WENS (TV)
| Company type | Television station |
|---|---|
| Industry | Broadcasting |
| Founded | 1953 |
| Defunct | 1957 |
| Headquarters | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , United States |
| Products | Television broadcasting |
WENS (channel 16) functioned as a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1953 until 1957. Affiliated with both ABC and CBS, it was among Pittsburgh’s earliest UHF broadcasters, established by a consortium that included Thomas P. Johnson, owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates. WENS was notable for airing the first local telecasts of Pirates games and ranked as the third station in the market.
The station encountered difficulties largely due to the limited adoption of UHF technology during that period—most television sets required special adaptations to receive UHF channels, and advertisers along with networks tended to prefer VHF stations. Although Pittsburgh had only a single commercial VHF outlet, WENS struggled to attract sponsorships for prominent network programming. Following the collapse of its transmission tower in March 1955, some of its shows were broadcast for 47 days on educational station WQED. The introduction of further VHF competitors ultimately led WENS to discontinue operations on August 31, 1957, after which it sold its facilities to WQED for use as a second educational channel, WQEX. The station’s proprietors later invested in WDTV in West Virginia, while the WENS license remained valid into the 1960s despite no return to broadcasting.
Early years
On December 23, 1952, the Telecasting Company of Pittsburgh was granted a construction permit for a new UHF station on channel 16, one of three commercial channels allocated to Pittsburgh. The initiative was driven by former executives from WDTV who had departed that station and joined forces with local investors, including Pirates owner Thomas P. Johnson. By February 1953, WENS secured exclusive rights to ABC programming in Pittsburgh, setting up competition with WDTV; by May, it also added CBS affiliation to offer network content beyond what WDTV partially carried. Channel 16 transmitted from facilities on Ivory Avenue previously owned by radio station WCAE, which was pursuing a VHF license for channel 4 at Irwin and discontinuing its FM service. WCAE had begun construction of a 500-foot tower at Ivory Avenue; WENS completed this structure.
The Telecasting Company also purchased equipment originally ordered for Scranton’s abandoned channel 16 application. Test pattern transmissions commenced on August 24, 1953, with official broadcasts starting August 29 featuring a Pirates baseball game—the first Pirates telecast in Pittsburgh—making WENS the second UHF station in the city after WKJF-TV (channel 53). Early advertising revenues surpassed initial projections. In October 1953, the Telecasting Company reorganized as Telecasting, Inc., to attract additional investors.
Initially operating from studios at Ivory Avenue, WENS invested $400,000 by the end of the year to build new facilities on Mt. Troy Avenue but increasingly depended on network programming amid financial challenges. After WKJF-TV ceased operations in July 1954, WENS incorporated some NBC shows into its schedule. Nonetheless, it faced typical obstacles associated with UHF stations: it was unable to secure local sponsors for popular programs such as Kukla, Fran and Ollie following WDTV’s discontinuation of that show. When Duquesne University’s basketball team qualified for the 1955 National Invitation Tournament, WENS held exclusive broadcast rights but failed to attract sponsorship and consequently transferred the games to KDKA-TV (channel 2).
On March 11, 1955, a severe windstorm in Pittsburgh caused the collapse of WENS's transmission tower, destroying both the structure and its equipment. This incident threatened to keep the station off the air for several months, leaving Pittsburgh with just a single commercial television outlet.
Shortly after WENS began operations, Pittsburgh welcomed another VHF broadcaster: WQED on channel 13, dedicated to educational programming. WQED, along with KDKA-TV—which transmitted from the same channel 13 tower—offered WENS access to their facilities to continue airing its content. Technical teams acted swiftly, enabling WENS to resume broadcasts via WQED starting the day following the tower's destruction. The Federal Communications Commission authorized a temporary time-sharing agreement on channel 13 through April 1; only Frieda B. Hennock, an advocate for reserved educational channels, opposed this decision.
Under this joint arrangement, weekday broadcasts mostly featured WQED’s educational shows, while WENS’s network programming aired during weeknights; weekends were dedicated exclusively to WENS content, including Toast of the Town. This collaboration allowed WENS to reach viewers who lacked UHF reception and tapped into WQED’s established audience base. Notably, WQED’s program Campus On Call, scheduled between ABC and CBS shows from WENS, experienced increased viewer participation. Concurrently, WENS worked on restoring its own channel 16 service by erecting a temporary 150-foot tower.
Decline and demise
Broadcasting resumed on channel 16 on April 27, concluding a 46-day period of shared airtime with WQED and compensating the educational station for additional expenses incurred. Nonetheless, WENS’s brief access to VHF did not solve its fundamental challenges as a UHF broadcaster: limited audience penetration due to the necessity of converters and advertisers’ preference for VHF outlets. In July 1955, radio station WWSW was granted a construction permit for VHF channel 11—a move contested by WENS; subsequently, the FCC reopened hearings citing financial concerns regarding the permit holder.
On February 24, 1957, shortly before FCC proceedings concerning channel 11 commenced, WWSW and WENS reached an out-of-court agreement. As part of the settlement, WENS withdrew its opposition to WWSW’s new station WIIC, while WWSW acquired the Ivory Avenue facilities of channel 16 to lease back to WENS and paid $500,000—$300,000 of which was contingent upon channel 11’s launch. Despite this resolution, WENS continued efforts to transition to VHF by proposing three plans in June 1957 aimed at introducing a fourth commercial VHF allocation in Pittsburgh—including options involving trading channel 9 from Steubenville, Ohio and strategies for deintermixture—but these proposals were rejected by the FCC in December.
WIIC announced it would begin operations on September 1, 1957, prompting WENS to halt broadcasting on August 31. The former WENS studios were briefly utilized by WIIC prior to its official launch.
Later use of channel 16 in Pittsburgh
In early 1957, WQED expressed intentions to apply for unused frequencies in both Pittsburgh and Clarksburg, West Virginia, with plans to establish a second noncommercial station focused on educational content. Following the decision by WENS’s management to cease operations on August 27, they offered their facilities to WQED.
By June 1958, WQED agreed to purchase the channel 16 infrastructure from Telecasting, Inc., pending issuance of a new construction permit. After the FCC designated the station for noncommercial use and approved the permit, WQED launched its second station, WQEX, on March 23, 1959. The original transmitter from WENS—lacking color broadcast capability—remained operational until it failed in March 1985.
WENS after ceasing broadcasts
Although Telecasting, Inc. never recommenced transmission in Pittsburgh, the WENS license was reassigned to channel 22 with the station's approval after the FCC designated channel 16 for noncommercial broadcasting. The company subsequently applied for channel 5 in Weston, West Virginia, and merged with J. Patrick Beacom’s WJPB-TV on channel 35 in Fairmont, with Thomas P. Johnson and George Eby contributing $200,000 for a 50% stake. Due to objections, final authorization was postponed until December 1961, resulting in the creation of today’s WDTV.
The WENS construction authorization remained valid more than ten years after operations halted. In 1965, Telecasting sought to transfer it to Springfield Television, which owned stations on the identical channel: WKEF in Dayton and WWLP in Springfield. Springfield also pursued a channel 14 license in Greensburg intended as a WENS satellite station. Additionally, they entered into a franchise deal with the Telemeter pay television service covering several stations including WENS. Nonetheless, financial challenges at Dayton and complications with the antenna location prevented WENS from resuming broadcasts.
In 1968, Springfield attempted to sell both WENS and WJZB-TV in Worcester to United Artists, but concerns regarding a potential Metromedia-Transamerica merger caused the plan to be abandoned. Instead, an arrangement was reached with Evans Broadcasting, owned by Thomas Mellon Evans, which petitioned the FCC to acquire four inactive UHF stations. Due to FCC delays, Springfield withdrew the sale in 1969; Evans then requested that the long-unused WENS permit be revoked for expiration. Ultimately, the authorization expired in 1970, making channel 22 available for new applicants.
A fresh station on channel 22 debuted in Pittsburgh in 1978 when Commercial Radio Institute (the forerunner of today’s Sinclair Broadcast Group) established WPTT-TV (now WPNT). In 1991, Sinclair acquired WPGH-TV and divested WPTT-TV but maintained operational control through a local marketing agreement; WPTT relocated to the Ivory Avenue studios formerly occupied by WPGH-TV since its 1969 return.