The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

Daniel L. Moyer was known to most everyone as "Roy." He passed away on Sunday, June 15, 2003 at the age of 82 at the Roslyn Convalescent Home of complications of multiple myeloma and multiple sclerosis.

He was born on the other end of Pennsylvania, in Pittsburgh. His parents moved the family from there to Philly and Roy was a graduate of Germantown High School.

During the Second World War, he was a Navy pilot and flight instructor based here in the states. In 1946, Roy became an engineer for television station WPTZ, channel 3 in Philadelphia (now KYW-TV.) While Moyer studied electrical engineering at Drexel Institute of Technology (now Drexel University), TV technology was so new, that he had to learn on the job.

At the time, WPTZ was an NBC affiliate owned by Philco. The station was licensed as the city's first commercial television station in 1941. Previously, the broadcast outlet was an experimental station (W3XE) serving the 500 area residents who owned TV sets.

Roy was an engineer in the channel 3 studio for local and network programs including Ernie Kovacs, who received his start in here on WPTZ. Moyer was also engineer on Television Kitchen, a half-hour cooking show hosted by Florence Hanford. Later, he served as engineer for the nightly news anchored by Broadcast Pioneers member Vince Leonard.

Moyer worked on location as remote technical supervisor for the Philadelphia Warriors basketball games (before the 76ers). He also did remotes for the Phillies and Athletics baseball games, plus the annual Army-Navy football game.

In 1960, he worked on the NFL championship game in which the Eagles beat Green Bay. In 1956, WPTZ became WRCV and was owned by NBC. Because of the new ownership, Roy got to work on many network projects, among them the first televised coverage of the New Hampshire presidential primary in 1956, early NASA space launchings, and the funeral of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

Roy Moyer retired from KYW-TV in 1983. He kept up his interest in electronic communications as a ham-radio operator and was a member of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia. In recent years, he corresponded via e-mail about his recollections of the early years of television.

Broadcast Pioneers member Charlie Higgins sends us this comment from ham operator, W3NE. "I had a long conversation with Roy during what might have been his last attendance at a Delmont Dinner/Meeting. He described at great length many of his early contributions to getting W3XE and WPTZ on the air. He was one of the broadcast greats who, even though they didn't know "exactly" what they were doing, forged ahead on a solid foundation of previous experience (though often far removed from their current situations), and a good sense of practical engineering. There aren't many left."

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