Springfield's Second TV Station Springfield's second television station came many years after the initial plans were made for WMAY-TV on channel 8. In fact, improvements to the facilities for WICS, Channel 20 were delayed for several years pending the FCC decision on whether or not the license for channel 2 would be issued. Further investments to WICS would have been a huge mistake by ownership, if WMAY-TV went on the air. The potential dominance of WMAY-TV on VHF channel 2 probably would have put WICS out of business very quickly. Early television lists of the 1950's also listed a previous applicant for channel 55 in Springfield, although its not known who the applicant was. Call letters were seemingly applied for, though, as WPNG was listed. The story of this central Illinois “also-ran” remains a mystery, perhaps to be researched at a future time. This leaves the under powered, under capitalized effort of William(Bill) H. Wingerter as the founder of Springfield's second television station. I haven't researched the background of WBHW-TV to establish the identities of the investors or even the name of the company that filed for the license, but one of the major owners appeared to be Wingerter.

Actual screen grab of WBHW, Channel 55 recorded from Taylorville, Illinois, 27 miles from the station.  As you can see, the static in the signal shows how inadequate the power of the station was in reaching the entire central Illinois area. (from the Doug Quick Collection)

Later in his life, he would promote the creation of a television station which would bear his initials, BHW. The television station would be housed in a former self standing mens clothing store located off of Clear Lake Avenue just east of a K-Mart shopping center along the frontage road. The building is no longer in existence. The signal of the station was microwaved to the transmitter/tower site located off of North Grand Avenue near the intersection of I-55 on Springfield's northeast edge.

The facility of WBHW was sadly lacking in even the basic professional broadcast equipment. I have been told the station even used VHS recorders/players for basic programming recording and commercial playback. The transmitter was a low power unit which combined with its relatively short broadcast antenna/tower barely sent a signal to the other side of the city of Springfield!

Programming on WBHW consisted of second and third rate movies from 16 mm prints, to syndicated programming from Viacom and other syndicators including such off network programming such as “Andy Griffith Show,” “Dick Van Dyke,” “The Munsters” and “The Virginian.” First run programming included “The Merv Griffin Show” and various syndicated sporting events. Childrens programming included “The Big Blue Marble,” “The New Zoo Revue” and “Bullwinkle and Rocky.” The station also broadcast the I.N.N.(Independent News Network-from WPIX-TV, New York) at 9pm...probably taken off air from the local cable company and KPLR-TV, Channel 11, St. Louis.

WBHW was included in the local program listings of TV Guide, but at least for a time in 1982, the station was omitted. It's unknown what the status of the station was during the time it was not listed. As a station was included in the listings as a part of an advertising trade-agreement between the magazine and the local stations, it's possible that the station broke it's agreement pending a sale of the facility to new ownership.

TV Guide listings of Channel 55 resumed during 1983 as it was now listed as WRSP, after the station was purchased by Springfield Broadcasting Partners, which was owned by long time broadcaster Cy Bahakel and his Cy Bahakel Communications.

Cy Bahakel Ownership
It wasn't long that the station began to see upgrades in both its facility and its transmitter/tower. The actual broadcast facility was upgraded with professional broadcast equipment including control boards, audio boards, 1” video tape recorders/players and an upgraded film chain. Programming also improved under the Bahakel early ownership. Off network programming began to be shown from video tape, instead of the film chain, which vastly improved the overall technical quality. The programming offered began to be of higher quality, although the station continued to broadcast the off-network CBS fare including those mentioned before with the addition of “Switch,” “Hogan's Heroes” and “Bewitched.” First run syndicated programming included “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” “Celebrity Showcase” and “Soul Train.”

It's not known when the studio facility was moved from the former clothing store to its present location on Old Rochester Road on Springfield's east side, but it was more than likely during the mid to late 1980's. The station also built a new tower near that of the new WICS tower which was built in the 1970's. The new WRSP tower was now around 1400-feet and combined with a new transmitter gave the station an ERP of around 2-million watts.

The building of the much more powerful station on Channel 55, gave the station a watchable signal over half of the market, but in order to achieve market wide interest for national and regional advertisers, it was necessary to cover the entire market. Much like the situation in the early days of WICS with the building of WCHU and the purchase of WDAN-TV, WRSP under the ownership of Bahakel would have to come up with a second TV station to cover that half of the market.

	WRSP and FOX In October 1986, WRSP would become an affiliate with the FOX network, with the stipulation that a facility be added to the east side of the market to receive programming. The affiliation with FOX would give the stations programming during two hours of prime-time, a late night talk show(hosted by Joan Rivers) and eventually weekend sports programming. That affiliation continues today. Duopoly rules at the time, made it difficult for one owner to build another TV stations in the same market It appears that an arrangement was made with an intermediary owner who would apply for channel 27 in Urbana, operate the station as an affiliate with a local network, that being an affiliate of WRSP and FOX. Essentially a localized management agreement until such time that duopoly rules were relaxed to allow for multi-station ownership within the same market. WCCU, Channel 27, Urbana went on the air April 25, 1987 and automatically became a FOX affiliate. The station operated from a master control-small studio set up from an office suite on Killarney Avenue along I-74 just off of the Lincoln Avenue exit in north Urbana. This location would link the station via microwave to its tower/transmitter located between Penfield and Armstrong, near the Middle Fork River in extreme north-west Vermilion County along U.S. 136. Even though a full powered station, the relatively short broadcast tower would limit the coverage area to the Champaign-Urbana, Danville and Rantoul area. The station did include local public affairs programming which was broadcast from the small studio of WCCU. Initially the leased tower site was to be temporary, as the tower was a used one from another unknown site and erected within a wooded area. Plans reported at the time would move the broadcast tower/transmitter to another location probably near to that of the WICD tower between Fithian and Homer closer to I-74. That move was never made and the station continues to broadcast from the original location. Within a couple of years, the station would be purchased by Springfield Broadcasting Partners and would fall under the ownership umbrella of Cy Bahakel. It was right after the Bahakel purchase that the station eliminated the use of the master control facility and WCCU became a full time satellite to WRSP, Channel 55 in Springfield. There were, though, instances of which separate commercials were broadcast from Channel 55 and Channel 27. WCCU also maintained a separate sales staff for the east side of the market.
(top): screen grab from 1989 with a simulcast ID of WRSP/WCCU. (bottom): FOX 55/27 logo from the early 00's. (from the Doug Quick collection)

During this time, the signal of WRSP was picked off the air and re-broadcast on WCCU. Like that of the situation between WICS and WCHU in the early 1960's, the WRSP/WCCU arrangement was less than desirable. The reception of WRSP from the location on Killarney or another site nearby from which the signal would be microwaved to the transmitter site was unreliable. There were hours and sometimes days on end, which would leave WCCU without any programming and broadcasting either a badly distorted video/audio signal or just black screen.

The means of getting a reliable signal to WCCU was finally obtained with the installation of a microwave transmission relay system sometime in the early 1990's. Further upgrades were made in the early 2000's which would install a duel antenna and transmitter which would allow the station to broadcast an analog and digital signal on adjacent channels during the digital transmission changeover. The transmitter site was also equipped with back-up power generators and a satellite equipment to receive FOX high-definition programming, being switched the SD signal via microwave from the master control facility in Springfield.

In the early 2000's WRSP/WCCU were sold to GOCOM media of Illinois which operate the stations along with sister station WBUI, Channel 23, Decatur, Illinois. WRSP/WCCU broadcasts a local news program which is produced by Sinclair stations WICS/WICD. The newscast is simulcast by both station with the exception of local weather which is produced by WICS for WRSP and WICD for WCCU. WRSP broadcasts on UHF channel 44 using the virtual channel 55 while WCCU broadcasts on UHF channel 26 using the virtual channel 27.

	Jacksonville, Illinois first television station! WJJY, Channel 14, Jacksonville, Illinois was a relative late comer to major network affiliation and the television landscape of central Illinois. It suffered from the same problems that many UHF stations died from in the 1950's. First of all it was a UHF station located on the fringe of the all VHF Hannibal-Quincy market. It was an ABC affiliate in an era in which CBS and NBC had most of the popular programs. WJJY began with a goal to operate a news department in a small town located miles away from the two main metro areas in the market. Technically, virtually all of the station's equipment was leased through RCA, and included an experimental antenna developed by RCA. WJJY also appeared to have started with little or no long term capitol to keep it afloat for any time at all. It was a brainchild of Keith Moyer(who also started WTIM Radio in Taylorville, Illinois in the early 1950's) who formed Look Television, Inc. with the investments of many local business people. Channel 14 would broadcast from one of the tallest broadcast towers in the northern hemisphere at 1,610 feet from the bluffs along the Illinois River west of Jacksonville. It also included one of the most powerful UHF RCA transmitters at the time which would give the station an ERP of 4.5 million watts. WJJY-TV went on the air as an ABC affiliate in August of 1969 from studios located at 1314 West Walnut in Jacksonville. I remember being excited about having another alternative television station as it was receivable on my 12-inch Zenith portable TV using a small loop antenna from Taylorville, Illinois located about 50 miles from Jacksonville, and about 60 miles away from the transmitter! Among the staffers of WJJY were Jerry Slade (later changed to Slabe), Mike Cheevers (who later was promotions manager at WAND) as John Mazotti (long time WTIM Radio DJ). The local newscasts also included the talents of Bob McClelland and his “weather wise weather widgets” which were cartoon characters he would actually draw to help tell the weather story of the day.
An ID slide from WJJY-TV, Channel 14 in Jacksonville, Illinois from 1969. For more on WJJY-TV visit The Rise and Fall of WJJY-TV (courtesy of J. Mitch Hooper)

At that time most non-network programming had to be purchased directly from syndication and suppliers as the commercial barter system had yet to be widely used by stations and syndicators. WJJY had no cash to purchase programming, so for example ABC Saturday morning childrens programming was video taped and played back during the late afternoons during the time not programmed by ABC. The station also took on the role of broadcasting educational programming during the day in association with University of Illinois broadcast station WILL-TV as a way go increase revenue by being paid by the state of Illinois.

Within a year and a half, the station was failing fast. ABC was threatening to cancel their ABC affiliation as audience levels were even lower that that under their part time shared affiliation agreements with Quincy stations WGEM-TV and KHQA. The bank, though, beat ABC to the punch as the station went quickly into receivership. RCA reclaimed most of their leased equipment and sold it on the open market.

Even their monster tower/antenna suffered from failure as its remains fell during an ice storm long after the station went dark. On Easter morning in 1978, the same ice storm which claimed WAND's tower/antenna also took down the 1,610 foot tower formerly used by WJJY. Thanks to the ice load on the tower, and the 26 ton experimental antenna (most were in the range of 2 to 9 tons), the tower collapsed and was eventually sold as scrap metal.

Since the demise of the station, the building which housed the studio is still standing, but has been repainted a number of times to hide its history. The microwave tower which stood at the rear of the building is gone. The building is now home to the Elm City Rehabilitation.

For more on this fascinating story of WJJY, Channel 14 go to The Rise and Fall of WJJY-TV, Channel 14.

source: J. Mitch Hopper

"Gordon Sherman, general manager of radio station WMAY, yesterday disclosed further details of the proposed operation of television station WMAY-TV. If it is granted a construction permit for channel 2."

"A hearing before the Federal Communication Commission involving the three local applicants will be necessary however, before a decision is rendered. The Sangamon Valley Television Corp. (WTAX) and the Capitol City Television Co. are applying for channel 2, in addition to WMAY-TV, Inc.."

"Major stockholder in WMAY-TV, Inc, is the Lincoln Broadcasting Company, Inc which operates WMAY. The company's corporate setup includes Gordon Sherman, Melvin Feldman, chief engineer, Syi Binkin, program director and Robert Weiner, public affairs director."

"The remainder of the WMAY-TV corporation structure includes Lee Ruwitch, vice president and general manager of television station WTVJ, Miami, Fla, who will resign that position and come to Springfield to a managerial position at WMAY-TV; Richard Cohen, assistant general manager of the Mill restaurant, who will server in a business capacity at WMAY-TV; Mel Kampe and John O'Shea, both presently staff members of station WMAY."

"Ruwitch is one of the television industry's most prominent figures. Station WTVJ, under his direction is considered by many as one of the most progressive TV stations in the country. Radio personnel from all parts of the nation have taken advanced television training at WTVJ."

"Ruwitch is also engaged in producing motion pictures for television. Sherman points out there will be no outside interests involved in operating WMAY-TV. Everything will be consolidated around closely knit local group, all actively participating in the day to day operations of the television station."

"The stations extensive program schedule covers the operating day from 6:55am to 11:15pm and Friday and Saturdays until after midnight. A staff of some 64 persons will be hired."

"A modernistic structure will be by built on By-pass 66 just south of the city, to house the studios, transmitter and offices. It will be a two story affair, streamlines for the most modern telecasting facilities and incorporating the latest in technical and operating improvements. The equipment employed will be capable of transmitting color television when network color programs become available."

"WMAY-TV will utilize the maximum power of 100,000 watts on channel 2 which is equal to five million watts on U.H.F. Channels, according to some of the best engineering brains in the industry. The station's antenna height will be 751 feet, or 1341 feet overall height above mean sea level. It will effectively cover an area in approximately a 65 mile radius of Springfield. This will include such towns as Decatur, Jacksonville, Bloomington, Lincoln, Alton, Canton, Pekin, Vandalia and others."

WMAY-TV was proposed to go on the air if the license was granted to that radio group.  There were others applying for the license, but ultimately, WMAY's proposal before the FCC was the closest to becoming Springfield's second TV station(see Other Stations).   If WMAY-TV was granted Channel 2 by the FCC, the big question would be, would WICS be able to survive against a big VHF regional station in the same city?    As it turned out, we'll never know the answer to that question as other factors would enter into the channel assignments of central Illinois TV stations.

In Champaign, Illinois, Midwest Television's WCIA and it's owner August Meyer didn't want to share advertising revenue with another regional VHF station in the same market.  There was a possibility that the geographically large hyphenated market could have split in two, with Springfield and Decatur being one market and the Champaign-Urbana-Danville side of the market being the second.  That would have also made a sizable cut in the attractiveness of both regional stations.  There was also a move to knock WCIA from it's perch as a VHF station and reassign it to a UHF station which would have reduced it's coverage area, as well as it's attractiveness for national and regional advertisers. 

By 1957, the decision was made to shift the allocations of channel 2 from Springfield to St. Louis and channel 8 from Peoria to Moline, Illinois(Quad Cities).   This was part of the FCC's plan to set up TV stations within a market as either all VHF or all UHF.  This was called de-intermixture, and took those two VHF stations away from central Illinois and move to larger already established VHF markets.   This also brought about the first threat to WCIA's position at Channel 3.  As the goal of the FCC was to make each market pure as either an all VHF market or a UHF market, this meant that WCIA would have to shift its dial position to a UHF channel.

August Meyer didn't want to lose that attractive regional and national advertising or the large CBS network compensation package for WCIA.  Legend has it that Meyer conducted a strong lobby towards Republican Senator Everette Dirkson who eventually was behind the FCC's plan to arrange for some markets to have a intermixture of 1-VHF commerical station, 1-VHF educational station, and a number of UHF stations in surrounding communities.  He got his wish by 1956, but another try at deintermixture was made again in the early 1960's(see WCIA History-Part 1).

WTVI-channel 36 in Belleville quickly snatched up channel 2, became a St. Louis station and in changing its transmitter location to west of the Mississippi became a "K" station with the call letter change to KTVI.   The Quad Cities situation took a little longer to settle.  Several groups applied for the new station, and the decision took years to settle.  There was also a court fight with groups in Peoria challenging the decision to move the allocation back in 1957.  That was finally settled in 1962 along with awarding of channel 8 to a group of local investors who would put WQAD-TV on the air in 1963.

There were listings of TV stations, on-air and proposed which by 1958 listed a proposed station on Channel 36 and it was listed as WMAY-TV.  Presumably after the allocation for Channel 2 was pulled from Springfield.  This move from Channel 2 to 36 reduced the proposed station from a regional power house with a radius of over 65 miles to a much smaller coverage area, most likely around 40 miles which also reduced the chance of success for the investors in the new TV station.

The moving of those allocations set up the Champaign-Springfield-Decatur and Danville market as a 1-VHF, 3+ UHF and 1-VHF educational market.  Meanwhile Peoria was set up as a total UHF market.

I was curious as to the identity and credentials for Lee Ruwitch and found a wealth of information on this well known, successful south Florida broadcaster.  His widow and son Robert have established the Lee Ruwitch Endowed Scholarship Fund which awards scholarships to Floridians who pursue their education at the School of Business at the University of Miami.  

Lee Ruwitch was born in 1931 in Escanaba, MI. He served in WWII in the U.S. Navy after obtaining a B.A. At the University of Minnesota. He and his wife Francien (Chaney) settled in Miami, Florida in 1945. He went on to develop and manage WTVJ, Florida's first TV station. He died on April 23, 1999.

There were also TV station lists from the mid 1950's which also listed on air as well as proposed TV stations around the country.  There was at least one listing that included a proposed station WPNG on channel 55.  I have collected no information on that proposed station, which also never went on the air.