WHUM-TV was a television station broadcasting on channel 61 in Reading, Pennsylvania, United States. Owned by Humboldt Greig alongside WHUM (1240 AM), the station—Reading's first—telecast from 1953 to 1956. It boasted the first ever high-powered UHF transmission facility, which spurred industry interest but also caused some technical issues; the station ultimately suffered from many of the same economic problems that befell other early UHF television outlets. Establishment On August 7, General Electric announced that it would supply the equipment for the WHUM-TV facility in a contract worth $450,000. After a "frustrating" clerical error at the FCC—the assignment of an unsuitable channel 55 to Reading, prompting both of Reading's TV applicants to file for channel 61, only for the other to choose channel 33—that ended any hope of being the first station to air, WHUM-TV was granted its construction permit in the first week of September. From there, the eagerness of WHUM owner Humboldt J. Greig took over; he planned to have bulldozers on the site the date the permit was awarded. While KPTV in Portland, Oregon, would be first to air, WHUM-TV's launch was looked at with interest by the industry because of its superior technical facility, introduction of UHF into an existing VHF market, and the presence of community antenna television systems that would redistribute the signal. Greig promised the station would operate in the black financially. As construction proceeded, WHUM-TV traveled the region with a mobile unit, giving demonstrations of television; promotional materials hyped the coming of the "world's most powerful television station" and boasted that channel 61 would have more power than all the TV stations in New York and Philadelphia combined. State police were necessary to manage the crowds who witnessed the erection of the mast, billed as taller than the Eiffel Tower. Tower construction was completed at the start of December. After delays in getting the station's wave guide transmission line—used instead of coaxial cable to avoid excessive line loss on the tall tower—to work to specifications, test patterns went out on February 9 and the station began telecasting as a CBS network affiliate—matching WHUM radio—on February 22, making it the 10th UHF television station to air. The station had easy access to network coaxial cable, which already ran a block away from its studios. WHUM-TV boasted one of the most impressive facilities in early UHF broadcasting and was described by Television Digest as "the