Early Days of Television in Mid-Illinois

Chicago Television History is where Steve Jajkowski has put together a collection of facts and memories of each of the major heritage television stations.  There are some connections when it comes to mid-Illinois television, but you have to look closely to find them.

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This is where the Balaban name makes an appearance for a later connection to WICS and eventually WCHU and WICD. Under "Video Veteran Spotlight" you'll get the story of Balaban and Katz, the company formed by John Balaban and Sam Katz ran the B and K Theaters. There were more than 100 theaters under their company's brand in Chicago.

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Barney Balaban was president of Paramount Pictures, Inc. as the filmmaker who emerged from bankruptcy in 1935. Paramount was the owner of the Balaban and Katz theater chain that nationally had more than 1500 theaters, with even more in Europe, South America, and Canada.

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That was a monopolistic arrangement that was eventually broken up under the Justice Department. Barney Balaban maintained control of the Paramount Studios, while brother John would control the movie theaters and team up with Sam Katz (from MGM). 

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By 1939, Paramount was encouraged to get into the television business, by Leonard H. Goldenson, an up-and-coming corporate lawyer at Paramount. (Goldenson would later be the President of ABC from 1953 through 1985.)

Goldenson would acquire an experimental license that would become W9XBK to broadcast on channel 2 in Chicago. The station would be changed to channel 4 when the FCC rearranged the frequency assignments. By late 1943, W9XBK would become the first commercial station in Chicago, WBKB. Later it would change to channel 7, and by 1968 it became WLS-TV. In the early days, during the 1940s, Milton Friedland was a sales executive with WBKB. He later would accept the position of general manager at WICS, Channel 20, in Springfield, Illinois.

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Meanwhile, two other Balaban Brothers, Harry, and Elmer were also theater owners, under the company name of H & E Corporation. Most of their holdings were suburban theaters in the Chicago market reaching down into central Illinois. They, too, were getting into television station ownership with a number of applications throughout the Midwest. Among those were TV stations in Rockford, Illinois(WTVO), and Springfield, Illinois(WICS). By 1958, Harry and Elmer along with Plains TV had a stake in the two mentioned Illinois properties, but also KGKO radio in Dallas, Texas; WIL radio in St. Louis; WRIT radio in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and possibly (although not quite clear) WMCN radio in Grand Rapids, Michigan and KFBI radio in Wichita, Kansas. 

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