WBES-TV was an early UHF television station in Buffalo, New York. The station was formerly owned by the Buffalo-Niagara Television Corporation,[1] a subsidiary of local law firm Diebold & Millozzi.[2]
| |
| Channels | |
|---|---|
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | Independent |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Buffalo-Niagara Television Corporation |
| History | |
First air date | September 29, 1953 |
Last air date | December 19, 1953 |
History
editThe station operated on UHF channel 59 from studios in the Hotel Lafayette in Buffalo. WBES-TV, the second UHF station (and third TV station overall) in Western New York, was very short-lived, signing on September 29, 1953 and shutting down for the last time on December 19 of the same year. An independent station for its entire existence, WBES-TV was plagued by technical and financial problems, the primary factor in the station's failure. Its efforts to affiliate with a network were rejected, as the networks were waiting on the remaining VHF allocations to be built.[2]
Tom Jolls, at the time a radio personality at Lockport's WUSJ, was one of the station's personalities. He would eventually return to television a decade later, first with WBEN-TV (channel 4, now WIVB-TV), then more permanently with WKBW-TV (channel 7), where he spent 24 years as a weatherman.[3]
After WBES-TV was shut down, Buffalo was left with two stations, market leader WBEN-TV and fellow UHF upstart WBUF-TV (channel 17); WGR-TV (channel 2) signed on for the very first time on August 14, 1954, using WBES-TV's broadcast tower.[2]
In 1955, WBES-TV's channel 59 allocation was sold to Frontier Television,[4] who in 1957 petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to move the allocation to channel 29.[5] Planned as WNYT-TV,[6] the new station would have operated out of the studios of WBUF and used equipment donated by that station.[5] The FCC granted the move, though Frontier would never bring it to air after its chairman determined that competing against VHF channels was not economically feasible;[4] channel 29 eventually made it to air as WUTV in 1970.
References
edit- ↑ "Radio and TV: Chimp to Join Garroway". Buffalo Courier-Express. Buffalo, New York. January 29, 1953. p. 5. Retrieved May 29, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 3 "WBES-TV Halts Operations, Returns Its License to FCC". Buffalo Evening News. Buffalo, New York. December 19, 1953. p. 8. Retrieved May 29, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Pergament, Alan (June 7, 2023). "Tom Jolls, part of Channel 7's legendary 'Irv, Rick and Tom' broadcast team, dies at 89". Buffalo News. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
- 1 2 "Frontier TV Inc. To Seek License for VHF Channel Here". Buffalo Evening News. June 12, 1958. p. IV:55. Retrieved January 1, 2026.
- 1 2 "UHF Channel 29 Assigned By FCC To Frontier TV". Buffalo Evening News. May 16, 1957. p. III:38. Retrieved January 1, 2026.
- ↑ "WNYT-TV Will Ask For Transfer From Channel 59 to 29". Buffalo Evening News. March 6, 1957. p. III:41.