DuMont will make TV work: A TL
- Thread starter AnonymousSauce
- Start date
At some point in the sixties, the FCC allowed UHF stations a million watts or more of power, giving them fairly clear coverage over a 40 mile radius. But in the fifties, that would have been a lot of expensive power. Sure, it's a good idea to give larger markets five VHF stations each at the expense of smaller markets. Look at Iowa, though. Many markets have three VHF stations and the arrangement worked. Des Moines had four, and had it been given five, one might have gone unused until advertising restrictions were lifted in 1984. What about Waterloo and Cedar Rapids? Their three transmitters are clustered in a midpoint. Had they been forced into UHF, each smaller city would have to support three UHF stations each, and the advertising revenue would not have been there. OK, each of three stations could have two transmitters. But it's still more expensive.
Let's say we give three and four-station VHF markets five stations at the expense of smaller markets. How many would it have taken to allow both ABC and Dumont to survive? I could see Chicago getting 2-4-5-7-9-11-13, and both Milwaukee and Indianapolis getting 3-6-8-10-12. Yes, Wichita, Oklahoma City and Tulsa would get five, but could four commercial stations sign on soon enough to save Dumont? Remember the advertising restrictions and the staffing requirements of the fifties.
AFAIK, most of the markets that were slated to get four or more VHF stations IOTL got theirs shortly after the license freeze was lifted, and DuMont still has their Pittsburgh ace in the hole to help make sure they have clearance in markets where they don't have access to that station yet (and they'll be keeping that ITTL, I'll be dealing with that in the next update). TV in smaller markets that are relegated to all UHF will be pretty hairy their the rest of the Fifties, to be sure, but overall I think it should be enough to allow for the continued existence of all four networks.
Gian
Banned
Hmmm.
I wonder how this might affect TV in the now combined Baltimore-Washington DMA.
EDIT: Assuming nothing else changes from OTL (like say Fredericksburg and Hagerstown forming their own TV stations, which they certainly could have), this is what the combined DMA looks like. By 2019, it could actually be the third-largest DMA (surpassing Chicago and behind NYC and LA)
I wonder how this might affect TV in the now combined Baltimore-Washington DMA.
EDIT: Assuming nothing else changes from OTL (like say Fredericksburg and Hagerstown forming their own TV stations, which they certainly could have), this is what the combined DMA looks like. By 2019, it could actually be the third-largest DMA (surpassing Chicago and behind NYC and LA)
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Gian
Banned
Also @AnonymousSauce, about the Baltimore-DC area, in OTL, the VHF stations are thus:
2 - WMAR (ABC, Baltimore)
4 - WRC (NBC, Washington)
5 - WTTG (FOX, Washington; this was one of Dumont's original affiliates so I don't see why that wouldn't change here)
7 - WJLA (ABC, Washington)
9 - WUSA (CBS, Washington; It was WTOP when it signed on)
11 - WBAL (NBC, Baltimore)
13 - WJZ (CBS, Baltimore)
I'd like to see some kind of chapter covering the merged Baltimore-DC market, and maybe have PBS have a station or two in the VHF market (say, both WETA and MPT). In fact, I could foresee something like this if this arrangement sticks:
2 - WJZ (CBS)
4 - WRC (NBC)
5 - WTTG (Dumont)
7 - WBAL (ABC)
9 - WETA (PBS)
11 - WTOP (FOX, assuming it still exists)
13 - WMPT (PBS - MPT)
(BTW, both channels 2, 7, and 13 would operate out of Baltimore, the rest in Washington)
2 - WMAR (ABC, Baltimore)
4 - WRC (NBC, Washington)
5 - WTTG (FOX, Washington; this was one of Dumont's original affiliates so I don't see why that wouldn't change here)
7 - WJLA (ABC, Washington)
9 - WUSA (CBS, Washington; It was WTOP when it signed on)
11 - WBAL (NBC, Baltimore)
13 - WJZ (CBS, Baltimore)
I'd like to see some kind of chapter covering the merged Baltimore-DC market, and maybe have PBS have a station or two in the VHF market (say, both WETA and MPT). In fact, I could foresee something like this if this arrangement sticks:
2 - WJZ (CBS)
4 - WRC (NBC)
5 - WTTG (Dumont)
7 - WBAL (ABC)
9 - WETA (PBS)
11 - WTOP (FOX, assuming it still exists)
13 - WMPT (PBS - MPT)
(BTW, both channels 2, 7, and 13 would operate out of Baltimore, the rest in Washington)
Well, PBS will definitely have a VHF station as all markets that have 5 or more VHF licenses have one set aside for noncommercial purposes. I'll try to post a supplemental today or tomorrow at least covering the DCA/BWI market, if not done of the other major markets affected by the change.
Also this is what I'll say about the possible existence of FOX in TTL: Baltimore and Washington being combined into one DMA allows for Metromedia to still form ITTL and it's "kernel" of independent stations to be available to Rupe Murdoch or somebody to form a new network. Now whether he or anybody else decides to take advantage of that, we shall just have to see...
No FOX please...maybe Turner or someone new ITTL? still with dumont would be nice...so when an update about shows and other media broadcasted by dumont buddy?
I'm gonna try to bust out a full update this weekend, since I finally have a Saturday off where I'm not busy
fox means foxnews, a world without the latter is a massive improvement. Maybe not nixon too as that was Nixon idea Allis got the tip
Gian
Banned
I would like to ask why not have an alternative to the mainstream media, especially when they start becoming left-leaning by the 90s (and the 2010s even more so). Sorry if that's out of context
IOTL, until the late 1960s that would have been NET, of which any TL that leads to NET's survival would peak my interest. (Also, too, a much better fate for public radio.)
Yes. And, their sports coverage is worse than the other networks. I wish they never got into the NFL (and NHL and MLB as a result).
Hey, Fox is my only Hope of baseball outside illegal venezuelan TV(and even they botch their coverage too), but dumont could fill that niche easily here too.
Well, since you're here, and if the OP wants to add a Latin American dimension, I already have on top of my head a few potential butterflies south of the Río Bravo de Norte/Rio Grande. IOTL the Big Three (along with others like Time-Life) throughout the 1950s and 1960s did try to expand their market influences in Latin America, with investments all over the place (in Argentina post-1955 and, IIRC, for a time in Venezuela, the major TV channels in the capital cities managed to affiliate to some degree with the networks), but one could say here that they were way too far ahead of the curve (only with the growth of pay TV did the US networks finally get what they were looking for, and without the need of middlemen like terrestrial stations). Of course, many of those Latin Americans who did get access to American investment were less concerned about programming then they were in getting access to capital, to equipment, and to training so that they could produce programming themselves - and in some cases even copied the US model and took it to new heights, with Mexico and Cuba (pre-Castro) as the premier examples (after the Cuban Revolution, many participants in what used to be the Cuban TV industry scattered themselves all over Latin America and brought with them little pieces of what Cuban TV used to be like). There were, of course, some exceptions (Colombia and Chile in particular stick out right away) but even then it was still within the dominant paradigm of commercial TV. Maybe ITTL DuMont could provide additional capital for those stations, and in some cases where the other networks deemed them risky investments (i.e. Colombia because, while much of the programming was supplied by the interestingly-named programadoras, ultimately the state still owned the TV infrastructure and thus, in the mindset of US network execs, could control it any way they wanted, if they so choose, informing them to stay away if possible) DuMont could fill the gap.
Chapter 2: RKO General purchase of DuMont
Chapter 2
The FCC ruling that realigned certain large television markets and opened up licenses in four-VHF markets to commercial usage eliminated one substantial threat to DuMont's survival, but storm clouds still loomed on the horizon. DuMont was still the only major network that had no ties to the radio industry, eliminating a major source of funding, programming, and affiliated companies that could bid for licenses in markets just being opened up after the end of the freeze. Furthermore, Paramount continued to insist on using its two O&O stations to flagship its Paramount Television Network programming service, which blocked DuMont from acquiring additional O&Os to come up to the five-channel limit imposed by the FCC. DuMont's ace-in-the-hole of owning the only VHF station in Pittsburgh helped it to survive this tumultuous period by allowing it to negotiate airtime for its programs in exchange for giving the other networks airtime in Pittsburgh, but even this would eventually run out as additional VHF licenses would come online in the market in the years after the freeze ended.
What would come to almost be the last straw would come in 1953 as equally-struggling ABC would agree to merge with United Paramount Theaters. This would give ABC an infusion of cash and connections in Hollywood that would nearly put it on part with the Big 2 and overwhelm the resources DuMont had at the time. When the Justice Department had hearings to approve the merger DuMont at first argued that it should be disapproved based on the questions of whether UPT and Paramount were truly separate as the government has required as a result of the antitrust case against the major movie studios, but then Goldsmith had an epiphany[1] and instead motioned that as a corollary to the merger's approval, that Paramount be required to divest itself of its shares of DuMont, as the risk that a not-truly-separate Paramount could dominate two networks at the same time. The Justice Department agreed with this argument and when the merger was approved, Paramount was given six months to find a buyer for its shares in DuMont.
A ready and eager buyer was found in General Tire, the new owner of the Don Lee system of radio stations on the West Coast, majority investor in the Mutual Broadcasting System radio network, and owner of the RKO Telepictures movie studio. Mutual had been rumored to have interest in launching a TV network earlier in the decade, but decided against it because of the crowded market and lack of VHF licenses in major markets. Now Mutual would be affiliated with a preexisting network. This would give DuMont access to Mutual programming such as Leave it to the Girls, an early daytime talk show, makeover show Queen for A Day, and The Lone Ranger. It would also give it relationships with radio stations that could bid for affiliate licenses, and a way to bundle radio and TV transmissions to meet AT&T's requirement that DuMont pay for radio transmissions. General Tire's broadcasting division also already owned five TV stations of its own, KHJ in Los Angeles, WNAC in Boston, WOR in New York, WHBQ in Memphis, and CKLW in Windsor, ON. RKO General would divest WOR and WHBQ to German-American investor John Kluge to stay under the 5 station limit, while using the Canadian station across the river from Detroit as a backdoor 6th O&O.
[1] Once again, Thomas Goldsmith argues a case in court instead of DuMont, and is able to take advantage of a situation that could work out to DuMont's detriment to instead make an important gain.
***
Alright, there's Chapter 2, covering how DuMont is able to find a corporate partner to ensure its survival through the end of the turbulent '50s. Next I plan on doing the supplemental that will cover changes to station affiliations and license assignments in important markets, then I'll show what DuMont has been putting on the air in terms of shows throughout the '50s.
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