WJZB-TV, Channel 14 (ABC, DuMont, NBC)
Worcester, Massachusetts (1953-1969)
Owned by Springfield Television Broadcasting Corporation
The former transmitter site of the late
WJZB-TV, Channel 14, Worcester, MA
(Asnebumskit Hill, Paxton, MA)
Courtesy of NECRAT
WJZB-TV, Channel 14 in Worcester, Massachusetts started life in
December, 1953 as WWOR-TV (no relation to the current WWOR-TV in Secaucus,
New Jersey). It was owned and operated by Salisbury Broadcasting Corporation.
At that time, like many other "start-up" UHF operations, Channel 14 had many
things working against it. FIRST, it was a UHF-TV station. SECONDLY, there
were too few UHF-TV converters at that time and the ones that were out there
simply never worked right!! FINALLY, Channel 14 had a dual affiliation with both ABC.
and DuMont, the two least watched networks at the time. They did have a
secondary affiliation with NBC, where anything that WBZ-TV (Channel 4) would
not clear, WWOR-TV had the option to take it. It was virtually impossible
to sell commercial time for a station that nobody watched. As a result of
this, Channel 14 left the air in September, 1955 due to financial difficulties.
In 1958, Salisbury merged with Springfield Television Broadcasting
Corporation (owners of WWLP-TV, Channel 22 in Springfield and its' full-time
satellite WRLP-TV, Channel 32 in Greenfield). As a result of this merger,
Springfield Television put Channel 14 back on the air as a satellite of
WWLP-TV for six hours a day. This would be the "norm" for Channel 14 for
the next six years until December, 1964 when they decided to experiment with 6 to 7 hours a day of independent of programming, except for the Huntley/Brinkley Report and the WWLP-TV News from Springfield. With the 1964 "all-channel legislation" now being the law of the land, Springfield Television decided to try to let Channel 14 become the first true Independent UHF TV station in the Greater Boston/Worcester area since the demise of WTAO-TV/Channel 56 in Cambridge and WNET-TV/Channel 16 in Providence, several years before. WJZB-TV provided local sports programming from Assumption College in Worcester, plus Boston Celtics Basketball and Boston Bruins Hockey. Also, they bought a package of feature length movies and some syndicated product such as Ripcord, Susie, Highway Patrol and The Aquanauts. They also got other syndicated sports programs such as Roller Derby and Kyle Rote's World. As usual, they also had some "table scraps" such as "travelogues" and standard "filler material" to round out the day. But, it was all for naught.
In 1965 alone, WJZB-TV cost the
Corporation over $200,000 to operate and maintain (of which they did a valiant but yet
less than adequate job in maintaining that clunky old transmitter). The
Asnesbumskit Hill site in Paxton, Massachusetts was a fine location for
Channel 14's 400,000 watt (ERP) signal that stretched from Southern New Hampshire
through most of Rhode Island and Eastern Connecticut. The picture from that old transmitter was less than spectacular. The tower that still
holds the Channel 14 antenna is now home of the transmitter and antenna of
WAAF (107.3) in Worcester.
A major problem for Channel 14 in the late 1950's and early 1960's was that it was a part-time NBC affiliate in an
area which was well covered by the then-NBC affiliate WBZ-TV (Channel 4) in Boston and WJAR-TV (Channel 10) in Providence.
While all NBC shows were seen in "living color" on a very strong WBZ and WJAR,
such was NOT the case on Channel 14. The transmitter was not capable of
broadcasting in color. So, by the spring of 1967, after six years as a part-time satellite of WWLP and then three more years of trying to operate the station as an Independent, Channel 14 (now WJZB-TV) was forced to cutback
its' hours of operation to 90 minutes a day, the minimum FCC requirement
in order to cover the license. With all of the Boston and Providence stations coming in
"loud and clear" in Worcester, it was impossible to get advertising to pay
the bills. Technically, WJZB-TV was a total disaster. But with only 90
minutes a day of operation, they probably thought that it wasn't worth
the bother in fixing up the transmitter. So, from 1967-1969, this was
Channel 14's daily schedule......
6:00pm- Local Springfield News from WWLP
6:15pm- "Western Massachusetts Highlights"
6:30pm- "The Huntley/Brinkley Report"
7:00pm- Local Springfield News from WWLP
7:30pm- Sign Off
And that was it !!!!
In December, 1968, WJZB-TV (named after one-time WWLP staffer, John
Z. Buckley) was sold to Evans Broadcasting Corporation. Mr. Buckley, by
the way, was Evans' CEO. Many BIG plans were made to upgrade Channel 14's
facilities to color and for maximum (1,000,000 watts) power in 1969.
However, all those plans were quickly destroyed as the transmitter and
Channel 14's "quonsett-hut" building were irrepairably damaged by a fire
in the Spring of 1969. Channel 14 was never to be rebuilt. The license
and Channel Allocation for Channel 14 were deleted in 1971. Channel 14
's frequency spectrum was reassigned for "land mobile" or two-way radio.
Word has it that the new equipment originally purchased for Channel 14's
upgrade was sold to the State Mutual Insurance Company of Worcester, who
used the equipment (including the new Channel 14 transmitter) to start WSMW-TV (later WHLL, now WUNI-TV),
Channel 27 in Worcester on January 2, 1970. Chances are, that same transmitter is still in use, to this very day.
For some updated info regarding WJZB's ill-fated 1968 attempt to move to Boston, (courtesy of Mike Fitzpatrick/NECRAT and WWLP-TV), please CLICK HERE!
The view a vintage photo of a Channel 14, 22 and 32 camera (courtesy of Mike Fitzpatrick/NECRAT and WWLP-TV), please CLICK HERE!!
For a WJZB-TV Coverage Map (courtesy of the WTFDA Memorabilia Site), please CLICK HERE!!
For a December 1964 WJZB-TV Schedule (courtesy of the WTFDA Memorabilia Site), please CLICK HERE!!
For a 1965 WJZB-TV QSL Letter (courtesy of Jeff Kadet), please CLICK HERE!!
For some nice photos of the former WJZB-TV Transmitter Site, please CLICK HERE!!
Many thanks to Joseph Gallant for contributing to this WJZB-TV history.
Additional information was provided by Richard Steinberger and Mike Bugaj.
Photos and further history courtesy of Mike Fitzpatrick/NECRAT (Thanks, folks!!).
Updated January 23, 2003