[rollei_list] Re: OT: Harley Earls and Broadcasting
----- Original Message ----- From: "Marc James Small" <marcsmall@xxxxxxxxxxx> 
To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 1:45 PM
Subject: [rollei_list] OT: Harley Earls and Broadcasting


Many of us know of Harley Earls.  He was the
First Vice-President of Design at General Motors
from 1927 until 1959.  To his credit, he
engendered the Corvette.  To his discredit, he
gave us tail fins.  He was featured in a series
of Buick ads early in this decade which I
loved: it is always wonderful to see a company recognizing its heritage. 

Well, Harley Earls has an odd-ball connection
with radio broadcasting and also with the name of
the hill on which that HOLLYWOOD sign we see so
often in movies and TV is spread.
No fair going to Wikipedia. Richard, what is the connection? 

Hint:  the Don Lee Mutual Broadcasting Network.

Marc
Well, I sort of have to feel this out. The ridge with the "Hollywood" sign (originally Hollywoodland to advertise a realestate development) was named after Thomas S. Lee, the son of Donald Musgrave Lee, the founder of the Don Lee Broadcasting system (1927) Don Lee was the Southern California distributor for Cadillac automobiles (born in Michigan). At the time there were not enough sales in the West for manufacturers to maintain their own distribution offices so they contracted with a large dealer to serve the purpose. One of Don Lee's rivals was Earl C. Anthony who was the Packard distributor and had dealerships in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Anthony became interested in wireless as a young man and built several transmitters. In 1922 he obtained a license for KFI which went on the air with a home-built 50 Watt transmitter. Anthony used KFI to promote Packard and even named his dealerships in both LA and SF KFI Packard. Don Lee evidently decided he would also get into the broadcasting business and, in 1927, bought KFRC in San Francisco and some monthes later KHJ in Los Angeles. KFI became the NBC affiliate in Los Angeles and was a pioneer high power station, becoming a 50,000 Watt station in 1932. Don Lee, on the other hand, developed his own network originating programs in San Francisco and shorty after in Hollywood. After a couple of years The Don Lee System consisted of a large number of stations including a group owned by the McClatchy newspaper chain (Sacremento Bee, etc). In 1929 Don Lee was approached by William S. Paley, the founder and chairman of CBS, then only about a year old, about becoming the Western distributor for CBS and agreed, on a handshake contract. This arrangement lasted until Don Lee's death in 1935. After that CBS was able to buy another Los Angeles station (KNX) and created its own Western network (Columbia-Pacific Network). Don Lee's son, Thomas, was then able to make a deal with the fledgling Mutual Broadcasting System to become its Western branch plus Don Lee Broadcasting would become a partner in Mutual. Both Lee and Anthoney remained important car dealers in the West. Don Lee Broadcasting was a pioneer in television. They had the services of a genieous by the name of Harry Lubke (who I met briefly before his death a few years ago). Don Lee put an experimental TV station with the call W6XAO on the air c.1932 and began regularly scheduled programming about 1935. Sometime around 1946 Don Lee moved the station to a location on a ridge above the city of Los Angeles. Officially this ridge has a different name (which I can't remember) but is known as and is called on many maps Mount Lee. The station building and tower were visible from much of the city and from the San Fernando valley on the other side of the ridge. Eventually, Don Lee bought property near Mount Wilson and move the station there. It was commercialized in late 1948 as KTSL (chanel- 2). The Don Lee System badly mis-calculated the future of broadcasting and built a very elaborate studio complex on Vine street which opened in 1947. This was supposed to be convertable to television. However it turned out that the only TV stations that made any money at first were those with network affiliations. While the Mutual Broadcasting System contemplated starting a TV network nothing was ever done. In about 1951 Thomas S. Lee committed suicide by jumping from his penthouse atop the studio. He was evidently bankrupt so the entire broadcasting empire and car dealership went up for auction. KTSL was bought by CBS and the Don Lee radio operation by a goup of former Don Lee executives and was eventually aquired by the General Tire and Rubber company. Now, its very likely that Harley Earls may have known Don Lee and Thomas S. Lee quite well through the Cadillac connection. Perhaps there is some other connection that I am not aware of. In any case, those not wanting to build watches can kill-file this. 

--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
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