Editing DuMont Television Network (section)

===Early troubles===
[[File:Dumont-building.jpg|thumb|The [[DuMont Building]] at 515 Madison Avenue in New York, with the original WABD broadcast tower still standing, April 2008.]]
DuMont began with one basic disadvantage: unlike NBC, CBS and ABC, it did not have a radio network from which to draw big-name talent, affiliate loyalty, or radio profits to underwrite television operations until the television medium itself became profitable.<ref name="ABDTMOBC2">[http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/D/htmlD/DuMont/DuMont.htm DUMONT, ALLEN B. ] The Museum of Broadcast Communications. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060923044856/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/D/htmlD/DuMont/DuMont.htm |date=September 23, 2006 }}</ref> Most early television licenses were granted to established radio broadcasters, and many longtime relationships with radio networks carried over to the new medium. As CBS and NBC (and to a lesser extent, ABC) gained their footing, they began to offer programming that drew on their radio backgrounds, bringing over the most popular radio stars. Early television station owners, when deciding which network would receive their main affiliation, were more likely to choose CBS's roster of Lucille Ball, [[Jack Benny]], and [[Ed Sullivan]], or NBC's lineup of [[Milton Berle]] and [[Sid Caesar]], over DuMont, which offered a then-unknown Jackie Gleason and Bishop [[Fulton J. Sheen]].<ref name="CTTDN">Jajkowski, S. (2001). [http://www.chicagotelevision.com/dumont.htm Chicago Television: And Then There Was… DuMont] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061005112145/http://www.chicagotelevision.com/dumont.htm |date=October 5, 2006 }}. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.</ref> In smaller markets, with a limited number of stations, DuMont and ABC were often relegated to secondary status, so their programs got clearance only if the primary network was off the air or delayed via [[kinescope]] recording ("tele-transcriptions," in DuMont parlance).{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}}

Adding to DuMont's troubles was the [[Federal Communications Commission#Freeze of 1948|FCC's 1948 "freeze" on television license applications]].<ref name = "CTTDN"/> This was done to sort out the thousands of applications that had come streaming in, but also to rethink the allocation and technical standards laid down prior to World War II. It became clear soon after the war that 12 channels ("[[channel 1 (NTSC-M)|channel 1]]" had been removed from television broadcasting in 1948 for allocation to land-mobile radio) were not nearly enough for national television service. What was to be a six-month freeze lasted until 1952, when the FCC opened the [[Ultra high frequency|UHF]] spectrum. The FCC, however, did not require television manufacturers to include UHF capability.<ref name="RTDNACSA">McDowell, W. [http://list.msu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0109b&L=aejmc&T=0&P=9926 Remembering the DuMont Network: A Case Study Approach] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060906124413/http://list.msu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0109b&L=aejmc&T=0&P=9926 |date=September 6, 2006 }}. College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, Southern Illinois University. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.</ref> To see UHF stations, most consumers had to buy expensive [[set-top box|converters]]. Even then, the picture quality was marginal at best, depending on geographic location. {{crossreference|(see also: {{section link|UHF television broadcasting|UHF reception issues}})}}.<ref name="Ingram6">Ingram, Clarke. [https://www.uhfhistory.com/DuMont/6.html "Channel Six: UHF"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804163725/https://dumonthistory.com/6.html |date=August 4, 2009 }} DuMont Television Network Historical Web Site. Accessed January 21, 2010.</ref> Tied to this was a decision to restrict [[Very high frequency|VHF]] allocations in medium- and smaller-sized markets. Meanwhile, television sets would not be ''required'' to have [[All-Channel Receiver Act|all-channel tuning]] until 1964, with the passage of the [[All-Channel Receiver Act]].<ref>[http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/OSEC/library/legislative_histories/612.pdf The FCC and the All-Channel Receiver Bill of 1962], LAWRENCE D. LONGLEY, JOURNAL OF BROADCASTING. Vol. XLII. NO. 3 (Summer 1969)</ref>

Forced to rely on UHF to expand, DuMont saw one station after another go dark due to dismal ratings.<ref name = "CTTDN"/> It bought small, distressed UHF station [[KCTY (defunct)|KCTY]] (channel 25) in [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]], [[Missouri]], in 1954, but ran it for just three months before shutting it down at a considerable loss<ref>[[Clarke Ingram]]'s historical account at https://uhfhistory.com/articles/kcty.html has this as exactly two months; DuMont closed on the acquisition at the start of January 1, 1954, and took the station dark at the end of February 28, 1954. It lost DuMont $250,000 and lost Empire Coil, the original proprietor, $750,000. It was the third of a long list of UHF pioneers to fail.</ref> after attempting to compete with three established VHF stations.<ref name="Bergmann6">Bergmann, Ted; Skutch, Ira (2002). ''The DuMont Television Network: What Happened?'', p. 66. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2002. {{ISBN|0-8108-4270-X}}.</ref>

The FCC's Hyman H. Goldin said in 1960, "If there had been four VHF outlets in the top markets, there's no question DuMont would have lived and would have eventually turned the corner in terms of profitability."<ref name="AHSOTDTN">Hess, Gary Newton (1979). A Historical Study of the DuMont Television Network. New York: Ayer Publishers. {{ISBN|0-405-11758-2}}.</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2020}}