WENS (TV)

WENS

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania United States
Channels	Analog: 16 (UHF)
Programming
Affiliations	ABC, CBS, NBC
Ownership
Owner	Telecasting, Inc.
History
First air date	August 29, 1953 (1953-08-29)
Last air date	August 31, 1957 (1957-08-31)
Technical information
ERP	200 kW[1]
HAAT	870 ft (270 m)
Transmitter coordinates	40°29′39″N 80°00′16″W / 40.49417°N 80.00444°W / 40.49417; -80.00444

WENS was a television station broadcasting on ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 16 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, from 1953 to 1957. An ABC and CBS affiliate, it was one of two early UHF television stations in Pittsburgh, built by an ownership group that included Pittsburgh Pirates owner Thomas P. Johnson. WENS was the first station to telecast the Pirates in Pittsburgh and the third station in the market.

For most of its history, WENS struggled with the attitudes of the day toward UHF television. At the time, most television sets could not receive UHF stations without modification, and advertisers and networks alike shunned UHF, even though Pittsburgh only had one commercial very high frequency (VHF) station. WENS struggled to obtain sponsorships to air major network programming. WENS temporarily broadcast some of its programs on a VHF channel; after its tower collapsed in March 1955, some of its programs aired on the transmitter of educational broadcaster WQED for 47 days. The imminent arrival of more VHF stations, whose channels had been tied up in public hearings, prompted WENS to close on August 31, 1957, and sell its technical facilities to educational broadcaster WQED for use as a second educational channel, WQEX. Owners of WENS later invested in WDTV in West Virginia, and the WENS permit remained active into the 1960s but was never brought back into use.