon NFL
games (also in the fall of 1955); and from ABC, "Kukla, Fran and Ollie"
(which moved to ABC from NBC in the summer of '54) and John Charles Daly
(yes, the same man who also hosted "What's My Line?") anchoring the ABC
network news. "Kulka.." aired at 7, John Charles Daly at 7:15.
Except for sports events, DuMont's other entertainment programming
ended during the spring of 1955 ("Captain Video" and the dramatic
anthology "Studio 57", sponsored by Heinz, both moved into first-run
syndication for a short time thereafter), and with the success of Walt
Disney's prime-time show (which in Boston ran on channel 7, NOT 56) and
"The Mickey Mouse Club" (premiered October, 1955; also on 7, not 56),
much ABC programming began to run on channels 4 or 7. As a result, WTAO
was practically an independent in the fall of 1955. It no longer ran the
DuMont boxing, but continued the NFL games (also airing on WMUR-TV,
channel 9 in New Hampshire and WPRO-TV, channel 12 in Providence) on
Sundays.
Local news was long-since gone on WTAO by the fall of 1955,
although they did run a weekday (4 P.M.) show titled "We Women", which I
suspect was local, as there was a feature by that name in Boston
newspapers for many years. For a time in 1955, they had a show called
"Winna" (listed in TV Guide as "Prizes"), which I think may also have
been local. But nearly the rest of WTAO schedule was movies. Film buffs
who could get WTAO and wouldn't mind seeing pre-1948 films
were able to watch movies weekdays at 4:30, 5:45, 7:30, 8:45, and
10 P.M. Broadcasting hours in October, 1955 were 4 P.M.-11:30 P.M.
Monday-Saturdays and 2 P.M.-11 P.M. Sundays.
Apparently, the end was near as 1955 ended. My research showed that
by early 1956, WTAO's schedule was cut back to 6-10 P.M., with the
schedule nearly all old movies.
I was unable to find any TV listings for WTAO in any Boston
newspapers after March 30, 1956, although the Globe listed them on the
"TV Dial" as late as early 1957 (they probably just didn't notice that
WTAO had vanished and should be removed).
Harvey must have kept the license for WTAO re-appeared briefly in
1962-63 for FCC-sponsored UHF tests; and then was sold to Kaiser/Globe
in 1965 which re-named it WKBG, converted it to color, and then resumed
broadcasting on December 19th, 1966 (one day behind
schedule--transmitter problems on the 18th precluded WKBG from
signing-on as scheduled. While WKBG had scheduled a live inaugural
program, fortunately, it was also videotaped and was finally broadcast
the next day).
WTAO-TV history written by Joseph Gallant
(Editor: Today, this station is WLVI-TV ("CW56") being operated as a part of a duopoly by Sunbeam Television with WHDH-TV, Channel 7 in Boston, MA. Sadly, upon the consumation of the sale to Sunbeam by Tribune Broadcasting on December 19, 2006, all 150+ employees of Channel 56 were terminated, a situation sadly and ironically reminiscent to the day former sister station WKBS-TV in Philadelphia was taken off the air and terminated ALL it's employees in 1983. All employees of WLVI-TV stayed truly professional right to the very end and had the opportunity to say goodbye upon the completion of its' last newscast ("THE Ten O'Clock News") on December 18, 2006. Sunbeam (WHDH-TV) took over remote control via their Bulfinch Place studios in Downtown Boston at midnight. The new owners began their new newscast at ten PM on Tuesday, December 19th, 2006. It was called "News 7 @ 10", a rather flashy, graphic laden, tabloid newscast... quite the opposite type of newscast WLVI broadcast for over 22 years, since 1984. It was a sad day in Boston TV journalism with closing of WLVI-TV. Believe it or not, WLVI is the same broadcast license that dates back to 1953. (Though Sunbeam will probably not recognize that fact.) For present-day profile of WLVI-TV,
please visit the "Boston Radio Archives".)
For a fascinating look at one of WTAO's first live local productions, please click HERE! The Russ Butler Show was a staple on Sunday nights for one magical year on Channel 56 from 1954 through 1955.