Session: 1234567891011121314151617         Page 140141142143144145146147148149150151152153154155156157158159160161162163164165166167168169170171172173174175176177178179 of 755

They went -- ABC, when we were in the middle of our color -- they applied for Channel 7, in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Detroit, I believe, and I forget where the fifth one was.

So they applied the same year, the same year you applied to the FCC for color they applied for the station?

Yes. And they got their permits and Ed Noble didn't want to spend the money to build a station. That's why he wanted to sell the empire, because this required a lot of capital to build these stations.

ABC was ahead of us. NBC had its five stations. Even though we were strong on the network side, in terms of both news programming and in terms of entertainment, we were feeding other people. We weren't feeding our own properties. And I wanted to get our five markets.

And so, along with a lot of other people, I applied for the remaining available channel in St. Louis. And the reason we went to St. Louis is because we operated a very good radio station there. And I thought that that would carry some weight with the FCC, that we had done a responsible job in radio and therefore we would do the same thing in television. That was a long, long hearing. It's the only station we ever got, strictly on the basis of a competitive hearing. There were bad experiences in that because it involved, in the end, Stuart Symington, Lyndon Johnson -- I've forgotten who else in the Senate who got into it. And we finally bought a station in St. Louis, but we got the grant. And as soon as we got the grant,