Allocation and construction of channel 10
In 1953, two companies—Sparton Broadcasting and the Jackson Broadcasting and Telecasting Corporation—requested that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) assign channel 10 to Parma, Michigan, while a third—Triad Association—requested its assignment to the nearby community of Onondaga,[1] south of Lansing.[2] The commission made the assignment to Parma and Onondaga in January 1954, denying a competing bid to place channel 10 at Coldwater.[3] The site was necessary to maintain proper spacing to other channel 10 stations at Milwaukee; Columbus, Ohio; and London, Ontario.
With the assignment in place, the FCC took applications for channel 10. Booth Radio and Television Stations (owner of Jackson radio station WIBM), Triad,[4][5] and Jackson Broadcasting and Telecasting (owner of Jackson radio station WKHM) all applied.[6] The fourth bid came from the Television Corporation of Michigan (TCM), a firm with close ties to Lansing Broadcasting, owner of Lansing radio station WILS. At the time, WILS was operating WILS-TV (channel 54), an early ultra high frequency (UHF) station.[7] The fifth and final applicant for channel 10 was Michigan State College, which sought approval to build a commercial station. The college was already experienced in educational television. It owned the Lansing area's other UHF television station, WKAR-TV (channel 60).[8]
In September 1954, TCM and Michigan State College combined their bids after the former company made a proposal for a shared-time operation,[9] Under the new proposal, the college would build the facility and lease it to Television Corporation of Michigan. The two groups, each with separate licenses, would broadcast at different times each day; the Michigan State station would be on air 38 hours a week, only slightly less than WKAR-TV was operating. The proposal came at a time when both groups were disappointed by their UHF television stations in Lansing. WILS was selling channel 54, while Michigan State officials had discovered viewers were not buying the converters needed to view UHF stations at the rate they had hoped, crimping the effectiveness of channel 60. According to John Pomeroy, president of WILS and TCM, the Michigan State–TCM petition called for the station to broadcast with the maximum high-band VHF power of 316,000 watts from a 1,000 ft tower. This would provide at least secondary coverage within 70 mi of Parma–Onondaga, including Lansing proper.[10] In 1955, Armand L. Hunter, the director of educational television at Michigan State College, noted that the existing operation of channel 60 did not justify the $300,000 annual expense to operate it. The college's entrance into the channel 10 proposal led to some concern by state legislators that Michigan State was entering into competition with private broadcasters;[11] college officials stated that the station would not be built with tax dollars and that the university would recoup its investment in the form of lease payments to Television Corporation of Michigan.[12]
FCC hearings in the long-running case concluded in October 1956.[13] Hearing examiner Annie Neal Huntting handed down her initial decision on March 7, 1957. It favored the joint bid of Michigan State (which had recently been elevated to university status) and the Television Corporation of Michigan.[15] The losing applicants mounted nearly two years of appeals to the FCC and Michigan courts. The matter was heard by the commission in April 1958; Booth, Triad, and Jackson Broadcasting and Telecasting argued the proposed station would feature a "mish-mash" of cultural and commercial programs, citing the scheduling of programming on world philosophy next to The Lone Ranger.[16]
In May 1958, the FCC denied the appeals and awarded a tentative construction permit to Michigan State University for the construction of the channel 10 facility.[17] With this tentative approval in hand, MSU shut down WKAR-TV on channel 60 the next month, with president John A. Hannah announcing the university would not return to the air until channel 10 was completed.[18][19] MSU received formal FCC approval for channel 10 after a split commission decision on September 3.[20] The university signaled it would be able to provide educational television programs in a much wider area from channel 10 than it had from channel 60.[21] The companies initially planned to telecast under the call letters they had used on the UHF band—WILS-TV and WKAR-TV[22]—but the FCC assigned them the call signs WFTV and WMSB, respectively.[23]
The university swung into the process of taking bids for construction.[25] Its progress was soon halted by continued appeals from the losers, this time in Michigan courts. Acting on a petition from the Jackson Broadcasting and Telecasting Corporation, a circuit judge in Jackson enjoined MSU from awarding construction contracts in late October.[26] The Jackson firm's petition contended that the MSU plan to issue revenue bonds to finance construction and pay them back with the proceeds from the lease to Television Corporation of Michigan violated the Michigan state constitution and a condition on legislative appropriations to the university.[27] MSU emerged victorious when the circuit judge lifted his temporary restraining order,[28] and the FCC denied last appeals made by Jackson Broadcasting and Telecasting.[29][30] During construction, on January 9, 1959, a 28-year-old tower worker from Decatur, Illinois, fell 450 ft to his death when rigging gave way.[31]
