HARTFORD RADIO HISTORY
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Silent Stations
There were a number of CT stations that came and went, some lasting only a few years and other listing many decades. These "silent stations" are listed below in alphabetical order. Note that some of these stations have individual pages at left. Thanks to Robert Paine for much of this information:
1XAK: Glenbrook, CT. Frequency: 200 meters. Stanford Radio Service. 1922.
Mar. 1, 1923 200m 275m 375m
1XG Hartford CT (Travelers)
Aug. 1, 1925 Special land station
Feb. 28, 1929 1060kc 50kw
Feb. 28, 1930 DELETED
KC2XAK: This was the world's first UHF television station although it only was used to rebroadcast NYC's WNBT, channel 4 (NBC) on channel 24 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It commenced operation on December 29, 1949 under the project name "Operation Bridgeport". The historical record shows it was a test by NBC and RCA to
see if use of the the UHF frequencies was practicable for TV transmission. The station used an antenna with a gain of 100 times (20dB) on top of a 210-foot tower and was approx. 450-feet above average terrain. The station fed 1000 watts into the antenna.
This was the first UHF station on in the US although the first commercial station that originated its own programming was KPTV, which aired on UHF Channel 27 in 1952."
W1XAL New Haven CT (Doolittle Radio Corp)
Oct. 31, 1930 1330kc 50w experimental license Hotel Taft
April 30, 1931 DELETED
WAAQ, Greenwich, owned by the New England Motor Sales Co.
April 15, 1922 360m 833kc
May 1, 1922 Location: W73 37 30 N41 02 00 (Putnam Ave)
April 1, 1923 Service E (entertainment)
June 1, 1923 DELETED
WBIB-FM, New Haven 1947-ca. 1953. See separate page link at left.
WCAC Mansfield, CT
May 1, 1925 500w
Jan 13, 1926 1090kc 500w
Feb 28, 1927 to Storrs CT
May 31, 1927 to Mansfield CT
May 31, 1927 1090kc 500w
Aug. 31, 1927 560kc
Jan 31, 1928 560kc 500w
Feb. 29, 1928 560kc 500w
Dec. 31,1928 600kc 250w
Feb. 28, 1929 600kc 250w
WCJ, New Haven, owned by A.C. Gilbert Company. Oct. 10, 1921 300m 360m 833kc 600m
April 1, 1924 360m 833kc
Jan. 2, 1923 DELETED
WCWS Danbury CT - WCON Danbury CT
May 31, 1927 1490kc 100w
June 30, 1927 214.2m 1400kc
Oct. 30, 1927 1130kc
Jan 31, 1928 1130kc 100w 198 Main St
Feb. 29, 1928 1130kc 100w
April 30, 1928 call WCON
July 31, 1928 DELETED
WDAK, Hartford 1921-1923 appr., owned by Hartford Courant. See separate page link at left.
WELI-FM, (formally WEMI), dates uncertain, merged with WBIB. See separate page link at left.
WFHA, New Britain. Supposedly a sister station to WRYM (WKNB) 840 AM.
WGAH, New Haven Electric Company.
July 1, 1922 360m 833kc
April 1, 1923 Service E (entertainment)
June 1, 1923 DELETED
WGCH-FM, 95.9 MHz. Greenwich's first radio station didn't survive very long but it has a distinghished history documented at left.
WKAX, Bridgeport CT. Owner: William A. MacFarlane.
Sept. 1, 1922 360m 833kc
June 1, 1923 231m 1300kc
Dec. 1, 1923 DELETED
WKNB-FM. See separate page link at left.
WLIZ: BRIDGEPORT,CT.-1300 khz-1000 watts-The Bridgeport Broadcasting Company. This station is mostly a total unknown. It had radio broadcast towers on Bridgeport Harbor. Possibly 1940's and early 1950's.
Contributor Jack Rose on WLIZ: "Around 1951 I missed most of the 5th grade bedridden with mono. WLIZ/1300 was a constant companion. Bob Crane hosted what was still called the Bill Elliott [GM] Show mornings. Wallie Dunlap [PD] did afternoon drive. Al Herskovitz, a student part-timer, was my boss at WPRO 16 years later. I lived on LI. As a special treat my mom brought me to Bridgeport on the ferry to visit the studio in the CILCO building. They were kind to the 10-yr-old fan who later became a DJ himself. When 1300 went silent, most of the talent landed at WICC/600."
WLCR, 990 KHz, Torrington, CT. Litchfield County's first station! See separate page link at left.
WNLC, 1510 KHz, New London. Had an eight tower directional array! See separate page link at left.
WOAS, Balley's Radio Shop, Middletown, deleted Aug. 1923.
Contributor Bob McCormick reports: WOAS Middletown CT (1923 licensed and deleted), operated by Philip A. Bailey of Bailey's Radio Shop, 283 Main St, Middletown CT.
Philip Adrian Bailey was born 28 Feb 1899 in Middletown CT. His father John Bailey was a medical doctor. His 12 Sep 1918 WWI draft registration card lists his occupation as the manager of semaphore and signal station in Mexico. He was also granted a passport in 1918 listing the same particulars. The 1920 census lists him as an electrical engineer and employed by "moving picture" living in Middletown CT.
In the mid 1930's Philip was VP of Hartman Drug Company on Main St in Middletown. Incorporated in 1904 his father was its president.
Although no reference to Bailey's Radio Shop was found from the 1930's through 1950's there was Bailey's and later Bailey & Curtiss at 66 Washington in Middletown. Bailey lived around the corner on Alsop Av where he also maintained Baileys Electronic Laboratory for a number of decades. In the 1960's the lab became Eltic Laboratories Inc with Eugene F Pinney its president and treasurer and Philip Bailey its vice president. Philip Bailey passed away in March 1977.
Jan. 2, 1923 360m 833kc
April 1, 1923 Service E (entertainment)
Aug. 1, 1923 DELETED
WPAJ New Haven CT (Doolittle Radio Corp). One of CT's earliest stations.
Jan 2, 1923 360m 833kc
April 1, 1923 service E (entertainment)
June 1, 1923 268m 1120kc
Oct 1, 1923 10w
Feb. 1, 1924 268m 10w 39 Center St entertainment
June 2, 1924 100w
Feb 2, 1925 1120kc 100w 115 Crown St
May 1, 1925 call WDRC
WQAD, Waterbury. Whitehall Electric Company. April, 1923.
Feb 1, 1923 360m 833kc 10w
April 1, 1923 Service E (entertainment)
June 1, 1923 Moved to 242m 1240kc
Feb 1, 1924 242m 50w 59 W Maine St entertainment
May 5, 1924 DELETED
WQB: 01 Sep 1921, Hartford, Conn. Frequencies: 200m 300m 375m 600m C. D. Tuska Co. - range 100 (mi). The C.D. Tuska Company.
Clarance Tuska was a cofounder of the American Radio Relay League. The CD Tuska Company built a number of radio receivers and Tuska has quite a few patents. From a 1923 advertisement: "Tuska sets are built under the personal direction of C. D. Tuska, a nationally known radio pioneer and builder of fine apparatus. For a dozen years Mr. Tuska has been keenly critical of all radio parts and sets bearing his name. As a result, the Tuska seal is recognized as a guarantee of the most thorough New England craftsmanship - and there is no better." (cite: Popular Science Monthly Sep 1923 pp 99).
Popular Science Monthly March 1922 pp 72-73 describes WQB with a wave length of 425 meters. Concerts on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturday evenings." It shows a radius for WQB reaching aprox to Cincinnati.
WQQW, 1590 Khz, Waterbury. Formally W1XBS and WBRY. See separate page link at left.
WSCH, 93.7 Mhz, Hartford. South Congregational Church. Later becoming WLAE and WZMX. See separate page link at left.
WTHT (AM), 1230 KHz. Manchester. See separate page link at left.
WTHT-FM, 106.1 MHz. Hartford. See separate page link at left.
W10BQ: Channel 10, New Haven.
W11BJ: Channel 11 from the channel 61 tower on Rattlesnake Mountain in Farmington. 25 watts. Ran programming from the National Black Media Coalition for a number of years in the eighties.
W79AI, Channel 79, Torrington. Translator for channel 30. See separate page link at left.
Channel 61 LPTV, Spanish language, from Rattlesnake Mountain in Farmington in the early eighties. This station operated for a few years on channel 61 prior to WTIC-TV coming on the air in the eighties when the LPTV moved to channel 47 and relocated to Glastonbury.
1XAK: Glenbrook, CT. Frequency: 200 meters. Stanford Radio Service. 1922.
Mar. 1, 1923 200m 275m 375m
1XG Hartford CT (Travelers)
Aug. 1, 1925 Special land station
Feb. 28, 1929 1060kc 50kw
Feb. 28, 1930 DELETED
KC2XAK: This was the world's first UHF television station although it only was used to rebroadcast NYC's WNBT, channel 4 (NBC) on channel 24 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It commenced operation on December 29, 1949 under the project name "Operation Bridgeport". The historical record shows it was a test by NBC and RCA to
see if use of the the UHF frequencies was practicable for TV transmission. The station used an antenna with a gain of 100 times (20dB) on top of a 210-foot tower and was approx. 450-feet above average terrain. The station fed 1000 watts into the antenna.
This was the first UHF station on in the US although the first commercial station that originated its own programming was KPTV, which aired on UHF Channel 27 in 1952."
W1XAL New Haven CT (Doolittle Radio Corp)
Oct. 31, 1930 1330kc 50w experimental license Hotel Taft
April 30, 1931 DELETED
WAAQ, Greenwich, owned by the New England Motor Sales Co.
April 15, 1922 360m 833kc
May 1, 1922 Location: W73 37 30 N41 02 00 (Putnam Ave)
April 1, 1923 Service E (entertainment)
June 1, 1923 DELETED
WBIB-FM, New Haven 1947-ca. 1953. See separate page link at left.
WCAC Mansfield, CT
May 1, 1925 500w
Jan 13, 1926 1090kc 500w
Feb 28, 1927 to Storrs CT
May 31, 1927 to Mansfield CT
May 31, 1927 1090kc 500w
Aug. 31, 1927 560kc
Jan 31, 1928 560kc 500w
Feb. 29, 1928 560kc 500w
Dec. 31,1928 600kc 250w
Feb. 28, 1929 600kc 250w
WCJ, New Haven, owned by A.C. Gilbert Company. Oct. 10, 1921 300m 360m 833kc 600m
April 1, 1924 360m 833kc
Jan. 2, 1923 DELETED
WCWS Danbury CT - WCON Danbury CT
May 31, 1927 1490kc 100w
June 30, 1927 214.2m 1400kc
Oct. 30, 1927 1130kc
Jan 31, 1928 1130kc 100w 198 Main St
Feb. 29, 1928 1130kc 100w
April 30, 1928 call WCON
July 31, 1928 DELETED
WDAK, Hartford 1921-1923 appr., owned by Hartford Courant. See separate page link at left.
WELI-FM, (formally WEMI), dates uncertain, merged with WBIB. See separate page link at left.
WFHA, New Britain. Supposedly a sister station to WRYM (WKNB) 840 AM.
WGAH, New Haven Electric Company.
July 1, 1922 360m 833kc
April 1, 1923 Service E (entertainment)
June 1, 1923 DELETED
WGCH-FM, 95.9 MHz. Greenwich's first radio station didn't survive very long but it has a distinghished history documented at left.
WKAX, Bridgeport CT. Owner: William A. MacFarlane.
Sept. 1, 1922 360m 833kc
June 1, 1923 231m 1300kc
Dec. 1, 1923 DELETED
WKNB-FM. See separate page link at left.
WLIZ: BRIDGEPORT,CT.-1300 khz-1000 watts-The Bridgeport Broadcasting Company. This station is mostly a total unknown. It had radio broadcast towers on Bridgeport Harbor. Possibly 1940's and early 1950's.
Contributor Jack Rose on WLIZ: "Around 1951 I missed most of the 5th grade bedridden with mono. WLIZ/1300 was a constant companion. Bob Crane hosted what was still called the Bill Elliott [GM] Show mornings. Wallie Dunlap [PD] did afternoon drive. Al Herskovitz, a student part-timer, was my boss at WPRO 16 years later. I lived on LI. As a special treat my mom brought me to Bridgeport on the ferry to visit the studio in the CILCO building. They were kind to the 10-yr-old fan who later became a DJ himself. When 1300 went silent, most of the talent landed at WICC/600."
WLCR, 990 KHz, Torrington, CT. Litchfield County's first station! See separate page link at left.
WNLC, 1510 KHz, New London. Had an eight tower directional array! See separate page link at left.
WOAS, Balley's Radio Shop, Middletown, deleted Aug. 1923.
Contributor Bob McCormick reports: WOAS Middletown CT (1923 licensed and deleted), operated by Philip A. Bailey of Bailey's Radio Shop, 283 Main St, Middletown CT.
Philip Adrian Bailey was born 28 Feb 1899 in Middletown CT. His father John Bailey was a medical doctor. His 12 Sep 1918 WWI draft registration card lists his occupation as the manager of semaphore and signal station in Mexico. He was also granted a passport in 1918 listing the same particulars. The 1920 census lists him as an electrical engineer and employed by "moving picture" living in Middletown CT.
In the mid 1930's Philip was VP of Hartman Drug Company on Main St in Middletown. Incorporated in 1904 his father was its president.
Although no reference to Bailey's Radio Shop was found from the 1930's through 1950's there was Bailey's and later Bailey & Curtiss at 66 Washington in Middletown. Bailey lived around the corner on Alsop Av where he also maintained Baileys Electronic Laboratory for a number of decades. In the 1960's the lab became Eltic Laboratories Inc with Eugene F Pinney its president and treasurer and Philip Bailey its vice president. Philip Bailey passed away in March 1977.
Jan. 2, 1923 360m 833kc
April 1, 1923 Service E (entertainment)
Aug. 1, 1923 DELETED
WPAJ New Haven CT (Doolittle Radio Corp). One of CT's earliest stations.
Jan 2, 1923 360m 833kc
April 1, 1923 service E (entertainment)
June 1, 1923 268m 1120kc
Oct 1, 1923 10w
Feb. 1, 1924 268m 10w 39 Center St entertainment
June 2, 1924 100w
Feb 2, 1925 1120kc 100w 115 Crown St
May 1, 1925 call WDRC
WQAD, Waterbury. Whitehall Electric Company. April, 1923.
Feb 1, 1923 360m 833kc 10w
April 1, 1923 Service E (entertainment)
June 1, 1923 Moved to 242m 1240kc
Feb 1, 1924 242m 50w 59 W Maine St entertainment
May 5, 1924 DELETED
WQB: 01 Sep 1921, Hartford, Conn. Frequencies: 200m 300m 375m 600m C. D. Tuska Co. - range 100 (mi). The C.D. Tuska Company.
Clarance Tuska was a cofounder of the American Radio Relay League. The CD Tuska Company built a number of radio receivers and Tuska has quite a few patents. From a 1923 advertisement: "Tuska sets are built under the personal direction of C. D. Tuska, a nationally known radio pioneer and builder of fine apparatus. For a dozen years Mr. Tuska has been keenly critical of all radio parts and sets bearing his name. As a result, the Tuska seal is recognized as a guarantee of the most thorough New England craftsmanship - and there is no better." (cite: Popular Science Monthly Sep 1923 pp 99).
Popular Science Monthly March 1922 pp 72-73 describes WQB with a wave length of 425 meters. Concerts on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturday evenings." It shows a radius for WQB reaching aprox to Cincinnati.
WQQW, 1590 Khz, Waterbury. Formally W1XBS and WBRY. See separate page link at left.
WSCH, 93.7 Mhz, Hartford. South Congregational Church. Later becoming WLAE and WZMX. See separate page link at left.
WTHT (AM), 1230 KHz. Manchester. See separate page link at left.
WTHT-FM, 106.1 MHz. Hartford. See separate page link at left.
W10BQ: Channel 10, New Haven.
W11BJ: Channel 11 from the channel 61 tower on Rattlesnake Mountain in Farmington. 25 watts. Ran programming from the National Black Media Coalition for a number of years in the eighties.
W79AI, Channel 79, Torrington. Translator for channel 30. See separate page link at left.
Channel 61 LPTV, Spanish language, from Rattlesnake Mountain in Farmington in the early eighties. This station operated for a few years on channel 61 prior to WTIC-TV coming on the air in the eighties when the LPTV moved to channel 47 and relocated to Glastonbury.
Also, we are looking for info on:
A Waterbury station in the 20s - existence unconfirmed.
A traveling AM station in the 20s that operated a week at the time in Waterbury and Norwich, maybe other cities.
A temporary TV station in the 50s or 60s that came to Hartford to demonstrate television. '
A Waterbury station in the 20s - existence unconfirmed.
A traveling AM station in the 20s that operated a week at the time in Waterbury and Norwich, maybe other cities.
A temporary TV station in the 50s or 60s that came to Hartford to demonstrate television. '
