What Became of TV Channel 1?In the early days of television broadcasting in the United States, there was a channel 1 (or, more properly, there were several channel 1's). And there were television stations operating on channel 1 and TV sets that could receive channel 1. Here are the details. (All frequencies are in MHz.)
1937. In 1937, the channel assignments for television were set as follows, with the stations that used those channels in New York shown:
Referring to channels 8 to 19, an article in Broadcasting magazine on Nov. 1, 1937, said the FCC was "apparently earmarking them for the time when workable tubes are devised for these very short waves." Apex radio stations used amplitude modulation. Many evolved into the country's first FM stations.
1940. In 1940, the FCC allocated 42-50 MHz for FM radio broadcasting. This necessitated moving the TV channels up in frequency, as shown in the following list, which includes some stations in New York and New Jersey which were authorized for or had applied for these channels.
The 1945 Radio Annual indicates that the Jamaica Radio Television Co., Jamaica, New York, had amended its application to request Channel 13, which it indicates is 230-236 MHz. This conflicts with the frequency allocation table above, which shows Channel 13 at 234-240.
The 1946 Broadcasting Yearbook shows that as of Jan. 15, 1946, WCBW (CBS in New York) was operating on 60-66, but would be switching to the modern channel 2 on Mar. 1.
The FCC Report on Ultra-High Frequency Allocations, printed in Broadcasting on June 1, 1940, said, "In addition, the Commission decided to discontinue television service in the present television channels No. 1 and 8; i.e., 44-50 mc., and 156-162 mc. Accordingly, since old television channel No. 1 is discontinued, television channel No. 2 will be renumbered television channel No. 1; and a new channel to be known as television channel No. 2, will be assigned from 60 to 66 mc. There is thus no loss of total space assigned to television below 66 mc., and there will remain a total of 7 television channels below 108 mc. Former television channel No. 8, 156-162 mc. together with frequencies between 116 and 119 mc. will be used to replace assignments in the band 132-140 mc."
1946. In 1945, the FCC decided to move FM radio to the 88-106 MHz band (later 88-108 MHz). Because FM broadcasting would be vacating 42-50 MHz, TV channel 1 was moved down to that part of the spectrum. The TV allocations which went into effect on February 25, 1946, were as follows:
I do not have the list of stations assigned to the 1946 version of Channel 1, although among them were KARO, Riverside, California, and WSBE, South Bend, Indiana.
A 1947 book, Television Primer of Production and Direction by Louis A. Sposa, Director of Commercial Operations of WABD and instructor at the College of the City of New York and New York University, has a "Table of Television Allocations of Television Channels To Metropolitan Districts in the U.S." The list distinguishes between "metropolitan" and "community" stations. The following Channel 1 locations (all community stations) are listed:
However, no TV stations ever broadcast on the last version of Channel 1. It could not be used immediately because it was necessary for existing FM stations to move out of the 42-50 spectrum, and once they did move, the decision was made to re-allocate 44-50 to other services. Thus channel 1 disappeared, and there was no renumbering of the remaining channels.
Note: It seems possible that W2XWV, the predecessor to WABD, may have operated on channel 3 for a time in the early 1940s. William V. Sutherland believes it was assigned to 72-78 MHz (channel 3) around 1940. A New York Times article on Jan. 7, 1942, says the station was operating on channel 3, but would be switching to 78-84 MHz (channel 4) when it switched to commercial operation. However, there was no guard band between channels 2 and 3 in the 1940 system, so this seems unlikely, and furthermore the New York Times of July 1, 1941, shows W2XWV on channel 4.
Thanks to Jerry Pulice, William V. Sutherland, Paul Lindemeyer, Jim Douglass, and Rickey Stein, who provided assistance with this page.