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WBES-TV
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Key Information
WBES-TV was an early UHF television station in Buffalo, New York. The station was formerly owned by the Buffalo-Niagara Television Corporation.[1]
History
[edit]The station operated on UHF channel 59 from studios in the Hotel Lafayette in Buffalo. WBES-TV, the second UHF station (and third TV station overall) in Western New York, was very short-lived, signing on September 29, 1953 and shutting down for the last time on December 19 of the same year. An independent station for its entire existence, WBES-TV was plagued by technical and financial problems, the primary factor in the station's failure. Channel 59 was never reissued in Buffalo.
Tom Jolls, at the time a radio personality at Lockport's WUSJ, was one of the station's personalities. He would eventually return to television a decade later, first with WBEN-TV (channel 4, now WIVB-TV, then more permanently with WKBW-TV (channel 7), where he spent 24 years as a weatherman.[2]
After WBES-TV was shut down, Buffalo was left with two stations, market leader WBEN-TV and fellow UHF upstart WBUF-TV (channel 17); WGR-TV (channel 2) signed on for the very first time on August 14, 1954, using WBES-TV's broadcast tower.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ "Radio and TV: Chimp to Join Garroway". Buffalo Courier-Express. Buffalo, New York. January 29, 1953. p. 5. Retrieved May 29, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Pergament, Alan (June 7, 2023). "Tom Jolls, part of Channel 7's legendary 'Irv, Rick and Tom' broadcast team, dies at 89". Buffalo News. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
- ^ "WBES-TV Halts Operations, Returns Its License to FCC". Buffalo Evening News. Buffalo, New York. December 19, 1953. p. 8. Retrieved May 29, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.