granted to radio stations WERE and WHK in 1953 were never built and revoked in 1960. United Artists had filed to construct television stations in Cleveland, Houston and Boston, but the film studio having been a defendant in a civil antitrust lawsuit related to United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. led the FCC to state it would reflect on "requisite qualifications" over the studio's fitness to own a television station, despite the lawsuit occurring ten years beforehand. The other two applicants for the channel were a group headed by WDBN owner Ted Niarhos and Superior Broadcasting Co., majority-controlled by area businessman Frank V. Mavec. A comparative hearing between the applicants began in late December 1963. Early in the proceedings, United Artists requested that the FCC determine if projected operating deficits by the other two applicants would last beyond the first year; in response, the commission requested each applicant demonstrate an ability to survive against established VHF competition over the first three years and revised their financial qualification policy. United Artists abruptly withdrew from the hearing process for the channel 65 license by amending their application to request channel 31 in Lorain, Ohio, unused after a permit for WEOL-TV held by WEOL radio failed to be built after years of delays. The Niarhos-led group concurrently withdrew their bid. A May 1965 realignment of UHF allocations saw United Artists's permit request for channel 31 moved to 43 and Superior's permit request for channel 65 moved to 61. Both companies were awarded construction permits in the spring of 1966. Superior sold their permit to a joint venture between itself and Kaiser Broadcasting which launched WKBF-TV on January 19, 1968. United Artists ownership WUAB was signed on by United Artists on September 14, 1968, following WKBF-TV as the second commercial UHF station in Cleveland proper and the fifth full-power UHF station in the market. WUAB used the WKBF-TV transmitter tower in Parma; the installation of the WUAB antenna on the tower several days prior forced WKBF-TV to be off the air for an extended period of time. As their studio facility near Parmatown Mall was still under construction, WUAB operated out of a semi-trailer next to an adjacent Parma bowling alley, with some studios inside the alley's nursery. Marty Sullivan, one of the station's first announcers, later recalled how a restroom adjacent to the main announcer booth had a warning sign, "Do not use