 Early sales of television sets were hampered by the lack of regularly scheduled programming being broadcast . A few months after selling his first set in 1938 , DuMont opened his own New York area experimental television station ( <unk> ) in <unk> , New Jersey . In 1940 , the station moved to Manhattan as <unk> on channel 4 . Unlike CBS and NBC , which reduced their hours of television broadcasting during World War II , DuMont continued full @-@ scale experimental and commercial broadcasts throughout the war . In 1944 , <unk> became WABD ( <unk> derived from DuMont 's initials ) moving to channel 5 in 1945 , the third commercial television station in New York . On May 19 , 1945 , DuMont opened experimental W3XWT in Washington , DC . A minority shareholder in DuMont Laboratories was Paramount Pictures , which had advanced $ 400 @,@ 000 in 1939 for a 40 % share in the company . Paramount had television interests of its own , having launched experimental stations in Los Angeles in 1939 and Chicago in 1940 , and DuMont 's association with Paramount ultimately proved to be a mistake . 
