John G. Leitch
1949
John G. Leitch joined WCAU in 1929, about seven years after the station first came on the air. From that time on, he engineered AM 50 KW plants and studios, FM installations, maintenance of the WCAU shortwave station and facsimile service on WCAU-FAX. He
was very strict but very fair. No one ever addressed him other than Mr. Leitch with the exception of several Techs
who knew him when they were shipboard radio operators and he was a Radio Inspector for the Federal Radio
Commission. They were the only ones I ever heard call him Jack. Not even the Ass't. CE, George Lewis,
addressed him that way. John Leitch was a former inspector for the Radiomarine Corporation and then, the Federal Radio Commission, a forerunner of the current FCC, the Federal Communications Commission. He was a Commander in the United States Navy during the Second World War serving as officer-in-charge of the Arctic Naval Station. John was a member of allied attack forces for Gilberts, Marshalls and Marianas and on staff of the Commander-in-Chief for Pacific Operations and on staff of the Chief of Naval Operations. He was a member of the Veterans Wireless Operators' Assoication and a senior member of I.R.E., the Institute of Radio Engineers.
As Chief Engineer, he was in charge of their move into their "new" facilities which took place on February 10, 1933. The event was broadcast live coast to coast on the Columbia Broadcasting System with remarks by President Herbert Hoover, direct from the White House.
The next year, 1934, Leitch shared responsibilities for KYW Radio when they moved to Philadelphia from Chicago. WCAU, whose physical plant KYW shared with WCAU in WCAU's new building at 1622 Chestnut until 1938, was given the authority to program and sell KYW. This only changed in May of 1938 when KYW moved to their own building at 1619 Walnut Street.
In March of 1948, as Technical Director of the WCAU stations, John Leitch put WCAU-TV, Channel 10 on the air in Philadelphia. Under the ownership of the Philadelphia Bulletin, he was made a Vice President and Director of Engineering. That position continued when CBS took over during the summer of 1958. He stayed with the WCAU stations through three different owners and retired in 1963.
Broadcast Pioneers member Charlie Higgins e-mails:
...a Watch List is what a schedule (of shifts) was termed at WCAU. I suppose this harkened from the fact that Mr. Leitch was a Navy officer. You always "stood a watch."
From the official archives of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
Text compiled, researched and written by Broadcast Pioneers member Gerry Wilkinson
Photo originally donated by Broadcast Pioneers member Allen Murphy
All Rights Reserved
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