Tour of the Pittsburgh WPXI Television Station

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Please Join the Pittsburgh IEEE IAS/PES Joint Chapter for a presentation and tour of the WPXI Channel 11 Television Studio on Tuesday – 15AUG17. The WPXI Studio is located just North of Pittsburgh, PA.  

Tour Presenter:
Otto Schellin:  Director of Engineering –WPXI Channel 11 Pittsburgh, PA

The tour will start out with a light dinner and social from 6PM till about 7PM at the WPXI's community room.  Then from 7PM till about 8:30PM we will have an engineering tour of the WPXI facility consisting of an overview of the power station of the site. Then we will  move onto how the television signals get generated and transmitted to the television tower about two miles away.  The tour will also consist of viewing the studio control room and how they direct the live on air personalities that you see every day, as well as the videotaped programs that make up the Channel 11 line up. We may even be lucky enough to have a surprise TV guest pop in for some Q&A.

On September 1, 1957, before it was WPXI, Pittsburgh's second commercial VHF station signed on as WIIC. The station's construction permit was originally issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in June 1955 to WIIC Incorporated – a joint venture of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which owned WWSW radio (970 AM, now WBGG), and Pittsburgh Radio Supply House, the then-owners of WJAS radio (1320 AM). Both radio stations had competed individually for the permit grant along with other applicants. CBS, which was looking to gain its own full-time affiliate in the market, signed a contract with the then-unnamed channel 11 shortly thereafter. Before the "freeze" on television station licenses, the two stations were competing for the channel 10 license originally assigned to Pittsburgh before the FCC reallocated the channels in 1952, with channel 10 going to Altoona; the Hearst Corporation (then-owners of WCAE and eventual owners of WTAE-TV) and two other companies were also applying for the channel 10 license.

Channel 11, however, did not sign on for well over two years after its permit was granted. The primary reason for the delay was on the part of WENS-TV (channel 16, now WINP-TV), whose application for the permit had been denied and later contested the FCC's original decision. In the interim, CBS continued to have most of its programs cleared by Westinghouse-owned KDKA-TV (channel 2), at the time Pittsburgh's only commercial VHF station. When CBS decided to make KDKA-TV its full-time Pittsburgh affiliate, NBC (who shared time on KDKA-TV with CBS, ABC, and station founder DuMont since its sign-on in 1949) reached a deal to affiliate with WIIC. Also, as a condition of the license grant, WJAS radio had to be sold; NBC wound up purchasing that station in August 1957. The WJAS interests later divested their 50 percent share of WIIC to another local broadcaster.

Bill Cardille signed the station on the air. In addition to Cardille, five other announcers that were with the station when it launched in 1957 include Mal Alberts, Bob Cochran, Ed Conway, Len Johnson and Mark Schaefer. Some of the first original programming to air on WIIC included Studio Wrestling and Chiller Theatre, both hosted by Cardille. Shortly after its sign-on, WIIC was briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network, sharing the affiliation with KDKA-TV, WTAE-TV, and public television station WQED.

Directions from Pittsburgh: Take I-279 North about 2.0 miles and get off at the McKnight Road exit - immediately stay right for the stop sign at Evergreen Road. At the stop sign make a right and head up Evergreen Road for about 300 feet and make a sharp left into the WPXI Channel 11 parking lot. The sharp left is a bit hidden until you come up upon the WPXI Channel 11 Sign on your left, so keep your eyes open.  If you pass up the entrance and come to another stop sign with a BP gas station on your right, you went too far. Once you enter the WPXI parking lot, head to the front of the building and park. Then go to the front of the building to sign in at the security desk.

PDH's: If you would like to receive PDHs, please bring a copy of this announcement to this meeting and please contact Dave Vaglia for verification of your attendance. A non-Member who would like to receive PDHs is required to pay $10 to IEEE Pittsburgh Section. A Member who would like to receive PDH is required to show membership ID.

 

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IEEE Meeting and Tour of WPXI Television Studio

1.  Date: Tuesday-15AUG17
2.  Time: 6PM to 8:30PM
     A.  6PM to 7:00PM Light Dinner in the WPXI community room
     B.  7PM to 8:30PM Tour of the power room, control room, and studio facility
3.  Location: WPXI Television Studio 4145 Evergreen Rd, Pittsburgh, PA 15214
4.  Attendance\Cost: Free to IEEE members and Guests
5.  Guest Presenter: Otto Schellin - Director of Engineering

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