The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

(Left to right) E. W. Gaumnitz (Executive Secretary of the National Cheese Institute); O. H. Hoffman, Jr. (General
Manager of the Inter-State Milk Producers' Co-op); A. R. Marvel (Inter-State President); John W. Newlin (Inter-State
Association's Counsel); Charles Shaw of WCAU Radio and Television; Miles Horst (Pennsylvania's Secretary
of Agriculture); and Donald W. Thornburgh, President of the WCAU Stations
June 1954

In February of 1948, WCAU Radio was airing a program called, "This is Television" hosted by Charles Shaw. The show dealt with the new communications media called "TV." While we do not have the complete program, we do have to excerpts which date from February of 1948. In excerpt one, Shaw went to the roof of the PSFS Building where the tower for Channel 10 was being erected. There, Shaw spoke with the head of the construction company, Henry Buxbaum. In the other excerpt, Shaw talked with the General Manager from Motorola of Philadelphia Company and James D. McClaine, Commercial Manager from WPTZ, Channel 3 (a competitor of Channel 10).

Dan Krystkiewicz, a visitor to our website, donated this audio. He dates this broadcast as probably Saturday, February 21, 1948. That would mean that the recording made atop the PSFS building was done on Thursday, February 19th. "This is Television" aired 6:45 pm to 7 pm according to the label on the transcription discs. Dan says: "Unfortunately recorded on cardboard Wilcox-Gay Recordio discs, which mostly accounts for the surface noise." The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia filtered out most of the noise.

The PSFS Building, on the corner of 12th and Market Streets in Center City Philadelphia was designed by Architects George Howe and William Lescaze. The building, described as the first truly modern skycraper, has 36 floors and is 492 feet tall. The WCAU-TV tower was 262 feet tall. Thus, putting the antenna 748 feet above street level. That's 200 feet taller than the top of William Penn's hat on City Hall. Channel 10 moved its antenna to Roxborough in 1954 where it was 450 feet higher. The building is now known as "The Loews Philadelphia Hotel," and was the home of the Channel 10 live broadcast series called, "10" for several years after the turn of the century.

Excerpt #1

Excerpt #2

The e-mail address of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com