THE GOOD NEWS was that the Supreme Court would now be acting. WHDH filed its petition just five days before the switchover date. Benny told the BBI people that in his opinion, the Supreme Court would certainly not wait until the last day to make its decision. We hoped he was right. And so we waited.
Monday passed. No word.
Tuesday passed. No word.
Wednesday passed. No word.
And Thursday passed. Still, no word.
All we did during this very agonizing time was sit around and play cards and shoot the breeze, or climb the walls, or punch the walls. We were all worn out and tired.
“Heard anything?” the same questions echoed in the hallways.
“No, not yet?”
“Let’s not think about it for awhile,” I used to say to everyone.
“Right, let’s just try and relax,” people would say under their breath.
Our severe cash bind had now forced us up against the wall. If the vote went against us, bankruptcy was inevitable for the company and for a lot of us individually. We were still roaming the hallways trying to keep our spirits up. And still, no word was forthcoming.
“What happens if we don’t hear anything today?” I asked Benny. “This really doesn’t look like it’s going in our favor, does it?”
Benny had no answers and by evening he was biting his fingernails. The phone suddenly rang and everyone jumped. Don Ward, who was our emissary monitoring the proceedings in Washington, had been calling the court clerk every hour on the hour and all he continued to tell us was, “No word, yet. No word, yet.” An hour later, Don called again and told us the clerk wanted Leo Beranek’s home phone number, but nobody knew why. Don placed another call to us and said the court clerk told him not to call him anymore.
All we had in front of us were unanswered questions. Had the court adjourned? Why did the clerk want Leo’s home phone number? Why did the court clerk tell Don not to call anymore? Lots of questions, but no answers. Now it was Friday, and more questions were being asked. Was the court going to wait until Monday? If so, why? What is it they have to think about over the weekend? What about that great victory party we have planned?
At 5:30, the telephone rang and Leo yanked it off the hook on the first ring. Don Ward told him that the court had adjourned for the day. Adjourned? How could they do that to us? What does it mean? Benny gave us his legal interpretation, “All it really means guys is that we can all go home now. Apparently they’re going to consider the case over the weekend.” Leo sank back in his chair. We all walked out of his office with our faces dragging on the floor. There were so many unanswered questions. What if we signed on as WCVB-TV on Sunday and then on Monday we had to get off the air? I wanted to put my fist through the nearest wall.
Then mysteriously, as we were still shuffling out of Leo’s office the phone rang again. Leo picked it up. It was Don Ward again.
“WE’RE ON THE AIR!” Don shouted.
Leo cried out as loud as he could, “WE’RE ON THE AIR! WE’RE ON THE AIR!” I felt like a truck just hit me and I had to grab hold of something so I wouldn’t fall over. There was complete shock and disbelief in the eyes of all of us. Not one of us moved. It felt like a hundred pounds of tension came off my shoulders. I went home and slept for hours.
At 11 p.m. that Saturday night, Harold Clancy appeared on WHDH-TV’s news and he thanked the viewers of Boston for their support. He expressed his hope that during the changeover, no viewer would experience any inconvenience. WHDH-TV then put on its final movie, which had the very appropriate title of Fixed Bayonets.
Leo Beranek had already mailed our celebration invitations for a victory party at the Marriott Hotel in Newton. The invitations read, “It’s Time to Celebrate. BBI has finally realized its impossible dream.” We had finally won. Armed police guards were placed around our studio in Needham, in anticipation of a possible bomb being planted by someone who didn’t take kindly to the final ruling. And now, after two weeks of taping in preparation for our launch and all of the stress we had been under, we were ready to celebrate.
The BBI victory celebration started at 1 a.m. at the Marriott hotel in Newton. Hundreds of people showed up. We never knew we had so many friends and colleagues. The party went on until about four in the morning. There was a lot of yelling, screaming, and hugging. All of the BBI team was there except Nate David. I felt sorry for Nate and I was hoping that he would someday soon be able to put all his troubles behind him. The fight had taken a great deal out of us, but in victory, we were energized.
On Sunday, March 19, 1972 at 3:05 a.m., WCVB-TV signed on with two words: “Hello world,” followed by a brief introduction by Matthew Brown and Leo Beranek and then a thirty-minute program describing BBI’s plans for Channel 5. We then left our call letters on the screen until our first broadcasting day began that morning at 6:58 a.m.
Now, of course, we had to make good on our WCVB promises.