WNET-TV, Channel 16 (ABC/DuMont)
Providence, Rhode Island (1953-1956)
Owned by New England
Television Broadcasting
Channel 16 in Providence (now WNAC-TV, Channel 64) hit the air in
1953. Like many other UHF stations at the time, it was highly
under-capitalized. According to many people I have talked to over the
years, the signal from 33 Pine Street in Rehoboth, Massachusetts was
marginal at best. In spite of a very good low dial position, the UHF
converters at the time were the weak link in the chain. WNET-TV was an
affiliate of both the ABC and DuMont Television Networks. But, as luck
would have it, Channel 16 was "third" in a market of two stations in the
Providence area. The other station being The Outlet Company's (a
local retailer in the area) WJAR-TV, Channel 10 (originally on Channel 11). Not to be outdone with
Channel 10's "stranglehold" in the market, crosstown competing retailer
Cherry and Webb got the Construction Permit for WPRO-TV, Channel 12 (originally on Channel 13),
in 1953. For lowly Channel 16, Channel 12's foray into the Providence
market meant (in essence) the death knell for WNET-TV. But the story did
not end there.
But first, here a couple of recently received unknown facts. Originally, Providence's VHF allocations were on Channels 11 and 13. Eventually they would be changed to Channels 10 and 12 due to interference from the "local oscillators" in some Motorola TV's when they were tuned to Boston VHF stations. Motorola was a major TV manufacturer in TV's Golden Age. WPRO-TV's start up date was delayed for over a year due to some local legal disputes with some Rehoboth, MA town officials. Rehoboth was the original designated site for Channel 12's transmitter and antenna. However, WPRO-TV's first transmitter site was in Johnston, RI but never operated from there. Hurricane Carol in 1954 blew the original WPRO-TV tower down, prolonging the delay of Channel 12's "air-date" even moreso. Eventually the court suits were settled and the rest was history. WPRO-TV got the OK to move to Rehoboth.
Finally, in
1955, WPRO-TV signed-on with the very popular CBS programming line-up.
Eventhough Channel 16 was still the "designated" ABC affiliate for
Providence, the network allowed Channel 12 to "cherry-pick" from some of
ABC's more popular shows like "The Mickey Mouse Club", "Disneyland" and
"The Lawrence Welk Show". In essence, Channel 16 was given the
"cold-shoulder". Without the more popular ABC programs to sustain
itself and the lack of any quality "of-the-shelf" programming available,
Channel 16 died a painful death in 1956. Apparently, nobody even
noticed.
The Channel 16 license was still maintained for nearly 25 years,
after the station's shutdown in 1956. Word has it that one of the
principals of WNET-TV was a highly influential Providence court judge
who would not give up on the station's potential for viablity.
The FCC, at the time, did not like to delete silent UHF-TV stations or
Construction Permits. Take for instance, WTVU-TV Channel 59 in New Haven, CT. WTVU (now WCTX) started the long fruition trail as WELI-TV in 1953. The station did not get to the air until the mid 1990's (nearly 40+ years in the making). Well, like WTVU, the FCC allowed the Channel 16 permit to be reissued time and time again.
However, when the FCC reassigned Channels 14-20 to "two-way" radio use,
in the 1960's, Channel 16's assignment was switched to the
not-so-desireable Channel 64 dial position. The station had to make
the move up to Channel 64.
Channel 64 (by then WSTG-TV) hit the air in 1981 with
"public domain" movies and "table scraps" from WLNE-TV, Channel 6 in
New Bedford. For three years, Channel 64 would operate for 2 hours a
day to cover the license. The average day's worth of programming was
some pre-1948 movies (copyright free) and thrown out "Three Stooges
Cartoons" and "Wally Gator" cartoons. WSTG-TV was originally scheduled to become a "subscription" or pay-TV station with "Super TV". But by the time Channel 64 hit the air, "over-the-air" subscription TV was a dead issue due to cable's amazing growth by that time. It wasn't until September, 1984, when
"Channel 16 of Providence" sold the station, did it operate "for real".
Today, that station is now WNAC-TV ("FOX Providence"), currently (and ironically) being operated through an LMA with ....WPRI-TV (formerly WPRO), Channel 12, the same station that (indirectly) caused the demise of the station some 45 years ago!
History written by Peter Q. George
with information provided by Joseph Gallant and Bob Knott