Jeanne Parrette Donald and the birth of WTCH

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Jeanne Parrette Donald and the birth of WTCH
Shawano, Wisconsin

About the time WWII was drawing to a close, one of Shawano’s visionary business people, Mrs. Jeanne Donald, was looking to the future of the community and seeking a new and expanded way to serve the citizenry.

SINCE the daily newspaper she owned, the Shawano Evening Leader, had become a successful reality, the next logical step was the building of a radio station to serve Shawano and its environs.

Application for a construction permit was made to the Federal Communications Commission in 1947, and after a considerable amount of litigation and arbitration with other already established stations, construction was begun in the spring of 1948.

The WTCH story began in October of 1946 when Jeanne Parrette Heal Donald filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission for a standard broadcast station in Shawano. Because of the tremendous backlog of radio station application, and other factors which usually require much time, the application was not granted until April 29, 1948, when construction was begun immediately.

WTCH went on the air in September of 1948 as a daytime facility, broadcasting from sunrise to sunset. It was another first for the community and another new high for towns the size of Shawano.

The main WTCH studios at that time were in the Shawano Evening Leader building at 107-113 East Green Bay street. All of the announcing and production work is carried on from these studios.

The transmitter is located one mile west of Shawano on Highway 29. This site was chosen because the low, swampy land where the tower is located, is ideal for ground conductivity. The site of the tower is threaded with heavy copper wires, buried from 12 to 18 inches in the ground. These cables are called “radials” and there are 180 of them stretching out diametrically in all directions from the tower to a distance of 250 feet.

When WTCH started broadcasting, it carried more local talent than the average station. Some of the features carried were “Lyrics By Lenny” a program featuring Lenny Pockat of Marion who possesses a fine Tenor voice. Others are Texas Daisy Jack Knope’s Rhythm Rascals Leonard Wolf, the Suring Hour, and others which were on for short periods of time.

WTCH also carried a number of programs from outside of the studio. One of the most famous is the church services of Dr. W. H. Wiese, pastor at the Methodist church in Clintonville. The Clintonville minister had a great following among Northeastern Wisconsin listeners. The station had special broadcast wires to four points at the Shawano county fairgrounds, a special line to the high school, and a broadcast channel direct to Shawano Lake.

IN 1964 the expanding FM broadcast market appeared to demand local service, and application was made to the Federal Communications Commission again for a construction permit for WTCH-FM, a 3000-watt facility located at 100.1mhz on the FM broadcast band.  Construction of this station, located in the same buildings as WTCH-AM, was completed in December of 1966 and authority was granted by the Commission to begin programming. WTCH-FM is a semi-automated radio station programmed with taped musical programming, and served by the same news facilities as WTCH-AM. Its broadcast hours are almost identical to WTCH.

WTCH has had different owners since Ms. Donald but none have been as progressive since she sold the station which continues to serve the people of N.E. Wisconsin.

When we asked the family why they thought she started WTCH, they remarked ; “My guess is, she saw the need. Not everyone in Shawano County would have the money to subscribe to the newspaper, and I think that that would have bothered her. The radio would have been a way to deliver news and community happenings without having to pay for it. I can tell you, she was always concerned about the community.”

Take a look at the program schedule for the first day’s broadcast.