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An Urbana Courier newspaper account of how WDAN-TV had plans to go on the air on December 10th, 1953. The station didn't make it until Dec 19th. |
From the Danville Commercial-News, whch owned WDAN-TV urging people who already had TV's to add on a UHF converter to receive the new Danville TV station. |
It appears that WDAN-TV was certainly "built on the cheap." Compared to the "state of the art" facilities built in 1938 for WDAN-Radio at the Wolford Hotel and later in the late 1940's at the location at 1501 North Washington, the facilities at WDAN-TV were built at a minimum cost. The TV station had no storefront, no reception area, no sales offices and no rest rooms. It evidently shared much of the facilities with WDAN-Radio. The TV station consisted only of a master control room, a main studio, a film room and one office. It was obvious that the TV station would probably play a minor roll compared to WDAN-Radio. The media monopoly of Northwest Publishing(later Gannett) was kept with the ownership of the Commerical-News, WDAN-Radio and now WDAN-TV. |
On December 19th, 1953, WDAN-TV, channel 24 signed on the air from the studio and transmitter sight located at 1501 North Washington Street in Danville, Illinois. The Danville Commercial-News, the cities daily Newspaper, along with WDAN-AM and WDAN-TV were all owned by Northwestern Publishing, which later became part of Gannett Publishing. The TV facility consisted of studios, transmitter and tower, along with the transmitter and tower for WDAN-AM.
The original radio tower was a 385 foot self supporting tower which was built in 1938, when WDAN-AM signed on. The original radio studio was located at the Wolford Hotel, and was considered one of the most modern built up to that time. When the Danville Commercial News built the original radio studio, no expense was spared in building a state of the art studio of it's time, quite a contrast to the building of the new TV station in 1953.
During the late 40's, the radio studio was moved to the transmitter site and the original transmitter building was surrounded by a new facility which included studios and office space.
In 1953, the TV station was built as an addition to the rear of the radio facility and included a studio, master control room and offices. The radio studio was moved to the Commercial-News offices downtown sometime during the late 50's, possibly when the TV station was sold to the Plains Television Partners.
One document found from the era of the TV station construction contained estimated operating costs of the station and included the expense of 5 engineers at $85/week, 1 "traffic girl" at $45/week, a "film man" at $100/week and a "production man" at $125/week. Other expensed included film costs at $3,000/month, power costs at $100/month, BMI/ASCAP at $1,000/month, sales costs at $2000/month and insurance at $300/month. The cost for network services included $1200/month, AT&T Chicago at $4000/month. The proposed ad rates were $150/hour, $90/per one-half hour show, $50/for a quarter hour show, $25/spot and $15 station breaks. The initial hours of operation were from 6PM to 10PM and the income goal was $11,200 per month. The operating hours of WDAN-TV varied, but generally was around 3PM to Midnight, although the transmitter was turned on at 9AM with Test Pattern and Tone being broadcast until programming began at 3PM. If there was any special programming from ABC, it is assumed that WDAN-TV would broadcast it,such as the Army-McCarthy Hearings(broadcast by ABC exclusively) of the mid 50's, but it's unknown for sure. Even though ABC was doing some daytime programming, WDAN-TV delayed it's daily sign-on, I assume because of the lack of programming to fill in the blank time periods that ABC didn't program which were several hours each day.
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| This is picture,above, of an actual
piece of film strip with the WDAN-TV test pattern on it. (Courtesy of Neuhoff Broadcasting, current owners of WDAN(AM), WDNL(FM) and WRHK(FM), and the former home of WDAN-TV) |
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Construction of the new WDAN-TV tower(right) made demolition of the old WDAN radio tower necesssary in 1953. The old tower is shown being toppled. The top section and antenna was white when it was initally built. Later, the painting was changed so that the top section was red. |
The original layout of the WDAN AM/TV/FM tower and antenna located at 1501 N. Vermilion in Danville. The picture shows the original guy wires and insulators and the TV antenna mast on top of the tower. The TV antenna was removed in the mid 1980's. This was taken just a few days before. |
Unidentified WDAN-TV engineers posing before an equipment rack. It's possible that is the original WDAN-TV transmitter. The transmitter was in the master control room was in the same location that was occupied for many years from 1977 to 1987 by a Harris System 90 which programmed WDNL(FM). The ductwork which cooled the transmitter is still evident in the ceiling of the room today! |
Unidentified WDAN-TV engineers in the master control room. That would have been the master control board which would control both audio and video. Behind them is a cover over the window that overlooked the studio. The fiber board paneling shown on the walls, is still covering the walls of the WDAN(AM), WDNL(FM) and WRHK(FM) master control room. |
WDAN-TV was truly a "local" station with a power output which was quite low, a short 385-foot tower which limited it's reach. The coverage area indicated above was quite optimistic. The station televised pee-wee football games from outside the studio on the grounds to the north of the building outside an overhead door in the main studio. Coverage consisted of a studio camera taken outside showing the game in progress. No recordings of any local broadcasts exist, other than the snapshot of a sponsored test pattern(see below). Local attempts of programming game shows, spelling bees and other local events were generally hosted by WDAN(AM) hosts such as Max Schaeffer and John Eckert. Even though he left WDAN before the TV station was built, Dick Van Dyke was a former WDAN(AM) personality. One notable celebrity who began his "show business" career as a camera operator at WDAN-TV was movie actor Gene Hackman. Legend has it he was told that he should stay with WDAN and not move on, because he could really work his way up the television ladder. The initial Station Manager was Robert Burrow.
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WDAN-TV asking the question of the Danville area, "Are you ready to spend more money to receive your only UHF station you will ever receive?" |
Channel 24, WDAN-TV from a Commercial News Advertisement for the new Danville station. |
Another logo 24 from advertisments for WDAN-TV from the Commercial News. It seems that there was no consistant logo used for Channel 24 as it appears in many different forms in what newspaper ads were run. |
The WDAN-Radio and Television Studios. This is an artist hand drawing of the building which has changed very little from 1953 to today. It's now home to WDAN(AM), WDNL(FM) and WRHK(FM). The building still has many artifacts from it's TV station days, including the ceiling support bars which housed the lighting in the studio, as well as many video coax cable ends which are terminated coming out of the walls of the master control room. |
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At right is a photo of the WDAN Radio and TV studios, probably taken sometime in 1953-54. The address is 1501 North Washington, Danville, Illinois. It was built to fit into the residental neighborhood which was sprouting all around the original transmitter site of WDAN Radio, which was built in 1938. ( Photo courtesy of Neuhoff Broadcasting, where it hangs in the lobby area.) |
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Here is the way the original WDAN
Radio and TV studios look in 2007. It's now the home of WDAN(AM),
WDNL(FM) and WRHK(FM). In 2007, the Vermilion County Bureau of
WICD(originally WDAN-TV) was relocated back into the facility.
The Bureau is located in the original TV station business office.
WDAN, WDNL and WRHK are owned by Neuhoff Broadcasting-Danville while
WICD is owned by Sinclair Broadcasting. Doug, has connections to all of these stations as he used to work at WDAN/WDNL from 1977 to 1992 and 1994-2002. He worked for WWDZ(now WRHK) in 1993, and has worked at WICD from 1994-present. |
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| The placement of the first TV/Radio tower section.
Behind it is the four legged WDAN-Radio tower which was dropped after
the new tower was completed. See picture above. Keep in
mind the new tower here, is still standing and being used by WDAN(AM)
and WDNL(FM) and supports an STL antenna for WRHK(FM). |
The WDAN-TV(later WICD-TV) antenna before it was lifted to
the top of the "massive" 380-foot tower. The next time this
antenna would be on the ground was in the early 1980's when it was
removed from the tower. |
This is the another shot of the base of the antenna before
it was hoisted to the top of the tower. |
This shot is of the film chain projector from the WDAN-TV
master control room. The room is now the master control of
WDAN(AM), WDNL(FM) and WRHK(FM). The holes in the floor from the
film chain wiring is still evident in the floor of the radio station
master control. |
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| This shot is of three Danville Television dealers examining
the monitors used in the master control froom of WDAN-TV |
Pictured is Max Schaffer(left) and John Eckert(right).
Max and John were from WDAN-Radio where Max remained until 1977, while
John was at WDAN/WDNL until the early 1980's. The identity
of the person in the center of this shot is unknown. It's
possible that he is the TV station manager Bob
Burrow. By the way, "M"ax and "J"ohn were the inspiration of the
new WMBJ call letters of the old WDAN-FM in the early-mid 1970's.
The "B" was from Bill Shoup, the Chief Engineer. |
Two engineeers are pictured installing the coaxial cable
contecting the antenna with the transmitter of WDAN-TV. |
Being that most TV's of the era were only equiped to receive
VHF broadcasts, this was part of an on-going ad campaign which tried to
convince people to make an additional investment of a "converter" and
separate antenna to receive the Danville station. |
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Left is a photo taken of the camera set up for a broadcast of, what was more than likely, a Pee Wee Football game which took place in the lot of the station. The walk in door which has the awning over it is pretty much as it is today, while the garage door at right has been sealed shut. It opened to the main studio. There was another door on the oposite side of the studio where cars were driven through for live TV commercials. McAleer Buick used this commercial format during the early years of WDAN-TV. What is pictured is not one of the original cameras used at Channel 24, so the date for this photo was probably sometime in the late 1950's. This may be the camera which is on display at the Vermilion County Museum. (Photo courtesy of Neuhoff Broadcasting) |
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One of the major problems of the new UHF stations was the fact that TV set owners had to "convert" their expensive sets with different antennas , cabling and tuners to receive the stations. This particular ad from the Danville Commerical News urged new viewers of WDAN-TV to get with the local TV shops and purchase what is needed to receive the stations. It wasn't until 1964 that TV set manufacturers were required to include a built in UHF tuner in all sets. Then it wasn't until the early 70's which required them to have "click" tuners which would help put the UHF stations on "equal" par to the VHF staitions.
The first broadcast day of WDAN-TV seemed to be rather anti-climatic. It occurred on December 19th of 1953. After weeks of a buildup in the pages of the Danville Commercial News, which owned the TV station the first weeks of broadcasts from the station were plagued with a major technical problem. The picture on Channel 24 viewers TV's "rolled" plus the station was not able to broadcast anything of local origination. They were not able to use the studio cameras, no film chain, no audio nothing other than passing the ABC TV network signal with a test pattern of the station to fill in the "blanks." plus a problem in the transmitter would not hold vertical "sync." After the initial publicity of the station's sign-on, the newspaper became noticeably quiet about their new TV facility.
Several days later a short article would appear in the Commerical-News stating that a piece of equipment had arrived to correct the "synch" problem, then later that local origination was finally possible. From that point on, stories were published but ended up in less than favorable placement in the newspaper. It was almost as if the newspaper was "ashamed" of WDAN-TV's performance. From that point on, I couldn't find much in the way of any display ads for the station, other than the typical programing listings of WDAN along with other local stations in Champaign, Indianapolis and Chicago. I would think that it would be a given, that the pages of the Commerical-News would be available to promote the programming of the TV station it owned!
WDAN-TV was an ABC affiliate, probably not by choice but by process of elimination. Keep in mind the powerhouse in the market WCIA had a primary affiliation contract with CBS, and secondary affiliation contracts with DuMont and NBC by the time Channel 24 was scheduled to be a reality. That left only ABC, which at the time was just recently purchased by Leonard Goldenson and United Paramount Theaters for a mere $25-million in 1951. The network struggled with an abbreviated prime time schedule which consisted of Chicago Wrestling matches, newsreels, Paul Whiteman's Teen Club and "Beulah."
It appeared the process by which WDAN-TV came to be was a much different, than that of neighboring WCIA in Champaign. As you read about WCIA on this site, the construction process took less than 9 months to build a regional television powerhouse. There wasn't a situation that tripped up the TV broadcast pioneers with the building of WCIA, in spite of more than one wrinkle along the way. WCIA searched the area for the best possible location to locate a transmitter and tower to maximize the reach of the station, installed a microwave system to get the signal from the studios to the transmitter, installed a complex microwave system to receive network programming from Danville and the closest coaxial cable from AT and T and built a studio which eventually was expanded to house the station for years to come. They also featured enough programing to fill out a much longer broadcast day.
WDAN, on the other hand, appeared to be built with a minimum investment. Most of the building cost seemed to go with the construction of a tower which could handle the relatively heavy UHF antenna needed for the station to broadcast. The existing WDAN radio antenna, a self supporting four legged tower from 1938 wasn't going to fit the requirements. So a tower was designed and constructed to serve as the broadcast antenna for the radio station as well as support the TV antenna. The tower itself was quite substantial with it's large face enabling it to serve double duty. It probably, with approval of the FAA and local zoning, could have been extended to at least the 600-foot mark at the time. The tower stands today at 385-feet, without the top TV antenna mast which was removed in the early 1980's(see pictures above).
The developers of the station made mistakes by underestimating the future needs of the facility itself. It was constructed on the rear of the WDAN broadcast studios and contained only the bare basic equipment to do the job. The TV station didn't even have a "store front" visible to the general public. The building itself relegated the TV station to taking a back seat to that of the radio station. Then, it's been said that the station didn't place a designated advertising sales staff to build financial support for the station. Remember the station was owned by the radio station, which was owned by the local newspaper. This pretty much set up a media monopoly which was more than likely driven by the large ad count of the newspaper. In fact the original WDAN-TV Manager, Robert Burrow, was a sales manager from the Commercial-News newspaper. On the broadcast side, the success of WDAN radio probably placed WDAN-TV on the back burner as far as the staff is concerned, while the radio station took a secondary position to that of the newspaper. This was a situation which was duplicated years later when WDAN started the communities first FM station. The secondary medium became secondary in importance, a far second or third in ad billing and pretty much sealed the fate of the station as a failure. The newspaper ownership, outside of regretting the investment and the lack of return, probably accepted the losses as a part of doing business and maintaining the stranglehold of media ownership. Obviously, the ownership of the newspaper could have provided enough capital for the establishment of a first rate facility, with enough working cash to allow the TV station to grow and develop into being financially independent. It would not have been easy, but certainly possible. The Commerical-News didn't take the example of it's own actions when it constructed the state-of-the-art radio studios of WDAN in 1938.
This is the only known "recording" of an actual WDAN-TV broadcast. This was a snapshot taken by Don Claypool located in Oakwood, Illinois just west of Danville. The test pattern was used many times throughout the broadcast day to fill left over time between programs which did not contain commericals. Since this test pattern has the name of "Bud Electronic Supply," I assume it was a 'sponsored' test pattern to advertise GE Picture Tubes. Picture tubes from early TV's were known to need replacement after a couple of years of use as they grew dim and lost the ability to contrast between light and dark images. Usually, images would begin to look "silvery," a sure sign of picture tube replacement time. (courtesy of Don Claypool) |
By the time
WDAN-TV signed on the air, the many, many technical errors,
limited broadcast schedule, the probable live TV blunders of local TV
and the lack of any kind of enthusiastic marketing sealed the stations
fate. The programming schedule wasn't even listed in TV
Guide! Success avoided the Danville UHF station over the years,
and by the fourth anniversary of the station, it's commercial load, as
illustrated by the actual broadcast log of January 1958 was quite
sparse. No facility on the air could even pay the power bill with
the airing of just 8 commercial messages a day. The Danville
Commerical-News had to wait for a couple of more years to be freed from
the weight of having to support a losing TV station. That was
when Plains Television purchased WDAN-TV, changed it to WICD and made
it a satellite of it's WICS, NBC station in Springfield. That
eliminated the NBC secondary affiliation of WCIA and eliminated ABC
from the east central Illinois television landscape for years. It
wasn't until the late 1960's when WAND moved their Champaign translator
to the top of Brezee Tower in downtown Danville did ABC programming
return to Danville. Keep in mind, though, that Warner Cable
imported ABC programming with WAND from Decatur and WTHR(later WRTV)
from Indianapolis.
One can only speculate about the future of WDAN-TV IF it had the capitol and the support of the ownership to make it an independant media outlet, apart from it's newspaper and radio media cousins. WDAN-TV could have been a strong ABC affiliate in the area, perhaps joining with WTVP to cover the market in the future, much like WICS and WCHU did by the early 1960's. There could have been a complex lineup of stations covering the market, OR it could have meant a split to the Springfield, Decatur, Champaign-Urbana, Danville market. It may have meant the end to WCIA at Channel 3, since the F.C.C. was looking to creating an all UHF market across the area. Dismissing the "what ifs" WDAN-TV had a background much like many other UHF stations at the time, and it ultimately wasn’t QUITE a failure since the station(as WDAN-TV and WICD) continues to broadcast today, while many other stations of the day went dark(such as WBLN in Bloomington).
