WLEV-TV (channel 51) was a television station in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States. Owned by Associated Broadcasters Inc. alongside WEST,[2] the station telecast from 1953 to 1957. It was the first station in the Lehigh Valley, which at one point had three local UHF outlets (a fourth was planned but never reached the air). However, the station ultimately suffered from many of the same economic problems that occurred at other early UHF television outlets, and largely due to competition from very high frequency (VHF) stations in Philadelphia, WLEV left the air at the end of October 1957.
 WLEV-TV promo card | |
| Channels | |
|---|---|
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | NBC (1953−1957) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Steinman / Associated Broadcasters Inc. |
| WEST | |
| History | |
First air date | April 21, 1953 |
Last air date | October 31, 1957 (4 years, 193 days) |
Call sign meaning | Lehigh Valley |
| Technical information | |
| ERP | 7.41 kW[1] |
| HAAT | 600 ft (180 m) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 40°35′55″N 75°25′12″W / 40.59861°N 75.42000°W |
History
editEstablishment
editWhen the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ended its four-year freeze on television stations in 1952 and established the UHF band for television broadcasting, the Lehigh Valley received four channel allotments: two in Allentown, one in Bethlehem, and one in Easton.[3] The commission issued a construction permit for the Bethlehem station on October 30, 1952.[4][5]
RCA announced that it would ship the transmitter for the WLEV-TV facility the week of April 13, 1953.[6] It was reported that "after many false starts" WLEV finally began broadcasting test patterns on April 21.[7]
Operation
editWLEV was, from its beginning, an NBC affiliate and offered most, if not all, of that network's late afternoon and evening programming.[8] The station also carried local programming (as did every other station during this era), including local high school and college sports and the occasional Philadelphia Phillies baseball game.[9][10] The station would take to the airwaves in midafternoon, with the first scheduled show of the day typically beginning at 3 p.m. A short local newscast was aired in the 11 p.m. to midnight hour.[11]
Closure
editThe lack of mandatory UHF tuners on new television sets (until 1964) made it difficult for 1950s UHF stations to thrive. In much of eastern Pennsylvania, improvements in VHF transmitter technology and power, plus the establishment of tall towers at the Roxborough antenna farm, spelled doom for the UHF stations in Reading and the Lehigh Valley as more viewers tuned to the more powerful—and VHF—signals of Philadelphia's network stations from which they could now get better reception (and thus better pictures) on their TV sets.
October 31, 1957, marked the end of an era in Lehigh Valley television. Within 24 hours of each other, ABC affiliate WGLV in Easton and WLEV both received permission to go dark, and both did so on the same night.[12][13] WLEV announced that it was planning to go dark for six months "to reappraise UHF television in the Lehigh Valley" but stayed dark beyond those six months and never returned to the airwaves. The station returned its construction permit to the FCC in 1965.[14]
References
edit- ^ "WLEV-TV" (PDF). Telecasting Yearbook-Marketbook 1956-1957. 1955. p. 198. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
- ^ "Television Stations in Operation as of June 13, 1953" (PDF). Television Digest with Electronics Reports. 9 (24). Washington DC: Radio News Bureau: Special Report section, p.2. June 13, 1953. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ "FCC Allots Two Television Channels to Allentown, One Each to Bethlehem, Easton". The Morning Call. April 14, 1952. p. 2. Archived from the original on February 20, 2023. Retrieved February 20, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "New Grantees' Commencement Target Dates" (PDF). Broadcasting/Telecasting. Washington DC: Broadcasting Publications Inc.: 106 March 16, 1953. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
- ^ "LV's First TV Station To Broadcast Soon". The Morning Call. Call-Chronicle Newspapers. January 25, 1953. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
- ^ "Latest reports on other upcoming stations" (PDF). Television Digest with Electronics Reports. 9 (15). Washington DC: Radio News Bureau: 8. April 11, 1953. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
- ^ "4 More Begin Testing, 59 Since Freeze" (PDF). Television Digest with Electronics Reports. 9 (17). Washington DC: Radio News Bureau: 3. April 25, 1953. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
- ^ "WLEV-TV in Bethlehem Transmitting Test Patterns Via UHF Channel 51". The Morning Call. Call-Chronicle Newspapers. April 21, 1953. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
- ^ "Local Sports Events On TV (advertisement)". The Morning Call. Call-Chronicle Newspapers. February 20, 1954. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
- ^ "(untitled advertisement)". The Morning Call. Call-Chronicle Newspapers. May 22, 1955. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
- ^ "WLEV-TV Program Schedule, Channel 51". The Morning Call. Call-Chronicle Newspapers. May 8, 1954. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
- ^ "WLEV-TV Plans To Go Off Air". The Morning Call. Call-Chronicle Newspapers. October 29, 1957. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
- ^ "Valley TV Stations Go Off Air Tonight". The Morning Call. October 31, 1957. p. 17. Archived from the original on February 20, 2023. Retrieved February 20, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "1965 Purge". UHF History. World Radio History. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
