Early Television Stations
W8XCT / WLW Stations
Crosley Broadcasting, located in Cincinnati and operator of radio station WLW, experimented with television before the war. In 1939, WLW singer Hellen Diller appeared in a Philco television demonstration. It is unclear whether this demonstration took place in Cincinnati, though the wood paneling in the photo below is very similar to that in the next picture. Here is a 1960s Crosley brochure.
The following is excerpted from the book Cincinnati Television, by Jim Friedman:
Roscoe Duncan (above) had been working for Philco in Pennsylvania when Crosley Corporation vice president Ronald James Rockwell convinced him to come to Cincinnati. Ducan designed and built a television system using this camera, placed on the 46th floor of the Carew Tower, and broadcast under the call letters W8XCT. With only two television receivers in Cincinnati in 1939, Duncan and Crosley Corporation engineers unually just pointed the camera out the window. The image below, captured off the monitor, shows the northeast side of downtown where the Cincinnati Times-Star building (left) stands at Eight Street and Broadway. (Above, courtesy of WLWT; below, courtesy the Clyde Haehnle collection.) |
Janette Davis was best known as the singing star of Arthur Godfrey's CBS television shows from 1946 to 1957. In 1939, the Crosley Radio Corporation hired Davis to perform for experimental tests. The early television cameras were very insensitive to light, so technicians needed to put a great number of lights on Davis just to create a picture. The lights generated heat and, in a short period of time, the room filled with the smell of scorched wool from Davis's clothing. This was one the early problems with the new technology; talent could be in front of the camera for only a few minutes before they were drenched with persperation. The picture below, taken off the television screen, was considered an outstanding image in 1939 (Courtesy the Clyde Haehnle collection.) |
Roberta (left) Lynn, and Harris Rosedale take a bow in front of the W8XCT camera operated by Phil Underwood. The Rosedales taught dance at their downtown studio, hosted a weekly amateur-hour radio show, and staged variety shows. Every Thursday, they brought their dance students and performers to the Carew Tower to perform in front of the camera. Their involvement in television continued for decades. (Courtesy Cincinnati Post.) |
From the newspaper articles below it seems that W8XCT did not receive its construction permit until 1940. Most likely the experiments described above were closed circuit rather than broadcast. It is unclear whether Crosley continued its television experiments after 1939 and actually broadcast from W8XCT.
The camera shown above was made by DuMont, and was used in the DuMont exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair.
See also the 1939 RCA television demonstration in Cincinnati.
Broadcasting, March 1 1939
Mansfield News Journal (Ohio), March 21 1939
Broadcasting, April 1 1939 |
Broadcasting, December 1 1939
Lima News (Ohio), February 18 1940
New York Times, July 7, 1940
Coshocton Tribune (Ohio), August 29 1940
Massillon Independent (Ohio), August 29 1940 |
A 1945 list of U.S. TV stations shows that W8XCT had a construction permit, but the first telecasts probably started in late 1947. In February of 1948 they received the call sign WLWT as a commercial station.
Here is more from the book Cincinnati Television, by Jim Friedman:
In addition to radio broadcasts from his Camp Washington facility, Powel Crosley invented and manufactured an electronic explosive detonator during World War II. The government did not want radio facilities near his highly classified work, so the Crosley Radio Corporation bought the Elks temple at Ninth and Elm Streets in 1942. WLW radio and, years later, WLW-T, set up operations there. Television remained there unitl June 1999, when it moved to Mount Auburn. The first television show produced at Crosley Square at Ninth and Elm Streets was The Pogue Style Show. This look at fashions available at the popular Cincinnati department store aired on W8XCT on November 13, 1947, before the completion of the studios on Mount Olympus. |
After World War Two, Crosley started WLWD Dayton and WLWC Columbus. A private microwave network was built in 1949 to interconnect the three stations. Later, other stations were built by Crosley.
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Test patterns courtesy of Steve Dichter
A remote broadcast from Port Columbusd Airport in 1949
New York Times, November 12, 1947
Courtesy of John Pinckney