History

Robert Barkey was the transmitter supervisor for WWOR. He worked for WOR-AM and then the TV station for 51 years, until his death in 1992. He left a note (in the Rolodex) about the beginning of the TV operation:

WOR-TV went on the air with program from N. Bergen, N.J., on October 11, 1949. Studios were in the New Amsterdam Theater on 42nd Street. Top floor of building. J.B. Gambling was the first speaker and we started with several minutes of picture with no audio. An article from The New York Times gives details about the difficulties that beset WOR-TV's premiere.

First Night Difficulties Beset WOR-TV's Premiere
This article appeared in the New York Times, date uncertain.
By SIDNEY LOHMAN

The gremlins of wartime fame apparently returned last Tuesday evening to play their tricks and raise havoc with WOR-TV's formal debut. After functioning perfectly through weeks of experimental transmissions and rehearsals for the big day, the line carrying the sound portion of the opening night program "cut out" at 6:55 P. M., the exact moment when the station was schedule to go on the air. For the next few minutes the video audience could see John Gambling speaking but there was no accompanying sound. By one of those inexplicable coincidences, the sound channel was reactivated for exactly the one minute during which a bread commercial message was scheduled. The station's switchboard was flooded with calls and 367 of them "got through" during the trouble period. First night jitters also resulted in clearly audible applause during the "Handy Man" program which originates in a small, side studio - and which does not have an audience. The station explains that the handclapping came from the main auditorium where Barry Gray was warming up an audience for his interview program to follow. Until its new studio space at 20 West Sixty-seventh Street is ready for use, all WOR-TV programs are originating from the New Amsterdam Roof Theatre, which has been leased and altered and refurbished for television.