More than 36 years before the Wrestlemania simulcast at the CYC in 1985, The Scranton Times, WQAN-AM and Comerford Theaters conducted a pioneering experiment to bring the World Series to the big screen.
Starting on Oct. 5, 1949, the three came together to rebroadcast the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers at the West Side Theater on Main Avenue in West Scranton. This rebroadcast was the first of its kind in the city.
This feat of engineering was accomplished by the use of an experimental relay system built by the engineers at WQAN, the Times’ radio station, on Bald Mountain. Up on the mountain at the WQAN transmitter, a television receiver was set up to receive the signal either from Philadelphia or New York City. Then the television signal was sent to a microwave transmitter at an ultra-high frequency to the theater, where it was picked up by the receiver projector. The projector then produced the images onto a 12- by 15-foot screen set up on the stage at the West Side Theater.
This experimental rebroadcasting of the World Series was approved by the Federal Communications Commission.
Back down in West Scranton, people lined up out front of the theater to see their teams in action. Admission cost 30 cents. Baseball fans and the curious paid 30 cents to watch the game.
The excitement to watch the game in the theater grew in the city. Pals Robert “Shy” O’Malley of Linden Street and Tom Walsh of South Webster Avenue camped out overnight at the theater to be the first two in line to purchase tickets for the Oct. 6, 1949, game. The pair told a Times reporter they kept warm thanks to a blanket and hot coffee.
With the showing of Game 4 of the series on Oct. 8, the crowd was so large that Scranton police assigned to the theater for crowd control had to call for backup. That Saturday, one line stretched from the theater north to Lafayette Street and the other line reached south to Jackson Street.
Over the course of the five rebroadcasts, a total of 8,112 people attended the showing.
This experimental presentation of the World Series was done in partnership between The Scranton Times and Comerford Theaters as a way to raise money for the annual Community Chest Campaign, now called United Way campaign. The experiment raised a total of $2,028 for the campaign. Adjusting for inflation, the total today would be $22,021.
The Yankees won the series that year in five games against the Dodgers.
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