History Tidbit

May 20, 2020 Off By Eric O'Brien

This is the day for original station trinkets!

On Tuesday, WPXI’s David Johnson shared this with his social media followers:

I believe that charater on the mug is “Pa Pitt”. WIIC was the original callsign for channel 11 dating back to its intended sign on date as the CBS affiliate in 1955. Thanks to a challenge by the struggling WENS on the UHF band on channel 16 (they attempted to apply for 11 on the VHF band) WIIC signed on in 1957 as the NBC affiliate as a result!

Meanwhile our friend, Ed Weigle, found this Scripto beauty which he figured is from the early 1960s. But based on this ad pictured in the PBRTV photo gallery, I’m thinkin that it’s from 1958 when the station signed on.

Got a history tidbit or photo to share? Don’t let it get lost in the annals of Facebook feeds. Send it to PBRTV! info@pbrtv.com