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Categories: History

Happy 70th birthday KING-TV!

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70 years ago today, Palmer Lieberman’s KRSC-TV channel 5 took to the air.  It’s first broadcast was a live football game between West Seattle & Wenatchee high schools on Thanksgiving Day 1948.  At the time, it was estimated there were approx. 6,000 TV sets in the Sea-Tac area.

Shortly after it’s sign-on, it was acquired by visionary broadcaster Dorothy Bullitt, who would take the station to great heights as part of the King Broadcasting Co. empire. 

As with many pioneer TV stations, very little actual programming was available & for hours on end, transmission of ‘test patterns’ would occupy broadcast time.

KING-5 has a story & some photos of the first broadcast on their local news web page.

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Mike Cherry

retired broadcaster: on-air, MD, PD, asst PD, Prod Mgr, IT, station technician/engineer, pioneer Internet webcaster, station installation/maintenance; 12 years in commercial radio, 17 years volunteer in campus/community radio in B.C., Alberta & Wash. Amateur radio operator & "DXer" specializing in AM night-time DX, short-wave DX/listening & remote SDR DXing/listening

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Mike Cherry

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