A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's surface to any number of tuned receivers simultaneously.
96-686: WKBF-TV was a television station that broadcast on channel 61 in Cleveland, Ohio , United States, from January 1968 to April 1975. Owned and operated by Kaiser Broadcasting as one of an eventual group of six stations, it was the first ultra high frequency (UHF) independent station to serve northeast Ohio and the last outlet constructed by the Kaiser chain during the 1960s to begin operations. Despite airing several high-profile local programs, Kaiser's efforts to establish itself in Cleveland never took root because of
192-500: A Perry Mason rerun with a five-minute long tribute and a brief on-air statement by Bennett. Kaiser president Don B. Curran conceded the market could not support five commercial television stations and the shutdown was necessary to stabilize Kaiser's financial position, a statement echoed by Bennett. William Hickey noted in his Plain Dealer column that WUAB had nearly immediately entered the market with better programming, further dividing
288-437: A barter in some cases. Call sign In broadcasting and radio communications , a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters —and historically as a call signal —or abbreviated as a call ) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station . A call sign can be formally assigned by a government agency, informally adopted by individuals or organizations, or even cryptographically encoded to disguise
384-630: A general aviation flight would use the call sign November-niner-seven-eight-Charlie-Papa . However, in the United States a pilot of an aircraft would normally omit saying November , and instead use the name of the aircraft manufacturer or the specific model. At times, general aviation pilots might omit additional preceding numbers and use only the last three numbers and letters. This is especially true at uncontrolled fields (those without control towers) when reporting traffic pattern positions or at towered airports after establishing two-way communication with
480-474: A severe weather bulletin. WKBF-TV's success securing $ 700,000 (equivalent to $ 6.13 million in 2023) in advertising sales over the station's first few weeks of operation offered initial hope for long-time viability in the market, but the station was placed at a distinct disadvantage almost from the beginning. United Artists signed on WUAB on September 14, 1968, using WKBF-TV's transmitter tower in Parma, featuring
576-535: A Great Britain call sign prefix, 90 and MGY to commemorate the 90th anniversary of historic 1912 radio distress calls from MGY , the Marconi station aboard the famed White Star luxury liner RMS Titanic ). The late King Hussein of Jordan was issued a special amateur license number, JY1 , which would have been the shortest possible call sign issued by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. When identifying
672-468: A call sign for broadcast stations; however, they are still required for broadcasters in many countries, including the United States. Mobile phone services do not use call signs on-air because the phones and their users are not licensed, instead the cell operator is the one holding the license. However, the U.S. still assigns a call sign to each mobile-phone spectrum license. In the United States, voluntary ships operating domestically are not required to have
768-425: A call sign or license to operate VHF radios , radar or an EPIRB . Voluntary ships (mostly pleasure and recreational) are not required to have a radio. However, ships which are required to have radio equipment (most large commercial vessels) are issued a call sign. A directory of radio station call signs is called a callbook. Callbooks were originally bound books that resembled a telephone directory and contained
864-463: A civil antitrust lawsuit related to United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. , which the FCC stated would reflect on "requisite qualifications" over the studio's fitness to own a television station. During the comparative hearing , which began in late December 1963, a three-commissioner panel requested each of the three applicants demonstrate an ability to survive against established VHF competition over
960-733: A competing application on May 3, 1963, having secured a lease to KYW AM / TV 's former transmitter facilities in Brecksville and promising a program lineup not constrained to a set schedule. Superior Broadcasting Corp. was next to file on September 17, 1963, led by Cleveland insurance executive and developer Frank V. Mavec, Leigh H. Perkins, and George Oliva, Jr. Mavec was additionally involved with Telerama Inc., an effort to have cable television franchises established in Cleveland, Akron, and other area suburbs. United Artists also applied for stations in Boston and Houston , but it had previously been subject to
1056-686: A convention that aircraft radio stations (and, by extension, the aircraft itself) receive call signs consisting of five letters. For example, all British civil aircraft have a five-letter registration beginning with the letter G, which can also serve for a call sign. Canadian aircraft have a call sign beginning with C–F or C–G, such as C–FABC. wing-in-ground-effect vehicles and hovercraft in Canada are eligible to receive C–Hxxx call signs, and ultralight aircraft receive C-Ixxx call signs. In days gone by, even American aircraft used five-letter call signs, such as KH–ABC, but they were replaced prior to World War II by
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#17328770225281152-406: A few times a day, but this practice is becoming very rare. Argentinian broadcast call signs consist of two or three letters followed by multiple numbers, the second and third letters indicating region. In Brazil, radio and TV stations are identified by a ZY, a third letter and three numbers. ZYA and ZYB are allocated to television stations; ZYI , ZYJ , ZYL , and ZYK designate AM stations; ZYG
1248-457: A geographical area, class of license, or identify a licensee as a visitor or temporary resident), and a 1-, 2-, or 3-letter suffix. In Australia, call signs are structured with a two letter prefix, a digit (which identifies geographical area), and a 2, 3 or 4 letter suffix. This suffix may be followed by a further suffix, or personal identifier, such as /P (portable), /M (mobile), /AM (aeronautical mobile) or /MM (maritime mobile). The number following
1344-415: A much shorter wavelength, and thus requires a shorter antenna, but also higher power. North American stations can go up to 5000 kW ERP for video and 500 kW audio, or 1000 kW digital. Low channels travel further than high ones at the same power, but UHF does not suffer from as much electromagnetic interference and background "noise" as VHF, making it much more desirable for TV. Despite this, in
1440-1105: A nightly 10 p.m. newscast with a magazine-like format. The Ten O'Clock News debuted on August 12, 1968, anchored by former Kansas City newscaster John Herrington. Quinn expressed optimism that the Cleveland audience would be sophisticated enough to watch a late-evening newscast at an earlier hour. Prior to launching, WKBF-TV and WHK entered into a content-sharing partnership "combining" their respective news departments, with reporters from both stations, including WHK's John O'Day and Tim Taylor , exchanging stories and reports. Herrington began anchoring three news bulletins over WHK on weekday afternoons, while WHK news director Ken Hildebrand anchored WKBF-TV's weekend newscasts. Future Cleveland sportscaster Nev Chandler joined WKBF-TV in 1968 as an assignment editor after graduating from Northwestern University . Two other veteran broadcasters soon emerged at WKBF-TV during its first year. Bill Gordon, best known for co-hosting The One O'Clock Club at WEWS-TV with Dorothy Fuldheim , joined WKBF-TV in July 1968 to host
1536-463: A one-letter company identifier (for instance, 'M' and two letters as a Marconi station ) was later added. By 1912, the need to quickly identify stations operated by multiple companies in multiple nations required an international standard ; an ITU prefix would be used to identify a country, and the rest of the call sign an individual station in that country. Merchant and naval vessels are assigned call signs by their national licensing authorities. In
1632-403: A prior permit for WEOL-TV. Concurrent with United Artists's request, Cleveland Telecasting withdrew their bid. Another revision to the table of UHF allocations by the FCC on June 4, 1965, had the channel 65 allocation moved to 61 (a frequency originally proposed for Akron), while channel 31 was moved to 43. With both companies being awarded permits in the spring of 1966, Superior requested
1728-437: A program aimed at adults. Stokes's first appearance, talking to "Private Clem" about his mayoral duties while also responding to good-natured questions by the puppet, was so well-received that it became a regular segment, drawing comparisons to New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia reading comic strips over the radio. In one installment, then-Vice President Hubert Humphrey appeared as a guest alongside Stokes. Berkson viewed
1824-441: A replacement local newscast, began in 1971 but consisted of "rip-and-read" news wire stories and light discussion at 10:30 a.m.; Roldo Bartimole 's newsletter Point of View noted, "even considering this program as news is rather stretching the definition of the word", while Cleveland Press critic Bill Barrett criticized the station for failing to employ an announcer at all times after an untrained staffer struggled to read
1920-541: A reviewer in The Plain Dealer regarded the show as "...the most stimulating discussion I have ever seen on TV". The debut episode alone elicited multiple complaints when guest Josiah Thompson discussed conspiracy theories related to the John F. Kennedy assassination . One 1969 installment, featuring a biker gang as guests, resulted in an on-air altercation with Douglas after he calling them "criminals"; this continued after
2016-412: A second independent facility arrived in less than a year after our operation. We realized the serious jeopardy and knew that only one successful one must merge. We are now terminating broadcasting operations. On behalf of Kaiser Broadcasting and myself, thank you. Alan Bennett, WKBF-TV general manager Kaiser Broadcasting, which operated WKBF-TV at a loss throughout its entire existence, announced
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#17328770225282112-477: A similar brand, and the name of a broadcast station for legal purposes is normally its internationally recognised ITU call sign. Some common conventions are followed in each country. Broadcast stations in North America generally use call signs in the international series. In the United States of America, they are used for all FCC-licensed transmitters. The first letter generally is K for stations located west of
2208-459: A similar lineup of off-network reruns, cartoons, movies and sports. While WKBF-TV immediately launched with an array of local programming, WUAB's output was severely limited due to being temporarily housed at WVIZ's facilities in Brook Park and a semi-trailer next to a Parma bowling alley while their permanent studios were being built. In 1968, the combined Cleveland–Akron–Canton television market
2304-521: A station by voice, the call sign may be given by simply stating the letters and numbers, or using a phonetic alphabet . Some countries mandate the use of the phonetic alphabet for identification. In wartime, monitoring an adversary's communications can be a valuable form of intelligence. Consistent call signs can aid in this monitoring, so in wartime, military units often employ tactical call signs and sometimes change them at regular intervals. In peacetime, some military stations will use fixed call signs in
2400-557: A station's identity. The use of call signs as unique identifiers dates to the landline railroad telegraph system. Because there was only one telegraph line linking all railroad stations , there needed to be a way to address each one when sending a telegram . In order to save time, two-letter identifiers were adopted for this purpose. This pattern continued in radiotelegraph operation; radio companies initially assigned two-letter identifiers to coastal stations and stations on board ships at sea. These were not globally unique, so
2496-486: A transaction that had Field purchasing a 22.5 percent minority stake in the entire Kaiser station group (excluding KBSC-TV, which was to be divested); in turn, Kaiser purchased a 77.5 percent majority stake in WFLD-TV. Kaiser then executed the option to purchase the remainder of WKBF-TV from Superior Broadcasting, which the FCC approved on August 14, 1972. The Kaiser–Field deal was completed in early May 1973. Of course
2592-425: A variety of ways to generate revenue from television commercials . They may be an independent station or part of a broadcasting network , or some other structure. They can produce some or all of their programs or buy some broadcast syndication programming for or all of it from other stations or independent production companies. Many stations have some sort of television studio , which on major-network stations
2688-496: Is non-commercial educational (NCE) and considered public broadcasting . To avoid concentration of media ownership of television stations, government regulations in most countries generally limit the ownership of television stations by television networks or other media operators, but these regulations vary considerably. Some countries have set up nationwide television networks, in which individual television stations act as mere repeaters of nationwide programs . In those countries,
2784-470: Is broadcast via terrestrial radio waves. A group of television stations with common ownership or affiliation are known as a TV network and an individual station within the network is referred to as O&O or affiliate , respectively. Because television station signals use the electromagnetic spectrum, which in the past has been a common, scarce resource, governments often claim authority to regulate them. Broadcast television systems standards vary around
2880-767: Is not issued to such stations due to their unlicensed nature. Also, wireless network routers or mobile devices and computers using Wi-Fi are unlicensed and do not have call signs. On some personal radio services, such as CB, it is considered a matter of etiquette to create one's own call sign, which is called a handle (or trail name). Some wireless networking protocols also allow SSIDs or MAC addresses to be set as identifiers, but with no guarantee that this label will remain unique. Many mobile telephony systems identify base transceiver stations by implementing cell ID and mobile stations (e.g., phones) by requiring them to authenticate using international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI). International regulations no longer require
2976-792: Is often used for newscasts or other local programming . There is usually a news department , where journalists gather information. There is also a section where electronic news-gathering (ENG) operations are based, receiving remote broadcasts via remote pickup unit or satellite TV . Outside broadcasting vans, production trucks , or SUVs with electronic field production (EFP) equipment are sent out with reporters , who may also bring back news stories on video tape rather than sending them back live . To keep pace with technology United States television stations have been replacing operators with broadcast automation systems to increase profits in recent years. Some stations (known as repeaters or translators ) only simulcast another, usually
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3072-666: Is used for shortwave stations; ZYC , ZYD , ZYM , and ZYU are given to FM stations. In Australia, broadcast call signs are optional, but are allocated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority and are unique for each broadcast station. Most European and Asian countries do not use call signs to identify broadcast stations, but Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan do have call sign systems. Spanish broadcasters used call signs consisting of E followed by two letters and up to three digits until
3168-539: The Dominion of Newfoundland government retain their original VO calls. In Mexico, AM radio stations use XE call signs (such as XEW-AM ), while the majority of FM radio and television stations use XH . Broadcast call signs are normally four or five alpha characters in length, plus the -FM , -TV , or -TDT suffix where applicable. In South America call signs have been a traditional way of identifying radio and TV stations. Some stations still broadcast their call signs
3264-1542: The Mississippi River and W for eastern stations. Historic exceptions in the east include KYW in Philadelphia and KDKA in Pittsburgh, while western exceptions include WJAG in Norfolk, Nebraska , and WOAI in San Antonio. All new call signs have been four-character for some decades, though there are historical three-character call letters still in use today, such as KSL in Salt Lake City; KOA in Denver; WHO in Des Moines; WWJ and WJR in Detroit; WJW-TV in Cleveland ; WBT in Charlotte; WBZ in Boston; WSM in Nashville; WGR in Buffalo; KFI ; KNX and KHJ in Los Angeles; and WGN , WLS and WLS-TV in Chicago. American radio stations announce their call signs (except for rare cases in which would interfere with
3360-405: The broadcast range , or geographic area, that the station is limited to, allocates the broadcast frequency of the radio spectrum for that station's transmissions, sets limits on what types of television programs can be programmed for broadcast and requires a station to broadcast a minimum amount of certain programs types, such as public affairs messages . Another form of television station
3456-534: The electricity bill and emergency backup generators . In North America , full-power stations on band I (channels 2 to 6) are generally limited to 100 kW analog video ( VSB ) and 10 kW analog audio ( FM ), or 45 kW digital ( 8VSB ) ERP. Stations on band III (channels 7 to 13) can go up by 5 dB to 316 kW video, 31.6 kW audio, or 160 kW digital. Low-VHF stations are often subject to long-distance reception just as with FM. There are no stations on Channel 1 . UHF , by comparison, has
3552-400: The "Barnaby" persona. Despite such lofty efforts, Kaiser Broadcasting faced mounting financial losses—compounded by a weak national economy and a marketplace slow to UHF acceptance—which threatened the company at large. From 1968 through 1970, a total of $ 6 million (equivalent to $ 47.1 million in 2023) was spent on the chain's news services, with WKBF-TV, WKBS-TV and WKBD-TV receiving
3648-511: The 1960s when flight radio officers (FRO) were no longer required on international flights. The Russian Federation kept FROs for the Moscow-Havana run until around 2000. Currently, all signs in aviation are derived from several different policies, depending upon the type of flight operation and whether or not the caller is in an aircraft or at a ground facility. In most countries, unscheduled general aviation flights identify themselves using
3744-502: The FCC to replace WKBF with WKBD. One system in Circleville did not initially replace WKBF but noted the possibility of doing so at a future date. Kaiser's equity stake in WUAB was sold off in 1977, when Gaylord Broadcasting purchased WUAB from United Artists. Several of the 65 staffers at WKBF-TV were reassigned throughout the Kaiser chain. Lucie Salhany , who had been a station employee at
3840-618: The Kaiser chain consisted of WKBD-TV in Detroit , WKBG-TV in Boston , KMTW-TV in Los Angeles (later renamed KBSC-TV), and WKBS-TV in Philadelphia , with KBHK-TV in San Francisco in the planning stages. The Superior-Kaiser alliance took advantage of a loophole in FCC regulations intended to limit one company from owning more than three television stations in the top 50 markets; WKBG-TV
3936-571: The U.S., the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is taking another large portion of this band (channels 52 to 69) away, in contrast to the rest of the world, which has been taking VHF instead. This means that some stations left on VHF are harder to receive after the analog shutdown . Since at least 1974, there are no stations on channel 37 in North America for radio astronomy purposes. Most television stations are commercial broadcasting enterprises which are structured in
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4032-539: The VHF competition. While WKBF-TV boasted coverage of the Cincinnati Royals and harness racing from Thistledown , WUAB-TV featured Ohio State Buckeyes football and men's basketball and Notre Dame Fighting Irish football . The arrival of "Barnaby" and Superhost (Marty Sullivan) at WUAB in late 1969, coupled with WKBF-TV culling much of their local offerings the following year, resulted in WUAB becoming by 1971 not only
4128-463: The WAFT-TV call sign by early June. On April 19, 1967, Superior announced a partnership with Oakland, California –based Kaiser Broadcasting , which would operate the new station under a new jointly owned company. Paperwork filed the following month had Superior transferring WAFT-TV's permit to WKBF Inc. for up to $ 200,000 (equivalent to $ 1.83 million in 2023) with Kaiser holding an option to become
4224-690: The air on March 3, 1981, as WCLQ-TV; after the subscription programming proved a market failure and later owners were pushed into bankruptcy spending large sums on programming with little results, the Home Shopping Network purchased the station in 1986 and ran home shopping programming for 15 years as WQHS. As part of its purchase of the entire USA Broadcasting group, Univision converted the station to Spanish-language programming on January 14, 2002. Television station The Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow ( TV Station Paul Nipkow ) in Berlin , Germany ,
4320-740: The amateur radio service as a citizen of their country has been assigned there. The first amateur radio call sign assigned to the International Space Station was NA1SS by the United States. OR4ISS (Belgium), DP0ISS (Germany), and RS0ISS (Russia) are examples of others, but are not all-inclusive of others also issued. Broadcasters are allocated call signs in many countries. While broadcast radio stations will often brand themselves with plain-text names, identities such as " Cool FM ", " Rock 105" or "the ABC network" are not globally unique. Another station in another city or country may (and often will) have
4416-504: The audience for non-network fare; citing market conditions, he doubted that a new channel 61 would be constructed at any time in the near future, stating, "A child born today will have the proverbial gray beard before another commercial channel begins operating here." WUAB replaced WKBF on cable systems in Zanesville and Dover / New Philadelphia , and the system in Fremont / Sandusky petitioned
4512-422: The best for me. I like 'build' situations and thought I'd try it here." Hickey's prediction of a lack of interest in channel 61 proved unfounded, in large part because of the impending maturation of subscription television technology. In 1977, Cleveland Associates Company, a group of four Chicago companies, applied for the channel to run as a hybrid of ad-supported and subscription programming. The station went on
4608-539: The broadcast of very long works of classical or opera music) at or near the top of each hour, as well as sign-on and sign-off for stations that do not broadcast 24 hours. Beginning in the early 2000s, digital subchannels were assigned a -DT# suffix, where # is the subchannel (starting with the number 2). In Canada, the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation uses the prefix CB ; privately owned commercial broadcast stations use primarily CF and CH through CK prefixes; and four stations licensed to St. John's by
4704-604: The bulk of this investment, but WKBD-TV was the only Kaiser station to turn a profit. With declines in both advertisers and viewership in Cleveland and elsewhere, Kaiser eliminated news operations across the board on November 12, 1970. Defining this as "a period of hiatus" for newscast production, one staffer was retained at every station to be "...the nucleus for a larger staff when the hiatus has come to an end". Accordingly, WKBF-TV cancelled their 10 p.m. newscast and several public affairs programs that same day, saving $ 400,000 in expenses. Kaiser's cutbacks promptly raised doubts in
4800-535: The call sign corresponding to the aircraft's registration number (also called N-number in the U.S., or tail number ). In this case, the call sign is spoken using the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) phonetic alphabet . Aircraft registration numbers internationally follow the pattern of a country prefix, followed by a unique identifier made up of letters and numbers. For example, an aircraft registered as N978CP conducting
4896-1074: The case of states such as Liberia or Panama , which are flags of convenience for ship registration, call signs for larger vessels consist of the national prefix plus three letters (for example, 3LXY, and sometimes followed by a number, e.g. 3LXY2). United States merchant vessels are given call signs beginning with the letters "W" or "K" while US naval ships are assigned call signs beginning with "N". Originally, both ships and broadcast stations were assigned call signs in this series consisting of three or four letters. Ships equipped with Morse code radiotelegraphy, or life boat radio sets, aviation ground stations, broadcast stations were given four-letter call signs. Maritime coast stations on high frequency (both radiotelegraphy and radiotelephony) were assigned three-letter call signs. As demand for both marine radio and broadcast call signs grew, gradually American-flagged vessels with radiotelephony only were given longer call signs with mixed letters and numbers. Leisure craft with VHF radios may not be assigned call signs, in which case
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#17328770225284992-422: The character as a spiritual successor to Ghoulardi , a horror host character created by Ernie Anderson at WJW-TV. At the age of 13, Sweed wore a gorilla suit to a promotional appearance for Ghoulardi, a stunt that led Sweed to be invited on stage by Anderson, eventually becoming his gofer . After Anderson left WJW-TV for work in Los Angeles, Sweed helped with succeeding show Hoolihan and Big Chuck then
5088-475: The completion of the transmitter tower and hookup to the electrical grid . A combination wind and sleet storm the weekend of January 13–14, 1968, pushed back the sign-on date by another week, as the tower was covered in ice. Channel 61 finally signed on with a test pattern on the evening of January 19, 1968, commencing regular telecasting the following day. Kaiser committed to a substantial investment into local productions, not just at WKBF-TV, but throughout
5184-517: The country/territory identifier is, instead, appended to the call sign; e.g., W1AW/VE4, or VE3XYZ/W1. Special call signs are issued in the amateur radio service either for special purposes, VIPs, or for temporary use to commemorate special events. Examples include VO1S ( VO1 as a Dominion of Newfoundland call sign prefix, S to commemorate Marconi 's first trans-Atlantic message, a single-character Morse code S sent from Cornwall , England to Signal Hill, St. John's in 1901) and GB90MGY ( GB as
5280-511: The current American system of civilian aircraft call signs (see below). One exception to the parallelism between registration and call sign is ultralight airplanes in France, who are not obliged to carry a radio and indeed often don't. Radio call signs used for communication in crewed spaceflight are not formalized or regulated to the same degree as for aircraft. The three nations currently launching crewed space missions use different methods to identify
5376-738: The designated call sign, so F13C would be the Charlie fire team . Unused suffixes can be used for other call signs that do not fall into the standard call sign matrix, for example the unused 33A call sign is used to refer to the company sergeant major . No call signs are issued to transmitters of the long-range navigation systems ( Decca , Alpha , Omega ), or transmitters on frequencies below 10 kHz , because frequencies below 10 kHz are not subject to international regulations. In addition, in some countries lawful unlicensed low-power personal and broadcast radio signals ( Citizen's Band (CB), Part 15 or ISM bands ) are permitted; an international call sign
5472-492: The end of a self-imposed 1948 freeze on issuing television station licenses by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1952, a realignment of future channel allocations took place, including the creation of ultra high frequency (UHF) allotments. In the combined Cleveland– Akron – Canton market, this resulted in multiple newly available UHF frequencies to complement the market's existing very high frequency (VHF) stations: WNBK , WEWS-TV and WXEL . Radio station WERE
5568-510: The entire chain, a practice largely appropriated from Metromedia 's station group. The company invested over $ 36 million (equivalent to $ 315 million in 2023) into UHF broadcasting by 1968; a credo attributed to Henry J. Kaiser, "find a need and fill it", became the company slogan. General manager Jay Q. Berkson described this commitment as "...Kaiser (intending) to add a new dimension to local television ... TV should entertain, inform and enlighten its viewers". Kaiser's plans to network
5664-404: The establishment of a second independent outlet, WUAB , later that same year, as well as general stagnation in the Cleveland market. In April 1975, Kaiser shut WKBF-TV down and sold its programming inventory to WUAB in exchange for a minority stake in that station. WKBF-TV maintained studios in the Cleveland suburb of Euclid, Ohio , while the transmitter was located in nearby Parma . Following
5760-609: The first three years, in addition to providing detailed revenue estimates; this request was also made in similar hearings for competing applications in Buffalo and Boston. The FCC later enacted this as a revision to their financial qualification policy, a move to which Superior objected. United Artists removed itself from the hearing process on March 30, 1964, by amending their application to request channel 31 in Lorain, Ohio , which—like channel 65—was unused after WEOL failed to build out
5856-563: The first two digits indicate the nominal length of the boat in feet. For example, Coast Guard 47021 refers to the 21st in the series of 47-foot motor lifeboats. The call sign might be abbreviated to the final two or three numbers during operations, for example: Coast Guard zero two one . Originally aviation mobile stations (aircraft) equipped with radiotelegraphy were assigned five-letter call signs (e.g. KHAAQ). Land stations in aviation were assigned four-letter call signs (e.g. WEAL – Eastern Air Lines, NYC.) These call signs were phased out in
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#17328770225285952-699: The fourth full-power UHF station in the entire market, joining Akron's WAKR-TV , Canton's WJAN-TV , and NET member station WVIZ . Kaiser intended to have January 2, 1968, as WKBF-TV's launch date. This was the same date that KBHK-TV would sign on, and it was planned that senior Kaiser executives attend opening events in San Francisco and Cleveland on the same day. As late as December 29, WKBF ran newspaper advertisements proclaiming, "it happens this week on channel 61". While KBHK-TV signed on as scheduled, WKBF's launch would be repeatedly delayed due to inclement weather, in particular wind and extreme cold that prevented
6048-464: The full owner. Kaiser also provided $ 1 million to Superior and pledged an additional $ 1.5 million in financing. While Kaiser Broadcasting had been established a decade earlier with KHVH-TV in Honolulu , company founder and industrialist Henry J. Kaiser divested KHVH-TV, a VHF network affiliate , in favor of multiple UHF stations in large markets that could function as independents . By 1966,
6144-434: The ground and space radio stations; the United States uses either the names given to the space vehicles, or else the project name and mission number. Russia traditionally assigns code names as call signs to individual cosmonauts , more in the manner of aviator call signs , rather than to the spacecraft. The only continuity in call signs for spacecraft have been the issuance of "ISS"-suffixed call signs by various countries in
6240-420: The highest point available in the transmission area, such as on a summit , the top of a high skyscraper , or on a tall radio tower . To get a signal from the master control room to the transmitter, a studio/transmitter link (STL) is used. The link can be either by radio or T1 / E1 . A transmitter/studio link (TSL) may also send telemetry back to the station, but this may be embedded in subcarriers of
6336-441: The industry over UHF's profitability, as Kaiser had been regarded as one of the better-equipped UHF station operators. WKBF-TV never reinstated its news department, with reporter Alan DePetro reassigned as public affairs manager, a role he held for the rest of the station's existence. John Herrington joined WKYC-TV the following January as a reporter and anchor, remaining at that station until retiring in 1993. Newsroom , an attempt at
6432-499: The international series. The United States Army uses fixed station call signs which begin with W , such as WAR, used by U.S. Army Headquarters. Fixed call signs for the United States Air Force stations begin with A , such as AIR, used by USAF Headquarters. The United States Navy , United States Marine Corps , and United States Coast Guard use a mixture of tactical call signs and international call signs beginning with
6528-458: The jurisdiction of a foreign government, an identifying station pre-pends the call sign with the country prefix and number of the country/territory from which the operation is occurring. For example, W4/G3ABC would denote a licensed amateur from the United Kingdom who is operating in the fourth district of the United States. There are exceptions; in the case of U.S./Canadian reciprocal operations,
6624-478: The late 1970s. Portugal had a similar system, their callsigns beginning with C ; these also ceased to be used in the 1970s. Britain has no call signs in the American sense, but allows broadcast stations to choose their own trade mark call sign up to six words in length. Amateur radio call signs are in the international series and normally consist of a one or two character prefix, a digit (which may be used to denote
6720-419: The leading UHF station in Cleveland but the second-highest rated UHF station in the country behind Boston's WSBK-TV . The differences between Cleveland's two UHF outlets soon became pronounced: William Hickey, a television columnist for The Plain Dealer , remarked that WKBF-TV "in no time ... was reduced to audience shares of 4%, and that was on good days." One bright spot for WKBF-TV occurred with reruns of
6816-459: The letter N . In the British military , tactical voice communications use a system of call signs of the form letter-digit-digit . Within a standard infantry battalion, these characters represent companies, platoons and sections respectively, so that 3 Section, 1 Platoon of F Company might be F13. In addition, a suffix following the initial call sign can denote a specific individual or grouping within
6912-400: The local television station has no station identification and, from a consumer's point of view, there is no practical distinction between a network and a station, with only small regional changes in programming, such as local television news . To broadcast its programs, a television station requires operators to operate equipment, a transmitter or radio antenna , which is often located at
7008-419: The main broadcast. Stations which retransmit or simulcast another may simply pick-up that station over-the-air , or via STL or satellite. The license usually specifies which other station it is allowed to carry. VHF stations often have very tall antennas due to their long wavelength , but require much less effective radiated power (ERP), and therefore use much less transmitter power output , also saving on
7104-459: The most successfully locally-produced shows from their station group distinguished their efforts from the United Network , which failed after one month of operation. Likewise, WKBF-TV carried weekly programs hosted by Hy Lit from Philadelphia and Lou Gordon from Detroit. Gordon's show, in particular, would be carried over the entire Kaiser group. WKBF-TV's first local program began along with
7200-430: The name and addressees of licensed radio stations in a given jurisdiction (country). Modern Electrics published the first callbook in the United States in 1909. Today, the primary purpose of a callbook is to allow amateur radio operators to send a confirmation post card, called a QSL card to an operator with whom they have communicated via radio. Callbooks have evolved to include on-line databases that are accessible via
7296-481: The name of the vessel is used instead. Ships in the US still wishing to have a radio license are under FCC class SA: "Ship recreational or voluntarily equipped." Those calls follow the land mobile format of the initial letter K or W followed by one or two letters followed by three or four numbers (such as KX0983 or WXX0029). U.S. Coast Guard small boats have a number that is shown on both bows (i.e. port and starboard) in which
7392-571: The original Star Trek , which were broadcast in the same episode order as had been originally shown on NBC . Added to the station's schedule in September 1971 at 6:30 p.m. nightly, Star Trek quickly became channel 61's highest-rated program, so much so that a private celebration marking WKBF-TV's fifth birthday was headlined by DeForest Kelley . On May 26, 1972, Kaiser Broadcasting and Field Communications , owner of WFLD-TV in Chicago , announced
7488-400: The prefix is normally a single number (0 to 9). Some prefixes, such as Djibouti's (J2), consist of a letter followed by a number. Hence, in the hypothetical Djibouti call sign, J29DBA, the prefix is J2 , the number is 9 , and the suffix is DBA . Others may start with a number followed by a letter, for example, Jamaican call signs begin with 6Y. When operating with reciprocal agreements under
7584-496: The program director had to go back to his management and say that a guy in a lab coat full of buttons with a pair of glasses with one eye out and a wild wig was telling him he could double his ratings. Ron Sweed, on The Ghoul's debut Even with the station's heavy emphasis on local programming in its first two years, WKBF-TV's most popular program debuted in 1971, after the majority of local output had been curtailed: Creature Features with The Ghoul . Ron Sweed originated
7680-665: The program ended. In addition to KBHK-TV, the program was later syndicated to WKBS-TV and KBSC-TV but was cancelled in mid-April 1970. Complementing an existing early-afternoon children's programming block (including the Hanna-Barbera catalogue, Astro Boy , The Three Stooges and Little Rascals , typical among the Kaiser chain) was Captain Cleveland , starring ventriloquist John Slowey and puppet sidekick "Private Clem". Captain Cleveland merited national attention when Cleveland mayor Carl Stokes began making regular appearances after rejecting prior offers by local media to host
7776-476: The programmes seen on its owner's flagship station, and have no television studio or production facilities of their own. This is common in developing countries . Low-power stations typically also fall into this category worldwide. Most stations which are not simulcast produce their own station identifications . TV stations may also advertise on or provide weather (or news) services to local radio stations , particularly co-owned sister stations . This may be
7872-417: The segment as "...(reaching) the kids before their ideas and prejudices develop". Stokes' telegenic style also found an unlikely supporter in comedian Bob Hope . Captain Cleveland aired on WKBF-TV through 1971, while John Slowey continued to make personal appearances for the station as late as 1973. We will be able to write the rules as we go since we won't be saddled with stereotyped ways. We'll just tell
7968-508: The show "one long Polish joke interrupted by a boring monster movie". The Ghoul generated enough of a cult following to the point Kaiser syndicated the show to WKBD-TV in 1972, then KBHK-TV and WKBG-TV. While the program proved very popular in Cleveland and Detroit, it met with mixed results in San Francisco and Boston. WFLD-TV also picked up the program in late 1973, but it came at the expense of that station's existing horror host, Svengoolie ( Jerry G. Bishop ). Kaiser cancelled The Ghoul in
8064-568: The spring of 1975 due to being "economically unfeasible"; WKBF-TV and WKBD-TV were the only two remaining Kaiser stations carrying the show. WKBD-TV revived the program in August 1975, while Ron Sweed sued Kaiser for the intellectual property rights to the Ghoul character, to which Kaiser claimed it held the trademark. After prevailing in court, Sweed re-established the show at WXON in Detroit. A demand for any profit must be conceived by consumer demand. Then
8160-518: The start and end of WKBF-TV's on-air existence, continued with Kaiser as program manager for WLVI (the former WKBG-TV). Prior to being named the chairwoman of Fox in January 1992, Salhany explained that she joined that network "because I wanted to try and build something one more time ... The most fun I ever had was putting Channel 61 on the air. I was there when we signed on and there when we signed off. We worked hard and played hard, and those days were
8256-657: The station's shutdown on April 8, 1975, after reaching a tentative agreement to sell WKBF's assets to United Artists in exchange for cash or a 36 percent equity stake in WUAB while turning in WKBF-TV's license to the FCC for cancellation. Kaiser accepted the WUAB equity stake offer by mid-May. Rumors of such a transaction (reported on as a "merger") circulated several days earlier, with WUAB general manager Jack Moffitt and WKBF-TV general manager Alan B. Bennett acknowledging negotiations had been ongoing for "a couple of years". WKBF's final day of operations on April 25, 1975, ended after
8352-458: The station: a Saturday night panel discussion / talk show hosted by veteran radio host Alan Douglas, which was immediately picked up by KBHK-TV (and had originally been intended for that station's inaugural lineup). Titled The Alan Douglas Show ‽ , it served as an extension of his talk radio shows in both Cleveland and Pittsburgh. The program was best known for controversial topics and stances taken by Douglas meant to invoke passionate responses;
8448-431: The stories the way they are. We will be able to spend any amount of time on a story that it deserves. Matt Quinn, WKBF-TV news director Kaiser announced the establishment of a news department for WKBF-TV in early May 1968, with the hiring of Matt Quinn from Pittsburgh 's KDKA as news director, as part of a commitment Kaiser planned to execute at all their stations. WKBF-TV's news service would be centered around
8544-507: The tower controller. For example, Skyhawk eight-Charlie-Papa, left base . In commercial aviation, the callsign is usually the ICAO Flight number . For example, Delta Airlines Flight 744 would have the flight number DL744 and the callsign would be Delta 744 . In most countries, the aircraft call sign or "tail number"/"tail letters" (also known as registration marks) are linked to the international radio call sign allocation table and follow
8640-690: The weekly variety show Dear Bill , which—like Douglas's show—had a studio audience , unique to Cleveland television. Linn Sheldon , who found fame as children's television host "Barnaby" for 13 years at KYW-TV/WKYC-TV, became an early-afternoon movie host at WKBF-TV the following month, dropping the characterization and used his real name. Sheldon also hosted local segments for the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon , which WKBF-TV began carrying in 1969. Neither program lasted long: Gordon's program ended in April 1969, and Sheldon left that November to join WUAB, reprising
8736-399: The world. Television stations broadcasting over an analog system were typically limited to one television channel , but digital television enables broadcasting via subchannels as well. Television stations usually require a broadcast license from a government agency which sets the requirements and limitations on the station. In the United States, for example, a television license defines
8832-459: Was also a 50–50 joint venture between Kaiser and The Boston Globe . Granting a waiver to Kaiser, the FCC approved the 50 percent purchase of WAFT-TV in September 1967, with a call sign change to WKBF-TV; Kaiser also announced plans to launch a network among their station group by late 1970, with programs produced by stations within the Kaiser chain as the backbone. WKBF-TV was the first full-fledged independent station in Cleveland proper but
8928-496: Was granted permission by Anderson to portray the Ghoulardi character, but only under a different name. Only 21 years old when WKBF-TV debuted Creature Features , Sweed oriented The Ghoul to focus on explosions, slapstick and lowbrow humor , a marked departure from Ghoulardi's cerebral-driven beatnik persona. Sweed was occasionally criticized for being a poor imitation of horror hosts that preceded him, while one newspaper review called
9024-427: Was ranked as the eighth-largest market in the United States, further attracting industry attention over competing UHF stations with substantial investment by their respective ownership. By the spring of 1969, WUAB claimed a portion of WKBF-TV's viewership, taking advantage of poorly-rated syndicated variety shows at WKBF-TV hosted by Donald O'Connor and Les Crane , but both stations had taken significant audience from
9120-554: Was the first in Cleveland to receive a construction permit for a UHF station on channel 65 on June 18, 1953, followed by WHK with a permit for a station on channel 19 that December. Neither were built, and the permits were revoked by the FCC on February 19, 1960. United Artists Broadcasting, a subsidiary of the United Artists film studio, filed paperwork for a new channel 65 permit on March 22, 1963. Cleveland Telecasting Co., headed by WDBN owner Ted Niarhos, filed
9216-674: Was the first regular television service in the world. It was on the air from 22 March 1935, until it was shut down in 1944. The station was named after Paul Gottlieb Nipkow , the inventor of the Nipkow disk . Most often the term "television station" refers to a station which broadcasts structured content to an audience or it refers to the organization that operates the station. A terrestrial television transmission can occur via analog television signals or, more recently, via digital television signals. Television stations are differentiated from cable television or other video providers as their content
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