WOSH-TV
WOSH-TV was the first UHF television station licensed and operational in the state of Wisconsin, and the third television station of any kind on the air in the state, after WTMJ-TV (1947) and WBAY-TV (March 1953). WOSH-TV was granted a license to operate on November 26, 1952, shortly after the FCC ended a three-year freeze on the creation of new television licenses in the United States,[1] and began broadcasting at 4 p.m. local time on July 1, 1953[2] with 100 watts of power, expected to be increased to 1,000 watts later in the year. The television shared its call letters with AM sister station WOSH, and broadcast from the same tower.[3] WOSH-TV gained an affiliation with ABC on December 26, 1953.
| Oshkosh, Wisconsin | |
|---|---|
| Channels | Analog: 48 (UHF) |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | Defunct |
| Ownership | |
| Sister stations | WOSH |
| History | |
| Founded | November 26, 1952 (defunct March 23, 1954) |
| First air date | July 1, 1953 |
| Last air date | March 23, 1954 |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1953) ABC (1953-1954) |
| Technical information | |
| Transmitter coordinates | 44.045833°N 88.529167°W |
WOSH-TV faced several issues as 1954 began. UHF tuners, which had already gained a reputation for poor reception and tuning, were not in enough households in the WOSH broadcast area to attract advertisers, and were not a requirement on new television sets, most of which were VHF only.
Additionally, as was soon discovered generally, UHF stations did not have the same broadcast characteristics as more established VHF stations; their signals did not travel as far with similar transmission power. All of these factors, along with new competition in the form of newly announced VHF stations WMBV-TV and WFRV-TV (meaning consumers in the area had even less reason to purchase television sets that were UHF capable) proved to be too much for WOSH-TV, and it announced it would cease broadcasting on March 23, 1954, citing a lack of advertisers and general difficulties with being a UHF broadcaster.[4][5]
The only other UHF station in northeast Wisconsin at this time, WNAM-TV, announced in late 1953 that it would merge its operations with WFRV-TV. UHF television would not return to the market until 1968 when KFIZ-TV went on the air in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
References
- "Construction of TV Station To Begin Soon". The Oshkosh Northwestern. 1952-11-28. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
- "WOSH-TV Is On-Air 4 P. M." The Oshkosh Northwestern. 1953-07-01. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
- Miner, John (1978-07-09). "345-foot-high-tower to be toppled". The Post-Crescent. p. 13. Retrieved 2020-07-18.
- "UHF TV Station at Oshkosh Going Off Air on March 23". Green Bay Press-Gazette. 1954-03-17. p. 48. Retrieved 2020-07-18.
- "The History Of UHF Television". Retrieved 27 January 2016.