The broadcast tail, and the Black press: South Bend's lines dug, Penn Township tested

1913–2015 · BOUNDARY SIZE, AS THE ROW REQUIRES

Radio grew out of the Tribune's own building, which is why the tail belongs to this branch: South Bend's first commercial station was WBAQ, licensed 29 April 1922 to Myron L. Harmon at the YMCA and deleted that November; the Tribune's station was licensed 29 June 1922 as WGAZ and made its formal debut on 3 July 1922 at 7:30 PM, taking the call letters WSBT on 9 September 1925. WSBT affiliated with CBS in 1932 and endures as the flagship voice of Notre Dame football and men's basketball and of the South Bend Cubs — the broadcast institution Osceola actually listens to, under every owner since. The Schurz family's broadcast century ended in the 2015 sale: television to Gray Television ($442.5 million) and the radio stations separately to Mid-West Family Broadcasting, closing 93 years of Schurz ownership that began with WGAZ. Television, from the Tribune's own 2002 retrospective (the one-day variance in its datings printed, not resolved): WSBT-TV first signed on 21/22 December 1952 as Channel 34, among the first UHF stations in America, moving to Channel 22 in January 1958; WSJV-TV of Elkhart began in March 1954 as Channel 52, moving to Channel 28 in February 1958; WNDU-TV began in July 1955 as Channel 46, moving to Channel 16 in September 1957. Three stations, three channel migrations, one market — the broadcast whole of the county at boundary size. The Black press of South Bend, from the state's African American newspaper list: the Observer (1913); the South Bend Forum (1923, weekly); the South Bend Journal (1928, weekly, edited by William D. LaMarr); the South Bend Herald-Times (1950s); and The Reformer (1967–1971, weekly, its run preserved in a free online archive) — a fifty-eight-year line of Black newspapers in a city whose Black community the county's other papers covered from outside. The Penn Township test: no Black newspaper seated in Osceola or Penn Township, and no circulation record of one into the township, was found in any source searched; the township's Black population across the whole period was the handful the population record prints (thirteen residents in 1870, township-including-Mishawaka — Population), and its Black news arrived, like everything else in this branch, on the sister cities' carriers. Verdict: the Black press is dug at boundary size for South Bend; TESTED NEGATIVE for a Penn seat or a Penn circulation record, the test stated so a subscription or agent record can overturn it.

Sources:

1. Broadcast record — WBAQ, licensed 29 Apr. 1922 (Myron L. Harmon, YMCA), deleted 7 Nov. 1922; WGAZ licensed 29 June 1922, debut 3 July 1922, WSBT from 9 Sept. 1925; CBS affiliation 1932; flagship of Notre Dame football/basketball and the South Bend Cubs; Schurz broadcast sale 2015 (Gray Television, $442.5M; radio to Mid-West Family Broadcasting; 93 years of Schurz ownership ended).
2. South Bend Tribune, television retrospective (2002) — WSBT-TV 21/22 Dec. 1952, Channel 34 → 22 (Jan. 1958); WSJV-TV Mar. 1954, Channel 52 → 28 (Feb. 1958); WNDU-TV July 1955, Channel 46 → 16 (Sept. 1957). The 21/22 December variance printed whole in the text.
3. Indiana African American newspapers list — South Bend: the Observer (1913), South Bend Forum (1923), South Bend Journal (1928, William D. LaMarr), South Bend Herald-Times (1950s), The Reformer (1967–1971, free online archive).
4. Population — the township's Black population bounds (13 in 1870, township-including-Mishawaka) under which the Penn test was run; Newspapers & Media — the carrier frame.