WRFT-TV

WRFT-TV, known as WRLU from 1974 to 1975, was a television station on channel 27 in Roanoke, Virginia, United States. Affiliated with ABC through its existence, the station telecast from March 1966 to April 1974 and again from September 1974 to February 1975. Financial problems caused the station's demise after having experienced a mass staff walkout in 1974; the station was more than $1 million in debt when it closed. WRFT-TV operated from studios on Little Brushy Mountain in Salem and, in later years, a transmitter on Poor Mountain.

History

Roanoke already had an ignominious history of UHF television prior to WRFT-TV. WROV-TV, also operating on the third of Roanoke's three commercial station allocations, had broadcast for five months in 1953 before becoming the first-ever television station to shut down in the United States. However, with just two commercial stations, Roanoke did not have full three-network service. The nearest ABC affiliate, WLVA-TV in Lynchburg, was not receivable in all areas of Roanoke, even though it had established a translator (W05AA channel 5) in 1963. This, along with the passage of the All-Channel Receiver Act, prompted another group, Roanoke Telecasting Corporation—headed by Frank Tirico—to file an application for a new channel 27 television station, which was granted on July 2, 1965. The station took the call letters WRFT-TV and picked up an ABC affiliation.

WRFT-TV began broadcasting March 4, 1966, initially with a low 21,400 watts from a transmitter on Little Brushy Mountain overlooking Salem—also far lower than the Roanoke antenna farm on Poor Mountain. The antenna was above ground, and above average terrain. Its ABC affiliation agreement called for it to receive $75 an hour in compensation from the network contingent on delivering 10,000 to 18,000 homes in prime time. The station failed to do so, resulting in the station losing compensation altogether in November 1967, not even delivering 1,000 homes at peak hours to its network. Its financial picture was "dismal"; the station lost increasing amounts of money in its first three years. In 1968, Alexander Apostolou became the majority shareholder of Roanoke Telecasting when he purchased an additional 12.5 percent stake in the firm from Malcolm and Morton Rosenberg. One of its employees in the late 1960s was Adrian Cronauer''. The station was, however, successful in obtaining an FCC ruling that prevented the WLVA-TV Roanoke translator from airing any ABC programs the same day they aired on WRFT-TV.

In June 1969, Roanoke Telecasting filed to move the transmitter to Poor Mountain and increase its effective radiated power to 250,000 watts. These proposed changes would increase the station's coverage area and signal strength. However, they also pitted southwest Virginia's two ABC affiliates against one another, as WRFT-TV would now provide a second ABC network service in 25 percent of WLVA-TV's coverage area. WLVA-TV was unsuccessful in its bid to stop this application, with a final decision in January 1972 finding in favor of channel 27. However, by this point in time, channel 27 was more than $450,000 in debt. Further exacerbating matters, ABC informed the station in 1970 that it would no longer pay the $3,600 monthly bill to connect WRFT-TV to the network; WRFT-TV sought permission from WLVA-TV to rebroadcast ABC network programs off-air but was denied in the context of the rivalry between the two stations. The network called its decision not a reversal but rather a clarification of a misunderstanding, as it had believed that its contract with WRFT-TV required it to pay the cost.

While WRFT-TV won the fight for equal technical footing with the other Roanoke stations, it still had the problem of increasingly desperate financial straits. This issue came to a head in late April 1974, when owner Apostolou fired channel 27's general manager, Andy Peterson. On April 30, in solidarity with the fired executive, all of WRFT-TV's employees walked out; the station was able to broadcast for the rest of the day, but it failed to sign on the next day. Peterson argued that the station was being run in a poor manner, and the staff agreed. One of its production directors claimed the station was being "held together by chewing gum and rubber bands"; its chief engineer said it was still on the air "with the aid of a 15-watt Christmas bulb and baling wire".

Apostolou announced that channel 27 would remain off the air until a new staff was hired; it did not return to broadcast operations until September 7, doing so with a new set of call letters, WRLU. The turbulent ride would not last much longer. By February 1975, the station was reported to be $1.1 to $1.4 million in debt—which was impairing sale negotiations with several groups—and it was $8,000 behind to the Appalachian Power Company. It was Apco who turned off the electricity to WRLU at 8:53 a.m. on the morning of February 11, 1975, right before the end of '' AM America''. The station's equipment was foreclosed upon by the Mountain Trust Bank and sold in November, and the license was canceled by the FCC on October 5, 1976. The result was to leave much of Roanoke without a watchable ABC signal, until the renamed WSET-TV finally succeeded in moving to Thaxton Mountain halfway between Roanoke and Lynchburg in 1980.

References

{{Roanoke TV

Defunct television stations in the United States
Television channels and stations established in 1966
Television channels and stations disestablished in 1975
1966 establishments in Virginia
1975 disestablishments in Virginia
RFT-TV
Television stations in Roanoke, Virginia