Westinghouse Broadcasting

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Group W

The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndication. It adopted the Group W nickname in 1963.

Westinghouse Broadcasting was a self-contained corporation within its parent company. It was headquartered along with its parent company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; though it maintained offices in New York City and Los Angeles as well.

The Westinghouse stations are best known for using a distinctive font (closely, but not accurately mimicked in Ray Larabie's freeware font "Anklepants") for their logos and on-air imaging. Similarly-styled fonts had been used on some non-Group W stations as well.

Group W was also well known for two of its flagship programs: the long-running Mike Douglas Show and PM Magazine (called Evening Magazine in Group W's core broadcast markets).

Contents

[edit] History

The Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Corporation entered broadcasting with the November 2, 1920 sign-on of KDKA radio in Pittsburgh. KDKA, the oldest surviving licensed commercial radio station in the United States, was an outgrowth of experimental station 8XK, a 75-watt station that was located in the Pittsburgh suburb of Wilkinsburg, and founded in 1916 by Westinghouse assistant chief engineer Frank Conrad.

Westinghouse launched three more radio stations in 1921: WJZ, originally licensed to Newark, New Jersey, in September; WBZ, first located in Springfield, Massachusetts, in October; and KYW, originally based in Chicago, in November. WBZA in Boston, a station which shared WBZ's frequency and simulcasted WBZ's programming, signed on in November 1924.

Westinghouse was one of the founding owners of the Radio Corporation of America in 1919, and in 1926 RCA established the National Broadcasting Company, a group of 24 radio stations that made up the first radio network in the United States. Westinghouse initially owned a 20 percent stake in NBC, and as a result all of Westinghouse's stations became affiliates of NBC's Blue Network when it was launched on January 1, 1927. Most of the Blue Network's programming originated at WJZ, which in 1923 had its license moved to New York City, and its ownership transferred to RCA.

In 1931, Westinghouse switched the call letters of its two Massachusetts stations, with WBZA moving to Springfield and WBZ going to Boston. The two stations had suffered from interference problems, though the Boston facility was the more powerful of the two. In 1934, KYW was moved from Chicago to Philadelphia following a Federal Communications Commission-dictated frequency realignment. Westinghouse's next station was its first purchase: WOWO in Fort Wayne, Indiana joined the group in August 1936. The 1941 North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement saw all of Westinghouse's stations move to their current dial positions, and all except WBZA were granted clear channel allocations. Despite the assignments which resulted from NARBA, WBZA became a daytime-only operation as it continued to share a frequency with WBZ. The Westinghouse group survived the split of NBC's radio division in 1943. WBZ/WBZA, KDKA, and KYW became affiliates of NBC-Red after the split, while WOWO, which had a secondary affiliation with NBC-Blue, fell back on its primary relationship with CBS.

Later in the 1940s, Westinghouse moved on to develop FM and television stations as the FCC began to issue permits for those services. Westinghouse built FM sister stations for WBZ/WBZA, KDKA, KYW, and WOWO, all of which were on the air by the end of the decade. FM radio was, initially, an unsuccessful venture for Westinghouse, and the company would sell all of their FM stations (with the exceptions of WBZ-FM and KDKA-FM, which were sold in the early 1980s) by the end of the 1950s.

Westinghouse entered television on June 9, 1948 with the sign-on of WBZ-TV in Boston. It is the only television station to have been built by the company. The remainder of Westinghouse's expansion into television was made through purchases, starting with WPTZ-TV in Philadelphia, in 1952. KPIX in San Francisco was bought in 1954; WDTV (now KDKA-TV) in Pittsburgh was added in 1955; and WAAM-TV (now WJZ-TV) in Baltimore was purchased in 1957.

Moving back to AM radio, Westinghouse returned to Chicago with its 1956 purchase of WIND. In 1962, Westinghouse re-entered the New York market when it bought WINS, then a local Top-40 powerhouse. That same year, the company also agreed to buy another top-rated music station, KFWB in Los Angeles. Since Westinghouse was already at the FCC's then-limit of seven AM stations, it had to sell one of its existing AM stations. Westinghouse decided to shut down WBZA and return its license to the FCC in June 1962, though the KFWB deal was not finalized until 1966.

On April 19, 1965, WINS dropped music and instituted the world's first 24-hour all-news format. KYW went all-news six months later, on September 12, three months after Westinghouse regained control of the station (see The 1956 Trade with NBC, below). KFWB would adopt the format on March 11, 1968. The three stations all prospered with their new formats, usually ranking among the five highest-rated stations in their markets. During the 1970s and 1980s, WIND also tinkered with a part-time news format, though it had little success against the dominant all-news station in Chicago, CBS-owned WBBM.

Over the next quarter-century, Westinghouse would purchase several other radio stations, including KFBK in Sacramento, California; WMAQ in Chicago, WNEW-FM in New York, and WMMR-FM in Philadelphia. WOWO was sold to other interests in 1982, and WIND was spun-off in 1988 after Group W bought WMAQ from NBC. During this time, Group W's only other television station purchase was in Charlotte, North Carolina, where it operated WPCQ-TV (previously WRET-TV and now WCNC-TV) from 1980 until 1984.

It also purchased cable TV system operator TelePrompTer in 1981, which it renamed Group W Cable the following year. However, Group W would leave the cable TV system business in 1986.

[edit] The 1956 trade with NBC

During 1955, Westinghouse announced that it would sell KYW radio and WPTZ-TV to NBC. In exchange, Westinghouse received NBC's Cleveland stations, WTAM-AM-FM and WNBK television. After the deal was approved in February 1956, Westinghouse moved the KYW call letters to Cleveland, while NBC renamed the Philadelphia stations WRCV-AM-TV. However, the ink had barely dried on the deal when Westinghouse complained to the FCC and the U.S. Justice Department, claiming that NBC had extorted it into agreeing to the deal. It turned out that NBC had threatened to pull its television programming from WPTZ-TV and WBZ-TV unless Westinghouse agreed to the swap. Following a thorough investigation which lasted several years, the FCC and the Justice Department ordered the swap reversed without NBC realizing any profit on the deal. When Westinghouse regained control of the Philadelphia stations on June 19, 1965; it restored the KYW calls to the radio station and renamed the television station KYW-TV.

[edit] Merger with CBS

Throughout its history as an operator of television stations, Westinghouse Broadcasting had relationships with all three major networks. KYW-TV, WPCQ, and WBZ-TV were NBC affiliates, KPIX and KDKA-TV were aligned with CBS, and WJZ-TV was an ABC station. All of Group W's stations were located within the top thirty television markets.

Westinghouse's television stations were all known for their very deep connection to their home markets. They often pre-empted network programming in favor of local shows. They also pre-empted network shows to air programming produced by Group W, which was a major force in television syndication. However, for the most part the networks did not seem to mind. Most of them were among their networks' strongest performers. KDKA-TV and WJZ-TV dominated their markets, while WBZ-TV and KPIX were solid runners-up. The only exceptions were KYW-TV and WPCQ. KYW-TV had been one of Westinghouse's (and NBC's) crown jewels for many years, but faltered in the late 1970s and eventually became NBC's weakest major-market affiliate. WPCQ remained an also-ran in the Charlotte market as it competed against two other network affiliates on VHF. It also had to deal with three longer-established NBC affiliates on VHF stations in nearby cities that were also available in large parts of the market. However, a series of surprising events that occurred in the course of a year ended Westinghouse's uniqueness among station operators.

In 1994, the Fox Broadcasting Company agreed to a multi-year, multi-station affiliation deal with New World Communications, resulting most of New World's stations switching to Fox. Among these stations were longtime CBS affiliates WJBK-TV in Detroit and WJW-TV in Cleveland. To avoid being consigned to the UHF band in two major markets, CBS pursued longtime ABC affiliates WEWS in Cleveland and WXYZ-TV in Detroit. Both stations were owned by the E.W. Scripps Company, who used this leverage to strike a similar affiliation deal of its own with ABC. Unwilling to risk losing two of its strongest and longest-standing affiliates, ABC agreed to 10-year affiliation contracts with WEWS, WXYZ and four other Scripps stations. One of them was Baltimore's then-NBC affiliate, WMAR-TV, which would displace that city's longtime ABC affiliate, Group W-owned WJZ-TV.

Westinghouse was upset at how ABC had treated WJZ-TV after many years of loyalty, and sought an affiliation deal of its own. Eventually, it agreed to affiliate its entire television unit with CBS. Under the terms of the deal, all five Group W stations would carry the entire CBS schedule with no pre-emptions except for local news emergencies (as noted above, prior to this, Group W stations were known for pre-empting selected programming of their affiliated networks with Group W-mandated content).

The deal resulted in a three-way transaction between Group W, CBS and NBC which unfolded between the fall of 1994 and the fall of 1995, which unfolded as follows:

  • In September 1994, KPIX and KDKA-TV ended their long-standing policies of pre-empting some CBS shows, and began carrying the entire CBS schedule with no pre-emptions, as per Westinghouse's deal with CBS.
  • On January 2, 1995, WJZ-TV and WBZ-TV switched from ABC and NBC, respectively, to CBS.
  • On September 11, 1995, KYW-TV switched from NBC to CBS. Westinghouse sold a minority share of KYW-TV to CBS.
  • Also on September 11, CBS traded its previous Philadelphia station, WCAU-TV, to NBC in return for KCNC-TV in Denver and KUTV in Salt Lake City. CBS then sold controlling interest in KCNC and KUTV to Westinghouse. (KCNC's station history page erroneously implies that this trade was between NBC and Westinghouse.)
  • On September 12, CBS-owned WCIX in Miami swapped channel locations with NBC-owned WTVJ. CBS and NBC traded their Miami broadcasting facilities to compensate each other for the loss of stations. WCIX changed its call letters to WFOR-TV, and CBS sold controlling interest in the station to Westinghouse.
  • Westinghouse and CBS formed a joint venture that assumed ownership of KYW-TV, KCNC, KUTV and WFOR, with Westinghouse as majority owner.

A short time later, Westinghouse announced it was buying CBS proper, a transaction which closed in early 1996. As a condition of the merger, both CBS and Group W were forced to sell off several radio stations due to the FCC's then-current ownership limits. CBS also had to sell recently-acquired WPRI-TV in Providence, Rhode Island; due to a significant signal overlap with WBZ-TV. At the time, the FCC normally did not allow common ownership of stations with overlapping signals.

The former Westinghouse Broadcasting operations took on the CBS name and identity, though the Group W name survived until the end of the 1990s as a holding company within the merged entity's structure. The Westinghouse-CBS merger resulted in several longtime rivals on the radio dials of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia becoming sister stations. Except for WMAQ, which shut down in 2000 to allow all-sports WSCR to move to its old dial position, all of the former Group W radio stations are part of CBS Radio.

Westinghouse proceeded to transform itself from its legendary role as a diversified conglomerate with a strong industrial heritage into a media giant. Over the next year, it sold off almost all of its nonbroadcast properties. In 1997, Westinghouse changed its name to CBS Corporation and moved its headquarters to New York. CBS Corporation sold off its last nonbroadcast interests in 1998. In this sense, the Westinghouse-CBS merger turned out to be a "wag-the-dog" transaction.

CBS Corporation merged with Viacom in 1999. Viacom changed its name to CBS Corporation in 2005 and spun off most of its cable and movie interests as a "new" Viacom. With a few exceptions, the current CBS Corporation holds the same properties that the old CBS Corporation held prior to the Viacom merger.

A few of the former Westinghouse radio stations still use the former Group W font today (eg. KDKA, KYW, and WINS). WOWO, now owned by Inner City Broadcasting, and two television stations, WJZ-TV and KPIX, continue to use this font as well (though with the CBS Eye added in front of the channel number). The other stations retired the font early in the 21st century.

[edit] Syndicated programs

Some of their best-known programs were syndicated and seen in primetime, through its syndication division, Group W Productions; many were talk/variety, during the 1960's and sold internationally.

[edit] Late night talk/variety shows

[edit] Daytime shows

Group W also syndicated and franchised the program PM Magazine (alternatively titled Evening Magazine on stations owned and operated by Westinghouse Broadcasting) to local stations.

[edit] Animated series

[edit] First-run syndicated shows

After the merger in 1996, Group W Productions was renamed Eyemark Entertainment. Today, the Group W and Eyemark libraries are owned by King World Productions, following the latter company's acquisition by CBS in 2000. The Filmation library was sold to Hallmark Entertainment, who later sold it to UK-based Entertainment Rights.

[edit] Television stations formerly owned by Group W

Current DMA# Market Station Years Owned Current Affiliation
4. Philadelphia WPTZ-TV/KYW-TV 3 1952-56
1965-95		 CBS owned-and-operated (O&O)
5. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose KPIX 5 1954-95 CBS owned-and-operated (O&O)
7. Boston WBZ-TV 4 1948-95 CBS owned-and-operated (O&O)
17. Cleveland KYW-TV 3
(now WKYC-TV)		 1956-65 NBC affiliate owned by Gannett Company
22. Pittsburgh KDKA-TV 2 1955-95 CBS owned-and-operated (O&O)
24. Baltimore WJZ-TV 13 1957-95 CBS owned-and-operated (O&O)
26. Charlotte WPCQ-TV 36
(now WCNC-TV)		 1980-84 NBC affiliate owned by A.H. Belo Corporation
This list does not include KCNC-TV in Denver, KUTV in Salt Lake City and WFOR-TV in Miami. These stations were taken over by Group W in the interim period before the completion of CBS's acquisition by Westinghouse.

[edit] AM Radio Stations Owned

Unless otherwise noted, all stations are currently owned by CBS Radio.
Station City Years Owned Other Locations Sold To Current Format
KDKA-1020 Pittsburgh 1920–95 Talk radio
WJZ-770 Newark, N.J. 1921–22 flagship of NBC's Blue Network, sold to RCA WABC, with talk radio
WBZ-1030 Boston 1921–95 Springfield 1921–31 News/talk
WBZA Springfield, MA 1921–62 Boston 1921–31 (none, off the air) (defunct)
KYW*-1060 Philadelphia 1922-56
1965-95		 Chicago 1922–34 reacquired by Westinghouse in 1965
(see below for more info)		 All-news
KYW*-1100 Cleveland 1956-65 reacquired by NBC in 1965
(see below for more info)		 Now WTAM owned by Clear Channel, with talk radio
WOWO-1190 Fort Wayne, IN 1936–82 Price Communications Owned by Federated Media, with talk radio
WIND-560 Chicago 1956-85 Tichenor Radio (now part of Univision) Owned by Salem Communications, with talk radio
WINS-1010 New York City 1962–95 All-news
KFWB-980 Los Angeles 1966–95 All-news
KFBK-1530 Sacramento 1986–94 Chancellor Broadcasting Owned by Clear Channel Communications, with talk radio
WMAQ-670 Chicago 1988–95 WSCR, with sports radio

* KYW-AM was sold to NBC in 1956 and renamed WRCV, but was sold back to Group W in 1965 at the FCC's order.

[edit] Cable networks

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