History Tidbit

February 27, 2013 Off By Eric O'Brien

wiicad1955

 

Can you believe your eyes? Our friend, Clarke Ingram spotted this 1955 ad today. CBS was, in fact, originally destined to be the exclusive network for WIIC-TV (11). Channel 11’s license was issued in 1955, but the sign-on was delayed because WENS-TV’s application for the license was denied and the decision was being challenged. WENS later ended up being unsuccessful on Channel 16. Most of the CBS programming ended up being aired on KDKA-TV (2) which shared time between NBC, CBS, ABC and DuMont. CBS and KDKA became network and affiliate and NBC reached a deal with WIIC and  the station signed on officially in 1957.. Channel 11 was WIIC from 1957-1981 when it became WPXI.