Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: When did the radio station WEEI first air?
WEEI traces its roots to its original owner, Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston (hence the call letters). Edison placed the station on the air September 29, 1924. The station broadcast on various frequencies over the next several years, settling on 590 kHz in 1927. In 1926, WEEI became a charter member of the NBC Red Network and remained an NBC Red affiliate until 1936, when the station was leased by CBS and became an affiliate of that network. CBS bought WEEI outright from Boston Edison on August 31, 1942. An FM sister station, WEEI-FM (103.3 FM, now WODS), went on the air in 1948. Until 1960, WEEI, through CBS Radio, was the last Boston radio station to devote a large amount of its program schedule to "traditional" network radio programming of daytime soap operas, comedy shows, variety shows, and similar fare.
The earliest known use of the "Eyewitness News" name in American television was in April 1959 when KYW-TV (now WKYC-TV) – at the time, based in Cleveland and owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting – launched the nation's first 90-minute local newscast (under the title "Eyewitness"), which was combined with the then 15-minute national newscast. The name was then adopted for use by Westinghouse's other television stations – KPIX in San Francisco; WJZ-TV in Baltimore; WBZ-TV in Boston; and KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh – for their local newscasts.
On March 1, 2008, Weigel expanded the MeTV format to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it began airing on the third digital subchannel of the group's CBS affiliate in that market, WDJT-TV (channel 58). The Milwaukee version of the service featured much of the same programming as that aired on the Chicago outlets (some of which aired in different time slots than on WWME and WMEU), as well as certain programs that were exclusive to the Milwaukee service.
On December 11, 1994, WDJT became the sixth station in Milwaukee to carry CBS. The network first aligned with WTMJ from 1947 to 1953, followed by now-defunct WCAN-TV (channel 25) from 1953 to 1955, WVTV (then known as WXIX) from 1955 to 1959, WITI from 1959 to 1961, WISN-TV from 1961 to 1977, and WITI again from 1977 to 1994. The first CBS program to air on channel 58 that day was "CBS News Sunday Morning". Some existing syndicated programming on WDJT's schedule which would otherwise air in CBS-designated timeslots was either moved to overnight slots on the station or turned over to sister station W65BT (now WBME-CD, channel 41) to fulfill contracts.
WLRE, which stood for station co-founder Lyle R. Evans, sought to be operational as early as December 1977. It delayed so that it could put its transmission tower on Scray's Hill near De Pere, the location of other Green Bay market transmitter towers. Ultimately the location was approved, but it meant ground was not broken on the studio and antenna location until June 1980. The station signed on the air on December 31, 1980, broadcasting an analog signal on UHF channel 26. It was the Green Bay market's second independent station, after the short-lived KFIZ-TV (channel 34) in Fond du Lac from 1968 to 1972. It was also the first new commercial station to sign-on in Green Bay itself since WFRV-TV (channel 5) signed on in May 1955. On November 12, 1982, WLRE was able to power up a new transmitter and had plans for further antenna power boosts.
NBC intended to make Chicago a major hub for its radio networks. In 1930, the network leased more than 66,000 square feet of space in the newly completed Merchandise Mart with plans to move 50 radio programs which were presently originating in New York to their new Chicago headquarters. In 1931, NBC was able to purchase Chicago radio station WENR from financially troubled Samuel Insull. Later in the year, it bought WMAQ from the "Daily News". With the purchase of WMAQ, the network now owned a radio station in Chicago for their Blue Network (WENR) and their Red Network (WMAQ). While WMAQ was moved to NBC's new Merchandise Mart base of operations a few months after it was purchased, WENR remained at Chicago's Civic Opera House, where it was based when owned by Insull.
This made the station the first network owned-and-operated station in the Milwaukee market. WXIX's tenure as a CBS O&O, however, was not successful. Only a small percentage of television sets in the Milwaukee area were even capable of receiving UHF stations at the time, as set manufacturers were not required to equip televisions with UHF tuners until 1964 as a result of the 1961 passage of the All-Channel Receiver Act. Those viewers not lucky enough to get a signal from WBBM-TV in Chicago, WISC-TV in Madison, or WBAY-TV in Green Bay were forced to rely on expensive UHF converters to watch channel 19, and even then the picture quality left a lot to be desired. However, unlike many early UHF stations, it managed to survive into the All-Channel era.
Although RCA had made a significant financial investment in establishing WDY, and its debut and ongoing operations were made with great fanfare, changes in the radio industry soon made the station redundant. RCA, formed in 1919, was originally a wholly owned GE subsidiary. However, on July 1, 1921 GE made an agreement with Westinghouse to cross-license radio patents, which gave Westinghouse 40% ownership of RCA, and also made RCA the sales agent for Westinghouse radio receivers. Because these companies were now working together, there was no longer a need for both WDY and WJZ, moreover, WJZ was located closer to New York City and had been providing a greater variety of programs.
The station first signed on the air on December 14, 1952 as KROD-TV; it was the first television station to sign on in the El Paso market. The station was founded by Dorrance Roderick, owner of KROD radio (600 AM) and the "El Paso Times". The station's original studio facilities were located on Wyoming Avenue (off I-10) in El Paso. Early programs on the station included the children's shows "Red Brown and Anna Lee" and "Bozo's Big Top", and wrestling program "Mitchell's Mat Time". The station has been a CBS affiliate since its sign-on; however, it maintained secondary affiliations with ABC and the DuMont Television Network until 1956. It lost the ABC affiliation when KILT (then on channel 13, now KVIA-TV on channel 7) signed on in September and lost DuMont as a result of the network's decision to cease operations the previous month. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. Roderick sold the station to Trigg-Vaughn of Dallas, Texas in 1959.
On October 21, 2014, CBS and Weigel Broadcasting announced the launch of a new digital subchannel service called Decades, scheduled to launch on all CBS-owned stations on May 25, 2015, including on WCBS-TV on channel 2.2. The channel is co-owned by CBS and Weigel (owner of CBS affiliate WDJT-TV in Milwaukee), with Weigel being responsible for distribution to non-CBS-owned stations. It airs programs from the extensive library of CBS Television Distribution, including archival footage from CBS News. On September 3, 2018, Decades was replaced on 2.2 by Start TV.
WDJT-TV, virtual channel 58 (UHF digital channel 46), is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Owned by Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting, it is a sister station to Class A MeTV owned-and-operated station WBME-CD (channel 41), Racine-licensed independent station WMLW-TV (channel 49, which shares spectrum with WBME-CD), and low-powered Telemundo affiliate WYTU-LD (channel 63), which WDJT simulcasts in widescreen standard definition on its respective second, third and fourth digital subchannels to expand their reach across southeastern Wisconsin. All four stations share studios on South 60th Street in Milwaukee (near West Allis); WDJT's transmitter is located in Milwaukee's Lincoln Park (next to the transmitter belonging to ABC affiliate WISN-TV, channel 12).
96.3 FM went on the air in January 2001 as WLPL, owned by Gary Savoie and simulcasting Vox Radio Group-owned oldies station WWOD (104.3 FM). WLPL's sign on was delayed when environmental objections prevented the station from building a tower in Athens, Vermont; it chose to transmit from an existing tower in New Hampshire. The call letters were changed to WCFR-FM on October 19, shortly after they were dropped from WXKK (93.5 FM, now WEEY); soon afterward, Savoie sold the station to Vox. Nassau Broadcasting Partners acquired most of Vox's northern New England radio stations, including WCFR and WWOD, in 2004. WCFR-FM's call letters were changed to WPLY-FM on October 12, 2005, then to WFYX on October 7, 2008.
In early 1996, shortly after WGBA picked up the NBC affiliation, then-owner Aries Telecommunications announced plans to start a full-fledged news department for the station. On July 19, 1996, during the start of NBC's coverage of the 1996 Summer Olympics, WGBA debuted its local newscasts, with a half-hour early-evening newscast at 6:00 p.m. on Mondays through Saturdays (the initial broadcast of that program on July 19 ran a special one-hour broadcast, leading into NBC's coverage of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies in Atlanta) and a late evening newscast at 10:00 p.m. seven nights a week. Ted O'Connell was WGBA's first news director; he was succeeded by Ashley Webster (now a journalist with Fox Business Network), who also served as weeknight co-anchor alongside Heather Hays (presently a main anchor at Fox owned-and-operated station KDFW in Dallas-Fort Worth). Eventually as the operation grew, the station added newscasts on weekday mornings, weekdays at noon and at 5:00 p.m.
Al Primo created the format, which was first used on KYW-TV in Philadelphia. In 1968, Primo brought the format to WABC-TV in New York. The "Eyewitness News" format helped to introduce different anchor combinations to local newscasts. The format quickly became popular and was imitated by stations across the country.
On June 3, 2016, Nexstar announced that it would retain ownership of WHBF and fellow CBS-affiliated sister station WFRV-TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and—on Media General's behalf—sell KWQC and its ABC-affiliated sister station in Green Bay, WBAY-TV, to Gray Television for $270 million. The transaction was approved by the FCC on January 11, 2017; the sale was completed on January 17, at which point the existing Nexstar stations and the former Media General outlets that neither group had to sell in order to rectify ownership conflicts in certain markets became part of the renamed Nexstar Media Group.
The first serious attempt at dedicated television news broadcasts in the United States was by CBS. Upon becoming commercial station WCBW (now WCBS-TV) in 1941, the pioneer New York CBS television station broadcast two daily news programs, at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. weekdays, anchored by Richard Hubbell. Most of the newscasts featured Hubbell reading a script with only occasional cutaways to a map or still photograph.
Enterprise Radio was created by Scott Rasmussen, the son of Bill Rasmussen, who was the founder of ESPN. The all sports radio network went on the air in January 1981 and lasted until September 21, 1981. The network broadcast sports reports twice an hour and did live phone in sports talk from 6 pm to 8 am Eastern Time seven days a week. Talk show hosts and update announcers included John Sterling, the current voice of the New York Yankees; Don Chevrier, the longtime TV voice of the Toronto Blue Jays; network radio veterans John O'Reilly and Bob Buck; Jay Howard, the radio voice of the San Antonio Spurs' first NBA championship; and Bill Denehy, a former major league pitcher. The network reached approximately 74 stations nationwide at its peak, with most local stations broadcasting the talk shows and the sports reports to supplement their local programming. ER also carried the 1981 Stanley Cup Finals and did extensive coverage of the National Sports Festival in Syracuse, New York. Network radio veteran John Chanin was the executive producer.
In January 1951, WKY-TV became the first station in the U.S. to provide coverage of state legislature sessions, which were conducted from the Oklahoma State Capitol twice a week. Channel 4 claimed to have made the fastest showing of any sound on film ever to have been processed and aired on television at the time, when on February 8, 1952, WKY-TV aired anchor John Field's introductory remarks that were filmed 15 minutes prior to that evening's newscast. The Houston film processor used by the station allowed WKY-TV to broadcast news coverage only a few hours after it was shot on-scene. The station is also purported to be the first in the U.S. to allowed access to film a court proceeding on December 13, 1953, while covering the trial of accused murderer Billy Eugene Manley. A WKY-TV film crew (led by reporter Frank McGee) was placed in a specially constructed, enclosed booth in the rear of the trial's courtroom at the Oklahoma County Courthouse, with a microphone hidden near the front of the court recording the proceedings. A small button was placed on the desk of Judge A. P. Van Meter to allow him to automatically discontinue operation of the cameras at any time. The swearing in of the jury, some testimony and Manley's sentencing was filmed for later news broadcasts.
In addition to its main signal, WGBA operates two translators to extend the station's coverage northward. The translators are a remnant of the analog era when it was Green Bay's only major UHF commercial television station. The station in fact kept a post office box address open for years to allow responses to an offer through a station promo of a free pamphlet describing the installation of a UHF television antenna to interested viewers until the early 1990s. During that period, residents of Northern Door County and the southern portion of Michigan's Upper Peninsula could easily receive the three Green Bay network stations on VHF and WFRV semi-satellite WJMN-TV from Escanaba, Michigan, along with PBS member station WNMU from Marquette, Michigan, but not WGBA and Wisconsin Public Television's WPNE-TV (channel 38).
W/C E.W. Smith DSO was appointed Officer Commanding No.428 All-Weather (Fighter) Squadron on 4 January 1955 and served in that post until 26 April 1957, having previously made a transition from heavy bombers and strategic transport aircraft, to jet fighters. Born in Metis Beach QC, on 11 November 1920, he joined the RCAF on 20 July 1940, selected for pilot training, he earned his wings in February 1941 and went overseas in March 1941. He completed two operational tours, first with No.102 (Ceylon) Squadron RAF, and a second with No.424 (Tiger) Squadron RCAF.
The Young and the Restless (often abbreviated as Y&R) is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictionalized version of Genoa City, Wisconsin. First broadcast on March 26, 1973, "The Young and the Restless" was originally broadcast as half-hour episodes, five times a week. The show expanded to one-hour episodes on February 4, 1980. In 2006, the series began airing encore episodes weeknights on SOAPnet until 2013, when it moved to TVGN (now Pop). As of July 1, 2013, Pop still airs the encore episodes on weeknights. The series is also syndicated internationally.
American Radio Systems announced on August 15, 1994 that it would purchase the programming and call letters of WEEI from Back Bay Broadcasting effective August 29, 1994 as a result, WHDH would vacate the Boston radio airwaves entirely, with WEEI taking its place at 850 AM. ARS concurrently moved the Rush Limbaugh and Howie Carr shows to WRKO. WHDH's final broadcast, on August 28, 1994, concluded at midnight with "Taps" and the sound of a flushing toilet; these were played by a disgruntled board operator who was laid off in the transition, and subsequently led to a formal apology from ARS. The demise of WHDH marked the end of a heritage radio station in Boston, but had its void filled by the eventual success of WEEI on 850 AM.
On March 16, 1994, the Boston Celtics reached a deal to sell WEEI to Back Bay Broadcasting; shortly afterward, the rights to Celtics broadcasts passed to American Radio Systems (ARS), owner of WRKO and WHDH, effective with the 1994–95 season, while the Bruins signed a deal with WBZ to carry its broadcasts starting in 1995. Sister station WFXT was sold back to Fox Television Stations soon afterward. On August 29, Back Bay Broadcasting sold the call letters and all-sports programming of WEEI to ARS, which placed the WEEI call sign and intellectual property on the 850 kHz frequency that was previously home to WHDH. After a brief simulcast, AM 590 relaunched as business news station WBNW, and later became WEZE. With the move, WEEI retained Boston Celtics broadcasts, and also added BC basketball; it also ceded the final year of its Bruins contract to the new WBNW. It also inherited the CBS Radio Network affiliation (which had by then passed from WRKO to WHDH) until early 1995, when it moved to WBZ. The move to the 850 frequency allowed WEEI to broadcast at 50,000 watts, as opposed to 5,000 watts on 590. ARS also moved Red Sox broadcasts to WEEI from WRKO starting in 1995. Conversely, Celtics broadcasts were moved to WRKO for the 1995–96 season; they returned to WEEI the following season.
The station first signed on the air on November 26, 1957. It was owned by the "Boston Herald Traveler" Corporation, along with WHDH radio (850 AM, frequency now occupied by WEEI; and 94.5 FM, now WJMN). Before the "Herald-Traveler" signed the station on, the DuMont Television Network applied for the channel 5 construction permit to replace WDTV (now KDKA-TV) in Pittsburgh among its owned-and-operated station group, but DuMont shut down its network before being able to acquire the permit. WHDH-TV was originally an ABC affiliate, but switched to CBS on January 1, 1961. The move was initiated by CBS after its existing Boston station, WNAC-TV (channel 7) was agreed to be sold by RKO General to NBC in a deal which ultimately never materialized.
In April 2005, WEEI began streaming its broadcasts live online by way of a free membership at its official website; a previous stream was offered from 1997 until 2002. The exception is for Red Sox and Celtics games, as these are streamed only through the team and league websites as part of subscription packages. Around the same time, the station again lost ESPN Radio programming when the affiliation was acquired by WAMG and WLLH; the station then expanded an affiliation with Fox Sports Radio that began in 2002.