History Of W2XBS

I recently received a very nice letter from K1AAG, George Dupee of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, regarding an article he came across on the history behind my call sign, W2XBS.

George's article is taken from a Boston Red Sox e-mail newsletter.

"On this day in 1939, the first televised Major League baseball game was televised on station W2XBS, the station that was to become WNBC-TV. Announcer Red Barber called the game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York. At that time, television was still in its infancy.

Regular programming did not yet exist, and very few people owned television receiving equipment. As a matter of fact, there were only about 400 in the New York City area. Not until 1946 did regular network broadcasting catch on in the United States, and only in the mid 1950's did television sets become common in the American household.

In 1939, the Worlds Fair -- which was being held in New York -- became the catalyst for the historic broadcast. The television was one of the fair's prize exhibits, and organizers (and RCA) believed that the Dodgers-Reds doubleheader on August 26th was the perfect event to showcase Americas grasp on the new technology."

This was not the first letter regarding the history behind my call sign that I have received over the years. I did a little more research, and here is a little more history behind W2XBS.

What is now WNBC-TV traces its history to experimental station W2XBS, founded by the Radio Corporation of America (a co-founder of the National Broadcasting Company), in 1928. Originally a test bed for RCA's Photophone theater television, it used the low-definition mechanical scanning system, and later was used mostly for reception and interference tests. W2XBS left the air sometime in 1933 as RCA turned its attention to cathode ray tube (CRT) television research at its Camden, New Jersey facility, under the leadership of Dr. Vladimir Zworykin. The station originally broadcast on the frequencies of 2.0 to 2.1 megahertz. In 1929, W2XBS upgraded their
transmitter and broadcast facilities to handle transmissions of 60 vertical lines at 20 frames per second, on the frequencies of 2.75 to2.85 megahertz.

It was 1935 before the CRT system was authorized as a "field test" project and NBC converted a radio studio in the RCA Building (now the GE Building) in New York City's Rockefeller Center for television use. In mid-1936, small-scale programming began to air to an audience of some 75 receivers in the homes of high-level RCA staff, and a dozen or so sets in a closed circuit viewing room in 52nd-floor offices of the RCA Building. The viewing room often hosted visiting organizations or corporate guests, who saw a live program produced in the studios many floors below.

RCA began transmission in 1928 W2XBS on 2.0 to 2.1 megahertz from a location at Van Cortlandt Park. In 1929, W2XBS moved their transmitter and broadcast facilities to to the New Amsterdam Theatre Building in New York, and began broadcasting 60-line pictures on thefrequencies of 2.75 to 2.85 megahertz.

NBC, on June 29, 1936, began field-testing television transmissions from W2XBS, using Zworykin's all-electronic television system. These transmissions were received on experimental receivers scattered throughout the New York area. In 1937, scanning had reached 441 lines, and television programming was extended to include pickups remote from the studio.

The National Broadcasting Company, as a service of RCA, has been in the vanguard of television pioneering and since the earliest days of experimentation, when about the best that could be produced were barely recognizable pictures of Felix the Cat on screens the size of a playing card, or smaller. NBC'S first experimental, on-the-air broadcast was on July 7, 1930.

In June 1931, an RCA-NBC television transmitter was installed on the top of the Empire State Building and W2XBS began regular television and facsimile operations in December of that year. Experimental broadcasts continued and in the next few years, during the course of extensive development field tests, the transmitted picture was increased from 120, to 240, and then 343 lines, respectively.

In the course of extensive field tests, NBC and RCA engineers succeeded in increasing the quality of transmitted pictures to 120 lines, to 240 lines, and then 343 lines.

It was 1935 before the CRT system was authorized as a "field test" project and NBC converted a radio studio in the RCA Building (now the GE Building) in New York City' Rockefeller Center for television use. On June 29, 1936, NBC began field-test television transmissions from W2XBS to an audience of some 75 receivers in the homes of high-level RCA staff, and a dozen or so sets in a closed circuit viewing room in 52nd-floor offices of the RCA Building. The viewing room often hosted visiting organizations or corporate guests, who saw a live program produced in the studios many floors below. Eventually these transmissions were received on about 200 experimental RR-359 receivers scattered throughout the New York area.

Shortly after NBC began a semi-regular transmission schedule in 1938, DuMont Laboratories announced TV sets for sale to the public, a move RCA was not yet contemplating. In response, NBC ceased all TV broadcasting for several months.

As a result of the continued tests, scanning was stepped up to 441 lines, and television programming was extended to include pickups remote from the studio. NBC's mobile television vans, then a great curiosity, appeared on the streets of New York for the first time on December 12, 1937.

In 1939, RCA introduced television to the American public at the World's Fair. At the same time, the station began regularly scheduled broadcasting, with both studio and remote programming.

The station began commercial television operations on July 1, 1941, the first fully-licensed commercial television station in the United States. The call letters were changed to WNBT and it originally broadcast on channel 1. Soon after signing on that day, WNBT aired the first television commercial. The Bulova Watch Company paid $9 for a commercial aired during a baseball game of the Philadelphia Phillies at the Brooklyn Dodgers.

As W2XBS, the station scored numerous "firsts", including the first televised Broadway drama (June 1938), live news event covered by mobile unit (a fire in an abandoned building in November 1938), live telecast of a Presidential speech (Franklin D. Roosevelt opening the1939 New York World's Fair), the first live telecasts of college and Major League Baseball (both in 1939), the first telecast of a National Football League game (also in 1939), the first telecast of a National Hockey League game (early 1940) and the first network telecast of a political convention (the 1940 Republican National Convention).

During World War II, RCA diverted key technical TV staff to the U.S. Navy, who were interested in developing a TV-guided bomb. WNBT's studio and program staff were placed at the disposal of the New York Police Department and used for Civil Defense training. Public programming resumed on a small scale during 1944.

The station began commercial television operations on July 1, 1941, the first fully-licensed commercial television station in the United States. The call letters were changed to WNBT and it originally broadcast on channel 1. Soon after signing on that day, WNBT aired the first television commercial. The Bulova Watch Company paid $9 for a commercial aired during a baseball game of the Philadelphia Phillies at the Brooklyn Dodgers.

During World War II, RCA diverted key technical TV staff to the U.S. Navy, who were interested in developing a TV-guided bomb. WNBT's studio and program staff were placed at the disposal of the New York Police Department and used for Civil Defense training. Public programming resumed on a small scale during 1944.

In 1946, the station changed its frequency from channel 1 to channel 4 after VHF channel 1 was removed from use for television broadcasting. (Channel 4 was previously occupied by WABD before moving to channel 5.) The station changed its call letters on October 18, 1954 to WRCA-TV (for NBC's then-parent company, RCA) and on May 22, 1960, Channel 4 became WNBC-TV New York.