WGSF Television

Link: http://wgsf.oldgleaner.com/

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WGSF History Project

This Blog is part of a project to preserve the legacy of WGSF Television, a non-commercial, PBS station operated by the Newark City Schools, Newark, Ohio, from 1963 until 1976.
The WGSF blogs, and the accompanying web pages, are an on-line effort:

~To review and collect the History of WGSF
~To share Memories
~To view or Contribute Photos of WGSF

for those who were involved with the WGSF station, or those who have factual or historical information about the equipment used at the station, or useful information about television history.

Many of the documents, correspondence, photographs and records from WGSF have been retained, along with some items of equipment. Hopefully, these web pages will develop into a compilation of these resources with memories and insights from people who participated in the community television experience.

This is intended to be an on-going project.

Check back often to follow the progress. Contributions and comments that pertain to the advancement of this historical project are welcome.

Leland Hubbell
Manager:
WGSF - 1964 - 1976
Newark School District TV Center - 1976 - 1995

Link: http://wgsf.oldgleaner.com/

The original equipment used at WGSF was built in the heyday of the vacuum tube, following in a long tradition of both broadcast and consumer equipment. Practically every piece of equipment used them, lots and lots of vacuum tubes. Cousins to the light bulb, with many of the same characteristics: they weakened with age, and often departed this useful life by “burning out,” that is, the heater or filament opened. Of course, they could also develop a short between the elements in the tube, sometimes taking out several other components as well.
Most broadcasters - and industrial users of vacuum tubes - tried to head off such disasters through “Preventative Maintenance.” That is, we periodically checked or measured the quality of the tubes. Time consuming, yes, it meant pulling out each vacuum tube in turn, usually with the equipment turned off, dialing up the tube characteristic on a roll chart on the tube checker, inserting the tube, allowing time for it to “warm up,” and pressing the test button. The reading was duly noted and recorded on a chart listing each tube, the equipment location, date, etc. Those that failed to measure up were replaced from the spare stock. We were required to maintain sufficient spares to restore operation in case of an outage.
Most of the vacuum tubes were similar to those used in countless radio and television receivers all over town. We could obtain these at one of two dealers in town, and were given quantity discounts, the same as radio and TV repair shops.
Other tubes were more specialized, especially those used in the power stages of the transmitter. Industrial types, like 5763, 829B, 4X150, 866A and 872. We went to an industrial tube dealer in Columbus for those. The price was still reasonable, but the “biggie” was the GL-6942 transmitting tube. Made only by General Electric, the manufacturer of the WGSF transmitter, a trip to the store hit the supply fund hard. Always above $1,000, they were going for about $1,600 - each - by the mid 1970’s, and the transmitter used two of them.
The Gl-6942 was a specialized power tube, designed for use in a coaxial cavity at UHF frequencies. It required a specialized turn-on and warm up procedure, blower cooling at all times it was powered on, and gradual cool down. Still, a filament or inter-electode short took out more tubes than old age. Replacing a final tube also required a lengthy retuning process - no two tubes were ever exactly alike - electronically.
The transmitter was not the only equipment to require kilo-buck expenditures for tube replacement. The television cameras had their equivalent in the photo pickup tube, the image orthicon, or I.O. Though not subject to shorting like the transmitter finals, these tubes had their own quirks. As they aged, the tubes would tend to retain the image focused upon the photo mosaic. They became “sticky.” It helped if you could “orbit” the image, that is, you slowly moved the camera just a little bit to the right, then up, then left, then down, over and over, trying not to jerk or be readily noticeable to the audience. It took practice to become a good “orbiter.” Electronic orbiters were eventually developed, and were included in the units in the mobile truck when we got it. Still, the time came when replacement was a necessity. We would hold out as long as possible, then cough up the $1,200 to $1,600 price tag, and enjoy a new, non-sticky tube - for a while.
We discovered that we could buy a new videcon type camera for the price of that one tube. Mostly solid-state (transistorized) except for the pick-up videcon tube, and the CRT in the viewfinder. Low power, long lifed, and certainly attractive. Except that the cameras in that price range didn’t meet broadcast video specifications for certain waveform measurements. We found a way around that, though. The TK-30 camera control unit provided the necessary horizontal and vertical drive pulses going to the camera head, and then added the proper sync, blanking, pedestal and shading signals for the return video. We made an adapter that allowed us to connect the GBC Videcon camera to the TK-30 camera control unit. The camera got the necessary synchronizing drive pulses for proper timing, sent the video back to the control unit - which didn’t know that the original TK-30 I.O. camera head wasn't "out there!" We could set the pedestal and gain, and even adjust the shading, all with a substitute camera that cost about the same price as a replacement I.O. tube.
Later, I was able to obtain a small,transistorized rack-mounted unit to replace the TK-30 control unit. The full TK-30 complement went to the Ohio Historical Society when the station ceased operation. By that time, newer camera equipment and video production switchers contained more elaborate circuitry than our racks and boxes of tubes ever had.

Link: http://wgsf.oldgleaner.com/

The Media section of the Columbus Dispatch, March 19, under Broadcast Bits, announced that WOSU-TV will cease analog broadcasting at 7:a.m. March 31.

I have no knowledge of plans to continue operation on W31AA, the Newark Translator station, when this happens.
The Channel 34 to channel 31 translator has always depended upon the channel 34 analog signal.

MORE:
March 25, 2009 - Columbus Dispatch
Dates for switch to digital only:
WSFJ-TV (51) - April 16
WBNS-TV (10) - June 12
WCMH-TV (4) - June 12
WSYX-TV (6) - June 12

Link: http://wgsf.oldgleaner.com/

This report outlined considerations to implement the reception or distribution of Instructional Television programs in the Newark, Ohio City School District.

Newark Public Schools
Department of Instruction

Audio-Visual Services
February 5,1959


FROM: R. G. Powell, Audio-Visual Services


THROUGH: Forest Moran, Director of Instruction


THROUGH: Thomas B. Southard, Superintendent of Schools


TO: Officers and Members, Newark Board of Education


SUBJECT: Educational Television Status Report


PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to report on the progress of research that has been undertaken by various members of the staff of the Newark Public Schools concerning the possible applications and potentials that educational television offers to the Newark Public Schools.


(Note: Parts of the above listed document will be here excerpted to provide a sense of the scope of the original plan for television utilization in the Newark Public Schools.
The entire document contains eighteen (18) pages, including estimated construction and operating costs.)




(Excerpt)


THE NEWARK PLAN:


After much discussion and planning, a workable system for Newark has taken form. The basic plan has been reviewed by many persons associated with education and the telecasting industry and has gone through many revisions. It is presented here in the phases that we see it developing.


PHASE I: A building, perhaps of geodesic design, would be constructed on the high school campus to house the television facilities. It is believed that the building, itself, could be constructed in such a way as to make it unique to television application to school systems. Equipment would be purchased to allow us to connect to the co-axial cable system that is being installed in the three little schools, the science building, and the Hub,to distribute films, film-strips, slides, audio signals only, and live programs. At the same time, the persons assigned to the staff could be working with the studio equipment in preparation to presenting certain parts of our curriculum to classes throughout the school system


PHASE II: Co-axial cable would connect the television center with every school in the city, enabling each school to to receive as many as twelve different programs at one time.
.

PHASE III: Since the initial purchase of equipment would be along broadcast quality lines,this same equipment could be used for open-circuit telecasting. A transmitter would be purchased and an antenna erected, and certain programs would be transmitted to the public living within a certain radius of the center.


(End excerpt)


(Ed. NOTES: - A new campus-style high school was under design and/or construction at the time of the publication of this document in1959. The reference to the "three little schools" was the working designator for Newark High Buildings later known as 'C' 'D' and 'E' buildings.

Much of the 1959 'Newark Plan' was in fact accomplished, although in reverse order: (a) A television broadcast station was built on Horn's Hill, remote from the Newark High School campus, and operated from March 18, 1963 through June 30, 1976 (See Phase III above) (b) Co-axial cable (CATV) connected the television center with every school in the city of Newark (Phase II.) (c) It may be of interest to note that, by 1990, many other parts of the system proposed as Phase I in 1959 did in fact exist!


(1) - The TV Center was located in 'D' Building on the Newark High School Campus.

(2) - Live programs were broadcast from the TV Center's studio, not only to the High School Campus, but to the entire Newark School System, and the community at large, via the community-wide CATV system, on CATV Channel 19.
(3) - The TV Center staff scheduled, and distributed upon demand, video programs made possible through a State of Ohio network. The Newark Public Schools were a charter member of the Central Ohio ETV Foundation, a consortium that provided Instructional Television (ITV) programs from national sources.

(4) - The daily school announcements were provided to all teaching stations at Newark High School via television receivers in each classroom, and also by audio over the campus-wide Public Address system.
(5 - Audio only signals could be directed to selected buildings and classrooms, providing students with radio broadcasting experience.

(6) - Pick-up points throughout the high school campus also enabled and were used for telecasting from the Performing Arts Center (NHS Auditorium), the Jim Allen Gymnasium, and the new Library/classroom Building.
(7) - Several of the Elementary and Middle schools were operating their own closed circuit (CCTV) systems, in addition to the building-wide CATV distribution.

8) - Students and teachers in those buildings had received training in television production, telecast their own daily school announcements, and often participated in a weekly school report to the community (via CATV Channel 19) - Schools In Action.
(9 - The monthly Board of Education meetings were video-taped, and telecast to the community. Upon occasion, the Board meetings were aired "Live."

(10) - The TV Center utilized automation and other technology not envisioned in 1959 to maintain a full-time presence on the community-wide CATV channel 19, which included school announcements, program schedules, and telecasts of school activities.

Link: http://wgsf.oldgleaner.com/

The first day of programming on the new WGSF Television station was March 18,1963. The following photo copy of the actual Program Log, signed by WGSF Chief Engineer, Robert Brooks, is shown in the Photo Album. (Open a separate page in your browser, and switch back and forth for best results)

Program Log

The entry "Hours 164" refers to the total operation of the transmitter up to that time, which included various tests and alignment prior to actual programming.

A poster identifying the channel and call letters ( WGSF, Channel 28, Newark, Ohio was shown during the interval between programs, while Mr.Brooks switched away from the WOSU-TV signal. A videcon camera borrowed from the ETV station in Toledo was set in the studio. The video source is indicated as "LS" or Live studio origination.
See: The First Day
for photos of Mr. Brooks, the camera in the studio, and the transmitter switching control panel.

Programming oriented toward children aired from 4:00 until 6:00 PM.

The first locally produced program was aired at 7:00 PM. Produced and narrated by Newark School's Superintendent Dr. Thomas Southard, utilized teachers who had taken a course on "Teaching By Television" at The Ohio State University.