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The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndication. Westinghouse Broadcasting was formed in the 1920 as Westinghouse Radio Stations, Inc. It was renamed Westinghouse Broadcasting Company in 1954, and adopted the ''Group W'' moniker on May 20, 1963. It was a self-contained entity within the Westinghouse corporate structure; while the parent company was headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Westinghouse Broadcasting maintained headquarters in New York City. It kept national sales offices in Chicago and Los Angeles. Group W stations are best known for using a distinctive corporate typeface, introduced in 1963, for their logos and on-air imaging. Similarly styled typefaces had been used on some non-Group W stations as well and several former Group W stations still use it today. The Group W corporate typeface has been digitized and released freely by John Sizemore; Ray Larabie's freeware font "Anklepants" borrows heavily from the typeface and is occasionally used as a substitute. The font is also used in the video game ''Damnation''. Westinghouse Broadcasting was also well known for two long-running television programs, the ''
Mike Douglas Show ''The Mike Douglas Show'' was an American daytime television talk show that was hosted by Mike Douglas. It began as a local program in Cleveland before being carried on other stations owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting. The show went into natio ...
'' and '' PM Magazine'' (called '' Evening Magazine'' in Group W's core broadcast markets).


History


Radio origins

The Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company entered broadcasting with the November 2, 1920, sign-on of KDKA radio in Pittsburgh. The oldest surviving licensed commercial radio station in the United States, KDKA was an outgrowth of experimental station 8XK, a 75-watt station that was located in the Pittsburgh suburb of
Wilkinsburg Wilkinsburg is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The borough has a population of 15,930 as of the 2010 census. Wilkinsburg is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The borough was named for John Wilkins Jr., a United States Army ...
, and founded in 1916 by Westinghouse assistant chief engineer Frank Conrad. Westinghouse launched three more radio stations between 1920 and 1921: WJZ, originally licensed to Newark, New Jersey; WBZ, first located in
Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...
; and KYW, originally based in Chicago. WBZA in Boston, a station which shared WBZ's frequency and simulcasted WBZ's programming, signed on in November 1924. Westinghouse was one of the founding owners of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in 1919, and in 1926 RCA established the
National Broadcasting Company The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
(NBC), a group of 24 radio stations that made up the first radio network in the United States. Westinghouse initially owned a 20 percent stake in NBC, and as a result, all of Westinghouse's stations became affiliates of NBC's
Blue Network The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American Commercial broadcasting, radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the N ...
when it was launched on January 1, 1927. Most of the Blue Network's programming originated at WJZ, which in 1923 had its license moved to New York City, and its ownership transferred to RCA. In 1931, Westinghouse switched the call letters of its two Massachusetts stations, with WBZA moving to Springfield and WBZ going to Boston. The two stations had suffered from interference problems, though the Boston facility was the more powerful of the two. In 1934, KYW was moved from Chicago to Philadelphia following a Federal Communications Commission-dictated frequency realignment. Westinghouse's next station was its first purchase:
WOWO WOWO (1190 AM) – branded News/Talk WOWO 1190 AM 107.5 FM – is a commercial talk radio station licensed to Fort Wayne, Indiana, serving primarily the Fort Wayne metropolitan area. Currently owned by Federated Media via licensee Pathfinder Co ...
in Fort Wayne, Indiana, joined the group in August 1936. The
North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA, es, Convenio Regional Norteamericano de Radiodifusión) refers to a series of international treaties that defined technical standards for AM band (mediumwave) radio stations. These agreem ...
of 1941 saw all of Westinghouse's original stations move to their current frequencies. With WOWO's power increase to 50,000 watts later that year, the Westinghouse stations were now also
clear-channel station A clear-channel station is an AM broadcasting, AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from Interference (communication), interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The syste ...
s. A decade later, the FCC forbade common ownership of two or more clear channel stations with overlapping nighttime coverage, though the commission allowed Westinghouse to keep WBZ, KYW, KDKA, and WOWO together under a grandfather clause. Among them, the four stations' nighttime signals blanketed almost all of the eastern half of
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
. Despite the assignments which resulted from NARBA, WBZA became a 1,000-watt daytime-only operation as it continued to share a frequency with WBZ. The Westinghouse group survived the government-dictated split of NBC's radio division in 1943. WBZ/WBZA, KDKA, and KYW became affiliates of NBC's Red Network while WOWO, which had a secondary affiliation with the Blue Network, fell back on its primary relationship with CBS. Westinghouse expanded to the West Coast in 1944 with its purchase of 5,000-watt KEX in Portland, Oregon, a station which also shared a frequency with WOWO. Westinghouse would increase KEX's power to 50,000 watts in 1948. Later in the 1940s, Westinghouse moved on to develop FM and television stations as the FCC began to issue permits for those services. Westinghouse built FM sister stations for WBZ/WBZA, KDKA, KYW, KEX, and WOWO, all of which were on the air by the end of the decade. FM radio was, initially, an unsuccessful venture for Westinghouse, and the company would silence most of its FM stations during the 1950s. Of the early Westinghouse FMs, only the original KDKA-FM (now WLTJ) and the second WBZ-FM facility (now WMJX) proved to be worth keeping, and Westinghouse sold those outlets in the early 1980s. Moving back to AM radio, Westinghouse returned to Chicago with its 1956 purchase of WIND. In 1962, Westinghouse re-entered the New York market when it bought
WINS WINS may refer to: *WINS (AM), an all-news radio station in New York City *WINS-FM, a radio station in New York City *World Institute for Nuclear Security *Windows Internet Name Service *WINS (solution stack), a set of software subsystems *Wireles ...
, then a local Top-40 powerhouse, from
J. Elroy McCaw John Elroy McCaw (September 15, 1911 – August 17, 1969) was an American businessman whose most visible holdings were in the broadcasting industry. McCaw owned several major-market radio and television stations in the United States, with his ho ...
. Having reached the FCC's then-limit of seven AM stations, Westinghouse sold KEX to actor and singer
Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...
, and later decided to shut down WBZA and return its license to the FCC. In 1966, Westinghouse agreed to buy another top-rated music station, KFWB in Los Angeles. On April 19, 1965, WINS dropped music and instituted a 24-hour, all-news format. KYW went all-news six months later on September 12, three months after Westinghouse regained control of the station (see ''The 1956 Trade with NBC'', below). KFWB would adopt the format on March 11, 1968. The three stations all prospered with their new formats, usually ranking among the five highest-rated stations in their markets. During the 1970s and 1980s, WIND also tinkered with a part-time news format, though it had little success against the dominant all-news station in Chicago, CBS-owned WBBM. In the 1970s, Westinghouse Radio also developed a prodigious reputation for its innovation in analytical techniques and tools for radio sales and buying. Using sophisticated mathematical modeling, the group promoted its "New Math Calculator" which became extremely popular in ad agencies for planning radio campaigns. This was no simple look-up table; it introduced innovative measures such as "reach index" and "gross cume" to operationalize its core models. Westinghouse later introduced an even more comprehensive tool, stylized as the "Numa Radio Planner". In the days before desktop computers, these "slide rules" were state-of-the-art in audience planning research. Over the next quarter-century, Westinghouse would purchase several other radio stations, including KFBK in Sacramento, California; WNEW-FM in New York, KTWV in Los Angeles, and WMMR in Philadelphia. WOWO was sold to other interests in 1982 and WIND was spun off in 1985, two years before Group W bought WMAQ from NBC after that network announced it was closing its radio division.


Expansion into television

Westinghouse entered television on June 9, 1948, with the sign-on of WBZ-TV in Boston; it is the only television station to have been built by the company. Westinghouse's first station purchase was with WPTZ (now
KYW-TV KYW-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate WPSG (channel 57 ...
) in Philadelphia, in 1953. KPIX in San Francisco was bought in 1954; WDTV (now KDKA-TV) in Pittsburgh was added in 1955; and WAAM (now WJZ-TV) in
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...
was purchased in 1957. Westinghouse's only other outright television station purchase was in Charlotte, North Carolina, where it purchased WRET-TV from Ted Turner in early 1980, and changed its call letters to WPCQ-TV. Turner used the proceeds from the sale of the Charlotte station to help him launch CNN. The company also purchased cable TV system operator TelePrompTer in 1981, which it renamed Group W Cable the following year. The TelePrompTer acquisition also brought animation producer Filmation into the Group W fold. However, Westinghouse would leave the cable TV system business in 1986, and would later sell the Filmation library to L'Oréal in 1989. During that period, Group W was known in full as Westinghouse Broadcasting and Cable, Inc.


The 1956 trade with NBC

In June 1955, Westinghouse announced that it would sell its Philadelphia stations, KYW radio and WPTZ, to NBC. In exchange Westinghouse received NBC's Cleveland stations, WTAM radio and WNBK television, along with $3 million in compensation. The deal was approved in January 1956; one month later Westinghouse moved the KYW call letters to Cleveland and NBC renamed the Philadelphia stations WRCV (AM) and WRCV-TV. Both companies also transferred much of their respective management and some on-air personnel to their new cities. Most notably, both '' The Mike Douglas Show'' and the ''
Eyewitness News ''Eyewitness News'' is a style of television news presentation that emphasizes visual elements and action video, replacing the older "man-on-camera" newscast. History Pioneered by Westinghouse The earliest known use of the ''Eyewitness New ...
'' format originated on KYW-TV during its tenure in Cleveland. However, the ink had barely dried on FCC approval of the trade when the United States Department of Justice opened an investigation into the deal, on claims that NBC had employed extortion and
coercion Coercion () is compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner by the use of threats, including threats to use force against a party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a desi ...
. The Justice Department believed that NBC abused its power as a broadcast network by threatening to withhold or cancel affiliations with Westinghouse-owned stations unless the latter company agreed to the network's terms and participate in the trade. Specifically, it was determined that NBC threatened to drop its programming from both WPTZ and Boston's WBZ-TV; to withhold a primary affiliation from newly acquired KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh (that station would sign with CBS as a primary affiliate); and to withhold or pull an NBC affiliation from any other major-market station Westinghouse would purchase in the future. Based on these findings, a civil
antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...
suit was filed against NBC and its parent company RCA, on behalf of Westinghouse in December 1956. During this ordeal NBC attempted to circumvent the investigation by trading the Philadelphia stations in return for RKO General's radio and television properties in Boston, which would have resulted in WBZ-TV losing its NBC affiliation to rival station
WNAC-TV WNAC-TV (channel 64), branded on-air as Fox Providence, is a television station in Providence, Rhode Island, United States, affiliated with Fox and The CW. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) ...
; the proposed NBC-RKO station swap never materialized. In August 1964, after a nearly eight-year-long investigation, the FCC ordered a reversal of the swap. NBC appealed the ruling, extending the ordeal by another year, but the ruling was upheld on appeal. Westinghouse was also allowed to keep the cash compensation from the original deal. When Westinghouse regained control of the Philadelphia stations on June 19, 1965, it restored the KYW calls to the radio station and renamed the television station
KYW-TV KYW-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate WPSG (channel 57 ...
. And in a reversal of nine years prior, both NBC and Westinghouse relocated various personnel between both cities.


Later years in television

Throughout its history as an operator of television stations, Westinghouse Broadcasting had relationships with all three major networks. KYW-TV (in both Cleveland and Philadelphia), WBZ-TV, and WPCQ-TV were NBC affiliates, KPIX and KDKA-TV were aligned with CBS, and WJZ-TV was an
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 ...
station. All of Group W's stations were located within the top 40 television markets. Westinghouse's television stations were all known for their very deep connection to their home markets. They often pre-empted network programming in favor of local programs, and all of them carried programming produced by Group W, which was a major force in television syndication (see ''Syndication programs'', below). However, for the most part the networks did not seem to mind. Most of them were among their networks' strongest performers. KDKA-TV and WJZ-TV dominated their markets, while WBZ-TV and KPIX were solid runners-up. The only exceptions were KYW-TV and WPCQ. KYW-TV had been one of Westinghouse's (and NBC's) crown jewels for many years, but faltered in the late 1970s and eventually became NBC's weakest major-market affiliate by the mid-1980s. Westinghouse found no success in the Charlotte market, as WPCQ remained an also-ran during its Group W years. Despite the record purchase price, Group W ran the station on a shoestring budget. Under Group W, WPCQ had a marginal signal, a minimal local news presence and a program schedule more typical of an independent station, with a large number of cartoons and second-hand syndicated programming. WPCQ was also a UHF network affiliate competing against two long-established network stations on
VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
. It also had to deal with three longer-established NBC affiliates, on VHF channels from nearby cities, that were also available over-the-air in large parts of the Charlotte market. Westinghouse was able to escape Charlotte when it sold WPCQ (now WCNC-TV) to Odyssey Television Partners (later to become
Renaissance Broadcasting Renaissance Broadcasting, founded in 1982 by Michael Finkelstein, was a company that owned several UHF television stations, it was sold to Tribune Broadcasting in 1997. The company was headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut. History Renaissan ...
) in 1985. The subpar performance of KYW-TV and WPCQ was particularly embarrassing for NBC, as it came during a very prosperous period for the network as a whole. Aside from WPCQ, Group W almost expanded into the country's top two markets; it emerged as a leading bidder for RKO General's independent stations WOR-TV (currently WWOR-TV) in
Secaucus, New Jersey Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264,KCAL-TV KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). Both stations share studios at the C ...
) in Los Angeles. However, the protracted legal issues that had dogged RKO General for years delayed the transfer of KHJ to Westinghouse, and they ultimately withdrew their offer. They were also outbid for WOR by a consortium of Cox Enterprises and
MCA/Universal MCA Inc. (originally an initialism for Music Corporation of America) was an American media conglomerate founded in 1924. Originally a talent agency with artists in the music business as clients, the company became a major force in the film ind ...
(though the former company dropped out over questions of who would be running the station). In 1987, Westinghouse/Group W attempted to try a bid for the station group handled by KKR, with six stations formerly held by SCI Holdings, but the deal ultimately fell through.


Merger with CBS

Within a year-long span during 1994–95, a series of surprising events occurred which not only changed the look of the television industry but also ended Westinghouse's uniqueness among television station operators. In 1994, the Fox Broadcasting Company agreed to a multi-year, multi-station affiliation deal with
New World Communications New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 197 ...
, resulting in most of New World's stations switching to Fox. Among these stations were longtime CBS affiliates WJBK-TV in Detroit and
WJW-TV WJW (channel 8) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, WJW maintains studios on Dick Goddard Way (named for the station's late longtime weatherman—previously ...
in Cleveland. To avoid being consigned to the UHF band in two major markets, CBS heavily courted ABC affiliates WXYZ-TV in Detroit and WEWS-TV in Cleveland. Both stations were owned by the
E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...
, who used this leverage to strike a similar multi-station affiliation deal of its own with ABC. Unwilling to risk losing two of its strongest and longest-standing affiliates, ABC and Scripps agreed to a 10-year affiliation contract with WEWS, WXYZ and three other
stations Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...
. One of these additional stations was Baltimore's then-NBC affiliate, WMAR-TV, which would displace that city's longtime ABC affiliate, Group W-owned WJZ-TV. ABC was initially skeptical of including WMAR in the deal; WJZ-TV had been one of ABC's strongest affiliates, and had been the dominant station in Baltimore for a quarter-century. In contrast, WMAR had been a ratings also-ran for over 30 years. However, Scripps demanded that WMAR be included if the deal was to go through. Well aware that there were few viable choices for replacement affiliates in Detroit or Cleveland, ABC gave in. The loss of WJZ-TV's ABC affiliation did not sit well with Westinghouse. At the time, WJZ-TV had been affiliated with ABC for 46 years, longer than any station that wasn't owned by the network. Westinghouse sought an affiliation deal of its own, and after several months of negotiations with the other networks, Westinghouse agreed to affiliate its entire television unit with CBS. Under the terms of the deal, all five Group W stations would carry the entire CBS schedule with no pre-emptions except for local news emergencies (as noted above, prior to this, Group W stations were known for pre-empting selected programming of their affiliated networks with Group W-mandated content). The deal resulted in a three-way transaction between Group W, CBS, and NBC, which unfolded between the summer of 1994 and the summer of 1995. The terms were as follows: * In September 1994, KPIX and KDKA-TV ended their long-standing policies of pre-empting some CBS shows, and began carrying the entire CBS schedule with no pre-emptions. (KPIX however at the time aired CBS prime time programming an hour earlier than normal, a practice that continued until 1998.) * On January 2, 1995, WJZ-TV and WBZ-TV switched from ABC and NBC, respectively, to CBS, while WBAL-TV and WHDH-TV affiliated with NBC; WMAR-TV took on WJZ-TV's ABC affiliation. * On September 10, 1995, at 1:00 a.m. EDT, KYW-TV switched from NBC to CBS. CBS traded its previous Philadelphia station, WCAU-TV, to NBC in return for KCNC-TV in Denver and
KUTV KUTV (channel 2) is a television station in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside independent station KJZZ-TV (channel 14) and St. George–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate K ...
in Salt Lake City, while KUSA and KSL-TV affiliated with NBC and KMGH-TV affiliated with ABC. CBS then traded controlling interest in KCNC and KUTV to Westinghouse in return for a minority stake in KYW-TV. (KCNC'
station history page
erroneously implies that this trade was between NBC and Westinghouse.) The swap in Philadelphia was delayed when CBS discovered it would face a massive capital gains tax bill if it sold WCAU to NBC outright. ** As a result of the trade, CBS-owned WCIX in Miami swapped channel locations with NBC-owned WTVJ. CBS and NBC traded their Miami broadcasting facilities to compensate each other for the loss of stations. WCIX changed its call letters to
WFOR-TV WFOR-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent station WBFS-TV (channel 3 ...
, and CBS sold controlling interest in WFOR to Westinghouse. * Westinghouse and CBS formed a joint venture that assumed ownership of KYW-TV, KCNC, KUTV and WFOR, with Westinghouse as majority owner. Giving Group W control of the venture allowed CBS to have some interest in its affiliates and avoid violating FCC rules at the time that forbade groups from owning TV stations that covered more than 25% of the country (CBS O&O's reached 21.8% prior to the purchase, and Group W reached 9.7%.) A short time later, Westinghouse announced it was buying CBS outright, a transaction which closed in late 1995. As a condition of the merger, both CBS and Group W were forced to sell off several radio stations due to the FCC's then-current ownership limits. CBS also had to sell WPRI-TV in Providence, Rhode Island (which was acquired in March 1995 and would swap affiliations with WLNE-TV one hour before KYW-TV assumed the CBS affiliation) due to a significant signal overlap with WBZ-TV, which provides a city-grade signal to much of the Providence market. At the time, the FCC normally did not allow common ownership of stations with overlapping signals, and would not even consider granting a waiver for a city-grade overlap; the FCC began to allow common ownership of stations with overlapping signals without a waiver in 2000.


Epilogue and legacy

Following the completion of the CBS takeover, the former Westinghouse Broadcasting operations took on the CBS name and identity, though the Group W name survived until the end of the 1990s as a holding company within the merged entity's structure. The Westinghouse-CBS merger resulted in several longtime rivals on the radio dials of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia becoming sister stations. From that point forward, however, Westinghouse proceeded to transform itself from its legendary role as a diversified conglomerate with a strong industrial heritage into a media giant. Over the next year, it sold off almost all of its non-broadcast properties. In 1997, Westinghouse changed its name to CBS Corporation and moved its headquarters to New York. Westinghouse's cable television network properties—consisting then of The Nashville Network (now the general-interest Paramount Network) and
Country Music Television Country Music Television (CMT) is an American pay TV network owned by Paramount Media Networks, a division of Paramount Global. Launched on March 5, 1983, as Country Music Television, CMT was the first nationally available channel devoted to coun ...
, which CBS/Westinghouse purchased from
Gaylord Entertainment Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. () is a hotel, resort, entertainment, and Mass media, media company named after National Historic Landmark the Ryman Auditorium, built as a tabernacle by Captain Thomas G. Ryman in 1892 and later the home of the ...
in 1996, and equity stakes in regional sports networks
Midwest Sports Channel Bally Sports North is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as a Bally Sports affiliate. The channel broadcasts coverage of sporting events involving teams located in the Upper Midwest region, with a focu ...
(now split into
Fox Sports North Bally Sports North is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as a Bally Sports affiliate. The channel broadcasts coverage of sporting events involving teams located in the Upper Midwest region, with a focu ...
, serving Minnesota and the
Dakotas The Dakotas is a collective term for the U.S. states of North Dakota and South Dakota. It has been used historically to describe the Dakota Territory, and is still used for the collective heritage, culture, geography, fauna, sociology, econom ...
, and
Fox Sports Wisconsin Bally Sports Wisconsin (BSWI) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. Operating as the "Wisconsin" sub-feed of Fox Sports North until 2007, the channel was known as Fox S ...
, both of which CBS purchased in conjunction with its 1992 acquisition of Midwest Television and its two stations, WCCO-TV in Minneapolis/ St. Paul and WFRV-TV in Green Bay) and
Home Team Sports NBC Sports Washington is an American regional sports network owned by Ted Leonsis's Monumental Sports & Entertainment, and operates as an affiliate of NBC Sports Regional Networks. Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, the channel broadcasts regio ...
(now NBC Sports Washington) in the
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Washington area—were consequently reorganized as CBS Cable (a name used prior by CBS Inc. for an arts-oriented basic cable channel it operated from October 1981 to December 1982). In 1998, the company created a new licensing subsidiary under the Westinghouse Electric Corporation name. In this sense, the Westinghouse-CBS merger turned out to be a " wag the dog" transaction. After selling off its nuclear assets to
BNFL British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) was a nuclear energy and fuels company owned by the UK Government. It was a manufacturer of nuclear fuel (notably MOX), ran reactors, generated and sold electricity, reprocessed and managed spent fuel (mainly ...
in 1999, CBS Corporation was merged into
Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...
, thus ending the corporate legacy of the ''original'' Westinghouse for good. TNN and CMT were consolidated into Viacom's MTV Networks basic cable unit post-merger, with HTS andbeing sold to
Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
and Midwest Sports Channel being sold to News Corporation shortly afterward. Viacom, however, changed its name to CBS Corporation in 2006 and spun off most of its cable and movie interests as a new Viacom. With a few exceptions, the "new" CBS Corporation retained the same television properties that the old CBS Corporation held prior to the Viacom merger, including the ''new'' Westinghouse. Theater chain
National Amusements National Amusements, Inc. is an American privately owned movie theater operator and mass media holding company incorporated in Maryland and based in Norwood, Massachusetts. It is the controlling shareholder of Paramount Global. History The ...
, which had held controlling interest in the "old" Viacom since 1986, retained controlling interest in both the "new" CBS and Viacom. Excluding WMAQ (shut down in 2000 to allow all-sports WSCR to move to its old dial position) and KFWB (placed in a holding trust as a consequence of CBS's purchase of KCAL-TV; the trust divested the station in 2016), all of the former Group W radio stations were part of CBS Radio until its merger with Entercom (now Audacy, Inc.) on November 17, 2017. While the merged company took Entercom's name, CBS shareholders held controlling interest in the enlarged Entercom. Following the merger, one of the former Group W stations, WBZ, was spun off to iHeartMedia. CBS had previously announced in 2016 that it had been looking to leave the radio business. In 2019, Viacom and CBS reunited as ViacomCBS, with National Amusements as the majority shareholder until being renamed as Paramount Global in 2022. Currently, only four stations continue to use the classic Group W font: radio stations WINS-AM (owned by Audacy, Inc.) and WOWO (owned by Pathfinder Communications Corporation), and CBS owned-and-operated stations WJZ-TV and KPIX. The other stations discontinued using the typeface early in the 21st century or, in the case of KDKA, in 2020.


Former Westinghouse-owned stations

Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license. Note: Two boldface asterisks appearing following a station's call letters (**) indicate a station that was built and signed-on by Westinghouse.


Television stations

:''This list does not include KCNC-TV in Denver,
WFOR-TV WFOR-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent station WBFS-TV (channel 3 ...
in Miami, and
KUTV KUTV (channel 2) is a television station in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside independent station KJZZ-TV (channel 14) and St. George–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate K ...
in Salt Lake City. These stations were taken over by Group W in the interim period before the completion of CBS's acquisition by Westinghouse.''


Radio stations

(a partial listing)


Syndicated programs

Some of their best-known programs were syndicated and seen in primetime and early/late fringe through its syndication division, Group W Productions, which was originally known as WBC Productions until 1968. Many of these programs were also sold internationally (under the name of Westinghouse Broadcasting International). In 1992, the Westinghouse Broadcasting International unit has signed a deal with
Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...
to represent the catalog for the Japanese market.


Late night talk/variety shows

* ''
PM East ''PM East/PM West'' is a late-night talk show hosted by Mike Wallace and Joyce Davidson in New York City (where the ''PM East'' portion originated) and ''San Francisco Chronicle'' television critic Terrence O'Flaherty in San Francisco (''PM West' ...
'' (with
Mike Wallace Myron Leon Wallace (May 9, 1918 – April 7, 2012) was an American journalist, game show host, actor, and media personality. He interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers during his seven-decade career. He was one of the original correspo ...
and
Joyce Davidson Joyce Davidson (14 April 1931 – 7 May 2020) was a television personality in Canada and the United States. Early life She was born Joyce Inez Brock in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan during the Great Depression and was the eldest of four children of ...
)/''
PM West ''PM East/PM West'' is a late-night talk show hosted by Mike Wallace and Joyce Davidson in New York City (where the ''PM East'' portion originated) and ''San Francisco Chronicle'' television critic Terrence O'Flaherty in San Francisco (''PM West' ...
'' (with Terrence O'Flaherty) (1961–1962) * '' The Steve Allen Show'' (1962–1964) * '' That Regis Philbin Show!'' (1964–1965) * '' The Merv Griffin Show'' (1965–1969) * ''The
David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ' ...
Show'' (1969–1972) * ''
The Howard Stern Radio Show ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' (1998–2001) (as Eyemark Entertainment)


Daytime shows

* '' The Mike Douglas Show'' (1963–1980) * ''
The John Davidson Show ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'' (1980–1982) * ''Hour Magazine'', hosted by Gary Collins (1980–1989) * ''The
Wil Shriner Wil Herbert Shriner (born December 6, 1953) is an American actor, comedian, film director, screenwriter and game show host. Life and career Shriner was born in New York City, New York (state), New York, the twin brother of soap opera actor Kin ...
Show'' (1986–1987) * '' Couch Potatoes'', game show hosted by Marc Summers (1989; co-production with Saban Entertainment) * '' Every Second Counts'', game show hosted by
Bill Rafferty William Rafferty (June 17, 1944 – August 11, 2012) was an American comedian and impressionist who hosted the game shows '' Every Second Counts'' (1984–1985, syndicated), ''Card Sharks'' (1986–87, syndication), and '' Blockbusters'' (1987, N ...
, produced by Charles Colarusso Productions (1984) *''House Party''; talk show hosted by
Steve Doocy ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...
(1990; co-production with NBC Productions) * '' Scrabble'', unsold syndicated run pilot with Steve Edwards as host (1990; co-production with Reg Grundy Productions) * ''That's Amore'', game show hosted by
Luca Barbareschi Luca Barbareschi (born 28 July 1956 in Montevideo) is an Italian-Uruguayan actor, television presenter, and former member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. Barbareschi is Jewish. He was one of four actors whom the Italian police believed ha ...
(1992-1993, co-production with Four Point Entertainment and RTI Mediaset) * ''
Vicki! ''Vicki!'' (stylized as V''i''cki!) was a syndicated talk show hosted by actress and ''Carol Burnett Show'' alumna Vicki Lawrence from 1992 to 1994. The show earned a number of Daytime Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding Talk Show Host ...
'', talk show hosted by Vicki Lawrence (1992–1994) * ''
Marilu Marilu is a feminine given name which may refer to: * Marilú (1927–2023), Mexican singer and actress * Marilu Bueno (1940–2022), Brazilian actress * Marilú Elízaga (1923–1995), stage name of Spanish actress María Luisa Pérez-Caballer ...
'', talk show hosted by
Marilu Henner Mary Lucy Denise Henner is an American actress. She began her career appearing in the original production of the musical '' Grease'' in 1971, before making her screen debut in the 1977 comedy-drama film '' Between the Lines''. In 1977, Henner wa ...
(1994–1995) * ''Morning Stretch'', exercise and fitness program hosted by
Joanie Greggains Joanie Greggains (1944–2022) was an American fitness instructor. Greggains was the radio host of ''The Joanie Greggains Show'', a weekend health and fitness program on KSRO Radio, Santa Rosa, California. She was also known for her long-running ...
(produced at KPIX during the 1980s) * ''
Day and Date ''Day & Date'' was an American daily syndicated newsmagazine program that aired for two seasons from September 11, 1995 to January 3, 1997. Syndicated by Group W Productions (later renamed Eyemark Entertainment following the 1996 merger of Grou ...
'', hosted by Dana King and Patrick Vanhorn (also produced at KPIX, 1995–1997; initially went under Group W name before switch to Eyemark name mid-season) Group W and KPIX also created, in 1975 (with its premiere in 1976), America's first non-news magazine series, '' Evening Magazine'' with host
Jan Yanehiro Jan Yanehiro is a Japanese-American broadcast journalist. Personal life Yanehiro earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from California State University, Fresno in 1970. She first worked as a flight attendant before getting a job on radio sta ...
. After the first few years, it franchised to Group W stations and eventually to other markets through local stations, using the name '' PM Magazine'' on non-Group W stations airing the show.


Made-for-TV movies

* ''Mafia Princess'', starring Tony Curtis and Susan Lucci (1986)


Children's/animated series

*'' Dino Babies'' *'' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' (1987 version) *'' Speed Racer'' (1993 version) *''Way Cool'' (1991–1992)

*The in-house Filmation library ('' He-Man and the Masters of the Universe'', '' She-Ra: Princess of Power'', '' Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids'', '' Ghostbusters'', '' BraveStarr'', among other titles)


First-run syndicated shows

*''
Fight Back! with David Horowitz ''Fight Back! with David Horowitz'' was a weekly consumer advocate show that ran from 1976–1992. The show, hosted by David Horowitz, informed consumers about corporations and other big businesses whose products were of poor quality. The for ...
'' (1976–1992) *''
Bob Vila Robert Joseph Vila (born June 20, 1946) is an American home improvement television show host known for ''This Old House'' (1979–1989), ''Bob Vila's Home Again'' (1990–2005), and ''Bob Vila'' (2005–2007). Early life and education Vila, a C ...
's Home Again'' (1990-2005) *''
The George Michael Sports Machine ''The George Michael Sports Machine'' is a syndicated, sports-related American television program which was launched in 1984. The show aired weekends, usually on Sunday nights, and originated from WRC-TV in Washington, D.C., one of NBC's owned an ...
'' (1995) *''
Martha Stewart Living ''Martha Stewart Living'' is a magazine and former television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of ...
'' (1993–2004)


End of Group W Productions

After the merger with CBS in 1996, Westinghouse acquired
Ed Wilson Ed Wilson is an American media executive. He has been President of Chicago-based Tribune Broadcasting and has held top-level executive roles with Fox Television Network, NBC Enterprises and CBS Enterprises. Wilson sits on the Board of the USO ...
and Bob Cook's MaXam Entertainment and merged it with Group W Productions and CBS Enterprises (including CBS Broadcast International) to form Eyemark Entertainment,CBS TO ACQUIRE MAXAM ENTERTAINMENT
24 January 1996
with CBS Broadcast International acquiring the overseas rights to the Group W backlog. Eyemark was in turn folded into King World Productions following the latter company's acquisition by CBS in 2000. King World gained control of most of the Group W and Eyemark libraries from 2000 to 2005. These libraries are now controlled by CBS Media Ventures. The Filmation library and ''
The George Michael Sports Machine ''The George Michael Sports Machine'' is a syndicated, sports-related American television program which was launched in 1984. The show aired weekends, usually on Sunday nights, and originated from WRC-TV in Washington, D.C., one of NBC's owned an ...
'' are owned by NBCUniversal, ''Bob Vila's Home Again'' is owned by
Bob Vila Robert Joseph Vila (born June 20, 1946) is an American home improvement television show host known for ''This Old House'' (1979–1989), ''Bob Vila's Home Again'' (1990–2005), and ''Bob Vila'' (2005–2007). Early life and education Vila, a C ...
with Telco Productions handling distribution rights, and the 1987 '' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' series is also owned by CBS Media Ventures with DVD rights licensed to Lionsgate Home Entertainment.


Cable networks

* The Nashville Network (then co-owned with
Gaylord Entertainment Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. () is a hotel, resort, entertainment, and Mass media, media company named after National Historic Landmark the Ryman Auditorium, built as a tabernacle by Captain Thomas G. Ryman in 1892 and later the home of the ...
; Group W later bought Gaylord's stake in the channel; later owned by
Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...
's MTV Networks as Spike) *
The Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Company. ...
(then co-owned with The Walt Disney Company; Disney later bought Group W's 50 percent stake prior to its launch) * Home Team Sports (now
Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic NBC Sports Washington is an American regional sports network owned by Ted Leonsis's Monumental Sports & Entertainment, and operates as an affiliate of NBC Sports Regional Networks. Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, the channel broadcasts regio ...
) (
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...
\ Washington network) and FSN Southwest ( Dallas network) * Home Theater Network (1978–1987) *
Satellite News Channel Satellite News Channel (SNC) was an American short-lived news-based cable television channel that was operated as a joint venture between the ABC Video Enterprises division of American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. (a.k.a. ABC) and the Group W S ...
(co-owned with ABC; network went defunct after a year) *
Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
(50 percent stake with Viacom from 1981 (when Group W acquired TelePrompTer), until they sold their half of Showtime back to Viacom in 1982) * Wisconsin Sports Network (co-owned with the Milwaukee Time Warner Cable franchise from 1996 to 1998, then merged into CBS Cable's Midwest Sports Channel (MSC). Later bought by
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
in 2000 and became
FSN North Bally Sports North is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as a Bally Sports affiliate. The channel broadcasts coverage of sporting events involving teams located in the Upper Midwest region, with a focu ...
and
FSN Wisconsin Bally Sports Wisconsin (BSWI) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. Operating as the "Wisconsin" sub-feed of Fox Sports North until 2007, the channel was known as Fox S ...
). ''(No relation to the present-day website of the same name.)'' * Z Channel (under TelePrompTer-owned Theta Cable)


External links


Group W (the Westinghouse Broadcasting Co.) audio tapes
at the
University of Maryland Libraries The University of Maryland Libraries is the largest university library in the Washington, D.C. - Baltimore area. The university's library system includes eight libraries: six are located on the College Park campus, while the Severn Library, an of ...


Notes


References

{{Animated television series created for syndication Audacy, Inc. Defunct broadcasting companies of the United States Defunct radio broadcasting companies of the United States CBS Media Ventures Westinghouse Electric Company Mass media companies based in New York City Mass media companies established in 1995 Mass media companies disestablished in 1999 1995 establishments in New York (state) 1999 disestablishments in New York (state) Defunct companies based in New York City Filmation Television syndication distributors Defunct radio networks in the United States