WOSH-TV,

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...

channel 48, was a

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Oshkosh, Wisconsin Oshkosh is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, of which it is the county seat. The city had a population of 66,816 in 2020, making it the ninth-largest city in Wisconsin. It is also adjacent to the Town of Oshkosh. History Oshkosh was ...

, United States. It was the first UHF television station in the state of

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, and the third television station of any kind on the air in the state, after

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

affiliate

WTMJ-TV WTMJ-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Kenosha-licensed Ion Television station WPXE-TV (channel 55). WTMJ-TV's studios are loca ...

in 1947 and

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

(now

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

) affiliate

WBAY-TV WBAY-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Gray Television. The station's studios are located on South Jefferson Street in downtown Green Bay (across from the historic B ...

in March 1953.

History

WOSH-TV was granted a license to operate on November 26, 1952, shortly after the

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

ended a three-year freeze on the creation of new television licenses in the United States, and began broadcasting at 4 p.m. local time on July 1, 1953 with 100 watts of power, expected to be increased to 1

kilowatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

later in the year. The station shared its call letters with AM sister station

WOSH WOSH (1490 AM) is a radio station serving the Oshkosh, Wisconsin area with a News/Talk format including the ABC News Radio network. This station is under ownership of Cumulus Media. The station began broadcasting on December 31, 1941. During t ...

, and broadcast from the same tower. WOSH-TV gained an affiliation with

on December 26, 1953. WOSH-TV faced several issues as 1954 began. UHF tuners, which had already gained a reputation for poor reception and tuning, were not in enough households in the WOSH broadcast area to attract advertisers, and were not a requirement on new television sets, most of which were VHF only. Additionally, as was soon discovered generally, UHF stations did not have the same broadcast characteristics as more established VHF stations; their signals did not travel as far with similar transmission power. All of these factors, along with new competition in the form of newly announced VHF stations WMBV-TV (channel 11, now

WLUK-TV WLUK-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Suring-licensed CW affiliate WCWF (channel 14). Both stations share studi ...

) and

WFRV-TV WFRV-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with CBS. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on East Mason Street in Green Bay, and its transmitter is located north of Mor ...

(channel 5) (meaning consumers in the area had even less reason to purchase television sets that were UHF capable) proved to be too much for WOSH-TV, and it announced it would cease broadcasting on March 23, 1954, citing a lack of advertisers and general difficulties with being a UHF broadcaster. The market also began a slow consolidation of station transmitter into the Green Bay area, specifically

Scray Hill Scray Hill (also known possessively as Scray's Hill) is an summit in Brown County, Wisconsin, at . Located just south of De Pere, much of the hill is in the Town of Glenmore; some of its northwestern edges are in the Town of Ledgeview. Scray Hi ...

in the Town of Glenmore to provide one point of reception, rather than multiple towers down the Fox River and

Lake Winnebago Lake Winnebago ( mez, Wenepekōw Nepēhsæh, oj, Wiinibiigoo-zaaga'igan, one, kanyataláheleˀ) is a shallow freshwater lake in the north central United States, located in east central Wisconsin. At 137,700 acres it is the largest lake entir ...

. The only other UHF station in northeast Wisconsin at this time, WNAM-TV, announced in November 1954 that it would merge its operations with WFRV-TV, which had yet to sign on. UHF television would not return to the market until 1968 when

KFIZ-TV KFIZ-TV, UHF analog channel 34, was an independent television station licensed to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, United States that operated from August 1, 1968, to November 30, 1972. The station was a sister station to KFIZ-AM, and covered an 11-count ...

went on the air in

Fond du Lac, Wisconsin Fond du Lac () is a city in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 44,678 at the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the United States Census Bureau's Fond du Lac United States metrop ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wosh-Tv Defunct television stations in the United States Television stations in Wisconsin Television channels and stations established in 1953 Television channels and stations disestablished in 1954 1953 establishments in Wisconsin 1954 disestablishments in Wisconsin OSH-TV