How We Survived in UHF Television

This personal narrative is co-authored by two of the best-known names in American UHF television broadcast management: Kathryn “Kitty” Broman Putnam and William Lowell “Bill” Putnam. During the first two decades of Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) television, when the established VHF (Very-High Frequency) stations dominated the TV marketplace, the Putnams built and operated three successful UHF outlets: WWLP-TV in Springfield, Massachusetts; WKEF-TV in Dayton, Ohio; and KSTU-TV in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Kitty and Bill recall how they labored for survival during the “dozen lean years” between 1952 and 1964, and the events along their way to leadership in the world of advertiser-supported analog television. Included are several original poems written by Bill, and tantalizing recipes created for Kitty’s long-running local cooking show.

The late Kitty Broman Putnam was the first woman elected to the National Association of Broadcasters Television Board. She lived in Flagstaff, Arizona.
William Lowell Putnam served as vice chairman of the Association of Maximum Service Telecasters, among his multitude of other professional credits. He is the sole trustee of the Lowell Observatory and lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Kitty Broman Putnam and William Lowell Putnam
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 242
Bibliographic Info: 80 photos, appendices, index
Copyright Date: 2012
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6666-5
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8809-4
Imprint: McFarland

Authors’ Note      1
Preface      3

1. Getting Started in Television      9
2. Actually Building a Station      21
3. Lowering Our Frequency—Overnight      36
4. Parentheses      40
5. Building a Local Audience      50
6. Those Magnificent Irishmen      89
7. Building a Network Relationship      102
8. Building Advertiser Support      123
9. Not All Hard Work—Boys Will Be Boys      130
10. Onto the National Scene      144
11. Editorials in the “Fairness” Era      152
12. Dealing with the FCC      161
13. Building the Broadcast Industry—Kitty’s Station      178
14. Glimpsing the Future      194
15. Personalities      199
16. A Poetic Heritage Comes Out      203

Appendix A      217
Appendix B      224
Index      231