How Pittsburgh kept a TV network alive: In the beginning of television, Dr. Allen DuMont received the first TV license for Pittsburgh. It was WDTV (1949–1955). Because of the freeze on TV licenses, it was the only TV station in Pittsburgh for many years. Because of the Korean war, WDTV stayed on the air 24 hours a day to service the three shifts of steel workers. Because it was the only station in Pittsburgh, national advertisers had to buy time on DuMont shows to show their product to Pittsburgh consumers. When the freeze was lifted, other networks were able to get Pittsburgh affiliates, and no longer had to advertise on DuMonts inferior programming. DuMont ceased to be a national network in 1956, and WDTV is now KDKA, but for a brief period of time, WDTV was making enough money by itself to keep DuMont in business.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 20:06:03 +0000
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