The Last Days of WCAN-TV 25 Milwaukee

This write-up from the January 22nd 1955 edition of TV Guide tells the sad story of one TV stations demise a mere 1 year and 6 months after the station signed on the air.

At 11:25 P.M. Central Time on 6 September 1953, WCAN signed on and became the first UHF and second overall television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The first broadcast consisted of workers being interviewed while they were installing the transmitter on the tower in inclement weather. That tower was built atop the Schroeder Hotel in downtown Milwaukee. 

WCAN was owned by Midwest Broadcasting, headed by Lou Poller; Poller had originally applied for channel 12, but fearing long FCC hearings, amended his application to channel 25. Midwest Broadcasting received a CP for channel 25 on February 4, 1953.

Poller began to construct facilities at 723 N. 3rd St. He also signed an affiliation agreement with CBS. The station's official debut was on September 7, 1953. 

On March 9, 1954, Edward R. Murrow denounced Senator Joseph McCarthy on that famous episode of See It Now; WCAN-TV was the only Wisconsin CBS affiliate to carry the show. In May of that year, the U.S. Senate held hearings regarding UHF broadcasting and WCAN-TV president Lou Poller testified that all television broadcasting should be shifted to UHF. He went so far as to take out a two page ad in the May 28, 1954 issue of TV Guide, in which he put forward his thoughts on the subject, and announced that he was going to file an application to transfer WCAN-TV's programming to channel 12.

There were three other applicants for channel 12 and they agreed to merge with the Milwaukee Area Telecasting Corp., and its application was approved by the FCC June 11, 1954. In doing so, the Commission turned down WCAN-TV's request to switch from channel 25 to channel 12.

Lou Poller subsequently announced that he was going to build new facilities for WCAN-TV. He purchased an old warehouse facility at 5445 N. 27th St., which was converted for TV use. In the summer of 1954 CBS began looking toward making WTVW/12 their Milwaukee affiliate. However, ABC beat them to it ... announcing in September that WTVW would be their affiliate, effective when they began commercial operation on October 27. This followed by one week the announcement by WOKY-TV19 that they were relinquishing the affiliation effective October 1, and WOKY-TV was then sold to CBS on October 22, 1954 with CBS exercising the six months' notice clause in their agreement with WCAN-TV to terminate their affiliation. Lou Poller then agreed to sell his new facilities to CBS. The announcement of the sale was made on November 13, 1954, CBS took over the facilities in February 1955, and on the 27th of that month CBS network programming shifted to channel 19, with the WOKY-TV call letters changed to WXIX on that same day.

Poller received the former WOKY-TV facilities and kept the channel 25 CP so that he might continue broadcasting as an independent station, but he never did. Lou Poller later sued CBS claiming CBS dissuaded Storer Broadcasting from negotiating for a $2 million purchase of WCAN-TV, that CBS assured him WCAN-TV would continue as the CBS Milwaukee affiliate (on the basis of that assurance Poller contracted to lease new quarters for WCAN-TV and bought new equipment), and that CBS' purchase of WOKY-TV caused him to go dark. CBS received a summary judgment against Poller in 1959, but that was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1962. Poller eventually retired to Florida.