TV Station KVVV

[Firebird65]

I was doing some research yesterday at UH and while scrolling through newspapers from September 1968, I came across the daily TV listings.

I found what I expected:

KPRC-TV - Channel 2 (NBC)

KUHT-TV - Channel 8 (Public)

KHOU-TV - Channel 11 (CBS)

KTRK-TV - Channel 13 (ABC)

KHTV-TV - Channel 39 (Ind)

and...

KVVV-TV - Channel 16 (Ind)

Huh?

Apparently this station wasn't around long, as I didn't see it in the September 1967 listings nor in the September 1969 listings (I'm looking up football scores, which is why it's always September).

Anyone know anything about this short-lived station? I looked over some of the listings and they had a cool sci-fi movie playing the night I looked up.

[Absinthe_1900]

I believe the were located in Galveston.

I remember watching the station because they played a lot of old movies.

[sevfiv]

seems so

this site listed it in galveston:

http://members.aol.com/cingram/television/dumonta10.htm

and now here (low power):

from the FCC

and KVVV-LP 53 TV Low Power (UHF) KAZH LICENSE, LLC HOUSTON, TX

http://www.publicintegrity.org/telecom/ana...e.aspx?HOID=610

[Firebird65]

seems so

this site listed it in galveston:

http://members.aol.com/cingram/television/dumonta10.htm

and now here (low power):

from the FCC

and KVVV-LP 53 TV Low Power (UHF) KAZH LICENSE, LLC HOUSTON, TX

http://www.publicintegrity.org/telecom/ana...e.aspx?HOID=610

I looked at that link and further down on the page it also listed Channel 23 KTVP, Houston TX. Never heard of it either. There's also Channel 29, KXYZ. Never heard of it. (KXYZ was the original callsign for Channel 13). Finally, Channel 39, KNUZ, which I do know about and was the actual DuMont affiliate in Houston for a breif period in the 1950s.

Edited August 9, 2006 by Firebird65

[FilioScotia]

I looked at that link and further down on the page it also listed Channel 23 KTVP, Houston TX. Never heard of it either.

Oh - my - God. All the gin joints in the world and I had to walk into this one. Somebody asking about a TV station where I once worked nearly 40 years ago -- for a brief time. Time for true confessions.

K-V-V-V Channel 16 was licensed to Galveston, but it was physically located in Alvin. Actually, it was in a brand new building in a cowpasture just outside of Alvin on the road to Dickinson. (One of the owners owned the land.) It went on the air in 1967, to mainly show movies, game shows and syndicated reruns. The big marquee attraction was a six hour live running analysis of the stock market called The Stock Market Observer. It had a large set with computerized display boards providing constant monitoring of the action on Wall Street. The Dow Jones 30, S&P 500, the Chicago Mercantile and the Board of Trade for livestock futures, and others.

It was presented on a repeating segmented hourly wheel by an on-air staff of 3 people -- including yours truly -- who kept viewers "almost" up to the minute on everything important in the markets, from opening to closing every business day, complete with the NY and American Stock Exchange tickers crawling across the bottom of the screen. I say it was "almost" up to the minute because the stock exchanges required a 15 minute delay in putting their tickers on the air. The Bloomberg Network is now doing almost the same thing we were doing in 1968.

I joined the air staff in early 68, and worked about 7 months with co-hosts Jeff Thompson and Roberta DeFranceso, until the station lost so much money it started laying people off in September and October. I was in the first group to get pink slips. You know what they say -- last hired first fired. It's true. Jeff and Roberta both moved to New York to continue doing the show up there, and it lasted for several more years. I went back to radio, Jeff now has his own PR firm in North Carolina, and Roberta still lives in Houston where she does the Fiesta commercials on TV. She's the Fiesta lady.

The Stock Market Observer was a great idea, far ahead of its time, and it had a lot of viewers in just about every company office in town, but the TV station sales staff had no idea how to sell it and get sponsors. They were clueless. The show's creators had identical shows in New York and Dallas, both of which were successful and making money, but the show at KVVV in Alvin ultimately failed for lack of advertising.

When the SMO went off the air in late 68, the station limped along on life support for a few months, until sometime in mid 1969, the owners decided to put it out of their misery. It was off the air and history by 1970. So now you know. It's now just a decaying building out there in that cow pasture.

Edited March 28, 2007 by FilioScotia

[Firebird65]

Isn't the internet just the coolest thing there is!

Awesome. Thanks for the interesting and illuminating reply!

[rreini]

Oh - my - God. All the gin joints in the world and I had to walk into this one. Somebody asking about a TV station where I once worked nearly 40 years ago -- for a brief time. Time for true confessions.

K-V-V-V Channel 16 was licensed to Galveston, but it was physically located in Alvin. Actually, it was in a brand new building in a cowpasture just outside of Alvin on the road to Dickinson. (One of the owners owned the land.) It went on the air in 1967, to mainly show movies, game shows and syndicated reruns. The big marquee attraction was a six hour live running analysis of the stock market called The Stock Market Observer. It had a large set with computerized display boards providing constant monitoring of the action on Wall Street. The Dow Jones 30, S&P 500, the Chicago Mercantile and the Board of Trade for livestock futures, and others.

It was presented on a repeating segmented hourly wheel by an on-air staff of 3 people -- including yours truly -- who kept viewers "almost" up to the minute on everything important in the markets, from opening to closing every business day, complete with the NY and American Stock Exchange tickers crawling across the bottom of the screen. I say it was "almost" up to the minute because the stock exchanges required a 15 minute delay in putting their tickers on the air. The Bloomberg Network is now doing almost the same thing we were doing in 1968.

I joined the air staff in early 68, and worked about 7 months with co-hosts Jeff Thompson and Roberta DeFranceso, until the station lost so much money it started laying people off in September and October. I was in the first group to get pink slips. You know what they say -- last hired first fired. It's true. Jeff and Roberta both moved to New York to continue doing the show up there, and it lasted for several more years. I went back to radio, Jeff now has his own PR firm in Raleigh North Carolina, and Roberta lives in Houston where she does the Fiesta commercials on TV. She's the Fiesta lady.

The Stock Market Observer was a great idea, far ahead of its time, and it had a lot of viewers in just about every company office in town, but the TV station sales staff had no idea how to sell it and get sponsors. They were clueless. The show's creators had identical shows in New York and Dallas, both of which were successful and making money, but the show at KVVV in Alvin ultimately failed for lack of advertising.

When the SMO went off the air in late 68, the station limped along on life support for a few months, until sometime in mid 1969, the owners decided to put it out of their misery. It was off the air and history by 1970. So now you know. You can't even find any sign of it in that cow pasture.

One telling factoid: the owners hired a station manager whose only TV experience was as Nod the Clown on Channel 13 in the late 50s and early 60s. That says it all. Jim Page was a nice personable guy, and I liked him, but he was in over his head trying to run a TV station. I wonder what Page is doing now. Anybody know him?

I just joined the forum and happened upon this thread (and a lot of other interesting ones, too) -- thanks for the history of channel 16, FilioScotia. I was only 5 years old when it was on the air, but I can clearly remember it. I do remember seeing the stock market coverage on occasion and definitely remembered someone named Roberta. Thank you for confirming some old memories for me!

Here's another memory of channel 16: No-No the Clown. I don't remember too much about the show, except that he used to air Dick Tracy cartoons during the program. I was on it once, along with several of my friends from the neighborhood (League City, so the station was very close to us).

Roger

[FilioScotia]

Here's another memory of channel 16: No-No the Clown. I don't remember too much about the show, except that he used to air Dick Tracy cartoons during the program. I was on it once, along with several of my friends from the neighborhood (League City, so the station was very close to us).

No-No the Clown -- Ralph Ehntholt -- was the kindest and sweetest man I ever knew. He really did love kids. Sadly he passed away about six years ago. His son Ralph Jr is a local actor who also appears as No-No at various events around town.

[Vertigo58]

Roger

You might try www.IMDB.com they can tell you any and all info on the world of entertainment.

Especially if you are searching for a specific person, movie, TV show etc.

[icepickphil]

I looked at that link and further down on the page it also listed Channel 23 KTVP, Houston TX. Never heard of it either. There's also Channel 29, KXYZ. Never heard of it. (KXYZ was the original callsign for Channel 13). Finally, Channel 39, KNUZ, which I do know about and was the actual DuMont affiliate in Houston for a breif period in the 1950s.

Channel 16 was the second UHF station for Houston after 39. But whereas 39 was able to stay afloat in it's early years, 16 was not and dissapeared relatively quickly.

As a side note does anywone remember which UHF station began broadcasting Texas Ranger baseball games in Houston in the early 70s (it wasn't 16 I don't think)? For several years you had a nightly Rangers baseball game on TV in Houston and about only about one Astro game per month televised on Sundays!

[Firebird65]

As a side note does anywone remember which UHF station began broadcasting Texas Ranger baseball games in Houston in the early 70s (it wasn't 16 I don't think)? For several years you had a nightly Rangers baseball game on TV in Houston and about only about one Astro game per month televised on Sundays!

I believe it was Channel 39 that did the Rangers games in the 1970s. I don't remember ever seeing any night games, seems as if they were only weekend day games.

Channel 2 did the Astros games in the early and mid 1970s and they might show at most at game or two a week and only road games. Usually it was the weekends with an occasional weeknight game in the summer. I remember watching a weeknight 1975 Astros-Braves game (back when the Braves had Hank Aaron and that cool uniform with the stylized feather on the sleeves). There might have been 300 people in the stands.

Edited April 7, 2007 by editor

[brucesw]

KNUZ-TV signed on at 7pm on Thursday October 23, 1953. The opening program was a one hour introductory show followed by a live telecast of a Lamar High School vs. Milby High School football game which experienced many difficulties.

It was a short-lived debut. The station was off the air until the following Monday while engineers remounted the antenna atop the KUHT antenna and worked on the technical problems experienced during the remote.

On Monday the schedule included:

4-4:45pm - Paul

Edited August 9, 2007 by brucesw

[cowboybud]

As a side note does anywone remember which UHF station began broadcasting Texas Ranger baseball games in Houston in the early 70s (it wasn't 16 I don't think)? For several years you had a nightly Rangers baseball game on TV in Houston and about only about one Astro game per month televised on Sundays!

I believe it was Channel 39 that did the Rangers games in the 1970s. I don't remember ever seeing any night games, seems as if they were only weekend day games.

Channel 2 did the Astros games in the early and mid 1970s and they might show at most at game or two a week and only road games. Usually it was the weekends with an occasional weeknight game in the summer. I remember watching a weeknight 1975 Astros-Braves game (back when the Braves had Hank Aaron and that cool uniform with the stylized feather on the sleeves). There might have been 300 people in the stands.

Channel 39 had Rangers games well into the 80s, usually either a late west coast game, or on weekends. Gaylord Broadcasting owned Ch. 39, and the Rangers, and Channel 11 in DFW who originated the game broadcasts (occasionally someone at channel 39 would fall asleep at the controls and let a station ID for KTVT slip through).

[SpaceAge]

No-No the Clown -- Ralph Ehntholt -- was the kindest and sweetest man I ever knew. He really did love kids. Sadly he passed away about six years ago. His son Ralph Jr is a local actor who also appears as No-No at various events around town.

My sister and I loved the No-No the Clown show. We discovered the show when we moved to our new house in 1968 and had our first roof mounted antenna for our giant RCA console TV/stereo which I still have in my den. No-No must have aired about 2:30 or 3:30 weekday afternoons. I got out of school at 2pm and after the 10 mile school bus ride down all the gravel roads in west Houston, it was past 2:30 by the time I got home, hot and dusty. After some purple Kool-Aide and some Nilla Wafers, it was time for No-No. It seems his costume had a collar that he would flip up over his face when he said something funny. We liked him better than Bozo because he talked to the children in a less creepy tone of voice. Still to this day, I sometimes tune to 16 in hopes they will be back on the air.

We watched No-No on a TV like this but the speakers are wider.

To get UHF 16 you turn the top center knob to U which is between 2 and 13 and then rotate the outer ring of the large knob to 16. And no, you may not change the station when a commercial comes on! Our whole world seemed to exist between the 2 and the 8. (2, U16, U39, 13, 11, 8)

[plumber2]

Oh - my - God. All the gin joints in the world and I had to walk into this one. Somebody asking about a TV station where I once worked nearly 40 years ago -- for a brief time. Time for true confessions.

K-V-V-V Channel 16 was licensed to Galveston, but it was physically located in Alvin. Actually, it was in a brand new building in a cowpasture just outside of Alvin on the road to Dickinson. (One of the owners owned the land.) It went on the air in 1967, to mainly show movies, game shows and syndicated reruns. The big marquee attraction was a six hour live running analysis of the stock market called The Stock Market Observer. It had a large set with computerized display boards providing constant monitoring of the action on Wall Street. The Dow Jones 30, S&P 500, the Chicago Mercantile and the Board of Trade for livestock futures, and others.

It was presented on a repeating segmented hourly wheel by an on-air staff of 3 people -- including yours truly -- who kept viewers "almost" up to the minute on everything important in the markets, from opening to closing every business day, complete with the NY and American Stock Exchange tickers crawling across the bottom of the screen. I say it was "almost" up to the minute because the stock exchanges required a 15 minute delay in putting their tickers on the air. The Bloomberg Network is now doing almost the same thing we were doing in 1968.

I joined the air staff in early 68, and worked about 7 months with co-hosts Jeff Thompson and Roberta DeFranceso, until the station lost so much money it started laying people off in September and October. I was in the first group to get pink slips. You know what they say -- last hired first fired. It's true. Jeff and Roberta both moved to New York to continue doing the show up there, and it lasted for several more years. I went back to radio, Jeff now has his own PR firm in North Carolina, and Roberta still lives in Houston where she does the Fiesta commercials on TV. She's the Fiesta lady.

The Stock Market Observer was a great idea, far ahead of its time, and it had a lot of viewers in just about every company office in town, but the TV station sales staff had no idea how to sell it and get sponsors. They were clueless. The show's creators had identical shows in New York and Dallas, both of which were successful and making money, but the show at KVVV in Alvin ultimately failed for lack of advertising.

When the SMO went off the air in late 68, the station limped along on life support for a few months, until sometime in mid 1969, the owners decided to put it out of their misery. It was off the air and history by 1970. So now you know. It's now just a decaying building out there in that cow pasture.

Wow, I always thought the station and tower were somewhere over on the other side of Alvin . I live in the western part of Galveston county near the old KGUL (Channel 11 KHOU) tower location. Were excactly was this building? I'd like to drive by it.

[FilioScotia]

Wow, I always thought the station and tower were somewhere over on the other side of Alvin . I live in the western part of Galveston county near the old KGUL (Channel 11 KHOU) tower location. Were excactly was this building? I'd like to drive by it.

It's on FM 517 less than a mile east of the N. Alvin Bypass. As you drive east away from Alvin it's on the right. Look for a TV tower with a delapidated two-story brick building next to it out in the middle of a field. I'm amazed the FCC or the FAA hasn't ordered somebody to take the tower down. It's been standing there unused since the late sixties.

Here's a link to some photos taken just last year by HAIF member Invisible Texan. To whom we owe our everlasting thanks for taking the time to go out there and crawl around in that old place. These photos are great.

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/invisible_texan/albums

They're labeled -- what else? -- Ruins of KVVV TV.

Edited April 2, 2007 by FilioScotia

[rreini]

It's on FM 517 less than a mile east of the N. Alvin Bypass. As you drive east away from Alvin it's on the right. Look for a TV tower with a delapidated two-story brick building next to it out in the middle of a field. I'm amazed the FCC or the FAA hasn't ordered somebody to take the tower down. It's been standing there unused since the late sixties.

Here's a link to some photos taken just last year by HAIF member Invisible Texan. To whom we owe our everlasting thanks for taking the time to go out there and crawl around in that old place. These photos are great.

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/invisible_texan/albums

They're labeled -- what else? -- Ruins of KVVV TV.

Actually, I remember it off of FM 528, not 517, not that far from the old channel 11 tower (which I remember more as channel 8's tower). The Wikipedia entry for KVVV gives the address as 1400 Lundy Lane in Friendswood. Definitely on the right when leaving Alvin.

[FilioScotia]

Actually, I remember it off of FM 528, not 517, not that far from the old channel 11 tower (which I remember more as channel 8's tower). The Wikipedia entry for KVVV gives the address as 1400 Lundy Lane in Friendswood. Definitely on the right when leaving Alvin.

You are absolutely right and I am embarrassed. It's humbling and a little scary when you learn that you can't trust your own memory anymore. I lived in Dickinson when I worked at KVVV in 1968, and I always drove over to Alvin on FM 517, but for reasons I attribute to the onset of Mad Cow Disease, I just don't remember making that right turn on FM 528 and driving north a couple of miles to Lundy Lane. That part of my daily drive is a complete blank. I only remember how long it took to get there from Dickinson on 517.

I searched for Lundy Lane in Alvin on Google Earth and there it is -- big as life. The old KVVV building, still sitting out there in the middle of that field, just off FM 528. The pics taken last September by Invisible Texan are startling, to say the least. Very sad.

[rreini]

You are absolutely right and I am embarrassed. It's humbling and a little scary when you learn that you can't trust your own memory anymore. I lived in Dickinson when I worked at KVVV in 1968, and I always drove over to Alvin on FM 517, but for reasons I attribute to the onset of Mad Cow Disease, I just don't remember making that right turn on FM 528 and driving north a couple of miles to Lundy Lane. That part of my daily drive is a complete blank. I only remember how long it took to get there from Dickinson on 517.

I searched for Lundy Lane in Alvin on Google Earth and there it is -- big as life. The old KVVV building, still sitting out there in the middle of that field, just off FM 528. The pics taken last September by Invisible Texan are startling, to say the least. Very sad.

Invisible Texan may have taken those pictures just in time -- when I was last down there in November, I remember driving past and NOT seeing the building there anymore. It looked like the lot had been cleared. Can anyone confirm this?

Roger

[Invisible Texan]

Invisible Texan may have taken those pictures just in time -- when I was last down there in November, I remember driving past and NOT seeing the building there anymore. It looked like the lot had been cleared. Can anyone confirm this?

Roger

That would be nice to know if anyone ventures over that way. Living 300 miles away, I don't get there often anymore. I had a gut feeling the facility was on the short list for demolition after I charged in there that day taking pictures & have since read somewhere online that a subdivision was going in on that corner or the adjacent one. As for the equipment - - The story I was told years ago was that it was sold & they basically "picked up the station" & moved it to Corpus Christi. The Federal Communications Commission swapped the channel 16 allocation to Galveston with the allocation for channel 22 in Corpus Christi. Then sometime around 1971, KEDT (16) signed on in CC as the PBS affiliate with the used equipment purchased from KVVV. -- Presumably the same transmitter as well. . Again, I haven't confirmed that either. I was just told that once by a friend that lived in Corpus at the time.

Regards, Jack

Edited April 5, 2007 by Invisible Texan

[FilioScotia]

the story I was told years ago was that it was sold & they basically "picked up the station" & moved it to Corpus Christi.

Very interesting. I had never heard that story. That just shows I need to keep up with what's going on. I checked, and found that KEDT TV Corpus Christi signed on in 1972, and it was with used equipment they got in Houston.

The KEDT website says "Realizing the great expense of new equipment, this original Board of Directors located a package of used equipment in Houston and raised the needed funds for the purchase...On October 16, 1972, KEDT went on the air for the first time from the vacated Cheston Heath School building on Carrizo Street...To this day, KEDT is still utilizing some of the original equipment and transmitter. "

Edited April 7, 2007 by editor

[Invisible Texan]

Glenn McCarthy's Shamrock Broadcasting owned KXYZ-AM-FM at the time and was seeking a TV station (he wanted to operate them all from the hotel but I don't think any of them ever had studios there). McCarthy shut down the FM to concentrate on TV but so far as I know, KXYZ-TV never made it to the air on any channel.

Wow.. That's great & memorable stuff. Do you have any idea where exactly the KNUZ-39 transmitter/antenna was? The earliest recollection I have (before KHTV) of that Candelabra tower near Missouri City was with only two antennas -- CH's 2 & 11. It seems to me like KHTV's antenna went in the vacant 3rd position in 1966. I wondered if that might've been where KNUZ-TV had been before ... But that was so long ago & my memory must be half shot by now.

Edited April 5, 2007 by Invisible Texan

[editor]

Very interesting. I had never heard that story. That just shows I need to keep up with what's going on. I checked, and found that KEDT TV Corpus Christi signed on in 1972, and it was with used equipment they got in Houston.

The KEDT website says "Realizing the great expense of new equipment, this original Board of Directors located a package of used equipment in Houston and raised the needed funds for the purchase...On October 16, 1972, KEDT went on the air for the first time from the vacated Cheston Heath School building on Carrizo Street...To this day, KEDT is still utilizing some of the original equipment and transmitter. "

It's interesting how TV equipment gets re-used like that. When KHCW (then KHWB) started its news operation, they purchased the video archive of the old TXN cable network (anyone remember them).

KHOU used to get a lot of hand-me-downs from WFAA/Dallas, but not so much anymore. That stuff ends up at TXCN and Belo's smaller stations now.

[Mister X]

I've been interested in the history of local Houston television for years. And you guys are suppling some really great stuff here. Thank you.

I thought I knew a little about the history of Houston television until I just found out about the existance of channel 16 and the other channels that Houston could have had.

I have always wondered how Houston ended up with the stations it has. For example, why does a city the size of Houston only have 4 VHF channels? Is it because of Houston's proximity to Beaumont, San Antonio and Austin? How did the number allocations get decided in the first place?

I suppose there are books about this stuff, but I've never been able to locate them and some of you guys here seem to be wealth of knowledge on the subject so I just thought I'd ask.

Thanks again.

[brucesw]

Glenn McCarthy's Shamrock Broadcasting owned KXYZ-AM-FM at the time and was seeking a TV station (he wanted to operate them all from the hotel but I don't think any of them ever had studios there). McCarthy shut down the FM to concentrate on TV but so far as I know, KXYZ-TV never made it to the air on any channel.

Wow.. That's great & memorable stuff. Do you have any idea where exactly the KNUZ-39 transmitter/antenna was? The earliest recollection I have (before KHTV) of that Candelabra tower near Missouri City was with only two antennas -- CH's 2 & 11. It seems to me like KHTV's antenna went in the vacant 3rd position in 1966. I wondered if that might've been where KNUZ-TV had been before ... But that was so long ago & my memory must be half shot by now.

KNUZ-TV was on the Channel 8 tower which was behind the building on Cullen according to the newspaper at the time.

KGUL-TV's original tower was at Camp Wallace, I understand. 11 may have actually had a couple of towers before going on the candelabra west of 288; an original one that was very short and then a taller one.

I looked it up: When Glenn McCarthy (Shamrock Broadcasting) took over Harris Co. Broadcasting he dropped out of the competition for Channel 13 and opted for 29 instead. Did it for the same reason the owners of 11 opted to go for a station in Galveston: to avoid the competitive hearings for the VHF slots in Houston which would delay getting on the air. HCBc had originally applied for 13 in 1948, the 2nd applicant for that allotment, before the freeze on TV permits which left Houston with only one station.

Roy Hofheinz had originally applied for KTHT-TV on Channel 7 when that was assigned to Houston but switched to 13 when new allotments were doled out.

Houston Television Timeline

Edited August 9, 2007 by brucesw

[brucesw]

It's interesting how TV equipment gets re-used like that. When KHCW (then KHWB) started its news operation, they purchased the video archive of the old TXN cable network (anyone remember them).

KHOU used to get a lot of hand-me-downs from WFAA/Dallas, but not so much anymore. That stuff ends up at TXCN and Belo's smaller stations now.

When I was at Channel 9 in Austin in the 60s (KLRN, now KLRU), we had some state of the art Marconi b&w cameras in one studio but hand-me-down RCA's in the other which I believe were from KPRC.

The GM of 9 told me KUHT had lots of hand-me-downs, including some old DuMonts from KPRC and equipment from 2 and 11.

When I was with Westinghouse I had my pick of lots of choice equipment. In those days, Group W engineers had big budgets. A couple of stations had spent tens of thousands of dollars on state of the art Telefunken and Neumann mikes for their whole operations, then decided they didn't like the sound of them so just put them in a closet and forgot about them. I got as many as I needed.

[brucesw]

I've been interested in the history of local Houston television for years. And you guys are suppling some really great stuff here. Thank you.

I thought I knew a little about the history of Houston television until I just found out about the existance of channel 16 and the other channels that Houston could have had.

I have always wondered how Houston ended up with the stations it has. For example, why does a city the size of Houston only have 4 VHF channels? Is it because of Houston's proximity to Beaumont, San Antonio and Austin? How did the number allocations get decided in the first place?

I suppose there are books about this stuff, but I've never been able to locate them and some of you guys here seem to be wealth of knowledge on the subject so I just thought I'd ask.

Thanks again.

The only books I know about with anything about Houston TV are The Fault Does Not Lie with Your Set by Jack Harris, long time general manager of Channel 2, and Texas Signs On by Richard Shroeder. The former is a collection of essays - reminiscences - by several employees of 2; they don't seem to have done any research for what they wrote, just relied on their memories, and there's a lot of puffery in some of the claims. The latter is mostly about radio but contains a big section on WBAP-TV, Fort Worth, the first TV station in the state and has several pages on KLEE-TV/KPRC-TV and a couple of pages on other early Houston TV stations. It is well researched but not without flaws and misstatements. For instance, he says KTRH won the assignment for Channel 13 but as I pointed out in post # 12 above, that's not exactly true.

The number of allotments to a city would have been influenced by the number of people to be served, technical requirements for spacing from same channel/adjacent channel assignments (the older TV sets had much better tuners than today and could pull in stations from much farther away, resulting in interference), and undoubtedly at times politics.

I have mostly researched radio history. However this site http://members.aol.com/jeff560/jeff.html (scroll down) has a section on TV which may have some explanatory articles which could help.

Take a look at that list of 1947 TV allotments; the ones for Houston were 2, 4, 5 and 7; there were 3 for Galveston, including 11 and 13, and so on.

Have you ever just googled on 'TV history' or something similar? There are probably sites like the above devoted just to TV which would have explanatory articles about FCC policies, etc. Also, books about the history of broadcasting or the relationship between government and broadcasting, perhaps available at HPL, might have expanations that would help.

Edited April 7, 2007 by brucesw

[Mister X]

Thanks Bruce.

[Invisible Texan]

Invisible Texan may have taken those pictures just in time -- when I was last down there in November, I remember driving past and NOT seeing the building there anymore. It looked like the lot had been cleared. Can anyone confirm this?

I just ran across a pic. that was taken from a distance by another Flickr.com member. So it's still there as of April 10, '07. http://www.flickr.com/photos/nsaum/469568255/

[Stephen]

Invisible Texan may have taken those pictures just in time -- when I was last down there in November, I remember driving past and NOT seeing the building there anymore. It looked like the lot had been cleared. Can anyone confirm this?

It's still there as of today. I was there this evening and took some photos which I will endeavor to post here tomorrow. The place is a wreck; it's been subject to quite a lot of vandalism and decay (I don't think there are any windows left, the front porch is collapsed, and the shell of a burned-out bus sits in the front drive) and the grounds are overgrown. The building plays host to a wide variety of wildlife.

The place may not be there much longer, however. I came across this RE listing tonight as well: http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-...7546_1110338029