Don Lee Studios and Early Television in Los Angeles

In the experimental days of television, the inability of AT&Ts lines to transmit over the Rocky Mountains made it clear that West Coast broadcast facilities were a necessity. Mount Wilson became the local point of transmission. Experimentation in visual broadcasting began in Los Angeles as early as 1931 with KNXT and in 1941 experimental station W6XAO (later KTSL) was founded by Thomas S. Lee, the son of prominent car dealer Don Lee who, in 1929 had negotiated a major deal with a young William S. Paley to broadcast CBS radio programs from the West Coast. Thus began the Don Lee association with the company that would eventually become the CBS television network. 

Heinl Radio Business dated 8/15/1941 reported that “the television situation showed further signs of life this week when the Federal Communications Commission granted construction permits for two new commercial television broadcast stations.” One of those stations was Don Lee…