KSLN-TV The Rise and Fall of Salina's UHF Station

KSLN-TV (channel 34) was a television station in Salina, Kansas, that operated in two separate incarnations from 1962 to 1965. Throughout its existence, the station served as the ABC affiliate for the Salina area, but it struggled to compete with the more powerful VHF stations available in the region. Due to technical limitations and financial difficulties, the station eventually ceased operations permanently in 1965.

The Prairie States Era

KSLN-TV was established by the Prairie States Broadcasting Company, owned by Mel and Tom Gleason of York, Nebraska. The station's infrastructure was a feat of engineering necessity; its studios and transmitter were located on the 10th floor of the United Building in downtown Salina. To get the equipment into the building, the transmitter was hoisted under the elevator and hand-cranked to the headhouse to reach the top floor, with the equipment being twisted to fit through the elevator shaft.

Despite installation efforts beginning in November 1960, KSLN-TV officially signed on the air on January 2, 1962, initially holding a dual affiliation with both ABC and NBC.

Sale and Mid-America Broadcasting

On May 17, 1963, Prairie States took the station off the air due to financial struggles. It was subsequently sold to the Mid-America Broadcasting Company, which also operated the local cable television system in Salina. The sale, approved by the FCC in February 1964, was met with objections from the Wichita Television Corporation, which claimed a conflict of interest between the cable system and the broadcast station.

KSLN-TV returned to the air on August 1, 1964, operating solely as an ABC affiliate. During this period, the station introduced local programming, including local newscasts and a children's show called Bar 34.

The Struggle for VHF Allocation

Mid-America Broadcasting faced the same financial hurdles as its predecessor. In October 1965, the station announced it would temporarily cease operations to fight for a VHF channel allocation in Salina. Management argued that the low conversion rate of UHF-capable television sets in the area made it impossible to compete with VHF stations from Wichita and other nearby cities.

The proposed plan involved shifting the educational assignment of channel 9 at Lincoln Center to channel 6 and substituting commercial channel 9 for channel 34 in Salina. However, this proposal faced significant opposition from other broadcasters and was ultimately denied by the FCC on January 10, 1968. The FCC ruled that Salina was still a viable area for UHF development and that Mid-America should have focused on increasing the station's power rather than seeking a VHF allocation.

Legacy and Later Use

After the failure to secure a VHF allocation, KSLN-TV ceased operations. Some of its equipment was loaned to Kansas State University's closed-circuit TV system to help them recover from a fire. The channel 34 assignment in Salina was later occupied in 1971 by translator station K34AA.