The Passing Of A Person Who Was Instrumental In Kaiser Broadcasting, Metromedia’s Television Stations, Independent Television Stations, And The FOX Television Network; A Fellow By The Name Of Richard “Dick” Block:
Category: Television
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The logos of Robert Mondavi’s Woodbridge Winery, and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W are strikingly similar.
Westinghouse had developed this Typeface for the logos of all of their owned and operated Radio and Television Stations, their Television Syndication subunit, and their Cable Channels in 1963; and continued to utilize this typeface for the logos of their Broadcasting and Television Syndication properties up until 1995, when they had merged with CBS after Laurence Tisch had sold CBS to Westinghouse.
Laurence Tisch, in turn; had purchased CBS from it’s founder, William S. Paley; around the same time that ABC had merged with Capital Cities Communications, and General Electric had bought out RCA and NBC.
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If you’ve been following this Blog for a while, you know that the Broadcasting aspect of Sports in the one and only aspect of Sports that I care about.
I am saddened by the death of the Phoenix Suns (the Phoenix, Arizona-based NBA Team) Play-By-Play Man Al McCoy; who had started with the Phoenix-based NBA Team in September, 1972; and had retired from the Phoenix-based NBA Team in 2023.
Al McCoy had began his Radio career in 1951 while still a freshman at Drake University in Iowa.
Al McCoy would move to Arizona in 1956 to call games for the Triple-A Phoenix Giants Minor League Baseball Team; and would stay in Arizona right up until his retirement from the Phoenix-based NBA Team in 2023; and ultimately, his passing and his transition into Heaven and other celestial realms in September, 2024.
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I Am Deeply Saddened By The Death Of CBS News Correspondent Phil Jones.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/phil-jones-former-cbs-news-correspondent-dies-age-87/
https://www.ijhf.org/members/2002/phil-jones
https://geraldrfordfoundation.org/centennial/oralhistory/phil-jones/
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Around the time of writing this post, 50 kilowatt Class I-A “Clear Channel” Radio Station WCCO-AM is celebrating it’s 100th Anniversary.
The call letters WCCO-AM stand for the Washburn-Crosby Company, which had put the Station on the air in October, 1924.
The Washburn-Crosby Company would eventually be absorbed into General Mills.
In 1932, CBS had purchased WCCO-AM from General Mills.
In 1939, WCCO-AM had put the Experimental APEX Station W9XHW on the air.
In 1952, CBS had sold majority control of WCCO-AM and FM to Midwest Communications, a company founded by the McNeil and McNally families; and was a joint venture between the McNeil and McNally families, CBS, the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, and the Minneapolis Tribune Company.
CBS’s reason for selling a majority control of WCCO-AM and FM is because CBS did not want to accede the amount of Radio and Television Stations that they owned and operated beyond the limit imposed by the FCC as of this time, where an individual or a business couldn’t own more than a maximum of 7 AM/Mediumwave Radio Stations, 7 FM Radio Stations, and 5 Television Stations; and they chose to sell a majority control of the WCCO Radio Stations in exchange for purchasing the KMOX Stations in St. Louis, Missouri; in order to remain within the quota set forth by the FCC.
With the quota set forth by the FCC as to how many AM/Mediumwave, FM, and Television Stations that an individual or a business could own having been enlarged by the early 1990’s; Midwest Communications had filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in 1992, and CBS had not only repurchased the WCCO Radio Stations, but they had also purchased WCCO-TV (originally WTCN-TV, and originally the offshoot of WTCN-AM; as Midwest Communications had owned and operated WTCN-AM as of the time what is now WCCO-TV was put on the air in July, 1949; before Midwest Communications had to sell the WTCN Radio Stations in exchange for acquiring majority control of the WCCO Radio Stations, and had changed the call letters of the Television Station to WCCO-TV in 1952).
As of the time of writing this post, what is now WCCO-TV remains under the ownership of CBS (itself under the ownership of the original CBS’s Television Film Sales and Home Video business arm that was founded in 1952, prior to spinning off this business arm in 1971; due to the FCC enacting a rule that would later be repealed (known as the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules, also abbreviated as the Fin-Syn Rules) where at the time, the Big Three Television Networks could not own any Television Syndication or Home Video business arms in an effort to keep the Big Three Networks from potentially monopolizing the entire Television Broadcasting and Home Video industries; Viacom.
Like the rest of CBS’s heritage owned and operated Radio Stations: WCBS-AM-FM, WBBM-AM-FM, WPHT-AM (nee WCAU-AM), WOGL-FM (nee WCAU-FM), KMOX-AM, KNX-AM, KCBS-FM (nee KNX-FM), KCBS-AM in San Francisco; and KLLC-FM (which at one time, held the KCBS-FM call letters; as CBS was late to the game, so to speak, on building or acquiring an already existing FM sibling of KCBS-AM); CBS had sought to divest itself of its owned and operated Radio Stations in 2016, in 2017; CBS had sold all of its owned and operated Radio Stations to Entercom as part of a Tax-free transaction known as a Reverse Morris Trust, and Entercom had changed its name to Audacy in 2021.
CBS, having merged with Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W in 1995; as part of yet another effort to not accede the amount of Radio Stations that they own and operate; had sold off KLOU-FM (nee KMOX-FM) to Entercom (long before Entercom, later Audacy would acquire all of CBS’s owned and operated Radio Stations) in 1995. Entercom, in turn; would sell KLOU-FM (nee KMOX-FM) to Clear Channel Communications/IHeart Media in 1999. As of the time of writing this post, IHeart Media continues to own and operate KLOU-FM.
Photos that fellow Broadcasting enthusiast Scott Fybush had put on his own, personal website of the WCCO-AM 50 kilowatt and 5 kilowatt Transmitter Sites during his visits to the WCCO-AM and FM Studios and the WCCO-AM Transmitter Site in 2005, and later, again in 2014:
https://www.fybush.com/sites/2006/site-060303.html
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I am deeply saddened over the death of Electronic Journalist and Talk Show host Phil Donahue, who had undoubtedly paved the way for Oprah Winfrey, her protégé Dr. Phil McGraw, and their Talk Shows; and also for the likes of Sally Jessy Raphael, Montel Williams, Maury Povich, Jenny Jones, and Ricki Lake; and their (sometimes Trash) Talk Shows.
Phil Donahue, at one time; had worked for Crosley/Avco Broadcasting, and WLWT-TV in Cincinnati, Ohio; before moving to fellow Crosley/Avco-owned Television Station in Dayton, Ohio; WLWD-TV (now WDTN-TV), where his Talk Show would originate from as a locally produced, in-house production of WLWD-TV starting in 1967; before becoming nationally syndicated starting in 1970, and eventually moving the production of his Talk Show to Chicago, and ultimately; to New York City until it’s ending in 1996.
Phil Donahue, for a time; had also worked at WHIO-AM-FM-TV; prior to working at a couple of the Crosley/Avco Television Stations, and ultimately, launching his local, and later nationally syndicated Talk Show.
WHIO-AM was the very first Radio Station to be owned by what is now the Cox Media Group, as the Founder of the Cox Conglomerate; one-time Governor of the U.S State of Ohio by the name of James Monroe-Middleton Cox, had put WHIO-AM on the air in 1935 as an offshoot of one of Cox’s Newspapers, the Dayton Daily News.
A few years later, in 1939; Cox would purchase the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Newspaper and their Radio Station; WSB-AM. Over time, Cox would put WHIO FM and TV, WCON-FM, and WSB-FM and TV on the air.
Well into the present day, Cox retains ownership of The Dayton Daily News Newspaper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Newspaper, the WHIO Stations; and the WSB Stations.
Interview performed on Phil Donahue a number of years ago by the Academy of American Television:
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A Treatise by Paul Thurst, KH2R; also a Broadcast Engineer by trade about the very sad reality of very few people of younger generations being interested in the link of work as a Broadcast Engineer:
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A Bell System Microwave Relay System Tower At A Site Owned By The Current AT&T in the Baltimore suburb of Monrovia, Maryland:
You can read more about the Bell System’s Microwave Relay System here:
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I, The Owner Of This Very Blog; Am Saddened To Hear That Norah O’ Donnell Will Leave Her Position As The Anchor Of The CBS Evening News, And Also Her Position As The Managing Editor Of CBS’s Entire News Department; In The Autumn Of 2024.
Norah O’Donnell is a successor to Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather as the Anchor of the CBS Evening News.
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I Would Travel To North Carolina, Visit With My Friend And Former ABC Radio Executive Allen Shaw, Return To The Studios Of WBT-AM/WBTV-TV/WLNK-FM (Including, And Not Limited To Former Jefferson-Pilot Communications Employees Bob Lacey And Cheryl “Sheri Lynch” Wardlynch) Visit With NASCAR Team Owners Ray Evernham, Rick Hendrick, Richard Childress, Jack Roush, Tony Stewart, And Dale Earnhardt Jr., And Also Visit With NASCAR Drivers Ricky Craven And Tony Stewart If I Won Free Plane Tickets.
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Not only do I not like Rupert Murdoch founding the FOX Television Network and Television Cable News Channel, and always being politically Conservative; I also don’t Rupert Murdoch having always been a champion for Australia breaking away from the Commonwealth of Nations and becoming an independent Republic.
Not only should Australia never, ever become an independent Republic; but the FOX Television Network should have never been founded in the first place, Rupert Murdoch should have never acquired the NFL AFC Television Rights from CBS in 1993, but Rupert Murdoch should have also never founded the FOX News and FOX Sports Cable Channels; and American Conservatism should be the same as it was during the Presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H.W Bush.
Such as shame that in sharp contrast to his mother, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE; who was a staunch Monarchist, Rupert is a staunch Republican (not in the context of one the the Political Parties of the United States, but in the context of any citizen of a nation that is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations to become an independent Republic, such as, for instance; Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa).
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It is very disheartening to hear that as of the time of writing this post, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is reporting fewer licensed AM/Mediumwave, FM, and terrestrial Television Broadcast Stations:
AM/FM/TV DXing: FCC reports fewer USA broadcast stations by Chuck Gysi | N2DUP
Don’t wait to log AM, FM and TV stations because some may be here today, gone tomorrow Read on Substack
Matthew Parij 