Long ago on independence square (Kansas City, Cameron: paperwork, home, purchase)

[WCHS'59]

What KC TV station was it that started broadcasting some of the time in the early days of TV but lasted less than one year?

[CrownVic95]

Originally Posted by wchs'59

what kc tv station was it that started broadcasting some of the time in the early days of tv but lasted less than one year?

whb-tv

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by CrownVic95

whb-tv

On August 2, 1953, WHB TV began broadcasting on Channel 9—as did KMBC TV on that same channel on that same date.


Each station operated from different studios and alternated their programming verbally signing over to the other at the end of their broadcasting period, which according to one source lasted ninety minutes per shift.


On June 14, 1954, KMBC TV took over full time broadcasting on Channel 9 and WHB TV faded into history.


I remember the announcers signing over from one station to another although I dont recall it being as often as 90 minutes. I also seem to remember that WHB had the poorer fare and seem to remember they ran a good many Bob Steele westerns from the 30s.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by CrownVic95

whb-tv

Even before WHB TV there was another station that operated briefly before it also went out. In fact it went on the air before WHB TV.



I never watched this station and for good reason.

[CrownVic95]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

On August 2, 1953, WHB TV began broadcasting on Channel 9—as did KMBC TV on that same channel on that same date.


Each station operated from different studios and alternated their programming verbally signing over to the other at the end of their broadcasting period, which according to one source lasted ninety minutes per shift.


On June 14, 1954, KMBC TV took over full time broadcasting on Channel 9 and WHB TV faded into history.


I remember the announcers signing over from one station to another although I dont recall it being as often as 90 minutes. I also seem to remember that WHB had the poorer fare and seem to remember they ran a good many Bob Steele westerns from the 30s.

I had no idea, as I first lived in the KC metro in 1976. Found the WHB-TV info with a Google search.

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

Even before WHB TV there was another station that operated briefly before it also went out. In fact it went on the air before WHB TV.



I never watched this station and for good reason.

Cheating though it may be, I Googled again and found a reference to W9XAL which started in the 30s. Didn't say how long it stayed on the air.

Maybe that's the one you're talking about, as your good reason would be that you were not yet born.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by CrownVic95

I had no idea, as I first lived in the KC metro in 1976. Found the WHB-TV info with a Google search.

Cheating though it may be, I Googled again and found a reference to W9XAL which started in the 30s. Didn't say how long it stayed on the air.

Maybe that's the one you're talking about, as your good reason would be that you were not yet born.

Thanks for that info.


I had vaguely heard of an experimental Kansas City TV station that operated in the thirties. They were not affiliated with anyone and they did not last very long and they probably did not broadcast very many days per week.


So, in light of the 1930s station, I was wondering what that made WDAF TV, which started broadcasting in 1949 and was mainly affiliated with NBC.


WDAF TV came on at 6:00 pm each evening and continued at that time for a couple years. We were watching on a Firestone table model 7inch screen in our living room. For some reason both my mom and dad did not take to the TV at first. Usually, it was my sister and I watching. The wood enclosure housing all the tubes and such dwarfed the screen even though it sat on a table.


I never heard anyone complain that it was too small, but in ’51 we graduated to a 19 inch Admiral, another table model. Both those first two sets were used and somehow my dad came by them and we were always having tubes replaced on both.


Wikipedia gives credit to WDAF TV for being the first TV station in Kansas City. However, the 1930s existence of the experimental station and me not being born yet was not the reason I could not watch.


The reason I could not watch the station I am talking about was because of my dad’s pocket book, chuckle.

[CrownVic95]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

Thanks for that info.


I had vaguely heard of an experimental Kansas City TV station that operated in the thirties. They were not affiliated with anyone and they did not last very long and they probably did not broadcast very many days per week.


So, in light of the 1930s station, I was wondering what that made WDAF TV, which started broadcasting in 1949 and was mainly affiliated with NBC.


WDAF TV came on at 6:00 pm each evening and continued at that time for a couple years. We were watching on a Firestone table model 7inch screen in our living room. For some reason both my mom and dad did not take to the TV at first. Usually, it was my sister and I watching. The wood enclosure housing all the tubes and such dwarfed the screen even though it sat on a table.


I never heard anyone complain that it was too small, but in ’51 we graduated to a 19 inch Admiral, another table model. Both those first two sets were used and somehow my dad came by them and we were always having tubes replaced on both.


Wikipedia gives credit to WDAF TV for being the first TV station in Kansas City. However, the 1930s existence of the experimental station and me not being born yet was not the reason I could not watch.


The reason I could not watch the station I am talking about was because of my dad’s pocket book, chuckle.

That sounds like our first TV, though I don't remember having one before about 1955. Could be we did and I just don't remember, but I know it wasn't much before that. I think by '59 we had a more "modern" 17 inch screen. An Olympic set, as I recall.

Tube testing - that and stamp collecting became my first hobbies. Seems we were at the drug store tester every other week. It was kinda fun, actually. And satisfying - to get home with that new 6BQ6-GT, put it in, and have a stable picture again. For another couple of weeks, anyway.

I give up on the other station you're talking about.

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

Thanks for that info.


I had vaguely heard of an experimental Kansas City TV station that operated in the thirties. They were not affiliated with anyone and they did not last very long and they probably did not broadcast very many days per week.


So, in light of the 1930s station, I was wondering what that made WDAF TV, which started broadcasting in 1949 and was mainly affiliated with NBC.


WDAF TV came on at 6:00 pm each evening and continued at that time for a couple years. We were watching on a Firestone table model 7inch screen in our living room. For some reason both my mom and dad did not take to the TV at first. Usually, it was my sister and I watching. The wood enclosure housing all the tubes and such dwarfed the screen even though it sat on a table.


I never heard anyone complain that it was too small, but in ’51 we graduated to a 19 inch Admiral, another table model. Both those first two sets were used and somehow my dad came by them and we were always having tubes replaced on both.


Wikipedia gives credit to WDAF TV for being the first TV station in Kansas City. However, the 1930s existence of the experimental station and me not being born yet was not the reason I could not watch.


The reason I could not watch the station I am talking about was because of my dad’s pocket book, chuckle.

Perhaps you refer to the Dumont station that was in the KC airwaves for a short time. I don't recall the channel, as that was before my time.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

Perhaps you refer to the Dumont station that was in the KC airwaves for a short time. I don't recall the channel, as that was before my time.

KCTY TV, channel 25 went on the air on June 6, 1953, or two months before WHB TV. That would have made KCTY TV and WDAF TV the only two stations on the air in KC at the time.

KCTY TV went off the air on February 28, 1954.

DuMont Television Network, the fourth national TV broadcasting network back in the fifties owned the station for the last couple months or so it was on the air, but that network was having financial problems and went belly up in ’54 or ’55.

I only remember that channel 25 was operating.

Our Admiral tabletop TV had a tuner for VHF channels 2-13. Channel 1 was reserved by the FCC for something I cannot recall and was not even shown on the dial. There was also a “UHF” position on the tuner between “13’ and “2” but our television set as with most television sets manufactured at the time needed an auxiliary tuner to select channels 14 through 83. To pull in channel 25 you would have to turn the Admiral television tuner to “UHF” and then turn the auxiliary tuner to “25,” provided that you also had a UHF antenna that would pull in the signal.

People, including my father, did not want to spend more money and purchase an auxiliary tuner and a totally different type of antenna in order to pick up the new station. It did not have a lot of viewers.

KCTY TV televised some high school football games and their play by play announcer was Bill Grigsby who later became a Chiefs broadcaster.

[WCHS'59]

But wait, Kansas City television fans, there is more.


There was yet another Kansas City TV station that came on the air in the earlier television days of the city and it also did not last very long—considerably less than two years.


I did get to see this station broadcast, but only a few hours worth.





What was this station?