Monday, September 16, 2024
Continued from previous week
On the heels of the application for relocation of the transmitter to Scray’s Hill, came a second one to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) asking for the transfer of stock interests in WMBV-TV, along with WMAM radio, from M & M Broadcasting to Superior Evening Telegram Company of Superior.
M & M President W.E. Walker told the Press-Gazette that the proposed stock transaction was being sought “in order to strengthen the basic operation of the Channel 11 television station.”
A month later, M & M Broadcasting asked the FCC for permission to drop the application for the transmitter move to Green Bay, now joined by the Evening Telegram Company.
And then, things got messy.
“Valley Telecasting Company in Green Bay has formally opposed the proposed sale of WMBV-TV and asked the FCC to order hearings,” a Feb. 11, 1958, Press-Gazette article stated.
“The Evening Telegram Company, late Monday, filed a petition with the commission opposing any hearings on the proposed stock transfer.
“If the FCC approves the withdrawal of the request for a shift of the station’s location, the issue of location will be dormant until the stock transfer question is determined.”
The proposed shift to the Green Bay area not only stirred up opposition from the two existing TV stations — WBAY and WFRV — but also from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
“On the grounds that part of the southern side of the peninsula would lose television service as a result of the shift,” the article stated.
In March, the FCC authorized the transfer of the stock; but the battle was not over yet, as the next month WBAY and WFRV requested a stay of authority and a public hearing contending that they would be “adversely affected economically by the competition.”
The FCC ordered hearings for the transfer of control but did not stay the permit that was already granted to the Evening Telegram Company.
In September, a public hearing was granted on the proposal to move the transmitter and antenna — now being proposed for a site in Flintville — still being protested by WBAY and WFRV.
Likely as a means to block WMBV, WFRV signed on as an affiliate of NBC later that year but was sidestepped by WMBV, when they became a primary affiliate of ABC.
Just days before Christmas 1958, a Communications Commission Examiner Elizabeth Smith came down with the recommendation to grant permission on both matters.
Smith’s report stated that the acquisition “would not result in any undue concentration of control of communications” as was being contended by the other Green Bay stations.
To be continued
Many thanks to Dan Spangler, Jay Zollar and Juli Buehler of WLUK for their assistance in researching this article.
