‘A Lively Radio War in Upstate New York’: Radio Pioneer George Bissell (1904-1976)

“Great are the uses of radio — at least in Tupper Lake,” The Lake Placid News mused on February 14, 1930, reporting about the wedding in Tupper Lake a few days previous of Myrtle E. Ives and B. Harrison Budlong. For wedding music, the mother of the bride had simply tuned in to Tupper Lake radio station WHDL.

The 13-month-old, 10-watt radio station went on the air on January 15, 1929 with a two-hour broadcast from 3 to 5 pm from station owner George F. Bissell’s electrical appliance store in Tupper Lake, playing borrowed Victrola records on “crude but workable broadcasting equipment” rigged up by Gordon Bisson, superintendent of lights and water in Tupper Lake.

One of the early weekly programs featured The Sunmount Serenaders, a musical trio of disabled veterans, with Carmelo Butera on guitar, Joseph Rampino on mandolin and Bruno Cory on Hawaiian guitar. The short-lived station later broadcast from studios at the Iroquois Hotel in Tupper Lake and St. Moritz Hotel at Lake Placid.

For the 24-year-old Bissell, WHDL would be the bumpy start of a 47-year broadcasting career that exemplifies the adage, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” He was born in Tupper Lake on May 29, 1904. His father, Bramon W. Bissell, ran a lumber camp.

In what a national news wire report out of Washington, DC called “a lively radio war in upstate New York,” in 1933 Bissell made an unsuccessful hostile attempt to take over
the signal and broadcasting facilities of WNBZ in Saranac Lake to expand the revenue potential for WHDL.

This came about a year after an unsuccessful attempt for WHDL to increase power and share time on the frequency of WCAD, the radio station of St. Lawrence University (now the home of NCPR).

Bissell, running short on capital, sold his interest in WHDL to a group of Tupper Lake business men, who dismantled and moved the equipment and transferred the license
to Olean, in Cattaraugus County (now WOLY). WHDL made its last broadcast in Tupper Lake on October 20, 1934.

By this time, Bissell had already moved on the Glens Falls, where he was a partner and general manager of the short-lived WGLC radio station that broadcast from Hudson
Falls.

In June 1934, Bissell filed for federal bankruptcy, listing $4,714 in debts – the equivalent of $90,751 in 2020 dollars — to 19 creditors, primarily in Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake.

It would be just a short set back on the way to Bissell’s third attempt at AM radio, which would be a success. In 1935 Bissell and a group of Plattsburgh investors, including majority owners Leslie F. and Howard J. Bragg, launched WMFF, which later changed its call letters to WEAV (now WBTZ), from studios at the Hotel Cumberland. The firm was called Plattsburgh Broadcasting Company.

The dedication broadcast on February 3, 1935 featured music by the Plattsburgh Glee Club and Plattsburgh Boys Band, and speeches by local dignitaries.

Two days later WMFF broadcast an hour-long live concert by the 26th Infantry Regimental Band of the 2nd Corps Area, a military band stationed at the Plattsburgh Barracks.

The advent of local radio was a mile-stone achievement, the Plattsburgh Daily Press editorialized. “The first telephone, the first phonograph, the first airplane, the first radio and so forth. They indicate the advancement of a community and its inclination and ability to keep in step with the scientific progress of the world,” the editorial touted.

“Consequently, the first legitimate installation of a standard radio station in this city is a matter of importance and will some day be a part of our community history.”

The enthusiasm was contagious. “Hundreds of visitors and well-wishers have thronged the attractive studio room in the Hotel Cumberland and the keenest interest has been shown in the progress of station programs,” The Press Republican of Plattsburgh reported. “The officials of  WMFF are elated with the early success of their new venture.”

WMFF started out as a 100 watt station, and by 1956 the station had increased power to 5,000 watts, making it a regional powerhouse station.

On February 8-9, 1960 ABC news commentator Paul Harvey broadcast his national show from the station to celebrate the 25th anniversary of going on the air, and the concurrent startup of an affiliated FM station.

Bissell was still president of the station when he died January 9, 1976 at age 71. He is buried in Plattsburgh’s Riverside Cemetery.

In 1944 Bissell established, and for some years operated in addition to his Plattsburgh station, WENT radio in Gloversville, in Fulton County.

In 1946 he applied to the Federal Communication Commission to operate a radio station in Saratoga Springs.

Illustrations, from above: Iroquois Hotel, Tupper Lake, NY showing the radio broadcast tower; Hotel Cumberland, Plattsburgh, NY, ca 1930-1945, showing radio broadcast towers; George F. Bissell’s grave marker in Plattsburgh’s Riverside Cemetery.