WKBS-TV (Philadelphia)

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WKBS-TV
Burlington, New Jersey/ Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Channels	Analog: 48 (UHF)
Affiliations	defunct (off the air on August 29, 1983)
Owner	Kaiser Broadcasting (1965-1977) Field Communications (1977-1983)
Founded	September 1, 1965
Call letters’ meaning	W Kaiser Broadcasting System
Former affiliations	Independent (1965-1983) ABC (secondary, 1975-1983) NBC (secondary, 1976-1977)

WKBS-TV was an independent television station licensed to Burlington, New Jersey, which served the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area from 1965 to 1983. WKBS-TV had studio facilities located in South Philadelphia, and transmitter at the Roxborough tower farm in Philadelphia.

[edit] History

The station ID card for-then Kaiser-owned WKBS-TV in the early 1970s.

WKBS-TV began operations on September 1, 1965, owned by Kaiser Broadcasting. It was the second independent station in the Philadelphia market, having signed on almost six months after WIBF-TV (channel 29, later WTAF and now WTXF-TV) and two weeks before WPHL-TV (channel 17). The studios were located at 3201 S. 26th Street in South Philadelphia near a set of oil refineries. The station struggled at first, in part because it signed on only a year after the Federal Communications Commission required television manufacturers to include UHF tuning capability. However, WKBS was on stronger financial footing than WPHL and WIBF, and quickly established itself as the leading independent in Philadelphia. It retained the top spot for almost a decade.

WKBS' schedule was typical of most independent stations of the time, with a mix of off-network programs, children's programs, movies, and local-interest shows, including a dance show hosted by local radio personality Hy Lit. That show also aired on at least three of Kaiser's other stations, WKBD-TV in Detroit, WKBG-TV in Boston and WKBF-TV in Cleveland. In addition, WKBS aired shows produced by other Kaiser stations, such as The Lou Gordon Program from WKBD. (In a controversial episode, Philadelphia's mayor Frank Rizzo walked out of an interview with Lou.) In 1972, Kaiser sold a minority interest to Field Communications, which owned WFLD-TV in Chicago.

Beginning in the mid-1970s, WKBS also aired ABC shows that WPVI-TV preempted in favor of local programming. During the 1976-77 season, it aired NBC shows preempted by KYW-TV.

In 1977, Kaiser left the television business and sold most of its television stations, including WKBS-TV, to Field Communications. For most of the next few years, WKBS waged a spirited battle with WTAF for first place among the city's independents. However, by the early 1980s, channel 29 was the entrenched top independent in Philadelphia.

In 1982, a dispute between brothers Marshall Field V and Frederick W. Field resulted in the liquidation of their company, including their broadcasting interests. By June 1983 three of Field's stations had already been sold, leaving Field with WKBD and WKBS. Field's asking prices for both stations were very high, considering their profitability, strong ratings, and the value of their programming rights. At WKBS, Field mulled over several offers, including donating the station to a local college and selling programming to other stations, as well as selling the station to a group of channel 48 employees. Another offer, which was seriously considered, would have resulted in WKBS being sold to the Providence Journal Company, the then-owner of WPHL-TV. The two stations' schedules would have been merged under the channel 48 license, call letters and channel location, while channel 17 would have been sold to a religious broadcaster. However, the Journal's offer was still far below the Field brothers' asking price.

Finally, with no takers and facing a deadline to close down the company, Field announced on July 15, 1983, that it would shut down channel 48. All of WKBS' programming (except for shows provided by syndicator Viacom) and some production equipment were sold to WPHL-TV, while the license was returned to the FCC. On August 30, 1983, following a college football game, a video of the employees saying farewell aired. This was followed by an editorial by Vincent F. Baressi, general manager of the station, and the sign-off film, usually played with the Star-Spangled Banner, was instead accompanied by Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence".

This is what Baressi said in the final signoff: [1]

"Tonight completes the last day of the broadcasting operations of WKBS-TV, channel 48, Field Communications Burlington/Philadelphia. On July 15, Field Communications announced that it would cease operation of the station and that the license to operate channel 48 would be returned to the Federal Communications Commission.

Channel 48 began its broadcast operations on September 1, 1965, under the ownership of Kaiser Broadcasting. Through those eighteen years of operation, we have endeavored to best serve all interests of the Delaware Valley. The commitment of all of our station's employees has been dedicated to you, our viewers. Over the years, we have presented all types of programs to the people of the Delaware Valley. Channel 48's efforts have been recognized by many broadcast professional awards, and more importantly, by our viewers. Channel 48 as an entity, and our employees as individual citizens, have been deeply involved in our community; we have been unselfish over the years by giving literally thousands of hours of personal time to make the Delaware Valley an even better place in which to live.

We hope you enjoyed tonight's Penn State-Nebraska football game. I am sure you can appreciate that this is a sad day for all of us at channel 48. However, we take great pride in knowing that we have been of service to you over the past eighteen years. Since the announced closing of our operation, we have received numerous letters and phone calls of support. For that, we are most appreciative. We, the people of WKBS will all go forward in our new careers, and I can assure you that we will always have the people of the Delaware Valley in our hearts. Thank you, good night, and God bless you all."

[edit] News operation

WKBS-TV operated a small news department during its early years, producing a newscast at the morning sign-on time, and providing news updated during the course of the broadcast day. Among channel 48's first on-air reporters was Jim Vance, who started his television career with WKBS in 1968 before moving to WRC-TV in Washington, D.C., in 1969.

In the 1970s, WKBS-TV attempted to do a 10 p.m. newscast. Some say that this newscast was better than what WTAF/WTXF and WPHL would air years later. However, the experiment failed because the Philadelphia market was not ready for a primetime newscast. From the late 1970s until the station went dark, channel 48 would air news updates anchored by Pat Farnack. Starting in 1982, the station had a local inserted newscast with CNN Headline News at 10 p.m. on weekdays. Marty Jacobs also hosted a public affairs show.

[edit] The Dark Years

After channel 48 went off the air, the Philadelphia market was left with two independents. The first station to make a serious attempt to replace WKBS as the market's third indie was WRBV-TV (channel 65, now WUVP), based in Vineland, New Jersey. It had a decent lineup of programs, but never matched what had been offered on WKBS. It was also hampered by an inadequate signal.

Then, in the middle of 1985, former subscription television outlet WWSG-TV (channel 57) became a full-service independent and changed its calls to WGBS-TV. It briefly waged a ratings battle with WRBV, but this was over before it even started due to WRBV's weak signal. Within a few months, WGBS established itself as the third independent in Philadelphia. Despite financial problems within the station's ownership, WGBS gave channel 29 a serious challenge for the top spot among Philadelphia's indies.

In 1984, just months after WKBS left the air, the FCC put channel 48's license up for auction. Among those bidding on the license were Dorothy Brunson, an African-American woman who previously worked in radio; and Cornerstone Television, a Christian television network based in Pittsburgh. After a two-year process, the auction ended with Brunson winning the license. Cornerstone had, during the interim, purchased channel 48's transmitter, moved it to Altoona, and used it to sign on a new station in 1985 on channel 47, ironically enough under the WKBS-TV call letters.

Brunson signed her station on as WGTW-TV on August 15, 1992. The station carried on as an independent for more than a decade before being sold to the Trinity Broadcasting Network in 2004. The two stations are not related; although WGTW shares the same city of license (Burlington) and the same channel allocation as the old WKBS-TV, it is not the same license. According to FCC records, WGTW's construction permit was issued on July 14, 1988. [2]

[edit] External links

• Broadcast Pioneer's Website page describing the history of WKBS and the reason for going dark, with audio of Vincent Barresi's farewell speech
• UHF Morgue entry for WKBS-TV
• Youtube videos of WKBS-TV from 1981: [3], [4]