Many thanks to George Jacob for making these log books
available to us. The author would also like to acknowledge the
contribution of the WDTV engineers who made the original log entries—Ray
Rodgers, Pete Szeman, and John Striner—whose names are shown after
their respective entries.
WDTV Log Book Entries
November 1, 1948:
Transmitter building nearing completion. Antenna tower
complete and painted, 3 bay batt wing (?) antenna set in top of tower.
(Rodgers)
November 27, 1948:
Finally put transmitters on air at 10:55 PM, on until 11:59 PM. (Szeman)
December 29, 1948:
Routine operation; TP (test pattern) 10 to Noon, 2 to 4 PM. Film chains tested. (Szeman)
January 3, 1949:
Testing with TP and tone; completing wiring and installation of film chains. (Szeman)
January 4, 1949:
The first movie telecast here - "Drama of Steel." (Szeman)
January 11, 1949:
TV Day in Pgh. Dr. DuMont here, also Mr. Armstrong, Chris
J. (?), etc. Aural and visual xmtrs (transmitters) on air for testing.
Microwave link set up - program off OK. Visual xmtr kicked off 10:22 PM
due to overload. Levels on the network programs were all different and
sync pretty bad. All OK - except loud "pop" rear of aural xmtr! (Szeman)
November 23, 1952:
Operated on Channel 2 (switching from Channel 3) with 5 kw Acorn xmtr. (No signature)
July 16, 1953:
Monitored the new WKJF UHF channel 53 signal. Results were poor to fair. (Striner)
August 25, 1953:
Monitored the 2nd UHF station WENS (channel 16) to see if
they could come on to Aug. 28 (sic). They seem to be having considerable
trouble. Apparently they can't keep their carriers on. (Striner)
August 29, 1953:
WENS finally got on air. This looked awfully convenient to
us. They couldn't get on and then all of a sudden, their xmtr was OK,
they pulled off a baseball remote, and etc. (Striner)
September 1, 1953:
WENS still having trouble with their local sync generator.
It causes hum 60 ~ (cycle) pulling on home receivers. (Striner)
September 15, 1954:
Received color receiver (RCA) for xmtr. Spent majority of
day lining it up to get a color program from Johnstown. We made a
antenna, then used a conical to pick up WJAC (channel 6 in Johnstown,
Pa). Finally we got a pretty decent signal. Color looked pretty damn
good. (Striner)
October 13, 1954:
Today was the big day. We are to broadcast our first
colorcast (Westinghouse "Best of Broadway") at 10 PM tonight ... The
color program went out on air, but we had no color on our receiver (due
to an equipment failure) ... However, out in the field, we received
nothing but very good comments. All said that our color was better than
Johnstown's, when viewed side by side. We will have some more color
programs on Monday night. (Striner)
November 22, 1954:
Rumors are thick about Westinghouse buying WDTV from DuMont. Who knows? (Striner)
December 3, 1954:
Got official word today that the sale of WDTV to Westinghouse was made pending FCC approval. (Striner)
January 6, 1955:
Heard over the news that FCC approved sale of WDTV to Westinghouse Broadcasting Company. (Striner)
January 10, 1955:
Well, this is the day. We are now officially working for
Westinghouse Broadcasting Company as of 12 o'clock noon. Took the Allen
B. DuMont signs down ... (Striner)
January 31, 1955:
Today at 12:01 Noon (sic), the call letters of our station
were changed from WDTV to KDKA-TV. (Pittsburgh) Mayor (David L.)
Lawrence officiated again. (Striner)
March 11, 1955:
Weather - nice until about 6:00 AM. Then a heavy wind
about 98 MPH hour (sic) hit the area for about 15-20 minutes ... The
wind blew over the WENS television 500 foot tower. It seems that
Johnstown lost two towers and also WLOA in Braddock, Pa. Upon close
inspection of our tower, we found that our tower was buckled at about
the 130 foot level ... (Striner)
