WKBS-TV, Channel 48 (Ind.)
Burlington (NJ) -Philadelphia, PA (1965-1983)
Owned by Field Communications, Inc.
1970's era WKBS-TV48 slide courtesy of Clarke Ingram
"The Hy Lit Show" was produced at WKBS-TV/48
for many years and was also seen on Kaiser's UHF stations
in Boston (WKBG-TV/56) and Detroit (WKBD-TV/50).
"The Lou Gordon Program" was also seen on WKBS-TV/48 for many years.
These are Lou and Jackie Gordon who hosted the show seen on
all of Kaiser's UHF stations. Both Lou and Jackie are now deceased.
WKBS-TV was licensed to Burlington NJ, part of the Philadelphia ADI; Kaiser Broadcasting signed on and operated WKBS-TV Channel 48, from studios in South Philadelphia, and transmitter in the Roxborough antenna farm, giving WKBS-TV a strong and competitive metro signal, in those pre-cable days.
When UHF began in Philadelphia, there were three independent stations: WKBS-TV Channel 48, WPHL-TV Channel 17, and WIBF-TV Channel 29. WIBF was owned by The Fox Brothers of Jenkentown, who also owned a small ethnic FM station, WIBF-FM (103.9); WPHL-TV's first attraction (while many people were deciding to go out and purchase a converter for the top of their TV set) was Bull Fights from Mexico; antiquated cartoons from Japan like Tobor The Eighth Man. Philadelphia UHF started growing with afternoon Childrens programming, college basketball, and any sort of travelouge-type programming it could get its hands on. All of the local deejays from WIBG and stations in the outlying areas of Philadelphia, were given opportunities to have their own weekly Bandstand-type show, including legends like Joe Niagara, Ed Hurst, and Allentown's Gene Kaye.
WKBS-TV had the weekly Hy Lit Show, where kids danced and Hyski exposed mostly hip R&B crossover acts. The program aired on Kaiser's other owned stations in Detroit (WKBD-TV/Channel 50) and Boston (WKBG-TV/Channel 56). WKBS had a local host who did most of the on camera stuff and some sports, and that was Stu Nahan, who was a local legend in LA in later years. Stu did the afternoon cartoons for a while as Captain Philadelphia.
Dr. Don Rose
In the '70s, the late, Dr. Don Rose from WFIL laid down voice tracks which ran in the afternoons, long after he'd left Philadelphia for KFRC in San Francisco.
Sometime in the mid to late '70s, Kaiser Industries got out of broadcasting, and sold WKBS-TV (along with Boston/WLVI-TV56 and Detroit/WKBD-TV50), to Field Communications. The story as I have come to know it, was that after several years, a deadly feud erupted between the two main principals of the company, the Field Brothers. They set about to dissolve the company, and began looking for buyers for their TV stations. Not exactly the best time to get into the independent TV station business, they found buyers for all but the Philadelphia property...and with some sort of deadline to dissolve the company, and no one stepping forward to meet their asking price for Channel 48, they decided to liquidate Channel 48's assets, sign the station off the air, and walk the license back to the FCC...which is what they did sometime in August 1983.
I was Program Director of WHAM in Rochester at that time, but happened to be in town visiting family the night WKBS-TV went off the air...which was following some pre-season football game or some sporting event. The acting station manager came on and did a brief narrative about the circumstances leading to that moment, and ran a video where they panned around the building and every employee said goodbye.
It was a shame really, because WKBS-TV raised a lot of kids with their childrens programming, and as the odd station out following years of being dark, the current occupant on Channel 48 (WGTW-TV) has never approached meaning anything to the population of Philadelphia at large.
The Burlington part really didn't mean anything...that was just where the license was. WKBS-TV was a living breathing part of Philadelphia, which like WIBG, WFIL and most recently WWDB, will remain a fond memory.
History written by Kevin Fennessy
EDITOR: Kevin is President of Fennessy Broadcasting Stations Corporation (WAAT Radio 750, Scranton-Wilkes Barre, PA) and FBS Wireless Corporation (WFBS Radio 1280, Berwick-Bloomsburg, PA). We thank him tremendously for writing this fine history of one of Philadelphia's late and truly lamented UHF TV stations.
Back in 1980 I received WKBS-TV/Philadelphia while living in Weymouth, MA (in the Boston area). As a result of sending a detailed reception report to the station, I received a nice QSL letter back from the Chief Engineer!! Click here to see it!!!. As of 8:00 PM on October 1, 2004, WGTW-TV was sold to Trinity Broadcasting and effectively closed the commercial operation of Channel 48 in the Philadelphia market. The station is now religious 24/7 and basically is a clone of the TBN network. Philadelphia (proper) now has no Independent UHF station left. "What a strange trip it's been"! - Pete