WPST-TV
WPST-TV was a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, for four years, from 1957 to 1961. Launched as the third commercially licensed very high frequency station in Miami and the market's second American Broadcasting Company affiliate after WITV, it was owned by Public Service Television, Inc., the broadcasting subsidiary of Miami-based National Airlines, and managed by NAL founder/CEO George T. Baker. It was the first television station in the United States to have its broadcast license revoked by the Federal Communications Commission.
The majority of WPST-TV's existence was shrouded in controversy. NAL prevailed after a protracted bidding process against three other applicants for the station license. Storer Broadcasting, another bidder forced to withdraw early on, sold to NAL the studio facilities and tower of WGBS-TV, which was taken dark in advance of WPST-TV's sign-on on August 2, 1957. The uncovering of a wide-ranging ethics scandal within the FCC in early 1958 revealed NAL, along with two other bidders for the license, engaged in unethical lobbying and unauthorized ex parte communications with several commissioners prior to their voting in favor of the NAL application. After FCC commissioner and Miami native Richard A. Mack—directly influenced by close friend and practicing attorney Thurman A. Whiteside to vote for NAL—resigned in the scandal's wake, the bidding process for the channel 10 license was reopened. NAL's license for WPST-TV was ultimately revoked and a replacement license granted to L. B. Wilson, Inc., which launched WLBW-TV, now known as WPLG, on November 20, 1961.
WPST-TV was one of two stations in Miami to have their licenses revoked outright due to this scandal, the other being WCKT. Unlike WCKT, which had all assets and programming sold to the succeeding owners, the only connection between WPST-TV and WLBW-TV was the ABC affiliation.
Applications and initial decision
A freeze on issuing television station licenses was imposed by the Federal Communications Commission on September 30, 1948, in order to address interference issues and reassess future channel allocations. Because of this, WTVJ, which began telecasting on March 21, 1949, was the only television station in the Miami market. When the "freeze" was lifted on April 13, 1952, the Miami market was allotted four very high frequency signals: channels 2, 4, 7 and 10—with WTVJ already operating on channel 4—and two ultra high frequency signals: channels 27 and 33. The channel 2 allocation was designated as non-commercial educational.The bidding process for the channel 10 allocation was complicated and hotly contested. Radio stations WKAT and WGBS were the first two applicants in June 1952; WKAT was owned by former Miami Beach mayor A. Frank Katzentine, while WGBS was owned by Miami Beach–based Storer Broadcasting. The latter's bid also included construction of a new studio facility at Biscayne Boulevard and 21st Street. A third applicant emerged on January 14, 1953: David Haber, an automotive repair company owner who had recently purchased WFEC. L. B. Wilson, Inc., operators of Cincinnati, Ohio, station WCKY, filed an application on March 23, 1953; the company's founder and namesake, L. B. Wilson, maintained a regular residency in Miami Beach and was active in the area's social life. WGBS was the first applicant to withdraw on April 9, 1953; Storer had agreed to purchase WBRC-TV in Birmingham, Alabama, which would be its fifth TV station and place it at the limit under FCC regulations. In a change of heart, however, Storer reapplied on September 1, promising to divest one of its existing stations if granted the license. Storer's re-entry turned the application process into a five-way battle, as North Dade Video, Inc., had also submitted an application in April.
File:George T Baker 1940.jpg|left|thumb|George T. Baker, founder and CEO of National Airlines, standing in front of a Lockheed Lodestar.
A sixth applicant entered the picture on October 28, 1953: Public Service Television, controlled by George T. Baker, founder and CEO of Miami–based National Airlines, which owned the new company's stock. By the end of November 1953, two bidders were gone: Haber voluntarily withdrew his bid, while Storer's reapplication was rejected by the FCC, prompting Storer to appeal in court over the commission's policy of station ownership limits. The FCC changed this policy the following year to include two UHF signals with five VHF signals, allowing Storer to purchase the assets of an existing Fort Lauderdale UHF station with an unbuilt construction permit for a Miami station, relaunching it as WGBS-TV. Hearings for the channel 10 allocation began on January 29, 1954, presided over by examiner Herbert Sharfman, but it was not until June that the applicants were subject to a formal review. North Dade Video attracted attention when vice president Angus Graham, who had been the chairman of the Miami-Dade school board, resigned his position after a referendum on funding for an educational TV station failed the previous November, over which he was cross-examined.
The majority of the attention focused on George T. Baker. Baker testified that he viewed the channel 10 application as a force for good to improve civic engagement, citing the Kefauver Special Committee on organized crime as evidence that "behind the glitter and glamor of South Florida lies moral decay, delinquency and graft—the three forces that are dry-rotting the fiber of the community". Baker proposed using channel 10 to televise government proceedings and legislative sessions, advocated televising courtroom proceedings, and offered to broadcast religious programming free of charge. WKAT had previously accused Public Service Television of being ineligible due to excessing alien ownership, a charge the FCC rejected; in turn, Baker levied accusations of gambling operations at WKAT, claiming to have seen the station's cross-examining attorney at The Palms, an area gambling club. Baker was a stockholder with the Hialeah Park Race Track but pledged the station would not carry any advertising from it or any other race tracks. L. B. Wilson died on November 1, 1954, but his company's bid continued. When the hearings concluded on March 30, 1955, examiner Herbert Sharfman recommended the channel 10 license be granted to the WKAT concern, favoring the group's local ties, community involvement, and broadcasting experience. A. Frank Katzentine called the ruling "a victory for the people of Greater Miami as much as it was for me and the people of WKAT".
Storer re-enters the picture
Weeks after the FCC examiner's initial decision, Storer Broadcasting president George B. Storer re-emerged in the channel 10 fight. Along with Gerico Investment—owner of ABC-TV affiliate WITV —Storer filed a petition seeking all VHF transmissions in the market, including WTVJ, be converted to UHF. Storer also demanded that he be granted the channel 10 license and threatened to suspend WGBS-TV's operations if neither demand was satisfied. Storer had prevailed in a lower court ruling against the FCC's ownership limits, enabling him to make the ultimatum. WTVJ owner Mitchell Wolfson regarded the threat as brazen "legal shenanigans" and a move of desperation, as WGBS-TV was losing money. WGBS-TV was also in danger of losing its NBC affiliation to the Biscayne Television partnership of James M. Cox, John S. Knight, and Niles Trammell, which had recently won a recommendation to be awarded the channel 7 license; Trammell, a former NBC executive, announced the network would join their station when it launched. The FCC rejected this petition in July 1955, prompting Storer and Gerico to file for an injunction with the United States Court of Appeals in Washington forcing the commission into agreeing to a policy of all-VHF or all-UHF transmissions in a given market, referred to as "deintermixture".The Storer-Gerico suit was one of two filed against the new stations: the losing applicants for the channel 7 license also appealed after the FCC granted it to the Biscayne Television concern. Both were turned down by the appeals court on March 9, 1956, allowing for WCKT to be built on channel 7. As expected, WCKT debuted that July as an NBC affiliate, forcing WGBS-TV to operate as an independent with a significantly downscaled lineup moving operations to an existing house on the Biscayne Boulevard site. The last of the Storer-Gerico appeals was rejected in court on January 17, 1957, affirming WCKT's license and removing the last impediment for awarding the channel 10 license; Katzentine was regarded by The Miami News as the "leading contender". The January 21, 1957, issue of Broadcasting offered another twist: the FCC was set to award the license at an upcoming February 6 meeting, but Broadcasting reported a decision already had been written favoring Public Service Television/NAL, reversing Herbert Sharfman's WKAT/Katzentine recommendation and surprising an NAL spokesman contacted by the Miami Herald. The report came as Oklahoma Sen. A. S. Mike Monroney, part of the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, called on the FCC to defer making a decision on NAL until determining if an airline, eligible for possible government subsidies, should be allowed to own a television station. The commission rejected considering the letter because it was not part of the record in the proceeding and believed that doing so would constitute "legal error".
Construction
The FCC's February 1957 meeting affirmed the Broadcasting report and confirmed industry rumors, awarding a construction permit for channel 10 to Public Service Television/NAL. Four of the seven commissioners voted for NAL, two voted for other candidates, and one abstained. The commission praised NAL for directly integrating ownership with management, matching WKAT and North Dade Video, Inc., in multiple attributes ranging from programming proposals to media diversification, while L. B. Wilson, Inc.'s bid was adversely affected by Wilson's death. George T. Baker expressed gratitude at the grant, telling the Miami News, "...I can assure you that the station will be exactly what the name implies... public service television". The grant coincided with last-minute petitions filed by WKAT and Eastern Air Lines being denied. Based in Miami like NAL, Eastern claimed NAL's television license would force the airline to spend an additional $1 million yearly in advertising to make up for the competitive disadvantage, while WKAT cited a statement from Baker lobbying the Civil Aeronautics Board to prevent Northeast Airlines from having a New York–Miami route certified, claiming competition to a core NAL route would "ruin" the airline.Construction on the new station accelerated through an unexpected source. In March, Public Service Television contacted Storer and expressed interest in purchasing WGBS-TV's physical plant and assets, which the Miami Herald reported as "converting" WGBS-TV to a VHF signal. On April 5, Storer announced it had agreed to sell land, tower, and studio facilities to Public Service Television for an undisclosed price and that WGBS-TV would leave the air on April 13, with Public Service Television assuring employment for WGBS-TV's staff; the deal would also allow channel 10 to commence operation sooner than otherwise. Among the retained staffers was former WGBS-TV station manager Walter M. Koessler, who was hired by Public Service Television for the same position. Taking the WPST-TV call sign, the new station secured an affiliation with ABC on June 16, 1957, effective August 1; incumbent affiliate WITV was given no advance notice and, like WGBS-TV before it, converted to an independent with a "curtailed" program lineup. Gerico filed a final petition requesting that WITV move to channel 6, claiming WCKT and WPST-TV "effectively deleted UHF service" in the market. This petition was denied, prompting WITV to go dark on May 11, 1958.